Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Oct 11 2019 - Isaiah 45:14-25 – Turn to me and be saved

Yesterday we saw that the Lord is at work through all the turns of human history to save his people and fulfil his promises. The focus yesterday was on the way in which God was at work to rescue his people, Israel, from captivity in Babylon, but we also noted that God is at work through all human history to save a people for himself from every nation on earth. And we might add that he is at work to rescue every part of his creation from the dominion of evil and death.

This theme is picked up in today's reading. God's salvation of Israel from captivity will bring other nations to see that the God of Israel is the living God in contrast with the useless idols in which they have placed their trust (vv. 14-17).

God declares himself to be the creator of the heavens and the earth. He did not intend his creation to be an empty shell (v. 18). He intended it to be populated with animate creatures. In particular, he created the earth to be populated by men and women made in his own image. He intended them to enjoy his love and to love him in return, and that they should be his agents in caring for his creation.

But something has gone very wrong with God's world. Most obviously, humankind has rebelled against God and made a complete mess of his world. In particular, "Jacob's descendants", the people God rescued from slavery in Egypt, turned their back on him and turned to idols. God now calls upon them to turn back to him (v.19), to return from the nations where they had been scattered under his judgment. He calls them to leave behind their useless idols and return to him (v.20).

But since there is no other God and Saviour except the God of Israel the Lord calls upon people from every nation to leave their idols and turn to him:

Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth;
    for I am God, and there is no other.
By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity
    a word that will not be revoked:
before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. (vv. 22-23)

In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul quotes the last of these lines from Isaiah 45:23, but gives them a new twist. Perhaps quoting or adapting a first-century hymn, he writes of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for our salvation. The Son of God became incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ and humbled himself not only by living a human life of poverty and self-denial but supremely by taking our place when, at the cross, he endured the judgment that our sins deserved.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Jesus is God our Saviour. He calls on people from every nation under heaven to turn to him and be saved; to bow the knee to him and to acknowledge that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." We rejoice that God's saving mercy and goodness has embraced us in Christ. Surely we must join our voices to swell the call of God, "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth"?

Father God, we thank you that there is no other God like you and no other Saviour like the Lord Jesus Christ. His is the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Help us by your Spirit to turn our joy over sins forgiven and the promise of eternal life into an invitation for others to come and share that joy by turning to and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is Lord.

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Oct 11 2020 - Hebrews 7:1-14 – King of righteousness

What's in a name? For us, a name is just a convenient handle or identifier, but not all names are like that. Before the Virgin Mary's child was born, Joseph was told that he was to be given the name "Jesus, because he would save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). Jesus, the Greek form of the name Joshua, was a common enough name in those days, but this child was to bear the name not simply as a convenient handle but as a description of his calling: Joshua means the Lord saves; in this child the Lord had come to save his people.

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews makes much of the fact that Jesus is made our great high priest after the order of Melchizedek. The name Melchizedek means King of righteousness. This Old Testament character was king of Salem (or Jerusalem). Salem means Peace, so Melchizedek was also King of Peace. Jesus is heir to these two titles. He reigns over a kingdom which is characterised by righteousness and peace and he reigns "on the basis of the power of an indestructible life" (Hebrews 7:16). His kingdom will know no end.

I wonder what picture the word “righteousness” conjures up for you. It describes that which is right and just and true. But we know that we live in a world that is far from righteous; it is a world in which many things are wrong and there is much that invites God’s righteous judgment. And we are all too aware that this is not some disease which is confined to others; in every part of our own lives we fall short of what God created us to be. How can we have a part in the kingdom of righteousness?

The writer to the letter to the Hebrews, unlike Paul, does not speak explicitly about justification, but he has much to say about the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Jesus died for us and has been raised from the dead for us. He has conquered the power of death and is now our Great High Priest in the heavens. Trusting him, our sins are forgiven and we are declared righteous in God’s sight. These themes are wonderfully brought together in the hymn of Charitie Bancroft:

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea,
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died
My sinful soul is counted free,
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The king of glory and of grace.
One with Himself I cannot die,
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Saviour and my God!

He is our peace. He is our righteousness. He is our unchanging and unshakable hope of glory; one day, at his appearing, we – and all things – shall be put to rights.

Father God, we praise you that Jesus is both King of Righteousness and King of Peace and that in your grace and goodness you have brought us to own him as Lord and to live as subjects of the King. May our lives reflect the righteousness and peace that we see in Jesus, anticipating the day when all that is broken shall be healed and the whole of creation shall be characterised by righteousness and peace.

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Peter Misselbrook