Krissi

I have always interpreted "a light to the nations" on an individual scale, as if I must be a light to all the individuals with whom I come in contact. As I look at the verse now, it seems that this command is also directed to nations, in other words, people from foreign lands, as well as directed to governments including my own. If I were to be a light to those I met in my daily life, which I think I am to be, then the passage would have said something like, "be a light to those around you." But it tells me to be lights to nations! How do I do this? I'm praying to influence people who lead other nations, somehow, that the circle of my acquaintances enlarges to include the people God wants me to talk to, influence politically and bring to saving faith. I pray to do good deeds but more than this, act in such a way that I stand out as a Christian among seculars.

The people I love or have loved openly reject Christianity. My family and the people I feel most comfortable with have quietly and subtly pulled away. On rare occasions they openly mock my faith. I am very alone. This is His will. (My oldest son accepted Christ two weeks ago. He is already experiencing rejection from our family and his girlfriend but is determined to persevere with His strength. We have a faith-bond, now, that far exceeds the bond that existed before. Praise God!)

I'm having spiritual problems with these passages. To me, it seems that God punished Israel for their apostacy and sins by sending them to endure three generations of slavery and misery and then acted tenderly toward the fourth or fifth generation. His prophet Isaiah prophesied in 700 and this came to pass in 539 ... 160 years of suffering! Some people were born and died in captivity. This reminds me of the centuries that the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt -- why didn't God rescue any of these bruised reeds and smouldering wicks who had turned their hearts toward Him? God uses suffering to purify His people. Of this I am certain.

It's fascinating that Jesus' name was common among First Century Jews and was a shortened version of Joshua. God could have chosen other names but chose a name that signified salvation. Clearly, He doesn't save us from anything "this worldly" but from the sin within us. That was his mission. His assignment. To save us from sin. Though salvation is a point in time, my "felt" salvation is incremental and has more to do with the process of sanctification.

The physical preparations -- building roads and levelling ground -- are said to be metaphors for what is supposed to happen within us, but it could also be read as metaphors for our inability and unworthiness to prepare for Him at all. The glory of the Lord will be revealed to ALL, not just those preparing for Him V. 11: "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his armsand carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." How the people who were born and died in captivity experience God's tenderness and compassionate love? -- v15 Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing. Though God may regard nations are worthless, which in His economy and timeline is surely true, we can be trapped in a nation at a particular time in history that kills and maims us ... destroys us. Nations are not worthless to us but existentially threatening. Its not that we're attracted to the glitter of power and wealth, but that we fear our nation's elitists misguided ideals and policies which can hurl us toward war or into captivity. The God who existed since the earth was created and who now who rules the world also allows unjust suffering. We're left clinging to hope ... a blind hope that God will compassionately reach down and choose us to be saved, that we're the ones he's chosen to be rescued, not those he has chosen to suffer unjustly. It's very difficult to draw strength from these promises unless we are certain that we're among the ones that God has redeemed, not in a salvific sense but in this life, in the ways we exist. For God to be strength when we are weary, He must see the unjustness of our weariness, that we are tired because we're enslaved by cruel taskmasters. But does He care? This is the question I cannot answer. From my perspective it appears that some people's lives are sacrificed or made miserable as His wider picture of salvation history unfolds.

Hezekiah seems to feel his behaviour was exemplary enough to merit God's healing -- an audacious claim. The New Testament clearly states that no one is righteous apart from Christ, yet Hezekiah claims to have sufficiently served and obeyed God to merit healing. I suppose the fact that he lived in times before Christ explains some of this. We seem to be toeing a thin line between the attitude of meriting God's attention and care and, conversely, acknowledging that we cannot merit God's attention. For this reason, I'm not sure our personal righteousness matters to God, but am sure that focusing on Him makes us more righteous (sanctification). As we focus on Him our mind isn't on our own behaviour and thoughts, but His; we don't see our own righteousness, but His. Similarly, I am not sure that a person's unrighteousness prevents God from answering prayer. God answers all sorts of prayers from believers in different stages of sanctification, some of whom are not living wholly upright lives. He also delays, says "no" or doesn't seem to answer the prayers of people who are very righteous (in our eyes). If He answered only the prayers of the righteous, then the righteous people would be healthy, wealthy, and whatever ... and this is surely not the case. In fact, as I think about it, it seems that the most righteous people are those most tried by suffering and the inexplicable silence of God. (Righteous, in this case, means closest to God.) God answers prayer how and when He chooses. Every answer is an act of His volition, incomprehensible to us. Grace, itself, is purely a gift, bestowed more on some than others. We must simply hang our heads and accept that we will never understand how God works or why He chooses to work the way He does.

Hezekiah's healing prefigured the healing of the nation, in other words, Hezekiah's healing pre-presented the healing that God would give to Israel. God had promised Hezekiah that there would be an unbroken genetic line from David to the Messiah. Hezekiah was a link in that line, but had no children. Without children, this line would be broken so it was imperative that he live long enough to sire children. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, Hezekiah appealed to God on the basis of his own righteousness. This passage gave me pause because my own tendency is to focus on my own most negative/sinful parts, thus neglecting the sanctification that has already occurred. But there are parts of me that are righteous because He's made them so. I can, then, appeal to God on the basis, oddly, of what He has already done within me. I'm not appealing because I'm sinless, but because my focus is on Him and the trajectory of my life is toward Him and because of what Christ has done in me. Although pastor Ralph didn't touch on this, the willingness of God to change or negate His judgment is hope-making. Hezekiah's prayers "changed history" by changing God's mind or word. This is amazing. Truly. Can we pray that the course of history changes? Are our prayers for righteous leaders in our own countries futile or potentially productive? This passage suggests that the river of history as we know it may be channeled and directed by our prayers, which, frankly, I find exciting.

Comparison of the Lord's prayer and Hezekiah's prayer: Both Hezekiah and the lord's prayer begin by invoking God in a personal manner or as a father. Both refer to heaven. Hezekiah references God's omnipotence and creative past, but not the Lord's prayer. The Lord's prayer speaks of God's holiness in His name. A personal relationship with God while acknowledge that He is so much greater than we are -- "wholly other" -- is a bedrock condition of true faith. Many prayers do not start with this invocation and yet are answered. I do think these must be deeply seated beliefs, however, not to prod God to answer prayer which is selfish, but as an attitude of life in Him. I wonder, on a personal level, if some of my persistent prayers have not been answered because I don't acknowledge God's character and power as I should.

I'd like to read what was actually written in the message to Hezekiah. Perhaps it doesn't matter. Whatever it was that Sennecherib wrote, Hezekiah interpreted it as an insult to God. I love Hezekiah's response, how he went to the temple with the letter and read it aloud as if he were conversing with God. Then he prayed and asked God to pay attention to what he had read -- "Open your eyes .. listen." In the largest of pictures, the underlying principle that the battle is God's, not ours, surely holds. In my daily life, I try to give or submit my battles to Him. As I grow in Him, the degree to which I am able to submit "my" battles to Him grows. I am learning to submit battles I could have won by myself, that is, battles which in a prior life would have been successfully dealt with without prayer or submission. Now, even these battles are His, or should be. It's the attitude of releasing our own abilities to Him that could be the greater principle. Yes, all battles are His, but only if we make them thus. We can choose to fight our own battles, often successfully, or we can choose to submit those battles to Him before we fight them or before He fights them for us. For me, this is the crux of the issue: Are all God's battles to be approached passively, as if we can't fight them alone or shouldn't fight battles ourselves?, OR, are we to be proactive and strong, submitting our strength to Him, letting Him guide our strong arms as we fight?

The original readers for whom these passages were written would have been relieved to know that their deaths were not imminent and suffering would eventually cease. They were promised to live in peace -- "a peaceful abode" --and justice -- "The Lord is our judge ..." -- an abundance of material goods as well as health. I don't know why Isaiah relies on such flowery, metaphoric language. It's a bit like Jesus talking in parables, a way of circumventing straight talk and the giving of hints. Jesus said he spoke in parables because people wouldn't understand direct language. The idea is that the elect/believers would be given special insight into it's meaning, presumably by the Spirit, and that outsiders/damned would be flummoxed by the language. The highway of holiness could be the calling or divine path that we're supposed to trod after becoming Christians. Only believers are walking on this highway. It appears to lead to heaven/Zion which is a joyous, free-spirited place. I wonder if redeemed and ransomed are found together in the bible in other places. They're related words. Redeemed refers to the agent of redemption, the one who pays the fees incurred. Ransomed refers to the process, the payment of the fees. Christ is our redeemer and has ransomed us.

One of the first things that happens after one becomes a Christian is a assessment of the circumstances of one's life. All things are examined and as they're examined, ethical shortcomings are exposed, mostly in relationships. One by one, these unethical relationships are necessarily "cleaned up". I am watching over, now, a young man -- about 30 years of age -- who became a Christian two weeks ago. His social background is much like mine. Immediately after his salvation, a business he owned had a crisis which could have been solved two ways -- ethically and unethically. I'm praying and shepherding him to take the ethical route, which he too wants to take. Having said this, he also laments the "cost" of being ethical. Today, for example, he will be losing his biggest client. This is the right thing for him to do. I pray often for this young man. Fervently. Like a mother. I don't think salvation can be separated from the ethical changes it creates in a Christian. One cannot be close to God without being "like Christ." Then, as one slowly learns to love God (not just fear Him), one's ethical behaviour becomes more nuanced. When Jesus overturned the tables of the Jewish currency brokers in the temple, he broke the law but upheld a higher law. As a Christian matures, the law itself, Caesar's law, is slowly seen in the light of a higher, more pure law, that of Christ. We live in a time of incredible corruption in the West. I'm an American and I think of my country as disgustingly unethical, greedy, expansionist and eager to receive bribes. Politicians and higher ranking individuals who work for the government retire with millions of unearned dollars filtered through their own foundations, book contracts, speaking contracts, lucrative assignments in think tanks and universities or through corrupt countries and individuals abroad. No righteous government acts like this. I pray that God's judgment falls heavily on corrupt government bureaucrats, hopefully soon.

The Isaiah passage is clearly about war. It describes how men/women who are trapped in a warring situation should not rely on their government's plans, equipment and diplomacy to win or save them, but should continue to pray to the Lord for His salvation. Only God is able to rescue the godly during time of war. The passage also hints at the truth that nations come and go (or rise and fall if you have read Gibbon!), and that our faith in the Lord allows us to tap into a permanence and power that doesn't exist in political systems and configurations. God shields godly nations during wartime even perhaps rescuing them -- conversely, God lets ungodly nations fall, such as Assyria. == We tend to seek help from other sources because we don't know where to draw the line between our responsibility to work hard, be frugal and serve Him and His responsibility to provide for our needs, to which the Matthew passage speaks. Thus there's a biblical tension between bringing all our needs to Him and stepping out in faith. I do not think that the Christian life is necessarily one of passively waiting for God to act, at least not most of the time. I think God expects us to continually do what we can do at the same time that we pray and ask for His guidance. In my mind, at least, we should always be moving, busy and active ... as well as always be willing to change course, do something else or be guided into new circumstances. When does God expect me to solve my own problems and when does he expect me to wait, which means I’m to wait for Him to solve them for me? I don't have an answer to this. Too, we tend to seek help from other sources because waiting for His solution is both difficult and faith-trying. We wonder if we're supposed to be doing something other than waiting ... we wonder if God's voice was too soft for us to hear it with our faith-challenged ears. We question ourselves. Question God's willingness to intervene. Does God provide for our needs? I trust He does, but I also know that Christians have been martyred for their faith. Perhaps these martyrs were hoping until the moment of their deaths that God would miraculously save them by providing, as He did with Abraham's sacrifice of the ram instead of his son. Perhaps some Christians have died expecting God to provide. Died waiting ... There are times when we clearly have to turn to Him -- these are times of desperation and incapacity. What we're talking about here are the times when we choose to turn to Him, times of plenty and choice. We choose to believe and pray, not because we're desperate but because we want fellowship with Him. We bring up our little problems not because we can't solve them on our own, but because He's with us and is somehow involved in the tiny things of life. == This has nothing to do with idolatry.

Why does God show us His grace? I'm not sure the passage tells us the answer to this question. It clearly shows that God prefers the humble and needy and disdains the ruthless, mockers, evil-doers and corrupt judges and politicians. It also shows that his unmerited favor is on all who are "wayward in spirit." He is just. Why does God long to show us His grace? The Bible says that God Longs to be gracious to us, to show us His compassion, as this is a form of justice. We are to be patient and wait for this justice (when we are in unjust situations). He also says that our enemies will "disappear." What does God's grace say about God's character? I'm sure different people get different messages from these verses, but I see God balancing the need for justice with that of graciousness, that somehow he measures that balance correctly. What prevents God's grace? The biblical text points out four things that prevent His grace: obstinance, making plans that are not His, forming ungodly alliances with other nations, making alliances with powerful nations instead of trusting Him. Have you ever experienced the kind of guidance Isaiah mentions in v21? No. I have never heard God's audible voice. I have never heard Him say, "Turn this way ..." In this verse, God clearly "talks" -- "your ears will hear a voice behind you saying ..." I have not had this happen but am begging God for clear guidance like this. What is necessary in us so we can hear God's voice? This puts the onus on me, doesn't it? If I don't hear God's voice, it must be a sin within me -- but maybe God isn't talking? The previous verse says we are to wait for him. Presumably this includes waiting for his guidance. This I am doing.

The church fought over certain rules for millennia for a reason -- those rules were important. Theology and practice were delimited and purified by people who actually died to keep the church pure. Not all rules are bad, and a rule-based faith is a faith that doesn't veer off into weirdness and apostacy. Having said this, if one's faith is more concerned with rules than having the heart of God, it is obviously dead. Still, to juxtapose rules-based and love-based faith is to put forth a false dichotomy -- we need rules/order/limitations as well as heart/passion/feelings. Both.

People -- all people -- have a lens or worldview through which they look at reality. The cracking or even replacing of that lens is (almost) impossible without Christ. People work to maintain this lens because without it they are unstable and floating ... in a way, their lens is like an intellectual and emotional rock. I've known gay men, for instance, who look at everything through the lens of homosexuality and have blinded themselves to alternative ways of thinking. They say this about Christians, that we have blinded ourselves to their ways of thinking: "Narrow-minded" is the usual insult. The difference between us, is, of course, truth. Christianity is a true lens -- greenism, certain political POVs, or any of the sexual permutations are false. This is why humans deceive themselves so quickly -- they don't allow themselves to think outside the narrow boundaries of their lens. They'd rather deceive themselves than leave the cloister of their lens. Too, this is why humans tend to hold onto lies. All lies are outside the Christian lens. They construct elaborate edifices of thought -- Marxism, for example -- that structurally parallel Christianity, in some ways, without being true. This is why it necessary for the Spirit's intervention. Without Him, no one could break through this impervious lens. The Spirit prompts people toward salvation, guiding and tugging. We can ask to be used by the Spirit in the work of salvation, to be an auxiliary, at best, for His work. That's the best we can do to bring people to Christ. We must understand that the bringing is His work alone. We may tell people about Christ, but unless the Spirit has proceeded us, tilling the soil of the mind and heart, our words will seem like empty deceptions. I pray for many people who are unbelievers, hoping my prayers are in His will, aligned with his purposes and acceptable to Him. Deceived people will continue on their path of deception unless the Spirit intervenes. They are destined for hell.

Jews blow the shofer (which is a long curved trumpet made from a ram's horn, I believe) on Rhas-ha-shanah. THis is a warning signal to Israel, a sign that they're supposed to meet at a prearranged place. They would meet as a group to battle an enemy. In the NT this blowing of the shofer is spiritualized becoming a metaphor for the gathering of Christians before/as/after?? Christ comes again. In the quoted Matthew passage, angels gather the elect after hearing the trumpet call: in the quoted Isaiah passage, there is just a sound to which suffering and exiled Israelites responded and were thus gathered. I have a close Jewish friend who was chosen by his synagogue to blow the shofer this year. He said it was a moving experience. An older man, he had never before blown the shofer.

I have a difficult time imagining what a bodily resurrection will be like so I'll let this part of the question lie without answering it. These passages clearly teaches that our "dust" will be reconstituted --"awakened" -- and that somehow we'll be in the presence of God ... and will be aware of this. We will see=understand God. A period of suffering precedes our deaths and resurrection. -- Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by Can we really hide from the wrath? Perhaps all those preppers and people building underground shelters were right after all!

Some of the answers given to this question above were just beautiful. Thank you. I'm not sure I can add anything ... probably not. At those times when I was desperate, sinking and overwhelmed, I clung to Jesus with all of my strength. Though my faith was tested, and though I eventually passed that test, I was never at "perfect peace" during the trial. Yet, during these "peaceless" times of turbulence I grew spiritually. (Perhaps the next step in sanctification is learning to peacefully go through trials and sufferings?) Again, when I leaned on the Rock with all the weight of the suffering I was enduring, I was not at perfect peace. But I was leaning on Him ... practically clinging to Him. So there's not necessarily a peace of mind resulting from Jesus carrying the weight. Trusting in the storm doesn't necessarily lead to peace. Even total trust, which is impossible, doesn't lead to total peace. Peace, at least in my experiences, if felt only in the aftermath of the trial. It comes when I have the time and mental space to look back, to be retrospective, and see how God was there during the trial. Seeing how God was present makes peace in my soul for I know that God was there though I couldn't feel or hear Him at the time. He still is. God is with me in times of turmoil, suffering and peacelessness as well as times of retrospection, ease and peace.

From the total destruction and devastation in the prior section, Isaiah has moved on to a feast! I would think these two sections should be read together, not separately. In the last section, destruction was external or physical – God destroyed cities and the vegetation between cities, even celestial places that we cannot see. Here, the “construction” has to do with eating, which is internal, in our bodies, not external, where we exist. Destruction represents God’s victory, oddly, just as construction represents God’s compassion on those He has vanquished. So, I think the feast symbolizes God’s willingness to move from anger and external destruction to generosity/care/abundance and internal (re-)construction. I'm not sure, but the idea of a long-lasting feast is perhaps the idea of heaven with unlimited joy and abundance as well as constant fellowship with Him. -- Quite honestly, the part of this passage that struck me is how God promises to be a "shelter from the storm" and "shade from the heat." In times of suffering, these promises are so needed ...

What is the reason that Yahweh will devastate the earth (24:5-6)? Why do we feel so threatened by this kind of prophecy? Why is this kind of prophecy important to forming faithful disciples who "fear the Lord"? In what way does the glitter and glory of man (1 John 2:15-17) contradict this kind of prophecy? The statement, "covenants come with curses to those who break them" is both frightening and just. The devastation of the earth is God's justice against those who have defiled, disobeyed, violated and broken. These are the verbs used by Isaiah to describe those who are now cursed. The curse seems to impact everyone, not just those who violate, break, defile and disobey, however, which is why it's frightening. Good people get caught up in this, people who have tried to obey and love God. Cities are ruined. People will be imprisoned. Even the moon and sun will be altered in some way. I think we're afraid of this prophecy because the entirety of the world will be effected and that there doesn't seem to be an exception to suffering for the remnant. I'm not exactly sure why this prophecy is important to Christians who fear God. We're given conflicting messages: on the one hand God is love, our shepherd, a good father who doesn't withhold gifts from his children; on the other hand God is just, cursing those who disobey, destroying everything that civilizations have built. This prophecy talks about His justice. The glitter and glory of man may refer to human accomplishments in architecture, the arts, literature, etc. Cities are targeted -- cities are places of high culture, usually. The passage in I John is as follows: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the **** of the flesh, the **** of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. It's a warning not to put too much stock in our present lives, in part because the world "pass(es) away." It also says that those who DO God's will live forever.

I find it incredibly difficult to know when I should move ahead with my own plans and solutions or wait for more leading, so this biblical narrative makes sense to me. I don't think God expects us to do nothing for our own protection, but to act in ways that acknowledge His guidance before our own ideas. So Judah prepared for the disaster that they knew/felt/intuited would befall them -- they needed to prioritize prayer and deference to God. Shebna represents any employee or bureaucrat who puts his own salary and prestige ahead of the idea of "service" to another. Sadly, this is typical, not unusual. Of course I've been guilty of selfishness in the face of duty to Christ. Sometimes I deliberately disobey, though this is increasingly rare -- most of the time I disobey because my overall character is more self-concerned than concerned about others or God Himself. Imprisoned in the self, I've been liberated by Christ but still have to crawl out and upward. Such is sanctification. It's both a work of the Spirit and a willingness to be "worked on" by the Christian.

Isaiah's nakedness was supposed to represent the stripped down history -- ending! -- of Judah had she deferred to Egypt. I do wonder if the people who saw him thought of this, however. For awhile, Judah did restrain itself from joining lousy alliances, but in the end, Ashdod (a city in Judah, I believe) was overrun. Although in the map that Pastor Ralph provided Ashdod is described as part of Philistia, it is closer to Judah than Israel. Would I go around naked if I thought God was commanding me to do so? I thought modesty was a virtue, no? God would have to be very persuasive and clear in this command as I would be convinced that I heard him wrongly.

I have read references to "light bringers" and wondered what they were referring to -- now, I know -- they were referencing Satan, strangely. I don't believe this passage is enough to justify equating light-bringers with Satan. There are many political leaders who could use a fall from heaven, or two! Of course I've exalted my opinions over God. That's sin and I'm subject to it, though not imprisoned by it. I don't have the power or authority or even influence to fall from anywhere -- my words do not snake the earth or make the kingdoms tremble -- so, frankly, my sins have less of an impact than, say, the horrible policies of the current political administration. Pride has been the downfall of all humans since Eden.

In these passages, the gentiles are given a more secular description -- "nations:" Jews, in contrast, are given a more humane or religious designation -- "the people." So when the nations rally to the Messiah, gentiles are being incorporated into Christ. All of God's people will be gathered. I'm not sure ALL Jews will be included, though it appears that God will gather the Jews, too. The idea of the remnant seems to include all Jews and some gentiles. Jesus' prophecy is aimed at "his elect" as is Paul's description of the rapture which involves "our" being gathered, or the Christian converts. The question for me is this: "Who are the elect?" I have no idea when this prophecy will be fulfilled, though I find it interesting that China is building it's Great Road through many countries westward. It's an economic road, a trade route, which follows the path of ancient trade routes of the past. Perhaps this is the highway? If so, it excludes the Americas, Japan, Australia, Africa, etc.

The peace described is a return to life Adam and Eve lived in Eden. This is, obviously, in the future, not now, and will include the entire "full earth." I do not understand why there will be peace, why God chose to let us live in this manner now and return to an Edenic existence later. The psalmist purposely chose the word "knowledge" instead of "love" or "seeing" or other words, so he must mean not only intellectual understanding but a deeper, more soul-like understanding of God. The earth is full -- everywhere contains -- this knowledge.