epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Friday, September 28, 2007

Isaiah 12

I was discussing life with a friend the other day who is a believer in God, and yet who has faced some serious challenges in her young life. She said to me, “When does the enjoy part start?” We know that our purpose in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, but our enjoyment of the Lord and His many gifts is clouded by the miseries that seem to be inseparable from our current lives. Will it always be this way? When does the enjoy part start?

Despite the fact that our afflictions feel genuinely weighty to us, there is no doubt that there are times when followers of the Lord have faced far worse troubles. The Huegenots in France were Protestant believers in prior centuries when Roman Catholicism was the law of the land in that country. There were times and places when people were all expected to give a coin in honor of Mary at public street-corners with special shrines installed for the purpose. Government monitors were charged with identifying violators who refused to give what was considered due veneration to the mother of the Lord. What happened to those who did not go along with this system? They were put to death.

Not only have others in church history faced horrors such as these, God’s Old Testament people faced dramatic expressions of the Lord’s anger against them for their sin. The time of the Old Testament was coming to a close, and the enemies of God’s nation were going to bring much sorrow into many lives. How can we weigh when trial against another? It is impossible to compare grief between two suffering people. What may seem like a small thing to one person may be an insurmountable obstacle to another. We stand in need of God’s grace for the challenge He has for us today, and others have found His grace sufficient in the past for the special obstacles that they were called to face.

While the level of trials may seem to differ, the person that we ultimately turn to for help is always the same. We give thanks to You, O Lord our God! Our delight in Him is not to be based on whether or not we are feeling the discipline of His hand at this moment. The prophet acknowledges the confession of the faithful. God was angry with Israel, but His intention was to do those things that would be consistent with their eternal well-being.

The Lord God is our strength and so we look to Him in every need as our provision and our Help. The Lord is also our song. We hold Him to be the only right recipient of our worship. The Lord God is our comfort. Even when we feel the pain of troubles, He is with us as our friend and strong companion. The Lord is our salvation. His promise is for today, and even more for tomorrow.

This was true when the Lord delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptians in the days of Moses. The horse and the rider he threw into the sea, and Israel went through on dry ground. The Lord was also the salvation of His people in the days of the judges and David, and then later in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah as some were restored to the land after a time of exile. How much more is Jesus Christ our salvation since He has taken away all that stood in the way of our complete eternal fellowship with God!

Of course we should sing praises to such a Savior! God is great in our midst. All of His ways are glorious, and His greatness should be known. It is a privilege to proclaim it in the public worship of the church. Even now we can take a healthy portion from the waters of salvation. But when does the greatest enjoy part start? We recognize that in this world we will have tribulation, but we are made to have a greater measure of happiness because we believe that our Savior has overcome the world.

A better day is yet to come. In that day, Immanuel will not be a longed-for future Messiah, or even a baby in a manger whose birth is announced by a choir of angels. In that day the Lord will be forever glorious. The Lord will not be angry with us ever again. How can this be? The Lamb of God has turned away the eternal wrath of God that was against His people. We have a good taste of the enjoy part even now, but in that day when the Lord brings all His purposes to a glorious conclusion, there will be no remaining doubt that the enjoy part has begun.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Isaiah 11

As we hear God’s word, we should take a moment periodically to consider that our hope is in the King of the Jews. Our Messiah is a descendant of the Old Testament Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His heritage has become our heritage, for we have been adopted into His family. This is a great honor for Gentiles who were so far away from God. But the story of Jesus Christ is even better than this.

In earlier chapters God had revealed through Isaiah that the hope for His remnant people would be the gift of “Immanuel” – God-with-us. This hope of Israel will be a descendant of King David. David’s father was Jesse, and so this great gift of a Savior will be “a shoot from the stump of Jesse,” and we are told that he “shall bear fruit.” We who have found peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ are the fruit of this righteous King.

We do not expect to find such great new life coming from a stump. Still, it is one thing to have a shoot come out of a stump, it is quite another to have God the Son born from the line of Kings in Judah. The story of those rulers is full of sin and confusion. Yet God is able to have this great Messiah King to be born from the line of David.

What will He be like, this man who will be born hundreds of years after the prophet Isaiah wrote these words? He will be full of the Spirit of God. Incidentally our own destiny is to have this great gift of the Spirit in much fuller measure. From the Son of God, we will be given good gifts. Though He will not save himself, ignoring the taunting words of his enemies, he will save the beloved remnant of the Father.

This prophetic chapter gives us insights into the character of Christ as King. Power corrupts, we are told, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But this most powerful of all kings will make righteous judgments, deciding disputes with justice. The qualities of righteousness and faithfulness will be so clearly attributed to Him that they can be called the belt of his waist and the belt of his loins. He will one day bring the frightening vengeance of God against the wicked.

Yet we read of the peace that this Prince of Peace will accomplish, and it is described in words that are idyllic. His sway over all things would change fierce predators and their prey into happy inhabitants of His kingdom. Can a little child be safely sent out to play over a cobra’s hole? But in the Day of Jesus the King, all those who are His, will have perfect security. This will not be a blessing restricted to the lands of Israel and Judah. “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Through the knowledge of Christ, peace will be extended far beyond the borders of Israel.

This great people of peace which is His church, will not escape the notice of foreign nations. God will call His people out of their captivity, and will overwhelm any adversaries, and the people of the Lord will come home. Once again, the language of the day of Isaiah, the conflicts with neighboring nations, and the challenge of foreign powers who eye her from afar are referred to in discussing the blessings of the New Testament church and of heaven. Christ, the root of Jesse, will stand as a signal for all the peoples of the world. In Him we will find resurrection life and victory over sin and death.

This is something we experience in part even now. Though we face many trials in this age, we will not turn from the One who holds us in His secure embrace. We experience peace with God through Him even now, and the church is called to live out the life of divine peace, even showing love for enemies in the face of persecution. But there is a far fuller day of peace and blessing that we will experience in the age to come. The same root of Jesse who is yet a descendant of David will bless us with things that no eye has seen or ear has heard.

Since we have such a secure and bountiful salvation in Jesus Christ, it would be a great gift from God if we could turn away from all foolish rebellion and sin today, serving the Lord with gladness despite the tribulations that we face in this world. Our present joys and our eternal bliss would be unavailable to us without the love of Christ. Let us walk then in sincere faith and love, and let us hold firmly to a hope that shall not disappoint.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Isaiah 10

When a powerful oppressor is at his high point, it may be hard for him to imagine that anyone could stand in his way. He can oppress the poor and the fatherless, and who will stop him? Of course he knows about God somewhere deep in his soul, but that can seem so distant an idea as to barely be real. But all of this can change very quickly. When a mightier adversary threatens, even the strong begin to look very weak.

What if the adversary is God himself? There is no one that can stand against the power of God. In Isaiah 10, God speaks in judgment through the prophet against those powerful rulers who imagined that they were invincible. He reveals that they will be the prisoners soon, or even among the slain.

How would an invisible God accomplish such a thing? God uses anything he wishes in the world of the visible and invisible to accomplish all His holy purposes. In the case of His people Israel, God will use Sennacherib and the formidable military might of the Assyrian empire as a rod of discipline and destruction from His hand.

Though God calls Assyria “the rod of my anger,” Assyria also will be judged by God. They were only His tool to use against His people at the appointed time, yet they exalted themselves beyond limit. They considered the God of Jerusalem as nothing more than all the idols of the earth. The time would come when God would finish His work of judgment against His own people, and there would be no safe place of hiding for a rod (Assyria) that tries to lift itself up against the One who lifts it (God). The great Ruler of rulers is the Lord of hosts, the master of men and angels. Why do we ever think that it is safe for us to raise a defiant challenge against the Lord God?

Assyria’s day will come and go, God will preserve a remnant from Immanuel’s land, the remnant of Jacob, and they will return to the land one day. The rest will be gone. It is more than frightening to consider the tremendous scope of the Lord’s judgment against Israel. The remnant will be the object of His eternal affection. The others will be gone from His sight, destroyed before the One Almighty God who shall accomplish all His sovereign will.

The march of the Assyrian army toward Israel and Judah must have been extremely frightening. Nonetheless, Jerusalem itself was finally spared, a fact we will have occasion to reflect upon in future chapters in the weeks ahead. This fact is subtly recorded by Sennacherib himself in his record of his own military conquests. He writes on a clay prism this artifact for public consumption, meant to terrify the enemies of Assyria who would dare to challenge his authority:

“As to Hezekiah, the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, I laid siege to 46 of his strong cities, walled forts and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered by means of well-stamped ramps, and battering-rams brought near, the attack by foot soldiers, mines, breeches as well as sapper work. I drove out 200,150 people, young and old, male and female, horses, mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle beyond counting and considered booty. Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. I surrounded him with earthwork in order to molest those who were leaving his city’s gate.”

He may have had the King of Judah as a bird in a cage, but that particular wolf never did get that bird. He had to be content to “shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.”

How many have arrogantly exalted themselves against the Lord Jesus Christ, a descendant of Hezekiah, and against the heavenly Zion over which He reigns. They imagine that they will only deal with the pale Galilean who died on a cross, when they will instead have to answer to the exalted Lion of the tribe of Judah. We need to consider the facts of the resurrection, and the power of the immortal Son of God.

It will be very obvious in the day of His visitation that we are not a match for the Lord of Glory. Why do we test His anger today through unbelief and disobedience? He gave His blood for His holy remnant. We must not turn against Christ and His church. Where will we turn if we turn away from the mercy of the cross? Where will we hide if the most powerful Adversary ever known should one day come against us?

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Isaiah 9

The Old Testament prophet had two major roles that were very different. One was corrective while the other was celebratory. He was corrective of the Old Covenant community, prosecuting God's case against the Lord's own people for their unfaithfulness. The celebration part of his function was connected to the coming New Covenant era. In this role he served as a herald of a coming day of blessing.

These two aspects of prophetic ministry are not in conflict with each other, yet the seeming clash of disciplinary and celebratory messages within any one chapter can seem quite jarring. Yet when we go through a dark moment of life, when we may even feel the hand of the Lord's correction, it is wonderfully strengthening to know that the promises of God for our good have not evaporated. They are as true as ever and are keenly appreciated as a needed help in our day of trial.

Chapter 9 begins with the future blessing and ends with the more proximate time of trouble. The trouble will not be for God's people in Judah alone. The northern kingdom of Israel, and neighboring nations will face the strength of the Assyrian war machine. Though many will think that they can face the problems before them and overcome their adversaries, this optimism will not be warranted.

The challenge will not merely be from the hand of a foreign nation, it will be from the Sovereign Lord. It will be His anger that has not been turned away. He will "cut off from Israel head and tail." It will be "through the wrath of the Lord of hosts" that "the land is scorched." One of the expressions of the Lord's judgment will be the way that His own people will turn against each other, for "no one spares another" and "each devours the flesh of his own arm." The people of God were to be together as one body and nation, but now they destroy each other, and kill their own national relations, preferring tribal animosity and envy to the communion between them that should have come from their common devotion to the God of Israel.

How sad it will be when there would seem to be no one among them who could bring peace. Yet then we return to the earlier words of promise with which the chapter begins. There will be a great light coming from Galilee, and the people will see Him. That great light will come with the birth of a child. We immediately think of the one called "Immanuel" or God-With-Us who we heard about in the prior two chapters.

This son will be the "Wonderful Counselor." It will be astounding to consider how what follows could be said of a descendant of Adam, yet He will surely be the "mighty God" Himself. He will be so closely connected with the God of creation and providence, that He will be called "Everlasting Father." Finally His title of "Prince of Peace" bears further consideration. The prince was like a military ruler who leads the people toward victory. The peace that He is and that He brings is the shalom of God's perfect plan. Thus this baby that will be born, who is none other than the Jesus, this baby shall be the Captain of our Salvation - the Prince of Peace. And he will bring peace through His government, a peace that will not end, even "from this time forth and forevermore."

God shall do this, Isaiah announces to His needy loved ones. God has indeed accomplished all this though Christ. The peace that He has won for us came at the cost of the life of His great Son. The Prince of Peace took the warfare that we deserved, and thus we have eternal peace. We yet look forward to a day when there will be no gloom for the people of God who are in anguish. We have a taste of that now, but we long for the fulfillment of the promise of the Lord. For this grand and eternal peace we still look to Jesus, the child who was born for our sake, who has become both the Author and the Finisher of our salvation.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Isaiah 8

I am amazed that so many people are allied with the Lord. At times we imagine that we are virtually alone, but then if some tragedy should take place in our lives, we are comforted by many who say, "You are in my prayers." We did not even suspect that they believed in God.

As we look at our own lives we seem to exhibit such a minimal commitment to the Lord. Perhaps if we were to speak to someone about faith or prayer, they might be surprised to find out about this side of us. Perhaps they would not have suspected us to be believers. The Old Testament prophet did not always fit into the wallpaper of his society so very easily and comfortably. His words attracted enemies and the Lord's call upon His life sometimes pressed him into unusual acts of obedience.

God gives His servant Isaiah an interesting instruction in this chapter. He was to father a son and to give the boy a Hebrew name that designated the coming of an invading army. Before the boy would have any significant speech, the Assyrians would march through Syria and Israel, subduing these two nations which were currently threatening Jerusalem and Judah. Not only that but the rush of the Assyrian army would "sweep on into Judah" like an overwhelming flood.

The Assyrians are pictured as a devouring bird of prey. "It's outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel." While the prophesy is one of grave difficulty that lies ahead of Judah, the prophet seems to be moved by the way that God called them the land of "Immanuel" in His words. We remember that Immanuel means "God with us." In the verses that follow that prophet takes the leap of thinking that this designation is an encouragement from God that somehow everything is alright for Judah, since God is with her.

There is a sense in which this is true. Ultimately no weapon of the enemy will finally win the day against the people of God. Even concerning the particular threat of the Assyrians, they would not be able to achieve complete dominance over Judah. Yet God is intent in revealing to His people that everything is not going to be according to their own plans for peace and prosperity. Just because they are the land of Immanuel does not mean that God's judgments will never fall upon them.

Most of all, it is important for the people who are following the Lord that they not be led astray by all their neighbors into misunderstandings concerning who should be their fear. The Lord Himself should be regarded as the Holy One. He should be their fear. Everyone may be worried about the conspiracy between Israel and Syria. Maybe some percentage of people are even rightly concerned about the threat of Assyria. Yet none of that changes the fact that the One we must ultimately deal with is God Himself. He is the One who can send body and soul into hell.

How do we deal with an unseen God? Many have assumed that the way to approach the Lord of the Spirit world is to go through the spirits of those who have died, and to thus enter the world of God's unseen power. This is not the way to go, even if it is the popular opinion of everyone in a society. God directs us instead to His teaching and His testimony. We turn to the special written speech of God given to us. We attend to His Word. The people who will hear His Word are brothers to us, "children" that the Lord has given to the prophet and livings signs from the God of heaven and earth.

We today must stay firmly grounded in the Word of God. Everything else is very unstable, and often quite dangerous. Jesus, the incarnate Word from heaven, also directed His disciples to the teaching and the testimony of God. We are to hear Him and to follow Him. All of the Scriptures testify concerning Him. This Immanuel is our hope, and He is with us. The teaching and the testimony of God speak to us of his righteousness, his suffering and death, his resurrection and eternal victory. Though others are continually moved by the latest crisis or scandal, however genuine these troubles may be, we have the fear of God and the love of Christ which must compel us, comfort us, and inspire us more than anything that our neighbors may consider to be a dangerous conspiracy or trouble.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Isaiah 7

Ahaz the son of Jotham brought much trouble upon God's nation by encouraging false worship. Yet it was this King of Judah who received one of the most famous prophesies in the Bible, a promise which is contained in Isaiah 7. "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

This chapter begins with the nation of Judah and her king trembling in fear. The reason that "the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest before the wind" was the alliance between the northern kingdom of Israel and the Syrians. These two nations were allied together and had come to wage war against Jerusalem.

God spoke through Isaiah to Ahaz urging him that he should not fear Israel and Syria, calling them "two smoldering stumps of firebrands." Though they have come to terrify Judah and to conquer it for themselves, the Lord says, "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass." In fact God reveals that both of these nations will face impending disaster and will fall. God draws attention to the "head" of Israel and the "head" of Syria as the reason that they will not live up to their proud boasts. By contrast, the head of the house of David in Jerusalem is ultimately one who is much better than Ahaz.

God emphasizes the certainty of His message in two ways. First, he encourages Ahaz in the way of faith with these words. "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." In every trial we need to look beyond ourselves and our troubles to God who has given us sure promises. We need to worship Him and believe Him. The second way that he encourages Ahaz is by giving him permission to ask any sign in order to let his heart be more certain that the word of Isaiah is the true promise of God.

Ahaz refuses the command of God to ask a sign, claiming that he does not want to put the Lord to the test. Yet by refusing the direct command of God given for His good, Ahaz is in fact testing God's patience. It is then that God himself chooses the sign of His own faithfulness by giving the Immanuel prophecy.

There will come one who will rightly be called "God with us." He will be the ultimate sign of the strength and reliability of God to His people. In Matthew's gospel we learn that the virgin birth of Jesus to a Hebrew maiden is the great fulfillment of this astounding prophecy. Beyond the disaster of Assyrian attacks in the coming years, God will yet remember his covenant promises and will send Immanuel.

The northern kingdom of Israel will pass away, as will Syria. Even Egypt and Assyria will have only their allotted time of supremacy. Ultimately the southern kingdom of Judah itself will face the Babylonians, and eventually be ruled by the Romans. But the Kingdom of Immanuel will be established forever. Our faith is not in any lessor king, or in an earthly powers. Our faith is in "God with us" who is surely the Head of His people. He accomplished our redemption not through armies or oratory. He established an everlasting kingdom through His righteousness and blood.

There is only one way for us to stand in the face of frightening adversaries and terrifying events. We must have faith in the promises of God. Central to all of God's promises is the Promised One of Isaiah 7. The faithful of Ahaz's day looked forward to His coming. We celebrate His resurrection reign, and continue to believe that to focus on Him is of far greater worth than to tremble in fear of enemies seen and unseen.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Isaiah 6

Old Testament priests and kings, when they were invested with the authority of their offices, were anointed with oil poured upon their heads. This was not the case with prophets. What we see instead is that they were brought directly into the heavenly council of God and given an anointing from the Spirit of God as they were commissioned for service. Their work was not an easy calling. Here we have recorded for us the experience of the prophet Isaiah as God called him and spoke to him about the difficult prophetic ministry before him.

In this chapter Isaiah is brought to the throne room of God in a vision. He describes mysterious heavenly angelic creatures who are captivated by God and continually engaged in His worship. We cannot pause too long in our consideration of angels, since by their own mouths they insist they we focus upon God. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." This is the interest of heaven - the Lord God Almighty. (Yet the seraphim speak of earth - that the whole earth is full of God's glory. How is it that we lose sight of this fact?)

As Isaiah is brought to see the glory of God in heaven he considers himself in mortal danger. He speaks of his sin and the sin of his community where he dwells. How can he live, since he has seen the Lord? The answer comes from the altar of the heavenly temple. A burning coal from the place of sacrifice is the agent for sanctification. A hot coal on the lips does not sound like a safe cure for anything. But this coal is a symbol. It takes away guilt and atones for sin. It is fitting that it comes from the altar, for the animals that were slain in the Old Testament worship system were sacrificed on the altar, and their blood was supposed to ceremonially take away guilt and atone for sin. But Isaiah was in the real temple in heaven. He needed something more than a ceremonial cure for his uncleanness. Without question this coal must be symbolic of Christ Himself, who alone is the atoning sacrifice for sin.

The right reaction of one who knows that his sin has been decisively put away is to offer up your body as a living sacrifice in the service of the God who gives such abounding grace. This is what Isaiah does. When the call goes out for servants who will go forth in the service of God, Isaiah says, "Here am I! Send me."

But what is the mission that the prophet has just signed up for? I wonder how many of us would sign up for the trials ahead of us in our lives if we could see the cost at the beginning of the journey. It is an expression of the Lord's mercy that He does not tell us all that He knows about the challenges ahead of us. He understands our weakness, and accommodates His revelation to us so that we need not be forever inquiring into things that are part of his secret will. There are many things that it would be best for us not to know until the thing ahead of us actually happens.

Isaiah's situation is something of an exception to this general rule. Even he is not given many specifics, but the severity of the trial ahead of him is clear. One of the most difficult things for anyone who attempts to speak God's Word to His people is when we find out that people will not listen to us. This is what the prophet is told here. God opens up to Isaiah something of the mystery of his providence, specifically that there will be no lasting recovery for Old Testament Israel. How can we deal with the obvious meaning of these words that tell us so plainly that God does not intend for Israel to repent and return to Him at this time?

This challenging fact is not all that different from any grievous event in our lives where we are brought to wonder why? Ultimately for all the smaller individual unanswered whys and for this massive and epochal Old Testament why, we must come to the same conclusion. God has a plan. He understands what He is doing for His own glory. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Ultimately we must trust God that He knows what He is doing in closing up of the Old Testament era and beginning of the New Testament era.

Some of the answer does seem to come in the final words of this chapter. A mighty oak is to be felled for sure (Israel), but there will yet be a holy seed as its stump. Something or someone from the very root of Israel will yet remain. There will be an Israel within Israel, even when it seems that all is lost. Ultimately that Israel will consist of one holy seed - one righteous man. If we want to be perplexed by anything that we face, first be perplexed that this one holy seed died on a Roman cross. Then consider the eternal good that proceeded from that one death and the resurrection that followed it. Today the gospel of that one burning coal purifies not just one set of prophetic lips, or even just one elect nation, but the elect of every nation are brought into the household of faith through Him. Together let us be willing to be used by Him, and sent by Him, however perplexing the mission may seem to be at various points along the way. Together let us rejoice, because our guilt is taken away, and our sin is atoned for.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Isaiah 5

When someone goes to all the trouble to plant a vineyard, he expects that he will eventually yield fruit from his labor. The song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 is a prophetic parable. Jesus told parables in his earthly ministry, but frequently he did not explain them to the crowds, but only to his closest disciples. Here in Isaiah we are told a parable about the Lord's vineyard, and we are left with no doubt concerning its meaning.

Verse seven says, "the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel." As the chapter begins, Isaiah speaks of God's great care for his vineyard. He did everything that He could for it, but the vineyard would not yield the kind of fruit that it should have yielded. The fault is not God's, but the vineyard's. God calls his people to account for the lack of righteous fruit in the Lord's nation.

He then announces His determination to remove the hedge of protection around the vineyard, to break down its wall, and to trample down his land and to make it a waste. What kind of fruit was He seeking from His people? He looked for justice, but He found instead bloodshed. He sought righteousness, but found an outcry from the poor and powerless who were oppressed.

From this point on in the chapter the parable is left behind, and we have God's prophetic indictment presented more directly in His pronouncement of woe upon His people. They have joined "house to house" and "field to field" with no recognition of the fact the the Lord was the owner of the land. He had established laws that would enable the poor to have some stability over many generations. They were to have an inheritance of land granted to their clans and families from God Himself, but this blessing has been trampled upon. Men of renown have given themselves over to late night drinking and feasting, and have not attended to the "deeds of the Lord." They have been content with falsehood and darkness, and rejected the light of His Word. The have acquitted the guilty for a bribe and deprived the innocent of his right.

What will God do when the people who are supposed to be a testimony to the world of justice and righteousness simply attend to their own pleasures and ignore the weighty matters of life in a world of great suffering? If they will not display justice and righteousness, the Lord will display these things Himself by coming against them and judging them! The Lord of hosts will be exalted in justice. The Holy God will show himself holy in righteousness. He will be the Prime Mover in His acts of judgment, but the means of affliction will be other nations that are far off. He will whistle for them, and they will come with horrific might and act as His agents of destruction. Like a lion they will growl and seize their prey, and no one will be able to rescue. The judgment of God against His beloved land will be darkness and distress.

Our reaction to such a passage should be a fear of the Lord of heaven and earth. If He sets Himself up as our adversary, who can stand? If He would discipline His Old Testament nation with these terrors, what will await all of us who have so obviously violated His holy commandments? Yet if God only wanted to display His justice, He could have destroyed the world immediately after the sin of Adam. His plan is to also display His mercy, yet without sacrificing His great display of holiness and justice.

How can this be? Justice demands that the wicked be punished. Mercy insists that the targets of mercy be forgiven and blessed. If we are all lawbreakers in the sight of God, how can both of these demands be satisfied? How can God eternally punish the wicked and save them as well. There must be an eternal substitute provided for the targets of the Lord's abounding mercy. This is precisely what the Christian faith is about. The wrath of God has come upon a sacrificial lamb for our sake. A frightening and holy adversary has condemned one great righteous servant from the vineyard of Israel. This Messiah has taken away - not our earthly discipline, but the eternal wrath of God toward us. The discipline of trial remains as part of the mysterious providence of God who orders all things according to His plan for both justice and mercy. But a punishment far worse than the Assyrians and Babylonians has been placed upon the Son of God, and so we have been delivered.

We should still quake at the discipline of the Lord in this world of sorrow. Nonetheless, our eternal security is assured because of the blood of the Lamb.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A Wonderful Gift


We thank the Lord for the birth of Abigail Anne Parks.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Miracle Worker

I was recently watching a video on Helen Keller. (I was unaware that there is actual footage available of this amazing figure of the twentieth century.) To see what man can do IS inspiring. I think it makes me long all the more for that day when we will be in the presence of the ultimate Miracle Worker. Click here to see how Jesus healed a blind and mute man, and what kind of reaction followed this healing.

Friday, September 14, 2007

John Piper's Recent Sermon on the Loss of a Church Member by Suicide

Candy and I were very moved by this wonderful message. We wanted to share it with you as we all mourn the loss of our son Sam.

Click here to read or listen to Dr. Piper's Message

Isaiah 4

Does it seem like a small matter to us that we are called by the name of Christ? Is it still a wonderful thing to us that our shame and guilt have been removed through the ministry of our Savior? This very brief chapter begins with a verse that speaks of the urgency of seven women who are begging to be named by the name of one man. They will not ask that this man to provide for them as would have been his customary obligation. They will simply be satisfied with the honor of an association with this one man. The church has the blessing of her husband's name, and far from having to provide for ourselves, he will care for us and give us Himself. He is the bread from heaven that will always sustain us and the clothing of perfect righteousness that will forever be the basis of our acceptance by God.

As if anticipating these New Covenant and heavenly realities, every phrase in the next five verses seems to insist on a meaning that moves us toward the future fulfillment of the Kingdom of God in Christ. Jesus and the Church connected to Him will be beautiful and glorious. How is it that we have gone so quickly from talking about the nation of God as a "heap of ruins" in the third chapter, and just a few verses later we now read that "the fruit of the land" will be "the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel." Something has happened here. There is a new day beyond the disgrace of the Old Covenant people, and Isaiah is serving as a herald of that coming day.

We who have come to the Kingdom only by the name of Israel's Messiah are now the Jerusalem of God. We are holy in Him, and our names have been recorded in the Lamb's book of life. God has washed away our filth through the blood of Jesus, and through a spirit of judgment that came upon Him on the cross instead of us we have a solid hope. Even now we enjoy the presence of the Lord by faith, but the day will come when the fact of that divine presence with us will be obvious to our senses. In that day there will be no need for any lamp or sun, because the Lord our God will be our ever-present light. We know this already in our best moments, but then we will see this clearly and continually.

God is our protection even now, yet like Job, we can face horrific loss, and we need to remind ourselves continually that godliness with contentment is great gain. One day that kind of reminder will simply not be necessary. The Lord's canopy of love will be seen. The Lord's protective shelter will be our heavenly mansion. The sun will not strike us in any harmful way by day, and there will be no terrors of the night for us.

These things we lay hold of today by faith. The Old Testament saint would also have heard these words of promise, and would have believed with wonder. There is still an element of wonder for us as well, but we have the better assurance of the incarnation of Christ, his miracles, his death, and his resurrection. We also have the Spirit of God granted to us as a downpayment of the fullness of God's goodness that has been promised to us. All of this has come to us because of our association with one great man. He has taken away our reproach.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Isaiah 3

When people think about going back to a high school reunion many years after graduation they naturally consider how they have changed since they were seventeen or eighteen years old. They also think about the great athletes or the most attractive group of girls and wonder about what they might be like today. Many of the changes in our lives come upon us gradually, almost unnoticed day by day. What if it happened more suddenly that leading men and women in a nation were reduced to wretchedness through the power of an invading enemy? What if the enemy came against God's own people, and did so in such a way that it was clear that the disaster had come from the hand of God Himself?

Such changes in any society would be shocking - too much for any of us to take in all at once. In this chapter the prophet Isaiah is warning Judah and Jerusalem that His judgment will come against the leading men and women in their midst. He begins by talking about the men, and he includes leaders from all of society. God's judgment against them will not only be expressed in the removal of bread and water, but also in the removal of people. Military captains, judges, prophets, elders, wise men and magicians will all be taken away. All these leaders will be gone. It is not because God could not do anything to prevent this. Isaiah calls God the "Lord God of hosts." He has myriads upon myriads of the finest specimens of humanity at his instant call. God has provided leaders. He can take them away.

The result of God's action is that leadership falls to those who are less worthy of rule. Young boys, even infants, will rule over them. Those who have more years will lose the respect of those who are young. The one who has only a cloak will seem like a great man, and will be sought after to be a ruler over the "heap of ruins" that was once a great nation. These young ones who will be recruited by a desperate populace in some future time will not only be unable to rule, the text tells us that they will also be unwilling to do so. They will say, "You shall not make me leader of the people."

At the end of the chapter, the focus turns to those who were the leading women among the people, now brought low. These "daughters of Zion" were once haughty. They looked the part with all the outward ornaments that they used to enhance their grandeur. They had crescents, pendants, bracelets, special scarves, headdresses, perfume boxes, nose rings, robes, handbags, mirrors, and on and on. But when the enemy comes they will have rottenness, baldness, sackcloth, and branding marks on their skin. What a horror this is to consider!

How did this happen? The middle of the passage gives us the answer. Judgment has especially come upon the ruling elite "because their speech and their deeds were against the Lord, defying His glorious presence." It is clear that "they have brought evil on themselves." Through it all, for the righteous remnant in the midst of this national judgment, somehow "it will be well with them," but for the wicked who have have crushed the poor, it will not be well.

This is all so difficult to consider. Leading men and women have been brought so very low, ultimately by the God who has shown himself to be eternally committed to His people. How can this be? When we see a mighty man brought low, and low men unwilling and unable to reign, we can consider that we have a great King forever over the household of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. He who has compassion on us in our desperate condition is both able and willing to lead His people, and He will not suffer them to face eternal defeat. When we see beautiful and proud people brought into the lowest estate of bondage by cruel foes, we remember with hope that their is a glorious bride forever associated with our great King. This bride is the church, and she will be perfected not only with the wonder of eternal physical existence, but even with beauty of perfect holiness.

This is our destiny, and in the midst of our greatest distress, we must not lose sight of the perfection of the eternal plan of the Lord of glory. Destruction did come to the Old Testament people of Jerusalem and Judah, but the Lord of glory came in person, and He rescued His people that He has loved with an everlasting love. Our ugly wickedness is all too evident, and we should repent before we face far worse troubles in this present age. But we can never forget the eternal love of God for His people. Not a one of them will be lost, for the perfect King of Israel has given His blood for His glorious bride.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Isaiah 2

It is not an accident that when people search for God they look up to the heavens. Calvin suggests that "our eyes know no reality more beautiful and full of grandeur than the sky." I think that we can readily relate to the sense of wonder that a person feels as they gaze at the sun rising over the vast ocean, or as David says in Psalm 8: "When I gaze into the night sky, and see the work of your fingers, the moon and stars suspended in space, oh what is man that you are mindful of him?"

With that understandable connection between the heights of heaven and the God of creation, is it any surprise that people have looked to the highest mountains as places that were sacred? The impulse to reach God through a mountain of our own making is at least as old as the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. But what if God would take his own mountain, Mount Zion, the place of the temple in Jerusalem, and would one day cause it to be the highest mountain in the world! What could that mean? It would have to mean that the kingdom of God and of His worship would be above all the other kingdoms of this world and above all the other ways that man would make to try to come near to God.

Isaiah says that "in the latter days" all the nations shall flow to this greatest of all mountains to worship the God of Jacob. Here God uses the language of Old Covenant Worship in order to discuss new covenant wonders. People from all over the world will willingly desire to come to the Lord that they might learn His ways and walk in His paths. They will love the word of the Lord that will come from "Jerusalem." The things that the Old Testament temple, Mount Zion, and Jerusalem stood for have now come in the Kingdom of heaven. The nations are even now streaming up the mountain of God and are desiring to hear the truth of the word of God, that they might follow Him. One day, it will be abundantly clear that God's "mountain" is far above all the other alternative sacred mountains of the earth, and that the way of man-made access to the divine is not the true way to the One who created the heavens and the earth.

This "light of the Lord" has especially come in Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the light of the world." Yet today we would still stumble in darkness if we harden our hearts against the word of God. Like the Israelites of old we would fill our minds with "things from the east." We would choose treasures and other idols, and especially seek our peace and life in things that "our own fingers have made." How merciful the Lord is to meet us in this act of rejecting him, and to bring us gently back to the better mountain of His eternal Kingdom.

It is amazing to consider that the greatest blow against the lofty sinful religious pride of men came when God Himself became man to face the death that we deserved. Through that willingness to be brought dreadfully low, the Lord was singled out as the only Savior of sinners, and as the Lord who alone would be exalted above all false gods. Idols shall utterly pass away. The day of the terror of the Lord shall come with splendor and majesty from heaven. All who have turned to the Lord of the cross as the only Lord of glory can today see God as wonderful and should consider that any lasting glory for men must come to us as a gift from the Source of all majesty.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Isaiah 1

The ministry of Isaiah as a prophet spanned a period of over forty years during the reigns of four kings. This was a period of great challenge for Israel and Judah. In these sixty-six chapters we sense something of the span of a long life lived by a man of God who spoke words of judgment and hope by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The servants of God who speak in His name do not hide the truth about the sinfulness of His people. Though they are called God's "children", they are also called a "sinful nation" and a "people laden with iniquity." Their problem with sin is not merely a superficial wound, for God says "the whole head is sick." Even more than that, the problem that the unfaithful covenant people have is "from the sole of the foot even to the head." There is no soundness in their body.

If this sounds too severe, or if you want to try to restrict this kind of assessment to the Old Testament, remember that God says in the New Testament letter of Paul to the church in Ephesus that we were not merely sick or diseased, but we were "dead in our trespasses and sins." The life that we have now in Christ has come from outside us. We should be able to relate very well to the words of judgment that we find in the Old Testament prophets. The truth about our sin is something we must embrace in order to understand the truth of the death of the Righteous Servant of God for us.

In order for that Righteous One to come as a part of the covenant people of God, it was necessary that the people of Israel would not be utterly consumed from the face of the earth. Therefore God left "a few survivors." This mercy of God to a few is a powerful picture of the electing love of God for His church, and it is cited by Paul in Romans 9:29 for this purpose. That is not to say that the few who lived through the devastation of Assyrian and Babylonian warfare in the centuries before Christ were all righteous. They were wicked too and in need of the grace of God. It is just a fact that some continued to live longer than others, and became a part of the picture that God left for us to consider. Some died by the sword of the Assyrians. Others lived on and would have future generations. Through Christ, we are a band of unworthy survivors who are eternally grateful for His abounding mercy. Even some that face earthly punishments (and we all will face death unless the Lord returns very soon) are recipients of eternal mercy through the Messiah sent by God.

How should we live now as those who escape the sword today, and who believe that we have been eternally and securely rescued by the blood of the cross? The instruction to us is solid and firm, as it was to the survivors in the days of Isaiah and beyond. "Cease to do evil, learn to do good." Just because we are all guilty sinners before God who have been saved by His grace, does not in any way give us permission to insult His tremendous salvation by continuing to rebel against his commandments. We are alive today. Others are not. There is a purpose to our being alive here on earth. We should do things today for the Lord who saved us.

God speaks to us regarding our salvation. This grace is the great motivator He has given to us, moving us toward a life of greater usefulness. "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." In the day of Isaiah, the central act of our deliverance through the the cross of Christ was still hundreds of years into the future. Therefore, he speaks of it as a thing that is yet coming. "Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed by justice." We know that our Redeemer has come, and the man of perfect righteousness took our unrighteousness upon himself and was given the justice we deserved. Now the whole Zion of God, all elect Jews and Gentiles, have been redeemed by justice, since the mercy of our Lord had determined to count His justice as ours.

It is still the case that rebels and sinners may be consumed in this life according to the plan of God. Today, in light of the marvelous eternal mercies of God in Christ, let us soften our rebellious and hardened hearts. Let us hear the words of the prophet who calls us to a resurrection life even now, for their are labors of gospel love that God has ordained for us today as the Israel of God.

Monday, September 10, 2007

The Song of Solomon 8

The process of a young man and a young woman growing up, finding each other, falling in love, and ultimately having one another, is a very mysterious, troubling, and wonderful thing. We wish it were not so difficult. There is no changing that. There is no making it all manageable. It is life and death and life again. It is weighty and elusive, earthly and heavenly. Who can understand it?


The woman begins chapter eight by expressing her desire to simply be close to her man without being seen as inappropriate by those who would observe them. "Can't we just pretend that he is my brother? Then I could meet him and greet him with my lips and lead him to our home and shut the door behind us. And no one else would need to know what happened next. We could drink wine together. His left hand would be under my head and his right hand would embrace me."

But this will not be. For the third and final time she urges the "daughters of Jerusalem" to not "awaken love" before its time. She does this knowing what it is to want a man but to have to wait for the right time and place to have him. This love-sickness is hard to bear. The time for such a relationship naturally comes about as the years move forward in our lives and there is no wisdom in encouraging these feelings to arrive too early.

Beginning all at once in verse five, the desired time that was once only a dream appears now to have become real at last. Perhaps the parents of the bride see their daughter leaning on her beloved coming up from the wilderness. They remember her birth and hear her husband's promise of abiding love as strong as the ever-present fire of the Lord, a fire that cannot be extinguished by floods of water. Something of her life as one alone is over now and something new is born in their covenantal union. Her lover speaks.


Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is as strong as death,
jealousy as fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.


The promise here is forever. Something as strong as death is here, something that can swallow up death in its power. That something is the divine gift of physical and spiritual love. There was a day when a little girl was not ready for such strong love. If someone had wanted her intimacy her brothers would have protected her from advances that were not yet right. Back then it was not yet the time for love to be awakened. But now she is a woman, and her great husband will find peace in her willing love.

This peace is worth thousands upon thousands of pieces of silver to Solomon, but his bride does not want his money. The beloved couple have their own reward in one another. He will hear her voice, as a sound that will be for him alone. She urges him on to the "mountains of spices" as the fulfillment of her earlier dreams.

What a wonderful love! What a beautiful joy when all the uncertainty and trouble of finding your one-and-only is now behind you and you are together at last. From this point forward, as long as your life will last, no one can charge you with anything wrong in your full enjoyment of each other.

Nonetheless, from the message of Ecclesiastes we remember that this world is fleeting. How long will our lives last?

But there is an embrace that goes beyond the grave. There is a forever love that is stronger than death. How ironic that one great death was the pathway to the secure provision of undying love for so many. The death of the eternal Son of God was the secure embrace of a husband for His bride. How challenging it can be to find and embrace this greatest of all loves! We hear His call and feel divine love stirring in our hearts. Could it be that there really is a hero? Could it be that there really is a Jesus; a real person who loves you?

Rest in His secure embrace. Prepare your heart for His eternal love. The love of Christ has been awakened within your soul. You must have Him forever.

Friday, September 07, 2007

The Song of Solomon 7

There are times when we might want to examine someone very carefully if no one else could know that we were doing so. We are normally embarrassed to have detailed physical and emotional interest in another person. It seems inappropriate, and it may be unappreciated. Perhaps that is our fear. If the one I secretly love saw me looking at her too closely, would she be pleased, or would she find it disturbing? Would I lose my chance to be close with someone, because I revealed my desire for her in a way that seemed to be too much?


The lover of this poem is very bold indeed. In chapter seven he starts with his woman's toes and is not finished until he moves inch by inch to the locks of her hair. His eyes see everything, and he loves what he sees. He is not embarrassed about his desire to know her and to talk to her about his love for her body. Her feet, her thighs, her navel, her belly, her breasts, her neck, her eyes and nose, her hair are all worthy of carefully chosen and imaginative words of appreciation. Though he is a powerful and confident man, he freely admits that she has taken him captive!

She is a sensuous tree that he wants to climb. He will speak of taking her and touching her until his mouth will meet hers in a passionate and full way. She is ready to surrender to him. She will not deny him, but invites him to the wonderful place that she has prepared for him. There she will soon give him her love. This place is more than just a body. She speaks of a whole glorious creation of fields and villages, vineyards and fruit. She knows that his desire is for her, and in that best place of her dreams she will give him all that she has. This is what she has prepared for, and this is her willing heart.

Oh if every man who so desires could have such a willing, creative, and adventurous woman! Oh if every woman who is called to be thus loved could have a man who would extol all of her in a way that would last! God is the one who has given us each other. May we enjoy each other as those who know the life that comes from His grace. May we see His plan for us as good, and rejoice in the wife of our youth. May we have special places where we will freely and gladly give ourselves to the lover of our dreams.

Has God given us the capacity to have such vivid and wholesome delights of the mind without any intention of bringing about the greatest physical fulfillment of these holy words? Is the place of our promised eternal bliss to be somehow less physically appealing than the pleasures of this present physical world? God tells us most definitely that He is love, and that He loves us. He tells us to cleave to Him in love, and tells us that the relationship of Christ and His Church is that of a perfect and powerful husband and a holy and beautiful bride. He tells us that a day is coming when we will be together forever in place of abounding fruitfulness and joy. Brothers and sisters, believe and wait for that day. It is surely coming. Do not despair. Jesus knows your grief. He was himself the Man of Sorrows. But He was wounded for our transgressions, and our healing has been most definitively secured in His death and resurrection. Live in hope. Believe in the better day that will come in the twinkling of an eye.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Song of Solomon 6

All of us want to be accepted, admired, and loved. But it is not enough for us that we be accepted by just anyone. A young adult may know that he is loved by his parents and by other respected adults, but is that what he really wants most? A young woman may even understand that she is loved not only by her mother, but by her mother's God, and yet she longs for a different admirer. We want to be accepted by the one person from whom we most desire acceptance, and no other love will do.

This is normal for most people because they have been created by God for a special relationship with a life partner. That partner will somehow complete them as the two become one, and to lose that partner would be to lose someone who was a part of them. The love of parents and the attention of friends are not enough for most people.

In the beginning of this sixth chapter, there is a group of female friends who want to join the woman in her dream-like search for her man. At the end of the chapter there are a group of soldiers who want to look upon the beauty of the young woman along with the king. Both groups of friends are rebuffed. While the relationship that has been the focus of this poem has been publicly acknowledged, it will be privately enjoyed. Though there may be multiple queens and concubines, there will be only one man and one woman in the fullness of love.

No other man is allowed to go where this one man will go. It will be his special garden, their bed of spices together as he "grazes among the lilies." No armies will see his bride as he sees her, though they might desire to do so. As she has said, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." She is the "only one." She is like a goddess from heaven, like a beautiful Jerusalem from above, and her prince is her protector from unwanted intruders.

What a day of delight it is when a young woman is given in marriage to a young man. The crowd is there to witness the event, but only to a point. Eventually it must be only them. The special intimacy is theirs alone. She is the only one there with him, and he with her. And the two are one.

Why has God made us this way? Why has God placed this longing within the hearts of so many men and women for this special relationship that is physical, but also spiritual; a relationship that is redefining and almost life-giving? We know this: One day a radiant bride will appear out of heaven as the one-and-only of the Lord Jesus Christ. She will be like a city from above, a new Jerusalem. All who are not a part of her will be cast away forever, and we who feel so insecure and unsure and oppressed from within and without here below will state with all appropriate confidence these triumphant words, "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

Do you doubt that you could be loved so much by the Son of God? Do you imagine that if He enjoyed you it would only be as a play-thing for a moment, then to be cast off and rejected as one of a list of conquests? Remember that your Husband-King gave his life for you on the cross. He who died for you and for all who are His one bride, the Church, will not abandon the prize for whom He rose again. He is faithful and true. He lives. You will be with Him forever.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The Song of Solomon 5

There are times when we have such spectacular or wrenching things happening to us in our lives that we seriously wonder if there is some chance that these things are actually dreams. If the events are unbelievably pleasant we hope that we will never wake up. If they are too horrifying to face we beg that they are just all-too-realistic nightmares that could not possibly be true. The fifth chapter of this book seems to have something of both.

Throughout the poem it is difficult to sort dream from reality. This is a different world then we live in, yet physical and wonderful. The timing of events is hard to pin down, but the feelings are to be experienced as the drama unfolds before the reader.


The previous chapter ended with the invitation of the bride to "come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits." In this chapter we begin with the king acting upon this invitation as he says, "I came to my garden, my sister, my bride." Is this the bride's dream? If it is, there are other people in it. This is not a secret love undertaken in private. There are others who are witnesses to this marriage who urge, "Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!"

The fact that the bride announces "I slept" suggests that all of this is a dream. The first part of the dream is an encounter between the man and the woman with very sensuous and sexual language, yet in a moment he is suddenly not there. She seeks him and he is not found. She asks the watchmen of Jerusalem concerning him but they abuse her and beat her! Would they have dared to do such a thing if her husband had been nearby?

Yet she is not concerned about her bruises in this dream sequence. All she wants is him. She describes him to the daughters of Jerusalem. As she has been appreciated for the specific details of her physical beauty, now she extols his head, his hair, his eyes, his cheeks, his lips, his arms, his chest, his legs, and his mouth. She admires him and she wants him.

The love of a husband and wife is to be mutual, even in physical attraction and appreciation. This love is not some detached out-of-body experience of souls that rejoice in one another. We do thank God for the minds and the souls of our life partners, but there is no need to divide body and soul here as if the body were a bad thing. A wife should enjoy the body of her husband, just as she knows that he enjoys her body.

We again remember that not everyone will have this exact desire since some will not be called to this kind of relationship. Furthermore, many women who have this desire will never find the men that they have been praying for. But all who know Jesus, have a great man, and will have him forever. In our nightmares we imagine that he has left us. We think that he will not be there to protect us, and that others will be able to destroy us. But the one who has purchased us with his own blood will not leave us. We will one day enjoy such stable permanence of faithful love that we will know without even the slightest doubt that we are completely safe from harm forever. Perhaps some of the horrors that we may face in this world of sin enable us to appreciate the stability of perfect love that we will enjoy forever with our Lord.

Together with the bride of this poem, we rejoice in the Lord! He is our great God in every detail. There is nothing lacking in Him. He has the excellent beauty of perfect holiness forever.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

The Song of Solomon 4

God has given to the sons of men the wonderful gift of physical bodies. While there are some who are called to a single life, and that is a good gift, the royal husband in this love poem is rightly moved by the physical delights of a particular woman. In this chapter, the husband admires his bride in detail.

We might judge these details as mundane or inappropriate things to be noticed or talked about, but God disagrees. Her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her lips, her mouth, her cheeks, her neck, her breasts, her whole body is worthy of her husband's special admiration. He is determined to spend time with her and the enjoyment of her physical beauty is a wonderful part of this celebration. He finds no flaw in her.

This woman is more than two-dimensional physical beauty. Her presence is desired and will somehow be a part of who he is. He says to her, "Come with me," and calls her his bride. She has "captivated his heart." He wants her near. Wine may gladden the heart of men, but her love is far better than wine. She makes him glad. Everything about her is lovely to him.

Yet her love has not yet been fully enjoyed, for his bride-to-be is still a sealed fountain. His sensuous words make it clear that he wants all of her, and at the end of the chapter her words approve of his intentions. She wants her garden to be his garden so that he may eat of its choicest fruits and enjoy.

God has made us male and female from the beginning. He has given us the wonderful gift of sensuous bodies that work well together. This gift is presented in this chapter as very right and very good. The focus is on the bride's perfection and her happy and willing desire that her husband would enjoy her completely.

The purity and joy of this good gift may seem to elude us here below. Nothing is quite as easy and beautiful as this poem suggests. No bride is altogether beautiful in body and soul. No husband expresses his admiration and desire in just the right way, and no woman is so perfectly free and happy in giving herself to her man.

The poem calls us to enjoy one another in marriage as good gifts from a holy God, but it also calls us beyond the troubles of this fallen world. We know this because the Bible speaks very clearly of a perfect bride in another place (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Because of the death of Christ for us, and because of His cleansing and sanctifying work, one day we will be the glorious bride of Christ, with the physical reality of the perfect resurrection and with the spiritual beauty of complete sanctification. We will all be holy and without blemish. This will include all who are chosen by God through faith in Christ. You may have the gift of singleness today, and have no desire for the physical intimacy with a spouse that this poem describes. You may desire an intimate relationship but have not yet found the right person. You may have been hurt badly through some kind of abuse or degradation and may find it very difficult to escape these things in your thoughts and in your life. Yet if Jesus died for you, then you are in Him. He loves you and sees you as a part of His glorious bride. Together with all of His heavenly church you will be perfected in holiness and glorious in resurrection beauty. The King of the church will have us forever.

The final fulfillment of that pure and beautiful marriage may be yet far away, but today you can have the response of the bride who accepts that she is desired and says "yes" to that glorious future day. Do not push the Lord away. Your beloved who died for you is gentle and kind. Together the church responds to His call. We say, "Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits."