Category: PASSION Reflections

Stand Firm In His Love

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

“…but with great compassion I will gather you….
…with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD, your Redeemer.
“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
– Isaiah 54:7-8, 10

God offers us great compassion. Not just a little. Not just some. Not just the leftovers. God offers us great compassion.

God shows us everlasting love. Not just occasional love. Not just temporary love. Not just conditional love. God shows us everlasting love.

On the cross he showed that love. And on the cross he paid the price to bring us peace with God (53:5). And this covenant of peace cannot be removed, it cannot be cancelled, it cannot be annulled.

And so, even if the mountains and hills in all their stability were to disappear, he will not remove his love from us. He will yet have compassion upon us. Because of Jesus, nothing can separate us from his great compassion and everlasting love.  So stand firm in his love.

Stop fretting that you will somehow lose his love – it cannot be removed.

Stop working, trying desperately to earn his love – he already loves you.

Stop grumbling about your life as though he doesn’t love you.

Stop sinning against this God who loves you so much.

Stop caring what world thinks of you – what does it matter if God himself loves you.

Stop looking for love in all the other places our world looks for love – you have already found the fountain of all love.

So stand firm in God’s love.  Rest in his everlasting love & his great compassion.

The God of universe loves you.

So stand firm in his love.

Consider His Victory

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
– Isaiah 53:10-12

Consider Jesus Our Savior. Consider his victory. Jesus rose victoriously. It is not stated in so many words in these verses, but is everywhere implied. After he has made an offering for guilt (by dying), he yet will see his offspring, his days will be prolonged, and the will of God will prosper in his hands (v10). Again, he will see and be satisfied (v11). And then he will receive the victor’s prize in v12. All of these things require his resurrection in order to happen in any realistic meaningful way.

And yet his victory is not simply found in his resurrection, but in what he accomplished through his death and resurrection:

  • By making an offering for guilt, he brings about an offspring (v10), a people for God who have had their sins paid for so that they might have a relationship with God.
  • By his perfectly righteous life, death, and resurrection, he makes God’s people to be accounted righteous (v11), so that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
  • He intercedes on our behalf (v12), through his payment of sin on the cross, and now in heaven, so that no accusation of the devil against us can stand.
  • Finally, he conquered death and lives forevermore (v10), that in Christ we too might have the sure hope of our own resurrection someday through him.

Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his victory in his resurrection and for our salvation.

Father, thank you for the good news of the resurrection of Jesus.
May we live in gratitude and hope as we ponder the many saving benefits
of your salvation purchased for us.

Consider His Sacrifice

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
– Isaiah 53:5-6

Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his sacrifice.

Like sheep, we had all wandered away from the Shepherd to do our own thing. We chose the path of selfishness instead of loving God and people. We rebelled against our Creator and King. We chose what was evil and wicked. And all of our sins were laid on Jesus.

Jesus took our sins upon himself there on the cross. He paid the price for our sins. And consider the price for our sins. He was wounded. He was crushed. He bore our punishment, and the stripes we deserved. For us. In our place.

He bore the chastisement that we deserved to bring us peace – peace with God. In Jesus, we are reconciled to God. In Jesus, we can have a relationship with our Creator. We can draw near and commune with him as his children. We can know his daily presence in our lives, and the joy he alone can give.

And by his stripes we are healed, healed from the infection of sin and all its dire consequences. We are healed from the guilt of sin which was paid on the cross. We are healed from the power of sin, so we can live a new life with Jesus. And we will one day be healed from the presence of sin and all of its results. When Jesus returns, there will be no more sin, no more sorrow, no more sickness, no more suffering, no more pain, no more death.

Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his sacrifice to pay for our sins to bring us peace with God and healing from sin.

Father, thank you for Jesus who paid the price for my sins.
Help me to live in the peace and healing that was purchased for me,
even as I look toward the day of final healing when Jesus returns.

Consider His Suffering Again

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him…
– Isaiah 52:14-15a

Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his suffering. He was beaten. A crown of thorns was pressed onto his head. He was scourged with a whip that ripped open his flesh forty times. He was hung on a cross with nails in his hands and feet. The extent of his suffering was so great that our passage tells us he didn’t even look like a man. He didn’t even look human, but rather a bloody mass of flesh hanging there on the cross. Consider his suffering.

And in his suffering, he sprinkles the nations. The high priest would sacrifice an animal and sprinkle the blood to cleanse, to purify, to make clean. And in the suffering of our Savior, his blood was spilt to be sprinkled on the nations, to cleanse us from our sins, to make us pure and clean. Consider his suffering that cleanses us from our sins.

And in his suffering, he shocks the nations. As people looked upon this suffering servant, they were astonished. They shut their mouths in shock and dismay at this spectacle of suffering. And yet the shock goes beyond the suffering to the salvation that flows from it – that we would be saved by his shed blood. How strange is this salvation!

And we ought to wonder. The cross can become so familiar to us. But stop and wonder at his sufferings on your behalf. Wonder at his incredible love that endured such suffering. Wonder at this great salvation that flows from his suffering. Stop and wonder.

Father, thank you for the suffering of Jesus that cleanses us from our sins.
May we wonder anew at his suffering and the shocking salvation
that flows from his blood.

Consider His Suffering

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
– Isaiah 53:3

Consider Jesus our Savior. Consider his suffering. He was despised and sentenced to die. He was rejected by his own people, forsaken even by his own disciples. He was a man of sorrows. He was acquainted with grief. He was familiar with suffering.

And what about you? Do you feel despised? Rejected? Forsaken? Do you know sorrows? Grief? Suffering? Jesus has been there. He knows how you feel. He knows the hurt you are experiencing. Our God is not a distant God who cannot be touched by our weaknesses. But he became one of us and can identify with us. And he did it because he loves us, because he cares about us. So in your trials run to him – he knows and he cares.

Father, thank you that Jesus can identify with us in our weaknesses.
Thank you that you care about us in our trials.
Help us to run to you and find rest for our souls.

Consider His Rejection

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

Who has believed what he has heard from us?
– Isaiah 53:1a

The gospel goes out, but few believe. The good news is preached, but few respond. This verse is quoted in John 12:37-38 in reference to people’s response to Jesus’ ministry. Jesus was indeed despised and rejected by men (Isaiah 53:3). This verse is also quoted by Paul in Romans 10:16 in reference to the many who refused to believe the gospel message as he preached it. And we might yet quote it today in our own context – who indeed has believed what he has heard from us? The good news of Jesus is all too often despised and rejected by men.

And yet Calvin suggests that this verse is not merely describing the refusal of people to believe in Jesus back then or today. Rather, it is Isaiah groaning before the Lord and crying out – who has believed what he has heard from us? Isaiah proclaimed the message of the coming Suffering Servant, but most refused to believe. And so he groans before the Lord.

We too ought to groan before the Lord for those who have not believed. We too ought to cry out to Him on behalf of unsaved family and friends, our neighbors and our communities. We too ought to groan, cry out, plead with God to open blinded eyes that they might see Jesus and believe.

Father, help us to groan for the lost.
May we be faithful in crying out to you on behalf of those
who desperately need a Savior.

Consider His Unimpressiveness

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
– Isaiah 53:2

Consider Jesus our Savior. He was unimpressive to the people. He was a nobody, or so it seemed. He was not royalty. He was not wealthy. He wasn’t even a Roman – which in that day meant he wasn’t much. He was a common Jew – part of a defeated nation. And he wasn’t even from Jerusalem, but backwoods Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? He hung around with sinners and tax collectors. Nothing impressive about that! When you looked at him, you didn’t see majesty or beauty. He was just a common person, someone like you and me. He was unimpressive.

And yet this young plant was the shoot that would come forth from the stump of Jesse; this root out of dry ground was the branch from Jesse’s roots that would bear fruit (Isaiah 11:1). This unimpressive man was the promised Messiah King! And “of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of host will do this” (Isaiah 9:6).

Father, help us to look beyond the unimpressive exterior,
and perceive the glory of our Messiah King.

Walking in the Dark

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

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.
– Isaiah 50:10

You have been there.
Walking in the dark.
With no light.
Nothing makes sense.
You don’t understand.
You wonder why.
Where is God in the midst of this?
Why is this happening to me?

And in the midst of darkness, God calls us to trust him.
To trust him in that trial.
To trust him in that struggle.
To trust him in the midst of that turmoil, that sorrow, that pain.

Just trust him.
Keep looking to him.
Rely on him.
Lean on him.
Rest in him.

Whatever dark paths you may be on today,
trust in the name of the Lord and rely on your God.
And he will hold you up.

Costly Obedience

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah

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.
– Isaiah 50:5-6

These verses speak of the Servant of the Lord. He would obey God even to the point of suffering. And we know that the Servant is Jesus whose back was lashed, whose beard was pulled out, whose face was spit upon. As Philippians 2:8 tells us, he was obedient to the Father even to the point of death on the cross.

What about us? Are we willing to obey even to the point of suffering? Will we obey God even when it is hard, when it hurts? Will we obey even when we don’t feel like it? Will we obey even when it hits our pocketbook, intrudes on our free time, or crosses our comfort zone?

Jesus obeyed to the point of death, giving us an example of costly obedience. And he calls us to follow in his steps.

And yet on the other side of the cross, Jesus was and is exalted above every other name. On the other side of the suffering came great blessing. And so it is for us. Obedience may bring suffering for a time, but blessing follows close behind.

So let us obey regardless of the cost, setting our gaze on the blessings yet to come.

Morning by Morning

On By BrianIn Book of Isaiah, Habit of Scripture1 Comment

Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
– Isaiah 50:4b

This verse is found in the third Servant Song speaking of the coming Servant of the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. And morning by morning he listened to God. It was a regular habit – a daily habit – listening to God.

Now the verse gives us a description of the Servant. It is not a command. And yet it is a good example for us to follow, even more so because it is the example of our Lord whom we follow. Morning by morning, he listened to God.

I love to read Christians biographies of men who were close to God and did great things in the kingdom. And the recurring testimony of these men is that they spent time with God morning by morning. If we want to be close to God and be used by God in his kingdom, we ought to consider their testimony and follow their example.

Morning by morning – listen to God.