Have I No Power to Deliver? (Isaiah 50:2)

 Have I No Power to Deliver? (Isaiah 50:2)

“For by their own sword they did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.” (Psalm 44:3 NAS95)

I have marked all the question marks in my Bible, and then have chosen a list of what I call “Critical Questions in the Bible.” One of these from my list is Isaiah 50:2 - “Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver?”

I listened to a recorded story the other day on radio of the last man of his group who parachuted from a small airplane. As he jumped, his foot caught in a seatbelt, and so he hung from the side of the plane unable to fall and unable to pull himself back up. He was not able to see the pilot, and she was only able to see his boot. She left her seat and controls, at risk to her own life and to the plane, and then he saw her arm and hands reach out and, with difficulty, release the seatbelt. He landed safely, but never had opportunity to thank the young woman for saving his life.

Our God has long arms and strong hands. It is a wonderful image to remind us that we are never out of His reach, and we are never caught by a chain that He cannot break. We read the stories in the Bible of Israel’s release/escape from Egypt; of David’s deliverance from Saul, and of Daniel’s from the lions. We know that God is able, and we believe it.

This is important to us because we, like the man in the story above, cannot save ourselves. We may be able to do some small things, but the biggest challenges of life are solved from above: Psa. 44:3 “For by their own sword they did not possess the land, And their own arm did not save them, But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, For You favored them.”

I may mention this too often, or, not enough, but we tend to seek to live self-sufficient lives. We think we can figure things out for ourselves, and work our own way out of our predicaments. Moses was concerned for a younger generation: Deut. 11:2 “your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the LORD your God — His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm.”

What if we were to replace the question “What am I going to do?” with the question, “What is God going to do?”Oh, certainly if there is something you should do, then do it. Pay the bill, or make the appointment, or go say you’re sorry. But our first order of business in most cases would be to focus on the One Who has long arms and strong hands, because we so often find that ours are short and weak.

And, were you able to meet the One who reached out to save you?

Old Secrets Uncovered

 Old Secrets Uncovered

A couple of news stories caught my attention, one local and another far away; one rather sordid, and the other, spectacular, if you are into those kinds of things.

The first had to do with a sexual assault case that took place 20+ years ago. The perpetrator was never identified until just recently. DNA studies collected from one of the victims was studied, tracing back to the 1700’s and linking to three brothers who were alive at the time of the crime. One brother was identified as a possible suspect, tested, and arrested. Who would have thought this crime would be solved after all these years? There is a verse in Numbers of the Old Testament that says “be sure your sin will find you out.”

The other story has to do with Ptolemy who lived in the last century before Christ. He wrote mathematical and scientific treatises on parchment, and, since parchment was limited in supply and expensive, later writers would write over old documents. We have never seen before his writings on the meteoroscope. “The reuse of the parchment for the Latin manuscript meant there were faint remains of the previous text.”  And not only was this work overwritten, but in the early 1800’s another researcher had applied chemicals to try and uncover the original, unsuccessfully. Now using things like multispectral imaging and a 240 million-pixel camera and software that does “layer amplification,” the ancient writing was restored. I won’t read the document or understand the instrument, but I am interested in old secrets being uncovered, because now we know that mankind is trying to do what God has always been doing.

Paul’s letter to the Romans has a “bad news” section which precedes the “good news” section. If you don’t believe in the “bad news,” you won’t care much about the “good news.” And so one element of the “bad news” is found in Romans 2:16, that there will be a day, a judgment day, “when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.” There will be no hiding spots, no erasures or scrub jobs, no chemicals or write-overs that will obscure the truth as we stand before God on the day of judgment.

The fact that God always has known and always will know our secrets shouldn’t cause us to re-double our hiding efforts; rather, it should help us draw this conclusion: we can be honest with God. And as we confess the truth about ourselves and affirm the truth of what God has done for us in Christ, God who offers forgiveness through Christ will wash those secrets away, forever, never to be brought up again.

If you believe, you will see the glory of God? (John 11:40 NAS95)

 “If you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40 NAS95)

Would you like to “see” the glory of God? Many would. Not all can, or will.

One point would be that we couldn’t take it. We may enjoy the brightness of the sun, but to stand and stare at it is more than we can take. We would go blind. Moses was warned in the Old Testament that he could not “see” the glory of God and live. God allowed him to see His “back parts,” an after-glow, so to speak.

So first of all, to think that we can waltz into the glory of God in our creaturely and sinful condition is flippant to say the least, and perhaps a bit blasphemous. If we are to see the glory of God, we must be fitted for it.

Martha and Mary and their fellow-mourners were allowed to see something of God’s glory through the miracle of brother Lazarus’ raising from the dead. He was really dead, even deteriorating according to homemaker Martha (homemakers know about bad smells), and Jesus says, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” The glory hadn’t happened yet, but then did upon Jesus’ command, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he did. The power of God had broken the power of death. The divine had exposed the weakness of that which is mortal. God had triumphed. And the glory of God was seen in this work.

John 1:14 (same Gospel, in the introduction) says, “and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” This glory that Moses could not endure now shines through Jesus upon those who believe/ receive Him. Upon belief, we see something of God’s glory. However, if we fail to receive Him, we remain in the darkness - spiritual darkness. Jesus truly is the light of the world.

When it comes to Easter, many will participate in baskets and bunnies and brunches. But only those who believe Jesus, who receive Jesus, will be fitted to see the glory of God.

“If you believe, you will see the glory of God?” (John 11:40 NAS95)