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Articles 2014-2017
A Short Study in Isaiah Chapter 50
Thus says the Lord: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”
(Isaiah 50:1 ESV)[38]
While God hates divorce (Malachi 2:14 - 16), He does not hate those who get divorced (John 3:16). One reason He feels so strongly about this subject is His own personal grief caused by His unfaithful spouse. Since His relationship with His people is rooted in covenant, He likens idolatry to unfaithfulness or adultery in a marriage (Jeremiah 3:6 - 10).
In fact, He called Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman so that the prophet could to some degree undergo the pain He was experiencing in His own heart. As a result, Hosea was enabled to prophesy His word accurately with a measure of personal insight. One might look at the prophet’s life and conclude that God had ruined it. I mean, what a costly calling!
And it is unlikely that Hosea just picked out any woman who was known to be morally loose so that he could marry her and fulfill what God had said. Rather, I am sure that He loved his wife deeply, and that her unfaithfulness genuinely grieved him.
But to think that God ruined his life is to totally misunderstand Heaven’s priorities and perspective. Hosea was given the incalculable privilege of coming to know the heart of God. How do we even begin to properly evaluate such an honor?
So here is a question. Had God sent away His people into Babylonian captivity for some slight or trivial reason?[39] There were those in Israel who concluded (based on Deuteronomy 24:1) that one could divorce his wife for any reason at all. Was that what God had done?
Many years later, the Pharisees asked Jesus to weigh in on the subject of divorce. His response was that men should not separate what God had joined together.
They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
Proper biblical understanding requires us to consider a subject from the whole of scripture, from the beginning. Many had read Moses’ words on divorce and had come to wrong conclusions because they misperceived God’s comprehensive perspective. Remember the psalmist’s words:
The sum of your word is truth…
Clearly, one can use the Bible to justify actions that are displeasing to God. Deceived preachers have done great damage in His house simply by promoting individual verses not properly integrated with the whole of scripture.
Back to Isaiah’s prophetic word: God was clearly not sending His people away for trivial reasons but for their grievous sins and transgressions.
But He had a serious question for them.
”Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering.”
Many looked at the condition of the nation and simply did not care. On the other hand, there clearly seemed to be others who cared but did not believe God was able to change the status quo. When the Lord came looking for those who would stand in the gap on behalf of the nation and cry out to Him for mercy, no one was available. So Babylonian destruction became inevitable.
Today, many in the Church look at the great and increasing darkness in our society and conclude that it is a sign of the times; Jesus must be coming soon. But what if they are misinterpreting the Holy Spirit’s anticipation in their hearts? Could it be that He is pointing toward a coming of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit looking for those who will stand in the gap with hearts of faith? Could it be that we have underestimated what He intends to do through the power of the gospel? Could it be that we have begun to think His hand is shortened, unable to bring redemption to millions lost in spiritual darkness and who think that the world’s latest attempt to unify around a global tower of Babel will succeed and bring about man’s next great evolutionary leap? But if our God could rebuke the Red Sea and overthrow the spiritual powers behind Egypt’s mighty military and write for His people His laws on tablets of stone, then surely His hand is not shortened in ability to again shift the powers in the heavens and bring forth His next great work of an increased writing of His laws into the hearts of millions across the globe.
Either way, the nations are coming to a confrontation with the God of heaven. What is our next step?
The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught (the tongue of disciples – NAS), that I may know how to sustain with a word (speak a word in season to – NKJ) him who is weary.
Scholars see this verse as messianic. God’s strategic initiative against the massive spiritual darkness enveloping the world in Isaiah’s day (and beyond) was Christ. And over thirty years He developed in His Son the tongue of a disciple – One who knew how to sustain with a word in season those who were weary.
When men speak a word on God’s behalf when He has not sent them, it is like a great weight bearing down on the souls of those who hear. Here is but one manifestation of legalism. But when one speaks a word in season, a word released from God’s heart and delivered in the right spirit and at the right time, it brings Heaven’s sustenance to those who are weary. Jesus expressed perfectly the life of a disciple and came to Israel bearing His Father’s word to a people who were weary and scattered like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). Here was discipleship in its fullest expression; it was rooted in Christ’s day-by-day intimate relationship with the One who had sent Him.
Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught (as a disciple – NAS).
The word translated “to hear” in the above verse is SHAMA, and it carries the idea of hearing intelligently or with perception so as to respond. Like Jesus’ relationship with His Father, a true disciple of Christ walks in a day-by-day relationship with Him, learns to listen while seeking insight into both His heart and His ways, and then lives a life of response. God’s strategic initiative against the powers of darkness in our day has not changed. It is not some political platform; it is men and women living lives in pursuit of God and walking out the implications.
The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
Christ, our perfect example had to seek the face of His Father. And God opened His ear to hear and gave Him the grace to face the implications. As Jesus grew in understanding of what lay ahead of Him, He did not shrink back. At His trial He did not cower from the whip, rather He turned His back toward the coming blows. He did not turn His face from those who would tear at Him, He turned His face toward them. In facing satanic injustice, our Lord gave himself into the hands of His Father. He gave himself for us.
And while the usual response to shame is to cover up, Jesus despised it (Hebrews 12:2) and refused to let it influence His actions in any way. Crucifixion was a cruel, degrading, and shameful death. But our Lord embraced it that we might be made whole. And ultimately, the shame of it all was nullified. Disgrace was destroyed because the Father intervened and raised His Son from the dead, and death was swallowed up in victory.
But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Jesus set His face like a flint to go to the cross, He trusted in His Father’s love and commitment to Him, and He knew He would be vindicated.
He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Paul might have been thinking of the above verses when he wrote:
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Those who opposed Christ might have looked like they were victorious while Jesus suffered on the cross, but where are they today? And where is He? He rules and reigns over the nations from His throne at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
As for those who oppose Him today, they and their philosophies are like a thinning threadbare shirt with a growing number of moth holes. Like at Calvary, they might appear to have the power and influence to conform the nations to their views. But Heaven’s pronouncement is that while at one time they might have passed for a nice dress shirt, they can increasingly be likened to frayed and tattered clothing one would be ashamed to wear in a public place.
The greatest difficulty of the cross is the sense that God has deserted us. Notice Isaiah’s counsel for those who though they fear the Lord and respond humbly to His servants, it just seems as if there is no clarity, no illumination, no clear direction forward.
Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
When there is no clarity, we must simply trust in the trustworthy One. We must keep expecting that He will make himself known. Illumination will come, answers will be provided. Just like Jesus who trusted and was raised from the grave, so also for us there may be pain in the night but joy will come with the morning light.
If we fail to trust Him, we will simply seek to solve present problems on our own; we will provide our own light. And like Abraham, we will bring forth an Ishmael.
Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
In a word, we will save ourselves a lot of pain if we simply trust in the Lord, and patiently wait on Him for His perspective, and then go His way. In the end, darkness will crumble before those who follow in Christ’s footsteps.
Donald Rumble – November 2016
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