Bible Reading Challenge Blog

We find ourselves completely immersed in Isaiah this morning. If you look at 59:17 it slightly reminds me of Ephesians 6:10ff. You should read all of it as it describes what is called the whole armor of God. Isaiah, on the other hand, speaks of the wrath of God that is to come against the nations that have conquered Israel and this wrath is metaphorically described as armor as well. In Isaiah you have: righteousness as a breastplate, salvation as a helmet, vengeance as clothing, fury as his mantle. In Ephesians you have: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes the proclamation of peace, shield of faith, and helmet of salvation. So the parallels are obvious with both the breastplate and the helmet being the same. I had never noticed that before.

Chapter 60 gives us the great phrase of arise your light has come, as well as a precursor to the kings bringing gold and frankincense. A lot happens in Isaiah which later we find in the life of Christ either as a baby, hence the gold and frankincense, and as an adult, the chapter 61 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. This chapter reflects what he said in the temple in Nazareth, again, which got him in trouble. We are making our way to the end of Isaiah.

There is again richness in Isaiah.  By this I mean passages that are familiar and passages that refer back to the work and the covenant that Jesus has established.  In 56 we find a space for those who were not born Jewish but still love God.  This space widens significantly in the New Testament, but it is good to see that it describes that there will be a place for those who love God in the house of the Lord, but who were not born as people of God.  The reason this is, Isaiah implies, is that there is vast corruption in the people of God.  Interesting how it pivots from there being a space to a castigation against the corruption of Israel.

We then find in Isaiah 58 some powerful verses in 5-12  I know it is a lot, but it reminds us that God loves those who love their neighbor.  Matthew takes this theme back up, as we have seen it repeatedly in this Gospel as he focuses on righteousness as the calling card of those who follow Jesus.  We find the wonderful example of the parable of the lost sheep in chapter 18, but it isn’t matched with the prodigal son like we find in Luke, and in Luke alone.  We do see an emphasis on forgiving, even as we receive a prescription on how to work out differences with someone who consistently is disobedient in the community.

The teaching about divorce is not to be passed over lightly.  As Presbyterians we take marriage seriously, even if it is not a sacrament.  But divorce is not a sin greater than any other.  But in divorce sin has taken place, in some form or shape, and the objective is to confess that sin and to move on with what God wants in our life.  Righteousness should always be pursued regardless of the reality in which we find ourselves.

We can finally focus on Isaiah.  We find a series of chapters that we have read today that address very directly who Jesus is.  Now, remember, Isaiah was written hundreds of years before Jesus every walked upon the face of the earth.  But we find some very clear correlations between the prophecies of Isaiah and the work that Jesus did upon this earth.  Let’s look at a few.  Chapter 52:7 give us the John the Baptist Advent message with the feet of John being beautiful because he is bringing the good news of salvation that Jesus will bring.

Staring at vs.13 in the same chapter we see a description of who Jesus will be that then carries into the next chapter.  Pretty much all of 53 describes Jesus as one who “carried our diseases…wounded for our transgressions…by his bruises we are healed…he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”  This is the work that Jesus did upon the earth and the work that he was able to do because he was not just the Son of God, as Peter confesses in our Matthew reading, but he was actually God himself.

Matthew 16 has that much debated conversation between Peter and Jesus where Jesus says that upon this rock the church has been established.  The rock is not Peter, although that is what the term rock literally is written as in Greek, petros, or Peter.  The rock is the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.  A lot here to look at because so much of it is so familiar.

The Isaiah Scripture does speak of a restoration of Israel but not until after the total destruction of her enemies. There isn’t a sense of reconciliation of the people of God with their neighbors, but there is definitely a sense of reconciliation between the people of God and God. God had turned His back on them and did all the things to them that he promised that he would do to them. This sense that we have from Jesus that we are to love God and love our neighbor is not really super strong here. Love God, yes, but when your neighbor is looking to wipe you from the face of the earth then it is hard to love them. At least that is the vibe we get from the Old Testament. Thank God that we have Jesus, literally, who tells us to live in a different way otherwise we would all be blind and toothless.

Strangely enough in Matthew we have the feeding of the crowds twice. Once it is five thousand and another time it is the feeding of the four thousand. Each time Jesus uses what is at hand and give it to the people and there is more left over for everyone. The abundance of God in His generosity is seen time after time. This also strikes me when he heals, even though he says that he has not come to heal those outside of the house of the Lord, the gentiles, he still heals the woman’s daughter and proclaims her as having a faith not seen elsewhere. There is the presence of the Lord in places that we would not expect.

We could address a few topics within the Matthew reading. That means that for Isaiah I don’t have too much to say. But let’s look at Matthew. I’m going to focus on Jesus and his family. We see in both of these chapters references to brothers and in one even sisters. Look at Matthew 12:46-50 where we see that Jesus’ family is trying to get to him to speak to him. We read in other places that they look to take him home because they think he may have lost his mind. That makes sense, except for Mary who should have known who Jesus would be and what his future would be like.

We also see in Matthew 13:54ff the people of his home town, Nazareth, ask who Jesus actually is because they know his mom and his dad and his brothers and sisters and they are listed. Since we know them we should know who Jesus is as well. But he seems to be more than they understand him to be. The reason I wanted to focus on his family is that because there is a doctrine in some churches that Mary had no other children besides Jesus. That is simply not true. We see in these Scriptures alone, and there are others, where we see that Jesus has siblings and they are even named.

We once again find in the Isaiah Scriptures some of the best known and most used Scriptures. Let’s look at a few of them. Turn your attention to 40:28-31 which is used consistently in funerals to remind us that with the power of the Lord even those whom society and culture have discounted: the elderly, the weak, the feeble, God can transform them for his purposes and give them their strength back. It is a great reminder of both the resurrection and the way in which God is able to transform our present if we would just let Him.

I guess that is good enough for Isaiah. In Matthew we find Jesus who has solidified his disciple core and then immediately sends them out two by two. He has some really nice words to say about John the Baptist as well. Don’t forge that they are relatives and so it makes sense that the one who came announcing the arrival of the son of man is then praised by the son of man himself.

The story of Hezekiah is fascinating for me. He is considered the foremost reformer in the Old Testament. He turned the people away from the foreign gods, he reconstructed the temple and forbade worship of other gods in it. He also was responsible for constructing a tunnel that would bring fresh water into the city of Jerusalem. It is a tunnel that you can walk through even to this day. When we go to Israel we always walk Hezekiah’s tunnel. The Scripture that we read has both him talking to Isaiah and getting advice, and also going directly before the Lord to get advice without the mediation of Isaiah. To me that signifies someone who walked with the Lord.

In the New Testament we have a whole series of healings in which Jesus is involved. Let me just list them to you and then some of the teachings that are interspersed through these chapters. The leper, Centurion’s servant, Peter’s mother in law, many who were gathered, the demoniac with legion, paralytic, synagogue leader’s daughter, the woman with the issue of blood, the two blind men, the mute man. This is all within two chapters. There are many more but I remain convinced that as Jesus healed, so are we able to heal.

Isaiah speaks out strongly against the other nations and warns them that God will bring down his strong arm of judgment. Even though the power of God is highlighted it does seem to be less geared to the surrounding nations and more for an opportunity for Isaiah to encourage and lift up the drooping spirits of the people of God. As they see the inevitable decline and fall of all that they once held dear a good prophecy of how God will swoop in and empty out the enemies with a vengeance never hurts to lift the spirits. Chapter 35 does provide us with some verses that we have seen before and which should sound familiar. It provides a hope for the future that will be built upon the presence of the Lord in our midst. It is Emmanuel without actually saying the word.

These are Jesus’ ten commandments in Matthew 5-7. The Beatitudes, named as such because each verse in chapter 5:2-11 begins with the obligatory: “Blessed are you…” The “Blessed are you…” is the term beatitude, which means blessed in an English that we rarely use today. But the entire three chapters we find Jesus on a mountain and so it is called the sermon on the mount. I love going to this place in Israel, not so much for the church that is located marking a hypothetical spot where Jesus may have preached, but right next to it there is a field where I like to take the group and we spread out and imagine what it may have been like to hear Jesus’ words directed to us. These words in this sermon are really directives on how to live our lives.

You can’t miss the importance of the commandments that Jesus gives in these chapters. As we focus on them we see that we are able to live lives of righteousness if we would just follow what Jesus says in these three chapters. It should be an emphasis on how we live and an emphasis on how we make our decisions on who to elect into office, and it should be an emphasis on who we decide to hire. So many things in our lives, all things really, ought to be directed by these three chapters and the words that Jesus speaks in these chapters.

Once again we see a prophecy against Israel that they will be facing the worst of the worst. This is a time in the life of Israel where they are about to go into exile with the Assyrians taking them away from Israel as slaves into Assyria. But there is a group of Israelites who say that the nation should team up with Egypt and the people as a whole should flee to Egypt for safety and refuge. While they are not able to stay in the land, at least if they go to Egypt, they say, they will be protected and safe. Isaiah says no, don’t do it, you can’t rely upon Egypt and their army. In fact, we know that in history there is a group of God’s people who go down into Egypt to escape the Assyrians, and they are made slaves just like they were in the days of Moses. But the vast majority of the Israelites stayed behind and were taken away into captivity by the Assyrians.

This prophecy of destruction against the people of Israel is always a result of the disobedience of the people of Israel. They do not listen, they do not obey, they do not do justice, and they oppress the weak and the marginalized. Boy, that does sound a lot like modern day people of faith, all of us included in that condemnation. It is a sober reminder that no matter who we are and no matter what status we think we have in the eyes of God, we are always called to righteousness, the doing of God’s will in our lives.

Speaking of righteousness we find ourselves in the Gospel of Matthew with Jesus’ temptation. Jesus is tempted by the devil and passes all the tests. Of course he does, what would you expect? He then begins his ministry in the region of Galilee. We see Isaiah quoted where Jesus is portrayed as the light of the world that has come in the darkness. He then calls his disciples into ministry and he is ready to roll. Jesus begins his ministry here in this section, so we are ready for the Gospel of righteousness to begin.

We find ourselves in the thick of things with Isaiah. I do have to admit that it is that portion of Isaiah which just might be considered the most difficult read in all of Isaiah. The basic take from these sections is that God is promising a couple of things: 1) that victory is ahead of us, but it is not imminent. There are difficult roads that still need to be taken and those roads will lead to hardship and persecution and even death for the community. But victory is out there and it will take place, of that you can be assured. The second, 2) When victory comes it will be final and complete. There will be no such thing as a partial temporary victory, but a complete one where God will reign and God will demonstrate that all of the other gods that the people have worshipped are flaccid compared to the God of Israel.

A sidenote that might be interesting which we find briefly, and mentioned again in other places, is the mention of this Leviathan in chapter 27. The people of Israel were terrified of the ocean. Now, the Sea of Galilee is a big lake and certainly not the ocean, even if it was able to have some scary moments with some waves that could scare you into thinking that your boat might not make it. We know there are those stories of Jesus on the water with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee and they make it out. But the ocean, well that is something completely different and foreign to the people of Israel. Not foreign in the sense that they knew nothing about it, because there is a long coastline in Israel, but foreign in the sense that they were not an ocean going population and the ocean was the sight of scary creatures who would do battle and have a go at their very God. Leviathan is one of those mentioned who was a scary creature who needed to be defeated, a sea monster, similar to the dragons of yore. It was probably the whales that were the Leviathans, but they were considered mythical, deadly creatures.

I didn’t mention anything about Matthew. Appropriate that we have the Christmas story in Matthew for Christmas Day. Oh, Merry Christmas! There is so much to be said about the birth of Jesus and the ensuing escape from Herod and he and his family settling in Nazareth. Interesting that the location of where Jesus is born is Bethlehem. Matthew gives us a sense that Bethlehem may have been the hometown of Mary and Joseph because they seem to only settle in Nazareth when they get back from Egypt. That is not the case in Luke, so it makes it a bit interesting.