How the mighty have fallen

Isaiah Chapter 13

I'm not sure why there's a jump from Israel-Syria-Assyria to Babylon, but here we have a prophecy for the kingdom of Babylon. And it's not a good one.

I learned a little about Babylon in a world history class in middle school.  It was a big kingdom, very powerful, and they created a certain irrigation system called the hanging gardens, which let them make beautiful gardens in Babylon. Pretty amazing, yeah?

Well, I guess all of this got to their heads, because according to this passage, they were very prideful. (v. 19, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans).  On top of that, of course they were a nation that didn't believe in God.  Rather, they had many gods.  So God tells Isaiah that He's going to destroy them.

"The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle... They come from a distant land... Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them... And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorroah when God overthrew them." (Isa 4b,5a,17a 19)

So I feel that the point of this passage is to show that even if people look really successful, if they don't believe in God, they will fail someday-maybe sooner or maybe later... That's what I understood.

Favorites from Proverbs 3

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding
In all your ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct your paths.

My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
or be weary of His reproof
for the LORD reproves him whom He loves
as a father the son in whom he delights

Salvation

Isaiah 12

"You will say in that day:
I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away 
that you might comfort me..." (v 1)

I thought this was really cool. Isaiah just finished talking about the coming(s) of Jesus, and this next passage opens up like this.  "For though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me." The rest of the chapter is about the Lord being strength and salvation.

Once again, the immediate reference is to Israel celebrating their salvation from Assyria, but after that Jesus passage, we can also see this passage with that lens too, because that is what the Gospel is:

Because we were sinners, we deserved to stay away from God forever and suffer.  However, "though God was angry with us, His anger turned away" because He loves us so much. That's why Jesus died to take the punishment we deserve, so that we can be with God.

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

JESUS!!!!

Isaiah 11

Isaiah starts talking about a branch or shoot coming from the stump of Jesse. Genealogically speaking, this person will come from the line of King David.  And this person will have the Spirit of Lord. He will be righteousness and because of Him, there will be peace on the whole planet, even among animals!  Then it goes on to say that all of the nations will stop fighting and He will rule the world.

This is pretty amazing stuff. As a Christian, I can see that this is Jesus we're talking about. But if we stop and think, kids still don't generally play with snakes, and wolves don't generally hang out with sheep, unless they're planning on eating them. There are definitely still wars and pain and suffering going on.  If Jesus is this person, why all of this?

The answer is that this part has not been accomplished yet.  Something similar happens in Isaiah 61. The person in the passage is there to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of God's vengeance. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus is in a synagogue, and He reads the first part of this, declaring that He is here to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he stops and says "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." He hadn't come to proclaim vengeance yet, but the Lord's favor. Similarly, back to Isaiah 11, this time of peace has not come yet.  These things will happen when Jesus comes back.  The prophets saw both comings, but since it wasn't clear, they saw it as one.  This drawing explains it a bit.

So what I'm taking away today is that even from before the time of Jesus, we know that Jesus will end all fighting and pain and suffering and bring peace. And now we know that He will do that when He comes back.

What was wrong with tonight's sermon

As described in my other blog, tonight I went to a church and I was not impressed with the sermon. At all. It started ok, as he opened with familiar statements like "Life is fine, until you talk about Jesus," and "Life is full of trouble." Then he started to talk about Joy.  It was a very interactive sermon, and he had us repeat many phrases of his, like "Joy is important." That didn't bother me. What bothered me was that he had not opened his Bible and he was 20 minutes in.  He began going through the scientific evidence that laughter is good for you.  "1 minute of laughter is as refreshing as 45 minutes of relaxation." "Smiling alleviates infirmity faster than medicine." And his repeat-after-me take-aways were getting just as cheesy. "Tell your neighbor laughing is good for him." "A smile is cheaper than aspirin."

When he finally opened the Bible, he started reading out of Habakuk and Deuteronomy, out of Psalms and Proverbs.  A lot of what he read he took out of context.  Proverb 17:22 says "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Well, the preacher then started to talk about how he knew a depressed woman whose bones dried up so that she couldn't walk.  He read out of Deuteronomy 28:47-48 saying something like "because you did not serve the Lord with gladness.... you will be destroyed."  This passage was geared towards Israel at that point of time, but he applied it to everyone, and while it's true that you should serve the Lord with gladness, he was missing the point here.

What bothered me the most was that his whole sermon was how to use Joy to triumph over crises in life.  There was virtually no talk of Jesus or the Gospel. Just Joy. And on top of that, he was really describing happiness rather than joy, with his statistics on smiling and laughing. It was frustrating to say the least.

The bottom line is, he was not delving into the Word, and because of that, he is misleading many people.

Keep Calm and Trust God, pt 3

Isaiah 10:20-34

So Israel is going to be slave to Assyria because even though they hoped Assyria would wipe out their foes, Assyria took them prisoner too. In this passage, Isaiah is prophesying that one day, what's left of Israel will return from captivity. He points out the deja vu in v. 24: "..do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did."

Israel will have to be invaded, this is a consequence for not trusting in God. But God promises to "wield against [Assyria] a whip" and to save the remnant of Israel. He says that the survivors "will no more lean on him who struck him, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel."

In a way, all of this is saying that even in the midst of Judgement and destruction, God has a plan in motion and you should trust Him.

JUDGEMENT!

Isaiah 9:8-10:19

In this passage, Isaiah is describing the judgement that is falling on Israel and Syria for being arrogant and trying to work together to invade Israel.  God says he will use Assyria to punish them.  And Assyria does come to conquer.  However, Assyria's leader is also arrogant.  He thinks he took over because of his own greatness.  So God will put him in his place too.

Judgement is a word that made me nervous.  Sometimes it still does.  Someday God is going to judge me! But just before panic sets in, I remember that Jesus has made me innocent.  Because of Jesus, I don't have to be afraid of Judgement. He justified me so that I could start to become like Him.  Thank you Jesus.