Someday God will act on it. That’s fair. It’s His world. He will set it all back to rights. The desire we all have for justice—even for revenge—it will be satisfied. But it’s going to be very ugly. And we all know too well that part of the ugliness deserves to come our way. When we pray for Christ to come quickly, as we should, we pray humbly and with some fear and trembling. That will be a great day, but also a very scary day and there’s no room for arrogance.
Jesus, Come quickly. But may whatever justice you have for me be swift. I can- READING THROUGH ISAIAH not bear the full load, and yet I do not ask that my old self be spared from your refining fire. I only ask that my new self may be resurrected from my old ashes. Devotions for Isaiah 29-35 And may my enemies be likewise forgiven and made pure. Amen. By Scott DeVries
Isaiah 35 In Genesis 18:18 Abraham takes his call to be a blessing to all nations so seri Neal Plantinga once told me that he sometimes sings during his devotions. On ously he even tries to bless Sodom. As spiritual children of Abraham we ought rare occasions, when I’m certain the church building is completely empty, I to feel similarly about spiritually dark places. We don’t condone wickedness, but sneak into the sanctuary and follow his lead. I find myself wishing for such a we should desire for people to be rescued from their wickedness and into God’s moment as I read Isaiah 35—oh to praise God out loud with that rendition from grace. These devotions invite you to read through Isaiah and see how we are the ‘80s, “And the redeemed of the Lord will return, and come with sing ing, into called to be a blessing to the nations. Zi on! And everlasting joy, will be upon their heads!” Straight from Isaiah 35:10.
The joy of Isaiah 35 is strangely part and parcel with the doom and gloom of Isaiah 29 Isaiah 34. In 34 God’s vengeance is poured out as a desolating fire upon all Things will not be as they now seem. The changes will come suddenly. Jerusa nations (34:8 10). The world becomes like a desert (34:11 15). But in chapter lem (Ariel) will no longer be besieged by a foreign power, but by God (v.2). The 35 “the desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and nations think it will satisfy them to devour Jerusalem, but it won’t be any more blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout satisfying than eating in a dream (vv.7 8). The people of God think they please for joy.” There is a new blossoming after the fire. There is joy after the mourn Him, but He sees how far off their hearts are (v. 13). They don’t worship, they ing. There is life after death. follow rules. “The wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelli
The refining fire of God landed on the heads of the apostles on Pentecost. One gent will vanish” (v. 14). People treat the potter like the clay (v. 16). Forests will of the hard things of the Christian life is the need for constant submission to that become as fields, and fields as forests (v. 17). The deaf will hear, the blind will fire—to die to our self yet again. It is never easy to do. It always burns, always see, the humble rejoice, and so will the needy (vv. 18 19). Those who do terri feels like a terrible loss—dying to ourselves always feels like dying. But oh the ble things will have terrible things done to them (vv. 20 21). Everything will be topsy turvy, inside out, and upside down. joy of resurrection! The exclamation point there hardly seems to capture the deep sensation of satisfaction and a desire to experience it one more time (and And perhaps the most mysterious of all the backwards wonders “No longer then another and another and another). It’s like an addiction—only this addiction will Jacob be ashamed.” The people who have it all backwards right now. Who builds up and up and up instead of tearing down. This addiction we enter with see power as the means to serve others; who see prestige as an embarrass fear and trembling and leave feeling intensely rewarded, as opposed to all those ment that separates them from those they love; who see money as responsibil addictions who offer such a great reward at the beginning only to leave us de ity toward their neighbor; wisdom as a bewildering insight they didn’t earn; re pleted. Oh the great refining fire of God! Oh the Holy Spirit! Oh the resurrection spect as something to be given out rather than taken; trust as nothing more of Christ in us! complex than a decision to let their sister have yet another go of it; and so on,
Dearest Jesus, Do it again, and again, and again, and again. May submission, and on, and on Suddenly, these backwards people will be released from their exile and reunited to acknowledge the Holy otherness of God (v.22). fear of you our Lord, and trembling over what must be done become our cus- tom—so that we may feel the pulse of true freedom, vibrant clean living, and Lord Jesus, help us be patient and peaceful while we wait. Amen. unflappable joy in you. May gladness and joy overtake us, and sorrow and sigh- Isaiah 30 ing flee away! Amen! Oh no! Woe to those who carry out plans that are not God’s? I think we’ve all 11 E. 32nd St., Holland, MI 49423 just been woed. And listen to what God thinks of our attempts to take the lead, Office Phone: 392 2635 or choose leaders—our leaders “bring neither help nor advantage, but only Church e mail: [email protected] Preaching Pastor Rev. Dan Walcott’s e mail: [email protected] shame and disgrace” (v. 5). Our plans and our leaders/leadership, when they’re Associate Pastor Rev. Scott DeVries’ email: [email protected] truly ours , and not God’s , just bring us in the opposite direction we should go. Worship Leader Christian Eastburn’s e mail: [email protected] The rest of this prophecy hinges to some extent on v. 15—”In repentance and Calling Pastor Rev. Jake Heerema’s e mail: [email protected] rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would Director of Service & Outreach Kate Kern’s e mail: [email protected] Website: www.bethanycrc.com have none of it” (emphasis mine). Several years ago I was talking with a professor friend of mine and we both com Before that happens all false securities will be stripped away. False security must mented on the work we were doing then to make our future work easier. Reflect be stripped away if we’re ever to experience true security. And that is just what ing on that together, we wondered at what point that becomes counterproductive. Isaiah predicts. All that we trust in this world will be torn from us, until all that is One could spend their whole life working to improve the future, never pausing left is whatever trust we’ve placed in God. But our trust in God will never be longing enough to enjoy the gains already made. Sadly, this is exactly what stripped away. The Spirit will be poured out and give new life, even where the Isaiah 30 describes. world seemed to be stripped of life (v. 15).
Isaiah 30 describes a scene that is ever present in our world. People scrambling Lord, strip away our false securities. If there is a gentle way to do that, please be here and there and everywhere like the little boy trying to get a finger in every gentle with us. But guide us to that place of rock bottom where all we have is hole in the dike. But the dike will burst. Our world is falling apart. We cannot stop you. Amen. it. But we can survive it. And we can be part of God’s offering a place of refuge Isaiah 33 from it. This isn’t advocating escapism. Rather it’s advocating that we recognize What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. The trouble that it’s too late to build the dike higher or thicker. It’s time to start offering people with many sins is that once we start, we make it very difficult to stop. A man must a place to come out of the flood. It’s time to stop trusting in our own plans and lie to escape the shame of an earlier lie. A nation that shoots down a neighbors leaders, and start connecting people to the One Leader whose plan has already jet, might also find itself needing to sink that neighbors ship to prevent retaliation. succeeded—Jesus Christ. A woman who gets ahead by betrayal has helped create an environment where If you are still exhausting yourself fighting the floodtides, consider designing a betrayal is rewarded—she better always watch her back! (v. 1). time of Sabbath rest for you to get away with God for a while. The horrible thing is, we’ve all got some of that type of perpetuating sin in our Isaiah 31 lives. Isaiah 33:2 shows us the way out. “O LORD, be gracious to us; we long for Israel’s trust in Egypt is senseless, God says. Wasn’t God the one brought the you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.”
10 plagues upon Egypt? Wasn’t God the one that wiped out all their firstborn, but Jesus will never betray us. Jesus came to give us new life, not to destroy us. Je passed over the firstborn of Israel when they were slaves? (see v. 5). Why would sus doesn’t lie, doesn’t belittle, doesn’t steal, doesn’t cheat. Jesus lives in perfect they trust in a nation that God defeated, instead of God? Why will they not trust relationship to us. And He is the only one we can run to when we’ve finally come that the God who defeated Egypt so handily can also defeat Assyria? Israel will to the end of our perpetuating sins. one day see Assyria defeated and they should know that it is by God’s hand when it happens (v. 8). What sins do you find it difficult to escape from? Some sins are addicting, others bring us into an environment from which it’s difficult to escape. Pray for God to This has now been a long running theme in Isaiah—God wants us to trust Him, break your addictions and provide an environment safe for you be free of sin. For not anyone or anything else! But each time the theme is repeated it’s applied in a “extra credit” think about how forgiving others aligns you with Christ’s work to slightly different way to Israel’s way of life (and thereby to our way of life as well). provide shelter from perpetuating sin. Here we are invited to recall our own communal and personal “Passovers”. How has God rescued us? Remember the beginning of Holland—how those first set Isaiah 34 tlers suffered those first few years just so they could have a place to worship the Chapter 34 strikes me as the most dire yet in Isaiah. It’s all doom and gloom. way they believed? Remember the illness you went through and thought you That is, unless you’re an owl—the bareness of the land will apparently agree well couldn’t bare another minute? Wasn’t it God that brought us all through those with them. moments, sustained us, and restored our lives? Then why do we now go seeking This is about God’s vengeance (v. 8). Not a topic we particularly like to talk salvation from our troubles from things obviously weaker than God? God is not about. We kind of want God to always be nice. Kind of Unless someone does bothered if we ask Him to “do it again, Lord”. us a great injustice. Then we’re not so sure. Then we kind of want a God that will
Do it again Lord. Let your glory shine again. Let your power to save be clear avenge us. Kind of again. Don’t abandon us to the useless would-be-saviors of this world. Let us Are we allowed to want revenge? We know we’re not allowed to get revenge. But see our true Savior do it again for us. Amen. may we want it? Yes, and No. Yes, because the true purpose of revenge is jus
Isaiah 32 tice. No, because our understanding of justice is too flawed.
Right now none of us are saviors. The best we can do is point others to the true But for the most part the Bible is not concerned with whether or not we should Savior—Jesus. But when Jesus has returned to set the world to rights, “each want revenge. For the most part the Bible simply assumes we do want revenge. man will be like a shelter from the wind” (v. 2). Someday, on the new earth, we We want justice. We want things to be fair. If someone stole $2 from us and will no longer view each other with suspicion and wonder how and when a new bought a pop, we want to steal their candy bar the next day. The Bible assumes relationship will hurt. Someday we’ll no longer teach kids about “stranger dan that we will be that way. But the Bible also warns us not to act on it. ger”. Someday each stranger will be another place of rest and safety.