Saturday, February 04, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Continuing Through Isaiah... now on Chapter 65... Wow!
Over the past year a small group of adults have been adventuring through the book of Isaiah. I have been amazed at what I have seen through out this study.
Isaiah was an amazing person who penned an extraordinarily brilliant message for his people; that is still just as relevant to people today.
His people had grown cold towards the ways of righteousness. Sure they practiced their religion and even added other people's religion on top of their own. Perhaps playing something like a religious lottery or stock market. Perhaps if we spread our bets or investments broadly enough, we will hit the jackpot and God or fate or whatever it is that operates this world will invest itself in us; giving us what we need and what we want.
Isaiah points out how this thinking is par and parcel for what will ultimately lead to extreme times—destruction of their city, their temple, and that they will be taken off into captivity by a foreign nation.
Isaiah speaks boldly saying and affirming, "There is only one God—YHWH, Lord of Creation, Lord of the Land, Lord of the Sea, Lord of the Cosmos, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Is One God. And there are no other gods. All other gods are but voiceless, motionless, powerless, non-existing non-beings, figments our imaginations."
In Chapter 64 Isaiah brings this conversation to a head. He has been proclaiming that this tragedy, this destruction of the temple and their city and their captivity is actually God's grace in action. It is God's love and discipline through which God is seeking to rescue them from their perpetual brokenness. So that they can be the rescuing, blessing nation that they were called to be through their Fore Father Abraham. They were to be an example for all people of God's grace living among people. Isaiah dreams and believes that one day this healing will take place. But before we can get there he asks some of the most difficult questions.
Isaiah 64 begins with a prayer... "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, the the mountains would tremble before you!" And Isaiah 64 ends with questions... "After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?"
Isaiah 65 is Isaiah's proposition towards answering such a question.
Tonight at Emmanuel Nazarene we will continue our study... you are more than welcome to come. Also if you are too far away, you may participate through posting your comments and ideas on this blog.
Thank you.
Isaiah was an amazing person who penned an extraordinarily brilliant message for his people; that is still just as relevant to people today.
His people had grown cold towards the ways of righteousness. Sure they practiced their religion and even added other people's religion on top of their own. Perhaps playing something like a religious lottery or stock market. Perhaps if we spread our bets or investments broadly enough, we will hit the jackpot and God or fate or whatever it is that operates this world will invest itself in us; giving us what we need and what we want.
Isaiah points out how this thinking is par and parcel for what will ultimately lead to extreme times—destruction of their city, their temple, and that they will be taken off into captivity by a foreign nation.
Isaiah speaks boldly saying and affirming, "There is only one God—YHWH, Lord of Creation, Lord of the Land, Lord of the Sea, Lord of the Cosmos, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Is One God. And there are no other gods. All other gods are but voiceless, motionless, powerless, non-existing non-beings, figments our imaginations."
In Chapter 64 Isaiah brings this conversation to a head. He has been proclaiming that this tragedy, this destruction of the temple and their city and their captivity is actually God's grace in action. It is God's love and discipline through which God is seeking to rescue them from their perpetual brokenness. So that they can be the rescuing, blessing nation that they were called to be through their Fore Father Abraham. They were to be an example for all people of God's grace living among people. Isaiah dreams and believes that one day this healing will take place. But before we can get there he asks some of the most difficult questions.
Isaiah 64 begins with a prayer... "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, the the mountains would tremble before you!" And Isaiah 64 ends with questions... "After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?"
In other words, for the post exilic people, what will happen after God has acted on their behalf to freeing, rescuing and redeeming them; and, then, they still go their own way distinctly and intentionally rebelling against God's way(s)?
What happens, after God has used his discipline (his consuming fire—the warring nations who burned the temple down and took them into exile) to bring them back and they are still inadequate to respond graciously and obediently to their heavenly father, their creator, the Lord and master of all that is and isn't? What then?
Will God hold back? Will God simply remain silent? Will God punish them beyond measure?
Isaiah digs deep into the very heart of the problem that his people find their selves in and asks, "What is God's response to a continually rebellious creation and his own people?" Perhaps we find ourselves in the same kind of situation: "What if humanity can't get it right? What is God going to do, then?"
Isaiah 65 is Isaiah's proposition towards answering such a question.
Tonight at Emmanuel Nazarene we will continue our study... you are more than welcome to come. Also if you are too far away, you may participate through posting your comments and ideas on this blog.
Thank you.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Cruising through Isaiah
Among my church family we are studying the book of Isaiah. You may ask how did you choose that book... Well, as we were coming to a close of our previous bible study, we asked the question what would you like to study next. And someone offered the suggestion of studying Isaiah.I took the opportunity because I have been intending to study this book for quite a while. Yet my other studies and so forth hindered me from doing so. So I jumped at the
Thursday, June 09, 2011
First blog from an iPhone
First blog from an iPhone.
For some reason the ui does not let me type in content box. It let's me type in the title box and even the tag box. It seems that content must be copied and pasted into the content area.
Perhaps it means that I type via word processor or notes and then copy and paste it into the content box.
I watched about ninety percent of the keynote provided by apple. The new osi5 and osX Lion seem to have some great upgrades towards versatility. And the iCloud just seems to make life so much easier. The potential problem is that so much of your personal information will be kept at one central location in the cloud. Someone would have to have access to that information. Someone could be watching following your activities. I would be interested to see the privacy agreement for that service.
What do you think?
You can watch the keynote by going to www.apple.com.
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