“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Lk. 2.29-32)

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” (Isa. 25.6)

“For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” (1Cor. 11.29)

It’s a bold creative choice to end with smoldering and maggoty heaps of corpses, but I guess when God says to write, you write! It’s a terribly visceral image for Isaiah to end on, the fate of those who rebel against God.

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jer. 31.33

“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11.30

A servant who really serves is wonderfully helpful. But some self-proclaimed servants do not serve. Consider this “parable.” Look at the back of one of your credit cards: “for service call 1-800-etc.” Have you tried to call? When I called the number on one card (V) I got through and talked to a real person who was very helpful. When I called the number on another card (M) I only heard a computerized voice that said, “Sorry you are not recognized, please call again. Goodbye.” Totally frustrated after calling repeatedly for two days I transferred my business account on card M to card V. For several months thereafter I received letters about my failure to pay signed, “Sincerely” with a note, “contact us at the phone number below.” All my attempts to talk to someone at that customer service number only gave me that computerized voice again!

“For I the LORD love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.” Isa. 61.8

“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1Jn. 4.8

“But the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2.14)

“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2Cor. 3.18)

“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Hab. 2.20)

“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” (Ps. 46.10)

“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Mt. 13.52)

Our lives are driven by light. We want light; we need light. Many creatures can see in the dark. We cannot. Finding ourselves in the dark, we search for a source of light. Our eyes can adjust to the dark, but even that depends on any small sources of light. We are reliant on the sun by day and the moon and stars by night. We want light; we need light.

The first thing you noticed was her size. She towered over me, and reaching around her was difficult. The last time I saw her, her feet were hanging over the end of her hospital bed, and her wheelchair had a high back added on to help her stay upright. 

We are often concerned about our sinfulness, and how that affects our status or relationship with God. We are very concerned about our guilt, and whether or not God has forgiven us. Our primary concern is often whether or not our sins are forgiven. Our primary gratitude is toward God/Jesus for forgiving us our sins.

The prophet has never been a popular figure, at least during their life. It’s not hard to imagine why—they proclaim “the word of the LORD,” which is—

Sometimes I come across an idea that’s so new to me I don’t know what to do with it. Take this quote from theologian Richard B. Hays:

There are three different ways to allow Scripture to interact with our experience of life. The first is to come to Scripture with our experiences firmly in mind, and interpret Scripture in that light. At its most extreme, this results in saying things like, “Scripture says Jesus was raised from the dead, but every fool understands that the dead stay dead, so what Scripture really means is that the disciples had formative spiritual experiences of Jesus after he was dead.” 

I was too young to really understand September 11. It’s a real gift to be too young and innocent to understand tragedy and loss. But innocence has its perils as well. My understanding of 9/11 was mediated to me by culture. All I understood about it was taught to me by country singers Toby Keith and Alan Jackson. I wish I had learned more from Jackson, and less from Keith.

In studying through Isaiah 40-55, we’ve come across several passages that ruthlessly mock the practice of idolatry (40.18-20; 41.6-7; 44.9-20; 46.1-7 in particular). Idols are simply matter. They do not have life. They are blind and deaf, unable to hear, unable to respond, unable to save. Pressingly, though this is drawing from places like Ps. 135.15-18, the people that worship the deaf and blind idols become like them—deaf and blind, unable to hear God, unable to see God, unable to respond to God. Thus God’s instructions in Isa. 6.9-10.

This series of articles was prompted by my long-standing need to think through and explain what I mean by “Gospel” and “the kingdom of God.” But the original intent was actually to give some examples of what this looks like in the wild. If the Gospel is that God reigns through Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit, then why is the reign of God not more evident?