Reading from Monday, September 27

Before you start reading, let me warn you. This post is extremely long, but I have stumbled upon perhaps some of the most important and beautiful things in the Bible. I promise that none of it is fluff. It's all extremely important to the overall story. Please don't skip this one. The scriptures from this reading are way too important. OK, go. 

Hey friends. What a great Sunday today is. We checked out a new church this morning up in this neck of the woods, and then we went for a 3.5 hour hike. It was awesome. We were also really relived when we got home: last night, Kreacher (our bulldog) started limping. And because we're fanatical psychos about our dog we were freaking out and wondering if his leg was broken or if he'd never walk again. I prayed for him all night and all this morning. When we got home, the limp was completely gone and he was walking completely normally.

Now my point here is not to provide evidence that God exists and answers prayers. He could have gotten better completely on his own. My point in this is to show that even when we are questioning God or questioning his motives or validity, or even his existence, we still rely heavily on him. When, not if, when tragedy strikes people who have or at one time had a belief in God will likely call out to him. In my case, I am at a period of questioning my faith and trying to figure out some pretty heavy things, yet I prayed for something and it came to pass. And this strengthens my faith - whether the ends were the result of my prayers or not...

Reading for September 27
Isaiah 51:1-53:12
God's speech takes a positive turn.

 ¹² "I, even I, am he who comforts you.
       Who are you that you fear mortal men,
       the sons of men, who are but grass,
 ¹³ that you forget the LORD your Maker,
       who stretched out the heavens
       and laid the foundations of the earth,
       that you live in constant terror every day
       because of the wrath of the oppressor,
       who is bent on destruction?
       For where is the wrath of the oppressor?

This is cool. Remember - earlier in Isaiah we hear this quote "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the LORD stands forever." God is reminding us of that analogy, and reinforcing his point that we shouldn't fear anything on this earth, because nothing is eternal except for him.

Then God goes into the idea of the "cup of his wrath"

 ²¹ Therefore hear this, you afflicted one,
       made drunk, but not with wine.
 ²² This is what your Sovereign LORD says,
       your God, who defends his people:
       "See, I have taken out of your hand
       the cup that made you stagger;
       from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,
       you will never drink again.

So what's happening here is that God is prophesying about the coming of Jesus and how, because of him, the people will no longer have to suffer God's wrath. He likens the wrath his people received to drinking the wrath from a cup, and likens it to getting drunk. He says that "the cup that made you stagger" - not from alcohol, but from his correction.

I don't think its a coincidence then that Jesus' extremely symbolic last supper had us all drinking "his blood" from a cup. He is filling up this symbolic cup of wrath with his blood. So where we used to drink God's wrath, we can now drink the blood of Christ - the healing, redemptive blood of Christ. There is also this passage  from Luke 22 when Jesus was praying in the garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion:

³⁹Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰On reaching the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." ⁴¹He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴²"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

What was happening here was Jesus was going to drink from a full cup of God's wrath - more than any human had ever endured from the hand of God. And he did that for us.

Then we have Isaiah 53. Damn. This is one of the most beautiful chapters in the entire Bible. Isaiah describes Jesus actions and impact with stunning clarity, especially the events surrounding the crucifixion.  So first we have this description of him as the 'man of sorrows'.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
       a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
       Like one from whom men hide their faces
       he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

I've always loved this description of Jesus. It's so real. We have this tendency to make Jesus out to be this happy "Buddy Christ" character, but he had an awful life. Everything he did - everything - was for our benefit, and possibly for God's benefit based on that "for my own sake stuff". But when you look at the story as a whole, this is a man who suffered his entire life for us. That's pretty intense. Then we have this description of Christ at his crucifixion:

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
       and by his wounds we are healed. 

 ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
       each of us has turned to his own way;
       and the LORD has laid on him
       the iniquity of us all.
 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
       yet he did not open his mouth;
       he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
       and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
       so he did not open his mouth.

Verses 5 and 6 are fairly well known. They are delivered with dramatic impact in this version of "You are My King" by the Passion Band. While those two verses are incredible, it's verse 7 that really stuck out to me. The idea of a silent, helpless lamb going to be killed, and not putting up a protest, just as peaceful as if he were being led out to pasture. Yet Jesus knew exactly where he was going, and he behaved in the way a lamb would. He did not put up a fight because he knew why he was doing it. He was dying for a purpose. To make it so that cup that we drink from would never be filled with God's wrath again, but only his love.


Ephesians 5:1-33
The little things.

These verses are those from which modern Christianity draws its values. This is where Paul establishes the idea of "Christian Straight Edge". Straight Edge is a way of living where you don't ever take drugs or drink alcohol - the most devout straight edge kids will even avoid things like aspirin and caffeine. Christian straight edge also excludes sex before marriage and usually cursing as well. This was me in college. Well, here is the scripture that backs up that lifestyle:

³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. ¹⁹Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Can I be totally honest for a minute? This all sounds totally lame. There are certain inalienable earthly pleasures that are hard to discredit as sinful when they are so much fun. I've never been a big drinker, but in moderation, I feel that people should be entitled to get drunk every once in a while. Also, the coarse joking one is a killer. I am a sucker for really distasteful/offensive humor.

But these things are meant to build us up. Because most people don't get drunk in moderation, but every night, and people make awful decisions when they're drunk. Coarse joking usually ends up hurting someone's feelings. So while all of this sounds like Paul is trying to turn us into a giant family of Flanders', it really is to our benefit to avoid these pleasures, as fun as they may be. There's a line right in the middle here that drives this point home:

 ¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

"The days are evil" to me means that time is not limitless. Time is working against us, and we need to make the most of it. As my friend and spiritual mentor tells me all the time - "wherever you are, be all there." And I try to live that way whenever I can.

Psalm 69:19-36

 ³⁰ I will praise God's name in song
       and glorify him with thanksgiving.
 ³¹ This will please the LORD more than an ox,
       more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.

Yes, based on the "for my own sake" idea, I imagine that regular praise would please God more than an animal sacrifice.  I wonder if God figured out half way through the Old Testament that people worshiping him with their mouths was just as beneficial to him as the animal sacrifices. Like, "Oh. You...you can just tell me you love me, instead of killing thousands of animals every month? Yeah...yeah, let's go with the telling me thing from now on."


Proverbs 24:7
 ⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool;
       in the assembly at the gate he has nothing to say.

This post is ridiculous.