Isaiah Chapter 55 Notes

                      Isaiah Chapter 55 Notes                                                                                                                                    

Isaiah Chapter 55 Notes

Isaiah 55:1-6

The Gospel, at no cost or threat, is for you.

1 "Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money,

This is a warning to those who are tempted and tested to not become disgusted with this fallen life.  No matter how quietly the flesh sleeps in its contentment with fallen things, we Christians must avoid the temptation to take God’s Word for granted. The people who have been trained in God’s Word are more likely to fall into forgetfulness.  Pray for your pastor.  Pastor’s are most prone among Christians to become negligent in God’s Word.  Let us never think we have heard too much of God’s Word or accomplished much in it.  Rather, let us hear the invitation again.  Jesus invites us to come without anything to Him.  We are beggars before Him.

Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

The church is not a building.  The church is a gathering of those who cling to God’s Word.  It is the church that needs and thirsts for what Jesus gives as a gift.  Who values free things?  The ungodly don’t.  Free means cheap.  Free means of no value.  The good things are costly.  The ungodly want to be deceived this way.  Free has no value.  Expensive is priceless.  Therefore the Gospel, offered to the world free of charge, is not received.

Wine and milk.  Milk is for children.  It is applied through Holy Scripture.  It is received by children regardless of intellect.  It teaches all the doctrines of God.  Wine is for adults who have been trained in Holy Scripture.  Yet, the adults have been agitated to weariness by many trials and temptations from the devil, death, sin, and affliction from tyrants.  The wine is strong.  They have been brought up in the Holy Scripture.

Come, buy...without money and without price.  No one can complain that it costs too much.  “Exhortation of this kind is no less necessary than doctrine, and especially by those long trained to believe the opposite.  Therefore, much exhortation is necessary to keep minds in line.  We see this with ourselves, who are conversant with opinions concerning works and righteousness, with what difficulty it is to understand when reason is not suspended”  (Martin Luther).  After the invitation, Isaiah begins the counter opposing arguments.

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy?  Jews and Romans and many Protestants think their opinions are bread.  A Mormon missionary once said, “Every Bible verse has a hundred interpretations.”  Yes, one right and ninety nine wrong.  “Summary: All forms of human righteousness are not able to provide the soul with one hour of peace” (Luther).  It is like being offered a king’s buffet but rejecting it to hunt scraps from dumpsters.

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.  Delight your soul in fatness.

3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant (promise) with you -- The sure mercies of David.

It is hard to break a habit.  In this case the habit is to “not” listen to the LORD.  

All other teachings and righteousness belong to death.  “So Paul in the letter to the Galatians reproves this self-righteousness by means of 50 titles: Severed from Christ; fallen away from grace; Christ died to no purpose, etc. (Gal. 5:4; 2:21). With such great effort he attacks our own righteousness” (Luther).

The Lord is declaring an everlasting promise: As He was merciful to David, so also will He be merciful to you.  What is mercy?  It is the ‘forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.’

4 Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.  

The witness is not to the Jews only, but also to all people.  The nation of Israel ends with Jesus.

5 Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the LORD your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you."  

You will become a new people (church).  The people will enter; they will run to you.  This new people will suffer violence at the hands of others (Matthew 11:12).  In the kingdom of Christ and in the New Testament, this people must turn down the requirements of the old people (the nation of Israel) and the disciples will always go hungry (for righteousness).  We will not own this righteousness so that we may depart from the Holy One.  Enthusiasm in the Lutheran Confessions is that which separates what is written from the power of the Holy Spirit.  And let us remember, Jesus is glorified by what He suffered.  The scars in His hands and feet are His glory.

6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.  

This is directed toward those who stubbornly despise God’s Word.  Meaning, they don’t cling to God’s Word.  “This is the place for exhortation by threatening, as if to say: “If your own welfare and uprightness do not move you to the Word, then let the coming danger move you.” Similar passages are (2 Cor. 6:2): “Behold, now is the acceptable time,” and the Word of Christ (John 12:35): “Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you.” These are exhortations that contain a threat” (Luther).

Isaiah 55:6-13  

Title: The Means of Grace (or, Means of the Holy Spirit).  What are means?

6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found,

The LORD can be found at the present time.  He is near, not far away.  Now is the day of salvation.

call ye upon him while he is near:

And yet this warning is added to the ungodly.  Those who think that by prayers and vigils and tithes and fastings they will be found acceptable before the Lord.  The Lord is found by grace through faith in Jesus.  

7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:

All the rest who are not in God’s Word are ungodly.  After this threat He adds the promise:

and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

The hearers think this call to repentance is for other people.  They think they are ok but others need God’s grace through faith in the Messiah.  However, they first need to be persuaded that they are sinners who need the grace and mercy of God.  This is to shake up the ungodly no matter how gifted they may be.  They still view the Word as lifeless.  The godly, however, feel their imperfection and they long for the grace of God.  Here is a golden text:  He will abundantly pardon.  The ungodly object to this statement.  Like the parable of the Pharisee and Publican, the Pharisee says, “I am glad I am not like other men...or even like this tax collector.”

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

Our thoughts did not come up with the Gospel that Jesus would die for the ungodly.  And yet, these thoughts of God He revealed in His Holy Scripture.  You can know the thoughts of God because He had them written for you.  Have we discussed or defined what an Enthusiast is?  It is someone who seeks God apart from the Holy Scriptures.  Who does this today?  Many.  The Romans teach an unwritten tradition that is needed in addition to Holy Scripture (what is necessary is a priest to direct you).  Pentecostals teach a direct revelation apart from what is written (what is necessary is speaking in tongues, or an inner light).  Baptists teach that sacraments are not the Word of God because Jesus is not on earth (what is necessary is a confession of faith).  Many other Protestants now deny that Scripture is written by God (what is needed is to seek God’s will for our day like the prophets and apostles did in their day).

neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

This puts free will before God to shame.  Our wills are bound regarding the will of God and salvation.  People say, ‘We want to do the right thing.  We don’t seek our glory but God’s glory.’ The Lord responds, ‘If they are your thoughts then they are not my thoughts.’  It is important to note: Believing Scripture and clinging to Christ are not our thoughts but God’s.  We are familiar with this.  This is how we seek righteousness and salvation - hear what God wrote and add our Amen.

Free will is destroyed.  There is no distinction among us.  The ungodly might say: “It is true, God condemns our evil thoughts, but He accepts the good ones, the ones that pray and prepare themselves for righteousness. This is good. Bad is fornication, theft, etc.” I respond to them: “This text speaks without any distinction” (Luther).

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

There is no sin in heaven unlike on earth so heaven and earth cannot be mixed.  The LORD will not allow His holiness (Himself) to be desecrated.  LORD’s prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  May His holiness be among us - here on earth.  It is beyond us to think that the Christ would allow Himself to be desecrated and killed for our salvation.  But, He has made it known for us by what He has had written.

10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,

Here the LORD is speaking about His thoughts and ways which have to do with what is written.  He is not talking about hidden thoughts or hidden will or speculations but what is written.  It is a rebuke for the stubborn and consolation for the weak.  The rebuke is because it is not our thoughts, wills, and ways but by “My Word” (vs11).  The consolation is because what is written seems so foolish and powerless.  It would be easy for the weak to be offended at the lowliness of God who has won victory through His Word.

Rain and snow are not useless but water the earth, giving seed to the sower.  We tend to think that the strength is in the earth and not the rain or snow.  (Gardeners know that rainwater is better than tap water.)  But the growth comes from the rain and the snow (the earth is cursed since Genesis).  The same is true of the church.  The church is not the strength of its growth.  Rather, it is the Word of God that produces the growth.

So, what are some examples that churches use to cause their growth?  

And, what are some example that the Lord uses to grow His church?

but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth (not an invisible mouth but the mouth of prophets, apostles, pastors): it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please (it will not accomplish what you please, but what God pleases) , and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.   (so let us pray that the Holy Spirit may accomplish and prosper this in and among us.  And let us see how God speaks against the fear that His Word will not produce any fruit, as seems to be the situation the church often finds itself in.)

12 For ye shall go out with joy (Luther: in the Law, nothing is cheerful.  But in the Gospel, the heart is made cheerful.  And with a cheerful heart all things are happy, even the cross and persecution are bearable), and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.  

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.  (Luther Summary: The Lord has His name and rule through the Gospel, which establishes the earth, so that we may cling to Christ alone as our Savior. Thus He removes our merits and righteousness and brings us back to Christ and commends His unique name to us. 

Sunday Bible Study Notes - John 8

              Sunday Bible Study Notes - John 8

Sunday Bible Study Notes - John 8

Purpose: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:31).

John 8:12-30

Purpose of this section:  This is one of Jesus’ I AM statements referring to the burning bush from where He spoke to Moses.  But also, Jesus is the light in the dark world.  With the light turned on you see the gift - life.

12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I AM the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  The Feast of Tabernacles is over.  The crowd has dispersed.  The plot to kill Jesus did not happen but there are many angry at Jesus.  They are still plotting.  Jesus is continuing to teach from the temple area.  He repeats His, “I AM the light of the world” meaning He and He alone.  Light and life go together (1:4) just as darkness and death go together.  The light does the work.  It draws us to Jesus who gives His life for us.  Notice how this light is both for all the world but also to the individual person as well.  No one trusts the darkness at least after the light is turned on.  But light is trustworthy.  We can see what is in the light.  So, Jesus is the light and this light is always linked with life.  Later, Jesus will also say I AM the...Life.

13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.

The Pharisees don’t listen to what Jesus is saying.  Rather, they raise a formal objection as in a court of law.  You cannot bear witness about yourself.  Someone needs to see or hear what you said.  Otherwise there is no reason to listen.  Anyway, they are like blind men in the dark.  They see no Father.

14 Jesus answered and said unto them (John 1:48), Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.  15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.  16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.  17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.  18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. Jesus is not contradicting Himself.  Even though He said something different in 5:31 -  If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.  There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.  Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.  But I receive not testimony from man: In John 5 He goes on to say that John the Baptist gave witness but says there is another witness - His Father - who is not a man.

19 Then said the Pharisees unto Jesus, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.  There is an ancient little saying that Christian teachers have often applied - the faith comes before understanding.  Without faith even a person fully knowing all the Holy Scripture will not understand the gift given.  With faith, many who don’t know

the Scriptures very well still receive the gift.  

20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. The main reason to mention the treasury is that Jesus is teaching in public; in view and earshot of the authorities.  The conflict is over.  The plot to arrest Jesus does not go forward again.

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.  A sharper clash starts.  Jesus gives a strong warning to the same people in the first clash.  He restates what He said is 7:33-34 - 33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. A few changes are made.  He leaves out “a little while I am with you” because no police are coming to arrest Him, which was the earlier intent.  Also, Jesus emphasizes strongly that “I go my way”.  The warning is that if the Jews keep going their own way, their unbelief will end in death.

22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

The Jews catch that Jesus is going to do something of His own will.  However, they think it might be suicide.  They are still trying to catch Jesus in His words as well.

23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.  24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he (more plainly that I Am the I AM of the burning bush), ye shall die in your sins.

25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? This is much less a question than a sneer.  Who do you think you are?  You come to this holy place and make such blasphemous claims about yourself.

And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said (solemnly proclaimed) unto you from the beginning...  The Jews are sneering while Jesus is happy to answer again.  Jesus then continues.  26 I have many things to say (solemnly proclaim) and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.  Jesus not only tells them something about Himself but also something about themselves.  He tells them of their darkness for which a judgment is coming.  

27 They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.  What they did not understand is that Jesus’ words are the Father’s words.  The Jews are intellectually following what Jesus is saying.  However, they don’t trust what Jesus says in verse 26 is even possible.

28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man (crucifixion), then shall ye know that I am he (the I AM of Exodus), and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.  Wow!  Amid all the hostility, many trusted Jesus.

Wednesday Bible Study on Isaiah 53

                                              Wednesday Bible Study on Isaiah 53

Wednesday Bible Study on Isaiah 53

July 26, 2017

1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Many Gentiles will believe in Him but few Jews.  Or in our case, many unbelievers will believe in Him but few Christians.  We Christians are the ones who were baptized as infants.  We have the Holy Scriptures since our youth.  We have the pure Divine Service for the faithful preaching and teaching of the pure Gospel and the proper administration/distribution the sacraments.  So among us Lutherans, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”  It goes against reason that trusting Christ in such ordinary and despised forms we should be saved from temporal and eternal death.  So we look for concrete actions and results.  The new term “missional’ is replacing the older term “church growth.”  God Himself has written a book that we might believe in His name and that by believing we might have eternal life (John 20:231).

2 For he shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.

Fascinating that Jesus grew up before God the Father.  Jesus did not grow up before the world.  The world did not see it.  He grew like a root growing underground.  In fact, the Christ is repulsive.  It is as if He had a cultic theology and even a failure in worldly endeavors who was rightly put to death for His own sins.  But this is not true of Him.  

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

We turn away from Him when we present Him as Someone other than who is He is.  For example, the Jews and Islam and even the Pope would agree the Christ is a great teacher.  But they would also agree that the Christ did not atone for our sins but for His own sins.  

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

The Christ did not suffer and die for His sins but ours.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,

John the Baptist summed this up by calling Him the “Lamb of God” as a proper understanding of the Levitical sacrifice for all.  So there are no good works of our that give us the forgiveness of sins.  The Roman Mass to this day is called the “Unbloody Sacrifice” made by priests and behalf of the people to God.  The “Frontier Revivals” of the 19th century and the “Comtemporary/Missional Worship” of the 20th century and today are sacrifices to God in the same vein.  It is even one thing to preach and teach and practice that Christ is the only resource we have for forgiveness, it is hard for us to believe it in the quiet of our homes.  However, if we retain the article of doctrine that “Jesus Christ is the Savior” then the other articles of the Holy Spirit and the church and the Holy Scriptures will fall into place.  So that fact is that Christ is the atoning sacrifice and the purpose is for our forgiveness.  Islam and Romans proclaim the fact (Christ died for sin) but deny the function (for our forgiveness).   Enthusiasts (those who look outside of Scripture or reject Scripture to find God) deny both the fact and the function.

he was bruised for our iniquities:

Christ work compares to your work like the Pacific Ocean compares to burning match.  The PO will easily extinguish the match but the match will never evaporate the PO.

Thus a certain hermit who was extremely harassed by Satan could not evade him, but said: “I have not sinned. Everybody must look upon his conscience as free.” He did not answer well because he did have sin. This is what he should have said: “My sins have been transferred to Christ; He has them.” This is the grafting of the wild olive into the olive tree. ….. Hence a Christian man must be especially vexed in his conscience and heart by Satan, and yet he must remain in the Word and not seek peace anywhere else than in Christ. We must not make a log or a rock out of the Christian as one who does not feel sin in himself. This is the claim of the exceedingly spiritual Enthusiasts…..Hence a Christian man must be especially vexed in his conscience and heart by Satan, and yet he must remain in the Word and not seek peace anywhere else than in Christ. We must not make a log or a rock out of the Christian as one who does not feel sin in himself. This is the claim of the exceedingly spiritual Enthusiasts. -Luther

the chastisement of our peace was upon him

Peter treats this passage (1 Peter 2:24). Christ is not so much a judge and an angry God but one who bears and carries our sins, a mediator.    - Note the wonderful exchange; One man sins, another pays the penalty; one deserves peace, the other has it. The one who should have peace has chastisement, while the one who should have chastisement has peace. It is a difficult thing to know what Christ is. Would that our Enthusiasts saw this clearly!  -Luther

and with his stripes we are healed.

Hence this is what we must say to the Christian: “If you want to be healed, do not look at your own wounds, but fix your gaze on Christ.” - Luther

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This is the supreme and chief article of faith, that our sins, placed on Christ, are not ours; again, that the peace is not Christ’s but ours...Summary: The head of self-righteousness must be lopped off. I grant that the works of the godly are good and right, but they do not justify…  Here, however, we have the punishment of our sins on Christ Himself. In public life, however, if anyone sins openly, let him be punished by the magistrate.  - Luther

1 A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth, The guilt of all men bearing;  'Tis laden with the sin of earth, None else the burden sharing;  It goes its way, grows weak and faint, To slaughter led without complaint, Its spotless life to offer; Bears shame, and stripes, and wounds, and death, Anguish and mockery, and saith, "Willing all this I suffer."

Sunday Bible Study - John 5:1-24

July 21, 2017

Sunday Bible Study

John 5:1-24

Title: The Bethesda Healing - This is Most Certainly (Assuredly) True

Invocation & Prayer

Review:

John 1 - God dwells among us.

John 2 - Worded Water into Wine

John 3 - Nic(odemus) at Night: Birth from Above by Spirited Word

John 4 - Jesus’ Food is to do His Father’s Will (Samaritan Woman at the Well & Healing of Dying Child)

John 5:1-9  The Bethesda Healing: Take up your bed and go.

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” 7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

John 5:10-16  The Bethesda Healing - Jesus Persecuted by the Jews for Breaking the Sabbath (Third Command)

And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.” 11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”  12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”  15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

John 5:17-18  The Bethesda Healing - Jesus Persecuted by the Jews for Blasphemy  (First Command)

17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
 

John 5:19-21  The Bethesda Healing - Jesus raises the dead and gives life to whom He will

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

John 5:22-24  The Bethesda Healing - Hearing Jesus and Believing (Trusting) Jesus is Everlasting Life.

22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.  24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.