Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "The Grace of God" (Chapter 13)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“The Grace of God” (Chapter 13)
“Grace, far from being a personal force, …is a personal activity—God operating in love toward people.” - J. I. Packer
No Grasp of Grace
“The root of the trouble seems to be misbelief about the basic relationship between a person and God—misbelief rooted not just in the mind but in the heart, at the deeper level of things that we never question because we always take them for granted.” - J. I. Packer
1. The moral ill-desert of man.
“The thought of themselves as creatures fallen from God’s image, rebels against God’s rule, guilty and unclean in God’s sight, fit only for God’s condemnation, never enters their heads.” - J. I. Packer
2. The retributive justice of God.
“God is not true to himself unless he punishes sin. And unless one knows and feels the truth of this fact, that wrongdoers have no natural hope of anything from God but retributive judgment, one can never share the biblical faith in divine grace.” - J. I. Packer
3. The spiritual impotence of man.
“To mend our own relationship with God, regaining God’s favor after having once lost it, is beyond the power of any one of us. And one must see and bow to this before one can share the biblical faith in God’s grace.” - J. I. Packer
4. The sovereign freedom of God.
“Grace is free, in the sense of being self-originated and of proceeding from One who was free not to be gracious. Only when it is seen that what decides each individual’s destiny is whether or not God resolves to save him from his sins, and that this is a decision which God need not make in any single case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace.” - J. I. Packer
Not Earned or Deserved
“The grace of God is love freely shown toward guilty sinners, contrary to their merit and indeed in defiance of their demerit. It is God showing goodness to persons who deserve only severity and had no reason to expect anything but severity.” - J. I. Packer
“Grace and salvation belong together as cause and effect. 'It is by grace you have been saved' (Eph 2:5, 8).” - J. I. Packer
1. Grace as the source of the pardon of sin.
“The gospel centers upon justification—that is, upon the remission of sins and the acceptance of our persons that goes with it. Justification is the truly dramatic transition from the status of a condemned criminal awaiting a terrible sentence to that of an heir awaiting a fabulous inheritance.” - J. I. Packer
“Justification is by faith; it takes place the moment a person puts vital trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Justification is free to us, but it was costly to God, for its price was the atoning death of God’s Son.” - J. I. Packer
Romans 3:24–25 NIV24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
Ephesians 1:7 NIV7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
2. Grace as the motive of the plan of salvation.
“The New Testament sets God’s gift of pardon in the context of a plan of salvation which began with election before the world was and will be completed only when the church is perfect in glory.” - J. I. Packer
“We believers may rejoice to know that our conversion was no accident, but an act of God which had its place in an eternal plan to bless us with the free gift of salvation from sin (2:8-10); God promises and purposes to carry his plan through to completion, and since it is executed by sovereign power (1:19-20), nothing can thwart it.” - J. I. Packer
3. Grace as the guarantee of the preservation of the saints.
“If the plan of salvation is certain of accomplishment, then the Christian’s future is assured. I am, and will be, 'kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation' (1 Pet 1:5 KJV)… as grace led me to faith in the first place, so grace will keep me believing to the end.” - J. I. Packer
A Proper Response
“...in the New Testament doctrine is grace, and ethics is gratitude...For love awakens love in return; and love, once awakened, desires to give pleasure. And the revealed will of God is that those who have received grace should henceforth give themselves to 'good works' (Eph 2:10; Titus 2:11-12); and gratitude will move anyone who has truly received grace to do as God requires...” - J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "The Love of God" (Chapter 12)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“The Love of God” (Chapter 12)
1 John 4:8 NIVWhoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16 NIVAnd so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
• A doctrine often misunderstood• One of the most precious doctrines in Scripture
Romans 5:5 NIVAnd hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
A Flood of Love
• Poured Out - “God’s love has flooded our inmost heart” (NEB).• Perfect tense - a settled state consequent upon a completed action.• A regular ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit to all believers.
“With a perversity as pathetic as it is impoverishing, we have become preoccupied today with the extraordinary, sporadic, nonuniversal ministries of the Spirit to the neglect of the ordinary, general ones.” - J. I. Packer
“a right-minded concern for revival will express itself not in a hankering after tongues, but rather in a longing that the Spirit may shed God’s love abroad in our hearts with greater power.” - J. I. Packer
Love, Spirit, Light
1. “God is love” is not the complete truth about God so far as the Bible is concerned.
• This statement presupposes all the rest of the biblical witness to God.• “God is spirit” (John 4:24).
- God’s presence is unlimited.- Worship is not localized but is receptive to God’s presence and his truth.- God’s Spirituality - “without body, parts, or passions”
“The love of God is… a spontaneous determination of God’s whole being in an attitude of benevolence and benefaction, an attitude freely chosen and firmly fixed. There are no inconstancies or vicissitudes in the love of the almighty God who is spirit.” - J. I. Packer
• “God is light” (1 John 1:5).
- “in him there is no darkness at all”- Light = holiness and purity
“The God who is love is first and foremost light, and sentimental ideas of his love as an indulgent, benevolent softness, divorced from moral standards and concerns, must therefore be ruled out from the start. God’s love is holy love.” - J. I. Packer
“God’s love is stern, for it expresses holiness in the lover and seeks holiness for the beloved. Scripture does not allow us to suppose that because God is love we may look to him to confer happiness on people who will not seek holiness, or to shield his loved ones from trouble when he knows that they need trouble to further their sanctification.” - J. I. Packer
2. “God is love” is the complete truth about God so far as the Christian is concerned.
• “God is love” means that his love finds expression in everything that he says and does.• The cross of Christ gives us assurance that we are beloved of God (Gal. 2:20).• In every circumstance, God is working out of love for our good (Rom. 8:28).
“Every single thing that happens to us expresses God’s love to us, and comes to us for the furthering of God’s purpose for us… Even when we cannot see the why and the wherefore of God’s dealings, we know that there is love in and behind them, and so we can rejoice always, even when, humanly speaking, things are going wrong.” - J. I. Packer
Defining God’s Love
“God’s love is an exercise of his goodness toward individual sinners whereby, having identified himself with their welfare, he has given his Son to be their Savior, and now brings them to know and enjoy him in a covenant relation.” - J. I. Packer
1. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness.
2. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness toward sinners.
3. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness toward individual sinners.
4. God’s love to sinners involves his identifying himself with their welfare.
5. God’s love to sinners was expressed by the gift of his Son to be their Savior.
1 John 4:9–10 NIV9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
6. God’s love to sinners reaches its objective as it brings them to know and enjoy him in a covenant relation.
“You shall have as true an interest in all my attributes for your good, as they are mine for my own glory. . . . My grace, saith God, shall be yours to pardon you, and my power shall be yours to protect you, and my wisdom shall be yours to direct you, and my goodness shall be yours to relieve you, and my mercy shall be yours to supply you, and my glory shall be yours to crown you. This is a comprehensive promise, for God to be our God: it includes all.” - Thomas Brooks
Amazing Love!
1 John 4:11 NIVDear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "Thy Word Is Truth" (Chapter 11)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“Thy Word Is Truth” (Chapter 11)
Biblical Assumptions about God:
God is King.
God speaks.
“just as God’s relations with his world have to be understood in terms of his sovereignty, so his sovereignty is to be understood in terms of what the Bible tells us about his word.” - J. I. Packer
Like a King, God speaks...
By Divine Fiat
By Royal Torah
Torah’s 3-fold character:
Law
Promise
Testimony
“The word which God addresses directly to us is an instrument, not only of government, but also of fellowship.” - J. I. Packer
“God speaks to us not only to move us to do what he wants, but to enable us to know him so that we may love him.” - J. I. Packer
The God Who Speaks
Genesis 1: God Speaks to Adam & Eve:
Command (1:28)
Testimony (1:29)
Prohibition (2:17)
Promise (3:15-19)
“Here, within the compass of these three short chapters [of Genesis], we see the word of God in all the relations in which it stands to the world, and to man within it.” - J. I. Packer
“the whole Bible insists that all circumstances and events in the world are determined by the word of God, the Creator’s omnipotent ‘Let there be...’” - J. I. Packer
Isaiah 55:10–11 NIV10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
“The whole Bible maintains this insistence that God’s word is his executive instrument in all human affairs. Of him, as of no one else, it is true that what he says goes.” - J. I. Packer
In Relationship to us, the Word comes...
Sometimes as Law
Sometimes as Promise
Sometimes as Testimony
“the claim of the word of God upon us is absolute: the word is to be received, trusted and obeyed, because it is the word of God the King.” - J. I. Packer
Absolute Truth
“We are to believe and obey it, not only because he tells us to, but also, and primarily, because it is a true word. Its author is ‘the God of truth.’” - J. I. Packer
1. God’s commands are true.
because they have stability and permanence as setting forth what God wants to see in human lives in every age
because they tell us the unchanging truth about our own nature
“As rational persons, we were made to bear God’s moral image—that is, our souls were made to ‘run’ on the practice of worship, law-keeping, truthfulness, honesty, discipline, self-control, and service to God and our fellows. If we abandon these practices, not only do we incur guilt before God; we also progressively destroy our own souls… One not only becomes desperately miserable; one is steadily being dehumanized.” - J. I. Packer
2. God’s promises are true, for God keeps them.
“How does God’s faithfulness show itself? By his unfailing fulfillment of his promises. He is a covenant-keeping God; he never fails those who trust his word.” - J. I. Packer
“A fixed, constant attention to the promises, and a firm belief of them, would prevent solicitude and anxiety about the concerns of this life. Christians deprive themselves of their most solid comforts by their unbelief and forgetfulness of God’s promises.” - Samuel Clark
Believe and Obey
“What is a Christian? True Christians are people who acknowledge and live under the word of God… Their eyes are upon the God of the Bible as their Father and the Christ of the Bible as their Savior.” - J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "God's Wisdom and Ours" (Chapter 10)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“God’s Wisdom and Ours” (Chapter 10)
The Attributes of God
Incommunicable Attributes
Communicable Attributes
When God made man, he communicated to him certain qualities corresponding to his moral attributes. This is what the Bible means when it tells us that God made man in his own image (Gen 1:26-27).
Moral Qualities of the Divine Image:
Lost at the Fall
Being Renewed through Redemption
Fully Restored at Glorification
Among these communicable attributes, the theologians put wisdom. As God is wise in himself, so he imparts wisdom to his creatures.
Where can we find wisdom?
We must learn to reverence God.
We must learn to receive God’s word.
What Wisdom Is Not
Wisdom is not “a deepened insight into the providential meaning and purpose of events going on around us, an ability to see why God has done what he has done in a particular case, and what he is going to do next.” – J. I. Packer
This incorrect view of wisdom from God may lead to:
Disappointment
Disillusionment
Depression
Realism Needed
Wisdom is like driving. “What matters in driving is the speed and appropriateness of your reactions to things and the soundness of your judgment as to what scope a situation gives you… you simply try to see and do the right thing in the actual situation that presents itself. The effect of divine wisdom is to enable you and me to do just that in the actual situations of everyday life.” – J. I. Packer
What Ecclesiastes Teaches Us
The pursuit of wisdom does not provide an understanding of “the reasons of God’s various doings in the ordinary course of providence.” – J. I. Packer
“...the real basis of wisdom is a frank acknowledgment that this world’s course is enigmatic, that much of what happens is quite inexplicable to us, and that most occurrences ‘under the sun’ bear no outward sign of a rational, moral God ordering them at all.” – J. I. Packer
“God’s ordering of events is inscrutable; much as you want to make it out, you cannot do so. The harder you try to understand the divine purpose in the ordinary providential course of events, the more obsessed and oppressed you grow with the apparent aimlessness of everything, and the more you are tempted to conclude that life really is as pointless as it looks.” – J. I. Packer
“...the truth is that God in his wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we should like to know about the providential purposes which he is working out in the churches and in our own lives.” – J. I. Packer
What Is Wisdom Then?
“Fear God and keep his commandments”
Trust and obey him
Reverence him
Worship him
Be humble before him
Mean what you say when you pray to him
Do good
Remember God will hold you to account
Eschew things you will be ashamed of
Live in the present and enjoy God’s gifts
Seek grace to work hard at whatever life calls you to do
Enjoy your work as you do it
Leave providence and the measure of the worth of your deeds to God
Take advantage of the opportunities that lie before you
What grounds and sustains this way of wisdom?
The conviction that the inscrutable God of providence is the wise and gracious God of creation and redemption
We can trust him and rejoice in him, even when we cannot discern his path.
The Fruit of Wisdom
Wisdom consists in choosing the best means to the best end.
God’s gift of wisdom to us is part of the process of restoring the relationship between himself and human beings.
This wisdom is not a sharing in all his knowledge, but a disposition to confess that he is wise, and to cleave to him and live for him in the light of his Word through thick and thin.
Thus the effect of his gift of wisdom is to make us more humble, more joyful, more godly, more quick-sighted as to his will, more resolute in the doing of it and less troubled.
The fruit of wisdom is Christlikeness—peace, and humility, and love—and the root of it is faith in Christ as the manifested wisdom of God.
“Thus, the kind of wisdom that God waits to give to those who ask him is a wisdom that will bind us to himself, a wisdom that will find expression in a spirit of faith and a life of faithfulness.” – J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "God Only Wise" (Chapter 9)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer"God Only Wise" Chapter 9
What does the Bible mean when it calls God wise?
Wisdom is a moral as well as an intellectual quality, more than mere intelligence or knowledge.
“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” – J. I. Packer
Wisdom is the practical side of moral goodness.
Wisdom is found in its fullness only in God.
Wisdom is his essence, as are his other attributes, integral to his character.
Wisdom: Ours and God’s
Human wisdom can be frustrated by circumstances outside our control.
But God’s wisdom cannot be frustrated because it is allied with his omnipotence.
“Power is as much God’s essence as wisdom is. Omniscience governing omnipotence, infinite power ruled by infinite wisdom, is a basic biblical description of the divine character.” – J. I. Packer
“Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.” – J. I. Packer
God’s almighty wisdom is always active, and never fails.
But we cannot recognize God’s wisdom unless we know the end for which he is working.
God’s wisdom is not, and never was, pledged to keep a fallen world happy, or to make ungodliness comfortable.
What is he after, then? What is his goal?To love and honor him
To praise him for his wonderful works in creation
To use his creation according to his will
To enjoy both his creation and him
“And though we have fallen, God has not abandoned his first purpose. Still he plans that a great host of humankind should come to love and honor him. His ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please him entirely and praise him adequately, a state in which he is all in all to them, and he and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other’s love—people rejoicing in the saving love of God, set upon them from all eternity, and God rejoicing in the responsive love of people, drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.” – J. I. Packer
This ultimate purpose will only be realized in the next world, in the new heavens and new earth.
Meanwhile, God is drawing individual men and women into a relationship of faith, hope, and love toward himself, delivering them from sin and showing forth in their lives the power of his grace.
God Dealing with His People
No clearer illustrations of the wisdom of God ordering human lives can be found than in some of the scriptural narratives.AbrahamWhat Abraham needed most of all was to learn the practice of living in God’s presence, seeing all life in relation to him, and looking to him, and him alone, as Commander, Defender and Rewarder.
JacobJacob’s whole attitude to life was ungodly and needed changing; Jacob must be weaned away from trust in his own cleverness to dependence upon God, and he must be made to abhor the unscrupulous double-dealing which came so naturally to him.
Jacob must be made to feel his own utter weakness and foolishness, must be brought to such complete self-distrust that he would no longer try to get on by exploiting others. Jacob’s self-reliance must go, once and for all.
JosephJoseph was being tested, refined and matured; he was being taught during his spell as a slave, and in prison, to stay himself upon God, to remain cheerful and charitable in frustrating circumstances, and to wait patiently for the Lord.
“Once again, we are confronted with the wisdom of God ordering the events of a human life for a double purpose: the individual’s own personal sanctification, and the fulfilling of his appointed ministry and service in the life of the people of God.” – J. I. Packer
Our Perplexing Trials
We should not, therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now.What do they mean?
Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us which we have not attained yet, and he is dealing with us accordingly.
“Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest.” – J. I. Packer
“We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here.” – J. I. Packer
How are we to meet these baffling and trying situations, if we cannot for the moment see God’s purpose in them?Receive them as from a wise and loving God.
Ask ourselves what response to them the gospel requires of us.
Seek God’s face specifically about them.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
“because of these surprisingly great revelations… in order to keep me from becoming conceited” (2 Cor. 12:7)
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Cor. 12:9)
“Whatever further purpose a Christian’s troubles may or may not have in equipping him for future service, …they will have been sent us to make and keep us humble, and to give us a new opportunity of showing forth the power of Christ in our mortal lives. And do we ever need to know any more about them than that?” – J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "The Majesty of God" (Chapter 8)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“The Majesty of God” (Chapter 8)
Majesty = Greatness
Declaration of Greatness and Invitation to Worship
“In Heaven” - God is far above us in greatness, and therefore is to be adored.
God’s Majesty - diminished in the modern church
“We are modern people, and modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God.” – J. I. Packer
“Today, vast stress is laid on the thought that God is personal, but this truth is so stated as to leave the impression that God is a person of the same sort as we are—weak, inadequate, ineffective, a little pathetic. But this is not the God of the Bible!” – J. I. Packer
“Like us, he is personal; but unlike us, he is great. In all its constant stress on the reality of God’s personal concern for his people, and on the gentleness, tenderness, sympathy, patience and yearning compassion that he shows toward them, the Bible never lets us lose sight of his majesty and his unlimited dominion over all his creatures.” – J. I. Packer
Personal Yet Majestic
Genesis 1 - God is introduced as both personal and majestic.
Not an impersonal force or principle, but a living, personal Being.
But an infinite Being, full of majesty, power, and sovereignty.
El Shaddai - “God Almighty”
No Limitations
How do we rightly think of God’s greatness?Remove from our thoughts of God limits that would make him small.Psalm 139 is a great example of how to think on God’s limitlessness:Limitless Presence
Limitless Knowledge
Limitless Power
Compare him with powers and forces which we regard as great.
The Incomparable One
Isaiah 40 is a good example of how to compare God with that which is great to help us think great thoughts of him:God greater than his works
God greater than the nations
God greater than the world
God greater than authorities (great ones)
God greater than the stars
Our Response to Majesty
1. “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One” (Is 40:25 RSV). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about God.
“‘Your thoughts of God are too human,’ said Luther to Erasmus. This is where most of us go astray. Our thoughts of God are not great enough; we fail to reckon with the reality of his limitless wisdom and power.” – J. I. Packer
2. “Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, 'My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God'?” (Isa. 40:27 NIV). This question rebukes wrong thoughts about ourselves.
“He never abandons anyone on whom he has set his love; nor does Christ, the good shepherd, ever lose track of his sheep. It is as false as it is irreverent to accuse God of forgetting, or overlooking, or losing interest in, the state and needs of his own people.” – J. I. Packer
3. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom” (Isa. 40:28 NIV). This question rebukes our slowness to believe in God’s majesty.
“‘What is the trouble?’ he asks. ‘Have you been imagining that I, the Creator, have grown old and tired? Has nobody ever told you the truth about Me?’ The rebuke is well deserved by many of us. How slow we are to believe in God as God, sovereign, all-seeing and almighty! How little we make of the majesty of our Lord and Savior Christ!” – J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "God Unchanging" (Chapter 7)

Knowing God by J. I. PackerPart Two: “Behold Your God!”“God Unchanging” (Chapter 7)
We believe that the Bible is God’s WordA lamp to our feet and a light to our path
Gives us the knowledge of God and his will
So, we read, but we get discouraged because the Bible is an ancient book from another world.
Two Different Worlds
Reading the Bible takes us into the ancient Near Eastern world.
It is intensely interesting, but it seems very far away.
How can God’s words and deeds in Bible times help us in the modern, digital age?
It is hard for us at times to see how the two worlds link up. What is the application for us?
The solution is not to resign ourselves to thinking that the Bible will always remain distant for us.
“…the crucial point is surely this. The sense of remoteness is an illusion which springs from seeking the link between our situation and that of the various Bible characters in the wrong place. It is true that in terms of space, time and culture, they and the historical epoch to which they belonged are a very long way away from us. But the link between them and us is not found at that level. The link is God himself. For the God with whom they had to do is the same God with whom we have to do.” – J. I. Packer
We worship exactly the same God.
God does not change at all.
God is immutable.
Not Two Different Gods
1. God’s life does not change.2. God’s character does not change.3. God’s truth does not change.4. God’s ways do not change.5. God’s purposes do not change.6. God’s Son does not change.
We Are to Be Like Them
“Where is the sense of distance and difference, then, between believers in Bible times and ourselves? It is excluded. On what grounds? On the grounds that God does not change.” – J. I. Packer
Fellowship with God...
Trust in his Word...
Living by faith...
Standing on the promises of God...
Are essentially the same realities for us today as they were for Old and New Testament believers.
“…amid all the changes and uncertainties of life in a nuclear age, God and his Christ remain the same—almighty to save. But the thought brings a searching challenge too. If our God is the same as the God of New Testament believers, how can we justify ourselves in resting content with an experience of communion with him, and a level of Christian conduct, that falls so far below theirs?” – J. I. Packer

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "He Shall Testify" (Chapter 6)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer
“He Shall Testify” (Chapter 6)
“Christianity rests on the doctrine of the trinitas, the threeness, the tripersonality, of God.” – J. I. Packer
Another Comforter
• A Person - the Third Person of the Trinity• A “Comforter”• “Another”
› “He will care for you.”› “The Spirit of Truth”
“In the Old Testament, God’s word and God’s Spirit are parallel figures. God’s word is his almighty speech; God’s Spirit is his almighty breath. Both phrases convey the thought of his power in action.” – J. I. Packer
Genesis 1:2–3 NIV“The Spirit [breath] of God was hovering over the waters. And God said…and there was…”
Psalm 33:6 NIV“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath [Spirit] of his mouth.”
“The Father will send the Spirit, says our Lord, “in my name”—that is, as Christ’s deputy, doing Christ’s will and acting as his representative and with his authority (Jn 14:26).” – J. I. Packer
“Just as Jesus had come in his Father’s name (5:43), acting as the Father’s agent, speaking the Father’s words (12:49–50), doing the Father’s works (10:25; 17:4, 12) and bearing witness throughout to the One whose emissary he was, so the Spirit would come in Jesus’ name, to act in the world as the agent and witness of Jesus.” – J. I. Packer
Triune Relationships
1. The Son is subject to the Father, for the Son is sent by the Father in his (the Father’s) name.2. The Spirit is subject to the Father, for the Spirit is sent by the Father in the Son’s name.3. The Spirit is subject to the Son as well as to the Father, for the Spirit is sent by the Son as well as by the Father.
Divine Yet Ignored
“…the person and work of the Holy Spirit are largely ignored. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is the Cinderella of Christian doctrines. Comparatively few seem to be interested in it.” – J. I. Packer
“It is an extraordinary thing that those who profess to care so much about Christ should know and care so little about the Holy Spirit… But many Christians have really no idea what difference it would make if there were no Holy Spirit in the world.” – J. I. Packer
“How can we justify neglecting the ministry of Christ’s appointed agent in this way? Is it not a hollow fraud to say that we honor Christ when we ignore, and by ignoring dishonor, the One whom Christ has sent to us as his deputy, to take his place and care for us on his behalf? – J. I. Packer
Importance of the Spirit’s Work
1. Without the Holy Spirit there would be no gospel and no New Testament.
John 15:26–27 NIV26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Acts 1:8 NIVBut you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
John 14:26 NIVBut the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 16:12–14 NIV12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
“The promise was that, taught by the Spirit, these original disciples should be enabled to speak as so many mouths of Christ so that, [they might] be able to say of their teaching, oral or written, ‘Thus saith the Lord Jesus Christ.’” – J. I. Packer
“The Spirit testified to the apostles by revealing to them all truth and inspiring them to communicate it with all truthfulness. Hence the gospel, and hence the New Testament. But the world would have had neither without the Holy Spirit.” – J. I. Packer
2. Without the Holy Spirit there would be no faith and no new birth—in short, no Christians.
2 Corinthians 4:4 NIVThe god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
John 3:3 NIVJesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“Christ went on to explain that the inevitable consequence of unregeneracy is unbelief — ‘You people do not accept our testimony’ (Jn 3:11). The gospel produces no conviction in them; unbelief holds them fast.” – J. I. Packer
“Should we conclude that preaching the gospel is a waste of time and write off evangelism as a hopeless enterprise, foredoomed to fail? No, because the Spirit abides with the church to testify of Christ.” – J. I. Packer
“To the apostles, he testified by revealing and inspiring, as we saw. To the rest of us, down the ages, he testifies by illuminating: opening blinded eyes, restoring spiritual vision, enabling sinners to see the gospel is indeed God’s truth, and Scripture is indeed God’s Word, and Christ is indeed God’s Son.” – J. I. Packer
“It is not for us to imagine that we can prove the truth of Christianity by our own arguments; nobody can prove the truth of Christianity except the Holy Spirit, by his own almighty work of renewing the blinded heart.” – J. I. Packer
1 Corinthians 2:1 NIVAnd so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.
1 Corinthians 2:4–5 NIV4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.
“And because the Spirit does bear witness in this way, people come to faith when the gospel is preached. But without the Spirit there would not be a Christian in the world.” – J. I. Packer
Our Proper Response
“In our faith: Do we acknowledge the authority of the Bible, the prophetic Old Testament and the apostolic New Testament which he inspired? Do we read and hear it with the reverence and receptiveness that are due to the Word of God?” – J. I. Packer
“In our life: Do we apply the authority of the Bible and live by the Bible, whatever anyone may say against it, recognizing that God’s Word cannot but be true, and that what God has said he certainly means, and he will stand behind it?” – J. I. Packer
“In our witness: Do we remember that the Holy Spirit alone, by his witness, can authenticate our witness, and look to him to do so, and trust him to do so, and show the reality of our trust, as Paul did, by eschewing the gimmicks of human cleverness?” – J. I. Packer
“He shall testify...” “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - “God Incarnate” (Chapter 5)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer“God Incarnate” (Chapter 5)
Hard to Believe?          ⦁ Atonement          ⦁ Resurrection          ⦁ Virgin Birth          ⦁ Gospel Miracles
The Greatest Mystery“The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man—that the second person of the Godhead became the “second man” (1 Cor 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that he took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as he was human.”
Who Is This Child?
1. The baby born at Bethlehem was God.
⦁ “In the beginning was the Word” - the Word’s Eternity⦁ “And the Word was with God” - the Word’s Personality⦁ “And the Word was God” - the Word’s Deity⦁ “Through him all things were made” - the Word Creating⦁ “In him was life” - the Word Animating⦁ “And that life was the light of men” - the Word Revealing⦁ “The Word became flesh” - the Word Incarnate
2. The baby born at Bethlehem was God made man.
Athanasian Creed: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man . . . perfect God, and perfect man . . . who although he be God and man: yet he is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by taking of the manhood into God.”
Born to Die“the New Testament knows nothing of an incarnation which can be defined apart from its relation to atonement. . . . Not Bethlehem, but Calvary, is the focus of revelation, and any construction of Christianity which ignores or denies this distorts Christianity by putting it out of focus” - James Denney Made Less than God?
⦁ Philippians 2:7 – “emptied himself”?⦁ The Kenosis Theory⦁ A Better Explanation
He Became Poor
⦁ A laying aside of glory⦁ A voluntary restraint of power⦁ An acceptance of hardship and servanthood⦁ A death that involved physical and spiritual agony

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "The Only True God" (Chapter 4)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer
"The Only True God" (Chapter 4)
Idolatry
What does the word idolatry suggest to your mind?
The Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” –Exodus 20:4-5
What is the second commandment referring to?
“idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images.” –Charles Hodge
The Dangers in Images
Images are not a matter of personal taste or preference or whether or not they are helpful.
The Bible forbids the use of images in the worship of the one true God.
No statues, images, or pictures of God or of Christ are to be used in worship (public or private).
Why such a strong prohibition against the use of images?
Images dishonor God, for they obscure his glory.
"A true image of God is not to be found in all the world; and hence . . . His glory is defiled, and His truth corrupted by the lie, whenever He is set before our eyes in a visible form. . . . Therefore, to devise any image of God is itself impious; because by this corruption His majesty is adulterated, and He is figured to be other than He is.” –John Calvin
“To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to?” –Isaiah 40:18
Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God.
 Molten Images & Mental Images
The second commandment also prohibits false mental images of God.
"Imagining God in our heads can be just as real a breach of the second commandment as imagining him by the work of our hands." –J. I. Packer
How often do we hear:"I like to think of God as..."
"I don't think God is like..."
Often remarks of this kind serve as the prelude to a denial of something that the Bible tells us about God.
"...those who hold themselves free to think of God as they like are breaking the second commandment... We were made in his image, but we must not think of him as existing in ours." –J. I. Packer
Purpose of the Second Commandment
Negatively, it is a warning against ways of worship and religious practice that lead us to dishonor God and to falsify his truth.
Positively, it is a summons to us to recognize that God the Creator is transcendent, mysterious and inscrutable, beyond the range of any imagining or philosophical guesswork of which we are capable...
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD."As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. –Isaiah 55:8-9
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" –Romans 11:33-34
"Through this revelation, which is made available to us in holy Scripture, we may form a true notion of God; without it we never can. Thus it appears that the positive force of the second commandment is that it compels us to take our thoughts of God from his own holy Word, and from no other source whatsoever." –J. I. Packer
"The mind that takes up with images is a mind that has not yet learned to love and attend to God’s Word. Those who look to manmade images, material or mental, to lead them to God are not likely to take any part of his revelation as seriously as they should." –J. I. Packer
"God did not show them a visible symbol of himself, but spoke to them; therefore they are not now to seek visible symbols of God, but simply to obey his Word." –J. I. Packer
Looking to the True God
How far are we keeping the second commandment?
Are we sure that the God whom we seek to worship is the God of the Bible, the triune Jehovah? Do we worship the one true God in truth?
How can I tell if I am worshiping the one true God?The God of the Bible has spoken in his Son. The light of the knowledge of his glory is given to us in the face of Jesus Christ.
Do I look habitually to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ as showing me the final truth about the nature and the grace of God? Do I see all the purposes of God as centering upon him?
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” –John 17:3

Knowing God by J. I. Packer - "Knowing and Being Known" (Chapter 3)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer"Knowing and Being Known" (Chapter 3)
To Know God
What were we made for?
What should be our aim in life?
What is the “eternal life” that Jesus gives?
What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight and contentment than anything else?
What, of all the states God ever sees man in, gives God most pleasure?
What “Knowing God” Involves
More complex than “knowing” another person.Abstract (like a language)
Concrete but inanimate
Living thing
Person
Knowing God Involves:
Listening to God’s Word and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself.
Noting God’s nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it.
Accepting his invitations and doing what he commands.
Recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has shown in thus approaching you and drawing you into his divine fellowship.
Knowing Jesus
Jesus, “known” by the disciples.
Known by us now as Christians:
Spiritually not bodily.
Knows the full NT picture of Jesus.
Jesus “speaks” through the written Word.
Still a relationship of personal discipleship.
A Personal Matter
Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing.
Knowing God is a matter of personal involvement.
Knowing God is a matter of grace.
Being Known
What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it—the fact that he knows me.

"O Lord, Heal Me" (Psalm 6)

"O Lord, Heal Me" (Psalm 6)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchWednesday PM, July 31, 2019
Psalm 6 (NIV)
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your angeror discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
3 My soul is in deep anguish.How long, Lord, how long?
4 Turn, Lord, and deliver me;save me because of your unfailing love.
5 Among the dead no one proclaims your name.Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from my groaning.
All night long I flood my bed with weepingand drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;they fail because of all my foes.
8 Away from me, all you who do evil,for the Lord has heard my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;the Lord accepts my prayer.
10 All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

“Faithless People and the Faithful God” (Psalm 12)

“Faithless People and the Faithful God” (Psalm 12)Pastor Cameron JungelsEastside Baptist ChurchWednesday PM, July 24, 2019
1. Prayer for Deliverance (Psalm 12:1–4)*
1 Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore;         those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor;        they flatter with their lips        but harbor deception in their hearts.
3 May the Lord silence all flattering lips        and every boastful tongue— 4 those who say,        “By our tongues we will prevail;        our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
2. Promise of the LORD (Psalm 12:5)
5 “Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan,        I will now arise,” says the Lord.        “I will protect them from those who malign them.”
3. Reflection on God’s Promises (Psalm 12:6)
6 And the words of the Lord are flawless,        like silver purified in a crucible,        like gold refined seven times.
4. Prayer for Deliverance (Psalm 12:7–8)
7 You, Lord, will keep the needy safe        and will protect us forever from the wicked, 8 who freely strut about        when what is vile is honored by the human race.
*This lesson’s outline is taken from Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 5, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 135.

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 52: “The Ultimate Conclusion” (Isaiah 66:1–24) [7/10/19 WedPM]

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 52: “The Ultimate Conclusion” (Isaiah 66:1–24)*
1. Judgment and Restoration of Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:1–14a)
a. The Sovereign Lord Delights in the Humble (Isaiah 66:1–2)
1 This is what the Lord says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? 2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the Lord. “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word. (Isaiah 66:1–2, NIV)
b. The Lord Encourages the Faithful (Isaiah 66:3–6)
3 But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person, and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood, and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol. They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations; 4 so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, no one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” 5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: “Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!’ Yet they will be put to shame. 6 Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies all they deserve. (Isaiah 66:3–6, NIV)
c. The Lord Brings about Jerusalem’s Rebirth (Isaiah 66:7–14a)
7 “Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. 8 Who has ever heard of such things? Who has ever seen things like this? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. 9 Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord. “Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?” says your God. 10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. 11 For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” 12 For this is what the Lord says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 13 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” 14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass... (Isaiah 66:7–14, NIV)
2. Final Wrath and Glory of God (Isaiah 66:14b–24)
a. Judgment against All Sin (Isaiah 66:14b–17)
14 ...the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes. 15 See, the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For with fire and with his sword the Lord will execute judgment on all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord. 17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord. (Isaiah 66:14–17, NIV)
b. The Sending of Messengers (Isaiah 66:18–19)
18 “And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory. 19 “I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. (Isaiah 66:18–19, NIV)
c. The Blessing of Nations (Isaiah 66:20–23)
20 And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord. “They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. 21 And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,” says the Lord. 22 “As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 66:20–23, NIV)
d. Final Warning to the Wicked (Isaiah 66:24)
24 “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.” (Isaiah 66:24, NIV)
*The outline for this lesson is from Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Book of Isaiah: A Historical and Theological Survey, Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 51: “Judgment and Salvation” (Isaiah 65:1–25)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 51: “Judgment and Salvation” (Isaiah 65:1–25)
1. Two Paths, Two Destinies (Isaiah 65:1–16)
a. God’s Boundless Kindness: The Lord’s call to those who had not previously sought or known him (Isaiah 65:1)
1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ (Isaiah 65:1, NIV)
b. Israel’s Rebellion Problem: The Lord’s requital on those who have rebelled and followed cults (Isaiah 65:2–7)
2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; 5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. 6 “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.” (Isaiah 65:2–7, NIV)
c. God’s Rescued Remnant: A preserved remnant, his servants, who will inherit his land (Isaiah 65:8–10)
8 This is what the Lord says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me. (Isaiah 65:8–10, NIV)
d. Two Kinds of People (Isaiah 65:11–16)
1) Destined for Destruction: Those who forsake the Lord and follow cults are destined for slaughter because he called and they did not answer but chose what did not please him (Isaiah 65:11-12).
11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” (Isaiah 65:11–12, NIV)
2) Destined for Joy: Joys for the Lord’s servants in the new creation (Isaiah 65:13-16).
13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. 14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. 15 You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name. 16 Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. (Isaiah 65:13–16, NIV)
2. All Things New (Isaiah 65:17–25)
a. The new creation (Isaiah 65:17–18b)
17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create... (Isaiah 65:17–18b, NIV)
b. The new city (Isaiah 65:18c–20)
18 ...for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. (Isaiah 65:18c–20, NIV)
c. The new society (Isaiah 65:21–25)
21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 65:21–25, NIV)

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 50: “Judgment and Rescue” (Isaiah 63:1–64:12)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 50: “Judgment and Rescue” (Isaiah 63:1–64:12)*
1. Judgment of the Nations (Isaiah 63:1–6)
a. The Judge Identified: God the Warrior (Isaiah 63:1–3)
1 Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” 2 Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? 3 “I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. (Isaiah 63:1–3, NIV)
b. The Reason for Judgment Declared (Isaiah 63:4–6)
4 It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. 6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.” (Isaiah 63:4–6, NIV)
2. Prayer for God’s Intervention (Isaiah 63:7–64:12)
a. God’s Tenderness and Compassion (Isaiah 63:7–14)
i. God’s Lovingkindness (Isaiah 63:7–9)
7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. 8 He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me”; and so he became their Savior. 9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:7–9, NIV)
ii. Israel’s Stubbornness (Isaiah 63:10–14)
10 Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. 11 Then his people recalled the days of old, the days of Moses and his people— where is he who brought them through the sea, with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, 12 who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown, 13 who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; 14 like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the Lord. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name. (Isaiah 63:10–14, NIV)
b. Isaiah’s Plea for Help (Isaiah 63:15–64:12)
i. Plea for National Restoration (Isaiah 63:15–19)
15 Look down from heaven and see, from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us. 16 But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. 17 Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance. 18 For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary. 19 We are yours from of old; but you have not ruled over them, they have not been called by your name. (Isaiah 63:15–19, NIV)
ii. Plea for Earth-Shaking Judgment (Isaiah 64:1–4)
1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. (Isaiah 64:1–4, NIV)
iii. Confession of Dependence on God (Isaiah 64:5–12)
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins. 8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9 Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. 10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. 12 After all this, Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure? (Isaiah 64:5–12, NIV)
*The outline for this lesson is from Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Book of Isaiah: A Historical and Theological Survey, Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 49: “Zion’s Marriage to God” (Isaiah 62:1–12)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 49: “Zion’s Marriage to God” (Isaiah 62:1–12)*
1. The Marriage Itself (Isaiah 62:1–5)
a. God’s Determination (Isaiah 62:1)
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. (Isaiah 62:1, NIV)
b. Zion’s Ornamentation (Isaiah 62:2–3)
2 The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. 3 You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. (Isaiah 62:2–3, NIV)
c. The Wedding Celebration (Isaiah 62:4–5)
4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. 5 As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:4–5, NIV)
2. The Watchmen’s Reward (Isaiah 62:6–9)
a. The Watchmen’s Faithfulness (Isaiah 62:6–7)
6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, 7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. (Isaiah 62:6–7, NIV)
b. The Lord’s Oath (Isaiah 62:8–9)
8 The Lord has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled; 9 but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.” (Isaiah 62:8–9, NIV)
3. God’s Redeemed (Isaiah 62:10–12)
10 Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations. 11 The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’ ” 12 They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted. (Isaiah 62:10–12, NIV)
*The outline for this lesson is from Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Book of Isaiah: A Historical and Theological Survey, Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007)

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 48: “Good News for God’s People” (Isaiah 61:1–11)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible Study“Good News for God’s People” (Isaiah 61:1–11)*
1. God’s Spirit-Led Anointed One (Isaiah 61:1–3)
• The Anointed One’s Source of Strength (Isaiah 61:1a)
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,... (Isaiah 61:1a, NIV)
• The Anointed One’s Task and Ultimate Purpose (Isaiah 61:1b–3)
1 ...because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:1b–3, NIV)
• The Anointed One’s Identity
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:14–21, NIV)
2. Israel’s Rebuilt Cities (Isaiah 61:4–9)
• Ruins Rebuilt (Isaiah 61:4)
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:4, NIV)
• Foreigners Employed (Isaiah 61:5)
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. (Isaiah 61:5, NIV)
• People Sanctified (Isaiah 61:6–7)
6 And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. 7 Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours. (Isaiah 61:6–7, NIV)
• Covenant Realized (Isaiah 61:8–9)
8 “For I, the Lord, love justice; I hate robbery and wrongdoing. In my faithfulness I will reward my people and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.” (Isaiah 61:8–9, NIV)
3. Israel’s Exultation (Isaiah 61:10–11)
10 I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:10–11, NIV)
*The outline for this lesson is drawn from Bryan E. Beyer, Encountering the Book of Isaiah: A Historical and Theological Survey, Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 47: "Zion Glorified" (Isaiah 60:1–22)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 47: "Zion Glorified" (Isaiah 60:1–22)
1. The Nations See God’s Glory (Isaiah 60:1–3)
1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:1–3, NIV)
2. Jerusalem’s Population, Wealth, and Relationship with Other Nations Grow (Isaiah 60:4–16)
a. Jerusalem’s Population (Isaiah 60:4)
4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. (Isaiah 60:4, NIV)
b. Jerusalem’s Wealth (Isaiah 60:5–9)
1) Nations would bring their wealth to Israel from land and sea (Isaiah 60:5–7).
5 Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come. 6 Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. 7 All Kedar’s flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; they will be accepted as offerings on my altar, and I will adorn my glorious temple. (Isaiah 60:5–7, NIV)
2) The Lord had glorified his people (Isaiah 60:8–9).
8 “Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests? 9 Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your children from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor. (Isaiah 60:8–9, NIV)
c. Jerusalem’s Relationship with Other Nations (Isaiah 60:10–16)
10 “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. 11 Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession. 12 For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. 13 “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet. 14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 “Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations. 16 You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (Isaiah 60:10–16, NIV)
3. God’s Special Blessing Rests on His People (Isaiah 60:17–22)
a. Good Administration (Isaiah 60:17–18)
17 Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones. I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler. 18 No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. (Isaiah 60:17–18, NIV)
b. Everlasting Light (Isaiah 60:19–20)
19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. (Isaiah 60:19–20, NIV)
c. Blessed People (Isaiah 60:21–22)
21 Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor. 22 The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly.” (Isaiah 60:21–22, NIV)

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 46: “Ritual, Rebellion, Repentance, Redemption” (Isaiah 58–59)

The Prophecy of Isaiah: A Bible StudyLesson 46: “Ritual, Rebellion, Repentance, Redemption” (Isaiah 58–59)
1. Rebuke of Ritualistic, Religious Israel (Isaiah 58:1–14)
True vs. False Discipleship (Isaiah 58:1–2)
1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. (Isaiah 58:1–2, NIV)
True vs. False Fasting (Isaiah 58:3–12)
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. (Isaiah 58:3–12, NIV)
True vs. False Sabbath Observance (Isaiah 58:13–14)
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13–14, NIV)
2. Redemption of Rebellious but Repentant Israel (Isaiah 59:1–21)
Israel’s Sinfulness (Isaiah 59:1–2)
1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. (Isaiah 59:1–2, NIV)
Israel’s Specific Sins (Isaiah 59:3–8)
3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. 4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways. 8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace. (Isaiah 59:3–8, NIV)
The Consequences of Israel’s Sin (Isaiah 59:9–15a)
9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. 10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. 11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away. 12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: 13 rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on our God, inciting revolt and oppression, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. 15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey... (Isaiah 59:9–15a, NIV)
The Redemption of the Lord (Isaiah 59:15b–21)
15 ...The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, people will fear the name of the Lord, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the Lord drives along. 20 “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. 21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 59:15b–21, NIV)