What a text for Christmas day! It speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and resonates with the Christmas story, which tells how the Father God sent His Son into the world by the power of the Holy Spirit, who did a miraculous and marvellous thing, causing a baby to be conceived by a virgin. That was something way beyond what anyone could ‘’ask or imagine’’ and it has indeed brought glory to God ‘’in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations’’. It continues to do so and will ‘’for ever and ever! Amen.’’ (See 20, 21). If the mystery and wonder of the Christmas story doesn’t get you on your knees (14) in prayerful adoration, I wonder what will?
Today, we remember that God has a ‘’family in heaven and on earth’’ (15), and we thankfully carry in our hearts those who are experiencing the reality that we only dimly realise in our Christmas celebrations here. They see His face (Revelation 22:4).
It also speaks of the ‘’deep, deep love of Jesus’’ (17-19), and I am reminded that ‘’Love came down at Christmas, Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas…’’ Christina Rosetti. God wants us to ‘’know this love’’ (19) even though it is beyond full knowledge. But we do know things about God’s love. We see what it looks like. It looks like Jesus. Would Jesus ever pass by a need that He could meet? Would He fail to give to anyone requiring His help? A self-indulgent Christmas that pulls up the drawbridge and closes out others is ultimately disappointing and self-defeating. I know this for, I’m ashamed to say, I’ve been there. I now realise that we cannot celebrate the coming down of love at Christmas without also sharing it. ‘’Love divine, all loves excelling…Fix in us thy humble dwelling…’’ Charles Wesley.
I also realise that for us, Christmas and New Year walk hand in hand. We move seamlessly from the one into the other. We do not know what lies ahead, whether good or bad, but we do know that the same Spirit who made the incarnation possible will strengthen us inwardly for whatever lies ahead (16).
The Christ who came down at Christmas wants to ‘’dwell’’ in hearts by ‘’faith’’ (17). The challenge of the Christmas message is, ‘Will we make room for Him there?’ Or will there be ‘No room’? It’s the abiding, provocative issue raised by this season. The world wants to go to Jesus’ birthday party (in fact, they want to run it; be in charge of proceedings.) But they don’t want Him there. He’d ruin it. Keep Him out back in the cold! It’s a great irony. We see it all around us if we have eyes to see. ‘Christmas begins with Christ.’ But for many people Christmas would not be Christmas for them without Christ being removed. (I understand that the meaning of verse 17 is: ‘’so that Christ may feel at home in your hearts…’’. Will Jesus ‘feel at home’ with the way we are living this Christmas time? And how about every other day of the year? The Holy Spirit has come to enable us to live lives that Christ will feel at home in. See verses 16 and 17a.)
Returning to the thought of (20, 21) once again, here’s a question for Christmas day 2014: ‘’He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’’ (Romans 8:32). David Hill was a missionary to China. David Hill’s father said, ‘’The greatest gift I gave to China was David Hill. After that, everything else was easy.’’
Prayer: Thank you Father God for this most wonderful day. Help me to honour your Son, Jesus, in all I do this day, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Be pleased with my celebration of your birth.
The first thing to strike me in this chapter is the realisation that Paul did not see himself as a prisoner of Rome but ‘’of Christ Jesus’’ (1). He was so aware of the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ over all his life that he knew there was no accident about his current circumstances. He also saw that his suffering was not pointless but purposeful: ‘’for the sake of you Gentiles.’’ God would bring good out of bad. (See also 13). His ministry was not about him, but it was for others (2). ‘’This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ.’’ The Message.
The thought of what God was doing in the church (2:11-22) gave Paul cause to pray: ‘’For this reason…’’ (1). But then he didn’t get round to the prayer for another several verses (14). We too can know what Paul knew, that through Jesus we have free and confident access to God in prayer. So verses 2-13 are in ‘brackets’. Paul was slightly distracted and began to write about the ministry God had entrusted to him to bring Gentiles into the same church community as Jews. Verse 6 is a summary of chapter 2:11-22. Paul saw his ministry as being totally due to the ‘’grace’’ of God (2 and 7). It was not something he deserved (8). There was a genuine humility about Paul, and he recognised he was completely dependent on God’s ‘’power’’ (7) and that his ministry was a sacred trust. He was ‘’a servant of this gospel’’ (7), and it was a ‘’gift’’ to be able to serve. ‘’ I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.’’ The Message. The content of his ministry was a ‘’mystery’’ (4, 6 and 9). This does not mean something closed but something wide open – an ‘open secret’, now revealed by the Holy Spirit. It’s about how God is shaping ‘’one body’’ centred in Christ (11) and comprising Jewish and Gentile believers in Him. Paul’s ministry was primarily about preaching the gospel to the Gentiles so that they could come into God’s new society. ‘’I got the inside story on this from God himself…The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.’’ The Message.
The church God is building on Christ is ‘Exhibit A’ of God’s ‘’manifold wisdom’’ (10). I once heard that this can mean God’s ‘many coloured’ wisdom. That seems significant when you think that God is building a multi-ethnic; multi-cultural community in Christ. Whether ‘’the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms’’ (10) are angels or demons or both, is not clear. But certainly in the church spiritual beings see a demonstration of God’s immense wisdom. ‘’Through Christians like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!’’ The Message.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that I am included in your plan, and that I have been brought into your new society. I am amazed at your goodness and grace.
As we saw yesterday, God’s judging work would prepare the way for what Derek Kidner calls a ‘’kingdom of converts.’’ We can be judged for our sins, or we can repent and be forgiven. We get to choose (20).
God’s Spirit and His Word go together. There cannot be a genuine work of the Holy Spirit that dismisses or undermines the importance of the Bible. In a truly Pentecostal or Charismatic church, God’s Word will be honoured and taken seriously. The Scriptures will be searched. They will be faithfully, meticulously and systematically taught.
As a prophet of God, Isaiah was speaking Spirit inspired words. Here God gives him the encouragement that these words will be repeated by his ‘’children’’ and ‘’their descendants from this time on and for ever.’’ (21). There will be an enduring impact.
God’s Word should be in our ‘’mouths’’. We need to speak it to ourselves and to others. It is important to speak in line with it and according to it; to allow God’s wonderful Book to shape our speech. ‘’We must receive the Holy Spirit, and we must utter the words which He puts into our lips.’’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Great verses through the Bible, p.291. Meyer goes on to quote Acts 2:4: ‘’All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak…’’ I heard a preacher say that when a bath gets full, the water goes out through a hole called an ‘overflow’. He went on to say that we are all fitted with an ‘overflow’. It’s a little hole beneath the nose called a ‘mouth’. He argued that if you work your way through the book of Acts you will find that when anyone got filled with the Holy Spirit, they overflowed, in some way, through the mouth.
‘’Here God gives His people two great covenant gifts, His Spirit and His words, and they will not depart from His people. These two gifts are given to us today – through Jesus Christ, God’s greatest gift of all.’’
‘’In verse 21, God says His Spirit and His words will not depart from the people’s mouth (see Joshua 1:8). Neither will they depart from the people’s hearts, because the new covenant will be written on their hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). Heart and mouth go together; the mouth expresses what flows from the heart (Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Romans 10:9-10).’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.1064.
Prayer: Thank you Lord for your mercy to the genuinely repentant. Thank you too for the gift of your Spirit and your Word, showing us a new direction to walk in, and giving us the power to do so.
“Good is missing in action.’’ The Message.
Spiritual darkness is what we opt for when we turn our backs on God (13b) and towards sin (9-11). We may not like it when we are in it, but we will get what we have chosen (John 3:19; 12:35-40). ‘’We long for light but sink into darkness, long for brightness but stumble through the night.’’ The Message. When truth (light) is not wanted, ignorance (darkness) is courted (14b, 15; see Revelation 11:8.)Sin is self-destructive. If you love darkness rather than light you will get what you love. As someone observed, truth is always the ‘first casualty’ in turbulent times. The ‘’justice…and righteousness’’ are ‘missing in action’ because they are not wanted (9 and 14.) They are pushed away because God is pushed away. Because right living is not popular, right living people are persecuted in such a society (15b). ‘’Perhaps the most revealing touch is the victimization of the decent man, the only one out of step. It is a worse breakdown than that of Am.5:13, i.e. not only public justice has warped, but public opinion with it.’ Derek Kidner: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.666.
In this section (9-15a), Isaiah confesses the sins of the nation as if they were his own. Was he personally guilty of these terrible wrongs? No. He surely was not. But there is a thread running through the Bible of prayerful people identifying with the sins of their own fellow citizens; standing in solidarity with them before God and crying, ‘Have mercy on us.’ This must have relevance for us as we seek to pray for our wayward and rebellious nation.
One reason why godly intercessors pray like this is at least in part because they know that ultimately God will move in judgment against sin (15b-19). He will come with a tsunami of justice. But even in His judging work there is mercy, for it paves the way for a ‘’kingdom of converts’’ as Derek Kidner puts it (19a).
Prayer: Oh Lord, please have mercy on our land. We have rebelled against you and resisted your ways. We have shaken our fists at you. We have shown hatred for your laws. We will not have you to reign over us. We deserve your judgment, yet we plead for your mercy. Forgive us our sins, for the sake of Jesus who died on the cross for us.
Isaiah 59: 1-8
The unavoidably sad truth is that sin separates. The vertical dimension of sin is the most serious of all. Sin separates us from God. But as the passage progresses the horizontal aspect comes ever more clearly into view: sin separates man from man. Isaiah highlights the social injustices the people of his day had been guilty of. In Romans 3:15-17 Paul quotes from verses 7 and 8 to show that everyone is guilty before God (even the Jews themselves).
‘’Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt…They trust in illusion. They tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies…They compete in the race to do evil and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them. They know nothing about peace and less than nothing about justice.’’ The Message. Sin hurts God and harms people. It divides us from our Maker, and from one another.
But there is another truth that we have to face. It is that sin can separate our prayers (and even fasting, as we saw yesterday) from God. If we cherish sin in our hearts the Lord will not listen. However much we love religious exercises, our prayers are likely to be ineffective if we refuse to wash our ‘muddy’ hands. The people in Isaiah’s day were tempted to lay the blame on God for their difficulties, saying that His arm was ‘’too short’’ to help them or His ear ‘’too dull’’ to hear (1). ‘’But to blame God is always wrong. Whenever God seems distant and His blessings few, we need to look to ourselves to find the cause: it is our own iniquities that separate us from God.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.1063.
‘’If God seems far away, guess who moved!’’
‘’God’s hand is unable to work when our hands are defiled with sin. Our prayers accomplish nothing (Ps.66:18), and His power is absent from our lives and ministries.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word, p.488
‘’Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated – he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up-he can still hear. There’s nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.’’ The Message.
It was to bridge that unbridgeable chasm between God and people that Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. His cross is the ‘Bridge’ over that immense gulf. Have you walked across it from darkness to light, and from death to life? You will find there is no other route.
Prayer: Help me Lord God to put down my favourite sins and cling only to Jesus’ cross.
‘’You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.’’ (4b)
There is nothing wrong with fasting. It is part of the normal Christian life. Jesus showed this in His ‘Sermon on the Mount’, saying, ‘’When you fast…’’ (Matthew 6:16). There is no ‘if’ about it; it’s ‘when’. (See also Matthew 6: 2 and 5. Jesus expected His disciples to give, pray and fast. If you want to look at this subject more deeply, I suggest reading John Piper’s excellent book, ‘A hunger for God.’)
However, there is a way of fasting that is totally wrong and Isaiah 58 points this out. Someone who fasts can ‘’seem eager’’ (2b) spiritually, and we may be impressed with their intensity. It as ‘’as if’’ they were very saintly. But God has ‘x-ray’ vision and sees past the appearance of things. ‘’ When you strive to be a spiritual person, you fight the constant battle of ‘’ritual versus reality.’’ It is much easier to go through the external activities of religion than it is to love God from your heart and let that love touch the lives of others.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488. Here are three ways in which your fasting can be ineffective:
- If you do not turn from your sin. God had been calling again and again to His people through Isaiah; pleading with them to repent. The majority would not. You cannot expect fasting, important as it is, to cut any ice with heaven while you are holding on to your favourite sins. Psalm 66:18 provides an important comment on the whole subject.
- If you still continue to do it your way (3b, 13). This is closely related to the above point. If you go to church on a Sunday (or give yourself to some other special set aside time to seek God), but return home to live as you did before, going your own way and doing your own will, don’t expect any prayer and fasting to bring about the desired change in your circumstances. It doesn’t work like that. Without submission to the Lordship of God you are merely going through an empty religious ritual. Fasting was intended to be a means of self-humbling before God. ‘’The orthodox faith was popular in Judah at that time, and people enjoyed learning the Word and even participating in fasts (vv.2-3). But when the services were over, the worshippers went back to exploiting people and pleasing themselves.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.488.
- If you do not care about issues of injustice in the world and take appropriate action; serving the poor and needy as you have opportunity.
‘’The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.’’ The Message.
That is all negative. However there is a way in which we can be ‘’heard on high’’ as we pray and fast. We should not miss this point. Those who genuinely seek God with fasting, turning from their sinful ways and their own wilful paths; serving all around them who need their help; such people will experience immense blessing from God (6-14). As Wiersbe says, your life can become a ‘’watered garden, not a dismal swamp.’’
Prayer: I choose not to give up on fasting, but to give up on sin and self-pleasing.
Isaiah 57:14-21
This short passage preaches the gospel. It declares that there can be ‘’peace’’ (19) for both Jews and Gentiles. These are words picked up by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:17. He sees them as applying to the preaching of the good news by Jesus through the church. It’s a message of peace with God made possible by Jesus; and peace with all others who have peace with their Creator through Christ. They are united in Him, in His church: built into ‘’a holy temple in the Lord’’ (Ephesians 2:21). This ‘temple’ is made up of people who are reconciled to God and to each other.
But these verses in Isaiah 57 also imply that not everyone will experience God’s peace. You can’t stay ‘’wicked’’ (20, 21) and enjoy it. Spiritual healing and ‘’comfort’’ (18) are for those who repent. As someone said, ‘’The gospel is bad news before it is good news’’. The bad news is that we are born under the judgment of God because of our sin, and if we do not turn away from wrong we cannot be saved.
Here are two complementary truths about God that seem paradoxical: He is transcendent (15a). He is ‘’the high and lofty One’’ who is so far above us He is beyond our reach. Yet He is also immanent (15b). He is close to us; closer even than breathing. And it is possible for a humbly repentant person to have a close and intimate relationship with Him. Such a person who is truly sorry for his or her sins can know God.
By the time Paul quoted verse 19, something significant had taken place. Jesus had been crucified, and the cross makes all the difference!
‘’There is a way for man to rise to that sublime abode; an offering and a sacrifice, A Holy Spirit’s energies; an Advocate with God.’’
Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you made a way where there was no way.
Psalm 110
This is a Messianic psalm. David wrote it to celebrate the enthronement of a King who was yet to come. Though he did not know who this King was, he saw Him as superior to himself and called Him ‘’Lord’’ (1). Jesus and the New Testament writers understood that he was referring to the Christ, the anointed One, the Messiah (Mark 12:35-37; Acts 2:34-35; Hebrews 1:13). This King will also be ‘’a priest’’ (4). Melchizedek was both priest and king, and so he was a ‘type’, foreshadowing Christ (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7). This psalm speaks of:
The Messiah’s triumphant rule:
- Extending out from ‘’Zion’’ (i.e. Jerusalem) to affect the ‘’whole earth’’ (2a, 6). This surely is the story of the spread of Christ’s Kingdom since the day of Pentecost?
- Not defeated by enemies, even though enemies there will be (2b). In truth, it often looks like the enemies have the upper hand, but they do not. However the ‘game’ looks now, we know the ‘final score’. Jesus now ‘rules’ ‘’in the midst’’ of them.
- Ultimately overcoming all evil (5, 6). Also note the ‘’until’’ in (1). The ‘’footstool’’ is a metaphor for dominion over one’s enemies (1 Corinthians 15:25; Ephesians 1:22). The Ascended Lord Jesus is going to see every last enemy put down (1 Corinthians 15:25-28). Verses 5-7 have images reminiscent of John’s vision of the final battle in which the Lord Jesus will overcome all the ungodly forces united against Him (Revelation 19:11-21).
The Messiah’s willing troops: The battle is the Lord’s. It is ‘’your day of battle’’ (3a). As someone said, ‘We are fighting from victory and not for victory. The decisive battle has already been fought and won at the cross. Nevertheless, the struggle is real and fierce and calls for a willing army. There is still blood being spilled on the battlefield; there are still casualties. So how willing are we? The soldiers of the King above all kings must be:
- Willing to serve: prepared to give their lives away to God and to others;
- Willing to sacrifice: Soldiers in this war must give up the desire for comfort, ease and a quiet life. There is no place in the army for ‘chocolate soldiers’ who melt in the heat of battle;
- Willing to suffer: life in the trenches cannot be expected to be easy;
- Willing to die: Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: ‘’When Jesus bids a man come and follow Him, He bids him come and die.’’ There’s more than one way to die. You can’t march out with God without first dying to self. But this war, even though it is already won, may require the ultimate sacrifice. Every Christ follower needs to face and accept the truth that it is a dangerous thing to be a Christian in this hostile world.
The original Hebrew text of (3) is difficult to translate. It is not clear who is ‘’Arrayed in holy majesty’’. If it’s the King, then His youth will be renewed, even as the dawn gives rise to ‘’dew’’ each morning. But if it refers to the soldiers, then they are the ones whose youth will be renewed and who are as abundant as the dew. They will be resourced to serve their King.
Reading this psalm we can be filled with hope. It says to us that in the midst of thick, oppressive darkness and terrible opposition we are right to eagerly anticipate the triumph of Christ’s Kingdom. Prayer: I am grateful to know the final score before the final whistle. It is clear from your Word that Jesus wins in the end, and we win with Him.
Ephesians 2: 11-22
As I read this, I am reminded that when God called Abraham, it was so that through him and his descendants the whole world would be blessed (Genesis 12: 1-3). That blessing has now come to us.
The people to whom God gives new life, be they Jews or Gentiles, are being built into a new society, the church, in which Jesus Christ has primacy (20b). This ‘’holy temple in the Lord’’ (21) is built on the Scriptures of Old and New Testaments (20a) and is indwelt by the Spirit. It is made up of people who were once estranged from each other but who now find their focus of unity in Jesus (14-16).
If today’s passage can be thought of as a painting, I believe verse 13 is the nail (or hook) on which it hangs. The entire section may be summed up in these words: ‘’But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.’’ Before conversion we Gentile Christians experienced a ‘double estrangement’:
a.) We were estranged from the Jewish people and their privileges (11, 12, 19a; see Romans 9:1-5). We were at a distance from the revelation of God they had that enabled them to know something about Him and relate to Him: ‘’Now because of Christ – dying that death, shedding that blood – you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance…Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody…That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone.’’ The Message;
b.) More importantly however, we were estranged from God Himself. But through Jesus; through His cross (16, 18) we have access to God. I understand that in the Temple, there was a sign that told the Gentiles to keep out of the court of the Jews, on pain of death. That is all now resolved in Christ (14).
The ‘’He’’ in (17) refers to the Lord Jesus. Post-resurrection, He came to people and ‘’preached peace’’ to them. After His ascension, He continued this preaching ministry in and through the church. In fact, this ministry continues today. There is a double-peace for the double-estrangement. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we can have peace with God, and peace with every other person in Christ. There is a ‘’Consequently’’ (19) to the saving work of Christ: ‘’God is building a home. He’s using us all – irrespective of how we got here – in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day – a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.’’ The Message.
Prayer: Thank you Lord that through Jesus’ sacrifice I have a relationship with you, and I have been brought into a big family with brothers and sisters all over the world. Thank you for this undeserved privilege.
