Isaac and Jesus

Isaac and Jesus were both sons of a promise that was given many years before their birth.

Isaac and Jesus were both born to women who could not have conceived apart from a miracle.

Isaac and Jesus were both firstborn sons.

Isaac and Jesus were both greatly loved by their father/Father.

Isaac carried his own wood to the sacrifice just as Jesus carried His own wooden cross to His crucifixion.

Isaac and Jesus each willingly laid down their lives to their father/Father.

Isaac and Jesus were both laid down as a burnt offering for sin.

Isaac was brought back from the dead figuratively and Jesus was brought back from the dead literally.

According to Hebrews 11:17-19 Abraham's faith was so great that, "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death."

After having walked with God for many years and seeing God provide in very difficult situations Abraham had apparently learned to trust God no matter what. And, his faith in God was so resolute that he believed that even if he killed his son that God who gave him the son through a miracle could give him back through yet another miracle. After all, Abraham had also lost his wife on two occasions only to see God bring her back to him and Abraham believed that God would do the same with Isaac.

Lastly, and I admit this is speculation, I believe that perhaps God brought this test not to discover what was in Abraham's heart, as God would have already known that. But, God may have waited for this test until his son Isaac was a young man so that Isaac could see that Abraham loved God more than even his own son whom he dearly loved, and trusted God with that which was most dear to him so that Isaac could see this event, experience the depth of his father's faith, and love and trust God as his father did.

- Mark Driscoll, Genesis: Meditations on Moses' Mosaic

Link: Abraham and Isaac (28 Aug 10)

Rely on God

I'm reading the Bible in one year and the New Testament reading for Aug 26 is 2 Corinthians 1:1-11.

"Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." - 2 Corinthians 1:9 (NIV)

If we should rely on God to raise our mortal bodies from the dead, how much more should we rely on God to raise our earthly desires from the dead! As William P. Risk puts it, 'by obeying God, we enter into a rest that results from being utterly dependent on Him, relying on His activity and agenda rather than our own'.

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." - Hebrews 11:17-19 (NIV)

Link: God raises the dead (2 Jul 10)

In Love

2009 Verse of the Year for York Baptist Church

I'm reading the Bible in one year and the New Testament reading for Aug 25 is 1 Corinthians 16:5-24.

"Do everything in love." - 1 Corinthians 16:14 (NIV)

For example,

1. Serve one another in love.

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love." - Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

2. Bear with one another in love.

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." - Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)

3. Speak the truth in love.

"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ." - Ephesians 4:15 (NIV)

Living in the Present

We need to avoid becoming obsessed with the future and the things that God has concealed from us and instead strive to become consumed with what He has revealed. Otherwise, we may miss the significance of our current season by failing to invest our life's energies wisely. We must be careful about throwing away our vocation, our ministry, our relationships or anything that may seem fruitless and frustrating at this time.

Sadly, most people live in a "Wish I" world in which they would rather be someone else or live somewhere else. Yet we can take advantage of this season and maximise our returns by doing what we know to do.

- Marlinda Ireland, What is God Waiting For?

"When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"" - Esther 4:12-14 (NIV)

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own", or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life - the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one's "real life" is a phantom of one's own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight; but it's hard to remember it all the time.

- C. S. Lewis, The Quotable Lewis

Before we can live in the future, we must live in the present. Before we can live for tomorrow, we must live for today. We cannot change what COULD be or what WILL be, but we can change what WOULD be.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV)

Waiting for the LORD in Isaiah

1. The Purpose of Waiting for the LORD

"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." - Isaiah 26:8 (NIV)

We wait for the LORD, not for Him to satisfy our selfish desires, but for Him to glorify His name and renown, in and through us. Of course, God will give us the desires of our hearts as we delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4). As John Piper puts it, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

2. The Practice of Waiting for the LORD

"Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

"O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"" - Isaiah 30:18-22 (NIV)

We wait for the LORD by crying out to Him for help and destroying the idols of our hearts.

3. The Promise of Waiting for the LORD

"Since ancient times no on has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." - Isaiah 64:4 (NIV)

We wait for the LORD knowing that He is our strength and acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our strong deliverer

You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God
You do not faint, You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:28-31 (ESV)

Link: More on Waiting for the LORD in Isaiah (5 Sep 10)

Aug 15 to 21

Aug 15: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Aug 16: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

Aug 17: "Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the LORD your God. Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them for ever, he has made you king over them, to maintain justice and righteousness." - 2 Chronicles 9:8 (NIV)

Aug 18: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." - 1 Corinthians 12:12 (NIV)

Aug 19: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." - 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

Aug 20: "He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the LORD." - 2 Chronicles 12:14 (NIV)

Aug 21: "They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul." - 2 Chronicles 15:12 (NIV)

God will provide

The story of how God provided for the infant nation Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness also illustrates God's care for his people and his desire for them to depend on him.

At the beginning of their time in the wilderness, God had set the pattern of six days of work followed by one day of rest, modelled after his work in creation. But God had not yet commanded Sabbath-keeping through the Ten Commandments that he later gave at Sinai. At that time, the Israelites grumbled for food, some even longing to go back to Egypt because the prospects in the desert looked so grim. God lovingly and miraculously provided manna, and he provided it in a way that teaches an important lesson about his character and about the meaning of the Sabbath.

Through the daily appearance of manna, God showed the Israelites that they could trust him to take care of their needs. Then on the sixth day, God asked the Israelites to collect enough manna for two days so that they could observe a Sabbath day of rest from work. It was as if God was saying, "Trust in me for today's provision and tomorrow's. I will provide for your daily bread, and I will take care of your anxieties for your future well-being."

How we so easily forget that God provides for us. And this is one reason that God commanded Sabbath-observance at Sinai. He knew how easy it would be for his people to forget that he is the one providing. Ceasing from work one day a week would be a tangible reminder of where they were placing their trust - on their own work or on their gracious God.

- Danielle Sallade, Human Flourishing

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:33-34 (NIV)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)

For the Glory of God

As Pastor Tim Keller has noted, when our Saviour came to earth, he did not come as a philosopher (a job the Greeks would have highly valued), nor as a noble statesman (a job the Romans would have highly valued), nor as a powerful military general (a job the Jews would have highly valued), but he came as a carpenter - in our modern lingo, a union guy - and this was the one who would save the world.

Thus, we would do well to get rid of our modern notions that only some work has dignity because of the compensation and prestige that go with it. We should stop thinking that some work is less valuable because it pays less, requires less education, and is physical in nature rather than cerebral.

- Danielle Sallade, Human Flourishing

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." - 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

For the Love of God

The love of God, and the love of the world, are two affections, not merely in a state of rivalship, but in a state of enmity, and that so irreconcilable that they cannot dwell together in the same bosom.

We have already affirmed how impossible it were for the heart, by any innate elasticity of its own, to cast the world away from it, and thus reduce itself to a wilderness. The heart is not so constituted, and the only way to dispossess it of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one.

- Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

"Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4 (NIV)

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

- C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

The Resurrection

Most people don't realise that even Jesus experienced a divine delay. He spent three days in the tomb, with the wounds of spiritual and physical warfare all over His body. His head was bruised and scarred beyond recognition. His hands, His feet and His side were pierced through and through. For three long days, He laid on a cold slab of stone. It was dark in that cave. It was lonely. All of His friends and family members had scattered. They were in a state of shock. And I'm sure that even Satan believed that Christ was down for the count. It likely appeared to everyone that Jesus was defeated and that the ultimate dagger and deathblow were firmly in place.

I have often wondered why God allowed His only Son to remain in that condition for three long days. Why didn't the Father simply resurrect His Son immediately after He laid His life down? It would have been so easy for the Almighty to do this. It would have been so effortless. Thankfully, the Saviour knew the end from the beginning. Unlike Jesus, we are not blessed with such omniscience. Instead, when in the midst of a divine delay, we find ourselves asking such desperate questions as: Why me? Why now? Why this? Lord, am I down for the count?

- Marlinda Ireland, What is God Waiting For?

"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death." - Hebrews 11:17-19 (NIV)

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." - John 12:24 (NIV)

"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 (NIV)