Isaiah 33:15-19 - They are the ones who will dwell on the heights

33:15,16

“Who can dwell in the presence of the Lord” was the question at the end of the previous verse. We now get the answer. It is the one who walks righteously, who speaks what is right, who rejects false gain and does not take bribes, who does not get involved in any evil, such as murder. Such people dwell on the heights and are completely secure, and their supply is always met. So how does this help us, for no one is truly righteous before the Lord on their own merits. We know that it is Jesus who is our righteousness, but Isaiah will come to that much later. For now it is important to recognise that God’s standards have not changed. Unrighteousness and righteousness cannot mix together. People sometimes think “God isn’t bothered about my sinfulness because of Jesus”, or even “God is unjust to be bothered about my sin”. Such thoughts are completely contrary to the gospel. The standards remained the same when Jesus came, they remained the same after He was crucified, they remained the same after the resurrection and the ascension. 

33:17-19

So we might seem to be presented with an impossible standard, but the prophecy is convinced that it will be fulfilled. “Your eyes will see the king in His beauty”. We will think of the former things and wonder where they have gone. The corruption will exist no longer. The arrogant people who strutted about the place will be no more.

Ephesians 1:6 - To the praise of His glory

1:6

“to the praise of His glorious grace”. This is the first of three times when Paul speaks of things being to the praise of His glory (v12, 14). So if we are to understand the world we need to realise that things are planned to bring praise to God. Now to some that seems an incredibly proud thing to do. The reason it is not is that God is worthy of praise. If we deny God praise then we are actually denying the truth. Conversely, when we do praise God we are living in accordance with the truth. The aspect of the truth that deserves praise here is God’s grace. Many try to attain salvation by works of one sort or another, but this will not work. Salvation is by grace. We may be shocked or offended that God pours out His blessing on some unworthy person, and we wonder why? The why is because God’s plans are worked out on the basis of grace. It also means that we should never lose hope, either for ourselves or for others. We (or they) might have sinned beyond hope, failed beyond hope, but there is always hope. For the deciding factor is the grace of God, not our failure. This grace is not an abstract thing, it was freely given to us “in the One He loves”, ie in Christ. Grace is freely given. We do not need to persuade God to eke out a little more grace from a limited supply, there is an unlimited supply. What hinders us from receiving this grace is often pride, insisting on depending on our own supposed worthiness. we need to live in the light of God’s grace, or as Pauls says in Romans 5:2 we stand in the grace of God.

Isaiah 33:13,14 - Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?

33:13

God calls on both those who are near and those who are far off to observe what He has done. One of the unique features of the Bible compared to most other religions that were around is that it saw God as God of all creation, of all the earth. Christians are often criticised for saying that Christ is the only way to God, for claiming a uniqueness. Such thinking is man-centered thinking, not God centered thinking. And the uniqueness of God and of Christ is good news for all, for it means His salvation is for all. All people can be saved by believing in Christ. It is significant here that God calls on both near and far to acknowledge Him. He calls on those nations that did not know Him, but the nation that should have known Him was utterly ignorant of Him.

33:14

If the people in Zion did recognise their sinfulness then they would be terrified, for they would know that they had sinned against the Lord. Those who were far off would recognise the greatness of God, and so they would tremble. There would be a right fear of God, knowing that He is great and holy, and we are not. So much of what passes for evangelism today is preaching a cosy gospel, being afraid to mention sin and guilt, for it might scare some away. This is not a Biblical approach, for Biblical preaching will sometimes confront people with the reality of sin.

Ephesians 1:5 - Adopted as sons

1:5

“He has predestined us to be adopted to sonship”. It seems that so often when we read this verse our first thought is “how does predestination work”, “how can we have been predestined?”. These are the wrong thoughts! Our first thoughts should be “how wonderful that God has determined to adopt us as sons”! Throughout the Bible there are two primary aspects of God, one is His transcendance, His all surpassing greatness. The other is His relationship with people. God created us to be in fellowship with Him! We need to be asking ourselves “how does the universe work” (not in the physics sense, but in a metaphysical sense), and one of the fundamental drivers is that God, the creator of all things, has determined that we will be adopted as sons. Life can seem very precarious. In the West we normally do not have worries about food and shelter, ie the basics of life, (though financial problems can still be very real), but we can so often feel vulnerable on an emotional/psychological level. We need to realise how secure we actually are in Christ. This determination to adopt us is “through Christ” and “according to His good pleasure and will”. God had not done this reluctantly, but freely and gladly! We can also sometimes see predestination as though before time began God checked box which said you or I would be adopted as a son. This is not the way that the Bible presents it. It is more accurate to look at it as God is working “through Christ” so that we would be adopted as sons. 

Isaiah 33:6-12 - Now will I be exalted

33:6

The Lord becomes a sure foundation for our times. And He is a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. He is a mighty source of salvation. When troubled we should put our trust in the Lord, and we should look to Him and not to human sources of help. How are we to unlock this great treasure? We are to fear the Lord. This means knowing that He is the final judge, He is the one with the final word, He is the one who exalts and brings low.

33:7-9

The once proud and strutting nation would become utterly desolate. The soldiers who once were brave men would cry aloud in the streets. The roads once full of travellers and commercial traffic would be empty. Treaties nations had made with them would be broken, counting for nothing.

33:10-12

Once Assyria has been the dominant nation, imposing her will on all around her. Now Assyria would be fallen, and the Lord would rise up, He would be exalted. The nation of Assyria would be nothing at all, and her people would suffer.

Ephesians 1:4 - Chosen before the creation of the world

1:4

“He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world”, “He predestined us for adoption as sons”. Predestination/election is a subject that has caused, and still causes, enormous problems with some. The root of our problem (and it is worth noting that election does not cause God, nor the writers of the Bible, any problems! Just think about that for a moment.) is that with our minds we cannot square the fact that God is in total control, is absolutely sovereign with the fact of human free will. As a result many adopt a typically human response, we cannot cope in our minds with both being true, so we decide to adopt only one of these truths and either negate the other, or at least give it much reduced importance. This is a very silly approach to take. The truth is that the Bible quite clearly teaches that God is all powerful and knowing, is absolutely sovereign, and that we are utterly and completely dependent upon Him for our salvation. It also teaches, and does so on virtually every page of the Bible, that we are responsible human beings. What we do with our lives matters. My attitudes, my decisions, my actions matter. They affect my life, they affect the lives of others, and they matter to God. Notice this as well. Predestination.election is never introduced in the Bible as a matter of debate. Paul never says “well here is a topic that should get you shouting at each other”. No! It is always introduced in order to encourage us, to motivate us to action. So we are not going get in a tizz. Instead we are going to take God at His word, without fear, and learn from what He says. Knowing that what we do with our lives matters, we are going to live our lives in the light of the truth that God teaches.

“He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world”. It is no accident that we belong to Christ, it happened on purpose, for a purpose, out of love. Jesus said to His disciples that they did not chose Him, but that He chose us. And we are chosen in Christ. There is no other place, no other means, by which we can belong to God. It is in Christ alone. And God chose us before the creation of the world. We matter, we are part of something big!

We deserve nothing, but are chosen purely because of Christ, but that does not mean we can do what we like with our lives, quite the opposite. We were chosen to be holy and blameless. We are to live godly lives, we meant to be different from the world. For we are to shine as lights in this dark world. If we ever have the notion “I have been forgiven therefore I can do whatever I like” then we really haven’t got a clue.

Isaiah 33:3-5 - At the uproar of your army the peoples flee

33:3,4

Isaiah sees a military type intervention. The Lord will send an army and when it rises up the nations will scatter. From this we can understand why the Jews at the time of Jesus were looking for a military messiah. They wanted and expected to be freed from the Romans. And the goods that the nations have plundered will be returned to the Lord.

33:5

We see here the worldview that Isaiah had, and that we should have. The Lord is exalted and dwells on high. We can get so discouraged when we look around and see the direction society is going in, we can despair of our human rulers for they all seem pretty clueless But we should remember who the Lord is. And His goal is to fill Zion with justice and righteousness. Israel sees the Lord’s plan as the salvation of Israel, and He will do this, but it involves filling Zion with justice and righteousness. 

Ephesians 1:3 - Every spiritual blessing

1:3

The letter proper begins with a declaration of the greatness of our God. In the Greek v3-14 comprise one lone sentence, the English versions break this up, and almost certainly fail to capture the poetic nature of the text. “Praise to be to God ..” This has to be the starting point of any proper understanding of the nature and purpose of the church. If, as we all too often do, start from a man-centred perspective then we will have a very skewed and mistaken vision of the church. The New Testament usually refers to God as the Father of Christ. God has blessed us in Christ. There is no other basis for our blessing except in Christ. If we think all mankind are blessed then we are wrong. In fact, without Christ we are under a curse from God, judgement from God. Later (2:3) Paul will say that we are by nature objects of wrath. That is our state without Christ, but in Christ we are blessed because Christ became a curse for us (Gal 3:13).

And we are blessed with “every spiritual blessing” in the “heavenly realms”. Central to understanding this is a worldview that there is a spiritual realm, the world is not purely physical. There are two key mistaken worldviews. The one most prevalent in our age and part of the world is that the world is purely physical, a materialist worldview. The other, and one that was quite common in Paul’s day among the Greeks, was to see the physical and material as separate, and even to see the material world as evil and something we needed to be rescued from. This was the basis for Gnostic type ideas. The Bible presents a very different worldview. There is a spiritual realm and a physical/material realm, and the two are intrinsically linked. We are favoured by God in the spiritual realm. “heavenly realms” translates one Greek word literally translated as “heavenlies”. “heavenlies” gives far too nice a picture of what Paul it talking about. For we see in Ephesians that the “heavenlies” are a place of spiritual conflict (see Eph 6:12). We also think of “blessings” as being “nice”. Paul is talking about something altogether more serious. His purpose in the letter is to equip the church for spiritual warfare! Talking about spiritual warfare can make some nervous. This happens for various reasons. One is that some, probably we charismatics are the most guilty, can very flakey on this matter and say and do a lot of nonsense. We can think it is somehow not related to the real world, or it sounds too scary. We should not fear, and we should not ignore spiritual warfare. On the point of flakiness and unreal criticisms, let’s look at what Paul says. First, he is absolutely convinced that there is a spiritual war to be fought, so we had better not ignore it! But then look at the letter, the second half in particular is full of down to earth practical instruction on how to live. Our relationship to the world, day to day life within the church, family life, work life. Spiritual warfare is an intensely practical business! At the same time, in one sense we are right to be scared, or rather to realise how serious the situation is. On a daily basis people’s lives are ruined. There is a real battle to be fought, and Paul’s teaching in Ephesians helps us to fight that battle, both for our own sakes, and for the sakes of others.

Isaiah 33:1,2 - Woe to you destroyer

33:1

The previous chapter has been dealing with the restoration. But how is this to happen when there is so rampant a destroyer at work? 33:1 contains the answer. No, the destroyer has not yet been destroyed. He has tempted/forced others to betray their allies, but has not been betrayed himself yet. But things would not continue like this. There would come a point where Assyria stopped destroying. Then Assyria itself would be destroyed, and nations that previously had betrayed others to keep in with Assyria would not betray Assyria. We see this pattern repeated many times in history. At some point a previously all powerful nation or organisation starts to fall, and then others who once lived in fear of this nation or organisation are now willing to turn against it.

33:2

Isaiah now prays to the Lord to bring about the things He has spoken of. When God says something is going to happen, even that He is going to do something, that does not mean we are to be passive. We are either involved in what God is going to do, or we are to pray for what He is going to do, or often both. Isaiah prays for the Lord to become their strength and salvation. We need to get our strength from the Lord, and in times of distress we look to Him, not to other things. 

Ephesians 1:2 - Grace and peace

1:2

Grace and peace appear in most of Paul’s letters. Note that God the Father and Christ the Son are linked together with equality. They are not the same, but they are one. The doctrine of the trinity is that there is one God, who exists eternally as three persons. We all want and need grace and peace. Everyone wants peace, we want to be settled in ourselves. We also all need grace. There is both a passive and an active part to grace. On the passive side we need forgiveness. We all  do things wrong, and get things wrong. If we received what we deserved we would be in a terrible mess. Even when we are not deliberately trying to do things wrong we still manage to mess things up. We need the grace of God! But grace is also active. Grace enables us to do things and to achieve things, things that by rights we should not be able to do.This grace and peace comes from God. People look for it in all the wrong places, the only right place is at the foot of the cross.

Isaiah 32:16-20 - Justice will dwell in the wilderness

32:16,17

Justice and righteousness are hallmarks of the presence of the kingdom of God. This leads to peace, quietness and confidence. Today we live in an age when righteousness and justice are rarely seen, and we also live in a very confused age, with little peace, but lots of turmoil. These are hallmarks of a land that has turned away from God’s ways.

32:18

God’s people will live in peace. Peace and security is part of God’s plan and desire for His people.. We see this throughout the Old Testament, and in the teachings of Jesus. The reason above all reasons why we so often do not have this peace is because we do not trust in Him, instead we look to other things. The urge to do this is extremely strong within us, and it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to break this addiction. 

32:19,20

Verse 19 speaks of terrible things happening, but verse 20 of the security and blessedness of God’s people. It is not clear whether these two things are happening simultaneously, or whether one follows the other. Ie whether some of the world is experiencing the horror of v19 while God’s people continue to enjoy the blessings of God, or whether they enjoy the blessing after a period of great suffering.

Ephesians 1:1 - To God's holy people

1:1

The greeting follows a fairly standard format. Paul describes himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God.” Apostle means “one who is sent”. Paul was sent with the message of Christ Jesus, and he was sent by the will of God. We shall see that the whole focus of Ephesians is the centrality of Christ and of God. God is the instigator of all things, and the focus of His work is Christ Jesus.  When the church gets distracted and Christ is no longer the focus we have lost our way, and we will quickly lose our power. History proves this time and time again. It is also vital that Paul was sent by God. In Rom 10:15 Paul says “how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” If I come and claim I have a message of salvation what is the value of that unless it is God who has sent me, and it is His message that I am proclaiming?

Isaiah 32:9-15 - Tremble, you women who are at ease

32:9,10

In times when evil prospers you will find some women who are going along with it, living off the ill-gotten gains of the corrupt system. As an aside, we do need to realise that Isaiah here is not marking out all women, only the “complacent rich”. They feel secure, but their security is an illusion. For very soon, in just over a year, in fact, the harvest would fail and these women would no longer dwell in luxury.

32:11-13

The complacent women were revelling in their enjoyment of life, but this would soon come to an end. Instead, they should have been mourning for the state of the country. The “houses of merriment” far from being a sign of the good life, were a symptom of the rebellion against God.

32:14,15

The cities which seems safe and secure would soon become a wasteland. Only animals, rather than people, would dwell there. Even in this there was a purpose, a good purpose. The judgement would come and would last until the Spirit was poured out upon the land. And then the land would become a fertile place. Note that it is the action of God that brings salvation, but salvation it does bring.

Ephesians - Introduction (2)

There are marked similarities between Colossians and Ephesians. While Colossians deals with similar or related themes, it also deals with local circumstances as well (though nowhere near as much as Galatians or Corinthians). A scenario that seems most likely, and one that was the predominant one held by the church for many years, was that having written the Colossian letter, and being gripped and inspired by the themes of the letter, Paul decided to expand upon them and write a general letter for all the churches that expounded upon God’s purpose, through the church.

As has been the way of things for about two hundred years or so, there are many who cast doubt on the Pauline authorship of Ephesians, despite the clear statement in the letter that it comes from Paul. Many of the arguments for this are based on linguistic grounds, ie differences in style or words used, compared with other letters attributed to Paul. I must say that these arguments always seem very weak and unconvincing to me (and to many scholars!). However, they persist in attributing the letter to some “deutero-Paul” (ie some later student of Paul who greatly respected his writings and sought to produce a letter that was consistent with Paul’s theology, and further developed it. The fact that this goes against what the text says, and that we have no idea of who this “deutero-Paul” was do not seem to hinder these people in their idol speculations. I shall take the traditional, simple and Biblical approach that the text says Paul wrote it, and so Paul did write it. One thing we must always remember is that all Scripture is God-breathed, and the ultimate author of the book is God Himself.

The letter may have been written around AD 60, at the same time as Colossians and while he was in prison in Rome. However, there are some who argue that it was written during a time of imprisonment in Ephesus itself. It is generally accepted that it was intended as a circular letter to several churches.

Bibliography

Ephesians - An Introduction and Commentary, Francis Foulkes, TNTC, 1963.

Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, New International Biblical Commentary, Arthur G. Patzia, 1990.

Isaiah 32:5-8 - The fool speaks folly

32:5,6

In a godless society the fool will be called noble. Basically, idiots are treated as if they know something. And the “scoundrel is highly respected”. We can just look at the popular media to see how true these things are of our society. Fools speak folly, but not just folly, their hearts are also bent on evil. Nor do they keep their folly or evil to themselves, they spread it around, infecting others. They claim to be wise, even loving, but they actually do nothing for the poor and needy.

32:7,8

These two verses contrast the ways of the wicked and the noble. The scoundrels use wicked schemes to destroy the poor. This is something we see again and again. There are many financial scams that will predominantly take advantage of the poor. Ingenuity is put into devising schemes that will take money from the poor. But it isn’t just in the arena of finance that this operates. There had been an ongoing attack on marriage for many years, with many social “theories” to back up this attack. Yet it is the poor who have suffered most from the breakdown in marriage. Conversely, the noble make noble plans. These plans will benefit people, and the noble people will be honoured because of it.

Ephesians - Introduction(1)

Ephesians is one of Paul’s most majestic letters, giving a theology of the church. The most important aspect of this theology of the church is that it is founded in God and is utterly Christ centred. One of the problems, perhaps the main problem, we have in the church today (and have no doubt had at many points throughout church history) is that we look at the church in a man-centred way. Either focusing on the church itself, with Christ as an afterthought, or viewing in terms of those whom we serve, be it serving them through acts of charity or through evangelism. These latter two foci (charity and evangelism) might seem to be worthy of being a focus for understanding the church, for surely we are meant to help the poor and to preach the gospel? Yes we are, but if anything, even good things, come first, or come detached from God, then they quickly become an idol. The from beginning to end in Ephesians, God is the foundation and the focus.

One of the distinguishing features of Ephesians is the almost total lack of dealing with particular church issues often involving Paul’s relationship with the church, though that was never the primary issue, that we find in many other letters. Galatians and the Corinthian letters are perhaps the ones where local issues dominate most, though they are apparent in Paul’s other letters. Even in the majestic letter to the Romans the final chapter is full of personal greetings. Not so in Ephesians, save for 6:21, and one or two other brief personal remarks. A possible, even likely, reason is that Ephesians was a circular letter, intended for several churches, of which Ephesians was just one. The reason that the Ephesian name stuck is probably that Ephesus was the largest church in the region. However, this suggestion is not without its problems. What we do know is that the letter was always referred to as Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, that it was used from the earliest days by the early church, and its place in the New Testament was never in doubt.

Isaiah 32:1-4 - A king will reign in righteousness

32:1

The fall of the evil kingdom, represented by Assyria in the immediate context, is not the sum total of the matter. It would be replaced by a king who would “reign in righteousness” and “rule with justice”. If we look at even recent history, we have seen many evil regimes fall, only to find that the replacement is not much better. Not so in God’s case. A kingdom of righteousness is a fundamental part of His plan.

32:2

Rulers are meant to provide shelter for the weak, to protect the vulnerable, but so often they are the complete opposite. In God’s kingdom it is envisaged that there will be more than one ruler (but only one king), and they will provide help for the needy.

32:3,4

Right back in chapter 6 Isaiah had been told that the people would be ever hearing, but never understanding  and ever seeing but never perceiving (Is 6:9). Now we are told of a time when they will see and understand. Prior to this the heart is full of fear, and the mouth gives an unclear message. The contrast is that the heart will “know and understand”. The unbelieving heart fears what it should not fear, the believing heart knows the truth, and so does not fear. It is then able to give  clear and fluent message.

Mark 16:9-20 - A textual variant!

16:9-20

At this point we enter the major “textual variant” in the New Testament. The woman caught in adultery being the only other one of significant length. Some early manuscripts end at v8. Some add a v9, and others have v9-20. On a textual level perhaps the most likely ending is at v8, it is the, what seems to us, abrupt ending which may be caused others to add v9-20. Eusebius in 325 AD rejected the “longer ending” of Mark. Whatever the case there are two key points to note. First, none of the material of v9-20 is new, it does not add any new doctrine, nor does it contradict teaching found elsewhere in the New Testament. Secondly, the Bible is completely open about the problem, there is no attempt to hide it.The style of writing in v9-20 is different from the rest of Mark, and the reintroduction of Mary Magdalene, who was only just mentioned by Mark, seems odd. In fact it reads more of a hurried summary of what happened after the resurrection and the birth of the church, and its spread into the world.

I will not go into detail on these verses, but will point out the passages elsewhere in the New Testament that contain the same teaching:

Mark 16:9-11 John 20:11-18

Mark 16:12,13 Luke 24:13-35

Mark 16:14 Luke 24:37,38

Mark 16:15,16 Matt 28:18-20

Mark 16:17,18 Luke 10:17,19

Mark 16:19 Luke 24:50,51

Mark 16:20 Acts 1:7,8

Isaiah 31:8,9 - The stronghold will fall

31:8

Assyria was the immediate and obvious threat. She would indeed fall, but it would not be by human means. Judah was putting all her energies into finding human means of resisting Assyria, but all this would be to no avail. The Lord would intervene at the last moment to save Jerusalem.  Assyria would become the defeated people.

31:9

The Assyrians were a fearful and boastful army. They had been conquering all before them, and they boasted of their great power. But a time would come when this supposedly great army would panic and glee in terror.

“Whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem”. Judah was a hopelessly disobedient people, yet they were God’s people, and His purposes would still be fulfilled through Israel. Those who write Israel off as having no further place in God’s plans are not very wise. In the same way, God’s plans are focused on humanity, for we were created in His image.

Mark 16:6-8 - He has risen! He is not here.

16:6

The young man/angel tells the women that “Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified, has risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid Him”. There is so much in these few words. First, it is the same Jesus who walked among them for past three years (and, of course, who lived among them for about thirty years) who was crucified. There was no case of Jesus not dying (as, for example, Muslims claim). He was crucified, He died. He was buried, but He is now risen!

16:7,8

The women are told to tell the disciples and Peter “He is going ahead of you to Galilee”. Peter is named specifically because of his denial of Jesus. The others might have been tempted to think that Peter was now out of it. In Mark 14:28 Jesus told them that after the resurrection He would go ahead of them to Galilee. The women are understandably terrified and bewildered. Prior to happening, no one, except Jesus, expected the resurrection to happen, or had any idea what resurrection really meant!

Isaiah 31:6,7 - Return to the One you have revolted against

31:6

God is going to save Israel, but this does not mean that Israel has nothing to do. She is called upon to return to the Lord. “the One you have so greatly revolted against”. Her sin was great, she had rebelled against God, and to no small degree. She needed to return to Him, to end her rebellion. The same is true of all human beings. We should realise that facing up to our guilt is a key part of returning to God.

31:7

Now it says “in that day you will ..” There is a perpetual debate in Bible believing parts of the church (and non-Bible unbelieving parts are not probably not part of the real church) between Calvinists and Arminians. The crux of the matter is that one emphasises the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, while the other emphasises the human side, and each then diminishes the half that they don’t emphasise. This is not something we find in the Bible. The Bible is quite happy having the absolute sovereignty of God alongside it being important what we do with our lives. So if the Bible has no problem with that, then neither do I. So there would be a day when Israel returned to the Lord, and in that day she would get rid of all her idols. When we return to God we reject the idols we have made.

Mark 16:1-5 - Who will roll away the stone?

16:1-3

As noted on several previous occasions, there were no chapter or verse numbers in the original.  So note that in 15:47 Mark has told us that two of the Mary’s had seen where Jesus was buried,. Now two Mary’s and Salome buy spices in order to anoint Jesus’ body. Then early on Sunday morning they make their way to the tomb, and they knew full well where this tomb was! They had seen the stone rolled across the tomb and wondered who they could get to roll it away. So they knew exactly what they were doing, and what they expected to find. It would typically take a few men to move a stone used to seal a grace.

16:4,5

However, their expectations were shattered! The stone had already been rolled away. Mark draws attention to the size of the stone. They entered the tomb, expecting to be going in in order to anoint the body of Jesus with the spices.  Matt 28: identifies the man as an angel. On several occasions in the Bible angels appear as men (interestingly enough, never as women!).

An Anatomy of Fear - and learning to overcome

An Anatomy of Fear - and how to overcome it. A sermon on Isaiah 36 and 37.

Isaiah 31:3-5 - The Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem

31:3

Notice the fundamental challenge to our worldview here. The Egyptians seemed to be more real than God. What we see as the practicalities of life seem more real and important than God, more likely to have a real impact on our life. But that is not the case! It says here that the horses are just flesh, but the Lord is spirit, therefore He is the more important. If we want things to change, if we want ourselves to change, then we need to look to the Lord above all. Now this most definitely does not mean that the material things, the practical things, do not matter. Rather it is a case of the priority we give to them. Who do we make god? The Lord, or the material things? When we acknowledge the Lord as God then the practical and material things assume their proper place and become truly useful. The Lord would frustrate Judah’s plans. Egypt would stumble, as would those who relied on Egypt.

31:4,5

So Judah was relying on the wrong source of help. One might have expected there to be another round of judgement upon Judah, but instead we get a promise of salvation, of rescue. The Lord will rescue Jerusalem, despite all the foes ranged against it. And this is what happened when Assyria was right at the walls of Jerusalem. It is the Lord’s decision that is determinative, not the will of men.

Mark 15:42-47 - Mary saw where He was buried

15:42,43

The Jewish day was counted from the evening, rather than midnight as we do. So the Sabbath would start on the evening of Good Friday. Therefore they wanted to deal with Jesus’ body. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the council, the Sanhedrin, but is presented as a faithful man. He offered his own grave for the burial of Jesus. The grave would be more of a cave. This is also a fulfilment of Isaiah 53:9.

15:44,45

As noted earlier, Jesus had died somewhat sooner than was normal (see note on 15:37). Pilate checked things out with the centurion, who confirmed that Jesus was indeed dead. One of the most unconvincing arguments against the resurrection is that Jesus did not actually die on the cross, sometimes referred to as the swoon theory. There is no evidence whatsoever for this, indeed all the evidence points against it. Moreover, it shows a complete ignorance of what crucifixion was actually like. Also, if there are two things the Romans were expert at they are (i) building roads; and (ii) killing people.

15:46,47

So Joseph was allowed to take the body. The was wrapped in a linen cloth., and placed in a tomb that was cut out out of a rock, ie it was essentially a small cave. A large stone was rolled against the tomb, and two of the Marys saw where Jesus was buried. This again counters two arguments against the resurrection. Even if Jesus has “swooned” then there is no way He could have moved the stone. Another argument is that on the Sunday the Marys went to the wrong tomb. They did not, they knew exactly where Jesus had been buried.

Isaiah 31:1,2 - Woe to those who go to Egypt for help

31:1

Attention now turns again to the immediate situation and Judah’s wrong response to that situation. They were looking to Egypt for help, considering allying themselves with Egypt to ward off the Assyrian threat. Humanly speaking this might have seemed a reasonable course of action. They were relying on horses and chariots to help them, on the weapons of war. But they were not paying any regard to the Lord., not seeking help from Him. We should beware of making the same mistake in our own lives. When faced with danger we will look to take practical steps. If we are living in rebellion against God they will do us no good. Now this does not mean that practicalities don’t matter, that common sense goes out the window. The truth is that if we are living in rebellion against God, or not trusting in Him at all, then no end of practical steps will do any good. When we do live in obedience and trust in God, then our resources, our abilities, do become useful and effective. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

31:2

Judah reacted in the way she did because she could see an imminent danger. We often act in the wrong way because we see an immediate threat. The threat is real, and God does not pretend that it isn’t, but He also reminds them that He too can bring disaster. He is wise, and He will take action against evildoers. We need to trust in the Lord, and look to Him above all else.

Mark 15:39-41 - Surely He was the Son of God

15:38,39

These two verse wonderfully sum up the victory that was won. First, the curtain in the temple that separated the holy of holies was torn in two. There was no longer an unbridgeable divide between God and man. Secondly, the centurion declares that Jesus truly is the Son of God. This symbolises the Gentiles recognising Jesus as Lord and coming into the kingdom of God. The victory was achieved not despite the suffering, but through the suffering. And the victory is for both Jews and Gentiles.

15:40,41

The men generally get a bad press in the gospels. Judas, of course, is the worst, being a traitor. Peter is next worse with his denial of Jesus, but the others do not fare much better. In contrast, the women come out of it better. There is hardly a negative word said about them, with the exception of Herod’s wife. Mark presents the women as caring for Jesus, and viewing the scene with sadness.

Isaiah 30:29-33 - The Lord will cause people to hear His majestic voice

30:29

On that day God’s people will sing and rejoice. Why? Because justice will be brought to the world, righteousness will be brought. Consider the rejoicing that happens in the world when evil regimes or rulers are overthrown. Think about the collapse of communism in the late eighties, or the rejoicing when Mugabe went, or the dismantling of apardheid in South Africa. There is gladness that evil rulers have been deposed, but we are also keenly aware that it might end up being a case of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. When God comes He will bring true justice and righteousness, and it will be everlasting.

30:30

Then there is another vivid description of the awesomeness and anger of the Lord. Note that He is referred to as a consuming fire, a phrase that is used in the book of Hebrews (Heb 12:29), this is a reference to the Lord coming in judgement. Any concept of God that does not account for His coming in judgement is seriously deficient.

30:31-33

This judgement is then put in concrete terms with reference to Assyria, and this is what happened. The judgement is also looked on as a cause for rejoicing. Topheth was a region outside Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to Molech. This may be where Jesus’ fire imagery of hell derives from. Assyria would be judged for evil.