Hard Questions

Isaiah 53:1-2

Hard questions coming from someone you respect or maybe you fear, because they first know the answer, and second they may have authority over you.  Think about your childhood, mother or dad asked a question, it went something like this in my home, “Bobby, have you been playing with the matches under the house again?”  My answer, “Matches?” as if it was the first time I had heard the word.  My mom asks, “Bobby do you have homework?” and the answer is no or not much, that is until it is time for bed and I confess one small fact, I have homework that is due in the morning.  What about work and the boss asks if your expense report is up to date, like he does not know you are three months behind.  In fact, it may be your wife who asks; “Honey, did you pick up the items I need to cook dinner?”  Now we all know she has ask that question more than once and should know the answer; you heard the request that morning but that was 6:45 and it is now 6:00 pm and many fires had to be put out between that time.

The prophet Isaiah has some hard questions for each of us, do not fool yourself into believing it was only for the community he was living in.  Here is the question: “Who has believed what they have heard?  This question has rung in the ears of mankind, that question holds the hope or condemnation of all mankind.  The Suffering Servant, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the answer to Isaiah’s second question: “And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to?”  The Suffering Servant revealed the victorious power to us!

The people of God need to awaken, we put our hope in things, we put value in looks and charm, even in skin color, but not in integrity.  Our politicians lie and we do not hold them accountable, we put value in our currency and it is no more than a house of cards built on paper, and only has the value of paper.  Our culture is newer and we think smarter than the culture of Isaiah’s time, but are we?  Do we not place value on the same things they did; a person’s appearance, not the character, morality, and integrity.  Isaiah has shown how people will perceive Jesus, a young plant growing up in dry ground, if you live in the Texas hills you understand dry ground, the plants wither for lack of water.  This is the image of the man of suffering, much like a plant that withers and is pulled up, so will man reject the Suffering Servant.  Listen, read, and reread verse 3, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hid their faces, he was despised and we esteemed Him not.” 

The apostle John gives this insight; “The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him.  He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.  But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.  The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.  We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:9-14)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Servant's mission

August 28, 2014

Isaiah 52:13-53:12

Do you recall the Servant mission being addressed in chapter 42:1-9, by the prophet Isaiah, and the same Servant is being addressed in the above Scripture as both suffering and being exalted.  Looking at the suffering Servant, before the cross, Lee Strobel in his book “The Case for Christ” interviews Alexander Metherell, M.D., and PH.D.  Strobel ask this question: “Tell me, what was the flogging like?”  Metherell reply: Roman floggings were known to be terribly brutal.  “The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposed by the deep, deep cuts.  The whipping would have gone all the way from the shoulders down to the back, the buttocks, and the back of the legs.  It was just terrible.”  Metherell paused.  “Go,” I said.  “One physician who has studied Roman beatings said, ‘As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.’  A third-century historian by the name of Eusebius described a flogging by saying, “The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”

Metherell, goes on to share the agony of the cross, how spikes that were five to seven inches long and tapered to a sharp point were driven through the wrists, about an inch or so below his palm.  Metherell goes on to explain that in that day the wrist was considered part of the hand in the language of the day.  He goes on to explain the nail would go through the median nerve and the effect would be unbelievable pain.  Then a spike would be driven into his feet causing the same nerve damage there.  Next Jesus’ arms would have been stretched; probably about six inches in length, and both shoulders would have become dislocated.  Psalm 22, foretold the Crucifixion hundreds of years before it took place and says, “My bones are out of joint.’”  It seems impossible to fully grasp the magnitude of what Jesus suffered for one such as I, the song “Who am I that a King would bleed and die for” the first verse; “When I think of how He came so far from glory
Came to dwell among the lowly such as I To suffer shame and such disgrace On Mount Calvary take my place Then I ask myself this question Who am I?

I hope it is clear we are only addressing the fourteenth verse: “As many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—“ Isaiah is telling us the Servant was so disfigured by His captors that He will not appear human.  “For God so loved _________ (place your name in the slot) that He gave His only Son, that whoever (all inclusive) believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  Your life story is being written each day of your life by the choices you make, without bowing your will to our LORD and Redeemer, the Creator of all that is, your story will have an eternally bad ending, one you will recall over and over, with no hope of change.  The Scriptures are clear, you will not be throwing a party in hell with your buddies, you will be in total darkness, isolated, with each of your choices being played back, over and over, and over, forever, now that is hell.  So once more it is not God sending you to hell, it is your choice, and my prayer is that you choose to seek Jesus, seek blessing not curses.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Herald

Isaiah 52:3-12

One of the first examples of selling someone into slavery in the Bible is the brother’s of Joseph who sold him to the Midianite traders for 20 pieces of sliver.  All throughout history and even in 2015 people are being sold for a profit, and it would seem the only reason someone would do such a thing, but God was so sick of sinful Zion He sold her for nothing.  And since He sold her for nothing, He can now redeem her for nothing.  We must remember God is allowing Isaiah to see many things in what we call future or prophecy.  In verse four Isaiah is seeing the future of living under Babylonian captivity, and he is also looking back to what we call the past, and the exodus from Egypt and the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom during Isaiah’s lifetime.

Many a person wants to blame others for the choices they have made or are making, so was the case with the people of Zion, but God used this in punishment and restoration for His people to come to know Him.  As we read verse seven we see the herald in the time of Isaiah, the herald was the news media, and it was not like our media who spends their energy on proclaiming the right spin on the news or focusing on bad news.  The herald was to bring good news,  “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

In that most large cities were walled, the watchman were posted on the walls to keep watch for attacks, but these watchmen were the first ones to witness the return of the LORD to His city, Jerusalem.  What a wonderful encouragement from the watchman,  “Be joyful, rejoice together, you ruins of Jerusalem!  For the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.

The salvation referred to in verse ten is the restoring of Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed it into rubble and it was clear that God was the Source of the rebuilding.  Verse eleven is calling the priests to leave Babylon and to be purified before returning to Jerusalem with the vessels of the Lord.  It is verse twelve that should encourage each of us; it’s a slow down and smell the roses verse, it’s a do not sweat or be fearful verse, for our “LORD is going before you, and the God of Israel is your rear guard.”  Now as my friend David Bush often says, “It’s all good!”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

The Illusion of Bondage

Isaiah 52:1-2

Often, we who have grown-up in western nations may understand the meanings of words like slavery or captivity, but most of us have never experienced the loss of freedom.   Most of us go and do as we wish without asking for permission to do so, that is unless we are under our parents control, have joined the military, or have entered into a contractual relationship with an organization.  Even with such restrictions, it is hard for the mind of such people to grasp the fullness of what Israel has grown accustom to over its many years of captivity.

Listen to God’s prophet once more telling the Israelites to “Awake, Awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.  Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.”  God, speaking through the lips of Isaiah, is telling His people they are no longer to live as if still in bondage, they are now living in Jerusalem, the holy city, and it’s time to renew, refresh, and restore Jerusalem, for it is no longer under the control of the uncircumcised.

Freedom can be an illusion to people who have long been under the control of someone or something, and often it requires a person to address the issue, and to remind them they are free to choose.  In my lifetime I’ve observed the illusion of bondage, where people of color whose great ancestry were brought in bondage to our nation and for many years were slaves, but a great war divided our nation and many men died so that today they could choose to live as free men.  Many of these people who have never known slavery, and neither have their parents or grandparents, but the illusion of slavery holds many in bondage.  This is what Isaiah is telling the people of Israel to awaken from the illusion, and to live as free people.

Many of us who go by the name of Christian have also bought into the illusion of sin and death as if it still has control over us, as if we were without a choice, but God is telling you to awake, for if you have entered into Christ you are no longer under the control of sin or death.  Each day, an often many times each day, we are given the opportunity to choose, and Channel One the deceptive channel that mimics our voice, and we listen and choose the way of sin and death.  But it is a choice for Channel Two, the Holy Spirit is also telling us to choose life, to love God, and to love our neighbors.  God has instructed all who are in Christ to renew our minds, if that was not possible then God would be setting us up to fail, and we know that is not true.  Romans 6:12 gives this insight; “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”  And Romans 6:14, makes clear that we are free to choose; “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

And yet many Christians are being taken captive, for they are not awakened to the fact that it is a choice, and they are walking by feeling and not by faith.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Judgement begins at the Household of God

Isaiah 51:17-23

Earlier the prophet was asking God to awake, but now it seems he has gone full circle and is asking the people to wake-up.  What are they to awaken to, the realization of God’s judgment for they have chased other gods, gods with no power or authority?  When a church, a family, or a nation goes after it’s desires, taking our eyes off God’s commandments, and seeking our own wishes, it is drinking from the dregs in the bowl, the cup of staggering.  And Isaiah tells us in a very clear way that we have no one to lead us, we have entered into God’s judgment.  Drinking the cup of God’s wrath is seen in Isaiah 19:14, and it was aimed at the leaders of Egypt. 

It seems it was the custom for an older child in the ancient Near East, to care for a drunk parent, and Isaiah is telling the children of Jerusalem that they did not take the hand of a drunken Jerusalem after God’s wrath was poured out on her.  And in verse 19, we are reminded of the two things that happened to Jerusalem, devastation and destruction, famine and the sword.  But it’s the questions in verse 19, we must consider; “Who will grieve for you?  How can I comfort you?”  Our Father in heaven is grieved when we try to live independently from His plan and will for each of us, and we are told that as a follower of Christ we grieve the Holy Spirit when we follow our own desires.  How often do we tie the hands of God, by our pride and arrogant living, and only in repentance can our LORD bring comfort into our lives.

Verse 20, is so descriptive of many in the Church in 2015, when Isaiah uses the term children, it is in regard to God’s chosen people, and like Israel, we who have bowed our knee to Jesus are the chosen of God.  So pay attention to verse 20; “Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.”  Is this not saying they have been taken captive, but they are as useless as an antelope in a net; what good is a follower of Christ who is drunk on the world’s vision of life?

But God, when all seems lost we have the “But God” who knows every aspect of our being, and cares for each of us, and this is the message to the children or people of Jerusalem and to you and me who follow Christ; “Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, …” We can be assured Babylon is going to become the target of God’s wrath, but we the followers of Christ must not overlook this fact, it was only after Jerusalem experienced the full force of God’s judgment did He bring judgment on Babylon.  We would be wise to put to memory 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

I Never will Forget

August 23, 2014

Isaiah 51:9-16

It is not God who needs to awake, but you and I, for God has stated, in Psalm 121:3–4, “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  Could it be we need to sing the old hymns, “I never will forget what He has done for me.” Could it be you have no history with God, could it be you cannot go back to a time when you recall what God has done for you?  Hymns of my father come back to me and remind me of whose I am, such songs as “I know whom I have Believed” do you recall that song? “I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he hath made known, Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love Re-deemed me for his own.  But “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.”  I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart, nor how believing in his Word wrought peace within my heart.  But “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.”  I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin, Revealing Jesus thro’ the Word, creating faith in him.  But “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.” 

If you have come to read this today and it is clear you have no history of God’s wonderful grace and love for you, it’s time to address it now.  First, be reminded that He has stated in John 3:16, God loves you and gave His Son Jesus to pay your price for sin.  Also awake to this fact, God sent His Son not to condemn you but to save you from the grasp sin has on you.  If you choose not to receive His gift of love, it is a choice you have made, and you will receive condemnation for not believing in the gift of life found in Jesus Christ.  Many years ago in a hotel in Victoria, Texas, I acted on Romans 10:9-10, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Isaiah is telling the people to recall what God has done for them, how He delivered them from bondage in Egypt, and how He will once more free them from Babylonian captivity.  Many a Christian spends more time fearing what evil men will do to them, men both in and out of government, than what God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever can do for them.  Folks, all men die, but our great and mighty God has no beginning and no end, should you not fear Him, and is that not what He is saying in verse 12? 

Be an encouraged follower of Christ by these words in Isaiah 13-16, for we who were once far off, have been grafted into the vine, which is Christ.  “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?  He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.  I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name.  And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

A view of Home

Isaiah 51:7-8

I’ve been on planet earth for 72 years, and when I get home it’s going to be amazing, it will be the first time my eyes will see my God and Savior Jesus Christ, and He knows my name!  He has built a home for me to live in and has a job waiting for me.  In 1 Corinthians 13:12, it states; “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”  It is clear that Jesus being God will know me, but to think I will also know Isaiah, Paul, Peter, King David, and by all, and be known by all, now that blows my doors off.  It is going to be great to share with Isaiah how his faithfulness encouraged me.

When you read these words what is the Spirit of God saying to your heart? “Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their reviling’s. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.”  (Isaiah 51:7-8 ESV)  The righteous, not self righteousness but God as our righteousness, those with not one thing that God needs, but with a great need for all that God will do for them, His plan not theirs, this is what Isaiah is referring to as the righteous.  And is it not worthy of your time to understand they also in Isaiah’s time feared the reproach of man, and we are still doing it today.  Many a Christian leader has been told to seek favor with some man or woman, in that they can open doors or be the ones that will kill your vision.  I’m so glad Isaiah did not buy into the fear of man, but many of us have.

These who revile at others, they criticize, censure, condemn, attack, all have an agenda, and it is my belief they have tuned into Channel One the channel of deception.  Often it is centered in fear of what an action or step of faith on the other persons account will have on them, such as a young person telling their parents that they have been called to the mission field.

We understand the world and it desires are passing away, I was reminded of this on a trip to Colorado where three lives were taken on one of the most beautiful roads by the actions of one person.  I can only imagine the plans they had that day, and I will bet the farm that not one of them planned on it being their last day on planet earth.  I was reminded that God, not I, has numbered my days and that earth is temporary, and so are all of mankind, but God’s righteousness will last forever, and His salvation for all generations.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice