Chris Marshall Resources

In Jeremiah 14 we read again of the LORD’s plan to judge and punish the people of Israel and Judah.  The LORD once again tells Jeremiah not to pray for them, because He will not answer the prayer.  We have a new group introduced in this chapter: the false prophets.  They tell the king and the people that no sword or famine will come to them.  The LORD tells Jeremiah the sword and famine will come to each of the false prophets, and the ones to whom they prophesy.  In any age, false prophets always seek to offer the positive future that is not going to come, or the doom and gloom that will not.  As the Scriptures teach so clearly, the way to know whether a prophet is false or true is whether what they say is going to happen does. If their prophecies don’t come true, then they are false prophets.

In Jeremiah 15 the LORD reiterates His coming punishment on Judah, and tells us it is because of the sin of King Manasseh.  Jeremiah complains to the LORD that he has done nothing wrong, but tells the people what the LORD has told him to say.  Yet, the people curse him and want to kill him.  The LORD promises no harm shall come to him, but He will protect him.

In Jeremiah 16 after more pronouncements of judgement, the LORD promises after the people are repaid double for their sins, He will bring them back.  He will restore them.  The last word with the LORD is always mercy.  Thankfully, the LORD’s rejection of His people is not permanent.

As we turn to John 20, we read about the most amazing miracle in history: Jesus’ resurrection!  Mary Magdalene was the first to go to the tomb and find it empty.  She didn’t realize the implication, that Jesus had risen, but ran back and told the apostles.  Peter and John ran to the tomb, and while John arrived first, it was Peter who entered the tomb first.  They saw the empty tomb, and the grave cloths that had been wrapped around Jesus, with the head cloth in a separate place.  That was enough for John.  He believed, but both went back to their hiding place.  Mary returned and saw two angels in the tomb.  They told her Jesus was alive.  Then Mary turned and there stood Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him.  She thought Jesus was the gardener or grounds keeper, so she asked where he had placed the body.  Jesus spoke one word, “Mary,” and she recognized Jesus.  Jesus told her to go back and tell His brothers He was alive.  She did, but no one believed it.  Then that evening, Jesus appeared among them.  They were amazed.  We’re told He breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit.  Thomas wasn’t at the meeting, so when the others told him about it, he didn’t believe them.  Then eight days later, Jesus appeared again, this time Thomas was there.  Although Thomas had said he would need to put his hands in the nail prints in Jesus’ hands, and feel the hole in His side to believe Jesus was alive, when he saw Jesus, he bowed in worship.  Jesus offered a powerful statement for all of us.  He said, “Thomas have you believed because you have seen?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.  That is us, or more properly “That is we.”  We haven’t seen Jesus, yet we believe.  John closes out the chapter by telling us Jesus did many more signs and wonders, but if they were all written down the world wouldn’t contain all the books.  Then he told us, “These were written that you might believe Jesus is the Christ or Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.  That is the key: Believing in Jesus!

In Jeremiah 11 the LORD brings up the history of Israel and Judah.  It isn’t a pretty picture, as He reminds them they have been disobedient ever since the days He delivered them from slavery in Egypt.  The history of God’s people is a history of broken promises, and going after other gods.  The LORD reminded them it had lasted right up to the current day.  Jeremiah interjects he is not going to intercede on their behalf, so we have a dark picture painted for the peoples’ future.  They knew it was going to be like this, if they failed to keep the LORD’s covenant, and yet they pursued their own selfish ways anyway.  The LORD also promises Jeremiah He will protect him from the men of Anathoth.

In Jeremiah 12 the conversation goes back and forth between Jeremiah and the LORD.  Jeremiah complains to the LORD at first, because of his situation, but the LORD responds the situation will get worse, before it gets better.  This is a reality not many of us want to hear. Jeremiah was being faithful to the LORD, yet the result of that faithfulness was an extremely difficult life.  In theory, at least, if Jeremiah had run away from his calling, his life would have been easier.  But as we shall see, when we come to the Book of the prophet, Jonah, running away from the LORD can have its own problems!  In the end, all we can do is honor the LORD and trust that whatever comes, we will be rewarded at the appropriate time, because the LORD always rewards obedience.

In Jeremiah 13 the LORD tells Jeremiah to buy a linen loincloth, to wear it a few days, and then to take it to the Euphrates river and put it in the cleft of a rock.  After some time, He tells Jeremiah to go back and get it. When he finds it, the loincloth is ruined, and good for nothing.  The LORD tells Jeremiah this is what will happen to Judah, because of her failure to listen to Him.  As the chapter continues, the LORD threatens to send the people into exile for their ongoing rejection of His lordship in their lives.  The thing we must understand about the LORD’s threats: they are the same as promises, so when we don’t respond to them, what He promises will come true.

As we return to John 19, we read the record of Jesus’ being beaten by Pilate and then brought out to the crowd where Pilate intended to release Him.  But the crowd would have none of that.  They cried for His crucifixion, and the religious leaders told Pilate the Jewish law required Jesus’ death, because He had proclaimed Himself a king.  This frightened Pilate even more.  He went back to talk with Jesus one more time and after that conversation tried to release Jesus, but the people told him if he did that he was no friend of Caesar.  That was all it took for Pilate to condemn Jesus.  Pilate could not afford to be spoken of in any way but as a friend of Caesar.  While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He made sure Mary would have a home with John.  According to John, Jesus’ last words were, “It is finished.”  The statement did not mean, “It is finally over.  I won’t have to suffer any more.”  It meant, “What I have come to do is accomplished or complete.” At that moment, noone but Jesus saw it that way.  But on Sunday morning, when Jesus rose and the tomb was empty, it would be far easier for everyone to recognize what Jesus had offered as His final words were true!

Jeremiah 8 and 9 run together with two common themes: a condemnation of Judah by the LORD, and mourning for the loss by Jeremiah.  Remember, the original versions of the Scriptures had no chapter or verse markings.  As we read Jeremiah 8 and 9, the entirety is filled with the LORD’s words of condemnation for a people who had turned away from Him, and chased after false gods.  As a result, the LORD promised to scatter them. In the midst of this, Jeremiah cries out in mourning for his people.  We see this often among the prophets.  They know the LORD’s judgment is right, but they want their people to repent, to turn away from their wickedness and back to the LORD.  Isn’t that what each of us wants for those we love?  We often know the sin of those we love, and we would do anything to get them to turn or return to the LORD, but all we can do is stand and watch, and cry out to the LORD for His love, mercy, and truth to bring them back.  We can also live our lives in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit so they will experience the truth and love of God through us.

Jeremiah 10 states something so obvious, yet it is a lesson human beings learn so slowly, if at all: idols made with human hands cannot save us.  When we think of someone cutting down a tree, carving an idol, then decorating it with silver and gold, or paint and worshiping it we laugh.  But when we laugh, we must also look in the mirror.  How many times have we worshiped our money, or our homes, or cars, or other material goods?  How often have we worshiped position, or status, or a sports team, or a performing artist or actor?  The LORD would laugh, if it didn’t make Him weep, when He sees us who He created worshiping created things.  In Jeremiah’s day, the people’s abandonment of the LORD led to their literal destruction.  In our day, when we abandon the LORD, we might seem fine, but no one can ever be fine who ignores the life, love, truth, and grace of our LORD and Creator!

As we return to John 18, we return to John’s account of Jesus’ arrest, and trial by the Jewish leaders, and then Pilate.  As we reread the account, what strikes me is how calm Jesus remained throughout the entire encounter.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Jesus was calm and they were all kinds of agitated.  They were afraid of Jesus, as we see when Jesus said, “I am He.”  They all fell backward to the ground.  The very name of Jesus was a fearsome thing to them.  After arresting and binding Jesus, they took Him to be examined by the chief priests.  Jesus answered the priests’ questions in a way that offended those standing near Jesus, so they struck Him.  Jesus didn’t strike back, or call angels to His aid.  He simply asked why they had responded in a such a way when He had done nothing wrong?  After being taken to Pilate, Jesus again remained calm as Pilate became more and more agitated.  If Pilate had been a true leader, he would have set Jesus free, because he found nothing wrong with Jesus. Jesus had committed no offense worthy of imprisonment, let alone crucifixion.  But Pilate wasn’t a true leader.  He was a “puppet” put in place by Rome to govern an unruly people, and to keep his “power,” he succumbed to the cries of the crowd to crucify Jesus.

As we review the events of the night, where do you think you would have been in the mix?  Would you have run away?  Would you have been Peter who followed behind Jesus only to deny you knew Him when your life was in danger?  Would you have been part of the crowd who cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion, because of some coercion from the religious leaders?  It’s always easier to look at a scene from the vantage point of hindsight and say, “I would have stood with Jesus,” but remember –no one did.  In His moment of greatest need, He stood alone.  He knew it would be that way.  He had come to die for all of us and each one of us.  He had to do that alone. Thank God Jesus didn’t run from His appointment with death, because that death has brought the opportunity for freedom from sin and death to us all!

Jeremiah 5 is one of the strongest pronouncements of judgment against Israel and Judah of any single chapter in the Bible.  The LORD tells us He could not find one faithful person in the entire nation.  He said it could be expected that the poor would not know how to follow the LORD, but the leaders were as guilty as they.  They turned against Him, and toward false gods.  They prostituted themselves at every opportunity.  The LORD promised the people of Israel He would destroy them by means of a powerful nation from the north.  The people of Judah would also be judged.  This chapter is so difficult to read, but as we read it we must always remember the LORD is perfect, and has every right to judge each and every one of us.  We must not just say, “Look how bad ‘those’ people were.”  I have learned one important truth when it comes to “those” people: We are all “those” people when it comes to being people who don’t deserve to have the LORD’s love and mercy.  Thankfully, even in the midst of this tirade against Israel and Judah we find words of hope, as the LORD promises not to destroy everyone.

Jeremiah 6 offers more of what we read in Jeremiah 5. The LORD goes back and forth between condemning Israel and Jerusalem.  One of the hardest things we read is that people of all ages will be caught up in the destruction: children, husbands and wives, the old and gray.  We could wonder: Why?  Why is the LORD not going to show mercy on anyone?  Then we read the answer: Because everyone has been caught up in the idolatry, in the practices of sin.  As a people, the nation of Israel deserves judgment, and likewise the nation of Judah.  While we are so individualistic as Americans, we find it difficult to hear of an entire nation being judged, why not only those who are guilty?  In these times, the times of the Old Covenant, there was far more of a sense of the LORD’s blessing or judgment being poured out on the whole, and not just on the few or the one.

In Jeremiah 7, the LORD tells Jeremiah to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and tell the people to repent or they will be destroyed.  He warns them they aren’t safe simply because they are in the Temple.  It was that logic that caused the Israelites to think they were safe at Shiloh, simply because the LORD “dwelt” there.  After the LORD tells Jeremiah to offer this reprieve, the remainder of the chapter tells us the people will not repent and they will be destroyed.  While we have a long way to go in the Book of Jeremiah, the book is history for us not prophecy–that is what was prophesied has long-since happened, so we know the LORD was not speaking empty words.  Israel was destroyed and Judah was carried off to exile.  The promises of the LORD are always true, whether they are for good or ill, which is why it is so vital for us to live in His truth and love, and not to presume on His mercy.

As we return to John 17, we return to what scholars call Jesus’ high priestly prayer. In it, He prays for His Heavenly Father to unite His followers as one, just as He and the Father are one.  He also prays for them to be protected and to keep them in the truth.  As we read this brief chapter, it is so evident how much Jesus loves us, and how concerned He is that we join Him and the Father along with the Holy Spirit in living in unity, love and truth.  Jesus reminds us in the last statement of the chapter, that God’s word is truth.  We live in a world that seems to think truth is what you want it to be.  Truth has been given, and the LORD’s truth is life for those who live in it.

Jeremiah 3 continues the LORD’s condemnation of Israel and Judah for their sin.  We find two images used for both Israel and Judah: the LORD calls them unfaithful wives, who have prostituted themselves before the other nations.  He also calls them unfaithful children. Both images are appropriate, because the LORD has attached Himself to His people as the “groom” in a marriage relationships, but also as a “Father” to His children.  Jesus also used this image of the Church as His bride, and He reminded us often that we are His Father’s children.  The sad truth is while our unfaithfulness might not seem as bad as that of Israel’s and Judah’s were in their time, any amount of unfaithfulness breaks the LORD’s heart, because He created us to be His holy bride, and His holy children.  While we often speak of the Lord’s love, grace, mercy, and faithfulness, and we ought to speak often of those qualities of the LORD, we must also remember He is righteous, just, and holy.  We can’t accept the “soft” qualities of the LORD, without also accepting the “hard” ones.  He is both loving and just, gracious and holy, merciful and righteous. The people in Jeremiah’s day experienced the full weight of the LORD’s judgment, because of their unfaithfulness.  We cannot expect Him to forget our sin, if we continue to sin brazenly and willfully as the people of Israel and Judah during Jeremiah’s time.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, but He also rose from the dead to show the power He has over sin and death.  That power is to be used by us to live holy, righteous and just lives to His glory, honor, and praise.

Jeremiah 4 offers a long, detailed message of the impending destruction of Judah.  Her sins are enumerated, Jeremiah weeps for her, but the LORD has had enough of her unfaithfulness, and He tells her the time is coming when the people will be wiped out.  As always, there is some hope as He promises that not everyone will be destroyed, but this is a foundational judgment coming against the whole people.  They will be driven into exile and their time for rebuilding will be in the distant future.  We are told the LORD will use an enemy from the north to destroy them, which tells us once again the LORD sometimes uses history itself to enforce His judgment.

As we return to John 16, Jesus’ words are both hard and comforting.  The hard words are Jesus tells the apostles they will be hated by the world as the world hated Him.  He tells them He is “going away.”  Even in that moment, they didn’t realize that meant He was going to be crucified, but He also told them He would be coming back to them.  The comforting words, are Jesus’ words concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus tells the disciples again the Holy Spirit will come and it was better for them that He leave, so the Spirit could come.  I’m sure those words made little sense in that moment, and they were undoubtedly forgotten, during the time Jesus was dead and in the tomb.  But when the Holy Spirit came to them on the day of Pentecost, and they experienced His presence and power in their lives, the physical loss of Jesus, must have been overcome to a great degree, because they experienced it internally and spiritually.  We have never seen Jesus in the flesh, at least not to this point, but we can experience Him daily through the Holy Spirit.  If you didn’t read this chapter carefully, go back and read it again, so you can see the great and powerful promise of the Spirit coming to be with us in Jesus’ absence from us.

Today, we turn to the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is often called the “weeping prophet,” because His ministry took place during the time when the southern kingdom of Judah was falling and fell.  Jeremiah’s message was so distressing that the kings to whom he prophesied often considered him a traitor.  The truth is the LORD had long before established how to determine whether a prophet was from Him: Everything the prophet says is true or will come true over time.  Jeremiah’s message included the downfall of Judah, and no one wanted to hear that.  It also promised restoration, but once again to have restoration, one has to fall, and no one wanted to hear that.  Jeremiah was often persecuted by those to whom He offered the LORD’s plan, but he also challenged the LORD for putting him in such a situation.  Thankfully, we’ll be continuing to read the Gospel of John and then Matthew as we read Jeremiah, so we’ll continue to experience the hope of the Gospel as we consider the primarily gloom and doom message of Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah 1, we’re told the tenure of Jeremiah’s term as the LORD’s prophet.  He would serve through the final several kings of Judah, before their exile.  We’re told Jeremiah was a priest, so He was already in the LORD’s service, but the LORD also told Jeremiah He had called him to be a prophet while he was still in his mother’s womb.  The Lord’s plans for Judah were sure, and they included being torn down and eventually built up.  The LORD also told Jeremiah He would use various nations to tear down other nations, and He would build up some of them. He also told Jeremiah why He was judging His people: They were unfaithful, and the major unfaithfulness was idolatry.  The LORD doesn’t tolerate any sin, but idolatry is a direct affront to the LORD as God.

Jeremiah 2 lays out the LORD’s complaint against His people, and tells them why they are being judged.  The list of reasons is long, and starts long before the current time.  The LORD goes all the way back to when the people were wondering in the wilderness and entered the Promised Land.  The main point is clear: You have exchanged me the one, true, and Glorious God for false gods, for idols.  The LORD points out that even the nations surrounding Israel and Judah didn’t exchange their idols for other gods, and they were dead images, but He is the one, true, and living God.  As the chapter progresses, it is obvious the people are guilty and the LORD is just in His judgment.  This will not be the only time in the long book of prophecy we read of the LORD’s reasons for judging and exiling His people.

As we return to John 15, Jesus uses the image of a vine and branches to tell us of how vital our connection to Him is as His followers.  Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. As long as we “abide” or “remain” in Him, we will bear fruit.  Jesus also speaks of His Heavenly Father as the “vinedresser.”  He points out the Father’s role is to “prune,” us so we will bear more fruit.  As with all types of pruning in the horticultural world, the gardener prunes good blooms that are too numerous, so some blooms will be the best.  He prunes the sick or diseased branches that won’t get better, and he prunes away the dead branches that are taking up space needed by the healthy branches.  As Jesus continued His discourse it became obvious abiding or remaining in Him meant obeying Him.  As we live in obedience to Jesus we bear fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. Jesus continued by pointing out the connection between our love for Jesus and our obedience to Him.  If we love Him, we obey Him.  Jesus also told us greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  While this might have seemed like a dramatic illustration to the apostles, in less than twenty-four hours, Jesus would lay down His life, not only for His friends, but for the world!  Jesus also pointed out it is in obeying Him that our joy is made complete.  He told the apostles, He would no longer call them servants, but friends.  He also told them if the world had hated Him–and it had!–it would also hate them. Thankfully, when we serve the LORD, and live in love and obedience to Him, the fruit we bear might offend some in the world, but it will please the one who really matters: Jesus!

 

In Isaiah 64, Isaiah remembers the power and majesty of the LORD when He comes, because He has already come in the past with great impact.  Then he asks a powerful question: When will you return?  He answers his own question: We are not worthy of your return.  We are a people who are filled with sin.  He tells us even their best deeds are “filthy rags.”  He notes Zion has been destroyed, and the Temple has been burned.  It doesn’t get any worse than this.  But then He asks the LORD to return and restore the people.  Because the LORD is good and perfect, hope in His love and mercy is always justified.  Isaiah rightly points out the peoples’ sin, yet still holds out hope that the LORD will return to them.  He holds faith in the goodness of the LORD, not in the people’s ability to be good.

Isaiah 65 starts with strong words of judgment from the LORD.  He tells us He looked for people to restore, and waited for people to return.  Yet, they did not. They broke all His commands and worshiped idols.  It sounds as if the hope we read about in Isaiah 64 was false hope, but then the chapter turns and the LORD tells us those who serve Him will be blessed, while those who turn away will be cursed.  The blessing is more amazing than anything we have ever experienced on earth.  The LORD promises a new heaven and a new earth.  He promises that Jerusalem will be restored.  Then He promises the wild animals and domestic animals will eat and lie down together, and snakes will eat dust.  This perfect world of which we read is for all who serve the LORD.  Those who continue to reject Him will be rejected, but those who serve Him will know this incredible life and the joy it brings.

Isaiah closes with chapter 66.  In it the LORD tells us of the amazing blessing of living in His new world, and the depth of the curse of those who reject Him.  Using the terms of a nursing mother caring for her infant child, the LORD tells us His children will experience the same comfort from Him.  He tells us we will receive all we need, and will experience safety and blessing.  The chapter and the book ends with a reminder that those who reject the LORD will suffer the most dire consequence: They will be burned and cast out to the place where the worm never dies and the first never goes out.  Jesus used those very words to describe what will happen to those who reject Him.  That makes tremendous sense, because Jesus is the one who will usher in the amazing new heaven and earth of which the LORD spoke through Isaiah.

As we return to John 14, Jesus is still preparing His apostles for His death, resurrection and return to heaven.  He starts the chapter by telling the disciples He is leaving them to go and “prepare a place for them.”  He speaks of His Father’s house, and of many rooms.  He tells them they know the way to the place He is going.  Thomas speaks up and says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  Jesus’ answer is familiar to any who have even a cursory knowledge of His life and teaching: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) What a powerful statement!  No one comes to God’s presence except through Jesus, because Jesus is the living testimony of His Father’s will.  When Philip continues the confused responses, by asking for Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus tells them if they have seen Him, they have seen the Father.  Jesus continues by telling them the way to know Jesus is one with the Father is through His deeds.  Then He offers a most incredible promise: ¹²“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 (ESV)  It seems absurd to imagine we can do greater works than Jesus did, but many of us have: we have travelled to countries beyond Israel and told people in those places the good news of Jesus’ salvation.  Jesus never did that.   Some of us have spoken to more people than Jesus ever did.  The list goes on, but the point is clear: when we believe in Jesus, He empowers us to do things He didn’t do, and the things He did.  As the chapter moves to its conclusion, Jesus promises to send the “Helper” the Holy Spirit, to fill us, lead us, and empower us.  He tells us if we love Him, we will keep His commandments, and He will send the Comforter to comfort and direct us.  Many in our day, leave out the importance of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives as Jesus’ followers, but Jesus made it clear without the Holy Spirit, we won’t be able to do His work in the world.  He promised the Holy Spirit to empower us, and He has delivered on that promise.  Now, we must live into that presence and power, so we can love one another as He first loved us, and carry out the works He prepared for us to do, the greater works He has prepared for us!

Isaiah 61 stands as the chapter Jesus quoted when He told the people in the synagogue in Nazareth His mission.  He had read the first verses of Isaiah 61 which proclaim: ¹The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.  ²He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. Isaiah 61:1-2 (NLT2)  The chapter continues with more good news for the LORD’s people as they are told the people of other nations will serve them, and they will know His peace and presence in their lives.

Isaiah 62 is Isaiah’s prayer for Jerusalem.  Isaiah notes Jerusalem has been defeated in the past, and forsaken, but in the future the LORD will give her a new name, and she will never again be forsaken.  She will be the LORD’s “bride,” which is a powerful image, that Jesus also used of His relationship with the Church.  The Apostle Paul underlined that imagery when he wrote in Ephesians 5 that the relationship of a husband and a wife are an image of Christ’s relationship with His bride, the Church.  We see time and again as we read through Isaiah that much of the imagery used here is picked up or lived out in Jesus’ life. Much of the prophecy of Israel’s ultimate victory and restoration was lived out at certain times in history, but some of it is reserved for its ultimate fulfillment in the time of Jesus’ return.

Isaiah 63 promises destruction on Israel’s enemies. In gruesome terms, the LORD tells us He Himself will trample them under His feet.  As the chapter ends, though, the focus shifts to the people of Israel questioning the LORD for why He permitted them to turn astray.  It’s as if it were the LORD’s fault for not forcing them to do His will.  We must never play that card as we turn to the LORD with our sins and faults.  He designed us for good, and we rebelled against Him.  Now, we have the opportunity to return to Him and live in His grace, truth, and love through a relationship with Jesus, and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

As we return to John 13, we remember this is Jesus’ final time with the apostles before His arrest, condemnation, crucifixion, death, and resurrection.  He prepares them for His death, but does so much more as we move through John 13-17.  In chapter 13, Jesus demonstrated both His great love for the apostles and set an example for them to follow by washing their feet.  This was the work of a servant, but no one had taken care of this cultural expectation.  Thus, Jesus got up from the table and became their servant.  After washing their feet, and explaining why He had done it, Jesus said, “If you know these things (my commandments), you will be blessed if you do them.”  What a powerful truth: we aren’t blessed by knowing Jesus’ commands, but only through obedience to doing them.

After the foot washing, Jesus told the apostles one of them would betray Him.  He eventually pointed out it would be Judas.  Then Jesus gave the apostles a new commandment, one which would replace the 613 laws of the old covenant.  The commandment is so simple, but revolutionary: love one another as I have first loved you.Jesus told them all people would know they were His disciples if they loved one another.  What a powerful statement!  Jesus didn’t say all people would know they were His disciples by the love they had for the people, but for one another.  When people see Jesus’ followers loving each other, serving each other, caring for each other, the message is clear: this is God’s love and they have both received it and shared it with one another.  Eventually, those on the outside want to come in and receive it, too.

The chapter closes with Jesus telling the apostles He is leaving them and they won’t be able to follow.  Peter promises to go wherever Jesus goes.  But Jesus tells Peter before the night is over, he will deny even knowing Jesus three times.  As usual, Peter protests and tells Jesus it will never happen.  But Jesus always knows us better than we know ourselves, and as we know from our previous readings, Peter did end up denying Jesus three times, but that was not the end of the story.  Thank God for Peter, and for us–our denials are not permanent unless we want them to be, because Jesus is ready to forgive us and move us forward when we fail or fall.

Isaiah 58 offers us examples of true and false worship, fasting, and keeping the Sabbath.  The true examples honor the LORD, put Him first in every area of our lives, and when we keep the Sabbath we enjoy Him.  The most extended examples of falseness in practicing faith come in fasting.  In Isaiah’s day, it was common to wear sackcloth and put ashes on one’s head and face to show you were mourning and/or fasting.  Jesus would condemn this practice in His Sermon on the Mount, but Isaiah condemns it here.  When we fast, Isaiah tells us, the attitude of our hearts is most important.  After all, what good is it to fast from food, while we are abusing our workers, or dishonoring any other person?  When we read Isaiah 58 and compare it with Jesus’ teaching, we see the consistent truth: True worship comes from the heart out of our relationship with God, and then moves to the outward, visible parts of our lives.  Unless that happens, any outward appearance of worship is nothing more than religion.

Isaiah 59 offers a lengthy list of the ways the people of Israel have turned against the LORD.  As a result, the LORD has turned away from them.  Isaiah reminds the people the LORD’s love and mercy are not inadequate for them, but He withholds it from those who live in willful, purposeful sin.  Toward the end of the chapter, the sins of other nations are brought to our attention, but for most of the chapter it is the sins of the LORD’s own people that are cause for judgment.  At the end of the chapter, the LORD reminds us He will be seen and known by all nations, and He will judge sin wherever it originates.

Isaiah 60 offers a glorious picture of Jerusalem’s future!  The images push us to consider what it will be like when Jesus returns.  Even though Jesus had not yet come, the first time when Isaiah recorded these words of the LORD, they tell us of a time when Jerusalem’s gates will never close, and people from every nation will bring gold, silver, and other precious items to her.  Having visited Jerusalem, I can assure you that time has not yet come, because some of the gates are not only closed, they are sealed shut.  The LORD’s promises are always true, so He offers us glimpses of what it will be like when Jesus is reigning over His eternal Kingdom.  Please, read this chapter and imagine what our ultimate future will be like, as we trust Jesus and live into His future with Him.

As we return to John 12, Jesus is moving toward His “glorification,” that is his arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, and resurrection. In this chapter, Mary anoints Jesus with expensive perfume, which causes an outcry from Judas and some others.  The outcry came, because the perfume could have been sold and the money could have been used to feed the poor.  Jesus tells them the poor would always be with them, but what Mary had done was prepare Him for burial.  This was a hint for them all that what He had been telling them all along, about His coming to die for all was near.

We read, too, about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  A point John tells us that isn’t found in any of the other gospels is that the crowds had gathered, because Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.  After this, the Jewish leaders determined to kill Lazarus along with Jesus, because so many were leaving their ranks to follow Jesus, because of the miracle of Lazarus being raised.  Jesus gets into another disagreement with the religious leaders and the people, because He told them He would be dying soon.  They didn’t believe the Messiah would die, so in their minds if He died, it would prove He was not the Messiah.  Jesus pointed out He was the light of the world, and He was there to fulfill His Father’s purpose.  As we see time and time again, the people didn’t understand, not even the apostles understood, Jesus’ purpose in dying to pay the penalty for all our sins, and then rising to life to establish that He had authority over both life and death.  We might find it easy to criticize the people for not seeing who Jesus was, but we have the benefit of living on the resurrection side of Easter.  They did not yet have that benefit.  Once they did, they started the movement that continues to this very day!

Isaiah 55 is filled with the LORD’s promises to His people, and of descriptions of His amazing grace, mercy, compassion and wisdom.  The chapter has many quotable verses, nearly every one is worthy of our memorization! Let’s focus on this: ⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)  As the heavens are higher than the earth…I have often thought about that statement. When we think we understand the LORD and His ways, we must always remember His thoughts are as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth!  That means He is always simplifying everything for us so we can understand it.  Just as we simplify things for our preschool-aged children, so the LORD must simplify everything He says and does for us.  As He explains His great love and compassion in this chapter, I fast forward in my mind to Jesus.  Jesus showed us in so many concrete ways what it means for the LORD to show us His love and compassion.  No greater illustration exists of those qualities of the LORD than Jesus hanging on the cross to purchase our forgiveness from sin and death.

Isaiah 56 is divided into two distinct parts.  In the first part, we read the good news that eunuchs and foreigners will be welcomed among God’s people.  The requirements are to keep the Sabbath and to keep the LORD’s covenant.  This is the same requirement as that of the people of Israel, so the LORD was using Isaiah to tell everyone of their welcome into the people of God, so long as they were willing to live as His child.  Every “family” has rules of that family.  While the father and mother will love the children unconditionally, belonging to the family requires following the rules. Otherwise, chaos develops.  The LORD in a similar manner, promises any who are willing to follow the family rules of His people are welcome.  The latter portion of the chapter is devoted to condemning the leaders of Israel who led the people away. They had been charged by the LORD with guiding His “sheep,” but they were false “shepherds,” and the LORD’s wrath and judgment would come upon them.  This gives us an important reminder that when the LORD puts us in positions of authority in His family, we are held to greater accountability as we carry it out.

Isaiah 57 is also divided into two distinct parts.  In the first, the LORD condemns those who continue to practice idolatry.  In explicit terms, He identifies their sin, and tells them they will be held accountable.  Then the chapter turns and the LORD promises to forgive and receive those who are contrite in heart.  This is always the way with the LORD.  He cannot look on sin, nor does He ignore it.  Yet, when we repent and turn to Him, He does not hesitate to receive and restore us.

As we return to John 11, we come to one of the most powerful accounts in the entire gospel, the account of the raising of Lazarus.  Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, are mentioned several times in the gospels.  From the descriptions we find there, we know they were special friends of Jesus.  Yet, when Lazarus became ill, and Mary and Martha sent for Jesus, Jesus didn’t come.  He let Lazarus die before He came to their home.  In one of the most powerful interactions recorded in the gospels, Jesus speaks with Martha.  She tells Jesus if He were there her brother wouldn’t have died.  As they talk Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever, believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”  Then Mary comes and is overcome with grief.  We’re told in the shortest verse in the English Bible: Jesus wept.  But it didn’t end there.  Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, which amazed everyone…everyone but the religious leaders.  They realized eventually Jesus’ power was going to cause a conflict between Him, those who followed Him and the Romans.  They decided then and there to sacrifice Him on behalf of the entire nation.  They didn’t realize how that was the precise purpose for which He had come, and not only to be sacrificed for the nation of Israel, but for the entire world!