Isaiah 60:1-22.  We are in the final section of Isaiah.  Remember Isaiah wrote this book for people in Jerusalem who were under siege.  They and their leaders had made a lot of mistakes and God was dealing with them.  God was bringing a lot of punishment into their lives be as we was yesterday it’s not just to be mean.  God wanted the trouble they were in to teach them how serious their broken relationship with him was.  But his goal was never just to punish, his goal was to get them to change what they were doing and return to him.  Years ago there was a program that tried to get young people to stop going in a bad direction with their lives.  These were kids who were on a path leading to jail or prison eventually.  So the kids were taken into a prison to see what the place was like and what sort of people they might meet there.  The prisoners didn’t hold back about life in prison and the kids were intimidated, hopefully to the point of changing the way they were living.  The program was called Scared Straight.  I think that is sort of what God is doing here, but remember the facts are still true, God doesn’t give us a “worst case scenario” he tells us the way it will be.

At the end of yesterday’s reading we saw that God’s servant was the solution for our sin problem, at least in part.  He took the penalty and power of sin (disobedience and rebellion) for us.  We also saw that his actions gave us an opportunity for the second part of the solution for our sin problem, how to stop.  For that we need God’s spirit living inside of us guiding us.  And according to Paul in the book of Romans (or Letter to the Roman Church if you prefer) we see that that is just what happens when we believe in who Jesus is and what he has done for us and receive him into our lives.  In yesterday’s reading we saw that the servant would have many “offspring” and that is just what we are “children of God” adopted into his forever family.

In today’s reading the “offspring” of the servant are told to get up and show the world what God has done for them.  Although Isaiah is writing specifically to the Jewish people in these verses we learn from Matthew that we are supposed to do the same thing (Matthew 5:14-16).  According to Isaiah if the people of Jerusalem would follow God truthfully and faithfully they would attract many people around the world to Him.

In verse 4-10 we see that as the Jewish people attract people from all over the world to God that these people will give much wealth to the people of Israel.  In verses 10-14 we see that as the nations come they will also build the city back up.  The gates will not have to be shut in fear of attack because all the nations who did not like the Israelites would be destroyed (v. 12).  Probably most important is that God will be honored by these people (vv. 6,7,9, 14).  Verses 15-18 continue discussing the wealth that the Israelites will receive and add the fact that Jerusalem is the center of peace and salvation and the place to honor God (v. 18).  Verses 18-21 complete the picture of Jerusalem’s (and it’s people) glorious future.  God will actually live among these people, there will be no more sadness and they will have large “families”.  Verse 21 tells us that through all of this God will be honored and verse 22 tells us that God will surely cause all of this to happen.

What a change from their current situation, under siege, taxed and oppressed by foreign governments, in fear of destruction, in a very dark place (v. 2).  But now they will have the “light” of God’s presence, they will be light to a dark work, and will lead many people out of the darkness of an evil existence as enemies of God into a joyful existence as God’s “children”.  That must have been very encouraging to them, but only if they would listen to the prophet, Isaiah, and turn their lives back to God.  We need to return to God too, and we too will have a similar eternity waiting for us.  We also need to “prove” we are for God by living for others.  We need to “love our neighbor as our self” (Matthew 22:39) and we need to let the “light” of the good news about Jesus shine from our lives, guiding all those around us to an eternity with God.

God thank you for loving, thank you for giving, thank you for communicating, thank you for the Holy Spirit, thank you for the opportunity to be a “light”.  Help mw see just what I need to do to make others thirsty for you.  Thank you. 

Isaiah 59:1-21.  Life has been a little crazy lately.  I have been spending time most days with God and also studying the passage but have been unable to get the posts out.  Sorry for the delay for anyone who is reading.  We are in the concluding chapters of the book of Isaiah.  Yesterday we saw Isaiah getting on to the people for acting religiously.  They thought they were so good for God.  But Isaiah used the ideas of fasting and the Sabbath as a way to show them that they really didn’t have a good relationship with God, they were all about them.  In yesterday’s post I mentioned the broken down city in the “last verse”.  I must have been tired it is actually in verse 12.  Then I didn’t talk about verses 13-14.  That was a big “strike” to use a baseball metaphor, although I did actually come to the same conclusion yesterday that those verses talk about.  Basically Isaiah 58:13-14 tells us that God wants us to live honestly with him and for him.  If we dedicate time to him he wants it to really be for him and about what he likes not about us.

In the book of Acts there is a story about a married couple in the first church in Jerusalem.  In those days people who were believing in Jesus were being cut off from their family and friends.  Many were suffering and in need.  So the members of that church were selling stuff and using the money to help each other.  The married couple decided to sell a piece of property and give the money to the church.  But they didn’t want to give it all.  Later in the story we find out that they didn’t have to sell the property and after they did they didn’t have to give up all of the money.  This was all voluntary.  But they wanted every one to think they gave all the money so they lied about it.  The problem is God sees everything and wanted his people to be honest with each other and him.  As a result the married couple wound up falling over dead.  You see their actions were not about honoring God they were about them and the consequences were pretty severe (death is pretty severe).  But what is important to see here is that if we do not take our relationship with God seriously, if God is just something we stick on at the end of our lives, we run the risk of something worse that death, spiritual death or eternal separation from God.  If we don’t really want a relationship with God he will not force us into it but he wants us to know how serious that choice is.

Today’s reading take off from that point, you see even with all of the serious warnings yesterday’s reading ended with a reminder that we can have a relationship with God and today’s starts out pretty much the same.  Isaiah 59:1 tells us that God has the poser to save us and is listening for us to call out to him.  But there is a problem, we do what we want and that separates us from God, we aren’t living lives that please him (sin means to miss the mark, like in archery or darts, and iniquity means twisted).  Verse 8 tells us that we do not treat others fairly (we do not act justly).  Because of that we do not find justice for ourselves.  We cry to God but he is not listening (he hears but he allows the trouble we are in to remain).  Verse 13 tells us that we are really denying God even though we are calling to him.  What is happening is that we aren’t really seeing God for who he is, we want to use him like a genie in a bottle.

According to verse 16 God didn’t like the fact that we all were doing our won thing and that there wasn’t even one person who was living for him.  So he stepped in and started acting on his own.  God began to judge the rebellious people.  You see right now sometimes people get away with blowing God off but eventually he will come and deal with our rebellion.  And remember he didn’t find anyone who was honoring him (v. 16) that means we are all guilty and deserve his punishment.

In verse 20 we see hope though.  Just like God will come and deal with injustice in our world he will also deal with our personal rebellion, God will offer a way out.  In Disneyland there is an attraction, The Haunted Mansion,  when you first enter you are in a room (really and elevator with no ceiling).  As the elevator goes down the narrator points out that there are no windows or doors in the room, there is no way out.  He then tells you there is always his way.  The room goes dark and the ceiling illuminates with a flash of lightning and you see a body hanging from it, implying you can die and get out.  The room goes dark again with a recorded scream and then the walls (hidden doors) open to let you into a dark hallway in the “Haunted Mansion”.  In verse 20 we learn that there is a “way out” of our sin problem.  God’s way also involved death but it was of his servant who would die for our sins (See Isaiah 53).  Verse 21 tells us that this servant is fulfilling a contract that God has made (that is what a covenant is) and that the Servant is given power by the Spirit of God.  This way out is offered to anyone who will turn to God and not live according to what they want.  These people will be considered as children of the Servant and they too will receive power from the Spirit of God.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus, the Servant, is returning to Heaven after spending several weeks with his followers.  This is after his death and resurrection.  He tells them that they need to tell the world about him and that they will receive power from the Holy Spirit, the same power he relied on as he live his life to please God the Father (See “Three or One?”).  The word he used to describe what they would do as they waited for him to return for them was witness.  In Greek the word is “martus”, we get the English word martyr from that word.  Our English word is based on what happened to many early believers in Jesus who were killed for living for him.   No body wanted to hear about the one true God and his free offer of salvation from our disobedient lives.  They wanted to go on living the way they wanted and pretend they were honoring some god through their evil lives.  But those early believers were empowered by the truth and by God’s Spirit and we can be too.  But we need to turn away from what we want and toward God.  Lord help me look to you and do things that make you happy.  I want to be a part of your forever kingdom.  I don’t really want the messed up existence that I make for myself.  Help me see and hear and obey.  Make all I do for you be true, about you and not about me.  Thank you for “redeeming” (paying for) me. Thank you for your Spirit, help me be your martyr each and every day, you are worth the sacrifice.