Welcome to The MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my 118th episode. In this episode I want to study Isaiah chapter 50. In this chapter we see that Israel was rightly accused of bringing judgment onto themselves. This is likely a reference to the Babylonian exile, but it could apply to virtually any form of judgment. God was always there for His people – willing and able to help them – but by their stubborn arrogance they refused His grace. Then the chapter shifts away from Israel’s sin and onto Christ’s obedience to the Father. We see the Father’s commission for Christ to open the eyes of the blind and save sinners. And we know that Jesus was fully aware and ready to accept the work this would require – as well as the suffering to follow it. Jesus was sent to earth by God the Father and Jesus assured Himself that the Father would stand by Him, seeing Him through the hardest parts and helping Him overcome all opposition.
This is one of the major elements you have in common with Christ. He was sent by the Father and born into a broken world. You didn’t eternally pre-exist creation like He did but you also were born into a broken world. God created you for a reason just as much as He Himself became incarnate for a reason. That means if you depend on God He will stand by you and sustain you. He will show you the road that leads to His purpose for you. God knows that you have very dark times ahead of you. Maybe you’re in them right now or maybe you’re still grieving from the past. But if you’ll have the faith to trust Him His intention is to carry you through it. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion.
Jesus came to earth with a very simple message. It is a message of good or evil, blessing or curse, life or death. The gospel is comfort to those who are humble, faithful, and who look ahead to Christ’s eternal salvation. The gospel is foolish to those who are naive, arrogant, and who wish to captain their own ship into eternity. The gospel is terrifying to those who are wicked at heart, to those whose desire is to cause others suffering for suffering’s own sake. Isaiah’s prophecy in this chapter has a dual purpose. The first audience was the faithless among Israel who wouldn’t trust God to deliver them from Babylon. By the time they read this prophecy Isaiah would have been long dead. But for the sake of clarity he produced his credentials as one who was sent by God. The second audience was the Jews who lived during the time of Christ – the ones who rejected and condemned Him. The religious elite who fancied themselves powerful when the only true Power was standing right in front of them.
He lowered Himself for them. He preached many messages for them. He performed miracles in their sight. But they shut their eyes and chose their own fate. The evidence in this chapter makes it clear that no one is lost because of Christ’s inability to save them. No one is lost because Christ doesn’t want to save them. The religious elite who looked on Jesus and condemned Him willingly chose a future that is separated from Him. Those of us today who walk away from God and give ourselves over to evil and deception willingly choose a future that is separated from Him. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Now is the time to trust in God and allow Him to show you the truth about yourself – because the truth about yourself is infinitely better than the lie you have been sold. Let’s begin with verses 1-3:
Isa 50:1 Thus says the LORD: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
Isa 50:2 Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.
Isa 50:3 I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering.”
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for people who devote themselves to God to face incredible hardships in life. If these people were sold the deception that Christianity would bring them health, wealth, and prosperity then they might be apt to think God has betrayed them. The truth they need to know is that life in a fallen world is difficult for every living thing. Contrary to God betraying them, He’s actually the only One who never leaves their side. When you’ve lost everything else it is your relationship with God that carries you through. When you’ve conquered the world and achieved everything you were supposed to, it is your relationship with God that keeps you humble, sober, and brings you an enduring sense of meaning.
Some of the Israelites thought that God was being unjustly cruel to them in their Babylonian captivity. So God challenged them to find even a shred of evidence that suggested their difficulty started with Him. They couldn’t do it. God had been more faithful to Israel than a husband is faithful to his wife. Marriages among ancient people were such that the husband could drop his wife for any reason whatsoever. If she didn’t live up to his standard or if she didn’t find favor in his eyes he could produce a bill of divorce for her. But God wasn’t like that with Israel. Time and time again Israel went so far as committing spiritual adultery against God in the from of idolatry yet He remained be their side. When things became especially bad the Israelites turned away from God and were separated from Him in their exile. But never permanently separated as they would be in a divorce.
God was more faithful to Israel than a husband to His wife. But He was also a Father to Israel. It wasn’t uncommon for ancient people to sell off their children in order to pay their own debts. God would do no such thing to Israel. Israel gave themselves over to Babylon without price by way of their own misconduct. When it comes to punishing their children or penalizing other people, human beings have a variety of motivations. Sadly, there are many kids who regularly face the torment of a parent abusing them as an expression of rage. There are also people who bully and put down others in order to elevate their own sense of self-worth. There are many leaders who punish their subordinates as a means establishing authority.
But God doesn’t gain anything by punishing His people. His judgment is not motivated by profit or pleasure. God’s sovereignty is completely unchanged whether He punishes or whether He extends grace. God’s judgment is only ever motivated by holiness and justice. This is really important to know as you walk through life. This means that if God punishes you, it is only ever a transaction that began by your own misconduct. There are going to be many things that happen to yourself or to your loved ones that you may be tempted to falsely conceptualize as punishment from God. But the truth is that sometimes bad things happen to people who didn’t do anything to deserve them. These bad things are not God’s punishment – they are simply tragedies which are the consequence of living in a fallen world. When the scope of your vision is limited to this world and temporal reality these sorts of tragedies are incredibly unfair. It’s only when we acknowledge that God has given us the free gift of eternal salvation – something we also didn’t deserve – that we have an accurate frame through which to understand tragedy. Turning your eyes to the fallen world without an acknowledgement and understanding of transcendent reality is a certain recipe for misery, bitterness, and resentment.
The Israelites sold their future with God so they could chase after idols. They were the authors of their own exile. Evil and wickedness are by definition at odds with the character of God. You might wonder why on earth anyone would give up God in favor of evil. The answer is usually a mixture of power and faithlessness. The most horrible atrocities in human history only happened because enough people wanted them to happen. It’s not hard to imagine a situation where the propagandist convinces enough individuals that their own well-being is tied up in the destruction of their neighbor. Israel abandoned God, worshiped idols, and worked wickedness. So God gave them into the hands of their enemies. Sometimes God will allow you to serve your enemies so that you learn the difference between the iron yoke of your oppressor and the easy yoke of the Lord. Adultery is one of the just causes to terminate a marriage covenant. God would have been justified in terminating His covenant with Israel because of their adultery with idols. But instead He brought them back from Babylon and He never abandoned them.
The exiled Jews bore the guilt for their troubles. The evidence was clear that they brought it upon themselves. Not only was their judgment self-inflicted, but when God tried to step in and help them prevent it they were nowhere to be found. They had invested their faith in other things and they were too busy pursuing their own agenda. This is something to keep in mind if you are going through difficulties. It’s likely that God is trying to introduce small acts of grace into your life and you might be missing them. When you’re going through dark times it’s very important that you pay attention to your surroundings and look for the ways in which God is trying to help you. It could be through your friend who’s always there for you. It could be the police officer who decides to let you off the hook instead of giving you a ticket. It could be the generous person who gives you some money to help out. It could be the family that takes you in until you get back on your feet. It could even be the nice weather or the great tasting coffee. God can work through all of these things to lift your spirit. But you’ll overlook all of them if you aren’t paying attention.
If you want God to speak into your life directly then the only way He’s likely to do that is through His word. Immerse yourself in the Scriptures so that you can develop the mind of Christ and better understand your situation. An accurate interpretation of your trials is prerequisite to navigating them successfully. God tried to do these things for the Israelites but nearly all of them came up missing. Isaiah and Jeremiah delivered the word of God in the form of prophecies warning Israel of where their road was leading. But they didn’t listen. They didn’t even show up to listen. They had completely lost faith in God as a consequence of putting all of their faith in themselves and their idols. They mocked God’s messengers and consigned themselves to 70 years under the boot of Babylon.
Generations later Christ came to earth in what was the most direct revelation of God anyone has ever seen. He came to gather His people Israel into Himself but they refused to receive Him. He called after them but they would not hear Him. Listen to Jesus lament over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-39:
Mat 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Mat 23:38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
Mat 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
And again in Luke 19:41-44:
Luk 19:41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
Luk 19:42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Luk 19:43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side
Luk 19:44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
God is calling us to peace and spiritual well-being. If we don’t answer that call then the consequences are on us. God is almighty and He doesn’t lack the power necessary to save us. The grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient to save the uttermost sinner who repents and turns to Him. The faithless among the Israelites in Babylon didn’t believe God had the power to deliver them. The faithless among the Jews who looked on Christ asked, Can this man save us? He can’t even save himself. None of these people realized they were speaking of the Omnipotent One. God’s arm has never been shortened and will never be weakened. None are irredeemable who depend on the very Source of redemption Himself. None are too powerful for the very Source of power Himself. How could God fail to deliver Israel from Babylon when the only reason Babylon had any power to begin with is that God gave it to them? How can God possibly fail to bring you out of your darkness and save you when He stands outside of all creation as the Author of life itself?
When you begin to understand a proper perspective of God’s power these sorts of doubts become foolish. To silence the doubting Israelites God expressed His limitless ability with a few examples. God’s power is sufficient to eclipse planets and to make stars burn out. With the whisper of a word God can dry up the seas and make the rivers into a desert. He parted the Red Sea for Israel when He brought them out of Egypt and if necessary He could do the same thing as they fled Babylon. Back when Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go God turned the Nile River into blood – making it undrinkable and cutting off Egypt’s supply of fish. Jesus illustrated the power of faith in Him by saying that it could move mountains. He said even a mustard seed of faith could uproot trees and plant them in the sea. The point He’s making is that faith in Him is your greatest weapon and the only power by which you can be saved. Let’s read verses 4-9:
Isa 50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
Isa 50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
Isa 50:6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
Isa 50:7 But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
Isa 50:8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
Isa 50:9 Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.
Not only is Jesus able to save all who come to Him, but He’s also willing to save all who truly come to Him. The prophet Isaiah likely drew encouragement from the words God gave him to speak concerning Christ. Like Christ, Isaiah met with many hardships in his service as a prophet but was encouraged to believe that God stood by him and strengthened him. God qualified all of His prophets for the work He called them to. He gave His messengers the tongue of the learned, which means He instructed them on what to say for each purpose. Consider Moses who wasn’t at all confident in his own speech. God taught him the right words to say in order to inspire terror and conviction in Pharaoh. We have to be careful against suggesting that God’s Spirit is still doing this exact thing with us today. I don’t believe God is speaking directly through any individual human of our time. If He did this then what that person spoke would be as authoritative as Scripture which is impossible because we have a closed canon.
But that doesn’t mean God never equips us with the ability to search out the right words for the right times. Christ spoke words of comfort to those who were weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin. He spoke of grace that was like living water to refresh the tired soul. Whether you’re a pastor or a Christian trying to help your neighbor, knowing what to say and how to say it is a gift from God and you should hone it to the best of your ability. Sometimes people need comfort when they are suffering or grieving. Sometimes people need correction when they are walking down a destructive path. Knowing how to navigate these conversations with people is very difficult and often intimidating. Even when you figure out the right thing to say, it takes a lot of courage to speak up and say it. God has given us His word in Scripture and we should think of it as a fortress to protect us from deception and a place for repose when we are weary.
Isaiah and the other prophets were given the right words to say but they were also given the right ears to hear. They were tasked with delivering exactly what God taught them and nothing else. The prophets had to listen to God carefully so that they could speak His words precisely. They received so that they could give. Although God is not speaking directly through us today, the learning process for understanding God’s word is the same. We must soak it in if we wish to teach it back out. Christ followed this model with His disciples. He taught them many things before sending them out as apostles. If we are going to be effective at advancing the Kingdom of God, we must pay attention and listen with the intent to learn. As human beings we tend to walk around only half awake to the reality that’s around us. Many of us get lodged into routines where we don’t have to spent hardly any time thinking or listening. And then if something does get through to us, many people lack the humility necessary to heed the new information.
Our lives would be far better and we would avoid a lot of needless misery if we opened our eyes to see and our ears to hear. It’s tempting to resign yourself to a spiritual slumber and to avoid thinking about big questions and big realities. But the problem is these big issues don’t go away simply because you stop paying attention to them. They become dragons that grow and fester until one day when you’re vulnerable they eat you. We should aim to be awake, clearheaded, and attentive every morning of every day – as sure as the sun rises. Jesus said sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So that means we should focus on what God puts in front of us each day and avoid being anxious about tomorrow. This kind of focus and attentiveness requires continual supplies of God’s grace. You know you’re not going to manage it perfectly and God knows that too.
It can be helpful to schedule your communion with God for the morning hours. During the time after you first wake up your spirit is more lively and your frame is better calibrated for speaking to and listening to God. Jesus taught the people in the temple in the early mornings. Another interesting fact about mornings is that they are the moments when your potential is directly in front of you. So much of the quality of your day will depend on how you approach it spiritually. Even how you react to potential problems will be governed by your spiritual condition. It’s difficult to overstate the importance of approaching each day with the correct attitude. Many of your daily battles will be won or lost in those moments before you even embark on them. And if your spirit is sufficiently messed up that day, you’ll wage war in some battles that were never even necessary. All the while the tunnel vision associated with negative emotion will cause you to miss out on the many blessings and graces God desires to give you. Christians are not called to be worried and anxious throughout the day. They are called to have enough faith to let those feelings go and to trust God that He will provide.
From what we know of Isaiah’s life and ministry it would be fair to characterize it as a lot of patient suffering. He was called and qualified to speak comfort into the lives of the weary and conviction into lives of the lost. But it was difficult and thankless work. We saw this trend magnified with Jesus Christ Himself. He is God made flesh and He was brought to comfort, convict, and save His people. Like Isaiah, Jesus drew on the strength of God to continue resolutely in this work despite hardships and rejection. It looks something like undaunted constancy. You hear successful people speak about this all the time. It’s just the idea that you keep plodding along and never quit marching uphill toward the city of God. Jesus provides the ultimate example of this for us. He didn’t need to come to earth to suffer for His own sake – He did it for our sake out of love. He was willing to empty Himself of glory and power so that He could face difficulty and discouragement.
And yet He faced it all resolutely and by the grace of God never became discouraged. He could have whispered a word and every sinner on earth would have ceased to exist. But He chose the far more strenuous path of loving us. You really only need two things to be an effective servant of God. First is that you need to pay attention. This implies seeking God in His word and desiring to learn everything you can about the character of God and His will for you. The second is that you need to be obedient. This does not mean sinless perfection so much as it means being humble. If you lack humility you will not grow in your relationship with God. Pride is perhaps the most potent sin for cutting off your connection to God. Individuals who are infected with naive arrogance are incapable of seeing the broken condition of humanity. How can you know in which direction to aim if you don’t even know where you stand? The moment you lighten up and become humble, God will open your eyes and you will recognize your need for a savior.
We also learn from the example of Christ that obedience requires patient endurance. Jesus felt fear, pain, anxiety, and all of the other negative emotions human beings are prone to. But He remained patient with an eye toward the will of the Father. He allowed Himself to experience the suffering because He had faith in what the Father would bring on the other side. This is way deeper and far more profound than some kind of sadomasochism. You can’t get your body in shape unless you’re willing to experience the suffering of diet and exercise. You can’t master anything unless you’re willing to experience the suffering of being a rookie. You can’t recover from trauma unless you’re willing to expose yourself to the memories until they heal. Jesus could not be resurrected unless He was willing to be crucified. Pain and suffering run the whole way through life and that’s one of the reasons faith is required to get through it optimally.
Jesus allowed Himself to be scourged by the whips of men who were not even worthy to utter His name. He suffered in silence as they beat His face and ripped out His beard. The ripping out of the beard in particular was a cultural act of dehumanization. Christ exposed Himself to the shame of allowing men to spit on Him. The spitting was humanity’s expression of contempt, disgust, and hatred for God. It’s one thing to experience these tortures when your power is taken from you and you are held prisoner. It’s quite another to experience them while knowing that infinite power is yours alone. Jesus could have evaporated these people with a spoken word. But Christ had the faith to voluntarily experience the pain and suffering. We do it because we believe getting in shape or getting a promotion is worth it. Jesus did it because He knew saving us was worth it. There is no resurrection without the crucifixion. We can’t go home to heaven without first dying on earth.
There was more to Isaiah and to God’s other prophets than simply being patient sufferers. Each of them were backed up by infinite power in God Himself. When you consider Jesus you must consider Him as both the Suffering Servant and the Conquering King. It’s a modern mistake to think of Jesus as some kind of anemic hippy. This is a popular conception of Christ because it paints a picture where reverence is not necessary. But the proverbs say the fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Isaiah may have looked like a disheveled prophet who was desperately making appeals to the lost – but the truth is that He was supported by the Creator of the universe. Jesus may have been humiliated, beaten, and crucified – but his persecutors were blind to the fact that He is God incarnate. Isaiah was despised and smeared by the people he was trying to help. But he had faith that God would bring forth righteousness – either in this life or the next. He had faith that eventually their eyes would be opened and the people would see him for who he really was.
This kind of dramatic turn in perspective occurred with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. They crucified Jesus because they were convinced He was a blasphemer, a deceiver, and a threat to Roman authority. Even His own disciples abandoned Him in discouragement. But during these moments of shame there were some who suspected there was more to Jesus than met the eye. Pilate said he found no fault in Him. The centurion who was at the crucifixion realized Jesus was righteous. But light really pierced the shadow of lies the moment Christ was resurrected. Suddenly all who encountered the risen Christ understood not only is He not a blasphemer but He is God Himself. Not only is He not a deceiver but He is the truth incarnate. Not only was He never a threat to Roman authority but He was the source of whatever authority Rome claimed to have.
Jesus understood that the Father and the Spirit remained close by Him throughout the entire process. He took confidence in this that His work would not fall short and He would not be put to shame. Despite humanity’s best efforts to claim His place on the throne, Jesus held His ground and completed His task exactly how He designed it. We, too, should be confident in our faith. We should not be ashamed of doing God’s work and we should do it boldly with hearts aimed at love. Jesus showed us that if we put our trust and our hope in God then we shall not be disappointed.
Isaiah was bold in his efforts of calling out sin and warning the people to repent. He was able to confidently assert that his predictions were true because he knew they came from God. This is how we should teach Scripture today. We can be bold in our assertions so long as our assertions are consistent with what is true. The quality of a message has less to do with the quality of the messenger so long as that messenger is leaning on and accurately dividing the word of God. The authority has never rested inside of us but has always rested inside of God.
Jesus never backs down from His role as Mediator between humanity and God. For those who seek to depose Him He gives these challenges: Who will contend with me? Who is my adversary? Let him stand against me. Who will declare me guilty? Let him make his case. All who offer dispute with Christ are put to silence and that’s because the truth will stand against all challengers. I think this is in part why His name never seems to go away. The ancient giants of intellect who took issue with God have been lost to the ash heap of contradiction. Human thoughts once ushered in as magnificent are now considered folly. But God remains.
This is why we must cling to Scripture as we would a life raft in a chaotic ocean. The truth is all we have, if we lose that then we become helplessly lost with no means of knowing where we are or in what direction we are going. Christians and teachers who depend on Scripture need not fear being proven false. The word of God has carried us through for 2,000 years and it won’t stop now. Christ is the champion of all who are faithful. It is deeply unwise to make an enemy out of one whom God calls a friend. To rise up and claim that we can author our own story when we have no recollection of before our birth nor any conception of after our death is something we do at great risk to ourselves. It’s like saying we know the truth of a story without knowing how it began or how it ends.
There’s no condemnation for those whom God justifies. Certainly both Isaiah and Jesus were condemned by humanity – but what happened to those who condemned them? Their names are mostly forgotten and they have long since returned to dust. The moths and the rust eat away and corrode temporal things of this world but God and His prophets outlast everything. With enough time, even something as small and insignificant as a drip of water can carve out a canyon. But nothing can undermine the word of God. The church will stand forever and will not succumb to anything – not even the gates of hell. Because in the grand design all who try to condemn others are simply playing at falsehoods. Jesus is the only One who has the power to truly condemn and Jesus is the only One who has the power to truly save. Let’s finish with verses 10 and 11:
Isa 50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Isa 50:11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.
Isaiah gives a summary of the gospel in two verses here. By the Spirit of God he rightly divided the word of truth. Simply to say that those who believe shall be saved. Those who trust God and depend on Him will find comfort even while they walk through the dark seasons of their life. In contrast, those who spurn the light of God in favor of their own truth will end in disappointment and sorrow. One of the primary characteristics of a faithful person is that they have a reverential fear of God. They are in awe of Him and they greatly desire to please Him. Sometimes you see similar behavior between young children and their parents. The child desires the attention and affirmation of his or her parents and fears disappointing them. The faithful person maintains reverence for God with such a durability that it extends into the hard parts of life. You can be experiencing a tragedy and the one thing you are certain of is how you want to avoid turning it into a hellish nightmare. You distinguish between temporary suffering and never ending misery.
The faithful person yields to Christ as his or her Lord and Savior. You stand ready and willing to be used by God should He see fit to advance the Kingdom through you. But being a Christian is not always rainbows and butterflies. There will be times where you walk in darkness with little or no comfort. You will struggle with sins that seem unbreakable as you wait for the Spirit to sanctify you. This sort of thing happens to the best of humanity and God pays attention when it does. It’s not at all unusual for Christians to feel awash in the darkness without any sense of light. You could even be in a situation where you have plenty of worldly comforts yet still suffer spiritual darkness. In fact I think it’s more common for it to happen that way. People who live in luxury are more likely to become starved of a higher purpose particularly if they fall into the habit of depending on their luxuries for spiritual sustenance. Spiritual darkness rushes in when you lose sight of heaven, when your joy in God is disrupted, when your sense of the Holy Spirit is dampened, or when the light of the face of God is invisible to you. If you suffer anxiety or if you are a fearful person then these kinds of things are more likely to take hold of you.
So how do you prevent getting stuck in a dark valley such as this? The first and most important thing to remember is to trust in the name of the Lord. Have faith in the goodness of God’s nature, search the Scriptures for that which He has revealed about Himself. Trust in the infinite depths of His wisdom, power, and goodness. Proverbs says the name of the Lord is a strong tower. Seeking God and continuing your faith in Him will function as a fortress where you can find reprieve from the trials of life. It’s also important to remember that just because you walk in darkness does not mean you can’t walk before God. He still sees you and He’s still with you. The darkness is not a consequence of His absence, rather it’s a consequence of your temporary inability to sense His light. God is still your God even when you are walking through a season of suffering. If you endure in your faith and you keep those things in your mind then you will discover on the other side of it that God was and is all-sufficient for you.
This chapter, like the previous one, ends with a warning to the wicked who have separated themselves from God and given themselves over to evil. They are warned not to trust in themselves. In the Old Testament there were two characters named Nadab and Abihu. They tried to burn incense in the Tabernacle with what was called unauthorized fire and it consumed them. While their deaths are mysterious, you can see a parallel between them and those who walk by the light of their own fire. They believe they can stand before God on account of their own righteousness. They have such a high view of themselves that they are blind to their need of Christ as Savior. They turn away the righteousness of Christ in favor of their own merit. The most common manifestation of this problem in the present day are those who speak of their own truth.
To reject the truth in favor of your truth is what it means to walk by the light of your own fire. Many people (including myself) have said this problem is a consequence of our culture falling away from God. But I’m starting to wonder if that diagnosis is backwards. Maybe we don’t author our own truth because we fall away from God, maybe we fall away from God because of our desire to author our own truth. Our happiness becomes invested in worldly achievements rather than in finding God’s favor. It’s interesting to think about how every car that’s rotting away in the junk yard was once nearby the showroom floor. Each of these scrap heaps was once so attractive that people mortgaged their future in order to have them. Nothing in this world lasts forever so if we invest our hope and our joy in things of this world then our hope and our joy will not last forever either. I’m not telling you to shun possessions or worldly enjoyments. I’m simply emphasizing the importance of maintaining God as your highest value.
So what is the end of the road for those who reject the truth in favor of their own opinions? It’s something like opposition to God. It’s something like totalitarian atrocity where freedom of thought is held captive and human beings are subjected to mass death. Just think for a minute about the structures that have emerged from those who claim sovereignty over the truth. Woke leaders create false hierarchies of virtue where piety is rewarded with prestige. Jesus condemned the religious elite for doing this exact thing. Woke leaders try to cancel anyone who sins against their superordinate principle by sacrificing the transgressor. Jesus forgives sinners by sacrificing Himself. Woke leaders inevitably find themselves in circular firing squads where devouring your neighbor is not only acceptable but heroic. Jesus teaches us to be merciful, to judge not, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The teachings of Jesus are the opposite of what our hearts desire when we reject God.
You can say that some self-titled Christians have been guilty of tyrannical religious dogmatism – and you’d be right. But this kind of totalitarianism, as advertised by the adherents of woke culture, is a human universal and is not endemic to any particular religion (although some teachers of religion feed on it). If you want to end woke culture, you must teach individuals to be resilient enough to turn their own cheek at offense, to carry their own cross of suffering, and to sacrifice themselves for the good of their neighbor. You don’t make the world safer by making the world safer, you make the world safer by developing individuals who can successfully navigate a dangerous world. This is a difficult process full of suffering and maturation – but the never-ending misery that is the alternative is so very much worse. We live in a broken world and sometimes it seems impossible to make it through intact. But take heart, for God is with you, and if you have faith in God then all things are possible.
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