After Resurrection Musings

One problem with trying to understand the prophets:  the sequence of events and themes isn’t always clear. After I looked at Isaiah 53, the next logical step would be to look at Isaiah 54. Here is what caught my attention.

Isaiah 54:9-10 (NIV 84) - "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 

If the punishment for all my sin and transgression has been borne by Jesus on the cross, then logically speaking, God has no more reason to be angry with me ever again. I believe this applies in the sense of my relationship with God being secure. Of course my fellowship with God is NOT secure, and should never be taken for granted. If I choose to ignore God, neglect my prayer time and let dust gather on my Bible, I am out of fellowship with God. 

Imagine, not hearing the voice of God, being deaf and blind to the leading of the Spirit, while being weak in the inner man because of not feeding on the Word of God. That is a very dangerous state to be in these last days!

Isaiah 54:11-15 (NIV 84) - "O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 

So what or who is this afflicted city mentioned here?

On one level, it refers to the city of Jerusalem. We see the LORD speaking to Jerusalem in both Isaiah 51:17 and in Isaiah 52:1, and he does not address any other group of people until the start of Isaiah 55. That means that Isaiah 54:11 refers to Jerusalem. 

For us this can refer to the physical city of Jerusalem, or also the New Testament church

Hebrews 12:22 (ESV) - But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect 

One mistake to watch out for – do not let the spiritual meaning negate the physical meaning. There will be people who think that this prophecy can apply to the spiritual Jerusalem, therefore it does not apply anymore to the physical Jerusalem. That would be like saying because this verse: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh“ (Gen 2:24) applies to Christ and his church (Eph 5:33) it does not apply to our earthly marriages. And Eph 5:33 shows that idea is clearly not Scriptural. 
  
Two thoughts from this passage:

1) Move beyond an individual-based faith to a community-based faith.

Our individual, personal faith-walk with the Lord is the foundation. We need to seek God for our own lives, to see his working in our day-to-day experience, to experience his promises fulfilled for us. If not we end up like some people I have seen, who spend more time praying for the church than for themselves, sound very spiritual and mature, and yet fight losing battles with their problems and addictions in their personal lives. 

But after that foundation is laid, we must swiftly move on to praying for the community also. We can find many prophecies for Jerusalem in the Old Testament and prayers for the churches in the New Testament. If spiritual maturity is defined by how much the Bible reflects our lives, attention and priorities, then ignoring the community (Jerusalem or the church) is a clear sign of immaturity.

So pray! Pray for yourself, pray for your local church, and pray for the church at large. No one with a Bible and an internet connection can ever say “I don’t know what to pray about”, it’s handed to us on a silver platter by modern technology. We have no excuse!

2) Pray for Jerusalem

When I set out to regularly pray for Jerusalem, I soon realized that there were many Scripture passages I could use. The above passage from Isaiah 54 is only just one example. Just casually reading through the book of Isaiah yields many prophecies for Jerusalem (and Zion) for us to use in our private prayer time. But if you are wondering how to get started, here’s a simple answer.

Psalm 122:6-9 (NKJV) - Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:“May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls,Prosperity within your palaces.”For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say,“Peace be within you.” Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

Pray that Jerusalem will experience the shalom of God, the peace, prosperity and well-being of God. And pray that there will be justice in Jerusalem, because the purpose of shalom is to order and establish his kingdom, the nation of Israel, with judgment and justice. In other words, shalom, judgment and justice will show the world what the rule of Christ truly is.

Isaiah 9:7 (NKJV) - Of the increase of His government and peaceThere will be no end,Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,To order it and establish it with judgment and justiceFrom that time forward, even forever.The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

I’d better stop here before I get carried away by the Scriptures again. If so I’ll never stop writing. Chew on all this sharing for now, I need to go back to praying. Be blessed! 

Faith for My Children

I haven’t been posting here for a long time. Life has been a relentless flood, problems with work, all the hassle and things that need to be worked out for changing work, and my sons’ exams. The added pressure has been testing my faith, for sure!

One day, I realized why I was so uptight, unhappy, worried and fearful: I did not really believe, deep in my heart, that God’s goodness goes beyond me and extends to my children. Now once I figured that out, the next step was to study the Scriptures to see what God has to say about it.

Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV84) - Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

This was the passage that got me started nearly 20 years ago, when I wanted to let the Bible teach me about worship. And it promises that God’s faithfulness continues through all generations. Does that include my children? The problem is that “generations” is too wide a scope for me. It makes me imagine hordes and hordes of people, but not MY kids (which is what I am really concerned about, right?).

Genesis 26:4-5 (NKJV) - And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;  because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.

God appeared to Isaac and made the above promise, that he would be blessed, and that it was because of his father Abraham. Don’t let yourself be intimidated by the part “… kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.” I know it sounded like Abraham fulfilled all the commands in Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but the fact is, God did NOT speak all those to Abraham. Study what God commanded Abraham to do, and you will realize it is a lot simpler than what most of us expect!

But all that is Abraham and Isaac. How about us? 

Proverbs 14:26 (NIV84) - He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.

Me fearing the LORD will be a refuge for my children. There are many things that the Bible defines as fearing the LORD, but they have something in common: they are a refuge for my children. That means they help protect them and shelter them in days that are increasingly dangerous and treacherous for all who want to live godly lives unto the LORD.

So what am I do to? What is my part in all this?

Ephesians 6:4 (NIV 84) - Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

David gives a guideline to what that means to me as a father.

Psalm 34:11-14 (NKJV) - Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

And as I labour in that (parenting IS hard work, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise), I need a vision of my goal. “Begin with the end in mind” is the management mantra that really applies here. What is the end I desire to see for my sons?

Isaiah 44:1-5 (NKJV) - “Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.

Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you:

‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring;
They will spring up among the grass like willows by the watercourses.’
One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’; another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
Another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’ and name himself by the name of Israel.

My sons are to see themselves as devoted to the LORD, in both senses of the word: I have devoted them to the LORD and their lives are given over to his loving hands, and they are to love the LORD themselves, out of their own will, and be loyal to him. And God himself promises to be devoted to them, to teach them himself.

Isaiah 54:13 (NKJV) - All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.

Conclusion:

Faith, confidence and assurance are to be based on God’s word. Now that I have received light on the matter, I have to keep the above Scriptures in front of my eyes (keep reading and re-reading them) and in my heart (keep thinking about them) until they bring me the life God promised (Proverbs 4:21-22). And if you are a parent, I hope this post will encourage your heart and strengthen your resolve to raise children glorifying the LORD. Be blessed!

When God Offends You

Looking back, I realized that my university days were when I was the most zealous for Jesus.

I would spend hours in the Bible, prayer and personal worship. I was active in a church worship band, evangelistic concerts and in music lessons, to hone my skills. And I would practice both the piano and the guitar a lot. I wanted skill, and skill that would last, so that I had more to use when serving in the worship ministry.

“Did you get any studying done those days, JJ?” Errr…

Ever since then I have gone down a lot. Life responsibilities, such as work and family, make me more like a normal Christian, who has to be seriously disciplined to seek God. Practice time is less (ironic for a music teacher, right?) so I have to make the best use of whatever little practice time I have.

Now I could be disappointed. Given the amount of zeal I had in those days, I was expecting that I would be a hard-core, effective servant of the LORD, teaching the Word and being used in healing the sick and all that kind of stuff. But even though I am nowhere near what I dreamed of in my university days, at least I am still walking with God. He has been holding on to me all these years.

And I am grateful!

Not all the people I knew from those days are still walking with the Lord. A few have fallen and are no longer serving God or walking with him.

And it bugs me. I remember looking at them, seeing how different they were from me in terms of personality and giftings, and yet sharing the same purpose: Glorify Jesus with whatever we had and in everything we could do. I was thinking things could only get better, and we would, working together but in our own unique ways, keep on serving God, achieving more and winning our nation for Christ.  

Then offences struck. And people stumbled.

Offences can come from men

Luke 17:1-2 (KJV) - Then said he unto the disciples, “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.               

People in church can offend you. And to get a sense of what kind of offence we are talking about, the word used for “offences” is the Greek word from which we derive the word “scandal” from. It means to trip up, to stumble or entice to sin. Jesus said that it WILL happen.

Knowing that it will happen is our best defence. When we know that it will happen, we will not lose our faith just because people in church fail us. Guess what? If we set our hopes on people, rather than on the LORD, they will disappoint us.

Psalm 118:8-9 (ESV) - It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

So people disappointing us is no excuse. So what if your pastor is a hypocrite? So what? So what if your church people don’t love you as God commanded them to? So what? I mean, if love was so easy, God wouldn’t need to admonish us to love one another, right? Obviously, divine love is not nature to us in our fallen nature. Did God ever promise us that the rest of the believers will love us properly, as he desires? I don’t think so. So why let yourself be stumbled just because people in church let you down?

Offences can come from God

John 6:61-62 (ESV) - But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

 

Again the same Greek word for offense appears. In effect, Jesus is saying, “Does this scandalize you? I am still holding back. You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Jesus then delivered his doctrinal bombshell.

John 6:65-66 (ESV) - And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

 

Maybe it won’t be salvation doctrine that offends you. How about the way God forgives and blesses sinners?
 

Luke 15:29-30 (ESV) – 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

 

When the Gospel, preached in its entirety, offends, some people turn away from God entirely. Sometimes they go doctrine shopping, looking for a church, religion or philosophy that excuses their pet sins or justifies their beliefs and preferences.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV) - For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,  and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

 

How do we hold firm when God himself offends us?
 

John 6:67-69 (ESV) – So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."

 

Jesus has the words of eternal life, which means they cause us to know God, to perceive and be sure of him (John 17:3). His words are Spirit and they are life (John 6:63). But they are no benefit to us unless we actually let his words abide in us (John 15:7). We need to actual taste and experience God’s goodness (Psalm 34:8), especially through the Word (Hebrews 6:5). We start by believing that Jesus is the Holy One of God, then when we grow in our experience of his Word and his goodness in our lives, we end up knowing for sure.

My Faith Crash

I had a massive faith crash years ago.

It was so painful. I was experiencing the presence of God in worship and the Word. I had answered prayers and many significant signs that hinted that I was on the right track. I was returning back to serving God in ministry, and re-discovering the joy of setting my hand to the plough for the Kingdom of God and being fruitful in ministry.

And then the crash came. What I prayed to God earnestly for, I did not get. Even worse, I got the opposite of what I really believed God would give me. He brought me so far, why would he not complete it, right? I clung on in prayer, stayed faithful in ministry and in my own personal time of seeking God, and continued to experience his presence and even answered prayers.

Yes, God continued give me what I asked for. Except for what I wanted the most, desired the most and had reasons to expect the most. For this part of my life I still have no answers, no resolution, no completion. I cannot come up with some spiritual-sounding lesson and say that I now understand why God did things that way during that season. I still don’t.

So what do I have? I still have God with me. Nudging me forward when I totally doubt that he was going to lead me where I am supposed to go. Answering prayers still. Meeting with me in my own personal prayer and worship time still. There is just only one matter, over which I wanted nothing but his will, worked out his way. And when I had finally come to believe I knew what it was, and that I was going to receive it, I didn’t get it. And the shame still remains. Did I ask God for the wrong thing? If so, how could I have missed it so badly?

Isaiah 54:4 (ESV) - Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

What kept me going? It was the eternal life of God. It was continuing to experience God, even when in one matter I was disappointed. I did get one lesson I can share from that season though: You don’t need trust when someone does what you understand. You need trust when that someone is doing a whole lot of things you don’t understand. That is when you have to decide if you will trust that the person knows what he or she is doing, and has your best interests at heart.

And when it comes to people, your trust can be misplaced. But not with God. He has shown his faithfulness to me many times before and many times ever since. Will I stumble and be offended with God over one matter, or will I look at his past faithfulness and trust, even when I don’t understand? 

Conclusion:

I know this is really long, and I have shared some personal stuff. But I hope that some of what I shared here will be useful to you or to those around you, who are struggling with God offending them. Be blessed!

Scripture Capture

(personal blog post)

Just thought of quickly capturing the passages that got my attention just this evening during my Scripture reading time with my boys. Kind of like a Screen Capture, but with Bible verses.

Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (NKJV) - Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew,
As raindrops on the tender herb, and as showers on the grass.
For I proclaim the name of the Lord: Ascribe greatness to our God.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.

hmmm... seems to be another illustration of the idea of God's Word as the rain, watering the earth. Makes me wonder if I go to a country suffering from drought and speak the Scriptures there, will God answer with rain for the land?

James 5:13-18 (NKJV) - Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

Good verse to remember. Jess had a little health hiccup, and I remembered the pray-in-faith bit and totally forgot the anoint-with-oil bit. Some kind of Word-of-Faith person I turn out to be, right? Good thing I kept some olive oil around the house. It's useful for all kinds of stuff, not just anointing in prayer.

Psalm 59:10-13 (NKJV) - My God of mercy shall come to meet me; 
God shall let me see my desire on my enemies.

Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down, O Lord our shield.

For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be;
And let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth.

Guess what? I get angry at injustice also. I face injustice also. And through the Word of God I bring up my emotions before God.  

Jeremiah 30:16 (NKJV) - Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured;
And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity;
Those who plunder you shall become plunder,
And all who prey upon you I will make a prey.

Another illustration of the principle: what you sow, you shall reap. God, by your grace I will keep myself from sowing evil into the lives of others. And forgive me, Lord, for the times I did.

Isaiah 54:17 (NKJV) - "No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and their righteousness is from Me,” says the Lord.  

This is one of those passages that makes me examine my conscience. Why? Because i want to be sure everything I do deserves God defending me to that extent. God, may I be found blameless in your sight, that I can fully expect your total and complete vindication when my accusers arise!

 

James 2:12-13 (NIV) - Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

God, remind me to live by mercy and not by judgment. Let judgment fall on those who condemn me unfairly. On my part, I will crucify my flesh and choose to walk in mercy. 

So many thoughts, and this was less than 30 minutes of musing on God's Word and praying. Will continue to meditate on these verses tomorrow!