Of sheep, and goats

 

And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord.  --Ezekiel 34:31

A classic barbershop quartet song speaks about an adventurous goat owned by a man named Bill Grogan.  If you have heard it, you may sing it in your head every time you read it:

Bill Grogan’s goat,
Was feeling fine.
Ate three red shirts,
Right off the line.

Bill took a stick,
Gave him a whack,
And tied that goat,
To the railroad track.

The whistle blew,
The train grew nigh,
Bill Grogan’s goat,
Was doomed to die.

He heaved a sigh,
Of awful pain,
Coughed up the shirts,
And flagged the train!

Yes, goats are adventurous and curious, and those traits sometimes cause them to eat things they shouldn't.  While sheep like to graze on grass and clover, keeping their heads down, goats prefer leaves, twigs, and shrubs.  Because of their agility, they will often stand up on their hind legs to reach the tops of plants. Coupled with their curious and inquisitive nature, their liking for anything they can get in their mouths often gives them a bad name.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the differences between sheep and goats.  The Bible surely makes a distinction, often equating sheep with God's chosen and preferred people, and goats with evil-doers, sinners, and those left behind on the last day.  One of the distinctions, obviously, is diet.  Is it any wonder, then, that one of the identifying marks of God's people in the Old Testament was their diet?  Kosher dietary laws prohibit Jews, God's chosen people, from eating anything and everything.  It's one of the things that sets them apart.

There are other differences between sheep and goats.  Aside from their genetic make-up (sheep have 54 chromosomes, goats have 60), there are four distinct, observable differences between the two animals.  Without belaboring the point, I want to show a correlation with the physical and spiritual differences outlined in Scripture.

First, an obvious outward sign is the tail.  A goat's tail points up.  A sheep's tail hangs down.  It is usually cropped or shortened for health and sanitary reasons.  A shepherd that cares for the sheep will cut off the tail because he cares for the sheep, and this is usually done when the sheep is young.

In the Old Testament, an identifying mark of His people was circumcision.  It was a physical alteration done, some might say, for health and sanitary reasons.  God, who cared deeply for His people, ordered the practice to set His people apart, and it was usually done when the baby was very young.  Romans 2:25-29 says, "For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the Law, but if you break the Law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.  So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?  Then he he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the Law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but breaks the Law.  For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.  His praise is not from man but from God."

A second outward difference is the glands.  Goats have glands in the tail which emit a strong odor during rutting (mating) season.  The purpose is sexual, to attract a mate and procreate.  Sheep, on the other hand, have glands on their feet.  Their scent can be followed by others who keep their heads down, who search deeply and earnestly.  Romans 10:14-15 says, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"

I had always thought of 2 Corinthians 2:14 in terms of a conquering Roman parade, leading the procession with the captives trailing behind.  "But thanks be to God," it says, "who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere."  How different it is to think not of a conquering general, but of a gentle shepherd, who leads His sheep out of harm's way.  Because a sheep's glands are on its feet, the fragrance of the knowledge of the Good Shepherd is spread with every step.

A third physical difference is the wool.  Goats are covered in hair that does not need grooming or shearing.  Goats are independent in that way, but they are selfish, too.  Sheep need to be shorn every year or so to keep them healthy.  This accomplishes two things at once:  First, it means a dependence upon the Shepherd.  A sheep cannot shear himself, nor can he count on other sheep to help him in this way.  Second, it is for the benefit of the Shepherd that wool is harvested and sold.  The wool is made into clothing to cover others, and to keep them warm.

When cleaned thoroughly, wool is often bright white.  In Scripture, it can symbolize purity.  Isaiah 1:18 says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."  Daniel 7:9 says, "As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire."

A fourth physical difference is found in the eyes.  A goat does not have tear ducts, but a sheep does.  Goats must keep debris out of their eyes in other ways, while sheep can wash their eyes clean.  Humanly, tears denote sadness, shame, and emotional distress.  Spiritually dead people show no emotion.  

Ezekiel 11:19 describes a spiritual awakening. "And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them.  I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God."

Fred Rogers died of stomach cancer in 2003.  He read scripture in the hospital, the story of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25.  His last words before slipping into a coma were when he asked his wife, "Do you think I'm a sheep?"

I have been reading Ezekiel in my daily Bible readings.  Over the first 33 chapters, Ezekiel preached the wrath of God toward Israel and other nations.  But in the 34th chapter, the tone changes.  "For thus says the Lord God," he writes in verse 11, "Behold I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out."  He will look for those with physical differences, who are marked for His service.  He will look for those He cares deeply about, even those who may have suffered short term pain for His glory.  He will look for those who leave a pleasing odor wherever their feet step.  He will look for those who humbly submit to Him, and who share of themselves with others.  He will look for those who sincerely repent with tears deep from the heart, not those with a heart of stone.

Why did Ezekiel spend so long preaching against the nation of Israel?  Because they had intermingled with the other nations, nations who were genetically different from them.  Most of the time, sheep and goats cannot mate, at least not with any success.  I read one online article that said when sheep and goats hybrids are created in a lab, they are called chimeras.  A chimera is a mythological creature that combines parts taken from several different animals.  God meted out His divine discipline, as prophesied through Ezekiel, to His sheep that had taken on too many characteristics of her neighbors.

"Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?" (Ezekiel 34:18).  Be set apart, true to your calling.  Be in the world, but not of the world.  Follow the Good Shepherd, not the siren song of sin.  "My sheep hear my voice."

Being hardheaded

 

But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, or they are not willing to listen to Me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.  Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.  Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead.  Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.  --Ezekiel 3:7-9

 Author and business leadership guru Peter Drucker once wrote, "Over the years I have made a career out of studying the most challenging management roles out there.  After all of that I am now convinced the two most difficult jobs in the world are these—one, to be President of the United States, and two, to be the leader of a church."

It's easy to compare the two. The US President makes half the nation mad at him with every decision he makes, gets many of his quotes taken out of context, and just about everyone thinks they could do a better job.  A Pastor or church leader is criticized and misquoted and belittled in much the same way.  The President is elected by the people, overseen by Congress, limited by the Courts and bound by the Constitution.  A Pastor is called by God, managed by a Board of Elders or Deacons, hemmed in by a limited budget, and bound by the Bible.

When God called Ezekiel to take His message to the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 3, he warned that the people were going to be hard-headed.  God told Ezekiel to stand his ground, to be even harder-headed in defense of the Word of God.  "Behold," He says to Ezekiel in verse 8, "I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads."  The point is emphasized again in verse 9.  "Like emery harder than flint I have made your forehead."

The word translated "emery" in the English Standard Version is difficult to convey in English.  You all know that an emery board is a kind of nail file.  Emery is made with a mixture of corundum and magnetite, used for polishing, smoothing, or grinding.  This translation conveys the purpose, but not the true meaning.  The New King James Version translates this word with an archaic term, "adamant stone."  This term refers to a legendary rock or mineral to which many, often contradictory, properties were attributed, formerly associated with diamond or lodestone.  We now know that diamond is the hardest naturally occurring mineral on earth.  In essence, God is telling Ezekiel that the people have hard heads, but I'm making yours harder, so that you can withstand their falsehoods and wear them down with God's truth.

This is what a Pastor is called to do: preach the Gospel, and stand for Truth.  It may not be popular in this day and age to take a Biblical stand against abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, and a host of other sins, but a true minister of the Gospel will hold up Biblical standards.  To do so will undoubtedly hold him up to ridicule, which is why Spurgeon said a Pastor must have thick skin.

Many Pastors try to grow the congregation by pandering to people or watering down the Gospel message. They measure success by the size of their congregation rather than the adherence to the word of God.  Megachurch pastors who preach about "living your best life now" are described in Ezekiel 13:10-14

Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, "Peace" when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall!  There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out.  And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, "Where is the coating with which you smeared it?"  Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end.  And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare.  When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

If you try to sugarcoat the Bible, it is like putting whitewash on a condemned building.  It may look good on the outside, but inside it is rotten; when it tumbles, what good will the whitewash be?  A good coat of paint will not hold up a collapsing building.  If God calls your Pastor to tell you the building is collapsing, wouldn't you rather have a leader who will tear down the rotten substructure and help you rebuild it from the ground up?  Yet the world loves to hear a message that tickles the ears.  They prefer to be fed pabulum rather than the hard truth. 

Lest we forget the heart of God, we must remember that God is gracious.  His purpose is to rid us of sin, not to obliterate us completely.  There is always a remnant, a small group of faithful men and women who are chosen by God to take His message to the next generation.  Ezekiel 11:17-20 speaks to this.  He gave this message to Ezekiel, the one He called to Pastor His people:

Therefore say, "Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the  peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel."  And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.  And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them.  I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them.  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

We are heard headed and hardhearted, obstinate and impudent.  God may have to call a harder man to wear us down, to break the chains that weigh on us, but His purpose is redemptive.  He wants to replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh.  He wants to take away our hardhearted nature and replace it with a tenderheartedness so He can have fellowship with us.

Support your local Pastor.  If he is doing what God has called him to do, he will get enough push-back from outside the church; he doesn't need to get grief from within the church too.

Doing the work of the Holy Spirit

 

Can two walk together without agreeing where to go?  --Amos 3:3 (Berean Standard Bible)

Last month my sister was watching her two grandsons, while visiting with the boys' other grandmother.  The conversation drifted to preparations for the upcoming Thanksgiving celebrations.  "What are you having for Thanksgiving?" the woman asked innocently.  

"Well," my sister sighed.  "This past year my brother and his wife moved to Wisconsin.  My niece and nephew moved to Colorado.  Both of my children got divorced.  I'm not sure that Thanksgiving dinner will be anything like I wanted it to be."

The other woman smiled meekly.  "I meant what will you be serving?"

The past year may have been a trial for you, as well.  Maybe you lost a loved one, or lost a job, or had problems with health or finances or had any number of other issues.  in John 16:33, Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world."

This morning I attended a men's prayer breakfast, and the young pastor read 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ out comfort overflows. (Berean Standard Bible).  

 There are two themes in these three verses: suffering, and comfort.  We all know about suffering.  The Greek words used for "troubles" and "sufferings" can mean tribulation, affliction, trouble, anguish, persecution, and burdens.  In short, sin's curse leaves us in a world of hurt.

Praise be to God, those of us who know Him also know His comfort.  The Greek word translated "comfort" comes from the root word parakaleō, "to comfort", or the noun form paraklēsis, meaning consolation, exhortation, or comfort.  It brings with it the idea of coming alongside.  

In fact, the same root word is used for the Holy Spirit.  Jesus called Him "the Comforter" or paraklētos. The idea of a "paraclete" is one that comes alongside to be a helper.  It also carries with it the idea of an advocate, pleading our case before a judge or higher authority.

Read our text again.  "Blessed be God...the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort."  When we have trouble, when we need comfort, our souls reach out to God, who is our source of consolation.  Jesus said to His disciples, "My yoke is easy."  Animals in a double yoke are forced to walk the same directions, so they can pull the load together.  If we are yoked together with Christ, He will help us bear the burden, provided we do not try to go our own way.

If we submit our wills to Him and walk with Him daily, He will bear our burdens.  Similarly, we are called to walk alongside others, to encourage them and give them hope and comfort.  This does not mean we should be led astray by them--rather, we should show them the Way.  We can do the work of the Holy Spirit best when we help bear one another's burdens, submitting to the will of God and agreeing to walk in His ways.

We can also do the work of the Holy Spirit if we pray for one another.  Romans 8:26 says, "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."  As we intercede for other people, we are helping them in their weakness by advocating to the Father on their behalf.

Paul's advice to a young pastor in 1 Timothy 2:1 includes praying for others.  "First of all, then," he says, "I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people."  Isn't that what the Holy Spirit does for us?  We can be a comfort to other people in their suffering by praying for them.  There is no better way to exhort one another than to truthfully tell someone that you are praying for them.

James 5:16 says, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."  That power comes from the Holy Spirit as we do His work with Him.  We cannot prevail over sin, suffering or strife without His help, and the help of other people.  Lift up one another, therefore, so that in so doing we can walk in the way of God the Father, in the grace of Jesus the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Auspicious Mark

 

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.   --Song of Solomon 8:6.

I have never been to an Indian wedding, but I have heard that Hindu brides make elaborate markings on their bodies in preparation for the wedding.  Getting a henna tattoo, or mendhi adorned on her palms and feet means much more than basic tradition: it is marked as the symbol of solah shringar, which means, "the auspicious mark."

If you have ever been to a traditional wedding setting in India or seen one, you would notice how henna plays a significant role in their marital bliss. The night before the wedding, a Mehndi ceremony takes place. All the guests from both families gather in the home of where the bride and the groom will live, in all dressed in an attire called the “binalli” while the bride puts on a red veil. According to their belief, the darker the henna the more love develops in their marriage. Either a Mehndi artist or a relative applies intricate designs on the bride’s palms and feet while the names of the groom are somewhere hidden in the mehndi designs. (Guardian Nigeria, 27 September, 2020)

No one knows for sure when this Hindu tradition started, but it may have its roots in ancient Middle Eastern religions.  In fact, the prophet Isaiah alludes to it in our text today:

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing!  FOr the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted.  But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." 

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  Behold I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.  --Isaiah 49:13-16

The majority of commentaries I consulted said that this idea of "engraving" on the hand refers to tattooing.  This indelible marking means that every time He raises His hand to do anything, the image and name of His people are visible to Him.  Perhaps this gives new meaning to John 10:28-30:  "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one."

His grasp on us, His people, is not tenuous.  His hold on us is not like an earthly father lifting a child with his hands, with some danger (although ever so slight) of dropping them.  Isaiah tells us that His grip on us is even stronger than a human mother cradling her child to her breast.  There is yet danger of that mother dropping her child, or even forgetting the child, putting her out of mind.  Yet God will not forget us.

Another commentary, MacLaren's Expositions, says this:

When Israel came out of Egypt, the Passover was instituted as ‘a memorial unto all generations,’ or, as the same idea is otherwise expressed, ‘it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand.’ Here God represents Himself as doing for Israel what He had bid Israel do for Him. They were, as it were, to write the supreme act of deliverance in the Exodus upon their hands, that it might never be forgotten. He writes Zion on His hands for the same purpose.

If you are a Christian, it should be obvious to all that you are set apart, that you are different.  Your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, and His Name is written on your heart.  Revelation 2:17 says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it."  This is a reference to Moses, to whom God gave the manna, and to the stones which Moses carried on which the Law of God was written.  Just as God wrote on the stone tablets with His own hand, He promises to write your new name on a stone that only you and He know.  The relationship He seeks is that intimate, and that lasting, for no one can break the stone, or erase the name written on it by God's own hand, just as no one can scrub the name He has tattooed on the palm of His hand.  Your name.  My name. 

Auspicious mark, indeed.

Eureka!

 

As threshing separates the wheat from the chaff, so does affliction purify virtue.  --Christian Nestell Bovee

Over the last two weeks in my study of Isaiah, I have felt like a California prospector in 1849.  Usually having limited resources, a gold prospector used a simple pan or sluice to extract gold from the sand.  He would scoop up a small amount of sand from a river or stream, and let water run over it to wash away the lighter minerals.  Gold was heavier, and would be left in the bottom of the pan when the sand and other minerals would be washed away.  Panning for gold was a process used as far back as Roman times, and was used by Spanish conquistadors in their conquest of South America in the 1600s.

A great deal of sand and other minerals would have to be sifted and washed downstream before gold was found.  However, whenever a miner or prospector found gold, he knew it was precious and valuable.  Finding nuggets of gold while sifting through tons of sand and washing with thousands of gallons of water made the whole process worthwhile.

Isaiah chapters 13 through 23 contain a series of pronouncements or prophesies concerning the enemies of Israel.  Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus (Syria), Egypt and others were warned by God that they would be judged severely for their sins.  Ironically, these nations had all been used by God to bring judgement upon Israel.

At this time, Israel was feeling oppressed.  Using an agrarian term, they were being threshed like wheat.  For those of us who did not grow up on a farm, in order for grains such as wheat and barley to be used for food, they must be harvested, and then the grains must be separated from the plant stems.  The most efficient way to do this without modern tractors and combines was to violently strike the heads of grain against a threshing floor, and then blow away the chaff, or remove anything left that was not grain.

2 Kings 13:7 described some of the persecution that Israel had endured. "For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing."  A variant spelling of the word threshing is the term thrashing, which usually describes corporal punishment or a severe loss at the hands of an opposing team.  Israel felt like they had been taken behind the woodshed and had endured a severe beating at the hands of their enemies.

Reading about the judgment of God, the wrath of God being meted out to His people--well, it's not fun.  It may bring to mind unpleasant things that have happened to us in the past: beatings we have taken (either deserved or undeserved), trials we have endured, or that we are going through currently.  Many of us may feel that we are being buffeted about by forces beyond our control.  After we are broken to pieces, then a storm comes with hurricane force winds, and all we can think is, "God, why?  Why me?"

It is at this point we need a Eureka moment, a gold nugget of scripture to give us hope.  Isaiah provides one.  Isaiah 21:10 says, "O my threshed and winnowed one, what I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I announce to you."

Stop.  Read that verse again.  Threshed is violently pounded and broken into pieces.  Winnowed is the removal of useless or unwanted debris (aka "chaff") so that all is left is the grain, the kernel of who you are and what you were meant to be useful for.  If you feel you have been threshed and winnowed, God has a message for you.

Isaiah 26:3 says, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."  You can have peace in your suffering if you keep your eyes on God.  If you remain faithful, God will overcome your enemies and will bring to pass His purpose for you.  To Him, you are more precious than gold, but even gold and silver must be refined by fire, so that the dross can be removed and the precious metal purified.

God will overcome, and His people will be used greatly by Him.  Micah 4:11-13 says, "Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, 'Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.'  But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand His plan, that He has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.  Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth."  Jeremiah 51:33 says, "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:  The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come."

Eureka.  The time will come, and may now be, when God will use you for His purpose, and you will be purified for that purpose.  Psalm 30:4-5 says, "Sing praises to the Lord, O you His saints, and give thanks to His holy Name.  For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime.  Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."  Take heart, my friend.  Joy is coming.

God gives grace to the humble

 

And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He delay long over them?  I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily.  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?  --Luke 18:7-8

A musician who had been a lead guitarist for a well known rock group in the 70s used to tell the following story:  I was playing at a recording studio and Ry Cooder (a legendary guitarist--Google him if you don't know who he is) walked in.  Ry Cooder listened to my playing, and when the track was over he came and asked, "Can I have a look at your guitar?"  Flattered that the great Ry Cooder wanted to check out my guitar, I handed it over.  Ry played a few notes thoughtfully, handed the guitar back and said, "No, it wasn't the guitar..."

What a humbling moment.

Many of us are humbled quite often.  We are brought low by an expectation that we failed to meet, by words spoken by others, or by any number of other things.  Without some kind of encouragement, humility gives way to humiliation, and that gives way to defeat, destruction, and dissolution.  When we lose faith in ourselves, we often lose faith in our God. 

The nation of Israel had been humbled by God many times.  They had fallen into sin, and had received God's judgment.  Yet God always gave them hope.  This week I have read chapters in Isaiah that were meant to give them hope.  These messages of hope for Israel came in the form of God's warnings to those around her.  Yes, Israel had been defeated by her enemies, but it was God that had given them the means.  It was not Babylon's military power that had led them to victory over God's people, but rather it was God's hand that used Babylon to bring a measure of justice against Israel, and it was God's mercy that always brought Israel back.  "For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob." (Isaiah 14:1)

The prophet Isaiah had many things to say about Israel's enemies.  In Isaiah 14:12-14, he attacked their hubris.  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!  You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High'."

Many believe this passage actually describes Satan, as some translate the name Day Star as Lucifer, a name given to the devil.  I think it could have a double meaning, as many Bible passages do.  God may have used Isaiah to recount the fate of the fallen angel in his prophecy against Babylon and all of Israel's enemies.  "But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.  Those who see you will start at you and ponder over you: Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?" (Isaiah 14:15-17)

In subsequent chapters Isaiah specifically calls out the nations that came against Israel from the north (Assyria), from the west (Phiistia), from the east (Moab), from the northeast (Damascus), from the Southwest (Egypt) and from those who sent mercenaries from afar (Cush).  When you read these accounts in Isaiah 14-19, you may not be familiar with the geographical regions, or the leaders that are called out by name.  What you should look for is the encouragement God gives for Israel.  

In the oracle against Moab (chapters 15 and 16), God says, "When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness." (Isaiah 16:4b-5).  In the oracle against Damascus (chapter 17), God says, "In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.  He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Ashirim or the altars of incense." (Isaiah 17:7-8).  In the oracle against Cush (chapter 18), God says, "All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, look! When a trumpet is blown, hear! For thus the Lord said to me: I will quietly look down from My dwelling like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."  In the oracle against Egypt (chapter 19), God continues the cloud metaphor, saying "Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud." (Isaiah 19:1).  He further says, "Those who are pillars of the land will be crushed, and all who work for pay will be grieved." (verse 6), predicting economic collapse.  Yet even to Egypt there is hope: "And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and He will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them." (verse 22).

Just as God gave a warning to Babylon, comparing it to Lucifer in its impending doom, I believe each of the verses of encouragement in these passages look forward to a coming Messiah that will sit on a "throne established in steadfast love," will exhibit "faithfulness in the tent of David," and who "judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."  Does this not describe our Lord and Savior Jesus?  When we look to our Maker, and our eyes behold the Holy One, do we not see Jesus? Peter preached of Him in Acts 3:13-15, "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified His servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead.  To this we are witnesses."

And aren't we eagerly awaiting the return of Jesus "riding on a cloud" when "a trumpet is blown"?  1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.  Therefore encourage one another with these words."

Be encouraged, so that your humility does not turn to despair.  Stay humble, seeking both justice and mercy, for this is the will of God concerning you.

Use me as You will, O Lord

Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?  As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!  --Isaiah 10:15

I came across this verse in my daily Bible reading today.  Several thoughts crossed my mind, not all of them worth sharing.  However, for the purpose of this essay, I will share them anyway.

If a Hollywood exec came across this verse, he might think that it touches on all three genres of Action films:  Drama about an axe murderer (The Axe Made Me Do It!); Horror films (insert the word "Saw" with any Roman numeral behind it); and Kung Fu movies, where quarter-staff wielding ninjas fly through the air as if magically lifted by, well, the staff.

Okay, that's not what the verse means.  Let's move on.

A logical person might use this Scripture as a proof text against gun control.  "A gun is just a tool.  The tool is not evil.  Only the person who would use it for murder is evil."  Sounds good on the surface, but not really what the prophet Isaiah was trying to get across. 

Let's look at the verse in context:

When the Lord has finished all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.  For he says, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.  My hand has found like a nest the wealth of all the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped."  Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?  As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!  Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under His glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.  The light of Israel will become a fire, and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.  The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few that a child can write them down.  --Isaiah 10:12-19

 God had used the king of Assyria to punish the evil deeds of Israel.  Shalmaneser had marched against Israel and conquered them, taking the best and brightest away into exile and leaving a remnant, weak and exposed.  Then the king took credit for his achievements.  We have all heard the expression, that it was so easy, "it was like taking candy from a baby."  This is a similar turn of phrase: he said it was like taking eggs out of birds nests, and the birds made no sound--no chirping, no flutter of wings, they didn't even open their mouths.

Many of us remember Julius Caesar, who said of his own conquests, "Veni, Vidi, Vici": I came, I saw, I conquered.  In this case Shalmaneser boasted of his own military prowess, not realizing that God had not only allowed him to conquer Israel, but that He had directed the king's hand and given him the victory.  What this means to us is that we should not glory in ourselves and in our own works, but humbly admit that God works all things for His glory.

I also think it is not too big a stretch to say we should not always assume God will protect us from harm or from evil.  Sometimes bad things happen to good people, either to bring us back under His authority and leadership, as He did with errant Israel, or to make an example of us to other people, like He did with the martyrs.  When He gives us success, it should not go to our heads.  Luke 17:7-9 says, "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come home from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'?  Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'?  Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?  So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'"

Sometimes we get so caught up in the world's vision of Jesus--love your neighbor, judge not, it's okay to associate with prostitutes and sinners since Jesus did--that we tend to overlook the concept of God's wrath.  Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-36, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  And a person's enemies will be those of his own household."  If we are faithful, it will not always be sunshine and daisies for us.  It may tear our hearts out to dissociate ourselves from family and friends, but we are called to be faithful to Him, not to them.  Matthew 19:19 says, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for My Name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life."  His promise is eternal reward, not necessarily rewards on this earth.

God is not a puppet that we can manipulate.  He is not a divine Santa Claus.  He is Lord and Master, and whatever He has for us we must humbly accept, for our good and His glory.