Tuesday, February 05,
2013, 5:55 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Sing Praises” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is
listening. I read Isaiah 44:1-23
(quoting vv. 1-8, 21-23 in the NIV 1984):
“But now listen, O
Jacob, my servant,
Israel, whom I have chosen.
This is what the Lord
says—
he who made you, who formed you in the
womb,
and who will help you:
Do not be afraid, O
Jacob, my servant,
Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water
on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out my
Spirit on your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
They will spring up
like grass in a meadow,
like poplar trees by flowing streams.
One will say, ‘I
belong to the Lord’;
another will call himself by the name of
Jacob;
still another will
write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
and will take the name Israel.
“This is what the Lord
says—
Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord
Almighty:
I am the first and I
am the last;
apart from me there is no God.
Who then is like me?
Let him proclaim it.
Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened
since I established my ancient people,
and what is yet to come—
yes, let him foretell what will come.
Do not tremble, do not
be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it
long ago?
You are my witnesses.
Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not
one.”
…“Remember these
things, O Jacob,
for you are my servant, O Israel.
I have made you, you
are my servant;
O Israel, I will not forget you.
I have swept away your
offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me,
for I have redeemed you.”
Sing for joy, O
heavens, for the Lord has done this;
shout
aloud, O earth beneath.
Burst into song, you
mountains,
you forests and all your trees,
for the Lord has
redeemed Jacob,
he displays his glory in Israel.
Promises
As I read through the book of Isaiah, I am consistently struck
with how our Lord continually gave forth the same message to his people over
and over and over again. He spoke often of the precious relationship he
designed for his people to have with their maker. He chose them to be his special
people and for him to be their God. He formed them in the womb of their
mothers, i.e. he was intrinsically involved in their lives from even before he
formed them in the womb. And, this is true of believers in Jesus Christ today,
too.
Psalm 139 states that God not only knit us together in the
wombs of our mothers, but all the days ordained for us were written in his book
before one of them came to be. We are not accidents of nature. We are here by
design, and God has an express purpose for each one of our lives. His purpose
for us is to bring him honor, glory and praise, to save us from our sins, and
to bring us into an intimate relationship and fellowship with our Lord God,
free from slavery to sin, and free to love, honor, worship, and obey our Lord.
Not only did our God/Jesus create us with a purpose and have
a plan for our lives, and not only did he provide salvation for us through
Christ’s death on the cross for our sins and through his resurrection, and not
only did he choose and call those of us who are to be his by faith to be his
very own people, holy and set apart for him and for his service, but he
promises us his continual presence, his guidance, protection, security, peace,
assurance, and his wisdom, strength, and power to do all that he has called and
equipped us to do. We never have to fear mankind or our circumstances, because
he is with us, and he has it all under his control. We just have to trust and
obey.
When this was written, the people of God were the nation of
Israel. Yet, they ceased to be the people of God when they rejected Jesus Christ
as their Messiah and Lord. Now the Jews, as a nation, are numbered among the
Gentiles, i.e. among non-believers, whereas true believers and followers of
Jesus Christ, including believing Jews, are now true Israel, the body of
Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Jerusalem that is from above, the
Holy City, and Zion - God’s eternal kingdom. They are those who have been
circumcised of the heart by the Spirit of God. So, the descendants upon whom
the Spirit of God was to be outpoured are those who have trusted in Jesus
Christ as Lord, Savior and King of their lives, for when we put our faith and
trust in Jesus Christ, God fills us with his Spirit.
God’s people were not only given these awesome promises, but
they were also warned that judgment was coming, and they were told what they
were doing wrong. They were called upon to turn from their sins and to turn
back to living in obedience to their Lord. So, this is the framework in which
these promises are given. Although they would have to face severe times ahead because
of their disobedience, their idolatry and their complacency, et al, God let
them know over and over again that he would bless them again, that they would have
descendants, that the promised Messiah would come from them, and that a time
was coming when there would be peace on the earth during the reign of Christ.
Yet, in this next couple of verses we see a picture, I
believe, of these spiritual descendants coming to faith in Jesus Christ. They
would acknowledge that they now belonged to the Lord, they would call
themselves God’s people, and they would take upon themselves a mark (a symbol
or sign, such as the Holy Spirit, and/or some type of evidence of such an influence,
i.e. identifying characteristics which are the marks of a true follower of
Christ) of Christ’s ownership in their lives as a reminder of their allegiance
to God/Christ. In other words, these followers of Christ would not wear the
name of Christ only, but his ownership on their lives would have its mark in
how they conducted themselves, in their attitudes and behaviors, and in their
speech, though not one would do this perfectly (see Phil. 3:12-14).
No Other Rock
The psalmists often used the term “Rock” to describe God. The
term “rock” carries with it a sense of strength, power, stability, protection,
safety, etc. Jesus is also referred to as our “Rock,” as a “living stone,” “the
cornerstone,” and/or “the capstone.” He is the solid rock upon which we can
take our stand, because he is immovable, trustworthy, full of integrity, honesty,
faithfulness, and holiness, etc. Man will fail us, but God will never fail us.
He will keep all his promises, he will do what he says he will do, and he will
always be there for us.
He is our cornerstone, because he is essential and vital to
the building of Christ’s church, the body of Christ (not the institutional
church or man-made corporations), because he had to first of all die and be
resurrected for our sins (the first stone laid) so that we could be saved, and
so we could become part of God’s eternal kingdom, i.e. his building. He is our
capstone (keystone) which supports and holds the building together, like the capstone
of an arch or a bridge. Jesus is the bridge between us and God who locks us and
God together. Without him, i.e. without the capstone, we would fall short of
God’s glory, i.e. we can’t reach God in our own strength, works or good deeds.
Only via our capstone, cornerstone and living stone, our Rock of our salvation,
can we come to salvation and faith in Christ.
Jesus Christ is our (true Israel’s) King and Redeemer. He is
the Lord Almighty. He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He
is our creator, sustainer and provider. He is the second person of our triune
God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Apart from God there is no God. All the
other gods are fake copies or fake alternatives to the one true God. Idols of
men are worthless and those who make them are nothing. Those who would glory in
man-made idols and would give them public notoriety and praise and adulation are
blind and ignorant, to their shame. When we compare the one true and awesome
God Almighty to our man-made idols, it is a no-brainer who is truly God, who is
our maker, who formed us in the wombs of our mothers, who has saved us,
redeemed us, bought us with a price, loves us, and who encourages and comforts
us in our troubles, etc. So, why do we give honor and praise and our “worship”
to idols of men? It is like this when we bow to man-made idols:
No one stops to think,
no one has the knowledge or understanding
to say,
“Half of it I used for
fuel;
I even baked bread over its coals,
I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a
detestable thing from what is left?
Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
He feeds on ashes, a
deluded heart misleads him;
he cannot save himself, or say,
“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”
So, we think to ourselves, I would never do anything so dumb
as that, but would we not? What do we regularly praise and give glory and honor
to? Check your Facebook posts, your emails, blogs, et al, and read what you
write about (me, too). To whom or to what do you give most of your praise,
glory and honor? What do you get the most excited about? What occupies most of
your conversations, time, spending (outside of bills), thinking, activities,
leisure or spare time, et al? What gets you up early in the morning or keeps
you up late at night (besides your job and/or small children)? What gets your
passion? What would you not want to live without in your life? If you say God,
does your life show that? Do we truly worship God above all else, do we honor
him as the only true God, or do we “worship”, adore and give praise to other
gods, i.e. the gods our hands have made?
Return
God is calling his children today who have run off to follow
after other gods of men, who are rebellious, complacent, and/or who are hard of
hearing and not willing to see what God has for them, to obey him and to return
to him. He is calling his lukewarm church to remember all the things he has
done for us. What other “god” in our lives has died for our sins, or has walked
with us through difficult times, or has never failed us? So, why do we pursue
other gods and put the one true God on the back burner or in second or third
place? He is calling us to remember that he is the one who made us, and he is
the one who has forgiven us of our sins, and no other god has done this for us.
He is our only redeemer, so we should honor him and return to walking in
submission to his will, to obedience to his commands, and to making him our
only God!
If we do not return (see Rev 2-3), a time of judgment is
coming, yet this time of suffering will not be for naught. Out of our severe
suffering and trials God will bring us to repentance, he will heal us, and he
will restore us as a people of God. Even Jesus learned obedience through
suffering, though he had done no wrong. The Bible continuously tells us the
importance of suffering, trials, tribulations and difficulties in our lives.
They produce in us earnestness, godly sorrow which leads to repentance,
perseverance, and they prove our faith to be genuine (or not). They refine us
and purify us and they lead us to our knees in humility and in surrender to God’s
will for our lives. So, be earnest and repent!
We should be so thankful for all the Lord Jesus has done for
us in providing us with salvation that we should be singing for joy! And, we
should be telling of his wondrous works! And, we should give our lives over to
God to be his bondservants and him our master. We should give him our all, and
we should no longer follow after other gods.
Sing Praises / An
Original Work / November 30, 2012
Based off Psalms 6-9
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Tell of His wondrous
works.
Afflicted, they cry
out;
The Lord will not
forget;
The needy, not desert.
The Lord’s our refuge
now;
A stronghold when we fear.
The Lord will ne’er
forsake
The ones, who Him
pursue!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
With all my heart I
sing.
I will rejoice in Him;
Sing praises to His
name;
Tell of His wondrous
works.
My shield is God Most
High.
He saves those who
believe
In Jesus Christ, God’s
Son.
His grace has pardoned
you!
The Lord accepts my
prayer!
The Lord has heard my
cries.
He is so merciful.
He heals my anguished
soul.
The Lord has made me
whole.
Give thanks unto the
Lord.
Give praise unto His
name.
Our Lord is righteousness.
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
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