JOY "The Kingdom of God" February 23

February 23, 2011
The Kingdom of God  Part 1

I.     A Highway----40: 3-5, 42:14-17, 43: 16-21, 49: 8-13
II.    Water in the Desert----41: 17-20, 43: 19-21, 49:10, 51:3
III.   The Holy Spirit-----44: 1-5
IV.   Mother Zion-----54:1-17

Marxist Guerillas captured missionary, Bruce Olsen and dragged him through South American jungles, to their isolated camp, in Columbia. Day after day, month after month, he had no idea, what the next day would bring, except more suffering, from malaria and from endless rain, soaking his body. Each hour, he had to face a new and fresh guard and every few days, he faced a new trek through the jungle, to a new hide-out. Dislocated joints----no matter how painful, were no excuse, not to walk on, through the jungle, wherever his captors wanted to take him. Eventually, he taught himself, a pain-ignoring technique. He would tell himself, "I'm in pain, yes, but this pain exists only in my body and the real me, is not my body, my body is just a physical form, where my mind and my spirit dwell--and they are separate from my body, not a part of it."

Olsen wrote this, about his experience, "It may seem bizarre to some people, but the truth is, that it never once, occurred to me, that it was God's responsibility, to rescue me, miraculously, from this situation. Instead, I believed that it was my responsibility, to serve God,right where I was. So, everyday I prayed, "Father, I'm alive, and I want to use this time constructively. How can I be useful to you today? Olsen said, that, that that kind of prayer was how he started every day of his life. He said, "that he didn't believe that his prayers and his outlook should change, just because he was in the hand of Guerillas, because, he knew, that it was His God, not his captors, who would control, the outcome of the situation.  

That kind of prayer was nothing new for Bruce Olsen. He had become a believer at the age of 14----- and at age19, the Lord, had called him to be a missionary, to the "stone age-Indian tribes", in South America. So, in 1961, he went to Columbia, with a one way ticket and 70 dollars, in his pocket. He was captured first, by the Motilones Tribe, and after a lot of suspicion, an arrow shot in his foot, and many barbaric feats to prove his bravery-------he led many of them to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ------as well as many other people groups, in the area. In 1989, he was kidnapped, by the Guerillas, who wanted to use him, as a bargaining tool, with the government and with the Indians. There was national outcry and 50 tribes banded together and threatened war, if Olsen wasn't released. It took 9 months to secure his freedom-----but during that time, he led more than 60, of the guerillas, to a saving faith, through prayer and bible study. And after that ordeal, from then until now, there has been a phenomenal willingness and openness, to the gospel, in that area. Countless lives have been changed, and thousands of people have accepted the Lord, as their Savior. Olsen and the many believers, that he has influenced, have built schools and clinics and agricultural centers. --------One man's obedience, over 50 years, has given Jesus and civilization, to a whole generation. Amazing!!!!!!!!

God used Isaiah's message, to teach the same lesson that Bruce Olsen understood, to Israel. But Israel didn't endure pain and discouragement like Olsen did, they lamented and groaned under their situation. But God kept giving them opportunity to know Him and to trust Him. And, He kept promising them, that He would never leave them nor forsake them and He assured them that eventually, in spite of their temporary rejection, they would inherit, all of His wonderful blessings.

Life brings pain and disappointment, as well as joy and laughter, to each of us. We have to decide before they come, how we will live through them. Do we have a special plan for trying times? that may or may not work-------- or do we pray each day, the same way that Olsen did-----that no matter what comes our way, that God is in control of it and that it is for our good, ultimately and that we need, for Him to use us, in a constructive way, for His glory and for the kingdom, in the middle of it.
We need to get into the habit of expecting God to use us. The kingdom of God is now! ------we should behave now, the same way we will behave, when Jesus comes back, to establish His kingdom. Our behavior now, should be such, that it will just extend and blossom into perfection, once we arrive in the eternal kingdom. (we have a tendency to make excuses for ourselves and our behavior now, putting off until the 2nd coming, what we should be doing today) If we're believers, our kingdom behavior should have already started and it should just get fuller, as eternity becomes a reality. Jesus lived the fullest human life that anyone has ever lived and He's our example. Life is more than a physical functioning of the body------it involves a personal relationship------full-life involves having a deep and abiding relationship with God, through Jesus, and that life begins now….

I.      A Highway

This is a picture of a road being built over rugged terrain. When engineers were building the railroad through the Rocky Mts., they encountered the same obstacles that Isaiah has mentioned in this passage. Valleys had to be filled and brought up to grade and mountains had to be cut through, in order to construct a reasonably level way. Every valley, in its path, was exalted and every mountain and hill was made low. At the same time, twists and turns were straightened out and rough ground was made smooth. Only then, could the track be laid down and the railroad become workable.
When John the Baptist preached, in the Jordan valley, he identified this leveling process as a picture of repentance. It wasn't physical ground that needed to be leveled, it was the hearts and the lives, of John's listeners, that needed to be leveled. When John cried ,"Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" it was the truth, the kingdom was already there, because Jesus was already in the world. The baptisms that John performed were not like the Christian baptisms, that we have all experienced------they didn't signify the death and resurrection of Jesus-------the baptisms that John performed were ones of repentance-------they symbolized the willingness, of the people being baptized, to put their lives in order, in preparation, for the coming of the Messiah.
The King has already come, and He is with us now, where we are, as we are, in the wilderness and the desert of our lives and He will come again and we need to be ready to receive Him. If we know Him now, then we won't be strangers, when He comes back again.

One day, in the future, God will accomplish His purpose. Every valley will be lifted up and every mountain will be made flat. Isaiah may be talking about literal, topographal changes, in this passage----but he is, also, definitely, talking about a new moral topography. He is talking about salvation and how it disrupts the landscape of the world that we live in. He is saying that lifting, and lowering and smoothing and leveling are necessary, to thrive in the kingdom of God. He is talking about depression being relieved and pride being flattened and troubled personalities being smoothed and difficult people becoming easy to get along with. Jesus, alone, can make this happen and through it, God has decreed that the glory of the Lord Jesus, will be revealed to the whole world-----we can be certain of it, because God has said it is so. His glory, can be seen everywhere right now, the problem is, not everyone looks for it or cares to see it--------but one great day, it will be admired and trembled at and delighted in, by all people.

The great sin of human beings, is that we diminish God's glory, even believers do. The truth is, we don't even really understand it. But there will come a day, when God will level, all obstacles in our path, and we will see Him for who His is, in all His majestic splendor. The glory of the Lord, is the fiery radiance of His nature, as He led the Children of Israel through the desert at night and it's the cool comfort of a cloud, as He led them in the day------it is the blazing beauty, that set Moses' face aglow, on Mt. Sinai -------and it is the sweetness of His presence as it filled the tabernacle-----God's glory is the sound of 1000 angels singing, as they lit up the sky, on the night, that the baby Jesus was born------and it is the passion that the crucified Savior, felt, as He hung on the cross for us. The glory of the Lord, is God Himself, becoming visible. It is God, bringing His presence down to us, when we least expect it. It is God giving us the true answer, to our deepest longings, Himself. We need to have the courage to welcome Him, and to let Him restructure our hearts and our lives. He is worth the upheaval.

Isaiah says, that God is like a soldier going into battle and that He's like a woman crying out, in labor. These two similes teach us,  
that God's glory, is revealed to us, by His grace. God's grace is more than leniency and permissiveness and niceness. God's grace is His resolve and determination------ that He will settle for nothing less, than our eternal joy and satisfaction with Him and that He is willing to fight for our salvation, no matter how much He has to suffer for it.
We need God----we need for Him to clear the pathway for us, there is nothing we can do, in our own strength, that matters, for any purpose. We can go through our days and our routines, without once calling on Him, but that doesn't mean that we can really accomplish anything------ because, even a bind person, can get around in familiar surroundings. God wants to take us, to where we're helpless without Him. He wants us to trust Him enough, to follow Him, no matter where He leads us, even if we can't see over the next hill, or around the bend in the road, believing, that He'll take us safely home.

The intervention of God, in our lives, is ongoing. Isaiah reminded His readers about how God had led them out of Egypt and about how He had destroyed Pharaoh's army and parted the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River------He wanted them to remember who He had been, so that they could trust, who He was, right then---- and---- who He would be, in the future. He wanted them to believe that they could always count on Him, to move any roadblocks, that would hamper them on their path to salvation.

God wants us to understand, that the great Exodus out of Egypt, was not a one-time event; that it's a pattern. In the ways of God, the Exodus, is just a drop in the bucket-------God can repeat it, and so much more, any time He wants to. It's His standard "modus of operandi" with us, through the finished work of Jesus, on the cross. He doesn't want us, to so concentrate on His mercies ,to us, in the past, that we miss the new things, that He is doing in our lives, today. God never acts out of character, but a part of His character, is that He never runs out of new ideas. He is able, in ways that we can't even begin to imagine, to lead us on dry ground, though any Red Sea barrier that we come up against. We don't have to worry, if we will just wait and be patient and not fret, He will part the waters. And when God does this for us and we get to the other side------for just a moment----we can catch a glimpse of His true glory-and it will grip our hearts and thrill our souls. (Jim Elliot, was martyred by the Auca Indians in Equador in 1956-----he wrote this in his journal in 1951, "I walked out to the hills just now. It is exalting, delicious. To stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the wind tugging at your coattail and the heavens hailing your heart----to gaze and glory and give oneself to God, what more could a man ask? Oh the fulness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement, of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for Him, if only I may love Him…")

The rough road has been smoothed out for us. We don't have to wait for something better------Jesus is it. Jesus is the great leveler. He is the embodiment of God's grace and His glory. He, is how God pours out favor on us, and, how we are bound to God, in return. From the beginning, God has given Himself to us, through covenants and formal agreements, that we can believe in, and stand on. God is not ad-libbing His way along. He has always had  plan. He is not casual or offhanded, in His dealings, with us. He is a serious person, who takes us seriously, and who knows how weak we are. God knows that we could never keep up our end of the covenant, with Him, and He knows, that we need Jesus, to do it for us. So, He sent Him. Isaiah's prophetic vision, sweeps across the history of salvation. He is able to see it all, because the great Highway is straight and true.  And, through his words, we can see it too------We can see God, through the the Lord Jesus, as He restores the ruins, that sin has made out of us. We can see, how He sets us free, from our self-imposed prisons and how He leads us forward, into a new way of life, where He cares for us, moment by moment and provides for us fully, and overcomes, even the slightest obstacle. And, we can see, that His salvation, gathers in the Jews, as well as multitudes of people, from all over the world, and we can rejoice, as we see history rush, toward the the great day of the Lord, when all people will serve Him together.

II. Water in the Desert

God has promised, that there will come a day, when their will be water in the desert, in places, physically, where there has never been before. This hasn't happened in it fullness yet, even though, in the 64 years, of Israel's modern existence, incredible advances have been achieved. And even though they have done wonderful things-----all their efforts have still been man-made achievements------it has been the result of sheer hard work and human diligence, and technology. God hasn't yet, miraculously created rivers and forests, in places where there is no water. But, one day He will------and the entire world will see, that it's His hand alone, that has brought it to pass------When cedars and acacias, myrtles, olives, pines, firs and boxwoods, are made to flourish, in the dry desert and pools of water lie in places that were dry and barren, it will be obvious to everybody, that God has been at work. We will see this happen when the Millennial Kingdom is put into place.

And in a spiritual sense-------our hearts and lives are dry, parched deserts. And God, has already provided the life-giving water that can satisfy our souls. He presents Himself to us as our abundant refreshment, through the sacrifice of Jesus. In John 7:37-38, Jesus said, " If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'out of the heart will flow rivers of living water.'" God's ultimate purpose in lavishing Himself upon us so richly, is so, that He will receive the glory and we will receive His mercy. God is not someone that we need to dread, in His sovereignty---He is the one, that we need to open our hearts up to and be satisfied. In the scripture-------water being poured out----is a symbol of the overflowing, life-giving, abundance of the Holy Spirit. When thirsty people, "seek water", in prayer-------God will answer them, with the only answer, in the universe, that makes sense------He gives us Himself, immediately and fully. And even though He doesn't always do it in the way that we want, or the way that we understand------He always does it, in the way that we need.
God promises us water and He doesn't promise it as a morning dew or as a light sprinkling------- He promises us pools and rivers and springs and fountains, of water. We need that much of God; and we can have that much of God! And by refreshing us, God increases the vision of his own glory. The outflowing of His grace, opens people's minds, to see, know, consider and understand, just how good, God really is. As He pours out His refreshment from heaven we are able to serve His purpose, by enjoying His abundant goodness, in the sight of the nations. That's why we should seek His outpouring and embrace the fullness of it. We can experience God and all that He has to offer, through the Holy Spirit. What a blessing! The most convincing witness, of the reality of God, in the truth-denying and truth-killing world, that we live in, is not the brilliance of man------it is the presence of God, who lives in our midst, in the person of the Holy Spirit. We can stake the quenching of our thirst, the enrichment of our lives and our eternal survival on Him.

We need to believe in the God of the scripture------we need to think of Him, treat Him and pray to Him, based on who He has revealed Himself to be, through the scripture, through Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. We need to believe that the life-giving waters of the Spirit, can fill us up to overflow and that we can trust Him to uphold us and to strengthen us and to guide us and to comfort us and to teach us and to refresh us. We need to believe that He can make us invincible to the world and to the enemy. We don't have to ever believe the lies that they sling at us. We have to learn to give up on ourselves and to delight in the Lord and to recognize that He is all we need.

God is a life-giver----- If He touched Abraham and Sarah, as old and barren, as they were and was able to give them a child-----who was the beginning of a mighty nation, who was called to bless the world------why in the world, do we have so little faith, that we wind up forgetting, that He can bring something new to you and me? If we have the faith of Abraham, not the adequacy of it, but the same need of it, matched with his openness and his willingness to trust God, then the Lord will count it to us as righteousness, just like He did for Abraham and He will make our weakness, a strength. What God did for Abraham was not a solitary thing--it was the same as what He did for Moses------ it's His pattern. Romans 4:17 says that "God gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist."  God will turn our waste places, into the Garden of Eden-----the water He pours out, will make those places, lush and green and alive. (Leonardo Da Vinci was at work for a long period of time on a great masterpiece. He had labored long to create the work of art, and it was near completion. Standing near him, was a young student, who spent much of his time with his mouth open, amazed at the the master with the brush.  Just before finishing the painting, Da Vinci turned to the young student and gave him the brush and said, "Now, you finish it!" The student protested and backed away, but Da Vinci said, "Will not what I have done, inspire you, to do your best.") We, are the students of God, and He gives us everything we need, to be the best of what He desires for us to be.

III.    The Holy Spirit

This passage 44:1-5, in many ways, is similar to all the other references in this book, that promise future blessing to Israel. It describes refreshment, health and prosperity, plus the promise of spiritual enlightenment.
It also speaks to us believers, who are already enlightened. God, through Isaiah, has gone out of His way to reassure us of His promised blessings. He has made us; He has formed us and He will help us. And it is all because of His grace! God doesn't want us to be insecure with Him. His remedy, for our abuse of His grace, is to lavish us with more grace. We can't demand anything from God because our sins discredit us and free God from all obligation to us. But, God, in His grace and in His goodness, doesn't quit on us. He just pours more of Himself out on us. After Adam and Eve had sinned in the garden, they hid, they didn't' go to God and confess their disobedience-----God came down to them. That's God's way----He comes down and makes His presence known to us. He seeks us out------He extends the hand of reconciliation and restoration to us--He always has and He always will. He pours Himself out with such generosity that we become a people who are saturated with God. We are so privileged to live, now, during the era, within His great plan for history, when the Holy Spirit is being poured out. 2000 years ago, on the Day of Pentecost, God unleashed the mighty river of the Holy Spirit upon a guilty world. And He has continued to pour out His spirit in wave after wave, of His unstinting grace. Sometimes, the tide of the spirit may ebb, but then, just when we need Him the most, God will cause Him to surge, and we will be revived and filled up, with His presence, to the overflow. God didn't send the Spirit just to make our church service fun------although there is no greater joy, than a church flooded with the Spirit------He sent the Spirit, to make us holy. He has already begun the new heaven and the new earth here among us. Hebrews 6:5 says that, "We have tasted the powers of the age to come." What greater gift could God give us----the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom-come, in out hearts, right now. "We need to live, so that other people can see a reason not to die." Under the influence of the Spirit------we can't sit and do nothing ----we have to go where God is working and serve any way that He calls us to. (The story is told of a man who prayed to God to bring new hope and new life to him after the death of his wife. He agonized in prayer and devoted himself to Bible Study and sought every way that He knew how, to get peace and direction for his life. He had almost given up when he was invited to a grief share program at his church. There he found a lot of people who were experiencing some of the same raw emotions of sorrow and loss that he was. He made him feel better to know that he wasn't alone. Then God surprised him--the man's employer began a series of mission trips to Kenya. He went on the very first one and discovered a new involvement in God's work and realized that God, could still use him to minister to others and lead them to know Him as their Savior. Then God surprised him again. He led him closer and closer to another member of the grief-share group, until it led to a new marriage commitment. This one had a 10 year old daughter attached to it. Through a new wife, a new daughter and a new mission field-------God had brought the man back to life.)

IV.   Mother Zion

The test of the church's faith is not just the reading of and the obedience to, the scripture------  but it is also, the gladness that can be found in it's worship. The Gospel demands a carefree spirit. If we aren't going to hell anymore; and we stand to inherit every blessing that Almighty God can think of; and if nothing can stand in the way of our relationship with God, because of our salvation------then why in the world, are we not a joyous group of people, who sing all the time. In this passage--54:1-17 God uses 3 common images to portray the miracle of God's grace: a barren woman; an unfaithful wife being restored to her husband and a beautiful city.

Few words, in the English language, could be more important for an understanding of the Gospel, than the word surprise. 
In the 1st image He brings barrenness and joy together-----much to our surprise. In Isaiah's culture, infertility marked a woman with shame. Isaiah sees the people of God as barren woman with nothing to be happy about. They had been given the opportunity to take God's message to the world, and they had rejected the opportunity. They were distraught and it was their own fault. But God invited the desolate woman to sing for joy-------which, in the eyes of the world, would seem to be a cruel thing. But He isn't rubbing it in, He is trying to get her to switch her capability for happiness, from herself to the Servant of the Lord. God want us all, to realize, that our failure to accomplish things in our own strength is real, but that our joy shouldn't die because of it. Jesus died so that we could have joy, no matter what our circumstance are-----because joy is knowing, that nothing can separate us from the the love of God, that we have in Christ Jesus. In Galations 4:21-31----Paul quotes Isaiah, in trying to explain, exactly what this means to believers. There are 2 ways that we can serve God:
1.) to draw on the energy of our own good intentions.  or
2.) to rely on God's power, acting in our weakness.
Our virtue can look good, feel good, act good and talk good. But it is sterile-----it's empty---there is no power. The power of the Holy Spirit will make us fruitful and He will make us hum with power. The Gospel announces that Jesus took our failure to the cross, where the shame of it died, once and for all, forever. And He sent us His Spirit so that we will thrive forever. Isaiah was able to see God's grace spreading to the ends of the earth and He is telling us that we are barren, but that it doesn't matter anymore and that we can live in expectancy, because God's plan for His people, is more and more blessing. Real joy flows from our surprise and relief that Jesus is, what we have, sadly,failed to be. We are this barren woman and we, just like the Jews, have nothing to be proud of. But, thanks to the Lord Jesus, we don't have to hang our heads in shame, we can throw our heads back and laugh with delight, as God uses His own power, to multiply our spiritual family, beyond measure. We have to look with honesty, at our tired ideals, that never amount to very much and reject them. And then, we have to look to God's magnificent power, working for His greater glory and our richer joy and the salvation of the nations-----and we need to embrace Him. The human race is a created entity----so we aren't the ones, thank goodness, who have to save the world. God, is the Savior of the world and He is the giver of life-----and the barren woman can thrive, because the Spirit, gives her joy------because her joy is In Him, not in her circumstances.

The 2nd image of miraculous grace, is one of an unfaithful wife, who is reconciled to her husband. The amazing thing about this image is what the text doesn't say-----"the faithful city had sunk to the level of prostitution. Israel had prostituted themselves in defiance, against her husband, God. But, He, in His grace and love and mercy, looked beyond His people's guilt. In this passage, He doesn't even talk about it. He didn't emphasize His own offended honor------He expressed deep sympathy for Israel's wounded feelings. God said that He was angry and that He had a right to be, but that His anger had been assuaged, because His Servant had taken all of the unfaithful wife's guilt, away. The slate was wiped totally clean and the wife would forget all of her heartache under the deluge of God's everlasting love. The gospel is not "He loves me, He loves me not, depending on our own loveliness or goodness." The Gospel is the grace of God, a new covenant of peace with God, that brings a permanent wholeness, that we don't deserve.  That's why we can enjoy God's grace without fearing that He's going to take it back. We didn't cause the grace to begin with, so we can't do anything to cause God to take it back. God's anger is real, but it will pass; God's love is real, but it will last, forever. (verse 5 also gives great comfort to widows--woman who have been forsaken by their husband because of death or because of divorce----God will come to them and be their husbands---He will do everything a bridegroom does----He will love, protect, support, comfort and provide for her---she won't feel alone anymore.)

And the 3rd image, of God's miraculous grace, is a literal place---it's a city that gleams, with brilliant jewels; a city so lavish, in its beauty, that our finite minds, cannot conceive of it. God has built the city and it is where He will live with His children forever. The resources for its dazzling appearance are endless. In this city, God will give us great material riches, but they won't matter to us at all because this city is also where He will give us great wisdom, in the place of our spiritual poverty and it is where He will give us complete security, in the place of worldly turbulence; and where He will give us perfect comfort, in place of our pitiful despair. It is where God will be our protector and our provider and our defender.  And it is where He, will provide, endless peace for His children. This is the heritage of the servant of the Lord and His followers, and we should enjoy the blessing of it, even more, because its a gift that we don't deserve.

Augustine said ,"We count on God's mercy for our past mistakes; on God's love for our present needs; on God's sovereignty for our future." and He never disappoints us!