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He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

I am reminded of Paul’s words in Phil.1:18b,19: ”Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.”

Paul understood the great power of prayer. So he requested prayer from the churches, and expressed gratitude for them. He had no doubts about the part played, in his recent deliverance, by praying believers.

In ‘The Message’, Eugene Peterson renders today’s verses like this:

” And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don’t want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God’s deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.”

A few days ago, I picked up a book I read a number of years ago: ‘Mountain Rain’: the biography of the missionary James Fraser, by his daughter Eileen Crossman. ‘A powerful story of total dependence on God’, says the subtitle. As I opened it, I saw these words: ‘James had a quickened sense that people were praying for him at home. Thousands of miles away, they were directly engaged in the work of God among the Lisu. Tthey were also concerned with keeping James himself filled with the Spirit of power. He knew conclusively now that the prayers of God’s people had brought the harvest’ (p.131).

Today, as I write these notes, Jilly and I will be hosting an afternoon Bible study in our home. What an encouragement to receive a message early this morning, ensuring us of someone’s prayers. It means a lot! It achieves a lot!!

”…your prayers played such a crucial part.”

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 

I seem to remember a story about the missionary, Hudson Taylor. On one occasion he was asked, ‘Is pressure good for you?’ ‘Yes’, he replied, so long as it presses you closer to the heart of God.’

This was Paul’s own experience. In the face of great troubles, he was thrown back on God.

We don’t know precisely what this ‘’great pressure’’ was, but he felt like one living under the sentence of death, just waiting for the axe to fall. But in these torrid experiences he was to prove God’s power (as well as His comfort).

This is how Eugene Peterson renders the passage in ‘The Message’ Bible:

‘’ We don’t want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We felt like we’d been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he’s the God who raises the dead!’’

When you get to ‘Wits End Corner’ expect to meet God there!

Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God. (J.B.Phillips).

As the passage flows on, we see again that God blesses us to be a blessing. We receive from the Lord in order to pass it on.

‘God’s comfort is not given; it is loaned, and you are expected to pass it on to others. The pain you experience now will help you to encourage others in their trials. When you suffer, avoid self-pity, for self-pity will make you a reservoir instead of a channel. If you fail to share God’s comfort with others, your experience in the furnace will be wasted; and it is a tragic thing to waste your sufferings.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.757.

‘God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters.’ John Henry Jowett.

 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 

When Saul of Tarsus had his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road, the Lord said to him: ”Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). So he learned early on that there is a solidarity between Christ and His people. What is done to them is done to Him (see e.g. Matt.25:45). The Christians were being persecuted, but it was Christ who was being persecuted.

This was a lesson he came to understand so deeply that he could express his ambition like this in his letter to the Philippians:

 ”I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” (3:10,11).

The persecution sufferings of believers are a ‘participation’ (fellowship) in Christ’s own sufferings. He is continuing to suffer in and with His people. We are the body of Christ – one with our Head. The hatred of the world for the church is actually its hatred of Christ.

This hatred is irrational.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

Of course Paul’s point is that if share in Christ’s sufferings, we will also be the beneficiaries of God’s very real comfort. If we suffer with Christ we will also experience comfort through Christ.

But God’s comfort is ‘not to terminate with the one who receives it.’ (Paul Barnett). This point will be further emphasised as we move on through the paragraph next time.

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. (The Message).

The Bible leaves us in no doubt that we should expect the Christian life to be difficult. Someone said that directly or indirectly, suffering is referred to seventeen times in five verses (3-7). The word for ”troubles” (4, NIV), contains the idea of ‘pressure’. ‘While Paul doubtless was as prone to money worries, health problems and relationship conflicts as other people, faithfulness to Christ and to the ministry were the chief source of his troubles.’ Paul Barnett: ‘The message of 2 Corinthians’, p.30.

But God’s comfort is real, and we can know it. However, we are not to keep it ourselves, but pass it on to others. If it is ‘mine’, I need to understand it is ‘mine to share.’ When God takes us through hard times, for His sake, the suffering is not wasted. He does something in us that will enable Him to do something with us, in serving fellow-believers.

Don’t waste your trouble. Share around God’s comfort.

 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…

People attending the synagogue of that day would pray, ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God and God of our fathers.’ It’s been pointed out that the re-shaping of this prayer, so that it is now directed to ”the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” gives some insight into the impact of Jesus, the Son of God on early Jewish Christian believers like Paul and Peter. It should not be lost on us that in a number of New Testament letters the Name of Jesus is spoken of in the closest possible connection with God the Father. Also, that this is done by Jews who were so wary of slipping into blasphemy. But they could speak of Jesus and God in the same breath. Other parts of Paul’s writings reveal that he clearly believed Jesus to be God.

Paul was aware that there were those who preached ‘another’ Jesus (see 11:4-6). He wanted his readers to be clear about the identity of the real Jesus.

 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles…

Here thanks are given to God for Who He is: ”…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort…” and for what He does: ”…comforts us in all our troubles…” Note that big little word ”all”. We will face many trials in the course of our Christian lives, as we move through this God-hating, Christ-rejecting territory. But not one will come our way without God being able to reach us with His comfort. It may come directly to our souls. But it is often the case that He delivers His comfort through many an errand boy, or girl. Someone speaks a kind word, writes a letter or card which you receive just when you need it most; someone shares a meal with you, or expresses kindness in some other way. Need I go on? The Lord has multiple ways of getting His aid to us. Still today He has His ‘ravens’ (see 1 Kings 17:2-6).

David Pawson said that a lady told him once that she would like to hear him preach about comfort. When he asked her what kind of comfort she meant, he realised it was more about being ‘comfortable.’ The word ‘comfort’ may conjure in our minds the idea of a hot water bottle. However, when Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as a ”comforter” the word means ‘one called alongside to help. On another occasion, Pawson pointed out that the English word has at its heart the Latin word ‘fort‘. He said, ‘The Holy Spirit comes to turn you into a fortress for the day of battle.’ Someone else observed that the word has less of the ‘There, there now’ about it, and more of the ‘Up troops and at ’em!’

I understand that in the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events of 1066 and all that, there is a caption which reads, ‘Bishop Odin comforteth his troops.’ What is Bishop Odin doing? He is prodding them back into the battle with his sword!

This is the type of comfort we all need at times, and will need in the future. It cannot be separated from the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia:

² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you know who you are? What God has called you to do with your life? I believe you can, and that it is indeed what God wants for each of us. You may, or may not be able to put a label on it as Paul could, when he affirmed that he was ”an apostle”. But there are certain things that, when you do them, your heart sings. You feel, ‘I was made for this.’ As someone I heard put it, you are in the ‘sweet spot’ of your calling. For Eric Liddle, it included running. In the film, ‘Chariots of Fire’, he says to his sister, ‘When I run, Jenny, I feel His pleasure.’ As a Christian Olympian, he ran for the glory of God. The will of God isn’t just about making preachers. (Although Liddle went on to also be a great missionary in China).

But being in the will of God does not guarantee you an easy life. In the background of 2 Corinthians there is much about Paul’s suffering. He was being scandalously attacked. In this letter he frequently defends himself against these accusations. He does so, not for his own sake, but for the sake of the gospel. If mud was thrown, he didn’t want any of it to land on the gospel message itself and tarnish it. This is why he is so vigorous in his defence.

‘One key word in 2 Corinthians is comfort (encouragement), used in one form or another twenty-nine times. Yet there are many references to suffering, too. In this very personal letter Paul opens his heart and shares his deepest joys and sorrows. After all, Christians are human and must be honest in expressing in expressing their feelings.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.756.

(Note: Some time after writing 1 Corinthians, Paul heard that the situation in Corinth had deteriorated. So he wrote a severe letter to the Corinthians, from Ephesus, and sent it with Titus (2 Corinthians 2:3-4). But this letter has now been lost. For that reason we refer to Paul’s third letter as ”2 Corinthians”.)

Recently, I found myself wondering when this series on the second half of Isaiah began. Then I saw in my journal that I started work on it on 25th September 2023. When I embarked on this, I had no idea it would last the better part of thirteen months. But my aim is, in the main, to work slowly through Bible passages, and when something hits me to write about it. These are not in depth Bible Studies. That much must be obvious. But the Bible should be taken seriously. So, if that means slowing down to savour words and phrases in texts, so we can give them time and attention, then that’s the pace I wish to adopt. If it’s not for you, I understand. There are all kinds of devotional aids available now, and I’m sure you can find an approach that best suits your personality. Thank you for sticking with me as long as you have. I appreciate you.

Having come to the end of these devotionals on Isaiah, I am going to take a break, before we begin a new series on 2 Corinthians, starting next Monday, God-willing (4th Nov). Please use this time to think over some of the big truths you have seen in Isaiah’s majestic prophetic book. Perhaps take out your journal (or a notebook) and pen/pencil, and jot them down? What has Isaiah taught me? You might also want to start to read 2 Corinthians, praying that God will enlighten us as we read. I would also very much appreciate your prayers that I will be led by the Holy Spirit in everything I write, kept from error, and that these notes will glorify God, edify His people, and be a means of extending His Kingdom. Also, that they will reach the hearts and minds of everyone the Lord wants to read them, be they few or many. I began to write these daily notes, probably over a decade ago now, because I felt ‘prompted’ to do so. Therefore I believe God has a purpose for them.

The notes on Isaiah 40-66 are not the last word on this majestic Biblical ‘mountain range.’ We all know that. Many others have explored these ‘peaks’ in greater detail. There are parts of the terrain I have not covered at all. I am aware that there are depths of truth that lie beyond my current comprehension and ability to convey. I have often ‘cast’ my ‘bread upon the waters’, wondering what it will do (Ecc.11;1). But in accordance with that verse, I have to believe that there will be a return, even though its appearance may be ‘after many days.’

A friend told a story about a minister he had heard about. This man had a successful ministry, and he was once asked about the secret of his success. He replied and said, ‘I don’t really know. All I can say is, I am a serious reader of the Bible.

May that be true of you, of me…and of everyone who comes across these notes.

”This is what the Lord says:

‘Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
    Where will my resting-place be?
² Has not my hand made all these things,
    and so they came into being?’
declares the Lord.

‘‘These are the ones I look on with favour:
    those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
    and who tremble at my word.” (Isaiah 66:1,2)