Bible Reading Challenge Blog

There is no secret in being able to understand better the words of Isaiah as we make our way through this book of the Bible directed to a divided kingdom of the people of God who are disobedient and have sold themselves out to other nations and to the gods of other nations.  While chapter 29 has a warning for Jerusalem, it also speaks of a time when the city, and the nation, will rebound and be protected by God.  Notice that Jerusalem is called Ariel which means literally: lion of God, since the tribe of Judah, which was David’s lineage, has as its symbol the lion.

There are a number of warnings against nations that would strike out against the people of Israel, including some warnings on the people of Israel aligning themselves too closely to either Egypt or other nations for refuge or deliverance.  Chapter 32 provides some insight into what the kingdom of God might look like.  It is not a place where fools are suffered lightly.

Matthew 4 gives us the tempation of Christ in the desert with his corresponding responses to Satan all from the Bible.  We see that Capernaum becomes the city of Jesus which is where he goes to live for a period of time.  

We continue in our journey through Isaiah and in these three chapters we find ourselves in a place where the prophet sings his praises to the presence and the protection of God for the nation of Israel.  That may seem a bit strange in the midst of other prophecies which saw the downfall and the exportation of the people of Israel, but this is a bit of a reprieve.  Chapter 26 is described as a song of praise sung in the land of Judah: “in that day”.  

Again, chapter 27 describes deliverance for Israel “in that day”.  We find that phrase again repeated in vs.12 where it describes that the Lord will gather all of the Israelites together, including, and especially those who were part of the diaspora that were scattered all across from Assyria to Egypt.  But then we pick up where we left off in chapter 28 with a warning against Ephraim.  Keep in mind, Ephraim is another name for the northern kingdom, or the Israelites who were north of Jerusalem and used Samaria as their religious base. 

This reading takes us into the Gospel of Matthew.  It is no small thing that it begins with a geneology.  Read through the names and don’t lose track of what the author is telling us as we find Jesus described from the very beginnin in vs.17 as the Messiah.  We know from the very beginning of the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah.  We then have the story of the birth of Jesus through the perspective of Moses who is visited by the angel and then the presence of John the Baptist who prepares the way.  

There is much of the same in this Scripture, but then there is something completely different.  We begin in the same vein that we started with prophecies against Babylon and Edom and Arabia which sound similar to the others.  In the days to come you will face destruction.  There is also a warning to Jerusalem about what is to come.  Isaiah lets them know that captivity is on its way and that God will: “roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country.”  That large country would be Babylon and that did take place.  In Jerusalem a puppet ruler would be set up, and this would be Eliakim.  This would take place at a later time by the Egyptians, but it did take place just as Isaiah said it would.  

We continue to hear the prophecies against foreign lands including Tyre which houses the famous Tarshish which is to where Jonah tried to flee.  We then hear a much more general warning against the entire earth and what is to come.  This is then immediately followed by a call to praise the Lord.  This chapter seems very much out of place but it does remind us of the importance of knowing that even in the midst of the mess and disaster which we face, God is able.  We see in this chapter the precursor for what we find in Revelation 21.  Compare Isaiah 25:7-8 with Revelation 21:4.  There are unmistakable similarities.

Psalm 142 was written within the context of David in the cave when he is fleeing from Saul, we have a few of those.  It is similar to what we find in Isaiah 24:18 where you see this succession of terror leads to falling into a pit which leads into being caught in a snare.  But once again we find a good ending when David is able to say: “Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”  What a great way to deal with the tragedy that inevitably overtakes our lives at one time or another.

Once again the prophet is given the words to speak against the nations that are surrounding Israel and Judah.  We pick up in the middle of a prophecy against Moab and then transition to one against Damascus.  From there we hear a prophecy against Cush, whose people are described as tall, smooth skinned, and an aggressive nation of strange speech.  Keep in mind that these prophecies are meant to interpret a future that would see Israel free and its enemies destroyed.  That is not the current state in which Isaiah is writing.  In fact, Israel and Judah are both captives and are struggling to survive and maintain their national and religious identity.  But Isaiah speaks of a future where God will reign.  That was not the case in the present, but Isaiah encourages the people to expect it to happen.

You see a similar approach in the gospel songs that were sung by the slaves as they pined for a Beulah land which was not reflected at all in their current reality.  Any people that finds itself under slavery, or under oppression will see God liberating them at one time or another and the ones who are doing the enslaving or the oppressing find themselves under the heel of God who punishes them.  This is Isaiah’s approach in these chapters, except in 19:18-25 where we read about a détente between Egypt and Assyrian, both countries that had oppressed Israel terribly.  We even see a picture of a highway between the two nations as a description of a future peace that was to come.  It is almost as if God has expanded his favored nation status from just Israel to now Egypt and Assyrian.

Psalm 144 contains the words that we should have heard at one time or another in vs. 3-4 where we see that humanity remains a creation of God and yet at the same time is as fleeting as the breath of God.  We know from creation that it was the breath of God that gave life to humanity, and we are reminded of the real precariousness of our lives which happen to be in the hands of God.

While we  begin with some familiar verses in chapter 11, we end with chapters that seem a little confusing and out of place.  Let me try to put some perspective on these chapters because they are important to the rest of Isaiah.  So 11 gives us those wonderful verses in vss.6-9 where we see this idyllic pastoral scene with all of the most ferocious animals hanging out and playing with the most docile of animals while a child leads them.  This is a depiction of the kingdom of God that will be installed by the Messiah, the one who comes from the branch of Jesse. Remember who Jesse was?  He was the father of David and so it is from here that we know that the Messiah will come from King David’s lineage.  This is no small thing.  In both of Jesus’ genealogies we see that he descends from David and this is not by chance.

So with the promise of the kingdom established coming through the house of David we then transition to what Israel was currently facing in the time of Isaiah.  They had been taken into exile by both the Babylonians and the Assyrians.  Now, just to be clear, the Babylonian exile was first and it happened in the same time that Isaiah was prophesying.  So while he speaks out against the Assyrians in these verses, they are not pointing to the Assyrian exile, but rather to the Babylonian exile.  

We begin chapter 13 with words against Babylon which culminates in vs.16 with a picture of the children of Babylon being dashed against the rocks.  Isaiah is probably describing a tit-for-tat scenario where he had witnesses the Hebrew children being dashed against the rocks.  You see this echoed in Psalm 137:9 which is a lament while they were in the hands of Babylon.  This Psalm speaks specifically of “happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us – he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”  Yeah, pretty intense, but that is what captivity leads to, your children being dashed against the rocks.

We then get whiplash and read Psalm 145 which is quite the praise Psalm and one that we should know from a common song that was pretty popular.  

These chapters in Isaiah contains some of the most used Scriptures related to Christmas in the Old Testament that we have.  Before we get there, we have Isaiah’s commissioning in chapter 6 which kicks us off.  Notice that Isaiah was originally somewhat reticent to step forward as the one that God had chosen to give a message that was inherently not going to produce warm and fuzzy feelings.  If you look at vs.5 Isaiah objects to his status because he is a man of unclean lips, but nothing like a burning hot coal to remedy that situation.  He is made clean by God, that is our status as well.  On our own we can do nothing on God’s behalf, only by the grace and favor of God can we do anything.  It is also from here that we get one of our favorite hymns:  

Now to the Christmas references.  We find beginning in chapter 7 the sign of a young woman who is to give birth.  The NIV states “virgin” but in the Hebrew it is almah which means simply a young woman, who probably was a virgin.  Matthew’s story of the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary definitely defines her as a virgin.  But it is from here that the conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to the virgin Mary originates.  

Then in chapter 9 we have Handel’s Messiah spelled out, especially my favorite part of the Messiah which is seen in vs.6 of chapter 9.  I have to include it because it is my favorite part of the Messiah.  

That’s probably enough videos for today.  But what a great section of Scripture.  So many wonderful references to Christmas.

Isaiah is one of those books of the Bible that if you don’t know what the context is it might be difficult to understand what the prophet is saying.  So, let’s establish that.  Isaiah is a prophet of God and we don’t see his commissioning until we get to the next chapter in Isaiah 6.  But suffice it to say that Israel is divided into two kingdoms with two rulers who have no love lost among themselves.  There is the northern kingdom, called Israel with its religious center in Samaria, and the southern kingdom, called Judah with its religious center in Jerusalem with the temple.

Isaiah warns in this chapter that both nations will be going into exile and will be taken over by the Babylonians and taken far away from their homeland.  You can see this described in Isaiah 5 where we find the image of the vineyard producing bad grapes and so as a result it will be destroyed.

It is great to be able to read a complete book of the Bible.  Paul loved the Ephesian church and we know that he was the one who founded it.  You can read about the founding of the church in Acts 18:19.  I have to say that it is probably one of my favorite Epistles because of the history involved in it.  It is the church that it is thought that Mary attended.  It is thought to be the church where the Apostle John was buried and also attended.  Stacy and I were able to visit the church in Ephesus and it certainly felt like holy ground to me.

There is a lot in this book of the Bible but I wanted you to be familiar with a verse that I just discovered this morning which I am envisioning as being my own and which I am asking of you.  Look at Ephesians 6:19 and consider this my request from me to you: “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.  Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

You can also find the ecumenical verses of Paul in Ephesians 4:3-6 where he speaks about the unity of the body of Christ.  This is matched perfectly well with another call to unity in chapter 2:13-16.  Ephesians gives us a lot of ammunition to remind ourselves that we are called to be one church in Christ Jesus.

We find ourselves today on Good Friday and we have just read the Scripture which speaks of that event in Jesus’ life.  These chapters contain the ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday which is in chapter 19.  We then transition to a number of teachings, but no more miracles from now to the end of the chapter, just teachings.  

We also find in these readings the last supper and all that takes place in chapter 22 which we looked at last evening at the Maundy Thursday service.  Just one note before that, look at 21:37 where we read that every day Jesus would teach in the temple and then every evening he would head to the Mount of Olives as if that is where he would stay overnight.  The Garden of Gethsemane was not just a place that he happened to find the evening of his betrayal.  That was a location that he was very familiar with and obviously where he spent a lot of time.

In chapter 23 we find the crucifixion of Jesus and all the events that led up to that and all the events that composed the crucifixion.  Finally, in the last chapter. we have the resurrection and the unique story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  No other Gospel writer has that story.  I like the simplicity of the Ascension and the final command to hang out in the city, that would be Jerusalem, until they received power.  Remember, Luke is written by the same author who wrote Acts which is where we have the story of Pentecost, so it all makes sense.  

We find ourselves in the middle of Luke with all of Jesus’ miracles and teachings compiled to give us an insight into what it was really like to be his disciple as he did all of these things.  We find many of his miracles lead to teachings that have to do specifically with the kingdom of God.  Chapter 15 is a key chapter because it contains both the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the prodigal son.  We know both stories and they both deal with the same topic.  The way in which God searches for us as we go through life and walk away from him.

One of the favorite stories that I like to tell the preschool kids is the one of the 10 lepers who are healed and only one comes back to thank Jesus.  He tells the one to go because his faith made him well.  Surprisingly all of the others who were healed were permanently healed, they didn’t lose their healing because they didn’t come back and thank Jesus.

Chapter 18 contains the parable of the persistent widow which Stacy and I used to preach on when we came back from Russia to do itineration in the various churches.  It also contains Jesus telling the disciples to let the children come unto him, which was what was written on the main orphanage building where we worked in Naples, Italy.  A lot of cross reference going on here.