Dear Friends,
I’ve been thinking this week about what the Bible has to say about prophets and prophecy.
When we call someone a prophet, we’re usually thinking about a person who predicts the future. Someone who can see what is hidden or what is to come.
But when the Bible talks about a prophet, it is speaking more broadly than that. The word prophesy means “to speak forth.” A prophet in the Bible is someone who speaks on behalf of God.
A prophet tells people what God is thinking about how they are living their lives. About the choices they are making.
And most of the time, a prophet is not congratulating someone for their faithfulness. Most of the time, a prophet is pointing out where someone has drifted from the God and His ways. He calls them to repent and return to God.
We need prophetic voices in our day. People like Isaiah.
Isaiah lived and prophesied from the middle of the eighth century BC until the early part of the seventh century BC – from roughly 740 BC until 680 BC. The kingdom had been divided for about 250 years when God called him to prophesy. Isaiah lived in Judea, the southern Kingdom, in Jerusalem. During his lifetime, the Assyrian army invaded the northern Kingdom and took the people captive.
He was a political insider – he had access to what was happening in the inner circles of power in Judea. He spoke out boldly about both the political compromises he saw. He was like a cross between an outspoken preacher and an op-ed newspaper columnist. Of course, Isaiah’s words were divinely inspired and authoritative. He addressed the issues of his day. Over and over again, he called kings to repent of making alliances with foreign rulers instead of trusting in God to deliver His people.
He also addressed the spiritual compromise he saw in Judea. He called God’s people to repent of their idolatry. Isaiah made it clear that God hates phony religion and sham spirituality. The first chapter of Isaiah pulls no punches:
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
(Isaiah 1:11-15)
The notes in the ESV Study Bible sum up Isaiah’s message in chapter one this way: “God is offended by religious ritual, however impressive, if it conceals an empty heart and a careless life.”
Isaiah begs the people of Israel not to think that somehow their external obedience to God will please Him and will buy His favor. Instead, he says, return to God with your whole heart. Trust. Bow. Worship.
But Isaiah’s central theme was a message of hope. More than any other person in the OT, Isaiah talked about God sending a Deliverer, a Messiah. He reminded his fellow Jews that God, with His mighty hand and outstretched arm, would save them. In fact, his name, Isaiah, means “Yahweh is salvation.”
Isaiah never shied away from declaring that in a world filled with idols, Yahweh is the only true and great God. He was consumed with an awareness of the holiness, the greatness and the power of Yahweh. He called Him the Holy One of Israel, using that designation for God twenty-five times. That title for God is found only five times in the rest of the Old Testament.
Isaiah routinely reminded his audience that God is the holy One, the powerful One, the faithful One who will deliver His people if they will trust Him, turn to Him and turn away from their idols.
There are other significant themes in Isaiah. Like the theme that God is not just the God of the Jews, but that He is the God of all the earth, and that one day, all nations, tongues and tribes will come to Zion. From chapter two through chapter sixty six, that message comes through loud and clear.
Isaiah also regularly reminded God’s people that although the nation might turn away from Him, God would always preserve a faithful remnant.
But the biggest theme in the book of Isaiah is a gospel theme. God, Isaiah declared, would one day send the great deliverer to rescue us.
More than anyone in the Old Testament, Isaiah prophecies about the coming Messiah.
He tells about a virgin bearing a son whose name would be called Emmanuel.
He tells us that the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
He tells us that the Messiah will be a shoot from the stump of Jesse, from the line of David.
He tells us that the Spirit of the Lord will be upon Him. And that the Lord will anoint Him to bring good to the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to open prison doors for those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
He tells us that the Lord’s Servant will establish justice in the earth. That He will be a light for the nations. That He will bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
And he tells us that the Messiah will suffer.
His back will be scourged. His beard will be plucked. He will be mocked and spit on. He will bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. He will be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. And by His wounds, we will be healed.
And he offers this clear invitation.
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.”
(Isaiah 55:1)
Who is invited? All who are thirsty and bankrupt.
What is offered? Abundant life.
But how can you buy wine and milk and food with no money? Who pays?
Jesus. He paid it all.
Isaiah understood the gospel clearly. He knew our biggest problem is our rebellion and rejection of God and His ways. He kept calling his kinsmen to repent. And he boldly declared the promise of God to renew, restore and repair what is broken.
Like I said, we need prophetic voices in our day. People like Isaiah.
And like Isaiah, let each one of us respond to God‘s call to go and make disciples by saying “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”
FALL MEN'S BIBLE STUDY
The Fall Men’s Bible study begins next week. There are two meeting times. Pastor Matt will be leading through the book of 1 Peter on Tuesdays during lunch at his home and on Thursday nights at the church. Choose your preferred time and plan to attend. You can find out more and register for the study by clicking here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=4de6c6ab63&e=fbb0a4052b). WOMEN'S FALL BIBLE STUDY
The Fall Women’s Bible Study also kicks off next week. It’s an eight-week study of 1 and 2 Peter. You can choose the Monday night group or the Tuesday morning group, with both classes meeting at the church. Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=567f9153b6&e=fbb0a4052b) to learn more or to sign up.
COLLEGE AND YOUNG ADULTS - NXTGENIf you’re a college student or a young adult looking to connect with others in our church, plan to meet up at the Gurney’s house on Saturday, October 4 at 7 pm for a NxtGen Hangout.
MEN'S FELLOWSHIP BREAKFASTOur next Men’s Fellowship Breakfast happens on Saturday, October 11 at 8:30 at the church. We’ll wrap up in time for all of us to see the Hogs take on Tennessee that day.
PREPARING YOUR HEART FOR SUNDAY
Here’s our New City Catechism questions for this Sunday.
Here is the link to this week’s video (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=805455205a&e=fbb0a4052b) where John Piper talks about this week’s question and answer.
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=d27142215b&e=fbb0a4052b)
And here is this week’s catechism song (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=3878b6269b&e=fbb0a4052b).
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=edf2c250ea&e=fbb0a4052b)
And finally, as always, here is the link (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=9690e95e6e&e=fbb0a4052b) that will take you to the Spotify playlist of the songs we’ll be singing together this Sunday.
SUNDAY'S COMING
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is bookended with two very important words. Grace. And peace. In fact, the central message of the book can be summed up in those two words. God gives us the peace for which our soul longs by His grace. And the peace comes as we begin to understand that if we have surrendered our lives to Him, He has blessed us with more than we can imagine, ask or think. We’ll see how Paul presents this glorious truth as we gather this Sunday for worship.
See you in church.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bob
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Redeemer Community Church
11512 David O Dodd Road
Little Rock AR 72204
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