To my Pentecostal Brothers and Sisters, part 2

Before we push on into more of the scripture, I left a lot of dangling questions in the last post.  Let’s clean up a couple of those first.  I made an assertion that our health, wealth and happiness was not, and should not be, our greatest concern.  In point of fact, we hear constantly in our churches today that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy and happy, in a word, prosperous.  I know where these ideas originate.  They come from the Old Covenant discussion of blessings and curses.  They start with the idea that we can uphold the Law and obtain the blessings of those covenants.  I want to begin this post by imploding that argument.

First of all, are you ethnically Jewish?  If you answered yes, then I have some bad news for you. You have already broken the covenants.  Only two covenants were made unilaterally (arguably the Noahide as well, but that is another conversation,) and those are the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants.  The creation covenant and the Mosaic covenants were broken by the Jews.  They were conditional covenants.  If you put your faith in the Law, how are you going to claim the rewards when you have already broken the deal?  You didn’t break the deal?  Show me the Temple.  Yes, right now.  Show me the Temple.  You broke the deal.  Do you expect that you will not die?  You broke the deal.

Now, the rest of you who answered no, I’ve got some bad news for you.  The Mosaic covenant was not for you.  You were not given any of the promises made to Moses.  Even if you think you have kept Mosaic Law (Messianic Jews, who are not really Jews at all,) you haven’t really kept the Law, and it’s not your deal anyway, so let it go.  I find it absolutely astounding that preachers can tell people that they can have this and that based upon Old Covenant promises that had nothing to do with us Gentiles.  Those promises were not about us.

The arguments of Paul, in Romans 4 in particular, explain to us how the Abrahamic Covenant and then the Davidic Covenant are about us gentiles.  The fact that God made His promise to Abraham before he was circumcised allowed all of humanity access to this covenant.  Faith in the promise is the key.  That is how gentiles have access to Salvation.  Read all of Romans again.  You can do just chapters 3 and 4 for now, for time concerns, but read the whole letter.  Read it straight through, or use my link so that you can listen to it being read to you.  Each argument builds logically on the one before.  Paul anticipates your objections and deals with them as they arise.  It is amazing stuff.

The second point is that the Law offers no hope of salvation.  What I am I saying?  The Law teaches us that we need salvation.  It offers no solution to the problem.  How do we know this?  Jesus pounds on the Pharisees over this issue throughout all four Gospels.  Paul picks it up and says this in Romans 7:

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Paul returns to this topic over and over, but see what he says in Philippians 3:

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ…. (Philippians 3:3-8)

So, Paul recognizes that he has no hope through the Law, that his only hope is by the atoning work of Christ Jesus.

But finally, for his first point, let me be more direct.  Read these passages from Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13.  This is the account of the temptation of Jesus.  Now compare this with Genesis 3.         

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV)

What does Satan offer Jesus?  He offers him food.  He offers him health.  He offers him power.  Satan offers Jesus health, wealth and prosperity.  Hmmm.  Wait a second.  If Satan offers Jesus health, wealth and prosperity, and Jesus says an unhesitating NO to him, what are we to make of the prosperity gospel?  Should we think that our health, wealth and happiness are at the center of God’s concerns for us?  Really?  Let’s try this next passage from 2 Timothy.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.  (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3-5 ESV)

Paul warns Timothy that in the last days, there will come times in which people will be lovers of self, of money and so on.  They will accumulate teachers to suit their own passions.  Health, wealth and prosperity.  I ask you again, does this fit together logically?

Today, an almost angry senior Pastor mentioned a key verse, then he paraphrased it badly.  This is the trick.  Instead of teaching the doctrine from the text, use the text to teach your message.  These are not the same thing.  The verse was Romans 12:2, and I have quoted it often.  R.C. Sproul considers this verse one of the most important in his ministry.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

OK, then, I ask you again.  What does your transformed mind think of the arguments that have been put forth before you above?  Do you still think that health, wealth and prosperity are what living the Christian life is all about?  I will answer that question at the end of the series.  It is the crux of the problem and needs to be addressed.  But for now, let’s hit some other of the questions from the last post.

Repentance.  What is it?  Literally, it is to turn away from something, in our case sin.  Is it possible for us to stop sinning?  No.  Is it possible for us to rid ourselves of the condition of sin?  No.  We have already established that we are powerless against sin.  So, what is repentance?  Look at the Pharisees.  They believed that they fulfilled the Law.  They believed that they were righteous under the Law.  Repentance is nothing more, and nothing less, than a change of attitude towards our condition of sin.  As soon as we recognize that we are condemned under the Law from our condition of sin as well as our specific sins, then we have repented.  We have understood the problem and that we are powerless to fix it.  Repentance in reformed doctrine does not occur without the intervention of the Holy Spirit, but we will come back to that later.  For now, repentance is to stop looking to ourselves for our salvation, and to look outside of ourselves to God.  Is repentance necessary for salvation?  Of course, it is.  For as long as we look to ourselves and not outside of ourselves for salvation, we will never attain it.

And finally for today, let us discuss prophesy.  The common usage of this word is that this is to predict.  Because we have invested so much in this definition, we often lose track of the fact that, scripturally, it has at least two other definitions, both of which come into play in the Bible.  The first is to speak as if divinely inspired.  The second is to instruct or explain.  Let’s look at a typical prophet and see if these definitions all fit.  Isaiah is a typical prophet.  Some would say that Isaiah is the prophet.  Is everything that Isaiah says a prediction of the future?  Absolutely not!  Isaiah spends the vast majority of his book explaining what has already taken place in terms of the Old Covenants.  He is instructing and he is speaking through divine inspiration.  So, when a pastor stands in the pulpit and explains to you about why abortion is evil based upon scripture, citing the text and making a sound argument, that is prophesy.  Here is the key point to make on prophesy.  Go back to our three tools from the beginning and put them to the test.  Those rules must always apply.

Prophesy and rule 1.  It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it’s about Jesus.  But wait, Jesus is not mentioned in the whole book of Isaiah.  In fact, Jesus is not mentioned by name in the whole Old Testament.  Come, come.  We all know better than this.  Every time that a messianic passage is uttered, that is clearly about Jesus.  But, I want to take this a step farther. The Bible is about the greatest rescue mission of all time.  Here are the highlights: Creation, the Fall, the Law, the end of the Temple and the Diaspora, the Second Temple, the First Coming, the Life of Jesus, the sacrificial death of Jesus, the Arisen Jesus, the Ascension, the present evil age with the age to come breaking through, the Second Coming and Judgment.  That is the Bible narrative.  That is called Redemptive History.  The central figure in Redemptive History is Jesus.  That is why we can say that every word of the Bible is about Jesus.  Every word of the Bible has a redemptive historical context; therefore, we can talk about how every word of the Bible relates to Jesus in either past, present or future redemptive historical context.  Therefore, we can say that the whole book of Isaiah is about Jesus.  In fact, as Christians, we know that this is true.

Prophesy and rule 2.  The Bible never contradicts itself.  I would love to spend pages talking about Isaiah and its relationship to the New Testament.  In fact, three months ago, I did just that.  I looked very briefly and superficially at Isaiah 59 in relation to Romans 3.  In fact, the same themes are repeated throughout the Bible.  They have to be repeated because we stubbornly cling to our idolatry of self! (See rule 1.) Therefore, if there is prophesy, meaning divinely inspired instruction just as much as prediction, then it cannot contradict any other passage of the Bible.  Is there prophesy of both types in the New Testament?  Absolutely!  Paul is the most prolific of the New Testament prophets, but Jesus is clearly a prophet.  We look at the three offices of Jesus to be Prophet, Priest and King.  Not only does Jesus tell us the future, but He spends His entire earthly ministry instructing and explaining.  Jesus one ups the idea of divine inspiration; He clearly is an example of divine expiration, the breathed Word of God.  And so we will see in coming posts that rule 2 is never violated by prophesy.

One last point about rule 2, prophesy never violates rule 2 because prophesy always follows rule 1.  If prophesy is always about Jesus, if prophesy is always about redemptive history, then we can test its validity.  Prophesy is not about you and me, as much as we would like for it to be.  Prophesy must always instruct us concerning Jesus and redemptive history. Remember that there are parts of redemptive history that have not yet come to pass.  I am not excluding the future element of prophesy.  Still, prophesy will always instruct and discuss Jesus and redemptive history.

Prophesy and rule 3.   Starting in Matthew 4, Jesus starts to apply Old Testament verses to himself.  In Matthew 5, Jesus behaves as if He is the one in authority to dispense blessings and curses, i.e. God.  The whole of Jesus’ earthly ministry is explaining, first, how He fulfills all of the predictive elements of prophesy, and then, second, how He will continue in redemptive history to fulfill the salvation of the elect.  Instruction, education, always about Jesus, always about Himself.

That was my soapbox moment for today.  Relating this back to the Holy Spirit, if we believe as Christians in a triune God, that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, are Three in One, of one substance, and the Father and Son always speak and teach in terms of redemptive history, (they do always speak that way, we can do that exercise if necessary,) then what is the topic of the Holy Spirit in this present evil age?  What does the Holy Spirit do?  Go back to the first post and focus on John 16.  The Holy Spirit will always follow the same rules that God and Jesus follow, always.

One final note.  Some would say that I am putting God in a box.  Some would say that I am putting rules on God, which cannot be done.  My response is this.  The Bible makes those rules about itself.  Understanding that is the beginning of repentance.

--Ogre--

Hebrews 1:5-14

To be sure, we tackled a large chunk of Hebrews this time.  In addition, there is a clear break with the beginning of a second line of argument at the chapter break.  Remember that these epistles were not written within the pericope system so that these section headings did not exist; these were just letters and in this case probably a sermon.  Still, the subject headings are useful.

The remainder of chapter 1 consists of a number of references both to the OT scripture and to the Gospels.  It can be argued that there are also references to a few of Paul’s letters, this being a ground for much conjecture on Paul’s authorship of Hebrews.  The base of the argument is not only is Jesus much superior to angels, but He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Creator and the Redeemer.  Once again, notice the verbs in this passage.  They are all in the perfect mood, completed action, either in present perfect or past perfect.  We are in the realm of the indicative.  Notice that there have been absolutely no imperatives in the first chapter.  This is a key point.  When we come to the discussion of perseverance in Christ, all of the imperatives are grounded in the indicatives of this section of the epistle.

In an aside, I would point out that all of the epistles, especially the Pauline epistles, are written this way.  There are no imperatives without first grounding them in the indicative.  What this means is that the Gospel comes first; application flows out of the Gospel.  Said another way, correct doctrine leads to correct practice.  The corollary to this statement is this: if you start from ethics and imperatives, you will never find the Gospel; but if you start from the Gospel indicatives and then move to the imperatives, you will do so with the Christian liberty and freedom from the Law that enables you to actually accomplish some good through Christ.  Christ not only Sanctifies us, but He Sanctifies our Works as well.  This is a large argument to which I will return in later posts on Hebrews.

Let’s look at the passages of the OT referenced in the first chapter of Hebrews.  Several Psalms figure prominently in the discussion.  Starting with Psalms 2:7, we have a direct reference to the Messiah being the Son of God.  But each of these lines is grounded in at least one Psalm.  Psalms 89, 97, 104, 45, 102, 110 and 34 are all cited.  Take a moment to read from the Psalms and then compare them to Hebrews 1:5-14.  In addition to the Psalms, Hebrews takes direct citation not only from the Septuagint, but also from the Prophets.  This weaving back and forth between these portions of OT scripture in an important Evangelistic technique of the Apostles.  Look at the Apostolic example in the book of Acts.  Peter, Steven and Paul all discuss the historical events of the Resurrection and point to their fulfillment of OT scripture and prophesy.  There is a remarkable absence of the telling of their stories.  Isn’t Peter’s story pretty impressive?  And yet he, in particular, lays the groundwork for this Evangelistic technique at Pentecost.

In summary then, we have the author setting out indicatives from historical events and from scripture in a sort of proof of the Divinity of Christ.  He will be moving into a discussion of Salvation next.  Only the Messiah, the Living God, can make Salvation possible.  This is the point of chapter 2, that we will be discussing next week.

—Troll—

Nehemiah, Jeremiah…and Bears! Oh, my!

In this concluding post on the book of Nehemiah, I want to try and accomplish three things.  First, I would like to drag some of the prophesies of Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel into the discussion, particularly Ezekiel and Jeremiah, in order to establish that the second temple truly was a prophetic event realized in redemptive history.  Second, I want to complete the discussion of covenants in terms of Nehemiah, his actions and his results.  Third, I want to put the Second Temple back into its place in redemptive historical context.

The book of Isaiah is far too long to tackle in one post, but a brief overview is worth the time here.  Isaiah is roughly divided into three sections based upon time.  Because Isaiah is thought to have lived in the earlier time period, the second two sections are viewed as being prophetic.  The middle section, chapters 40-55 assume a Jewish audience in Babylonian exile.  The last section, chapters 56-66 assume a Second Temple Jewish audience and speak to time eternal.  In the middle section, after foretelling the Diaspora, Isaiah tells Israel that they will need to return to Jerusalem.  The details have more to do with the politics of the situation and less to do with the actual temple and city, but there is plenty of prophesy and covenant conversation for the reading.  I posted on chapter 59 just this weekend.  For our purposes today, let us move on to Ezekiel and Jeremiah.

Ezekiel and Jeremiah were personally part of the exile.  They witnessed the fall of Jerusalem.  Their prophesies are therefore full both of lament for the covenant curses that have befallen an unfaithful Israel as well as our indication that God did indeed intend to restore Israel to Jerusalem for a time in the Second Temple era.  In fact, some people hold that Lamentations was a further work of Jeremiah.  In it, the people of Israel hold out hope that despite their deservedly received Wrath, they will yet receive the Mercy of God.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are more specific.

In Bible study, we have already seen how Ezekiel foretold the fall of the first Temple in chapter 8, and gave us the reason for it.  Israel has persisted in horrible sin in the House of God, in His Temple, and in verse 18, for this they will receive His Wrath.  Through the middle chapters, we get the fall and the exile.  Finally, starting in chapter 40, Ezekiel tells of his vision of the Second Temple.  I would draw some attention, besides to the obvious overlap with Ezra, to the details of language concerning the prince and the son of man in chapter 44.  There is talk of separation.  There is discussion of circumcision by heart and flesh.  These are the key points of Ezekiel, and we see the echoes of this vision in the actions of Nehemiah.  It is no wonder that Nehemiah goes bananas in chapter 13 when he finds that Israel is already committing the same abominations in the Second Temple that caused their downfall in the First Temple.

As we go back through Nehemiah chapter 9 and 10, notice the correlation between those and Ezekiel 43.  There is clear instruction and obedience demonstrated here between Ezekiel and Ezra a century or more later.  Further, the admonishments by God to Ezekiel in chapter 44 are echoed by Nehemiah.  The correlation is not accidental.  We will come back at the end to these important issues.

Jeremiah lived through the same events.  He and his scribe Baruch record much of the historical events in much the same manner as other books.  But let’s find some of the true high points of his book.  Let us focus for a moment on Jeremiah17:1-13.  As you read this, compare this with two sections of the NT.  First, notice the blessings and curses language that is similar to the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5.  Notice also, that Jeremiah comes down hard on the sin of man.  Look at verses 9-10.  This is bad news, folks.  Yes, God sees inside our hearts, and what he sees is desperately sick and deceitful.  Compare this with Paul in Romans 3:9-12.  Paul didn’t make that stuff up.  Here is but one place where the heart is described harshly.

Jeremiah 25 is a sobering account of God’s Wrath.  There are a couple of items to point out here.  First, when we are saved, we are saved from God’s Wrath.  Nowhere is this more clearly recorded.  Secondly, the Wrath of God will be delivered to all nations.  Jeremiah doesn’t just deliver the Wrath of God to Jerusalem, he goes everywhere.  We tend to view the Old Testament story in terms of Israel alone.  Remember that Israel are a type and shadow of the true Israel, those who believe in the promise, those who include the wild vines grafted into the family tree of Abraham.  Jeremiah, and later God, will give this cup of Wrath to all nations. 

Jeremiah 29 is a passage that gets abused and taken out of context.  Much of the Old Testament suffers the same treatment in this present evil age.  But this particular assault is fresh on my mind.  Looking at verses 10-23, we find a prophesy for the return to Jerusalem for the exiled.  Early in Bible study, I made a statement concerning the covenant relationship of God with the Second Temple.  I asked the question, where is the God side of the Covenant?  God speaks through His prophets as well as through fire.  This is not a new covenant; this is a renewal of the old Sinai covenant.  It reads like Law, just as Sinai reads as Law.  Here is God granting the return of the exiled to Jerusalem.  But, importantly, there remain the blessings and the curses.  This is still a “do this and you shall live, do it not and you shall perish” type of Law Covenant.  But in this, we can see the reason that Nehemiah and Ezra looked to Moses rather than to Abraham.

Is it surprising, then, that we find statements such as Nehemiah 13:30-31?  Nehemiah is operating in terms of the blessings and curses principle of the Law.  Remember me for my good deeds.  Can we say then that Nehemiah is a Patriarch about whom we should view as righteous based upon his belief in the promise?  I am not the Fruit Inspector General, but it would seem that Nehemiah condemns himself with those words.  God will use believer and unbeliever alike towards His purpose.  Is belief in God enough for salvation?  Jesus says a resounding “no” to this question.  Even the devil believes in God.  Nehemiah clearly demonstrates his belief in the prophesies concerning the return to Jerusalem, but did he believe also in the promise, as did Abraham? 

For extra credit, try Romans 4 for a moment as Paul explains the covenant meaning of circumcision.  Going back to the notion of circumcision of the heart and of the flesh from Ezekiel 44, we can say that Paul spiritualizes circumcision of the flesh to mean that full and complete cutting off of Jesus.  Through our Baptism, we become covenant members of this circumcision through the Blood of Christ, the Grace of which we have renewed in us through Holy Communion.  The circumcision of the heart is the gift of faith, by the Holy Spirit, that transforms our hearts, making us new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5), through the meritorious work of Jesus on the Cross.  All that we hold to be true in the New Covenant was first foretold in the Old Testament.  All of the types and shadows of the OT have meaning, and come to fruition in the New Covenant in Christ.

Through all of this prophesy, from Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah, Israel remains laser pointed at the Law, completely overlooking other aspects of the prophesy.  Jeremiah 23:3-5 concerns the righteous branch of David.  Read it now.  There was a purpose beyond the restoration of ethnic Israel to a land and renewal of old long broken covenants to the Second Temple.  That purpose was the introduction of the root of Jesse, the righteous branch of David, the Prophet, Priest and King, the Messiah, the Son of Man, our Savior, our Only Mediator and Advocate, the Paraclete.  All of these phrases appear or are described first in the Old Testament concerning the One who will come.  This is the purpose of rebuilding the Temple.  God will enter into the world from the Eastern door of the Sanctuary of the Temple (Ezekiel 44).  And thus Jesus was born to the East of Jerusalem, in the city of David.

Nehemiah fulfilled his purpose unto God.  Israel was restored to the land for a time, and the Second Temple and the wall was built.  But in the book of Nehemiah, I see that man is not changed.  Man is still fallen.  Man still needs a Savior.  Man needs a New Covenant where God does all the work for us.

--Troll--

Isaiah 59

Yesterday, we were subjected to the most theologically bankrupt “message” on Isaiah 59 that I could have possibly imagined.  I could talk about what was wrong with it, but rather than dwell in a negative tone, let us instead reexamine the chapter with proper categories and with an eye to redemptive historical context.

In all of the Old Testament, few passages have the richness of prophecy of Isaiah 59.  Tim LeHaye would have been doing back flips to point out the obvious messianic prophesy of this passage.  In this, he is spot on.  It is inconceivable that any proper expository preaching could fail to mention Jesus in discussion of this passage.  And yet our standard bearer is…Rick Perry?

Evil and Oppression

59:1 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,
or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
2 but your iniquities have made a separation
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
4 No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
5 They hatch adders' eggs;
they weave the spider's web;
he who eats their eggs dies,
and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched.
6 Their webs will not serve as clothing;
men will not cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths;
they have made their roads crooked;
no one who treads on them knows peace.

9 Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not overtake us;
we hope for light, and behold, darkness,
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind;
we grope like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
11 We all growl like bears;
we moan and moan like doves;
we hope for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
13 transgressing, and denying the Lord,
and turning back from following our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words.
14 Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Judgment and Redemption

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.
19 So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the Lord drives.

20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion,
to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

21 “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”

The whole book of Isaiah is worth the read, but chapters 40-66 are the meat of the prophesy section.  In chapter 59, we see two very important themes that will be echoed in the New Testament: the sinful nature of man who is therefore incapable of righteousness, and the path put forth by God on our behalf.  The close parallel of Isaiah 59 with Romans 3 is almost staggering.  And yet, Isaiah 59 has a richness of context that Paul merely assumes that his readers in Rome know.  The build up to 59 is perhaps in the context of a hypothetical court room, in which Isaiah, the covenant attorney, is first listening to the arguments of Israel against God, for they accuse God of forsaking them and breaking covenant.  Finally, in chapter 59, Isaiah speaks on behalf of God and levels Israel with his words.  Israel is left broken, defeated, desolate and dead.  The second half of the chapter is the revelation of the messiah.  God Himself will come down and put on the body of man and save His people.  Let’s look at the text.

We know from the first two chapters of Isaiah that God is not pleased with Israel.  We learn that God is going to spread His Glory to the whole world, but only a remnant of people will be saved.  We learn of the Wrath of God, and His impending coming through the line of David.  Now, we pick up at verse one with God responding to charges leveled at Him by Israel.  Israel wonders if God is not truly all powerful, that His arm is too short to intervene.  Israel wonders if God is not omniscient, that He is unaware of the woes of His people, Israel.  Watch how Isaiah rounds on Israel.  The sin of Israel have covered their path to God.  Read all of the charges against Israel above in verses 2-13.  Compare them to Romans 3:1-20.  Now, finally, we come to verse 14, where the reading started yesterday.

See how much we missed by starting the reading at that point.  The whole tone and context of verse 14 was lost and easily contextualized to absolute malarkey because it was ripped from context.  Notice the relative lack of explanation by me.  Just let the passage speak for itself.  It is very straightforward.  Justice is turned back and righteousness is far away.  This is a courtroom scene.  This is about Judgment Day.  Righteousness is required to enter Heaven.  Israel was well aware of this theme.  The Pharisees believed that they had this righteousness in Jesus’ day.  Isaiah is telling the Jews of the Diaspora the reasons that they were banished from the land.  The reason is sin, and they are filled to the gill with it.  The righteousness that they require to enter into eternal life is far from them.  Justice does not exist in this world.  Uprightness, that is righteousness, cannot enter into this world.  Isaiah is passing judgment on the whole world in much the same way that Paul does in Romans 3.  The purpose of this judgment is to bring Israel and the whole world to their knees.

And now, in verse 15b, God begins to show his mercy and Grace.  Isaiah reveals the mechanism of salvation.  God is displeased by sin.  God sees and knows that man is totally incapable of satisfying the requirements of His justice.  So, God, in His infinite Mercy and Grace, puts on the mantle of the warrior.  He condescends to enter into the battle on behalf of man.  He Himself with be the standard bearer.  He will come in terrible judgment one day.  Each will receive that which they deserve.  And we all deserve death.  But He will also send a Redeemer (verse 20) to Zion to those in Jacob who repent. 

It bears some discussion about who exactly is included in this statement.  The first comment is that Isaiah refers them to Zion, not Sinai.  The mountain in question is the heavenly mountain, the one for which Sinai was supposed to be a type and shadow in this world, in this present evil age: Zion.  Jacob means Israel, but only those who recognize that they are sinners and then repent.  Going back to Isaiah 2, it is clear that the whole world will come to Zion and to Jacob.  (I have included the whole chapter so that you can see just how angry God really is with sin.) Therefore, while the dispensational interpretation of this passage is that it applies only to Israel, it is not a great leap at all that Paul takes to interpret that Isaiah himself spiritualizes Zion to include all nations, through the Redeemer of Israel.  It is also equally clear that not all will repent.

And finally, the last verse of the chapter concerns covenant.  Remember that Israel, who have been banished from the land and dispersed to the four winds, has the audacity to suggest that God has abandoned them and broken covenant.  They would rather infer this than face the fact that they are a wicked and sinful people, as we all are, and unworthy of the promise of God.  This whole Old Testament episode has been about God and Covenant.  Man is wholly incapable of fulfilling the Covenant of Law, and God called in the chips.  Man was left with nothing.  Now, God turns round and says that His Word and His Spirit is among His people, and shall be forever more.

For those of you who read me regularly, you will need no decoding of that Trinitarian passage.  John 1 refers to Jesus, the Son, as the Word.  The Holy Spirit is named quite clearly as well.  Man cannot save himself.  Therefore, God is going to do all of the work for man through the work of the Word and the Spirit.  That, my friends, is called the Gospel.  And we just found it in the middle of the Old Testament.  That, my friends, is a far better understanding of Isaiah 59 than to what we were subjected yesterday.

For completeness, finish Romans 3.  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—  Does it start to fit together for you?  the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Back to the first half of Isaiah 59!  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  There He is keeping his covenant through the Word that was sent to us.  And all who receive the gift of grace and faith will be redeemed. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.  And finally, both Jew and Gentile alike will be redeemed by the same mechanism, through the work of Jesus, through the gift of grace from the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

--Troll--