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Chapter
14
The Inalienable
Liberties
of Life
in the
Lord
WAYS
IN AND THE WAY
OUT OF THE CURSE
AT THE STRICTLY
PERSONAL LEVEL ...
for man
in the mist of the universe
Conditions
of Relish,
and Joy
Unspeakable!
Isaiah
32-33
Reality is so
restful. It is not the best of all possible worlds only because of what
the creation has done; but it still is the place from which to find it.
Sunday is the day to commemorate the rest; and TODAY is the day to find
it!
A. The First
Delights
Isaiah 32-33
is a repository of delight, if you dig. God is sometimes like that. He
makes the essentials so simple a child of 4 years can and often does, receive
them. The meaty things can be enough to tame lions! But they are delicious!
Here in Isaiah
32 we find, in parallel with 4:6, the hiding place, the repose, the resting
place (cf. Isaiah 11:10), the cover from tempest, the shadow in a dry land,
like that intense shade of a mighty rock. There it was seen in architectural
terms (4:6), here it is a man, a king. So the pattern has become personal,
and the real meaning of the sacred temple, as in Hebrews 8, is being exposed.
32:3 shows His
miraculous intervention to bring health and healing, of heart, of mind
or body, and the changes in spirit that are wrought are to be seen in verses
4-5. In Chapter 33, the theme, set once again in contrast to the work of
iniquity, the Good Shepherd over against the bad ones. Verse 2 is attractive
and an invitation to entry into this shade under the scorching sun: "O
Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for you. Be their arm every morning,
our salvation also in the time of trouble." Verse 5 takes us to an eyrie,
where the true relationships of things are better seen. The goodness of
the Lord and the continuity of His mercies even when provoked appear, and
it is in THAT light that we now begin to see the BIBLICAL BLESSING on the
head of the man whose God is the Lord, whose rock is the Messiah and whose
place is peace in Him.
"Wisdom and
knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation;
the fear of the Lord is his treasure."
-
1. Wisdom shall
be present. It
will contribute stability. The devious dealings of the devil will be voided,
folly avoided, sheer rockings to and fro in false doctrine will be like
poisoned food, of no interest (cf. Ephesians 4:12-14). This will make for
a rock solid position, indeed, one is IN the Rock which provides the shade
and the shelter, the cool and the peace.
-
2. And with it
is KNOWLEDGE.
It is no case
of dereliction of understanding, lack of reality. On the contrary, the
saints have concocted such prodigious labours, such sound literature is
available, matters refined and broad, close and scholarly, of depth and
of detail, all are available in a perfect torrent of righteousness, so
that none is bereft, all are provided for, and for my part, I know of nothing
that is not answered, no case at all even for a small part of the gospel
of atheism, agnosticism, comparative religions, existentialism, relativism,
humanism, but all are dissected and rejected for strong reason in The
Shadow of a Mighty Rock, for one; and the testimonies of the saints
are like endless seeming mountain ranges, available for all ages.
Whether we confront
a fallen church or a university, there is but one result. There is no answer
provided us for the challenge, but they depart, spitting and cursing, or
drunk with folly, but with NO REASON to defend their cause. We provide
opportunity to appear in person, but they flee; in writing, but they do
not send; and now?
-
3. STABILITY
is there.
Indeed, this
Web page is in part a provision for ANY who would challenge the case made:
that in NOTHING can any alternative to Christ and Him crucified, yes, rather
risen, stand at all! If any have proteges in philosophy, here the place
to produce them! Like fallen women, they never stand. They need repentance,
and a realisation of where STRENGTH OF SALVATION and STABILITY alone lie!
Nothing can change the facts; and in all contest, nothing does! Over thousands
of years, the saints have construed and constructed, rebutted and exposed
the marvels of incompetence which even the most brilliant produce in desperate
but unavailing endeavours to rock the stability of Christ. It is simply
better
and nothing else works, or even gain validity. (See Validity,
in That Magnificent Rock; and Chs.3,10
in The Shadow of a Mighty Rock.)
-
4. Salvation
is there.
-
The name of the
Lord is a refuge. Sin is covered by atonement, as shown in the carnal killing
of the Messiah, as we now know at Calvary, which led to such a spiritual
consequence. It is delicious to reflect that in all the toil and effort
of the devil, betraying Christ with Judas, getting that armed band out
from the corrupted religious leaders, bent on surreptitious murder, not
open truth, setting out to try him in camera without lights, action, just
with a few words among the false witnesses; and deciding death was the
best end for someone who so exactly fulfilled the Biblical requirements
of the Messiah... all this was in vain.
THIS was the
way GOD the Lord, the majestic sovereign had it all planned. The evil desires
of corrupt and corroded hearts, aided, as Peter put it in Acts 3, by wicked
hands were not a great ecclesiastical mafia success after all. ALL that
planning and devious dealing was not a triumph but a disaster. It was all
videoed if you like, before it happened.
It was predicted
in such detail by so many prophets (see SMR Chs.8-9)
for so long that it was all but incredibly stupid. But then sin blinds!
That too is an experimental verification. Who would have thought that with
all that exposure of the thing IN ADVANCE in place in the synagogues that
the Jews would fall for it, or the Romans who knew the Jews for that matter.
But they did! Oh how they did! And how they suffered! That is where the
deliciousness ends!
That is always
sad. The lash that results from licence is never a delight! It is necessary
however NOT to play with reality and ASK for it! Long did the Lord bear
with the Jews and you see something of this way back in the days of Isaiah,
who however also was in the Spirit in his inspired writings, so that these
events in the first century were also being actively described. Listen
to him then, for it is just a little before our Chs.32-33 text area which
we are now examining:-
-
"Now go, write
it before them on a tablet, and note it in a book, that it may be for the
time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying
children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord: who say to the
seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things;
speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside
out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us."
But now the
contrast to be found by those who find the Lord, as shown in Isaiah 33:6.
-
5. Yes, salvation
is here for the remnant of Jew and Gentile, even "strength of salvation"
.
-
One has to realise
at once that there is nothing racial in this. Gentiles are quite as obtuse
and take quite as ludicrous an effort to rid them of Christ. When Isaiah
wrote, this was still to come. But Jew or Gentile (and remember there is
scarcely a writer of New or Old Testament who is not a Jew - Luke is not),
they come to this King, this Refuge, and if they do, they have STRENGTH
OF SALVATION. It is not something ephemeral. ALL the animal sacrifices
which come to be obsolete (Isaiah 66:1-4) are now replaced in that ONE
act by
which "He
shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities"
- 53:11.
-
Now He has entered
into the Holy of Holies, for those "who have
fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us",
giving a "strong consolation".
He provides the heavenly hope like "an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within
the veil". It there that "the
forerunner has entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever".
It is there that He has "obtained eternal
redemption", that those called should receive
"the
promise of eternal inheritance".
From Him comes
that 'INHERITANCE INCORRUPTIBLE, AND UNDEFILED, AND THAT DOES NOT FADE
AWAY, RESERVED IN HEAVEN FOR YOU, WHO ARE KEPT BY THE POWER OF God through
faith to salvation" - I Peter 1:4-5. The only one who could interfere would
first need to make himself stronger than God, which being impossible (Isaiah
43:13, John 10:27-28 - see SMR Ch.1), leaves this salvation strong, this
stability sure, this place that of a mighty rock in a weary land; for "they
who dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide in the shadow
of the Almighty" - Psalm 91:1.
-
6. What now?
"The fear of the Lord is his treasure," resumes Isaiah in 33:6.
-
This fear is clean
(Psalm 19), not of dubious motives, is like a delight in fire in its strength
and care about it in its capacity to destroy, it scours out the soul with
hygiene and covers dryness like water, rolls like the ocean breakers and
yet does not transgress its bounds, serving the servants of the Lord. It
is indeed "the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), " a fountain of life
to depart from the snares of death" (14:27) and "the instruction of wisdom",
with which we are reminded, this - that "before honour is humility".
-
Harris, Archer and
Waltke in their "Theological Word Book of the Old Testament" make 5
categories of usage of the root to "fear" used here. There are "the
emotion of fear", "the intellectual anticipation of evil without emphasis
upon the emotional reaction", "reverence or awe", "righteous behaviour
or piety" and "formal religious worship. Here we find the righteous zest,
quest, the awe and reverence in the presence of the source of all righteousness
and the One who alone deserves worship. It is clean. It helps wisdom. It
flows like a stream from the high hills, bringing clear water. It is the
opposite of presumption. It is perfectly compatible, in this sense with
love; for its grand majesty itself is lovable.
B.
THE DISTANT SCENE
AND THE
KING
IN HIS
BEAUTY
-
He turns now to
the reprimand to unbelief, but resumes with an intriguing bond. It is found
in 33:14.
-
"The sinners
in Zion are afraid;
-
Fearfulness has
surprised the hypocrites.
-
Who among us
shall dwell with the devouring fire?
-
Who among us
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
-
He proceeds to itemise
elements of Biblical blessedness in verses 15-16. The one who walks uprightly,
who does not desire but rather despises getting easy money which involves
the oppression of others, who is not even interested in getting bribes,
or assaults of violence for gain, and who will not enter in the least into
the caverns of sin, scheming and evil desire. What of such a man or woman
or child indeed, as this?
-
The blessings here
are so intense that one almost needs a special focus to see them without
being simply dazzled - 33:16-24 cover them, but a first spectacle comes
in 33:17-18. "He will dwell on high; his
place of defence shall be the strongholds of rocks. Bread will be given
him; his water shall be sure." In other
words, spiritual safety will belong to such a person, whose protection
is the Lord's own pleasure, and the waters of spiritual blessing (John
4, Isaiah 32:17) WILL always be available and liberally supplied. His LIFE
will be God's affair. The bread of life will sustain his soul, and his
needs will be met.
-
"Your eyes will
see the King in His beauty; they will behold the land that is very far
off." Such a person, enshrouded by the
Lord, will find the truth of the Beatitude of Christ: BLESSED AR THE PURE
IN HEART FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD! and of His words in John 14:21-23, when
He states that to those abiding in Him and in His word, He will MANIFEST
Himself; and further, in that day when all the tribes of the earth shall
wail (yes, note that! you who are obsessed with racism, NO RACE will avail
you! - Revelation 1:7), and He gathers His own as one gathers wheat from
a field (Matthew 24:31).
-
"They {Your eyes}
will behold the land that is very far off!" How
often this notable promise comes to mind as one watches some distant scene
of delicate loveliness, bathed in light. It means this: that the kingdom
of heaven which has swept up upon us (Luke 11:20 - that is the force of
the Greek text here) is looming with such depth and intensity into the
focus of one's spirit that it is like a funnel, a telescope for the ultimate
which is to come.
-
The distant has
become near, its effects are already being produced, its latencies are
becoming already patent, its sheer wonder and loveliness are rendered spiritually
visible, gripping, tangible to the heart, appreciable to the mind; and
in time, that vision will be translated by the power of God, as one is
likewise kept by the power of that God (I Peter 1:1-5), into wholly manifest
reality. That is one colossal advantage of working with God: He knows how
to get it done, and gives one a foretaste on the way.
-
Isaiah 33:18-20
is quite fascinating. Paul quotes from here in I Corinthians 1, and it
is in the context of philosophies paranoia, the ruthless follies of the
flesh which attempt to 'find out all about it' , to 'explain everything,
something, anything' in terms of a 'wisdom' which omits one small thing:
GOD! It is like writing without an alphabet, coding without symbols. It
is a disgrace, a folly, a contradiction in terms (see The
Shadow of a Mighty Rock, pp. 1-70
and Chs. 3,5).
-
One remembers Rabshakeh
and his propaganda putsch against the Jews in the days of Hezekiah. It
failed of course, for King Hezekiah, being one of the best, sought the
Lord in a humble and workmanlike way, and addressed the prophet Isaiah
through a messenger, and being in the way with the Lord, was entirely and
miraculously delivered in one of history's most amazing turn-abouts. When
the Lord intervenes, such things are BOUND to happen! For this, see Isaiah
36-37. Yes, the scribes that represent Babylon (which in turn represents
immoral unspirituality masquerading as of some spiritual importance - see
Ch.2, The Tender and the True in this volume) - these will
not prevail at all.
-
One will be so insulated
from the effects of satan's squads and battalions that these things will
not even figure on the spiritual horizons. They are swift passing storms,
ready to languish far out, back of beyond, and to fulminate in vain. STRENGTH
of salvation is not so readily smitten. Incidentally, those interested
in this phase of things may find help in our That
Magnificent Rock, and The
Shadow of a Mighty Rock.
-
"Where,"
Paul pursues, in taking up this Old Testament text,
-
"Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? For after the world, in the wisdom of
God, by wisdom did not know God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save those who believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks
seek after wisdom; but we preach Chris crucified, to the Jews stumbling
block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to those who are called, both
Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God: because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men."
-
Stammering lips
of unbelief, of belligerence, from foreign sources, spiritually foreign,
these will not prevail. Rather than Church of the living God will not have
the gates of hell prevail against it (Matthew 16), but will continue its
delightful testimony unabashed and unconquered to the end. The peace of
Christ in His kingdom, the peace of heart that will translate in due course
to peace of terrain in the millenium, and peace of eternity, past it: this
will stand. "None of its cords will be broken" and "not one of its stakes
will ever be removed" - 33:20. The WHOLE COUNSEL of God wills stand, all
the glories of Christ will endure, God will INDEED gather all things up
in one in Christ (Ephesians 1:10) and work "everything
after the counsel of His own will"
- 1:11.
C.
THE NAVAL ALLEGORY
We come now to
the maritime feast. Here, with the symbolic representation of the truth
so fast and sure, we have streams, broad waters, lakes and shores, softness
of water on which the eye can rest. Yet there is here such rest (Matthew
11:28-30, Isaiah 11:10) that the soul is quiet within. Oarsmen do not transgress
into these pellucid waters, pirates find no haven, for Christ is here,
in rule and in charge in the heart, greater than he who is in the world
(I John 4:4). As John relates to us, we have overcome the contrary spirits.
As for such worldlings and their bases, "they are of the world; therefore
they speak of the world, and the world hears them."
The LORD is our
JUDGE, our LAWGIVER, so that no piratical attacks are of the least danger
to us (Isaiah 33:22). He is indeed our KING and His deliverances are both
adequate and numerous. As Paul puts it, speaking of Him: "who
delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in whom we trust
that He will yet deliver us" (II Corinthians
1:10). Indeed, "the Lord will deliver me
from every evil work, and will preserve me to his heavenly kingdom, to
whom be glory for ever and ever" - II Timothy 4:18.
Then we find
this: the imagined enemy ship has loosed its tacklings, it is no more prepared,
its warlike potencies are at standby, their sails cannot be spread, there
is no power to perform, merely apparition to dismay, and in that, nothing
is near, for no 'gallant ship' can come into these waters.
The result: "then
is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey". As
in Isaiah 53:12, "He shall divide the spoil
with the strong". Christ has earned by
His death and intercession, the suffering of His soul, that soul of His
suffering, by His parade through the streets of iniquity and evil's parade
of its powers on His back, He has earned the victory which He simply donates
to His children. They may suffer; but their lives are His and the controls
are in His hands and nothing can sever from His love; His presence is near,
"I
am continually with Thee" (Psalm 73:23); "I will never leave nor forsake
you" - Hebrews 13:5. Indeed,
"The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me" -
13:6.
The
"great spoil"? For this we turn alike
to Isaiah 53 and Matthew 24:28. The Son of Man comes to collect His own,
and the vultures are there. The tares and the wheat, the sheep and the
goats, the meat and carrion and the cargoes of Christ. They are all there.
They go their ways. His are ... His own, and not one is lost.
Moving now from
the sea scene to the landlubbers about, what more adorns this allegory?
"The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people who dwell there shall
be forgiven their iniquity" - Isaiah 33:24.
In what way? We recall the great work of Christ on the man who was, in
the crowd and to gain His attention, lowered directly down from the roof.
He was paralytic and Christ first said, "Son,
your sins are forgiven you", and only
then, "Arise, take up your bed, and go
your way to your house" - Mark 2.
This text is
crucial, for it shows that Christ saw at once the sin-condition, and in
His mind it was foremost. He addressed and resolved it, and only then did
the actual "healing" appear; though as to the real and ultimate, the dominant
and spiritual, the personality and life healing, this occurred first. He
then was challenged; such words being easy simply to say.
Then He took
the confrontation and said, Which is easier? Does one more easily heal
a paralytic or say, Your sins are forgiven? Of course the latter, in its
meaning, in what it implies, takes far more; for it cost Him His life on
earth. But to the sensationalists, those with appetites for such performances
as many Pentecostals put on (it is true they vary): they wanted to SEE
it! Then, said He, so that you may KNOW
"that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins" -
He told the young man to get up physically and to take himself and his
bed to his own place. This he duly did!
This in the Christian
life (and how much more readily does He act when we are His already!),
there is never any case where you have to SAY, I am sick! in any life relevant
manner. If Christ sees fit to keep you in bed awhile, and He kept Corrie
ten Boom some 5 years after a stroke, that is His wish. He COULD change
it, but sometimes weakness attests strength (II Corinthians 12:9-10).
In her case,
she had, after nearly certain death and staggering deliverance from one
of the worst of the German death camps, been given strength for decade
after decade to her eighties, to travel the world and preach forgiveness
and mutual reconciliation in and through Christ. At the last, with a highly
efficient secretary, she showed in weakness what for so long she had shown
in strength. Many came and were blessed at the LOOK of her, the love, the
eyes, the patience and gentle kindliness of which she had for so long given
such a testimony in, for and through Jesus Christ.
When you have
a work for Christ to do, you are quite assured of whatever health it takes
to get it done. When you wait on the Lord, how often a feeling of total
inability is replaced by a strength that rejoices and knows neither pitfall
nor deterrence, so that in the Lord one prevails! Such is my own experience,
and such is the promise, the Biblical Blessing in Isaiah 40:29-31:
-
He gives power
to the faint; and to those who have no might he increases strength. Even
the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall,
but they who ait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount
up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint."