Isaiah 1 - the vision

Do you have a vision for your life?  If God gave you a vision, what would it be, do you think?  Would it be of a celestial city with streets of gold and trees with fruit that is always ripe.  Would it be a vision of the keys to the car that you always wanted and no speed limit?  What would God’s vision for your life be, do you think?  What does God want you to see?  One of the greatest visions that anyone in human history has ever received from God is the vision of Isaiah. 

The first line of Isaiah is “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz. . .”  This could mean that the first portion of Isaiah is a vision, or this could be a title for the whole book, and in fact the “vision” of Isaiah is also referred to in 2 Chronicles 32:32, and speaks of what Isaiah wrote of Hezekiah, and  he is spoken of primarily toward the end of the first half of Isaiah, in chapters 36-39 of Isaiah.  So I would conclude the “VISION” is the title of the whole of Isaiah, though I am willing to be corrected. 

The setting of this vision is outlined in the first verse, in Judah and Jerusalem, and during the reigns of four kings of Judah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  This was a varied time, although filled with the people and at times the kings turning away from God.  It was also a time of upheaval.  The Assyrian Empire was taking over the known world. 

I want to share four pictures that God would show us that he showed to Isaiah of his people.

1.        Dog biting its Master’s hand.  “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for Yahweh has spoken; “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.  The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Isreal does not know, my people do not understand.” (1:2-3)  Although many people do not have oxen or donkeys, many have dogs, and the picture today would be a dog biting its Master’s hand, that Israel was like a dog biting its Master’s hand.

2.       Body overflowing with puss and infection.  “Why will you be struck down?  Why will you continue to rebel?  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds;  they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.” (1:5-6)  I currently have a rash on the inside of my elbow.  It is small and does not itch too bad.  I have had boils which had much puss and infection.  The picture that Isaiah gets of Israel is a body with no uninfected parts, but only infection, so overflowing with puss and infection that the body is unrecognizable from what it should look like.  Israel was like a body overflowing with puss and infection.

3.       A besieged city.  “And the daughter of Zion if left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.” (1:8).  The metaphor goes away and the real picture of Israel comes into focus.  Israel was being besieged and taken off to Assyria.  Judah was being taken over.  Jerusalem was on the brink of ruin and almost taken over.  Jerusalem, like one standing booth in the midst of a land where you are the only thing left, and you are next on Assyria’s hit list.  A besieged city.

4.       Sodom and Gomorrah. “If Yahweh of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.” (1:9).  The vision of what could have been, Jerusalem could have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, which after their destruction, no survivors were left.  The vision of what Israel could have been – like Sodom and Gomorrah.

These pictures are not exactly what we want to look at.  “Give us a vision, Lord, . . . but not that vision.”  Why does God want us, at the beginning of Isaiah to see such doom and gloom.  If we do not look squarely at how things are, we will miss the vision of what God can do to make a renewed vision.  How can we truly see the beauty of the end of Isaiah when we miss the terror at the beginning?  The Surgeon shows us the cancer, not to shame us, but in order so that he can get it out, and give us a new picture of a healthy body.  We must see the vision of how things are if we are to be open to God painting a different vision of our lives. 

IDEA:  Ask God to give you an honest vision of your life, unabridged and uncensored, so that we are ready to walk into the beauty of the vision he has for our lives.

The Bible is like a Tree

The Bible is like a Tree

A tree has roots, a trunk, and fruit.  The Bible also has roots, a trunk, and fruit.

The roots of the Bible is the Old Testament.

The trunk of the Bible is the New Testament.

The fruit of the Bible is Our Testament.

The tree of life is at the very beginning of the Bible, at the very end, and also the centerpiece of the Bible.

The Old Testament is the roots of the Bible.  In the Beginning the Father planted a garden, and there were two specific trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge (tree of death – because they died).  The tree of life would have to wait, and so the Father planted a people, the people of Israel.  The Old Testament is rooted in the people of Israel, hidden underneath that culture.   Why do I not understand the Old Testament?  It is because I am not an ancient Israelite, and also because I am unwilling to dig. 

The New Testament is the trunk of the Bible.  What is the most famous tree in the whole Bible?  The tree that Christ hung from, the cross.  The tree of death became the tree of life.  Out of the roots of the Father in the people of Israel, grows up the trunk of the Son, the cross, which many stumble over.  The message of the cross is the foolishness of God, and with our human wisdom it trips us up.  To die is to live?

Our Testament is the fruit of the Bible.  The fruit of the Spirit is ours for the taking:  love, joy, peace, patience. . .  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  We taste of the fruit of God, no less that the tree of life, and the Spirit speaks to us in our language.  Once we eat of the fruit of the Spirit, the roots of the Father dig into us, and in our lives grows up the trunk of the Son, the suffering cross, and from our lives the Spirit brings forth fruits – love, joy, peace, patience. . .   But if the fruit of the Spirit is our Testament, and we are a Bible for people to read, there are not enough our Testaments, not enough Bibles.

Roots/Trunk/Fruit – seen in Psalm 22

1.        The Roots of the Father (OT) in the King of Israel, David, and his suffering life, he cries a prayer, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

2.       The Trunk of the Son (NT) in the suffering of Christ on the cross, and he cries a prayer, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

3.       The Fruit of the Spirit (Our T) in our own suffering, the Spirit helps us to express even groanings like, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The tree is one tree and Father, Son, and Spirit flow through the whole tree, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, to our Testament, what He speaks to us even right now.

Dead Giveaway

Dead Giveaway.  Charles Ramsey has been all over the news and internet for his role in saving the three women who were abducted in Cleveland.  People have various views of Charles Ramsey.  The family of the women see him as a hero.  Songify and talk show hosts see him as a way to make money.  What about how Amanda Berry saw him?  Imagine yourself in Amanda Berry’s position.  You have been imprisoned by an evil man who kidnapped you for ten years, raped you and you bore his child.  You have been bound by ropes and chains, and been living this horror for a decade, and the only people you saw was your tormentor and your fellow prisoners.  The chance comes and you call for help, and for the first time in a decade someone hears your cries.  He helps you escape and what do you do?  You run into his arms.  Why?  Because he is your savior.  Charles Ramsey is viewed in many ways, but to Amanda Berry it is a dead giveaway how she views him, he is her savior.  It is a dead giveaway because she ran into his arms.

Have you ever been in a prison?  Maybe not like Amanda Berry’s prison.  Ropes and chains are not the only things that bind us.  Has your mind been imprisoned?  Has your heart been imprisoned?  Have you been in a prison of alcoholism?  Have you been in a prison of internet pornography?  Have you been in a prison of anger and hate and unforgiveness?  Think about your prison and give it a name.  Are you still in that prison or have you been delivered from it?  Is it a dead giveaway that you have been delivered, that someone, to one whose arms you ran to, has saved you?

The Israelites were in prisons.  People during the period of the judges and into Saul’s life were oppressed by other people.  From the Egyptian slavery to being oppressed by the Ammonites, Amalekites, and the Philistines, they knew what it meant to be in a prison.  God gave them King Saul, his anointed king, to save them.  He was sent to be their savior.  At the end of Saul’s life he does not look like a savior.  As we read about his death will will see how five people or groups of people view him.  Do they see him as their savior?  Some do, some don’t, but with one it is a dead giveaway.  As we read, look for how these five people or groups of people see Saul.  His armor bearer, the Philistines, the people of Jabesh Gilead, an Amalekite, and David.  (Read 1 Samuel 31 and 2 Samuel 1).

1.       His armor bearer.  His armor bearer saw him as someone not to kill, because he was afraid, of killing Yahweh’s anointed, and yet his fear leads to him killing himself.

2.       The Philistines.  They see Saul and Yahweh’s anointed against them, and so they celebrate his death and mock him.

3.       The people of Jabesh Gilead.  They run a marathon in which the middle they steal 4 dead bodies from an enemy city and run the second half uphill while carrying four dead bodies in order to give honor to Saul.

4.       An Amalekite.  He brings David the crown and armlet,  seeing Saul as disposable, not as one to fear.  Saul may bring him profit.

5.       David.  Though Saul was trying to kill him, he wept for Saul, whom he loved and saw as Yahweh’s anointed.

Which one of those five is it a dead giveaway that they saw Saul as their savior? 

From the Jabesh Gilead point of view:  Read 1 Samuel 11.    Imagine yourselves in the position of the people of Jabesh Gilead.  Your city is surrounded by Nahash (the Snake in Hebrew) and the Ammonites.  It has come to the point where you are willing to make a treaty with Nahash and serve him.  He says, only if you all gouge out your right eyes, and bring disgrace on Israel.  The enemy wants to keep us in bondage, and so the treaties that Satan, the snake offers us, are treaties of bondage, the freedoms he offers us are anti-freedoms.

The people of Jabesh Gilead did not like this treaty so they called for help.  People heard them, yes, and cried, yes, but were not prepared to help save them. 

Then Saul heard it, and the Spirit of God came on him, and he delivered them from Nahash.

Did Saul save the people of Jabesh Gilead?  It is a dead giveaway, for they risked their lives for his corpse that the Philistines hung up for all to see in mockery.

Has Jesus Christ saved you from anything?  Is it a dead giveaway?  How?  Are you running into the arms of Jesus Christ?  How can I run into his arms, they are not real. . . “not real”. . .

Jesus arms were really hung on the cross, hung up to be mocked like Saul.  Jesus did not stay dead, but his body, including his arms, were raised really from the dead. 

If Saul’s death did not stop the people of Jabesh Gilead from running to his arms, even though his head was decapitated and he was a half marathon away in an enemy city, does the fact that Jesus arms are not within sight stop us from running into his arms.  His arms are real.  Are we running into them?

How do we run into the arms of Jesus Christ?

Intimate prayer.  We spend time talking and listening.

Ask Jesus to tell you what he has delievered you from.  If you can’t think of anything, here is a partial list of things he delivers us from: Jesus saves us from. . .

Our sins (Matt. 1:21).

The Evil One (Matt. 6:13).

This crooked generation (Acts 2:40).

The wrath of God (Rom. 5:9).

This body of death (Rom. 7:24).

The Law of Sin and Death (Rom. 8:2).

The present evil age (Gal. 1:4).

The domain of darkness (Col. 1:13).

The wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10).

Every evil deed (2 Tim. 4:18).

Ask Jesus to tell us what you need to be delivered from.  Confess that to Jesus.  Ask him for deliverance and run away from it into his arms.

His arms are the body of Christ.  As we meet together in worship of Jesus together we make it a dead giveaway that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

IDEA:  Run into the arms of Jesus by thanking him for what he has delivered you from and confessing what you need delivered from, and by running into the arms of the Church and worshipping him together.  That makes it a dead giveaway to the world that He truly is our Savior. 

Mirrors

In reading some of Caesar Milan’s dog training (human training) books, I have been struck by this truth.  Our dogs are mirrors of us.  As I have pondered this, and even more piercing point struck my heart – our children are mirrors of us.  Why does my son or daughter get angry?  Manipulate?  Act overly excited?  Many times they have picked this up by imitating us.  They live with us.  They go on walks with us.  They eat with us.  If there is any fear in us, it will be in them.  If there is any resentment in us, it will be in them.  Children and dogs both seem to be like sponges that soak up whatever we are full of. 

With my dogs one thing I have yet to master is the walk.  Caesar tells me I must have calm-assertive energy.  Caesar tells me my dogs are mirroring me.  They lunge after the squirrel, they bark at the other dogs, and they freak out when people are on bicycles.  They are with their master, but they have decided there are other things in the world that distract them, that make them go on paths that the master is not going on.  The energy that they are soaking up in me must not be calm and assertive.  Maybe my energy is distracted energy.  What am I full of?  And if my dogs and my children mirror me, who am I to mirror? 

I imagine going on a walk with Jesus and looking always to Him and always focusing my energy on him, mirroring who He is.  I imagine not taking one step ahead of where he is going, but only walking the steps He steps, and stopping when He stops, always looking to Him.  And then I imagine myself distracted by other things, by other would be masters of my life, money, work, pleasure, sin, and things of this world.  I realize that unlike my dogs, the fault is not with the Master, but with me, the follower.  He is all the Master I will ever need.  I need nothing new or big or exciting.  I need to walk ever and only with my Master, mirroring Him with all that I am, for every moment of the rest of my life.

Idea:  Imagine walking with your Master, Jesus Christ, keeping pace with Him, never ahead, and never behind, mirroring the love and peace and hope and power that He has and is.  Looking to him the whole day even as a dog looks to its master.