SevenYears

I think this might actually work... still not as techno-savvy as I pretend to be, apparently.

So, Isaiah. Staggering. I've been drawn to it over the past few weeks as we've been working through the Advent liturgy at church, and as I've been listening to Handel's Messiah in a failed attempt to get into the Christmas spirit (whatever that is). It's a pretty amazing text, and I find that I'm really enjoying reading large chunks of it at once. You really get a feel for the epic, sweeping quality of the oracles, and in certain spots you get to see the incredible, proactive, pursuing compassion of God for His people, and in the next moment, His hurt, frustration, and anger as they turn from him. A beautiful portrait of the character of God, and an insightful glimpse into the kind of things that he is worried about.

I've spent a lot of time in the past year thinking about Christian social action, and re-reading Isaiah with that new set of eyes brings out stuff in the text that I hadn't focused on in the past. It starts early - think about the number of times in Chapter 1 where God focuses on Israel's evil treatment of orphans and widows as one of the sins that makes their offerings detestable to Him. Someone mentioned a dissatisfaction with the American church because of their/our 'buddy Jesus' mentality - and I agree. Personally, I am also dissatisfied with their/our limited focus on certain specific sins, (especially those that have to do with personal piety and sexual morality) while largely ignoring others. It is a sin to ignore the pleas of the widows and orphans, just as much as it is a sin to lust after a woman who is not your wife. I've spent a lot of my Christian life fretting about the one, while basically ignoring the other. I like Isaiah because it helps me develop a Biblical picture of true righteousness, instead of an over-whelmingly culturally conditioned one.

Also, and this is one of the many benefits of jumping back and forth between New Testament and Old, you have Paul's use of many of Isaiah's quotes in Romans fresh in your mind. Now we get to see them in their original context, which can expand our understanding of why Paul chose them, and what that means for us as Christians. The one I'm thinking of is early - ch1, vs 9. Paul quotes it in Romans 9. Pretty intense stuff, not easy to understand. But for the thinking Christian, something that needs to be looked in the eye and dealt with. What does this actually mean? How does it apply to Israel, and to us? Difficult, but exciting to think about.

Just a few initial thoughts.

Also, my computer at work now allows me to access blogspot.com stuff, where it didn't before. So I will have much more frequent access to the site.

Peace in Jesus,
Seamas

Isaiah

So I talked to Seamas and he picked Isaiah for the next book. Sorry for the late notice. I am a little intimidated by Isaiah to be honest and if you feel the same I would recommend hitting up some outside souces in conjunction with the reading like sermons and websites or something. Love you guys and hope you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Everything!!

Book...

Gus I think it is you man...unless the other guys who haven't posted yet want a shot...I am waiting, so basically I thin it is your call. hehe. HeyPat, good stuff. I was thinking that when I read it is well. Somethings that blew me away are:
1) Moses speaking with God face to face as a man would with his friend. I love the word picture and desire for that to be how my relationship is with Him.2) Moses' face. Oh that my face would reflect to radiance of Christ each time so that others can see who I have been spending time with.
3) The detail involved with the Tabernacle. And the fact that everything is listed about three/four times. I must confess that I got bored, but in thinking about the repetition, I think a huge point can be seen in the precision taken to be in a relationship (a pleasing one that follows the guidelines) with God is not a joke. WE have a very seeker friendly society in which we come as we are at anytime. Certainly that is an amazing gift that we have thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, but I think it might be a weakness of the Church right now. For some reason for the past month I have ben having a hangup with the Church in America. I believe it is this fact that I too have fallen prey to the "Buddy Christ" mentality and lost some fear and reverence.
These are my initial thoughts.
Choose away Gus.

Pat,

Thanks for the good word! I know that I have not been faithful to writing on the blog as I would have liked. However, I intend to persist in this study for the entire 7 years. Persist and perspire with me. Let's see, who calls the next book? Is it back to me, or has someone not yet chosen one. Let me know by tommorow, for tommorow is the 13th.

Revisiting Wrath

The Lord passed before him and said, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trangression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.' Exodus 34:6,7

I was listening to a message recently by Mark Dever and he called this verse the most important verse of the Old Testament.

How can this verse make sense? How can God call himself so merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trangression and sin and then in the very same sentence say that he will no means clear the guilty and and visit the iniquity of fathers on their children? Mark Dever points out that this only makes sense if you truly understand Christ. Christ's sacrifice for us does not remove an aspect of God's character, his hatred and justice towards sin, but rather satisfies it so that we do not experience any trace of it.

This is very sobering for me. My tendency when going through the motions of forgiveness is to accept the forgiveness with a token amount of emotion and remorse while eager to simply be free from this nagging guilt that is like a fly buzzing in my ear. When approaching the true God as described in this verse, forgiveness should be very emotional and humbling. The greatest wrath of all that was indeed poured out on children's children was all poured out on Christ on my behalf. In some cases it is right to hold back emotions but this is certainly not one of them. Tears should be welcomed as we ponder God's wrath poured out in its fullness because of our black and putrid sin. Forgiveness was not bought at a cheap price and how cold and unfeeling of us to ever treat it as so.

May we embrace such a view of God as described here in Exodus. May we ponder deeply on God's wrath so that we can in turn, fully understand his forgiveness and love. Long before Christ came, these words were preparing people to understand Christ's sacrifice for us. Thousands of unblemished lambs were slaughtered so that Israel would understand the sacrifice of Christ who was also unblemished and slaughtered for the forgiveness of sins, this time once and for all.

Let us not be fooled by the fact that God's gift is free. Though it is free, it was bought at a price, a price more costly that we could ever imagine. Let us then experience God's forgiveness with eagerness but not without understanding the weight of its' cost. To do so would not only rob us of the fullness of joy offered to us but would also be to worship God in part and ignore the aspect of his character that required Christ to drink the cup of wrath for us.