Month: November 2011

The Voice of the Lord

“I heard the voice of the Lord saying …” Isaiah 6:8

There have been a number of occasions in the life of this writer when someone has claimed to have a word from the Lord for me or the church I have been attending. In each case they were exposed as false by the Word of God but to whom does the Lord speak?

By giving us a specific example Isaiah also gives us general revelation of the conditions and the kind of person to whom the Lord speaks. The specific details of each communication will be different in each case but we are able to discern details that are common in each.

As we read chapter six of Isaiah we notice first that it was the Lord who initiated contact. It was not Isaiah. In that initial contact the Lord introduced Himself by seraphim and revealed His glory and holiness (v 3). We are unable to see the glory and the holiness of God unless He reveals Himself to us. Fallen and unredeemed people can never see God in His glory and holiness and neither can the carnal or worldly Christian.

The reaction of Isaiah is the reaction of any person who sees the glory and holiness of God. In the light of God’s holiness we will more accurately see our exceeding sinfulness. Isaiah was fully aware of his exceeding sinfulness in the light of God’s glorious and holy presence (v 5).

Before the Lord would speak there was still one more vital requirement. The man must be cleansed of all sin (v 7). Only then could Isaiah hear the heart of the Lord (v 8).

When he responded by surrendering his life to the Lord, the Lord gave him a message to preach. On hearing the message he may have wondered what he had gotten into because he knew it would not be a popular message. It may have been concern over the reception of the message that provoked him to ask how long the message would need to be preached (v 11). The response would have done nothing to ease his concern. The message would be preached until Israel has been all but erased and only a remnant remained (vv 11-13; cf. 11:20-23; Ch. 11).

We have a message to proclaim until Jesus Christ returns. It is a message that most do not want to hear but for the sake of those who do want to hear it we proclaim it.

Why did the Lord choose Isaiah? Of course there are a number of considerations regarding God’s sovereignty and purposes in history but an important one that is relevant to us is that Isaiah had a history of positive response to the Lord and an acute awareness of his own sinfulness. This is a picture of the person the Lord is pleased to speak with and use in His mission.

Regarding the Times

“He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

The apostle Paul wrote concerning the return of the Lord on several occasions and his second letter to the church in Thessalonica parallels this statement in Ecclesiastes. In view of the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ to establish His earthly kingdom some of the Christians in Thessalonica had ceased to work (2 Thessalonians 3:11) and become idle in waiting for the great day of the Lord.

Being imminent does not mean it is immediate. We still live in the “last days” in which the Lord’s return is imminent but we have no biblical reason to assume that this means immediate.

The farmer knows the seasons and must do his work in faith accordingly. The first rains may be imminent but he will not know the exact time they will come or cease.

At the time of sowing he must sow even if there is a threat of wind that might blow the seed away and at the time of harvest he must harvest even if there is the threat of rain. If he procrastinates because of what might happen he will neither sow nor reap and he and his family will go hungry.

The analogy of a farmer sowing and reaping is used a number of times in the Bible. We live in a day when the wickedness of the world and the pervading spirit of antichrist suggest that the Lord’s return may be soon but that is no reason or excuse to cease sowing in faith. And if we sow in faith it must be with the expectancy of reaping. Both require activity on our part.

Some of the Christians in Thessalonica had given up working to await the return of the Lord. They refused to sow the Word of God and they had no expectation of reaping souls for the Kingdom of God. If we regard the times in which we live we may be inclined to follow their example but that would be contrary to the will of Jesus expressed in the Bible.

Yes, the return of the Lord may be today but equally it may not be for some years. He has not told us when. We know we are in the “last days” (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Hebrews 1:1-4; 1 John 2:18) but the Lord has not revealed the exact day when He will call out His church.

If we regard the conditions around us we will be like the farmer who always waits for perfect weather and will not sow or reap. Paul commanded Timothy to proclaim Jesus Christ regardless of circumstances; “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2) and that command extends to all Christians. Paul affirms all the preceding in one verse, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9; cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:13).

By Mite Not By Might

“He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites” Luke 21:2

Among other things, the five principles given in the law (Deuteronomy 17:15-20) for Israel’s future kings include: not building military might so as to depend on it rather than God (v 16), and not to build wealth beyond immediate needs, also so that dependence on God seemed unnecessary. Solomon didn’t keep any of the five principles and the wealthiest and strongest kingdom divided before disintegrating and falling.

When Jesus “saw the rich putting their gifts into the [temple] treasury” (v 1) He saw not the gift but the heart of the giver. They “gave out of their abundance” such that it would have minimal impact on their way of life.  They gave openly for show and for the praise of men not out of a heart for God and not for His praise.

On the other hand Jesus also “saw a poor widow putting in two mites” which is as small an amount as it could be. A widow had no husband to provide for her and there was certainly no government pension forthcoming from Rome for a Jew. We aren’t told whether she had sons to help provide for her although the context would suggest that she did not. Jesus is looking on the heart of the giver not on the amount given.

Jesus says that the widow’s two mites is much more than the rich man’s tithes and offerings. The reason He gives lies in the phrase, “but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood she had” (v 4). It isn’t even a matter of percentage that Jesus is concerned with; in fact He is not concerned with the mathematics at all.

The rich man retained most of what he received for his own pleasure and so that he would not need to depend on the Lord for his daily needs. But the widow gave all she had demonstrating that she was totally dependent upon the Lord for her next day’s provision and beyond. The reason Jesus said that she gave more than the other is because she demonstrated her total faith in Him to provide for her – by giving herself without reservation. Israel’s experience in the wilderness with the manna is an illustration of daily dependence upon the Lord.

This revelation given by Jesus is not so that we will necessarily give all the money that we have, because that was not the issue. The issue is where our heart is. Does He have our heart? To evaluate ourselves we must look at why we retain possessions and what we do with them. This will help us to evaluate whether we keep and store to avoid dependence upon the Lord (i.e. we don’t trust Him).

The kingdom of God is built on the widow’s mite – not on the rich man’s tithes and offerings. This will seem weird and wrong to the pragmatist in us, but perfectly in harmony with the Holy Spirit in us.

We will be free with our finances in measure with our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A Foolish Man

“Fools hate knowledge” Proverbs 1:22

Knowledge exposes error and a person who does not want to have his understanding corrected by reality and truth is foolish and that makes him a fool. The Psalmist tells us that what makes one a fool is, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (Psalm 14:1). All that the book of Proverbs reveals regarding a fool comes out of this one self-deception; the lie that Satan has been deceiving men with throughout time but arguably more successfully in these days. Please look up the verses in Proverbs as you read this article.

The evidence that reveals that a person is a fool or foolish is seen in their actions and heard from their mouth. The tongue of a fool is unbridled (10:10; 29:11, 20) slanderous (10:18), quarrelsome (18:6-7; 20:3), unthinking (18:13), deceitful (14:8), boasting great things (15:2) which are contrary to truth and reality (12:23; 15:7, 14). His error is so great that he would appear wiser if he kept his mouth shut and said nothing (17:28).

Not only is the mouth of a fool out of control but there is no restraint in behaviour. The fool is easily seduced (7:22), disobedient to authority (10:8), uncontrolled (12:16), undisciplined (26:3), lazy (1:32), destructive (14:1) and wasteful (21:20).

Foolishness is innate in a child so he needs to be corrected (22:15). Unless correction is effective he will be a grievous burden on society (27:3) and bring great sorrow to his:her parents (15:20; 17:21, 25; 19:13). Sadly we are now seeing the effects of a couple of generations where children have not been taught self-discipline. They neither obey parents nor authorities in our society.

A fool is also revealed as such by pride (14:3), arrogance (12:15; 14:16; 15:21; 18:2; 26:12) and ignorance of truth (10:14, 21; 13:16; 14:7; 15:14; 28:26). He believes he knows all there is to know on the subject in hand and that his own reasoning is the only logical one. Hence he exalts himself (30:32) and bullies others (30:33).

This makes him unteachable to parents (10:1; 15:5), to correction by others (16:22; 17:10; 27:22) and to the Lord (19:3). The fool has no heart for wisdom and truth because it is contrary to his own understanding and he is “wise in his own eyes (17:16; 23:9; 24:7; 26:7, 11; 29:9).

Though he does not think what he does is evil, he loves to do evil things (10:23; 13:19; 14:9). He will go on in false confidence believing he has it all (26:12) when in fact he will lose everything he thought he had in the most horrendous disappointment when he realises he has staked all on a lie (3:35). The earthly judgments (19:29) will appear as nothing compared to eternal damnation (Hebrews 9:27) that awaits the fool.