He Chose Me!

 

Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.  --Isaiah 65:24

I have a new appreciation for the ministry of Jesus to the outcast.  I am thinking not only of the 10 lepers He healed in Luke 17:11-19, one of whom was a Samaritan (indeed, the only one who was grateful enough to come back and thank Him.)  I think of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, and the Gadarene demoniac as told in Mark 5.  In only one of these stories was Jesus sought out; in the other two, Jesus deliberately went out of His way to meet them.

God brought this to my mind this morning as I was reading Isaiah 65.  It starts out this way:

I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that was not called by my name.  I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you."  These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.  --Isaiah 65:1-5

Doesn't this passage describe the ministry of Jesus to a tee?  Jesus came to the nation of Israel when they least expected it.  Their tradition said they should be looking for a Messiah, but when the Messiah came, they rejected Him.  John 1:11 says, "He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him."  Bible commentator David Guzik writes, "How could anyone think “I am holier than you!” when they were steeped in the sins described in this passage? This is a dramatic display of the blindness pride brings. They could say, “I am holier than you!” and really mean it, because of their complete blindness.

Charles Spurgeon preached a sermon titled Self Righteousness — A Smouldering Heap of Rubbish on this text. In it, he describes how dangerous and insidious self-righteousness is. “Moreover, self-righteous men, like foxes, have many tricks and schemes. They condemn in other people what they consider to be very excusable in themselves. They would cry out against others for a tenth part of the sin which they allow in themselves: certain constitutional tendencies, and necessities of circumstances, and various surroundings, all serve as ample apologies. Besides this, if it be admitted that they are wrong upon some points, yet in other directions they are beyond rebuke. If they drink, they do not swear; and if they swear, they do not steal: they make a great deal out of negatives: if they steal, they are not greedy and miserly, but spend their gains freely. If they practice fornication, yet they do not commit adultery; if they talk filthily, yet they boast they do not lie. They would be counted well because they are not universally bad. They do not break every hedge, and therefore they plead that they are not trespassers. As if a debtor for a hundred pounds should claim to be excused because he does not owe two hundred: or, as if a highwayman should say, ‘I did not stop all the travelers on the road; I only robbed one or two, and therefore I ought not to be punished.’ If a man should willfully break the windows of your shop, I warrant you, you would not take it as an excuse if he pleaded, ‘I did not break them all; I only smashed one sheet of plate glass.’ Pleas which would not be mentioned in a human court are thought good enough to offer to God. O the folly of our race!” (Guzik)

So Jesus went out to seek others who would respond to His call to repentance.  In an ironic twist, if you compare Isaiah 65:4-5 with Mark 5, you see that the Pharisees (who venerated their dead ancestors, and visited their tombs, who said to Jesus, "Get away from me, for we are set apart by God") rejected Jesus.  So Jesus left them, and went to the Decapolis, and found a man in chains, possessed by demons, sitting in a graveyard situated next to a field with pigs.  The man did not know Jesus.  He did not even call to Jesus. Nevertheless, Jesus chose him.  Jesus delivered him from the chains, and cast the demons into the pigs, so that the swine all ran off a cliff into the sea and were drowned.  That is how far our sins are separated from us when He forgives us.

Romans 10:20 says, "Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, 'I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me'." (cf Romans 9:30: "What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith.")

I am currently reading a book called With Calvin in the Theater of God-- The Glory of Christ and Everyday Life.  It is a collection of essays edited by John Piper and David Mathis.  In the chapter called "Bad Actors On a Broken Stage: Sin and Suffering In Calvin's World and Ours", Mark Talbot writes:

From eternity past, it has been God the Father's plan to glorify his Son by gathering a bride for him from among all the earth's nations (Eph. 1:3-14; Rev. 21:2, 9; cf. John 3:29).  Our Lord, God's Lamb, has purchased this bride for himself with his own blood (Rev. 5:9) by becoming a curse for her (Gal. 3:13) and dying in her place (John 11:50-52; Eph. 5:2, 25).  And thus he has saved her (Rom. 5:1-2, 6-11) and is sanctifying her (Eph 5:26) so that "he might present [her] to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Eph. 5:27; cf 2 Cor. 11:2).

Ephesians 2:12-13 says, "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." This is the miracle of God choosing us when we did not choose Him, answering us before we call.  He was making Himself fully known to us before we had the capacity for that knowledge, and then gave us the grace to know Him fully.

In the collection With Calvin in the Theater of God which I cited earlier, the essay called "At Work and Worship in the Theater of God: Calvin the Man and Why I Care", Julius Kim writes, "Without a clear understanding and hope in God's powerful, personal, and purposeful care over our lives, life and death can only be pointless."  

From creation and fall to redemption and consummation, God is purposeful in his providential care over his children who put their trust in Christ alone.  Calvin summarizes his thoughts this way: "Gratitude in mind for the favorable outcomes of things, patience in adversity, and also incredible freedom from worry about the future all necessarily follow upon this knowledge."  We can live with deep assurance because our sovereign God is our Father, who for the sake of Christ directs all things for our good.  Is this not a comforting teaching? It means that not a hair can fall from your head, or a tear from your eye, without your heavenly Father knowing it.  Knowing that God is powerful, personal, and purposeful in his care provides much comfort and courage when life is difficult.  As pilgrims following a providential God, we can persevere. (Kim)

Why did God choose me?  God only knows; I was not looking for Him.  Indeed, I did not even know He existed.  Yet in His Providence He purposed in His heart that I should know Him, and make Him known by His power.  Think of this the next time you read the story of the Gadarene demoniac, or the woman at the well, or the calling of the disciples.  Look at those stories with fresh eyes, and then with a grateful heart thank God for leaving the 99 and seeking and saving that one lone lost sheep that is you.