Listen to Me, My People! - Day 272 Through the Bible

Burnsville, NC Public Art – near Mt. Celo Church

Title: Rock Bridge   Medium: Wood, Stone, Steel   Artist:  Rob Levin (local)

TRAC (Toe River Arts Council: 828-682-7215

My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

Listen to Me, My People – Isaiah 51 and 52 – (Facts: What It Says – Summarized)  This refrain is repeated 5 times in Chapter 51.  “Listen to Me, give ear to Me, please hear this….you who are righteous…who follow after…who know…righteousness…My people, My nation…you afflicted.”  Judgment is coming upon the oppressors of God’s people, and God will comfort His people.  The “cup of trembling”, of fear of the oppressors will be taken from God’s people and given to the enemy.  “I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, ‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.”  And you…have laid your body like the ground, and as the street, for those who walk over.” God is calling, commanding repeatedly for His people...the redeemed…the ransomed to…awake…stand up…put on your strength…put on your beautiful garments….shake yourself from the dust…sit down….loose yourself…from the bonds of your neck….depart…go out from…be clean.  The tables will turn. Salvation is coming from God.  “For the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard…Behold, My Servant…shall deal prudently….He shall be exalted…extolled…very high.” Principle – God’s chosen people have allowed themselves to be sold.  They must awaken to trust in God and let go of their bondage and fear to man.  God assures the believing remnant that they will be saved, comforted, vindicated by God and His Servant, the Coming Messiah in order to fulfill God’s Plan, all for God’s glory.

The Righteous Man – Psalm 112:5-10 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) “A good man, the righteous…deals graciously…lends…guides his affairs with discretion…will never be shaken…will be in everlasting remembrance…will not be afraid of evil tidings…his heart is established…steadfast, trusting in the LORD…He will not be afraid…until He sees his desire upon his enemies.  He has dispersed abroad…given to the poor….his righteousness endures forever…his horn…will be…exalted with honor.  The wicked will see it and be grieved…gnash his teeth…melt away…perish. “ Principle – a righteous person will exhibit certain characteristics on earth – stewardship, generosity, steadfastness that will be hated by the wicked.  The good man’s rewards will be eternal.

One In Christ – Ephesians 2 – (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) We are saved by grace alone…through faith alone…in Christ alone.  "While we were yet sinners…controlled by the power of the air…the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…Christ died for us…because…God is in rich in mercy…because…of God’s great love with which He loved us…made us alive together, raised up together, made us sit together with Christ…in the heavenly place…in Christ Jesus…that…in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches…of His grace…His kindness toward us…in Christ Jesus.  FOR by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  FOR we are His workmanship…created in Christ Jesus…for good works…which God prepared beforehand…that we should walk in them.  Therefore…remember… and then Paul delineates our being brought into the covenant promises of Israel…in Christ Jesus…making us both one…”a new man”…from the two…thus making peace…that He…might reconcile them both to God…in one body…through the cross…for through Him…we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  Now therefore….you are no longer strangers and foreigners…but fellow citizens with the saints,,,and members of the household of God…having been built on the foundation…of the apostles…and prophets…Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone…in whom…the whole building…being fitted together…grows into a holy temple…in the Lord…in whom…you also are being fitted together, being built together…for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Principle: Jews and Gentiles are now one in Christ through the cross, reconciled to God, in peace.  This fitting, building together is an ongoing process until the fulfillment of God’s Plan when the last stone - the last redeemed soul - is fit into the temple...and then the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

My Lessons and Applications – After all the years of reading through the Bible in a year, and sitting under the Ministry of the Word, I think I am just beginning to grasp the enormity of all of this from the foundation of the world.  Note the past 2 or 3 days with the Isaiah readings and the Servant speaking as well as God of the coming salvation – not just for the Jew but also for the Gentile – for us.  Then in the New Testament, this “Jew of the Jews”…Saul of Tarsus…orthodox Pharisee taught by the famous Rabbi Gamaliel…the persecutor, hater, and would-be destroyer of the followers of Jesus…zealot for the law of God…this is now the Apostle Paul after his Damascus road conversion (himself the prototypical “new man”)…THIS is the man sent by Christ to the Jews and Gentiles to proclaim that both  - the Jews and Gentiles  - are one new man in Christ Jesus.  "In Christ" is repeated 12 times in these verses. I want to jump ahead and reread the Revelation…remind myself that it will be as it was proclaimed back in Genesis.  God is bringing sinful man back into fellowship with Himself – all of it is a gift through faith by grace and will be accomplished by the Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), the Seed of Abraham (through faith, belief - not physical lineage).  But now…we are reminded of the ongoing “fitting together…the building” of us as the new temple.  God has prepared us for the good work we are to be doing now.  Christ has given us the Great Commission.  Why do we keep getting side-tracked by the world system?  Into whose image am I being transformed – that of the media and advertising or that of Christ Jesus?  Remember what God said in Isaiah:  “Those who afflict you have said, ‘Lie down, that we may walk over you…and you…have laid your body on the ground, for those who walk over. “  We have allowed this. It is time for us to “awaken, to put on our beautiful garments of salvation and righteousness, to loose ourselves from the bondage of this world system, to depart from wickedness, to be clean, to serve, honor and glorify God with our lives....for we were who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Isaiah 57:19 and Ephesians 2:13) - from enmity into peace, from separation of the Mosaic covenant into unity by the New Covenant, from alienation into reconciliation, from darkness into light, dead but now alive, a schism and now a bridge - the old man, now a new man - in Christ.

The God of Israel will be your rereward. Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday:  “God requireth that which is past.”  God allows the memory of the sins and blunders of our yesterdays in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. 

Security for Tomorrow.  “For the Lord will go before you.”  This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to.  He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward (our rear guard).  God’s hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience. 

Security for Today:  “For ye shall not go out with haste.”  Let us go forth with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us.  Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future.  Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.  Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

Accepted in the Beloved - Day 271 Through the Bible

An Upcoming Fundraiser for Student Scholarships: Yancey Dream Home Tour -  Mayland Community College has been named #4 in the nation by Washington Monthly  - 2010 - (based on a study by the University of Texas at Austin), #10 in the nation in 2013 by best schools.org, and #9 in the nation in 2013 by yahoo finance.

My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

THE BELOVED and His Beloved – Isaiah 49 and 50 (What It Says – Summarized) – Jesus is now speaking through the prophet Isaiah testifying: “The LORD has called Me from the womb….He has made My mouth like a sharp sword…in the shadow of His hand He has hidden Me…a polished shaft in His quiver…He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified...Then I said, “I have labored in vain.  I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain…yet surely my just reward…my work is with my God.”  The Christ knew that His first rejection by the Jewish remnant would ultimately be rewarded by God. “And now the Servant says…Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant…to bring Jacob back to Him…so that…Israel is gathered to Him. (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength).  Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be 1) My Servant to raise up…the tribes of Jacob, and 2) to restore…the preserved ones of Israel; 3) I will also give You… as a light…to the Gentiles, THAT You…should be My salvation…to the ends of the earth...In an acceptable time…in the day of salvation…I will preserve You…give You…as a covenant to the people…to restore the earth.  Sing…be joyful…for the LORD has comforted His people, and will have mercy on His afflicted.”  The remainder of chapters 49 and 50 are to remind the oppressed Israelites that their own sins have sold them into slavery (not God) and caused their mother (Israel) to be put away. God promises to never forget them…to contend with their enemies…to gather them…to restore them…to redeem…deliver…save them…”that all flesh shall know that I, the LORD am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”  For this purpose, the Messiah says, “For the Lord GOD will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set my face like a flint.”

 Praise to God / Blessings on the Upright – Psalm 112: 1-4 (What It Says – Summarized) “Praise the LORD!  Blessed…is the man who fears the LORD…who delights greatly in His commandments…his descendants will be mighty on earth…the upright will be blessed…wealth and riches will be in his house…his righteousness endures forever…”unto the upright…there arises light in the darkness.  He is gracious…full of compassion…and righteous.”

Blessings in the Beloved – Ephesians 1 – Paul is commending the Ephesian church for…”your faith in the Lord Jesus…and…your love for all the saints.”  The apostle reminds them – and us - that…”the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has 1) blessed us with every…spiritual…blessing…in the heavenly places…in Christ. 2) that He chose us…in Him…before the foundation of the world…THAT 3) we should be holy…without blame before Him…in love…4) having predestined us…to adoption as sons…by Jesus Christ to Himself…according to the good pleasure of His will…to the praise of the glory of His grace…by which…He made us accepted in the Beloved. 5) In Him…we are redeemed by His blood, 6) forgiven of our sins by His grace, 7) have made known to us the mystery of His will…in all wisdom and prudence…by His grace…THAT…”in the dispensation of the fullness of the times…He might gather together…in one…all things…in Christ…both which are in heaven and on earth – in Him. 8) In Him…we have also obtained an inheritance…being predestined according to the purpose of Him…THAT…we who first trusted in Christ…should be…to the praise of His glory. 9) In Him…you trusted…heard the word of truth…the gospel of your salvation…in whom…having believed…you were sealed…with the Holy Spirit of promise…the guarantee of our inheritance…until the redemption…of the purchased possession…to the praise of His glory.

My Lessons and Applications – Around 750 years before the birth of Christ, the Messiah and God spoke this Plan of God  - the gathering and salvation of the Jews and the Gentiles - in Christ – through the prophet Isaiah.  Over 800 years after the prophecy of Isaiah, Paul reminds us of what our blessings are as a result of the Messiah’s first earthly mission: our salvation...His blood sacrifice for us - imputing His righteousness on us that we as sinners may stand before holy God...His resurrection and intercession for us, even now, at the right hand of God...and the gift of His Holy Spirit within us every moment of our earthly pilgrimage as believers to seal us, guide us, empower us until our redemption.  Through His Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit we are given the knowledge...the hope..."the riches of the glory of His inheritance in us, His saints"...the understanding of the "exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe" to prepare us, enable us to complete our Great Commission, to live in obedience and service to Him until his Second Coming - in judgment.  Soli Deo Gloria!

As Paul prayed for the Ephesians, so I lift up his prayer for you:

…”that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give…to you…the spirit of wisdom…and revelation in the knowledge of Him…the eyes of your understanding…being enlightened…THAT…you may…know…what is the hope…of His calling…what are the…riches…of the glory…of His inheritance…in the saints…and what is the…exceeding greatness…of His power…toward us who believe…Amen

The New Creation Rule---Day 270 Through the Bible

                                        Through the Holy Spirit God helps us emerge from our cocoons 
                                                               into the likeness of Christ that we might glorify Him. 

"God intends to make us into totally new people, not by tinkering with different kinds of religious rituals or by trying to reform our behavior, but by changing us through His Spirit into the likeness of Christ" (Dr. Charles Stanley). Galatians 6:15-16: "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God."

We have just read a list of religious pursuits in Isaiah 47, that God says will fail. These include sorcery, astrology, stargazing and "monthly prognosticators" (monthly almanacs based on astrological calculations pointing out lucky and unlucky days & coming disasters) (v. 9, 13).  (In relation to these pursuits, God asked the question in Isaiah 8:19, "Should not a people seek their God?" I recently noticed that a small town not too far from Mt. Celo now has a "palm reader".  I think of this scripture every time I drive by there & would love to see this verse posted with their sign.)

God says in Isaiah 48:17-18, "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea".  God promised "peace and righteousness" in Isaiah's passage and "peace and mercy" in Galatians.
God warns us in Galatians 6:7, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap". To think that we can live by our own desires and not experience the consequences of our actions is nothing more than self-deception.

Dr. Stanley points out that the church cannot bear the burdens (Galatians 6:2) of those who are not there. And that, contrary to some beliefs, we do need the Church--the body of believers. (That's why the writer of the book of Hebrews wrote in 10:25, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.)  And, as members of the body of Christ we must "get it together" or we cannot help someone else with their burden. And how can God use us as members of His body?  As believers we are to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds" (Romans 12:2)--developing more spiritual flavor and becoming brighter lights, preserving that which is right in a world that is in decay and shining the light of truth in a culture that walks in darkness.

The Response of Our Lives - Day 269 Through the Bible

First event this weekend in Burnsville, NC - near Mt. Celo Church:  Yancey Humane Society's Big Flea in Fred's Shopping Center in Burnsville, NC; Middle: Old Timey Days Fall Festival on town square; Right: Music in the Mountains Folk Festival at the Town Center -This photo of Burnsville is courtesy of TripAdvisor.  More information

My Lessons and Applications from Today’s Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

There is No Other God – Isaiah 45 and 46 (What It Says – Summarized) – Ten (10) times in these 2 chapters God says, “I am the LORD, and there is no other” as He speaks of the worthlessness of idols that His Chosen people and the nations of the earth worship. What He has created is not in vain.  The descendants of Jacob do not seek Him in vain.  “I have not spoken in secret.” His other repeated refrains:  He is the God of Israel and of Judah, His elect.  He has done all for their sakes and continues to do so for their remnant…"upholds them…has carried them from the womb…even to their old age…I will carry them…I will deliver them.” God speaks through Isaiah of the “raising up” of the Gentile, non-believer, Cyrus, to be “My shepherd…My anointed…whose hand I have upheld…before whom I will go…to subdue nations…loose the armor of kings…open doors…make crooked places straight…break in pieces gates of bronze…cut the bars of iron…give hidden treasures and riches in secret places…THAT…you may know I…the LORD…the God of Israel… have named you…called you by name…will gird you…will raise you up in righteousness…will direct all your ways…though…you did not know Me…THAT….1) you shall build My city….2) and let My exiles go free – not for price or reward,” says the LORD.  “I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done.” 

Praise Him – Psalm 111:1-6 (What It Says – Summarized) “Praise the LORD…with my whole heart…in the assembly of the upright…and in the congregation….for…His works…that are great…honorable…glorious…studied…remembered…wonderful…powerful…and are declared to His people…in giving them the heritage of the nations. His righteousness…is forever.  The LORD is….gracious….full of compassion.”

He is The Great God – Proverbs 26:10 “The great God…who formed everything…gives the fool his hire…and the transgressor his wages.”

The Response of Our Lives: Of God / Not of God – Galatians 9 – (What It Says – Summarized) – The Bible divides mankind into 2 basic groups:  the saved and the reprobate (Those controlled by the Spirit, and those controlled by the flesh).  Here the Apostle Paul is delineating the outward manifestations of those inward realities.  “The fruit (gift) of the Spirit is: 1) love, 2) joy, 3) peace, 4) longsuffering, 5) kindness, 6) goodness, 7) faithfulness, 8) gentleness, 10) self-control.  The works (deeds, practices) of the flesh are: 1) adultery, 2) fornication, 3) uncleanness, 4) lewdness, 5) idolatry, 6) sorcery, 7) hatred, 8) contentions, 9) jealousies, 10) outbursts of wrath, 11) selfish ambitions, 12) dissensions, 13) heresies, 14) envy, 15) murders, 16) drunkenness, 17) revelries 18) and the like. “ Paul is warning the Galatians not to be entangled in....not be a debtor to…legalism.  He urges them – and us – to “stand fast…in the liberty…by which Christ…has made us free…through faith.  FOR…in Christ Jesus…neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything…but faith…working through love.”  We are called to liberty, but “we are not to use…liberty…as an opportunity for the flesh…BUT through love…serve one another.  FOR all the law is in one word, even in this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”’  Walk in the Spirit!”

My Lessons and Applications – The prophecy that Isaiah received through God regarding Cyrus was nearly 150 years before the Persian king was born.  How many times the Bible reminds us that God’s Plan - that is revealed throughout the Bible and continues even now through to the prophecies of the Revelation - has been in place “from before the foundation of the world!”  Cyrus was predestined, prophesied to deliver the Jews from the Babylonian captivity and to decree and enable the rebuilding of the temple…even before his birth.  How does another reminder of predestination affect my faith…my living?  Do I remember the purpose of God's Plan – that sinful man might be brought into eternal fellowship with holy God, to glorify Him, praise Him and enjoy Him forever?  Am I remembering to praise Him for Who He is, for what He has done for me in Christ, learning to enjoy Him, to walk with Him moment-by-moment through the leading of His Spirit within me?  Is the Holy Spirit having such control over my life that His fruit is produced in my walk?  Do I more clearly understand – from a Biblical perspective – why the flesh and the Spirit still war within me and outwardly with those who “practice” the works of the flesh.

I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, “Seek me in vain.”  Isaiah 45:19

Our text gives us assurance God will answer prayer, because He has “not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek Me in vain.’”  ...Many fearful people have been troubled by their suspicion that there may be something in God’s decree that shuts them out from hope, but today’s verse is a complete refutation to that troublesome fear, because no true seeker can be condemned to His wrath…Therefore, O fearful one, believe this sure truth:  your prayer must and will be heard; and never, even in the secrets of eternity, has the Lord ever said to any living soul, “Seek Me in vain.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening