Afterwords -- astonishing
"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'” (Isaiah 52:7)
January 6, 2024
Dear friends,
In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah gives us some of the most stunning glimpses of the Messiah to come. Especially remarkable are the four "Servant Psalms", or songs about the Servant of the Lord, found in chapters 42, 49, 50, and 52-53. Israel the nation was called to be the Servant of the Lord (כעבד יהוה), but they were largely faithless, failing time and time again in their loyalty to God. Isaiah introduces another figure, an individual, whom the Lord calls "my servant", who will succeed where the nation failed. His character and his love for righteousness shines forth in these songs of the servant in Isaiah. He himself is the true and ideal Israel.
The near view of the prophecies of Isaiah is the restoration of the Jewish exiles from Babylon in the sixth century BC. The far view is the redemption of all of God's people through the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. As you read the prophecies of the Old Testament, you will notice that the near and far aspects may be described side-by-side in the same passage. That being said, the Servant Psalms are among the clearest prophecies in the OT of the nature and work of God's Son.
ASTONISHING. The nations, and especially the rulers, will be astonished at how God brings salvation through his Servant (Isa 52:14). The word translated "astonished" in this verse has the notion of being shocked and horrified. Those worldly authorities -- those who wield and abuse power -- will be dumbfounded that God has redeemed his people through an apparently powerless man, one whom they despised and treated brutally. This Servant's strength will be in his character, service, commitment to righteousness, and sacrificial suffering. God's salvation will be counter-intuitive to what most people think wisdom and power is all about: "...behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden." (Isa 29:14) The one that the people despised and rejected will be the One who "shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted." (52:13)
AWAKENING. Chapter 52 opens with, "Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city..." (Isaiah 52:1) "Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem..." (51:17; cf 60:1) This wake-up call is echoed by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament -- "Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:14-16) That verse is being cited for believers, regarding how they are to conduct their remaining time in this world. We need to keep embracing this astonishing gospel in order to overcome apathy, sluggishness, and blindness.
We should not feel ashamed of identifying with Jesus, the lowly and suffering Servant of the Lord. We are called to take up our cross, following Christ's example, and to separate ourselves from the uncleanness of the world (52:11; 2 Cor 6:14-18), walking in confidence of the Lord's presence (52:12). I find that the pleasures and worries of this age, when sinfully indulged, make me dull and unresponsive to the things of God. I also find that the worries of this world tempt me to hide from painful and difficult situations, and to ignore truth I need to hear. We often seek to deaden the pain with denial and diversion.
ANNOUNCING. God tells us through Isaiah that he himself has spoken and revealed this salvation: "Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I." (52:6) This gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins and raised from the dead, is the beautiful good news of peace, and the living voice of God through which we can approach him (52:7-9). We must not lose sight of the astonishing and shocking nature of the gospel, that God reigns in salvation and history, and his saving power is manifested through his Son upon the cross, a scandal and folly to the wise and powerful of our world. Paul said, "None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Corinthians 2:8)
Sometimes we shrink from freely announcing this astounding, even shocking message. We may feel that our responsibility to our society is discharged when we engage in political activity and/or vote correctly for powerful people whom we think will best represent God's interests (as if). Or when we do good works. Or we may feel that promoting social justice is the fulfillment of our calling. As good as any of those things may be, any sense of justice that does not take the individual as well as society into account is defective. Any sense of justice that does not take into account God's transcendent moral law is defective. And any proclamation of justice that does not include God's work of redemption through his Son will ultimately fall short. We must proclaim the Gospel of God's Son. This will have ethical, social, and political consequences, to be sure, but we must not stop short of speaking Jesus' name, nor wield power as the world does. We are to speak openly of the eternally-good news of Jesus Christ and him crucified (1 Cor 2:1-5). We must celebrate this salvation before all people, including the rulers of our age (Psalm 2), as well as to our family and neighbors and unreached peoples. Good intentions are good; good deeds are good; but we are not witnesses for Christ until we actually speak of Christ!
IN OTHER READING.
-- "Having access to Scripture is a privilege. It’s a gift to know the Lord and possess the words he inspired to express what’s in our hearts when we don’t know what to say. Let’s not despise it. In Jesus, we can approach the Lord with confidence and enjoy the beauty of his truth. Let’s do it, imprinting his words on our hearts and—sometimes—on paper." (Ana Avila) Good article: "Why I Transcribe the Bible During My Quiet Time" (Me, too. A lot of my own journalling is simply copying texts of Scripture!)
-- Your children and grandchildren are being catechized by our culture.
-- "We fear God because of our guilt; but we trust him because of his grace." (J. Gresham Machen, What Is Faith?) This is an excellent little book, recently reprinted.
-- I've added the Gospel of Matthew to the Bible reading guides here.
-- Books I'm currently reading: Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, by Ellen Vaughn (B&H Books, 2020); and The Question of God, by Armand Nicholi (Free Press, 2003). And this week I am writing with a MiG titanium fountain pen from Australia (photo below from the website), given to me by a good friend at church.
FINAL QUOTE.
“In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth -- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
That's it for this first week of 2024!
Sandy
Image credit: photo above by Damian Markutt on Unsplash. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
