Israel – The Servant…Isaiah 41:8-10.

Job is the earliest book of the Scriptures. There, in the first eight verses, we read that he was a very prominent, well respected man. Yahweh crowns him in a confrontation with Satan as “my servant”. That title expresses a relationship with the Lord as well as an honoured role. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob wear this title (Exodus 32:13}, Moses is also honoured in this way. When Israel was created it too was endowed by being so called [Leviticus 25:42,55]

To be Yahweh’s servant held a great privilege wrapped up in a heavy responsibility. Let us briefly consider areas into which Israel was to live out this relationship. Isaiah 43:21 ‘This people I have formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.’ Is God on some type of celestial ego trip? Of course not! It’s in praising Him we are expressing His person, His mission and His grace. The Psalmists show us the way. It does the heart good to personally write out your praises for the eternal Lord God’s influence and intervention in your life .

The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been formed and chosen to be Yahweh’s witness. In the midst of nations their covenanted relation with Yahweh, the distinctive sacrificial system combined with the Law and promised Messiah made them unique. To be a faithful witness required instruction, then implementation. Here began their descent into compromise and dishonour. They knew what to believe and how to live. But they didn’t believe what they knew, so, were unable to live out what was required. Their call to be a ‘light unto the Gentiles’ failed to shine. Reading the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel we cringe at their betrayal. Trouble is, a similar betrayal takes place in the Church.  

Isaiah 43:7 informs the reader of God’s special purpose for Israel, His Servant. They were for His glory. Their condemnation included tarnishing His Name by mixing Him and His covenant with the idols of the world’s religions and their depraved morality. Being scattered amongst the Gentile nations was to be their ‘eye-opener.’ However, the Servant must be chastised for gross neglect and betrayal. The fullness of the law’s justice would destroy them. So it is, we read that the Person of Isaiah 53 stood in their place.  He was stricken, smitten, afflicted and pierced through for their transgressions. What was the witness being given? No one treats the call of the Lord carelessly. He calls all to give an account, even to the chosen ones.

Therefore, it is the realisation of the need for a Redeemer to step in between judgement and the promises of God. The Messiah had not yet come, the Kingdom of God was still a dream and the Servant stood condemned. How could they keep their calling? Only because of Heaven’s ability to see the future. The Anointed saviour had already been crucified in the mind of God. Only for that fact Isaiah 9:6-7, the promised Kingdom and ruler, would have never seen the light of day. The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the most critical Person for Israel’s redemption and continuance and also our salvation.

Jesus lays claim to fulfilling the criteria for the beloved Servant. From the moment He began His ministry in Luke 4:18 by quoting Isaiah 61 Jesus testified in word and deed to being ‘the Servant.’ When we consider His crucifixion from the brutality of the soldiers to His final breath each aspect related to fulfilling justice. They weren’t aware of this, but the Judge was. Jesus was wounded [pierced through], bruised [crushed], stripes given [blows that cut into His body] to deal with the peoples’ grief, sorrows, transgressions, iniquities, peace [restored relationship] and the offering for sin.

It is only by the sinless life of the suffering Servant that the prophetic record concerning Israel will happen. Praise the Lord for the bodily resurrection of the Christ. Our prayers, in accordance with Christ’s, will be fulfilled when God’s kingdom is operational on earth.  

copyright August 25 Ray Hawkins. 

Next...Israel as 'wife' and Isaiah 53.

 

I wasn't at the resurrection

 

 

 

 

I wasn’t there that resurrection morn.

 

I wasn’t there that glorious Sunday morn
When, Jesus arose from the dead before the dawn.
Or sense how the soldiers felt as He drew near,
Causing them to retreat and cower in fear.
Soon, the message would be heard by one and all,
Jesus Christ is risen, now, in faith before Him fall!

Neither did I see Mary Magdalene’s

Joy at meeting Jesus, a beautiful scene,

But this I know, with eyes undimmed

I’ll behold Him, which His cross for me did win.

 No! I wasn’t there to be a witness to all this

But others were and their behaviour insists

That something had happened that day.

No threat, no sword, no loss would sway

From knowing, proclaiming Jesus’ worth,

Believing His kingdom will reign on earth.

The resurrection underpins their proclamation

And becomes our assurance on this confession

“I believe Jesus Christ is the risen Saviour, Lord,

In Him alone I trust, bow, worship and adore!”

 

©Ray Hawkins, February 2019.

 

 

 

The difficulty in being 'dead'!

If I’m dead, why am I still tempted, tested and enjoy the trivial? Can I share with you this doctrine and, for me, the dilemma associated with the Christian life?

The New Testament repeatedly informs its readers about the momentous event at Calvary. Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6 declares that Christ embraced me (and you) when He was crucified. He died! We did too, in Him! But my problem was first written up by Paul. Romans 7:15-24. We know how he felt when he wrote ‘I do what I don’t want to do and don’t do what I should, and what I hate, I do!’

Why is it so?

The doctrinal implications about my death must be understood first of all from God’s vantage point. Following on from grasping the wonder that talks about we are faced with the moral expression of it in our life and living. As if that was all there was to it we then discover a ‘monster’ in our human nature.

How God views me – you - after a faith commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We, who were unclean, dead in sin and enemies are now alive to Him, cleansed, forgiven, justified.  We are no longer in the kingdom of Darkness but in the Kingdom of His Son¹! We are seated with Him in the Heavenly places². That which prevented us from having a relationship with God and barred us from Heaven eternally has been crucified, removed, buried! Romans 6:6 defined it as ‘the old man.’  God sees me and you as His - now. Trouble for me hovers around the fact that I have to work out in daily life what God has wrought in me. Easy, if we were in Heaven. Difficult as we who are ‘dead’ are still operating in World dominated by the Kingdom of darkness. We are confronted by doubts about our death, how to please God and controlling our very active memories and the twisted tastes of our soul.

What then am I, or you, to do when people claim to have a better way to be dead?

There has always been some who claimed to really be alive to Christ was to become a Jew first. That meant keeping the Mosaic Law as well as believing on Jesus. This was actually refuted by the man who claimed he had kept the law rigorously. Then he discovered the Mosaic couldn’t save him. That was Paul. Read Philippians 3 for his testimony.

This brilliant man didn’t say Jesus had killed the Law. No! It was still operating with its curse on failure and powerless to forgive after condemnation. In Romans 7:4 this upholder of salvation as supremely and solely by faith in Christ wrote believers are dead to the Law. We live in a new realm. The mandate for our life and living is to set our affections on Christ and to unleash His righteousness through our obedience to Him and His will. The Church council in Acts 15 did not require Gentile believers to place themselves under the yoke of the Law of Moses. Why? Because it could only tell us the wages of sin is death but it couldn’t give us life. In our commitment to Christ we have paid the penalty of sin which came when Adam transgressed God’s word. The Law of Moses defined some of the specific areas in which all ‘crash and burn’.

I, being a Gentile, was never under the Law. However, I was bound by my pagan and philosophical traditions with their avenues of escaping judgement. I still am surrounded by them but being redeemed from them I am dead to their influence. As I read the New Testament letters I gain an understanding of those traditions that no longer should dictate to me my views about God and my relationship with Him. I must realise that I’m dead to old and profane wives fables and pseudo-science³.

There is a majestic passage in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57. It speaks of our victory over the most dreaded time to come. Faith in Christ makes us share in His death and resurrection. We have new life and new dwelling arrangements. Unfortunately, for those who reject the grace of Christ Jesus and shun joining Him in His cross and resurrection they experience a death to which we have died. In Revelation 2:11 and 20:6 the promise is given to believers that we have no part in what is called ‘The second death.’ In Revelation 20:14 the destiny of those not dead to sin and their ‘old man’ and therefore alive in Christ are delivered into that realm. The ‘Second Death’ is no fun park but a place of gnashing teeth and tears of regret.

References.

 ¹Colossians 1:13. ²Ephesians 1:3.  ³1 Timothy 6:20.

Next week: Poem of the month.

 

©Ray Hawkins 28^th January 2018.

Christ's greatest challenger.

From a line-up of potential challengers to the Lord Jesus who would you choose as #1? Lucifer, Fame, Power, Sex and Money all are strong claimants. However, Jesus named just one of them as His greatest threat for the allegiance of individuals.

In Matthew 6:24 it is revealed as ‘Wealth’ (NRSV)! ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.’

Christ’s words leave no wriggle room. History, Scripture and today’s media highlight the power, attraction and destructive power Mammon has over individuals, religious groups and corporations. When Mammon is life’s focal point it turns into a spiritual python whose embrace squeezes a person’s moral and life to death. As the Lord put it, Mammon will cause its devotee to despise God which takes him or her into hating God and His word.  Jesus also rankled the Pharisees with straight talking and parables about money Luke 12:13-21. 16:1-14. The first conflict in the fledgling church was due to Mammon’s embrace. Ananias and Sapphira tried to prove Christ’s words an empty threat and they became a tombstone testimony that what Jesus said is true (Acts5)!

Paul’s advice to Timothy which was to be passed onto those financially well off contained a warning and a challenge. 1 Timothy 6:10 is an unchanging truth ‘The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.’ The word for ‘eagerness’ is a picture of a person grasping after more and more of Mammon even though it is destroying health, family, friendships and faith. Prosperity preachers are breeding ‘pythons’ in their own lives and those who accept their teaching. The result is a wandering away and pierced with many pains!

There is a control mechanism presented in Scripture by which the Spirit of God uses to protect the life of a devoted disciple. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 uses such words as ‘set your hopes on God’, ‘Do good, [be] generous and ready to share’. The end result is ‘the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of life that really is life.’ I wonder if Paul was motivated to expand on what he had said in Acts 20:35 to the Ephesian elders, ‘The Lord Jesus…said “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”’

The sorrow seen Mammon power dictating life’s priorities, relationships and friendships is deep and lasting. Friends cut asunder when a lottery is won but not shared. Testimonies shatters and churches wrecked because the collection was siphoned. How many relationships destroyed in bitter battles over dispersal of money from a deceased estate! The list can go on and on. Those countries whose leaders amass large amounts of money whilst their people starve and beg for help. Such leaders and others need to think on Matthew 16:26: ‘What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?’ An eternity of regret awaits. What is the good of having the largest bank balance when you are under a tombstone?

Jesus summed up His teaching on this matter with “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness…” It is this personal priority and accepting the cross of discipleship and stewardship will ‘Wealth’ be a servant not a god. The cross slays the ‘python’! A heart set on God’s kingdom keeps the heart focused.  It is better to be the widow of the two mites (Luke 21:2) unsung, unknown by any but Jesus than rich, religious and ruled by Mammon. To the rich whose focus in God’s rule and bear their cross, their wealth becomes a good work to meet the needy, suffering and afflicted. It is these acts of grace which honour to Christ, receive His commendation and become part of their treasure in Heaven!

Ray Hawkins March 19 2017.

Subversive Prayer of Jesus

The Lord’s Prayer.

Prayer made headlines in the past week. An advertisement for the Lord’s Prayer to be played in cinemas was denied. Reasons given included it might offend people who are not Christians, or sympathetic to the Christian Faith.

Predictably, a furore arose because the cinema’s fear of offending was doing just that. It was also breaking anti-discrimination laws. Some other religious bodies and an Atheist organisation supported the Church of England’s right to have it screened.

That is great for Freedom of speech and freedom of Religion. What was shown up in all this was the stupidity of Political Correctness. It also unmasks the subtle changes taking place to isolate Christ, the Church and weaken our Christian heritage. This can be seen in the demeaning of Christmas by certain intolerant Imams, weak city councils and indifferent politicians.

As I thought about the cinema’s reaction to the Lord’s Prayer advertisement they had a point. This finely crafted prayer, loved by many, is subversive, exclusive, prophetic and challenging. This should be a reason for not showing it, but it does say something about the human heart. Within all of us there is an awareness we all have to meet the Lord God, Creator and judge one day. There is either a fear or a joy in this prospect.

This prayer points to a future event as well as God’s expectation of us and ours of Him. Jesus gave this Rabbinic styled prayer to His disciples. It is therefore Jewish in nature and builds on what the prophets of Israel foretold. The Christian Church has claimed it for its own, as it has the right to do, without forgetting the original presentation and environment.

How is it subversive? Because it talks about ‘Our Father!’

We often forget that God is creator of us all, but He is the Father of the nation of Israel (Isaiah 64:8).

The Church is the creation of Christ through His death on the cross and resurrection. He is our Head and Lord.

Jesus didn’t have to prayer ‘our Father!’ Jesus is the Son, eternal, unique and the One who reveals the Father. (John 14:6-13.   10:30.) It is this very fact that upsets Islam. They call Jesus a liar when they say ‘God has no Son!’ However, they are correct when they say ‘Allah’ has no son – for he isn’t the eternal God of creation, redemption and Love.

It is prophetic because it points to a time when the Son of God sets up the promised Kingdom and rules the world from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2 and Zechariah 14. Etc). This kingdom is not wanted, except by those who belong to Christ. It is opposed by a counterfeit caliphate which is doing everything in its power to prevent its coming.

It is challenging because of its implied and explicit demands. The requirement to forgive can be very difficult, yet it holds within it the wonder of grace, liberty and and inner healing.

The Lord’s Prayer is exclusive. To be able to say “our Father” means a person has been spiritually born through His power. This comes about by a personal faith in Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Saviour who was crucified, entombed and rose again on the third day (John 3. Romans 10).

Maybe, just maybe, unseen forces were at play endeavouring to prevent this well known, well-loved prayer being shown. Behind political correctness and other anti-Christian actions lies the power of Darkness.

 However, John1:1-5 tells us about Jesus coming into this World and being the Light of the Word. Verse 5 reminds us of ultimate victory: ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not (will not, cannot) overcome it.”

Ray Hawkins

Nov 29^th 2015.