Author Archives: RB3

All glory to God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ

Please turn to the book of John and we will explore verses 7 and 8.

Before we start, let us review what we have learned so far in this book of John. We know that John was among the 12, with his brother James, chosen as Disciples of Jesus Christ. These two were chosen while in their father’s boat, and this disciple was known simply as the one whom Jesus loved. He wrote this book while a very old man and also wrote John 1, John 2 and John 3 along with the book of Revelation.

The first 5 verses are;
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

So, we know this speaks of Christ, of our Savior being eternal and being the agent of creation. He is the Light of men, and that Light overcomes darkness, the darkness of men’s souls before they are drawn to the Light.

Last week we discovered the other John in the Bible. John the Baptist, whose birth was foretold in a prophecy by Isaiah 600 years before his coming.

John, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth was destined, by the hand of God, to be the herald of the coming of the Messiah, and apart from Christ himself, is probably the most theologically significant figure in the Gospels. And you may ask, why is that? Jesus said of him in Luke 7:28, “I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.”

His birth was meticulously recorded ( Luke 1:5-25 ). His entrance into the world was marked by angelic proclamation and divine intervention ( Luke 1:57-80 ). John’s birth not only parallels that of Jesus, but echoes the momentous occasion of the birth of Isaac to Abraham and Sarah ( Gen 17:15-22 ; 21:1-7 ).

Although his formative years were lived in obscurity in the desert, this is found in Luke 1:80, And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

His public ministry ended nearly four hundred years of prophetic silence. John was that voice crying in the wilderness preparing the way for the coming Messiah, referred to in
Isaiah 40:3, A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

In this sense his message and ministry marked the culmination of the law and the prophets, but heralded the coming of the kingdom of God. So John was truly a transitional figure, forming the link between the Old and New Testaments.

Today’s discussion, verses 7 and 8 reads as follows.

John 1:7-8
7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

So this man was foretold by Isaiah hundreds of years before his birth. He came as a witness of the coming of the Lamb of God. John was an end-times prophet. The original end time prophet. An image comes to mind of a scruffy man in a beard standing near a busy highway, shaking a cardboard sign at cars, with the words Repent Now For The End Is Nigh. John the Baptist is who they are emulating. He conducted his ministry with divine authority that demanded immediate action. He taught that judgment is at hand. The axe is laid to the roots and God will thoroughly purge his threshing floor

Matt 3:10-12
10 The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
12 His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Luke 3:9
9 Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:17
17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

And the true repentance was evidenced in very practical terms: share with those in need, eliminate graft, and prohibit extortion.

Luke 3:11-14
11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
12 And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

But today’s verses deal with witnessing of the Light, not clearing the threshing room floor or burning the chaff, although that is much needed in today’s society as it was back then.

The terms “witness” or “to testify” receive special attention in the gospel, reflecting the courtroom language of the Old Testament where the truth of a matter was to be established on the basis of multiple witnesses

Here are a few examples of witness in the scripture.

The Samaritan woman: John 4:29 Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”
She witnessed to the headmen of her village as to this amazing man she just met.

The works of Jesus: John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
Jesus is witnessing to his people, the Jews, who incredibly, do not believe him.

The Father: John 5:32-37 There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

Witness of John:
John 5:33-35 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
35 He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.

Witness of Works:
John 5:36 But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.

Witness again of the Father:
John 5:37 And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.

We now see what it means to witness, according to God’s word. How do we bring that lesson back here to July 1st 2020? How do you witness or testify to somebody? Your family, your friends, people you meet. Maybe on a street corner with a cardboard sign?

I am doing that right now, to you, as to the truth and inerrancy of the Bible. It is a frightening concept to step out of your comfort zone. John was able to do it in a forthright manner, because the Holy Spirit was within him while in the womb. True believers also have the Holy Spirit within them. My question to you is do you feel the Holy Spirit within you? If you are a believer, one drawn to the Light, you have that same capability of testifying that John did. Ours is not a timid God. Use the gifts that God has given you.

John knew that he was not the Light ( John 1:8 ) but he was sent to bear witness of that Light, and you too can and should bear witness of that Light. That Light that has changed your life. Being a believer should show. Not in a splashy prosperity preacher style, but in gentleness of spirit, in hospitality, in a kind word and most importantly obedience to His word. Those are the works of the spirit.

There is so much fear in this world, but what is fear to a child of the God who created all? And that God loves you and has your back. How do we know this? Because He sent his only begotten Son to die on the cross and be raised again on the third day that we may live. Go forth and be witnesses of the Light.

Now while you are mentally chewing on that, I will give you another thing to chew on. I ran across Pastor John Piper’s quote on the Covid virus and really liked it. “This is not a season for sentimental views of God. It is a bitter season. And God ordained it. God governs it. He will end it. No part of it is outside his sway. Life and death are in his hand.”
You see, there is simply no room for “I have Faith, but..”.

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Pet. 1:2

All glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

Turn to John chapter 1. Today we will studying verse 6.

6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

It is at this point I need to make a very clear distinction. To my knowledge, there are only three Johns in the Bible. The first would be John Mark or the Apostle Mark. The Apostle Mark was rarely called by his first name John. The second would be the Apostle John son of Zebedee. The Apostle John who wrote the Book of John, First John, Second John and Third John and the Book of Revelation. And the last would be John the Baptist, who is the topic of our discussion in verse 6. So to be clear, John the Baptist is not John the Apostle, son of Zacharias. John the Baptist never wrote anything in the bible; his job was to herald the coming of the Lamb of God.. So let’s find out who John the Baptist was and what he did.

We turn to Luke 1 and find out the unusual circumstances of John the Baptist’s birth. Luke is where we get most, if not all of our information about John the Baptist’s birth.

Luke 1
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20 And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.

22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.

23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,

25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

A couple thoughts on this. First, how God uses attributes of us as unmistakable signs to all. It is well known that people of advanced age do not have babies, yet Abraham and Sarah did and now Zacharias and Elizabeth have also been used as a mighty symbol by our God to show them and us that he is Sovereign Over All. We need to remember this in these days of panic and uncertainty. Both couples were of an advanced age and had a child, by the Grace of God. Both children ushered in something new and wonderful. Isaac fulfilled the prophecy of the Jews and the lineage of Jesus and John foretold of the coming of Christ and our salvation.

Next thought would be Elijah. The angel Gabriel spoke of this in Verse 17 of Luke 1.

17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

We now turn to Malachi.
Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

Also in Isaiah 40:3
A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

So we find that Elijah will come before the Lamb of God comes, to restore the hearts of the children to their fathers so that God would not come and smite their land with a curse. The Pharisees knew this and that is why they asked John “who are you?” That part is coming in a later part of this chapter.

In the time of Jesus, messianic expectation was never far from the surface, and speculation was that both John the Baptist and Jesus were the reappearances of ancient biblical figures.

In Matthew 16:13–16
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

We come now to the angel Gabriel. At first I thought he had not been given a sense of irony or humor, but now I think Zacharias’ silence was to be used as another mighty sign.

We continue with John’s story.

Luke 1:57-80
57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.”

62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished.

64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

And Zacharias praised the Lord for the birth of his son and has a prophecy.

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—

70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;

72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,

73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;

77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,

78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

I call this a good start to understanding this man sent from God, whose name was John.

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Pet. 1:2

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

Let us turn to John 1

John 1: 1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Apostle John – known simply as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John never refers to himself in his own gospel, except as the one whom Jesus loved. Early Church fathers consistently identify him as John. In fact, Polycarp, an early Church father, was an actual disciple of John. Polycarp lived from 70 to 160 AD and testified that John wrote his gospel in the city of Ephesus, which is in Asia Minor, when John was at an advanced age. John was aware of what was written in the other gospels, and the Holy Spirit compelled him to write a spiritual gospel. They believe John to have died around 100 AD and to the best of my knowledge, he did not die a martyr, which would make him the only one of the disciples not to have been a martyr.

We find an interesting reference to this in John 21.
Our Lord is calling Peter to task. Peter, as Peter always does, is being a bit rebellious, but had finally accepted what Jesus had been asking him, which was “Tend my Sheep” and “Follow Me!”
Jesus then tells Peter that his path to follow would be a hard one. I think that maybe there might be a bit of tension between John and Peter. This was before the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell them (Acts 2:3), when all lessons by Christ were understood and the Love that Christ commanded them to have for each other took hold.

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Getting back to our Peter story, we find this in John 21:20-23

20 Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

21 So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”

22 Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

(I find I share a lot of the mule-headedness that Peter had.)

Jesus met John and his brother James, while they were in their father’s boat, mending nets. They both immediately got up and followed Jesus.

Matthew 4:21-22

21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.

22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Both of them were called the Sons of Thunder by Jesus. And we can see perhaps an example of this.

Luke 9:51-55

51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;

52 And He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.

53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.

54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

They were a tad zealous in how they approached things. We also know that John and his brother came from an ambitious family. Their Mother approached Jesus and asked of Him something He could not grant.

Matthew 20:20-28

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.”

23 He *said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

All of the disciples were wrangling for more honor and glory in what they perceived to be Jesus’s mission here on earth. It was of their nature, because they were born of sin, as we ourselves are.

Review:

This first chapter of John starts out in something that causes awe in me.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There is no reference in the Bible as to Jesus being called the Word of God, but we do find in John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So the Bible ends up explaining itself. Jesus was there in the beginning, with God and also being God. Our Trinity is one God with 3 persons. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Sometimes hard to wrap our head around it, but that’s where Faith comes in.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

Again to reinforce the concept, Jesus was there, in the beginning, before time and the universe as we understand it, began. The Word, as Jesus, enjoyed all the splendors of heaven and eternity with the Father, yet He came down to earth in the form of man and died on the cross, emptying Himself, so that we who believe might live. A gift too awesome to really understand.

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus Christ was God the Father’s agent in creating everything in the universe.

Colossians 1:16-17

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Hebrews 1:2,4

2 In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

Light and life are qualities of the Word that are shared not only among the Godhead as found in John 5:26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

But also by those that respond to the gospel message regarding Jesus Christ.
Found in John 8:12, 9:5, 10:28, 11:25, 14:6. John uses the word “life” 36 times in his gospel. More than any other gospel.

5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble.

Just as a single candle can overcome a room full of darkness, the powers of darkness are overcome by the work of the Son, through his death on the cross.

Numbers 6:22-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

All Glory to God the Father

I am going to call this the “Come to Jesus” edition of Wednesday Bible Study for obvious reasons as we proceed. I have struggled with this since last week, which ironic as I know that for at least some of you, the last Bible Study is gone from your mind.

So let me recapp to bring us all up to speed. Last week was Isaiah 58 and in the course of my reading the scripture and my commentary of such, I happened to touch on what some might call my favorite hobby horse, I am talking about ELCA and the role of women in the church. Every time I do this, I notice quite a few pinched faces around the table. For some it is the mention of the ELCA and for others, it is the mention of women and sometimes it’s both. And I am getting the impression that you, those with the pinched faces, are thinking of me as a bit of a misogynist.

The end of last week’s Bible Study had a different tone however, and it opened my eyes. The rest of that day I was shaking my head and that led to prayers to the Lord for wisdom on how to handle this. Now, I don’t have a direct communication line to God, He deals with me as He deals with everybody else. Typically I will get answers, by what shows up in my YouTube feed, what I end up clicking on, that sort of thing. If you hadn’t noticed, I truly believe in God’s control of all and I do mean all.

Happily, my prayers were answered and it came in two parts. Part one was to point out the sin with authority, and the second part was Genesis 3:16, which is the curse of Eve. Unhappily, this turns out to be a hard message.

Now I know the way of our group and by extension most of Minnesota, would rather sweep things under the rug when disagreements pop up. Pretend to forget they happened and go on with life.

Except when souls are involved. I am not an ordained pastor, nor am I an elder of the Church, nope, none of that. I got asked to teach this bible study, so now I am a teacher, and as a teacher I am way more accountable to God than I have ever been. We see in the Bible that James thought it not always wise to to become one who taught the word of God.

James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

So let’s get to the matter at hand. Please turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 2 and I will show you where I get my wacky ideas about church and women from.

1 Timothy 2:7-15
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
10 but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

https://bible.org/seriespage/what-does-it-mean-not-teach-or-have-authority-over-men-1-timothy-211-15
This is a long and very detailed look at 1 Timothy 2, specifically verses 11 and 12. Their analysis was this: Therefore, we must conclude that the restrictions imposed by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12 are valid for Christians in all places and all times.

Do they believe?

We come to our first bump in the road, Bible Inerrancy.
The Bible claims to be the very word of God. If God is God, He does not make mistakes. If the Bible is breathed out by God, there cannot be “minor errors” in details of history. If the Bible contains such errors, it can hardly be the work of a perfect God. And if God is not perfect and totally trustworthy, God is not God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

Do they believe?

Now let’s deal with the other elephant in the room. In 1847 the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church was founded by German immigrants to combat what they saw as the liberalization of Lutheranism in America. It turns out they were way ahead of their time.

The ELCA was formed in 1988 and counted 5.2 million members. It was a merger of 3 churches: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America.

They had long been pressured by Europe to accept the inevitable. Finnish female pastors had told them they were decades behind the times.

So they formed committees and enlisted the help of liberal theologian scholars who turned out to be very flippant with Paul’s instructions for the church. Of course feminism by the women in the committees played a role in this, which is nothing new, at all. In the bible, Jezebel was a big proponent of feminism. Do you remember how God dealt with this woman? She was thrown out a window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs. Fortunately for us, God slowed way down on doing that kind of thing since Jesus was here.

So the ELCA choose to opened their doors to the world, because the world had changed and was demanding that women have their rightful place, their full civil rights and that naturally meant that they go ahead and ordain women as pastors, then bishops. A bishop is in control of 50 congregations and they have the authority to vote, representing those 50 congregations.

I remind you at this point that in the entire Old Testament, there was never a woman as priest. In the New Testament, never a woman as priest or elder. We have God’s will for the church as defined by Him and that was good for at least 4000 years and now because we are so dang smart and know so much, God’s will no longer applies.

This also brings us to the Genesis 3:16 part of the program. The curse of Eve, but really it is much more than that. Eve was deceived by satan, and ate from the Tree of Knowledge. She was persuaded that God was holding something good back from her. Adam had learned that when he perceived his need, God would provide for that need. Our daily bread so to speak. This was the beginnings of Faith, which was the intent of God, for us to have Faith in Him.

The devil comes along and upends Adam and Eve’s faith that God would provide their needs. That God was good and loved them. No, says the serpent, eat from this tree and you will not die, you will know what God knows and won’t that be great? Now the divine order of life has been upset, with satan leading Eve and Eve leading Adam.
God had been cut out of that loop. God then hands out justice, Eve gets a 2 part curse. Pain in childbirth and the desire for her husband, and her husband will rule over her. How is desire for her husband a curse, you ask? Well when it is used in this context in Hebrew, it is also used in the same context in:

Genesis 4:7.
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Here God is talking to Cain and the desire spoken about here is also used in the same context as Eve’s desire, so this desire is one to overthrow or dominate, rather than loving desire. Eve will seek to assert her dominance over her mate, to be its leader like when she ate from the Tree of Life. And of course people argue over this, but the Hebrew is pretty clear. If you have Faith in the Lord, believe in the Bible as His Living Word, thereby acknowledging His divine will. God, then Man, then Woman is how He intends His order of authority to be. This is also why those led by satan dispute this.

https://bible.org/seriespage/5-fall-man-gods-perfect-plan
Another long and detailed study of the fall of Man and God’s perfect will.

So, is it any surprise when you open the church doors to the world, who do you suppose wanders in? Lucifer, probably with a smile on his face and rubbing his hands together with delight. This came about due to their belief that the Bible is not inerrant. They say they believe in the God of the Bible, but not the bible itself, because it was written by sinful men. No mention of the Holy Spirit working with these sinful men, which all men and women are, producing the God-Breathed words by their hands with His authority.

Matthew 12:31
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
The definition of Blasphemy:
The crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.
Irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc.

I don’t know if this qualifies as blasphemy for saying only sinful men wrote and copied the scripture, but from my reading the bible and understanding how God hates sin, I would be very careful.

ELCA Bishops say they only believe in the God of the Bible
ELCA pastor Jerry O’Neal writes, “To those who say, ‘But you don’t believe in the Bible?’ No, I don’t. As our former presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, once said, ‘I don’t believe in the Bible – I believe in the God revealed in the Bible.’ The Bible is NOT inerrant. It contains clear contradictions in places…

In 2003 a Lutheran for Life web article we find this: “A member of the ELCA inquired of the Board of Pensions as to whether they would pay for an abortion for the purpose of sex selection. The board stated that they would pay for an abortion for that purpose. The secretary of the ELCA confirmed this conclusion.”

They also have an AbortionSS_Summary.pdf that states in which “A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born…”

Now we move on to 2009 where the ELCA voted, and it passed the vote, to ordain LGTBQ pastors. They also will marry gay couples. At this point, ELCA membership had dropped to 3.2 million members

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

God is very clear on this.

And a  funny thing started happening when these female Bishops got together. They started referring to the Holy Spirit as she.
https://religionnews.com/2018/07/25/new-elca-female-synod-bishops-talk-metoo-religious-left-what-lutheran-looks-like/

We saw this ourselves at Beckville Church, which we used to belong to. The pastor called the children up for a children’s story and said “Since God is genderless, today let’s call her she.” We have never been back after this.

Matthew 18:6
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Let us turn to Romans 1

It is clear to me when they opened their doors to the world satan began to lead them.

We just read Romans 1:18-32 and it seems to be their guiding principle, not to mention how they ignore “Thou shall not kill.”

Let me summarize, there was a lot of information here and in case you nodded off for a bit…

The ELCA is in direct contravention to God’s will on the Headship of His church and family. God chose Man to lead. Genesis 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:8-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34-36

The ELCA says they believe in the Bible, but their Bishops say no, only the God of the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
You will find, when looking at the ELCA information on the web, they will talk out both sides of their mouth.

The ELCA, with its female pastors and Bishops, is changing the gender of the Holy Spirit and is corrupting children in thinking God is genderless, so again, female.
Ephesians 4:4-6, Matthew 28:13, John 15:26 and many more. Plus Jesus’s warning of sinning against the Holy Spirit.

The ELCA is ordaining and marrying gay/lesbian people. The Bible calls this an abomination.
Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27

The ELCA will provide money to pay for abortions to their membership, with their health plan.
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

You may be incredulous to my claims, but I remind you that I am accountable to God and I take that very seriously. So, this is the Come to Jesus moment. Go where your heart leads you. Repent and accept Jesus as your Savior, Lord and King.

I recommend that we all pray for the members of the ELCA, that their hearts would be softened and they would come back to Jesus.

Questions?

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 58 and go through it.

1 “Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.

God is using Isaiah as a trumpet to sound out a warning. Our preachers of this day need to sound the trumpet like this prophet of old. The people were lost to their transgressions and needed a stern call to wake them up. Those that would listen were vastly outnumbered by those whose hearts were hardened by sin.

We find the whole world today is in even worse condition than the house of Jacob in their day. Sin is running rampant. God will not sit idly by and let this happen. The preachers who are not sounding a warning to their people will be responsible for the sins of the people God has given them to minister to. This is why it is so important to find a good church. Do not sit idly by while the church you’ve gone to most of your life has changed, welcoming in the world of compromise and universalism. What’s the harm, you think. I am going to church and that makes me a good person and right with God. As to the first assertion:

Mark 10:17-18
As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

Romans 7:18
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

Mark 7:21-23
21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

And many more scripture verses attest to man’s heart not being good.

Therefore, how is it you can think of yourself as a good person, in any sense, and think that you are pleasing God by going to a church that does not preach from the scripture, that says only Love comes from our God and He accepts all people, just as they are, yellow, black and white along with lesbian, gay and queer?
You can be any combination of these things and come to church and be accepted, but don’t expect to remain in that condition. Now you can’t do anything about your color, but every other thing about you will change when you accept the Lord as your King and Savior. But there are churches out there that are fine with you being what you are. And what you are is an unsaved sinner in the thrall of satan. These churches want bodies in the door, money in the collection plate and the acceptance of the world for being a welcoming place for everybody.

How do you think our Lord feels about His church, His bride, bowing to the world, letting satan set the tone of how worship will be done? Didn’t He die on the cross, to remove the sin from men’s hearts, to save us from the justice of burning in the lake of fire, which is each one of our just rewards, if Christ had not sacrificed Himself for our benefit and salvation? And this is how we show our appreciation? The clay is getting pretty brazen.

2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.

Israel was merely “going through the motions.” Their appearance of righteousness was mere pretense. I do believe that this is what I was just talking about. Are you just going through the motions? With your church life, possibly with life in general? Is it too much work to change? If so, you lack the energizing power of God’s presence in your life. Any time you find a task or a period of time in your life that is too much, too hard to handle, go to the Lord. Ask His forgiveness for your lack of Faith and while you are still on your knees and praying, ask Him for more Faith and the strength to get through that which seems too much. We who have so much and have it so good, in comparison to the rest of the world and the past, we who have the convenience of living good, find it rather hard to humble ourselves and go to the Lord for His Mercy and Grace.

These Jews of old were just going through the motions, like many of us are. They were going through the formality of serving God, but their hearts were not in it. They were honoring God by keeping the ordinances, but they really did not honor Him in their hearts.

Jesus called this type of person “whited walls” and that is interesting because I just ran across this in Acts 23. Paul was held before the Sanhedrin and said something that the High Priest took umbrage with. Paul called the High Priest a “white-washed wall” in response to being struck due to the High Priest’s command.
It is an idiom that means a dirty wall which has been made to look clean. We find that some churches today are so formal in their worship, that there is no Spirit. Ritualistic service is not what God wants. He wants our hearts.

3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.

The type of fasting they were doing here was a waste of their time. This fasting was just a show for the world. It was as if they were saying, I have fasted now, what are you going to do for me in return, God? It was as if it was a tradeoff. Speaking of the Jews here, they felt that God had not kept His bargain with them if He did not immediately reward them for fasting.

I write this Bible Lesson on Monday. Our church has a fast day on the last day of the month. Now I don’t know how many people fast in our church, my thinking is not that many, but not my concern. I have fasted on the last day of the month, I figure that I have been truly blessed and it is such a small thing to do for the Lord. Last month I was sick during that week and did not fast, this month the fast was for Saturday, but life intruded. We attended a birthday party for my wife’s cousin. He is 64, but it was his 16th birthday, because of it being on a leap year. His father also was born on a leap year and family gatherings are a true treasure of fellowship and love and food to boot, so I did not fast that day. The next day was Sunday and I could have fasted that day, but it was the Lord’s day and I wanted to focus on that. So, Monday was my fast day and lo and behold, Isaiah is talking about fasts. Pagans would call that a coincidence, but I smile and know that is how God works in my life. Little things that keep pointing you in the right direction. Our God is an awesome God and rules from Heaven above. You know the song.

4 “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

This is what Jesus had to say about fasting.
Matthew 6:16-18
“Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face
18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?

The answer to this is no. This is not what God wishes. God does not just want a man to go through the formality of bowing his head to Him. He does not even want you to tear your clothes, and throw sand on your head. God wants you to have a humble heart. He wants your heart and mind upon Him.

The acceptable fast to God is total dedication to Him from your heart. God is not interested in an outward show. He wants you to truly love Him in your heart.

6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?

Fasting is the discipline of abstaining from food for biblical reasons. It is called “afflicting one’s soul” (verse 3), and is often practiced to demonstrate the sincerity of our prayers.

There are several biblical reasons for fasting. Christians should fast when facing a national crisis (2 Chron. 20:3; Ezra 8:21; Esther 4:16),
for individual needs (Matt. 17:21),
during periods of distress (2 Sam. 3:35; Psalm 35:13),
when facing spiritual decisions (Matt. 4:2; Acts 13:2),
and in anticipation of Christ’s return (Luke 5:35).

Many people have found that heavy burdens are relieved through fasting (Isaiah chapter 58), wisdom is obtained through fasting (Dan. 10), revival comes from fasting (verse 6), God’s protection from danger is secured by fasting (1 Kings 21:27-29), recovery of a sick loved one may come after fasting (Psalm 35:13), and the inauguration of a great ministry may follow fasting (Matt. 4:2).

When a Christian fasts, he should begin with a short fast, one day from sundown to sundown, and attempt to spend time alone with God during the fast. (Isa. 58:6; James 5:14).

God is saying in this, if your heart is right with Me, set the captives free. Stop laying burdens on others too heavy to bear. Break every yoke you have placed on others. Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Love your neighbor as yourself. Above all, Love God with your whole heart. This is the acceptable fast to God.

7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Jesus said it this way. “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these thy brethren, you have done it unto me”. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked. Help those who cannot help themselves. Help those of your own family who are the family of God.

8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

When Israel learned the proper way to fast, she would enjoy the blessings of salvation and the Messiah’s kingdom.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

When you are full of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are full of His Light, for He is the Light of the world. This is that new life in Christ that we speak of.

Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

It is not necessary to tell people you belong to God, when you have Christ living in you. They will know it by the life you live.

9 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,

If we go before God renouncing all our sins, and desirous of doing our duty, then we have a right to expect that he will hear us. But if we go indulging still in sin; if we are false and hollow and hypocritical in our worship; or if, while we keep up the regular forms of devotion, we are nevertheless guilty of oppression, cruelty, and dishonesty, we have no right to expect that he will hear us.

10 And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.

When you have love and compassion for others and help them in their need, the Light of God within you becomes brighter and brighter. This Light does away with all darkness. To be possessed of the Light of Jesus Christ does away with all darkness.

11 “And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

God will not withhold any good thing from you, when you have a generous heart to others. He repays you in every way. You will prosper, and be in good health. You will not go hungry, or thirsty, because you have given to others.

Psalm 37:25 “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”

12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.

In view here is the final restoration of the millennial Jerusalem, of which Nehemiah’s rebuilding of the walls (Nehemiah 2:17), was only a foretaste.

Israel was in a terrible state at the time Isaiah wrote this. God will bring them back into the land and it will flourish, if they keep His commandments. This is, also, speaking of the time when the veil in the temple will be torn from the top to the bottom opening the way to God for all who will believe.

13 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,

Now, we see that the blessings of God will be upon Israel, if they obey God. If they follow in His ways, He will bless them. The promises made to Abraham which come down to them will be a blessing to them, if they will honor and respect God in all they do, all they say, and all they are in their hearts. One day in seven belonged to God.

In days past, Sunday would be just a day to work or do things you wanted to. It was about doing what we wanted to do. Now, having studied the scriptures, I see things in a vastly different light. The light of our Lord. There are those that say it to be used as a day of rest, rest from your work. I who do not work, need no rest from my labors. And even if I did, the Lord’s Day would now be different. How can it not be after reading the Bible? Honor the Lord, spend time with family and friends in fellowship and hospitality. Keep the Lord in your thoughts, as it shows trust in God that He will keep His promises.

14 Then you will take delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.

God had promised Abraham the land. He had also promised to bless all the nations of the world through him, if he remained faithful to God. His descendants had wandered away and gone after false gods, but God is renewing His pledge here.

He has forgiven them of the past errors, but they must be obedient to His Word and His ways. Whenever God promises anything, He will do it. He is not like a man, that He should lie.

God is Truth. All He asks is that they love Him and delight in Him. Again He says, if they keep His commandments, He will bless them. The other side of this is, if they do not obey Him, curses will follow.

That follows for us as well. Keep His commandments, Love Him, Honor Him, Give all Glory to Him and we will be blessed. Turn away, and we are in this country turning away constantly, and we will be cursed.

We talked just a bit about Calvinism last week and amongst 5 points of what people accept Calvinism to be is one called Unconditional Election and this seems to give many people a real problem. Unconditional Election is where God does not base His election on anything He sees in the individual. He chooses the elect according to the kind intention of His will.

This is supported by Ephesians 1:4-8:
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight.

Romans 9:11
For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls.

This is done without any consideration of merit within the individual. Nor does God look into the future to see who would pick Him. Also, as some are elected into salvation, others are not.

Romans 9:15
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”

Romans 9:21
Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

So, as you can imagine, the “others are not” gives those who have little regard or understanding of God’s sovereignty, a real fit. One of the men that brought Calvinism to my attention is Dr. Curt Daniel. He has a wonderful and very thorough lecture series on Calvinism at this URL: https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/histtheocalvin.html

He also has a story about a woman accosting him after one of his lectures, telling him that her god would never be that awful as to deliberately consign a person to hell. Dr. Daniel told her this story: He said that she is imagining that St. Peter’s gate to Heaven is being almost broken down by people thronging to get into Heaven. He said what is happening is God looks over St. Peter’s gate, which is almost empty, and sees the stampede to hell on a wide path. He picks people out of that crowd to be saved, according to His will.

That is found in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We will end with this from Number 6:24-26

24 The Lord bless you, and keep you;

25 The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;

26 The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn now to Isaiah 57.

1 The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart;
And devout men are taken away, while no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from evil,

The righteous are delivered from the sting of death, not from the stroke of it. The careless world disregards this. Few lament it as a public loss, and very few notice it as a public warning. They are taken away in compassion, that they may not see the evil, nor share in it, nor be tempted by it. The righteous man, when he dies, enters into peace and rest.

We have several examples in the Bible of men who were taken away by God. Can you think of any? The first one that comes to my mind is Enoch, a man that walked with God. Enoch was notable for his Faith and intimacy with God and for fathering Methuselah, who turned out to live longer than any other man. We find that after fathering Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years. We too can walk with God. It should be our desire every day.

It is written in Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

What must we have to please the Lord? What did Enoch have so much of that God desired to take him back to Heaven with him at the end of the day? It is Faith. Faith that God is there, looking after you, providing your daily sustenance, keeping you from evil, loving you even though you are a miserable sinner with no pleasing attributes. Faith is what gets you to Heaven, it is what pleases our Lord.

2 He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds,
Each one who walked in his upright way.

We know there will come a time when the believers in Christ will go to be with the Lord in heaven. Those left here on the earth will face the wrath of God.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

This is a time of peace which only the Lord can give, and it is for all the believers in Christ.

3 “But come here, you sons of a sorceress,
Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.

Isaiah is giving a description of the corrupt state of the Jewish Church, before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. The Lord here calls apostates and hypocrites to appear before him. When reproved for their sins, and threatened with judgments, they ridiculed the word of God. The Jews were guilty of idolatry before the captivity; but not after that affliction.

4 “Against whom do you jest?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
And stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of rebellion,
Offspring of deceit,

The idolatrous of Isaiah’s time, and the people of today, make fun of those who truly love God. False gods are liars. Those who worship false gods would be classified as children of transgression, and seed of falsehood.
They may criticize the believers now, but there is coming a day when they will wish they were believers. All will stand before God in judgment.

5 Who inflame yourselves among the oaks,
Under every luxuriant tree,
Who slaughter the children in the ravines,
Under the clefts of the crags?

This had been done by Ahaz:
2 Chronicles 28:3 Moreover, he burned incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of Israel.

While these Jews had run wild in their debauchery of idol worship and will pay the price for that sin on Judgement Day, all that was missing during their time in Babylon and after. They moved from idol worship to hardening their hearts when Jesus came to save them from their sins. The price is the same, the wages of sin is death.

6 “Among the smooth stones of the ravine
Is your portion, they are your lot;
Even to them you have poured out a drink offering,
You have made a grain offering.
Shall I relent concerning these things?

Just as the Nile River in Egypt was worshipped by the Egyptians, some of the people here had begun to falsely worship even the stones in the river. They had poured their offerings in the water, over these stones.

It can’t be stated enough, anything you can see with your eyes, is not to be worshipped. It is part of creation. We are not to worship creation, but the God who is Creator of it all.

7 “Upon a high and lofty mountain
You have made your bed.
You also went up there to offer sacrifice.

This is speaking of the worship in high places, which God had forbidden. The location of idol altars where Israel committed spiritual adultery in offering sacrifices.

Jeremiah 3:6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there.

Ezekiel 16:16 You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen.

8 “Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your sign;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made an agreement for yourself with them,
You have loved their bed,
You have looked on their manhood.

Many of the Israelites had begun to worship false gods in addition to worshipping Jehovah. It was as if they were covering every side. They did not truly know who to worship. They worshipped false gods to be sure they worshipped the right god. I ask is it any different today? What do you see on TV? What do you hear on the Radio? It is even worse on the Internet. We are giving those old Jews a run for their money when it comes to idol worship. I have 2 programs on my computer that block advertising and stop scripts from taking over my computer. I am astounded every time I work on someone else’s computer at what comes across the screen. I mention it to them and they are either indifferent to what they see or uncomprehending of what I am saying. I would have to say uncomprehending is the more common response. They think filth on their personal computer is the way it is supposed to be and don’t believe that I don’t see what they do.

9 “You have journeyed to the king with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have sent your envoys a great distance
And made them go down to Sheol.

Another example is again Ahaz, who called on the king of Assyria for help and spared no expense in copying the idolatry of Assyria.
2 Kings 16:7-8 ⁷ So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the ^[b]hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” ⁸ Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

We see in this, that these Israelites had no confidence in God. They went to earthly kings to help them. From past experience they should have known that all they had to do was repent of their evil ways, and call out to God, and He would help them.

The sad thing about all of this is that they actually debased God in the sight of these evil countries. When they went to others for help, it was as if they were saying God was not strong enough to help them.

10 “You were tired out by the length of your road,
Yet you did not say, ‘It is hopeless.’
You found renewed strength,
Therefore you did not faint.

Israel found that there is no hope in these earthly rulers. They were so proud that they did not, even then, come to God and ask for His help. Some of us, even today, hesitate to go to God with our problems. We try to work them out by ourselves, and that really does not work.
We have no power within ourselves, except what the Lord fills us with. Pride goeth before a fall.

11 “Of whom were you worried and fearful
When you lied, and did not remember Me
Nor give Me a thought?
Was I not silent even for a long time
So you do not fear Me?

The people feared false gods more than the true God to whom they played the hypocrite, trading on God’s patience.

We are to fear the Lord and Him only.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

To fear the world and its people is a sin. To be fearful is to be ranked with the unbelieving.

Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Fear of God is the only fear allowed; any other fear is the opposite of faith. These Israelites had feared the people around them more than they feared God. They had actually taken up idolatry, because of their fear of the world.

12 “I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
But they will not profit you.

God will break His silence by elaborating on Israel’s sham righteousness, a sarcastic way of saying they have no real righteousness. The folly of such devotion to non-existent gods will show up when judgment comes and they are all blown away, while the worshipers of the true God enjoy the blessings of the kingdom

13 “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind will carry all of them up,
And a breath will take them away.
But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land
And will possess My holy mountain.”

To fear the world is to deny the Lord. All the false gods in the world cannot help at all. An idol is a nothing. They are helpless. If you depend on a nothing, you will get no help.

Psalm 4:5 “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.”

When all else fails, God will not let you down. He is our very present help in trouble.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Those who have faith in the Lord are like faithful Abraham. Their faith is counted unto them for righteousness. All who have faith in the Lord, will inherit eternal life, and also will dwell in the Lord’s holy mountain.

14 And it will be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
Remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

The command is to remove all barriers to prepare the way for God’s people to return to Him. Jesus Christ is the Way. When we follow Him, we will have an open door to heaven and eternity. These Hebrews found the way open to Jerusalem, because God opened the way. Which we find in Nehemiah 2:

And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.
It’s a great story of trusting in the Lord, I recommend you read it tonight.

15 For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Psalms 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

16 “For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would grow faint before Me,
And the breath of those whom I have made.

God will not always be angry with His people. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All deserve to die. God sent His Son, while we were yet in sin. God made a plan whereby man could be saved. The wages of sin is death. The payment for sin is blood.

Jesus gave His blood on the cross to abolish our sin, that we might receive His righteousness and be saved. We must believe in His name, and that He paid the price for us. There is safety in accepting His name. God sent Jesus so that all of His creatures would not die. Jesus is our Way and our Life.

17 “Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on turning away, in the way of his heart.

One of the 10 commandments says, “Thou shalt not covet.” God would not overlook their covetousness. Not only did Judah covet, but it was the desire of their hearts to continue this evil. This angered God and this is one of the main reasons they were captives.

18 “I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,

Mourners are those who are grief stricken. God is a forgiving God. When they repent and change their ways, He forgives them. God is the Great Shepherd, who nudges the wandering sheep back into the fold. If they will follow Him, He will give them forgiveness and rest.

19 Creating the praise of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord, “and I will heal him.”

Other versions have “Fruit of the lips” and we find that in Hebrews 13:15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

And in Matthew 7:16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

I was going through a fairly intense study of the Doctrines of Grace last weekend and by extension the 5 points of Calvinism. Heady stuff. Calvin basically states that there is no free will when it comes to our Salvation. God, our Sovereign, our Creator, our Owner, by the Grace of His will, calls us and hands us off to His Son, who states that in the last day, “I will raise them up and give them eternal life.” That’s in John 6:40. Our vaunted free will has no say in the transaction. We do not own the deed to our own soul. Like I said, heady stuff. If anyone is interested in pursuing this, let me know.

20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
For it cannot be quiet,
And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

The wicked are those who reject the peace that only God can bring. They are so evil, they will not settle down long enough to receive this peace of God. They are restless and fearful. They are constantly fearing the things that are coming upon the earth. Nuclear War, asteroids striking the earth, wiping out all life. I shake my head at all of this. This will not happen unless God wants it that way. Yet most people will not listen when they are told to REPENT NOW for the End is nigh.

21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

The only peace is the peace that the believers have within them.

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 56 where we will find another short but powerful message coming from the lips of our prophet.

1 Thus says the Lord,
“Preserve justice and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come
And My righteousness to be revealed.

We are reminded here to keep God’s law. This is a reminder that should start with our waking thoughts and continue throughout the day. How many of you, at any time of the day, including the Lord’s Day, think about righteousness, let alone doing righteousness? We have a perception in this land of plenty that serving the Lord is a dreary job. Much like the monks of Luther’s time. Wake in a cold stone cell, trudge off to the sanctuary to chant morning prayers, read the bible, which was probably in Latin, so if you were a monk of low order, you would have to go to class and first learn how to read and then learn Latin from some scowling monk professor. I didn’t mention breakfast because it might be part of a fasting month and you get to eat when you are good and pious. Dreary dull work, and by work, I mean WORK.
We like our comforts, don’t we? Entertainment rules our free time. In fact entertainment is worshipped by many, many people with a zeal that they would never give to God. We just want to enjoy life and not be tied down to rules that say we can’t have fun.

As a counterpoint to this, I give you God’s side of the argument.
Malachi 4
1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.”
2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.
3 You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.
4 “Remember the law of Moses My servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel.
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.
6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

We want to have fun, enjoy life. God created us to glorify His name. He wants us to live righteous, holy lives that give him joy that we are doing His will. God no longer comes down and smites people like He did in the Old Testament. After Christ walked among us and was sacrificed for us, it is written in

Ephesians 1:20–23
“God raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places… He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

So you can be very, very thankful that God has decided to not come down and smite the wicked. The earth would be much like Noah after he dropped the ramp on his Ark and stepped off the boat. Very few righteous people and a whole lot of unused real estate. This whole argument can be summarized by the statement “I want to go to Heaven, but I don’t want to go right now.” It was said an old tired preacher was standing in the pulpit just before he was to give his sermon. He felt so used up and tired, he was sure it was time to pack it all in. So, he prayed to God to just take him and suddenly he started to feel a pain in his chest. He then quickly blurted out loud to God, “I am a fool Lord, don’t listen to me!” One can only wonder what the congregation thought. Probably not a real story but instructive all the same.
We come back to the question of why would we not want to do God’s will? Why do we only pick out the bad parts of the Bible to base our assumptions on? True joy is God’s gift to every believer, yet many Christians seem to lack it. When you have God in your heart, you have the Peace that passes all understanding. Entertainment is what satan brought to us to pull us away from God. If you have Peace and Joy and the love of your Creator, what else do you need?

2 “How blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who takes hold of it;
Who keeps from profaning the sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

The sabbath of old was a serious deal. It was a capital offense in the Old Testament where you could be killed for carrying sticks on the Sabbath day.

Numbers 15:32-36
32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.
33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.
34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.
35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
36 So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

John Piper is a man that I respect and listen to, who has been the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church for the last 33 years, and he talks about this. As to the New Testament, we find in Romans 14 a disagreement in a church. One celebrates one day, and one counts all days alike. It doesn’t say explicitly that it was a Sabbath issue. It could have been some other kind of holiday issue. But it does say, “One sets aside one day for the Lord, and one considers all days alike.”

Paul steps in and handles it this way. The disagreement was not to side with either one. That’s what is so significant: that he said, “One man keeps it to the Lord; another is free to the Lord. Let both honor the Lord.” I think the people that give no thought to the Lord’s day and don’t do anything to make it special are probably not making those decisions to the Lord.
So, much of America is not thoughtful about what they’re doing. And they default to professional sports,TV, and movies. And you look at it and say, “Is this different from Saturday? Is there anything special about this?” And there are a lot of Christians who say, “No, there is nothing special about it.” The principle in the New Testament is that God ordains that one day in seven be restful. I think that’s a creation ordinance for our good, for our health.
And so, one of the things we should do is do things on the Lord’s day that refresh us for his service, intellectually, physically and spiritually. So if you sit at your desk all week, probably you should walk or ride a bike on Sunday. And if you work on the farm, breaking your back all week (which is what they did in the Old Testament), then sit down and take a long nap on Sunday.
Now the holy piece is the one that is being focused on in this question. The holy piece I think would be worship. Whether it is Saturday night leading in, or Sunday morning, set aside a day when a significant focus is on corporate worship. I think that’s implicit in the way the New Testament talks about the gathering of God’s people. So it’s holy in the sense that it’s set aside for corporate worship.
Secondly, I think that you want to try to restrain certain secular involvements in such a way that you say something special about this day. It’s different from the other days, because Christ is Lord and risen in a way that I want to speak about in a unique way today.
So, pick a day and make it Holy.

3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say,
“The Lord will surely separate me from His people.”
Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

“Stranger … eunuch”: Such individuals, excluded from Israel by the law (Exodus 12:43; Deut. 23:1, 3, 7-8), will find in the coming of the messianic kingdom the removal of such exclusions.
This is just explaining to them that they must not complain about their condition. God had told them early on that this was caused by Him to get them to repent. They are captives, they are (some of them) eunuchs, but they must realize it was because they had disobeyed God.
Whatever hardships came on them, they were of their own making. The eunuchs and the foreigners, who had accepted Judaism, thought they would be cast off, when Israel went back to the homeland. They thought of themselves as useless to God.

4 For thus says the Lord,
“To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,

“Take hold of my covenant … everlasting name”: Eunuchs with hearts inclined to comply with the Mosaic Covenant may anticipate an endless posterity.
It is never works that save (Romans 3:20; Eph. 2:8-9); rather, obeying God’s law, doing what pleases Him or desiring to keep the promises of obedience are the evidences that one has been saved. And will thus enjoy all salvation blessings. Even though they had served in the palace during their captivity, they would be acceptable to God, if they had kept the Sabbath in their hearts. They are like everyone else. They will be saved, because they have had faith and accepted the covenant of God.

5 To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial,
And a name better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.

They shall be admitted to all the privileges of entering my house of prayer, and of being regarded as my true worshippers, and this shall be to them a more invaluable privilege than would be any earthly advantages.

6 “Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;

The strangers, mentioned here, are speaking of all the nations who were not physical Israel. There were more of them who accepted Jesus as their Savior, then there were of the natural Jew. The secret is, they accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
The covenant, spoken of here, is the new covenant of grace.

7 Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;
For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

In the kingdom of the Messiah, the Jerusalem temple will be the focal point for worship of the Lord by people of all ethnic backgrounds. Jesus cited a violation of this anticipation by His contemporaries in His second cleansing of the temple: Jewish leaders had made the temple a commercial venue (Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46).
The covenant of the law had been just for the Hebrews. The covenant of grace unto salvation is for all people of the world. The temple was dedicated by Solomon, when he knelt before the altar, with both hands raised to God, palms upward.
We know that the temple in Jerusalem, like the tabernacle in the wilderness, was a place for the people to sacrifice to their God. When Jesus fulfilled all the law with the sacrifice of His body on the cross, there was no need to sacrifice again.
Now, the sacrifice of the believer is praise. Now, the house of God would be a house of prayer and praise, instead of sacrifice.

8 The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
“Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

This verse is a continuation of the promise made in the previous verses, that those of other nations would be united to the ancient people of God. The sense is, that Yahweh would not only gather back to their country those who were scattered abroad in other lands, but would also call to the same privileges multitudes of those who were now aliens and strangers.
Which gathereth the outcasts of Israel – Who will collect again and restore to their own country those of the Jews who were scattered abroad – the exiles who were in distant lands.

John 10:16
“I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.

9 All you beasts of the field,
All you beasts in the forest,
Come to eat.

The opening words summon the enemies of Israel to do their work of punishment, and this is followed naturally by a denunciation of the sins which had made it necessary.

Ezekiel 34:8
“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely because My flock has become a prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;

Jeremiah 12:9
“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me?
Are the birds of prey against her on every side?
Go, gather all the beasts of the field,
Bring them to devour!

10 His watchmen are blind,
All of them know nothing.
All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,
Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;

God’s watchmen are the leaders of the temple, the teachers, even the prophets. Isaiah says here, they are overcome with spiritual blindness. Jesus said they had eyes to see, and could not see. Their ignorance has to do with not understanding the Scriptures.
They (above everyone else) should know the Scriptures. They are not aware that it is time to warn the people. The Bible said, if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall in the ditch. It is such a shame that the learned scholars of the Bible did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah. They were so self-satisfied that they were as if they were sleeping.

11 And the dogs are greedy, they are not satisfied.
And they are shepherds who have no understanding;
They have all turned to their own way,
Each one to his unjust gain, to the last one.

One of the problems with the priest and High Priest (at the time of Jesus), was the fact this sacred position had deteriorated to where they were buying the priesthood. Jesus spoke harshly of them, and rightly so.
When he ran the money changers out of the temple, it was because the priesthood had gotten greedy and started selling sacrificial animals that were damaged. I personally believe that some of them actually knew Jesus was the Messiah, but they were afraid of losing their control over the people.
They had changed the law of God so that Jesus called it their law. They were not there to help others, but for self-gain. They were actually angry when Jesus healed the sick. They felt it made them look bad.

12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;
And tomorrow will be like today, only more so.”

This is indicative of the self indulgent irresponsibility of the leaders. Drunkenness completely obliterated any concern that leaders had for their people.

Luke 12:19
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘

Let us close with this Psalm.

Psalm 95:6-7
6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 55 and read it together.

1 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.

We come now in this lesson, back to the present day of Isaiah’s time. The last chapter dealt with the New Jerusalem how God was calling the Jews and the Gentiles to enlarge their tent and come to Faith. Now the prophet invites his readers to participate in the benefits obtained by the suffering of the Servant (in chapters 53 and 54). God’s free gift of salvation is offered to all who will receive it. Those who are spiritually hungry and thirsty may come to eat and drink “without money” or freely. He promises an “everlasting covenant” to the Gentiles like the one He established with Israel. His invitation to all men is clearly stated, “Seek ye the Lord” and “call ye upon him.”

This invitation was brought to our attention with a Ho! Not many sentences in the Bible start out with this, so it is meant to awaken us out of our stupor. We have been so dulled by day to day life and all the obligations that we have placed upon our own shoulders. Yes, we have done this to ourselves, by our choices and relying on our own wit and guile to accommodate the world. This is not saying that if you believe in Christ and accept him as your savior, you will suddenly wake up a wealthy and healthy and good looking to boot. I mean, it could happen but I doubt if that would develop your character the way God wants it, so we have troubles in this world that will make us grow into what God wants us to be.

Matthew 6:9-13 The Lord’s Prayer

The Bible tells us to use the Lord’s Prayer when we pray. Do you? If you don’t why not? I use it to begin my evening prayer, like this:
My Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done here on Earth, as it is in Heaven.
Your blessing and mercy have provided our daily bread and for that I praise you and thank you,
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And Lord please remind me of any that I might have forgotten.
Lead us not into temptation and please deliver us from any shred of satan that is clinging to us.

You may ask if it is permitted for us to alter how Jesus told his Disciples to pray. My answer is that since I am using this as a personal prayer to God and it is following the format and intent of what our Messiah had said, I think it is OK, but I could be wrong. What do you think?

That aside, I hope and pray that all of you are asking God for your daily bread, daily. He wants us to, so do not disobey. If this is a free gift, why would you not want to? Are God’s arms too short that He can’t help you from far yonder Heaven?
If you are discontent with life, these things I recommend you ponder, and read the Bible, for all instruction needed for life is in there.

So, we ask God to give us our daily bread, implying that we are to rely upon Him for all things. Place your burdens, your many burdens upon the Cross. And all this is free! That cannot be emphasized enough, and that is what mystifies people. Free you say? How can that be?

People are perverse and curious creatures. They want to bargain with God, do this thing for me and I will do that thing you ask. Luther did it during a thunderstorm that scared him so much, that he beseeched God to save him and if He did, Luther told God he would go into the monastery. Since God used Luther in a mighty way, that was a pretty good bargain. You may also bargain with satan, and at your peril, but come to God, who knows your heart and all that it contains, come to Him and accept this free gift. It has been paid by the Suffering Servant at such a great cost that none but God could afford.

2 “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.

3 “Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David.

God is speaking to us and everybody else that has read this living word. Bend your ear toward Me. Why? Because He is going to tell you the secret of eternal life. Not only that, but He will form an everlasting covenant with you. Our God, the Creator of all that we know, will form a covenant with you, me and everyone who believes in Christ the Savior.
Rich and powerful men, throughout the ages, have desired for themselves this thing that God is offering us. The Spanish were slogging through the swamps of Florida. I think it was Ponce de León in 1513 and he was told by the native Indians that a fountain of youth was somewhere out there, probably just around the next swamp. Baseball star Ted William’s head was frozen when he died, because he was thinking sometime in the future, it could be re-animated. Ted and the Spaniards are in for a bad time when they wake up again. And to think the Spaniards had priests with them. This was 1500 years since Jesus had walked the earth and about 1200 years since the Catholic Church took over as the “Church of God.” And yet the Spaniards were corrupt, depraved, because they trusted in themselves and not God. It has always been the case of the rich and powerful, they that would consider themselves to be gods.

Jesus came to minister to the lowly, the poor, the cast off from society. The Davidic Covenant promised David that his seed would be ruler over Israel in an everlasting kingdom (2 Sam. 7:8, 16; Psalm 89:27-29). Paul connected the resurrection of Christ with this promise (Acts 13:34), since it was an essential event in fulfilling this promise.

Acts 13:34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’

If He had not fully satisfied God by His atoning death, He would not have risen; if He had not risen from the dead, He could not eventually sit on David’s earthly throne. But He did rise and will fulfill the kingly role. The whole world will come to Him as the great King.
“The new covenant” spoken of here, is the covenant of grace that God provides for man. Man was unable to keep the law. God seeing the weakness of man provides a solution to man’s problem. God sends His only begotten Son to fulfill the law of sacrifice.
The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross fulfilled the law for all time for everyone.

Romans 6:10 “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”

Salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ is so simple, many miss it altogether.

Matthew 10:32 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We are saved because of our faith, like faithful Abraham.

4 “Behold, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
A leader and commander for the peoples.

Verse 4 is speaking of Jesus (their and our Messiah). Jesus came to bear witness of the Truth. He is, in fact, Truth.

John 18:37 “Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”

He is the Leader and Messiah of all believers. To be a Christian is to be a believer in and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

5 “Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,
And a nation which knows you not will run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;
For He has glorified you.”

It has been mentioned previously that the other nations besides Israel received the message of Jesus more readily than the Jews did. The law had been given just to the Jews, but the covenant of grace is for all mankind. Many things in Jesus’ ministry brought glory to the Father.

Matthew 15:31 “Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.”

Luke 7:16 “And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.”

John 12:23 “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”

John 13:31 “Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”

Jesus always gave glory to God in everything He did. The Sermon on the Mount continues to glorify God even unto this day.

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.

Today is the day of salvation. This is one thing in a person’s life that they should never put off. This is being spoken to the physical house of Israel, who soon will (on the whole), reject their Messiah. It is also, addressed to every person who has put off being saved.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.

Forsake your sins. This, for all of us, should be a daily process for there is not a day in our lives without sin. God will not like that we are still sinning, but we have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ.

8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.

God’s grace is far beyond human comprehension. God is all knowing. Man knows only a fraction of the here and now. God lives in eternity. He knows all, because everything is part of His plan. We were only made in His image and blessed with intelligence that we value so highly, but cannot embrace the true Glory and Majesty of our God.

9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;

11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

The two powers in this world are the spoken and the written Word. The world was created by the Word of God.

John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “The same was in the beginning with God.” “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

We know the Word of God was Creator. We, also, know that to speak the Word of God is a high calling.

1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”

1 Corinthians 1:21 “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”

We see from this, the power of the spoken Word. The written Word is the Bible. No one can study the Bible and remain the same. It will change your life.

12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Exiled Israel will return from her dispersion rejoicing in her deliverance and unbothered by her enemies.

This is speaking of the joy that comes from victory. This applies to the Jews being released from Babylon, and the Christian when they are released from sin.

Mountains, hills, and trees are all part of nature which God put here for the enjoyment of man. This means even nature rejoices at the victory.

13 “Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,
And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,
And it will be a memorial to the Lord,
For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”

The wrath of God is removed. The ground is no longer cursed. Jesus removed the curse. Thorns sometimes symbolically mean sin. Jesus defeated sin, when He nailed it to the cross. The blessings of God are on His people.

Even all of nature is at peace with mankind.
Proverbs 16:7 “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.”

Authors note: This webpage is primarily meant for me as I deliver it to my Bible study group via my iPad. As such the formatting can be a bit strange at times. I try to use Bold for scripture and Italic for commentary, but not always consistently.

All Glory to God our Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 54…

1 “Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;
For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.

This chapter is speaking to Israel and to us.
The Gentiles are depicted as a “barren” and “desolate” woman who breaks forth into songs of praise. Israel is depicted as the “married wife” and the Gentiles as estranged from God. In her exile and dispersion, Israel has been destitute, disgraced as a woman who had borne no children. Isaiah calls for singing, however, because of the Lord’s promise of future fruitfulness for the nation. By preaching the gospel, multitudes were converted from idols to the living God. This is a matter of great rejoicing as the bounds of the church were extended.

2 “Enlarge the place of your tent;
Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;
Lengthen your cords
And strengthen your pegs.

The Gentiles would flock to the Church in great numbers. This is still happening in China. In the 1980’s there were estimated to be only 3 million believers in China, out of a population of 981 million people. As you would imagine, information is a bit hard to get out of this communist nation, but as of 2017 their population had grown to 1.386 billion. That’s billion with “b” which astounded me. India actually about that many people too, but we will stick with China for now. And in case you are interested, the world population is 7.8 billion people.
In China, Christianity has been increasing rapidly. Internal surveys indicate approximately 31 million believers, however some international Christian organizations estimate there are tens of millions more, which choose not to publicly identify as such. And the reason they don’t stand up and be recognized as Christians is China has started to crack down on this religion that offers hope to people and that would be poison to the communist state which was designed to replace religion in people’s lives.
By now I would hope that you recognize christianity is the only religion, among all of the others out there, and there’s a bunch of them, it is only religion that offers hope to its sinful brethren. It is the only one that offers forgiveness, too. So you can see its appeal to those that live in a very oppressive country. With the threat of God replacing the state, China is now cracking down harshly, jailing pastors and parishioners, destroying churches with bulldozers and dynamite and replacing the cross and images of Christ with pictures of Chairman Xi. Lately the news had been “Official head of China’s Protestant churches says religions must be purged of ‘Western influences” Mao thought he could actually eliminate religion and replace it with his brand of communism.
By now you may be thinking “That’s nice and all, but what does it have to do with Isaiah 54?” Well, you did notice that Verse 2 said to “Enlarge the place of your tent. How many more curtains do you suppose you are going to need with the addition of up to 100 million Chinese to the tent? I also want you to consider the oppression they are going through. We are not seeing that here yet, but it could very well happen with the turn of the next election. Before you get all stink eyed thinking I am going to talk about politics, I want you to think rather than react emotionally. You have people running for president that are supporting socialism and communism. I have just told you how this is working in Communist China. And from what I am hearing in this election cycle, God is absent from their mouths. You can look all around the world to see how this is playing out in Venezuela, Cuba, much of Africa and most of the Middle East and China. We fool ourselves in thinking that if we elect a bad candidate, we would only see a weaker economy. That has not been the case anywhere else in the world where Communism and Socialism has been invoked. God is in charge, of everything, however that does not make the good ole USA invulnerable to his wrath. If we kick God out of our lives, keep your sackcloth and ashes close to hand and know that this world is not our home.

3 “For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.
And your descendants will possess nations
And will resettle the desolate cities.

Christianity was never just for a handful of people in the holy land, but was available to all mankind everywhere. The church would grow rapidly. Just after the filling of the 120 with the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, Peter preached and 3 thousand received the Lord.

Acts 2:41 “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand souls.”

The Messiah’s future kingdom is to be worldwide, far greater in extent than the former kingdoms of David and Solomon. In the best days of David and Solomon, the Jews extended into the land, about 30 thousand square miles. What God had given His children, the Promised Land, comprised of 300 thousand square miles. The Jews at the height of their might, never fully occupied the land God had given them.

There was a remnant of Jews who were at the earliest the founders of the church. Their seed, few in numbers, would grow before their very eyes. The Jews, who had thought themselves better than the Gentiles, suddenly wanted them to join them in the work.

God showed Peter that he was not to call any man unclean, or unworthy of salvation. Salvation is for whosoever will. The missionary trips of Paul set up churches in these spiritually desolate cities spoken of here.

4 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the shame of your youth,
And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

Israel’s sins brought on the Egyptian captivity, the Babylonian exile, and her current dispersion, but the glories of the future kingdom will be so great that they will overshadow past failures.

Israel had committed spiritual adultery and God had, in a sense, given them a bill of divorcement. He, like Hosea, kept forgiving them and taking them back as His wife. Their times away from God were during their captivity. He would always come and rescue them, and take them back.

Hosea 3:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

This is just saying that they are back in right standing with God, and they are not to remember the bad times. Now that they are free, they will forget the times of bondage.

5 “For your husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of hosts;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the God of all the earth.

We know that Jesus Christ is the “Groom of the bride of Christ”. The church is His bride. God of the whole earth means God of the Gentiles, the same as of the Jews. All of the names: Maker, Redeemer, LORD of hosts, and Holy One of Israel are speaking of the One we know as Jesus.

6 “For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.

They had been cast off of God, because of their unfaithfulness. Their relationship with God is likened to the wife of a man’s youth. They had been saddened, because they felt that God had given up on them, but now they are restored.
He has forgiven them, and they are again His wife.

7 “For a brief moment I forsook you,
But with great compassion I will gather you.

God does not count time the way we do. He thinks of the few years of their captivity as a very short time, possibly moments. He shows mercy to them, because He loves them.
That is a concept that we have a very hard time understanding, how God counts time. And for us it comes down to patience and faith. Do we have the faith that God will do what He says He will do and will we have the patience to wait for that to happen? When we pray, we want an answer to our prayers now. Clay demanding of the Potter again. The Bible has 71 occurrences of the word Patience within it and its most predominant use is God having patience with us or losing His patience with us. Here we thought it was all about us having patience, but you can see how important it is for our Creator to not run out of patience with us.

Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

8 “In an outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your Redeemer.

God allowed them to be captured and stay in captivity to teach them to seek Him. God does not stay angry with His people. He is so very forgiving and kind, that He sets a plan in motion where they will be forgiven while they are yet in sin. They are not sinless, just forgiven. The Redeemer is Jesus Christ.

9 “For this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would not flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you
Nor will I rebuke you.

Just as God swore He would never again judge the whole earth with a flood (Gen. 8:21; 9:11), so He has taken an oath never to be angry with His people again. He will fulfill this promise after their final restoration. God set the rainbow in the sky to remind them of the covenant God had made with man to never flood the entire world again. God’s Word is good. He does what He says. If He says He forgives, He does.

10 “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
Says the Lord who has compassion on you.

In the Millennium, topography of the earth will change (see Ezekiel 38:20; Mica 1:4; Zech. 14:4, 10), but not God’s pledge of well being for Israel as a result of the New Covenant.
We know that God does exactly what He says. He regards His Word above His name even.

Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

God’s Word is absolute. He is a merciful God.

Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

11 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And your foundations I will lay in sapphires.

This elaborate ornamentation will outfit Jerusalem to be the center of the future, eternal messianic reign following the Millennium. We find a description of this in Revelations.

Rev. 21:18-21 The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

As magnificent as this is, it is not as important as the spiritual richness of the kingdom, when truth and peace (verse 13), prevail along with righteousness (verse 14).
The Lord Himself will teach everyone during the messianic kingdom, so everyone will know His righteousness.

Jer. 31:34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Jesus gave this verse an additional focus, applying it to those with spiritual insight to come to Him during His first advent.

John 6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.

12 “Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies,
And your gates of crystal,
And your entire wall of precious stones.

13 “All your sons will be taught of the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be great.

Hebrews 8:10-12 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:” “And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.” “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

14 “In righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear;
And from terror, for it will not come near you.

Where there is righteousness, there is perfect peace also. In the New Jerusalem there will be no danger and nothing to fear. Even death itself has been defeated. There is no temptation to sin.

Revelation 21:1-4 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

15 “If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me.
Whoever assails you will fall because of you.

God is the very present help of all His people. Those who are opposed to God’s people are actually against God. They will not win, because God will take up the battle.

16 “Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals
And brings out a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to ruin.

God is the Creator of all, even Lucifer. Everything God created is under His command. Not anything can do you harm, because it has to obey God, whatever it is. Satan (Lucifer), has to get God’s permission to do anything. God will not allow it, so he cannot do it.
Everything is at peace in New Jerusalem, because of the presence of God. There will be no darkness at all, because the Light of the world is there.

1 John 1:5 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

God is the protector of all of Israel. He protects His family. Though they come against us, they will not prosper. This promise is for all who believe in Jesus our Savior. We have been given power and authority to use the name of Jesus against the enemy. At that name, every knee must bow.

Philippians 2:10 “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;”