I AM doing a New Thing - Isaiah 43

                                                   Rose Garden - Martin Luther quote

July 19, 2017

Isaiah 43:14-21

Title: A New Creation - The Old Adam is not who you are and is not helpful now that you have received redemption.

14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.

Terms:

Re·deem

1. compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something).

              "a disappointing debate redeemed only by an outstanding speech"

1. gain or regain possession of (something) in exchange for payment.

              "his best suit had been redeemed from the pawnbrokers"

Holy

   1. exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness

    2. divine - for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9 (King James Version)

    3. devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity a holy temple holy prophets

This is a prophecy referring to the end of the Babylonian/Chaldean Captivity.  But more than that too.

15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:1-5)

16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; 17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

This is crossing the Red Sea and the death of Egypt’s army.

18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

You are a different person now that you are baptized and believing in the LORD.  The former things are those things from your old nature.  You are enticed to go back to them just as the Israelites were enticed to return to Egypt.  But the former things are passing away.  Your sinful thoughts, words, and deeds do not help you live in the new things.  And all those former things are passing away.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

The New Song sings of these new things.  Moses’ Song in Exodus 15.  David’s Song 2 Samuel 22. Revelation 4:11.  The TeDeum.  Etc.

As if to say, “In the past I performed miracles for you. I gave you water to drink, I fed you with manna, I gave you streams in the desert, etc. This I will do again.” Our seas and desert are of a different nature. Our church is in the sea and in the desert—in the world, in heresy, sin, Satan, etc., as Paul says (cf. 2 Cor. 4:8): “We are destitute, we hunger and thirst.”  Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 17: Lectures on Isaiah: Chapters 40-66, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 17 (Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 97.

20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

The Lord doesn’t promise to take away the wilderness or the desert.  But He adds waters and rivers to them so His people may survive in the wilderness or the desert.

How does God choose His people?  Through the means of grace which are His Word and Sacrament.

21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

Wednesday Bible Study notes on Isaiah 42:1-9

                                                                  Isaiah 42:1-9

The purpose of the Book of Isaiah is to

Comfort God’s people with the good news of Zion’s atonement

July 12, 2017

Isaiah 42:1-9

Title: Justly Elected - The Holy Spirit saves you through His means of grace promised from eternity.

42“Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!  I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.  What does the Small Catechism say about Christ’s doctrine of election?  Q191 Are you sure that you have eternal life?  A191: Even as I now believe in Christ my Savior, I also know that I have been chosen to eternal life out of pure grace in Christ without any merit of my own and that no one can pluck me out of His hand (eternal election of grace or predestination).  For more detail, see the Formula of Concord article XI in either the epitome or solid declaration.  Here is my short answer:  God promised the atonement (Christ’s death and resurrection) and also promised justification (delivery of the atonement to sinners) through the means of grace (Word and Sacrament) so that you may have eternal life in Christ.  Therefore, you are saved (from eternal death) by grace.  You receive this grace through faith.  Which faith?  The one Jesus gives.  Which Jesus?  The one who comes to through the means.  Which means?  The means of Grace which is God’s Word and Sacrament.  Now, repeat.  Therefore, you are saved (from eternal death) by grace.  You receive this grace through faith.  Which faith?  The one Jesus gives.  Which Jesus?  The one who comes to through the means.  Which means?  The means of Grace which is God’s Word and Sacrament.  And, repeat.  This is not double election / double predestination which teaches that God saves some and damns the rest.  This is also not to be confused with the doctrine of God’s foreknowledge.  

2He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.  See the Matthew 12:14-21

4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

5 Thus says God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, And spirit to those who walk on it:  See Genesis 1; Job 38; John 1;

6 “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, How is Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, righteous?  Son of God?  Because He is God.  Son of Man?  Because He does the Father’s will.  How are you righteous?  Jesus calls you righteous through means and it is so.

7 To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.

8 I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

What does the Small Catechism have to say regarding Isaiah 42:8?

20.  What does God forbid in the First Commandment?  God forbids us to have other gods (idolatry).

69.  Why does God call Himself a jealous God?  Because God is holy,...He will punish those who hate Him.

What does the Large Catechism have to say about having a god?

[1] That is, you are to regard me alone as your God. What does this mean, and how is it to be understood? What does “to have a god” mean, or what is God?  [2] Answer: A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. [3] If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one. Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.

9 Behold, the former (beginning) things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”  What are the new things?  See verse 7.  

Also, LSB 548:3  Text by Thomas Hansen Kingo 1643-1703  Thanks to Thee, O Christ, Victorious  For the joy Thine advent gave me, For Thy holy, precious Word; For Thy Baptism, which doth save me, For the blest Communion board; For Thy death, the bitter scorn, For Thy resurrection morn, Lord, I thank Thee and Extol Thee, And in heav’n I shall behold Thee.

Thomas Hansen Kingo was a Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near Copenhagen. His work marked the high point of Danish baroque poetry. He belonged to a rather poor family partly of Scottish origin and was educated a clergyman.

Isaiah 6:8-13 Bible study notes

                                                      Isaiah 6:8-13 Bible study notes

Let us open with an invocation and Luther's Morning Prayer:

I thank you my heavenly Father through Jesus Christ my Lord, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that you would keep me this day from sin and every evil, that all my doings may please you.  For into your hands I commend myself, my body and soul and all things.  Let Your holy angel be with me that the evil foe have no power over me.  Amen.
 

And I heard the voice...
Not everybody hears the voice.  The effect of the vision is to both receive some of the Jews and to harden the rest of the Jews.  The Word of God does not always have humble hearers. The majority are proud, whose reason is not mortified/brought low and whose faith is in their carnal/sinful flesh.

Whom shall I send?
Not all prophets received the teaching office the first time it was offered.  For example, Moses and Jonah both refused.

What about us today?  Who would speak publicly against this nation or who would speak publicly against their own church body?

Isaiah accepts the call after being risen from the curse of death to life, has been strengthened by the burning coal, and has been made a different man.  He is ready to face the great difficulty with faith in Christ.

And He said, "Go, and say to this people...
The emphasis is on the word "this" rather than "My" as in this cursed or rejected people.  God is angry that people live to please themselves, will not learn from Him how to view themselves, and will not deny themselves.  The pastors and people are in this together.

Make the heart of this people dull...so that they do not return and be healed.
The point of this passage is to show God's attitude to those who are hardened in heart, who reject the faith, who reject the Gospel.  He forsakes them.

Then I asked, How long?  And He said, "Until...
As if to say, 'You will not be reformed until death has snatched you away.' Meaning, you will never be reformed.  Don't read this as if it pertained only to that present generation of Israel. There is no promise here for the children.

The Lord  has removed men far away.
That is, He will scatter them among the nations.

And the forsaken places are many...
Another way to read this is, "What will have been forsaken?"

And this is the meaning: God does not snatch away after the manner of Satan, who rages in such a way that he tries to uproot everything altogether, but the Lord always preserves a remnant after the evil have been destroyed.
 

And yet a tenth will remain...
Like a little branch from a forest.  This could be read as a curse, as in 90% will be destroyed.  Or, this could be read as a blessing, as in 10% will be saved.

A holy seed is its stump.  Or...this is the stump of Jesse.  Or...this is the Christ.
So, this is not concerning the Babylonian Captivity in which the corrupt people were enslaved and then corrupt people returned.  This is concerning the Roman Captivity in which Jesus served His ministry.  The holy seed is Christ who is the Seed of the church, the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, in which there is no ungodly person but all are righteous in Christ.
 

Let us close with the Lord's Prayer.

Wednesday Bible Study - Ecclesiastes

                                                   Wednesday Bible Study - Ecclesiastes

Wednesday Bible Study - Ecclesiastes

March 1, 2017

Opening Prayer

Today we continued our journey through the Old Testament focusing on the book of Ecclesiastes. This book, located between the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, is written by God through king Solomon. Solomon is the Preacher (1:2).

Remember who king Solomon is. He is the son of David and the third king of Israel. He became king as a very young man. When God asked what He could do or give to Solomon, Solomon asked for the widsom to properly rule God's people Israel (2 Chronicles 1:7-12). God is so impressed that Solomon didn't ask for the normal things young kings ask for, such as wealth, honor, the life of his enemies, or for a long life for himself. God gave Solomon great wisdom, greater than anyone had ever witnessed. God also gave Solomon all the other things that he thought Solomon would have asked for. So, king Solomon is the wisest, richest, most honored person in the world before God and man.

Solomon has everything a man could desire, and yet he is not content.

Solomon writes Ecclesiastes as complaint. He is not content with his life. Solomon's wisdom will die with him. His wealth will be divided up and lost among foolish people after he dies. His honor will be forgotten.

The message of Ecclesiastes is that without Christ all ambition and goals are chasing after the wind. Vanity. Meaningless. Purposeless. Creation is distorted and corrupted. All that you gain will be taken from you.

God's good and holy Law in this book should give you a good does of depression until you despair.

Where is the Gospel? You salvation is a gift. There is nothing you can do to earn it. The harder you work toward you salvation the farther you drive yourself away from God. The only to be saved from a corrupted creation and even your own corrupted nature, is to receive a good gift from God.

Jesus was sent to bare your corruption. Jesus had no corruption of His own rather He is holy God in assumed human flesh. Jesus' life and death is vanity if He did it for Himself. Rather, He takes on your corruption so you may have the fullness of His life.

Jesus delivers His uncorrupted life to you using common things found in His creation. First, preachers give solemn proclamation of God's Word. Today, king Solomon is our preacher. This book is Solomon's sermon to you. Better than that, this is God's sermon to you. It is God's message to you. A message that delivers meaning to your life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And by hearing your belief.

Jesus delivers His uncorrupted life to you by adding His Holy Word to common water. Your Father no longer holds your corruption against you. He promises to restore this corrupted, meaningless creation to its original corruption including raising your glorious body from the dead.

Jesus delivers His uncorrupted life to you by adding His Holy Word to common bread and wine. Eat and drink His body and blood for the forgiveness of your corruption.

So what is Preacher Solomon saying to us who trust the Messiah who has come and is the Christ who is still among us?

With the Gospel firmly in view, Solomon gives some advice in Ecclesiastes 12: 13.

First, fear God. This means trust no one else by the God who created everything under heaven, which means all creation. This is faith. When God accuses you with His good and holy Law, say Amen, you are correct O Lord. When God proclaims you forgiven of all sin and corruption, say, Amen, you are correct O Lord. Keep hearing both these messages and keep adding your amen. Don't listen to anyone else. This is the fear of God.

Second, keep His commandments. How does a Christian keep God's commandments? In Christ. When He says be baptized in my name, be baptized. When He says be instructed in all the things I have said, read the Bible and sit at the feet of someone who understands it better than you. I once heard a Mormon missionary say, 'Every verse in the Bible has a hundred interpretations.' Then I heard another gentleman rightly say, 'Yes, and one is correct and 99 are wrong'. When He says be forgiven in My name, be forgiven in His name. When He says eat and drink My body and blood, given and shed for you, which is in, with, and under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of your sins, then eat and drink. And where there is the forgiveness of sins you will also find salvation and eternal life.

Close with the Lord's Prayer

Song of Songs is next week. God bless.

Pastor Pautz