American Loon

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;”

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 53

The Suffering Servant
1 Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

The implied answer is not all or none. We find in Romans 10:16 Paul says “However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?””

2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

One of the reasons why the Jews, his own people, rejected him, because he came as a humble carpenter and rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. He grew up among them, they knew his father Joseph. How is it this man can suddenly talk in such a way and refer to himself as the Son of God.

3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Nowhere in all the Old Testament is it so plainly and fully prophesied that Christ ought to suffer, and then to enter into his glory, as in this chapter. To this day few will acknowledge that Divine power which goes with the word. The authentic and most important report of salvation for sinners, through the Son of God, is disregarded.

4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.

How is it the Son of God, who is God, who had been given all authority to judge the quick and the dead, this Holy God would submit to this usage? It must be known that his griefs and miseries were not laid upon him for his own sake, but wholly for the sake of sinful men, in whose stead he stood, and for whose sins he suffered.

5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

This is an account of the sufferings of Christ; also of the design of his sufferings. It was for our sins, and in our stead, that our Lord Jesus suffered. We have all sinned, and have come short of the glory of God. Sinners have their beloved sin, their own evil way, of which they are fond. Our sins deserve all griefs and sorrows, even the most severe. We are saved from the ruin, to which by sin we become liable, by laying our sins on Christ. This atonement was to be made for our sins. And this is the only way of salvation. Our sins were the thorns in Christ’s head, the nails in his hands and feet, the spear in his side. He was delivered to death for our offences. By his sufferings he purchased for us the Spirit and grace of God, to mortify our corruptions, which are the afflictions of our souls. We may well endure our lighter sufferings, if He has taught us to esteem all things but loss for him, and to love him who has first loved us.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

6 All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.

The confession of repentant Israel (Psalm 119:176), of repentant humanity (1Peter 2:25), was also the thought present to the mind of the Servant, as in

Matthew 9:36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.

He neither murmured against God for giving him up to suffer for other men’s sins, nor reviled men for punishing him without cause, nor used apologies or endeavours to save his own life; but willingly and quietly accepted the punishment of our iniquity, manifesting, through the whole scene of his unparalleled sufferings, the most exemplary patience and meekness, and the most ready and cheerful compliance with his heavenly Father’s will.
Benson Commentary

8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

Jesus appeared in so humble a form, that, though Pilate was convinced of his innocence, he seemed a person of so little importance that it would not be worthwhile to hazard anything to preserve him.

9 His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

Although he did not die for his own sins, but only for those of mankind, yet he was willing to die like a criminal, or like a sinner, as all other men are, and to be put into a grave, a pauper’s tomb, which was a further degree of his humiliation. It was said, he made his grave, because this was Christ’s own act, and he willingly yielded himself up to death and burial.

10 But the Lord was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.

His God and Father spared him not, though he was his only and beloved Son, but delivered him up for us all, to shame and torture, delivered him by his determinate counsel and foreknowledge.
Acts 2:23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

11 As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.

Come, and see how Christ loved us! We could not put him in our stead, but he put himself there. Thus he took away the sin of the world, by taking it on himself. He made himself subject to death, which to us is the wages of sin.

12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

This last verse pretty much explains itself. He chose this death willingly and was nailed to a cross with the criminals. But this selfless act was not for himself, but for us. And as such, if we accept Christ as our Savior and King, we will reside with Him in Heaven, forever.

We find in our day the pressure of the government, the education system and social whims or our current culture, and I stress the word whims, for it is just a few satan inspired voices that lead the rest of the virtue signalling goats to join in the condemnation of our Christian way of life.

And if we look at our Christian way of life closely, it is not all that healthy to begin with. This week, it turns out that The lead Pastor of a couple of Methodist churches in MN was said to have told the older members of Cottage Grove campus to stay home.

Now, I am not automatically believing what the media tells me on these kinds of things or anything else for that matter, so I did some looking into it. Turns out this Cottage Grove campus has not been doing well. They were down to 30 members and no pastor, so the members were doing the church service on their own. It is the typical story of what once was a strong church, with believers and their families, and as time moved on, so did their kids. With the usual losses due to lack of faith, old age and disease, a couple of decades later they are down to 30 members and no pastor. The leadership of Grove United Methodist Church took a vote and decided to change some things.The plan is to shut down the church in June and reopen later this year with a new pastor, new programming and building updates “aimed at engaging more members of a growing community.” Then comes the unhappy part.
A memo recommends that current members stay away for two years, then consult with the pastor about reapplying, the Pioneer Press reported.

While older members will not be physically barred from attending, the expectation is that they will not.

“We are asking them to let this happen,” Wetterstrom said. “For this to be truly new, we can’t have the core group of 30 people.”

https://www.fox19.com/2020/01/23/minn-church-says-it-never-asked-older-church-members-leave/

What the Leadership of this organization is looking for is newer, younger members. Bodies, not souls. This has been a common theme and problem, these seeker friendly churches who are so accepting of anyone and everyone that happens to fall into their preferred demographic. That in itself is not a problem, people should be welcomed to a church. Jesus accepted all who were contrite of heart when he was on this earth. Contrition is the key however, to those new members being welcomed into the church. Come as you are, but don’t expect to leave in that same condition. You may be drug addicted, think you are gay, lesbian, transgendered, or what have you, and the job of the church is to talk to you about your sin. To come alongside you and help you through these troubled times. Jesus saves, but you must acknowledge your sins and repent. Contrition.
And once you have a contrite heart, you must put away those sins. Otherwise it is just your mouth saying it but your heart not buying it.

God calls us to the pursuit of holiness. It is on us to remove the sin in our lives. There are people out there that profess to believe that it is God’s job to remove all our iniquities, not them. He sent his Son to die on a cross, so that we might have life eternal. These people need to step up the plate and clean their own house, so to speak.

Accepting Jesus does not mean your addiction or mental delusions will magically disappear. Not saying it can’t happen, but most of the time you have to work at getting satan out of your life. He had a comfy home there, he’s not going to let you kick him out easily.

Matthew 12:43-45 43 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

Getting back to this church in Cottage Grove, it is hard not to look at this and shake your head. It sounds as if they’ve already given in to the demands of this world. Churches become meeting places for like minded people, not houses of God. Our little church in Grove City just added something to their constitution that states you will not be married in our church if you are anything other than a man marrying a woman, both of them born that way and not claiming to be anything different. Is this going to stop misguided people from trying to enforce their will on our little church? Hard to say, but I do believe the good times are over.

If you are wondering the why of any of this, the answer is in Romans 1:24-32
24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,

27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,

29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,

30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;

32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Further reading can be found in:
Leviticus 18:22, 20:13
Romans 1:26-27

“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Ps. 34:3)