Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem (ESV)

"Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel. And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you. And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; you voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly, you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitudes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirst man dreams, and behold, he is drinking, and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink! For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed." And when they give the book to the one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

And the LORD said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden." Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD you counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

For the ruthless shall come to nothing and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."

My Testimony

I don't think I've ever shared this on this platform before - I guess when I started this blog it was mostly for me...a place to put my thoughts so to speak. It very much still is that; there's no one telling me what to write (or not write) about and while I do try and keep the focus of this thing pretty narrow, it's up to me. Having said that - the blogger platform does provide me with some visitor statistics and so I can see that there are a good number a people who read this. Also, I occasionally share something I've written with someone else if it's pertinent to a subject we're discussing. So - I thought why not put my story here; if it helps you or inspires you, all praise to God. So here goes:

This isn't a story about my life - this is a story about the past six years of my life, and it involves the rest of my life. The scene is February of 2019. It's a cold night, I'm outside in my backyard (letting the dog out) and yelling at God. I'd done this before, but there was one difference about this night and that was that I was actually yelling out loud, at God, as opposed to just in my head. For many years, since probably 7th grade (?) I had struggled with one particular addiction. It started because I saw a Playboy magazine at some point as a kid, and I grew up, the internet grew up with me. I remember the days of a dial-up modem and AOL CDs. I remember the days before cell phones and remember the first time one of my friends had a phone in their car (I was in high school). So...as I grew up, the internet grew up and access to pornography grew up right along side the internet.

Christian: What Will You Think When a Third Temple is Built?

There's obviously been a lot of talk in the wake of recent clashes between the United States, Israel and Iran in the past week. A lot of what I'm seeing is people asking if there is prophetic significance to any of these events and well, I'm not just interested in any of that. Too many people have tried to read prophetic significance into current events, and been wrong, for me to dare go down those rabbit holes again. Could all of this have prophetic significance? Sure, but it's too early to tell. To me, the more interesting conversations have been around a Third Temple. I'm not quite why this subject has come up now - it might have something to do with a theoretical; something having to do with the temple mount being bombed and destroyed..."and then what would happen" kind of thing. Nevertheless - it has got me thinking...because a MAJOR sign that end times events are in play would be the construction of a third temple. Why? Because that is one of the predictions of Scripture, particularly within passages that speak of the End and Jesus' return.

Prooftexts:

Ezekiel 40-48 (a must read, but too long to put here)

Daniel 9:24-27

"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be build again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one [other translations read "the messiah"] shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator."

2 Thessalonians 2:1-7

"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion come first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?"

On Thinking the Right Thoughts

I'm not sure where I'm going with this post, but it is in response to something - and I couldn't resist a commentary on the rare combination of passion-points here, namely politics and MN Sports.

Over the weekend there was another roundly tragic clash between ICE Agents (well technically, customs & border patrol agents) and the public. I don't really care to comment on all of that other than to say, if you don't want to get shot, don't get in the way of police officers and federal law enforcement officials who are doing their jobs. Those are some brave men and women and you have no idea what they've seen and put up with while carrying out lawful orders. Those brave men and women have families too and many of them have to be asking themselves, "is this even worth it?"

Immediately following this latest clash, the Minnesota Timberwolves cancelled their NBA game with the Golden State Warriors for that evening. They ended up playing the next day and predictably, cameras and microphones got shoved in the faces of players and coaches asking for their "comment" on all of this. For the mouth-breathers on social media, their comments weren't "enough". I don't know what "enough" means, but they were looking for more. More passion. More hyperbole. More something. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here thinking, "why did they feel like they had to say anything at all?" Why does anyone feel like they need to hear from Joe Athlete or Jane Celebrity when bad stuff happens?

Why Antisemitism is a Literal Tool of Satan

There's been a lot of talk in the news and social media sphere about the rise of Antisemitism in the World and while that was mostly ignorable for many years, it now seems to be an obvious, nearly everyday, reality. Going back to the October 7th terrorist attack in Israel in which over 1,200 people were killed (mostly Jews), there has been a steady drum beat of anti-Israel/anti-Jew attacks both here in the United States as well as in other parts of the World. The most recent is of course yesterday's terrorist attack by a father and son against a Jewish community in Sydney, Australia who were celebrating the first day of Hannukah on Bondi Beach, killing over 15 people.

The attacks themselves and the general rise of antisemitism over the past several years, however, are not what I want to focus on today. What I want to focus on is why I believe Antisemitism itself is a tool of Satan's use. There is an obvious reason for it and then a much more subtle reason for it, and I'll spend the bulk of my time on the subtle reason for it.

The obvious reason for it being an actual tool of Satan is: if Satan (or the forces of evil, or whatever you want to label the leader of the demonic forces) can eliminate God's chosen people from the Earth, then he can eliminate God's Covenant with them. It's a very logical approach on Satan's part actually - if you have a pact between two people that you want to disappear, then eliminate one of the parties and you no longer have a valid pact. The idea here is no different than that - if God's people are erased, then the Covenant is void and if the Covenant is void, then God is either a) a liar, or b) impotent. If God is a liar or impotent, then he is not God and thus is on the same level as Satan. This is the line of logic that Satan is following in his attempt to eliminate Jews from the planet.

What Is Essential to 'The Message'?

From a JD Greear article at The Gospel Coalition:

"I want to say this to church leaders in America: Don't make it hard for Republicans or Democrats to find God. Don't make it hard for black or white seekers, or for brown or Asian seekers. Don't make it hard for police officers or for public-school teachers. Preach the whole counsel of God, but don't make it hard for anyone turning to God by encumbering the message with things not essential to the message."

I appreciate his call to 'not make it hard' for anyone based on some important aspect of who they are (their skin color, their job, etc). If a church is making it hard for someone based on something other than their human being-ness, they're doing it wrong.

It's that last line though, that kind of begs a question. "don't make it hard for anyone turning to God by encumbering the message with things not essential to the message."...what is essential to the message?

What Is Essential to the Message?

I love the places in Scripture where the imperatives are simple and direct. Micah 6:8 for example, "He has shown you, o mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." That is just two simple sentences, but it is packed with meaning and it's direct. Jesus makes several of those kinds of statements too:

John 5:

Jesus is in Jerusalem observing a Jewish festival and visits the pool called Bethesda. He comes across a man who has been paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus asks him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir," the paralyzed man replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus says to the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." He is healed. Then an interesting follow up a few verses later..."Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Let's Talk About Salvation

The topic of 'once saved, always saved' came up again recently in my world and it got me thinking. It made me wonder about the word 'salvation' itself...more specifically, what are we being saved from and what did an ancient Hebrew, or even a 1st century disciple of Jesus, think of when they thought of salvation?

Much of the messianic expectation that developed in the intertestamental period had to do with the messiah delivering the Jews from their oppressors (the Romans), as in a political or militaristic way. This was, in the end, one of the central reasons why many of the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as messiah, because he didn't do one of the main things they were expecting a Messiah to do. If a messiah figure didn't do that, their logic goes, he wasn't the messiah. On this side of Jesus' death, we have the benefit of understanding what they could not see, both in the words of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, but also explicitly laid out by the writer of Hebrews who says, "so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save (or 'bring salvation to') those who are eagerly waiting for him." (Hebrew 9:28)

I want to share some of the insights I've read from others in attempting to understand the Hebrew/1st century understanding of salvation and then examine how that might be different from our modern understanding of it.