Isaiah 22:15-25, Decrees and Those Who Write Them (2)

We are considering “those who write decrees.”  We began in Isa. 10:1 and now move on from there.

·       Isa. 22:16: Shebna, a ruler of Jerusalem (he was a scribe, one who writes things, Isa. 36:3), had rejected God’s word through Isaiah.  He had hewn himself a grave, the grave of a rich and important man since it was hewn from rock.  Why did he “carve” a tomb (perhaps indicating he put his name on it; and this word “tomb” is miskan, a dwelling place; i.e. a fancy tomb to dwell in after he died) when the LORD said he would be die in a large country, having been driven from office by the LORD (read v15-19 for the whole story, and v20-25 for his replacement who was a man more worthy of the honor.)  Point: haqaq can be good or bad, and the LORD honors those who are good.

·       Isaiah 30:8: Isaiah is told to write on a tablet and “note” it on a scroll, that Judah is a rebellious people.  They sought help from Egypt instead of the LORD (30:1-7) and rejected the prophets of the LORD (v9-11).

·       Isaiah 33:22: For Israel, the LORD is their Judge (shawfat), Lawgiver and King (malak).  There are three areas of ruling seen in these terms.  Israel was a “mediatorial” kingdom, with God using men to carry out His will.  His authority was mediated.  Obeying the rulers was to be synonymous with obeying God.

·       Isa. 49:16: God comforts Judah.  They are “inscribed” (it’s official, a decree) on the palms of His hands.

·       Ezekiel 4:1: The prophet was told to “portray” Jerusalem on a clay tablet.

·       Ezekiel 23:14: Israel’s idolatry was evident in the “portrayal” of images of lusty Chaldeans on the wall.  These two from Ezekiel indicate pictures that have some significant meaning: Jerusalem Judah’s seat of government; Chaldeans the object of Judah’s harlotry/trust.

“Lawgivers” (haqaq) are important, a critical part of God’s plan for the nation.  They existed in the time when the Law of Moses was the law of the land.  Thus we would assume they wrote laws that helped carry out The Law.  The word is “decrees” which is not one of the terms in Deuteronomy which speaks of judgments, statutes and testimonies.  These lawmakers were to be honored.  Under ideal situations, you should neither ignore nor disobey them.  But it is possible that these lawgivers could be wicked, dishonest, open for a bribe or susceptible to working while drunk.  Then you have a problem.  Buksbazen, in his translation of Isa. 10:1, calls them “the writers who legislate trouble.”  Because their decrees are not from the LORD their “Lawgiver” they led the nation into grievous, oppressive or perverse situations, to quote from various English translations.  Pray for your “lawmakers.”

We will carry this over to another post.

Isaiah 10:1-4, Decrees and Those Who Write Them (1)

It is always helpful and much more meaningful if I can take time to meditate on what I read.  Such was the case yesterday as I was reading in Isaiah 9-10.  In the NKJV 10:1 says,

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees,

who write misfortune, which they have prescribed.

Who are these people?  And what does it mean, the “write misfortune”?  The result is a couple of word studies plus some time with my two favorite men of God when I am in Isaiah: Victor Buksbazen and Albert Barnes.  (It will be a while before we get to these men.  First, I want to do the simple word studies.  Decree is the verb (haqaq, 19x in 19 verses) and decrees the masculine noun (heqeq, 2x in 2 verses).  Those who decree apparently write out these decrees which they have come up with.

·       Gen. 49:10: Jacob blessing his sons; the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.  First use is always important.  The “lawgiver” is not the Messiah as “Shiloh” is the only possible reference to Him.  So Judah will always have one who “decrees decrees” until Shiloh comes.  They are “normal.”

·       Num. 21:18: Praise when the LORD provided water in the desert, when a well was dug by the leaders of the nation.  Moses might be the lawgiver but others participate.

·       Deut. 33:21: Moses, blessing the tribes before his death, said this of Gad.  The “lawgiver’s portion” refers to Gad’s prime real estate, east of the Jordan and with the entirety of the Jordan River from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.  A haqaq should be honored.

·       Judges 5:9,14: Deborah and Barak bless the “rulers” of Israel who offered themselves willingly (volunteered) with the people.  Specifically, “rulers” came from Machir, the area of East Manasseh in Gilead, the modern Golan Heights.

·       Job 19:23: Job wishes his words were “inscribed” in a book.  It would seem he wants them more than just recorded but recorded as significant (decrees).

·       Psalm 60:7; 108:8 (identical): Of the tribes the Psalmist agrees with Genesis 49: Gilead and Manasseh are the LORD’s, Ephraim is His helmet, Judah His lawgiver.

·       Prov. 8:15: By wisdom kings reign and rulers “decree” justice.

·       Prov. 8:27,29: Wisdom was there when God drew a circle on the face of the deep.  The KJV says He set a compass, determining directions.  That was decreed by God, as were the foundations of the earth which He “marked out.”  Amazing!

·       Prov. 31:5: Rulers ought not be given over to wine lest they forget the “law.”  That should be set alongside Isa. 10:1, which is where we begin in the next post.

Mk. 16:19-20; 14:32-42, Jesus Obeys His Own Command!

In this, our final post on the Gospel of Mark, we come to the end of the matter.  Jesus has ascended to heaven and is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the Father to deal with His enemies (Ps. 110:1), and at the same time interceding for His own (Rom. 8:34).  Meanwhile, the Apostles “went out and preached everywhere,” being obedient to Jesus commission.  And Jesus’ followers continue today to bring the “world-wide” task to completion.  As Luke said in Ac. 1:1, Jesus had begun to do and teach this.  Now His Body, the Church, is doing what He did.  That is the way it must be.  Allow me to remind you of what I still consider to be the most crucial passage in all of Mark’s Gospel: 8:34-38.

³⁴ When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? ³⁷ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The passage makes it clear that we are called to follow Jesus.  He is the forerunner (Heb. 6:20; 12:1-2).  We are going where He went.  And now, allow me to give you another passage from John’s Gospel, at a time when Jesus’ earthly ministry had come to its conclusion.  Here is what He said then (John 12:23-26):

²³ But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. ²⁴ Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

What Jesus was facing was troubling, hard, the ultimate in suffering.  But this did not change anything because He was not seeking His own life but willing to lose it for the will of the Father.  So there it is: we are called not to seek our own lives but to lost them for the sake of Christ and the gospel!  Pray for me, that even in my old age, I will not neglect the sole commission Jesus gave to His followers.

Mk. 16:9-14; Mt. 14:22-33, Unbelief among the Believers

Marks account of the appearances of Jesus on that “day of resurrection” is concerned with the fact that Jesus’ disciples did not believe those to whom He had appeared.  Mark also does not tell the stories of these appearances.  Instead, we can go to other Gospel accounts and find them.

·       16:9-11: the testimony of Mary Magdalene.  This story is found in John 20:11-18.  Perhaps you remember, that Mary mistook Jesus for one of the gardeners, until she heard Him mention her name.  When Jesus departed the Magdalene immediately ran back to town to find the disciples who were in hiding in fear.  Peter and John went to the tomb to check out her story.  John tells us that he “saw and believed” (20:8), but then he adds in 20:9, For as yet they did not know (lit. understand, perceive) the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.  Thus Mark’s conclusion is, they did not believe. 

·       16:12-13: the testimony of the Emmaus Road disciples.  This story is found in Luke 24:13-35.  Mark says Jesus appeared to them in a different “form.”  The word here is morpe and refers to external appearance, what you can see (the only other NT uses are in Phil. 2:6 & 7).  Luke does tell us they did not recognize Jesus until they broke bread, just as Mary had not recognized Jesus until He mentioned her name.  We also remember that Jesus’ scars in His hands and side were visible (John 20:20,27).  Thus, Jesus’ appearance bore similarities but apparently differences to the body His Father had prepared for Him in His earthly life.  Of course, it is also likely that those who saw the resurrected Lord were not ready to recognize the One who had died on the cross.  Again, Marks conclusion is, they did not believe them either.  We know this because Luke goes on to say in 24:26-27 that when Jesus came into their midst they were terrified and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit/ghost.

Thus, Mark then notes that Jesus, when He had appeared to the “ten” (Thomas was not there) that Jesus rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed their testimony.  Again, we see this in Luke’s account: Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? (Lk. 24:38-43).  The story of Peter walking on the water illustrates this.  Peter had faith to get out of the boat; but his faith was small, wavering when the winds gusted. 

The issue with the Apostles, for me, is that they heard the testimony, and may have believed that the tomb was empty and that they had seen Jesus.  But they did not perceive, or understand, that if this was really true then there was no longer a reason for them to be hiding out.  There was no change in their lives.  The same thing happens today.  We celebrate Easter with great music and preaching and potluck brunches, and yet we do not understand that the Morning Star has risen in our hearts, that we have been raised with Christ to live a new life, by His life in us. 

Mark 16:9-20, Is This the Word of God?

Today’s passage and John 7:53-8:11 are two lengthy passages that have been considered by some as not in the original text.  The arguments for both are that they are not in the “oldest” manuscripts, and yet are found in “most” of the manuscripts.  The “oldest” argument comes from the critical Greek text (NU in the NKJV footnotes, for Nestle-Aland and United Bible Society).  The “most” argument comes from the “majority” text (that was easy).  The Textus Receptus, used for the King James Version of the New Testament, is similar to the majority text but was based on fewer manuscripts.

My point is to simply be sure you know why there are differences.  I do have brothers in Christ who have strong feelings on this issue.  Some favor the KJV and believe the “oldest” manuscripts were not what they claim to be.  Others favor the critical text, accepting the argument that manuscripts closest to the time of the original must be considered more trustworthy.  English translations, based on either argument, such as NKJV (majority text) and NASV (critical text), include both passages with appropriate footnotes. 

I am not particularly interested in this argument, and the thought that I must see it one way or another. As you know from the blog, I use the NKJV.  But the reason is not because I consider it more reliable but because I find it easier for my studies given my grounding in the KJV from my childhood. I will say, as others have also said, that the Mark passage has a certain “feel” to it that sounds like it might have been added later by someone with a particular background, perhaps with an axe to grind. 

I am more interested in the approach that asks if the passages are in sync with the rest of Scripture.  I am not going to base some doctrine on either passage, in light of the questions.  But I am going to study them, verse by verse, or better, word by word.  Along the way I will mention a couple of things that are said in an unusual way.  But they do not disagree with Scripture. 

The question is certainly important.  Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.   Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar (Prov. 30:4-5).  This is the Mormon problem, where they have added “another testament” to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.  And the Jehovah’s Witness problem, when they add words to make Scripture agree with their doctrine (e.g. Col. 1:16, “by means of him all other things were created,” inserting the word “other” as they maintain Christ was a created being).  In their “study Bible” it acknowledges that “other” is not the accurate translation of the Greek. 

One final note.  We believe that God, who revealed Himself in the written word, would preserve that Word down through the ages.  Indeed, what we have, in both the NKJV and NASV, is the most accurate and consistent accounting of any ancient book.  No other book!  The Bible is unique in this way, and that is to the glory of our God who has made sure we have a record of His actual words to humanity!

Psalm 103

What more joyful theme can there be than the one for this Hymn: Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits!  His recompense or reward to the saint is His provision of every need.  Meditate on vs.3-5, on every word.  For example, in the first line of vs3:

·         Who is it that forgives all your iniquities?  The LORD, Yahweh.

·         What does it mean to forgive?  Not to ignore but to pardon, an act which requires a qualified atoning sacrifice, the Seed of the woman, Jesus!

·         What does He forgive?  Iniquities are the perverse, depraved deeds in which we have engaged; anything that has incurred guilt.

·         How many does He forgive?  How many times do you see all in this Song (cf. v2-3 and 21-22)?  Are there any limitations (cf. v9 and v11-14)?

·         Whose iniquities does He forgive? 

The benefits of the LORD are not bound up in His whims or moods; they are founded in His marvelous Name (v8-10).  The reference to Moses in v7 takes us back to that time when, on Mt. Sinai, Moses asked God to reveal Himself (Ex. 33:18).  God did two things (Ex. 33:19): He showed His glory or goodness (Ex. 33:20-23) and He proclaimed His Name (Ex. 34:5-7).  That Name of God (and parts of it) appear all over the Old Testament as an encouragement to God’s people.  This is our God: merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy (v8). 

Paul, in Ephesians 3:14-19, prayed that the saints would comprehend the width and length and depth and height of the love of Christ.  Do you see the many dimensions of God’s love in today’s Psalm? 

·         His mercy to those who fear Him is as high as the heavens, v11.

·         The removal of the transgressions of those who fear Him is a distance as wide as the east is from the west, v12.

·         His fatherly pity reaches as deep as our frame demands, v13-14.

·         His mercy is as long as two eternities, v15-18.

Let us join the angels, the hosts of heaven and all His works in blessing Him today.  This is the invitation specifically made to those who fear Him (v11, 13, 17).  And don’t you love the way it reads?  He didn’t say remember all His benefits.  You have known these from the day you trusted in Christ alone as the promised Savior, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  On that day you knew His forgiveness, His healing of your soul, His redemption, His lovingkindness and tender mercies, and the satisfaction of knowing Him.  You knew all this.  So now don’t forget all His benefits.  In other words, don’t leave your first love.  And engage your soul, who you are at the very deepest point of existence, in blessing (adoring, saluting, praising) the LORD!

Heb. 3:1-6, Faithful in the House!

If I may be permitted, I just have a devotional thought to share today. (Lord willing, we will return to Mark 16 on Monday and complete Mark by end of next week.) It begins with today’s passage in Hebrews.  Moses was faithful “in” His house.  Since every house is built by God (v4), it is proper to capitalize “His” in v5 because the house in which Moses was a faithful servant was Israel and Israel was God’s treasured nation.  And it is proper to call Moses a “servant” because it is the most frequently used adjective attached to “Moses” in Scripture (starting with Ex. 4:10 I see more than 40 times, ending with Rev. 15:3).

One place to get the picture of Moses’ faithfulness is Lev. 8-9.  God told Moses the process to go through in the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests.  The instructions were in Ex. 29 and the obedience of Moses in Lev. 8.  Sometimes we forget, or at least I forget, that Moses acted as “priest” so as to establish the Aaronic order.  Moses washed Aaron and his sons (8:6).  Moses clothed them (8:7-9).  Moses anointed the tabernacle and the chosen men (8:10-12).  Moses killed the bull for a sin offering (8:15).  Then he killed the ram for the burnt offering (8:19).  And he killed the ram of consecration (8:23).  Moses applied blood to Aaron and his sons and the altar (8:24).  This is no small thing.  Moses was the mediator for Israel’s priesthood.

Moses was a great mediator.  He frequently interceded for Israel before the LORD who was often rightfully angry with them.  Moses received the law (from angels) and passed it along to the nation, as part of establishing the Old Covenant.  Moses obeyed God in all this, and the people were called to obey Moses as he faithfully told them all that God said and commanded.  Truly, he was faithful in God’s house.

But of course, the point of Heb. 3 is that Jesus “has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.”  For all his greatness, Moses was still “in” the house.  Jesus was “over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” 

Paul understood this, that he was “in the house” and thus must be responsible to the One who is over the house.  “Let a man so consider us, se servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1).  “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor.  4:5).

My personal meditation is that I need to remember this as a pastor, one who has been given by Christ to the Church (Eph. 4:11).  I cannot serve myself or even my fellow believers; I must serve Christ, the Chief Shepherd (1 Pt. 5:4, i.e. the One over the house).  I see this as a calling, not an occupation or career choice. 

Here is a thought for us all.  Because every believer has received a “measure of faith,” a gift “according to the grace that is given to us” (Rom. 12:3-8), we also have a calling (vocation) from God.  What we have received is to be used in the house, the house/family of God (1 Tim. 3:15).  We are all “stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Pt. 4:7-11).  We have something the rest of the family needs!  Let us be faithful bondservants for Jesus’ sake.

2 Cor. 3:18-4:7, Our Morning Star

We started with the resurrection of Jesus early Sunday morning.  This was a “dawning” from the darkness of death and the tomb to the light of eternal life.  When Jesus returns there will be a dawning: from the judgment and Armageddon to Jesus’ reign in righteousness and peace.  There is also a dawning in our hearts.  We don’t think we are talking about the day we go to be with Christ, although that sounds like a dawning.  We think Peter is talking about a dawning in our hearts, one that is related to the presence of the Word of God in our lives. 

Isn’t Rom. 8:11 speaking of this event: But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.  This “resurrection” takes place in our “mortal bodies,” the body in which we live on this earth, the body which contained the irrepressible urge to sin, and the body which as believers in Christ we now present to Him as a living sacrifice.  This “life” we have is, of course, the life of Christ, the risen Christ, the One who defeated death.

Today’s passage also speaks of this “dawning,” in my view.  We are being transformed into the image of Christ, “from glory to glory.”   Christ is the source of the light, the energy that enlightens us.  This is all God’s work.  God, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  And again, this is not talking about a future in heaven or our future bodily resurrection.  We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us!

Return to Mark 16 for one more thought.  It’s in a word, a place: Galilee (16:7).  At the Passover meal Jesus had told His disciples they would stumble and be scattered that night.  But immediately He added: But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee (Mt. 26:31-32).  Don’t get discouraged by your failures, He said.  After the “dawning” of the third day we will need to gather again.

Jesus appeared to the disciples on the two Sunday evenings after He was raised.  There were other appearances.  But Galilee was out there, a planned meeting, and Matthew tells us this meeting happened (28:16).  It would be fascinating to know how the “impromptu” meeting in John 21, where Jesus restored Peter, fits into the schedule.  It almost certainly happened before the planned meeting, with the plan to go fishing, and with Jesus helping Peter get past the denials/stumbling/scattering.

We get the basics in Mt. 28:18-20.  First, All authority has been given to Me.  Then, as you are going through your lives, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … teaching them … and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age.  There is a purpose for the light that is growing in brightness in these men, and in us, the followers of Christ.  It is that we might be “the light of the world” wherever we go in this life, wherever our “earthen vessels” take us.  May our personal “Morning Star” shine brighter so that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

Malachi 4, “When the sun/Sun had risen”

According to Mark the women arrived at the tomb early Sunday morning “when the sun had risen.”  I cannot help it but this stirs a wonderful thought in my soul.  Jesus is deeply connected to the “dawn” or “sunrise.”  He Himself said, in His final recorded words in Scripture, in Rev. 22:16, I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.  “The Bright and Morning Star” is that last star still visible at the dawn.  And that is Jesus.  The resurrected, ascended Jesus!

The Biblical concept of the “Day of the LORD” depends on this truth about Jesus.  That day begins at sundown, with darkness, chastening of God’s people, and then the judgment of the nations.  It’s the terrible locust plague of Joel’s early prophecy, and then the judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat in Joel’s later prophecy.  It is terrible.

But daylight is coming.  There is a time coming when there will be peace and righteousness and the glory of God in all the earth.  That daylight is when the Kingdom of God has come to earth.  But the judgment cannot end until the Word of God rides out of heaven.  “Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations” (Rev. 19:11-16).  Likewise, the Kingdom of God cannot come to earth in its fullness unless the King has arrived, the Prince of Peace.  “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.  Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice, from that time forward, even forever” (Is. 9:6-7).  None of this happens without the “dawning.”

But it’s not just our future glory in Christ’s presence.  Listen to Peter: And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts (2 Pt. 1:19).  This speaks of a “dawning” in our hearts.  And a “morning star.”  Except a quick check of the Greek and we are surprised.  “Morning star” is not the same as Rev. 22:16. The word here is, literally, pronounced the same way we pronounce it: phosphorus.  For us, “phosphorus” is an element that emits light when it is energized by some energy source.  In Greek it referred to Venus, which is the “morning star” in our sky.  Like phosphorus, Venus has no light of its own; it reflects the sun. 

I confess I am still studying this out.  Commentaries are not particularly helpful.  There is, however, a connection with our resurrection with Christ, that in Christ we have received the One of whom it is said: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (Jn. 1:4).  His Light is the energy that brightens our morning star.  Malichi’s prophecy promised, But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (4:2).  What Peter is telling us is that the word of God which we have (the prophetic word confirmed) is a light that shines in the darkness until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  Through the “prophetic word” we learn Christ, and as we grow in His grace and knowledge His Light enlightens the “phosphorus” in us.  This is such a wonderful thought, but we must continue with it in our next post.