"...but a moment..."

"...hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." Isaiah 26:20b

God's judgments are often a favorite subject of most people, especially critics of God's character, those unhappy few who cannot understand why we just can't all get along. An answer to them is for another time. Here we will note what most people miss; indeed, you could say most people miss the forest for the trees, or in this case, the mercy for the judgment, the ark for the flood. "Hide thyself...for a little moment." A little moment? That should take the wind out of your sails. All our talks about how just or vindictive God is, and yet Isaiah speaks of His judgments like they were summer rains: arising in an instant, unleashing what they have, and then disappearing in an instant. In fact, His anger appears to be almost an interjection to our lives rather than a hallmark of them.

That is the really curious thing about this whole matter, that when it comes to our lives God's anger seems to be the exception and not the rule. "His anger endureth but a moment," they are but passing storms that come and go, "in His favor is life," (Psalm 30:5a) our lives are founded on His favor, and if you need to know exactly how much God favors us, see Romans 5:8. His anger is not the norm for our lives; His love is. One almost feels like His anger is (in a sense) a necessary evil, needed because sin is rampant, and it must be dealt with. In the end, however, when sin is no longer apart of our lives, His anger will no longer be a part either.

"Weeping endures for the Night.

But at your eternal Dawn,

There will be no more tears

And no more Night..."

-Jon Vowell

The Empty Womb

"We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen." Isaiah 26:18

This verse sums up the end of man trying to save himself: nothingness. There is no victory, no peace, and all of your enemies still exist. When it comes to producing a deliverer, all wombs are empty. This is the key to earth's history: Great, noble, and wise men have risen out of the sea of humanity, and done great, noble, and wise things. In the end, however, their works fail, becoming monolithic corruptions that are overthrown by the very people they originally tried to save, and those people come under the banner of the next "big thing." What was thought to be deliverance was just the next wind blowing by.

Anything born of man is destined to fail. Everyone born of man's seed is a being whose inner nature is based on corruption and rot, and anything they touch is affected thereby. History is filled to the brim with institutions (even Christian institutions) that were solely works of man, forged and sustained by their own might and power, and they all fell into ruin. It is a truth we will see over and over again: man cannot save himself.

Now, Jesus Christ was not born of man; He was born of God, i.e., He was not born of our history, but came into it from the outside. That is what we needed: someone standing on the shore outside the water we were drowning in who could reach in and pull us out. Only one womb in earth's history ever produced deliverance, and it had never been touched by man. Christ was God stepping into this world, because this world was dead, and all born on it were spiritually stillborn. No man could save us because all men were dead. We needed a life transplant, someone outside ourselves to come and infuse their life into us. That is what Christ did: He brought us the Life of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

There was one womb, however, that Christ's presence did make empty, and that was death's womb. Whereas all other wombs bring forth life, this one takes it, swallowing it whole into darkness. All men go there, and if all men are dead, then death is a dreadful mother, for she eats her children. However, when death tried to swallow Life Himself, she found her limitless void filled to the brim with His presence, and she could not contain Him. She spat Him back up like Jonah out of the whale. The tomb was the womb of death, and on the third day she too joined the helpless ranks of man as her emptiness proved her impotence. She held nothing but the warm wind of the dawn.

"Cursed be the man that trusteth in man." (Jeremiah 17:5) All that is born of man is destined to fail. Only that which is born of God and has His life within him has hope. Those who believe it will inherit life, while those who think differently will truly inherit the wind.

Two Blights

"Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation: Thou art glorified: Thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth." Isaiah 26:15

"...God gave the increase." I Corinthians 3:6

American consumerism has forced an infectious blight across the Church (at least in the West), and that is the blight of results. We honestly believe that it is our duty and job to get people saved, disciple the brethren, and change the world. Consequently, if something does not produce results, if a word, action, stance, or ministry does not "come through" with anything, the it is not worthy of trying. Such a stance is completely unscriptural.

Christ never told us to "save" anybody; He told us to get the word out, to teach and preach (Matthew 28:19, 20 & Mark 16:15). Whether or not people get saved is not our concern; it is God's. Preaching the gospel (in word and deed) is our "bit," while salvation is God's. We water, we plant, but God produces results (I Corinthians 3:6).

Here's another one: nowhere does the Bible say we are to win something when we battle. Our ultimate end for armoring up is not to win, but to stand (Ephesians 6:13). So many of us do not stand up for the truth because it will not "do" anything. "I could say such-and-such to so-and-so, but it will not change him." Whether it does something our not is not our business; it is our business to stand, and God's business to win, and you never know what words or deeds He will use to win.

As a side effect, the blight of results produces what can be called the blight of quotas. Witnessing and ministries become gigantic score cards, and the more points the merrier. "If I can just save so many a week, I'll find favor with God." That Christ died is the only proof we need that God favors us to the uttermost. Witnessing and ministries are not about earning brownie points; ultimately, they are about drawing closer to God. The closer you are to Him, the more He can work through you to touch other people. Our Christian "duties" are just as beneficial to us as to others.

That, however, is what we truly miss in our service to God: we are just as much recipients of His presence as the people we touch. Results and Quota based witnessing and ministries focus solely on the self: what am I doing? How do I stack up? Consequently, they are founded on pride, and will fail; this is the source of many dried up and broken ministries. If, however, we do not see ourselves as producers of results or keepers of quotas, and instead see ourselves as receivers of God's presence just as much as those we minister, then the basis for the ministry is on God alone, and He always produces results and meets His quotas (though we may not see them at the time). With God as our base, we will not care about ourselves a bit, but instead say, "O Lord, Thou hast increased the nation: Thou art glorified."

God gives the increase, not us. Blessings and honor and glory and favor be upon Him, not us (Psalm 115:1). If we stop trying to make results, and simply walk with God through our lives, we will be amazed at the opportunities that He brings our way.

"Not from our hands, O Lord.

Not from our strength or might.

But from your throne

From You alone

Does all my increase come..."

-Jon Vowell

Last One Standing

"O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us: but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise..." Isaiah 26:13, 14

Other men have claimed peace on earth; other men have claimed to have found the solution to all ills. They have founded institutions, created organizations, started movements, and begun great works. They have rallied, protested, fasted, practised non-resistance and violence, shook hands and stabbed the backs of politicians, and been the father and tyrant of the people. They have protected and served, and punished and enslaved. They have brought crops and famine, bounty and loss, booms and depressions. The have etched their legacies of blood and iron throughout the history books. So, where are they now? Dead and buried. Their institutions and works? Dead and buried with them, or monolithic corruptions that will die when the people get sick of them. It is the key to history.

Man is easily eaten up by man. When crisis and tragedy strikes the halls of history, it is easy to be swept up in the ecstasy wrought by the opportunistic and the charismatic. Even the Church has fallen into this trap, inadvertently (or maybe advertently) placing all their hopes in the newest "answer man." Within a generation or two, all such hopes are lost. Many cultural, societal, and political fads and fashions will come and go, each one condescendingly asking God to step back a bit because it's their time now. One by one, however, these fads rise and then crash like waves against immovable rocks, and dissipate just as quickly. When the smoke clears and all the noise and confusion has past, mankind will stagger back onto their once drunken feet and stare soberly at the only thing still left standing: the Lord God Almighty, the Immovable Mountain, towering like an immortal citadel over the world. True hope and peace are still only found in the cleft of His rock, where He covers us still with His hands.

"The Lord God stands like rock undaunted

Mid the raging storm of time

His presence burns with the Truth Eternal,

And shines with a light sublime.

"The Lord God stands

Though the fashions tumble

He will surely stand

Though the fads shall crumble.

I will plant my feet on His firm foundation

For the Lord God stands."

("God is not a Fad," by Jon Vowell [adapted from "The Bible Stands"])

An Unheeded Secret

"The way of the just is uprightness: Thou, most upright, dost weigh [i.e., make level] the path of the just." Isaiah 26:7

We are "the just" in that we are both to do justly (Micah 6:8) and are justified (Romans 5:9). The way of the just, the "walk and talk" required of the just, is marked by outstanding moral character. Such a character is not in man, however, nor is there the strength in man to attain it.

"Thou, most upright, dost [make level] the path of the just." (Rev. marg.) It is God and God alone that is completely upright, He alone that is the fullness of outstanding moral character; and it is He that levels our path out so that we can walk upright as He walks upright. That is the great unheeded secret of Christianity (one of many): God gives us salvation, i.e., the Life of Christ in us. Then He commands us to walk as Christ walks, to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12b) The secret that we miss is that to work out what God worked in is beyond our meagre strength. It is God's strength that gets it done, God's strength through Christ that can do all things (Philippians 4:13), God that levels our path so we can walk upright, "it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) The life of the Son of God in you is both the thing to be worked out and that which works it out. It is paradoxically the tools and the finished product.

"The path of the just is a s the shining light..." (Proverbs 4:18a) The just see clearly in order to walk uprightly, not by some light of their own, but by the life that is the light of men (John 1:4). Christ's life is in us for us to both be and use.

"By your strength

I both live

And stand..."

The Solid Rock

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3

It is the easiest thing to focus solely on ourselves in any given situation or circumstance. It is, indeed, quite natural. The crisis comes, and we turn inward because at the end of the day we are all we know for sure, the only sure ground in our minds. Even the most self-demoralized person imaginable relies solely on their self (for it is their own minds that ultimately convinces them that they are nothing). Of course, every time we trust only ourselves, that final confidence is broken at the last, and when we crash into the ground and taste the dust, we have two choices: stay down and be consumed by despair, or lift your eyes to Heaven and let Heaven Himself pick you up.
To "believe in yourself" is sheer nonsense. Only maniacs and lunatics in an asylum truly "believe" in themselves, i.e., have themselves, their reason and their will, as the only reality they believe in. Nothing is more maddening and tyrannical than "believing" in yourself. In addition, placing final trust in yourself makes no practical sense: when chaos comes, why turn to the one who is bewildered by it? When truth is hidden, why look to the enlightenment of the one who is confused? When danger arises, why trust in the ability of the one who is afraid? If it is true (as stated earlier) that you are the only sure ground that you know of in the end, then you need to get some new ground under your legs. Moreover, just as you saw yourself as a sure ground because you know (at least you think you know) yourself, so your new ground will be relational. In fact, the only true and sure ground there is is found in a relationship, a relationship with the Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
Keeping your focus on God does not mean that your problem will be immediately fixed (if at all). It means that you will have "perfect peace," i.e., peace that is complete and whole. Indeed, we need complete peace more than we need fixed problems.

"Trust in the Lord forever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength..." Isaiah 26:4

The Bible nowhere talks about "doing" things for God, though it talks a great deal about trusting Him. It is less like you are doing something that God must approve, and more like God is doing something that you are swept up in. You are along for the ride; now, will you trust God's direction and movements, or try and steer for yourself? It's bad enough when God is your co-pilot instead of your pilot, but I think most of us today do not even bother getting near God's car; we prefer our own ride, thank you.
How many ministries and works today are "arm of the flesh" endeavors? How many of us are moving and working with our own strengths out of a sense of duty for God instead of trusting God's strength out of love for God. "To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission," sang Steve Green. Too few of us are swept up into God's will, and too many of us are trying to make God's will happen in our own way, in our own work. If the foundation for what we are doing is based on ourselves (i.e., our strength, our duty), it is just as bad as "believing" in ourselves, and just as maddening. More Christians are driven to insanity by self-actualized ministries than they are by obviously besetting sins. "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm," (Jeremiah 17:5) and that includes your own arm.
Another way to translate "everlasting strength" is "Rock of Ages," and here we are seeing one of this rock's two natures, i.e., the only eternal foundation. In God is strength forever, in God there is limitless energy. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." (Jeremiah 17:7) Perhaps a long time ago Matthew 28:18-20 was the only verses to take to heart when one came to minister; nowadays it is better to add Jeremiah 17:5-8. We need to seriously evaluate what our foundation is and where our hope truly lies.

"...for He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, He layeth it low; He layeth it low, even to the ground; He bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy." Isaiah 26:5, 6

Here we see the second of the Rock of Ages' two natures. The first was as the only sure foundation; now we see it as the destroyer of all other foundations. One way be reminded of the rock that haunted Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:31-44): it not only set up itself as the unbreakable kingdom, but also took the legs out from under all the other kingdoms. The same is here: God is the only salvation and the consummate destroyer of lesser saviors.
Perhaps we think God cruel to be knocking people's legs out from under them all the time; but then again, if someone was standing on quicksand or a sinkhole and they would not budge, the only compassionate thing to do would be to knock them down and drag them out, kicking and screaming if they must. If what we are standing on is certain death to us, if all other ground is indeed "sinking sand," then we are fools to stand there. God is only cruel in knocking us down if the ground that we stand on is just as legitimate as His; but one point He keeps driving at over and over again in His word is that all other grounds are not as legitimate. They are not even close, not even ground. A more accurate description would be "feet planted firmly in midair." The only inevitable result is to fall.
Being brought low is the first step towards salvation of the soul, and it is low indeed: so low that even those whom society condemns as low (i.e., the poor and needy) can walk on you. You must taste of the dust before you can taste of the clouds; only when all other ground is lost can we see the solid rock, only when you descend can you truly ascend.

"My dead legs offend me,
And you cut them asunder
To give me hinds' legs
To walk in high places."
-Jon Vowell

A Bit of Christian Mythos

"He will swallow up death in victory..." Isaiah 25:8a

Salvation means more than a mere free pass to heaven. It is being placed back into communion with God (John 17:3, 20-23), but even that has only been half fancied by modern Christians. There is much in our dogma that we only half fancy.
Something extraordinary happened on the cross. Christ passed through the grave and gate of death. This is quite a monumental thing: death is pure void, pure negation--it negates the body from the soul and the soul from God. It is dark emptiness. At the cross, this great void took into its womb the Source and Substance of all things, the Life and Light of all creation (see John 1:3, 4 & Colossians 1:16, 17). Many dead men had passed through death's gate, and their emptiness was swallowed into the Emptiness. Now, however, that Emptiness has been presenced by Life Himself, by that which fills all voids (see Colossians 2:9 & Ephesians 1:22, 23). To put it crudely, you could say that Christ, by tasting death, infected it with His life; and now all dead men can be infected with His life. Where once death consumed all like the open mouth of Chronos, now Christ consumed death, not like fire on deadwood, but like a fire that springs up in a void, and spreads to fill all its corners. There is no more void: Christ has consumed it with His life.
At that great day, when Christ returns and the veil is taken away and all is seen as it truly is, those with the life of Christ in them will have that life manifested, and all that is dead or dying will be consumed in the incorruption of Christ's life (I Corinthians 15:51-54).

"...and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces..." Isaiah 25:8b

Tears are produced by an overwhelming presence of emotion, whether it be joy and pleasure, or sorrow and sadness. Seeing how joy and pleasure are ever in God's presence (Psalm 16:11), we can safely assume that the tears that are wiped away are that of sorrow and sadness. That is a very amazing thing.
If the Old Testament (and Christianity in general) is merely the particular myth of a certain ancient people, than it is a peculiar myth. All the myths of the heathen are unified in one way: they are all sad, or have a sadness to them. Sadness is the underlying element of heathendom (according to Chesterton, and I am inclined to agree with him). All the myths teach us one thing: the fulfillment of man's desires will always escape him; true joy and pleasure and life will be just beyond his reach. Our lives will forever be marked by loss and sorrow, with momentary joys popping up here and there like a few flowers over a grave. So Pandora opens the box, so Odysseus finds death to be hopeless and inevitable, so Gilgamesh loses the flower that brings eternal life. Only a select few make it to Mt. Olympus, and even their lives are marked by betrayal and loss at the hands of family, friends, and even the gods themselves.
Only one myth (if it is merely myth) set a different tone, only one undercut the underlying sadness with rock solid hope; that because mankind could not reach what they truly desired, what they truly desired would come to them and wipe the tears of sorrow and loss from their eyes. The uniqueness of the Jews (and later the Christians) was their underlying element of hope: the strong, fundamental belief that you would do nothing to save yourself, and that God would do everything. Yes, there would be exile; but there would be Messiah. There would be sorrow and loss, but there would be a restoration. The sorrows would be put back in the box and cast into outer darkness. The flower of eternal life would be brought to man by the Divine itself. There would come One Who would walk amongst the dead shades and not despair at their fate, but proclaim victory over death, and lead them to life everlasting. Nowhere else has there been found a mythos whose hallmark is a sure and solid hope.
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes..." (Revelation 21:4a) That is the thunderous proclamation that Christendom shouts across all lands: God is with us, and it is the end of overwhelming sorrow. We are forever bound to the joy and hope of man's desiring. Amen.

"On Hades dreary banks I stand and
Cast a wishful eye
To Olympus' fair and happy land
Where my heart's cry doth lie.
"I am bound in the land of the dead.
I am bound in the land of the dead.
Oh, who will come and rescue me?
I am bound in the land of the dead.
"From Calvary's bloody banks I see the
Savior's lovely eye
Who on a tree did die for me
And answered my heart's cry.
"I am bound in the land of the dead.
I am bound in the land of the dead.
Oh, will He come and rescue me?
I am bound in the land of the dead.
"From Hades dreary banks I leave and
Have my tearful eyes
Wiped clean by nail-scarred hands that lead
Me to that land Divine.
"I am bound for land Divine.
I am bound for land Divine.
Oh, Christ has come and rescued me.
I am bound for land Divine."
("Achilles' Hymn," by Jon Vowell [adapted from "On Jordan's Stormy Banks"])

The End of the Veil

"And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." Isaiah 25:7

There is a depth to things beyond our human sight, and let us pray that practical agnosticism has not dulled our senses to it. Chesterton said that all creation is "bewitched," that there is a magic to the world that science can only hint at. Lewis called it the "Deep Magic" that even Aslan obeyed. Tolkien called it the "Music of the Ainur." We know it as the glory of God in all things. All of creation is stamped with the fingerprint of the Creator, and all the marring of sin and the devil cannot change that.

There is indeed a veil over us all, a "grey rain curtain" of this world that hides its inner glory. Christ's return will mark the rending asunder of the veil. His return means more than a mere physical presence; it means the end of the veil, the falling away like scales from our eyes the covering that blinded us to the deeper reality, the reality of the glory of God. That the heavens declare His glory is the most misunderstood verse in the Bible in regards to this matter: God's glory is not mere words; they are actualities. They really is something in the rivers and trees, in the mountains and the meadows. There really is a call of the sea. The glory of God calls to all men's hearts; their is no tongue or language where that song is not heard. The Romantics were right, and their dream will be realized in the end: every star and sun, every rock and rill, every tree and vale, every flowery meadow and flashing sea will be alive with the light and music of the glory of God.

"The whole earth is full of His glory," and we truly have not fancied the half of it. At the name of Jesus all knees will bow not simply because of a name, but because at that day the veil will be gone, and all things will be revealed as they are. Mere mortals will be either gods or demons, the earth will be full of God's glory, and Christ will be known as God and God alone.

The Old That is Always New

"...thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." Isaiah 25:1b

Many times God does not teach us a new thing, but reiterates an old one under new circumstances so that we can see it in a new light. God gives us an understanding of a thing, and we set it down after a while, confident that we have learned what was needed. God, however, does not leave it alone. Expect the same truth applied to your experiences over and over again, and each time it will be an old thing made new: "Why, I never quite looked at it that way before!"

Take something God has revealed about yourself: perhaps (like St. Augustine) you suffer under the sin of trying to always vindicate yourself--you are more inclined to care that you are shown to be in the right than that God's Spirit is released in the moment. With this part of yourself revealed to your mind, you accept it as true and God begins to give you the strength to conquer it. Years later, however, God brings that old revelation back again and shows where else it is affecting you, viz., you were vindictive to people; now you are vindictive to circumstances. What you thought was used counsel turns into faithful counsel: it is old, but also timeless, forever true.

The same is with all of God's counsels. They have no warranty, no expiration date. They are good for all time. "My words shall not pass away," (Matthew 24:35) and never means never. God's counsels, old and new, are faithful and true. They are new every morning.

Order and Salvation

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate..." Isaiah 24:5, 6

There is an order to the universe. That order is God's will. He communicates that will to us through His laws, ordinances, and covenants. They are boundaries and limitations set on the universe that keep the order that is His will. His order is boundaries, but not a prison, for outside the lines of His will is only Chaos and Night, and to be lost in them is the worst kind of slavery.
God's order is defined by hierarchy: animals submitted to humans, children to parents, servants to masters, wives to husbands, the Church to Christ, all men to God. Each submission differs in kind and not degree, but they are all still the submission of one to another. It is this hierarchical structure that makes up God's will, and it is the only way to keep peace and harmony in the universe.
Now, Sin is the breaking of that structure, the defiance of that order, the turning from God's will to self will. As Lewis put it, "It is the nature of evil to spread. Limitations and boundaries belong to the good." The pain and damage of Sin is caused because Sin breaks out of the structure, it steps out of God's will and into the void where God is not, and where He is not there is only negation and death, i.e., Hell. Sin brings the presence of Hell into a person.
When Adam sinned, the whole of humanity was separated from that structure, and hence from God's will, and hence from God Himself. This separation has altered our fundamental disposition: where once we were alive, now we are dead, and dead men are incapable of any action; therefore, we are unable to return to that order. Also, where once we naturally embraced life (which is the essence of God's will), now we naturally embrace death (see Romans 7:18-23). Therefore, we can no longer keep within that structure even if we somehow could get back to it as dead men. This whole mess is what Christ came to fix: to bring us back to the fellowship of God's will (for it is fellowship with Him), and give us the fundamental disposition (i.e., His own) that will keep us within it.
God's will can never be broken. It is never a question of breaking it, but whether or not you get with it, and Christ makes it possible for fallen man to get with it again. You can stay outside it if you like, but know that there is only outer darkness beyond the will of God, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
God's will is not some box that the universe is crammed into. God designed the universe to only work within the order of His will. It is the way it ought to be, the way it's supposed to work. There is no other way it can work. Outside of His will is not freedom, but slavery: slavery to chaos and insanity, to darkness and death, for there is nothing else out there.
The structure of God's will is the only way anything in the universe finds fulfillment, for it is not the mere keeping of creeds and rules. The will of God is kept because God is within you, and God is only within you when you commune with Him, so therefore the will of God is kept and fullness found only in communion with God: finding your place in the Trinity's great dance, your soul completely in tune with the movements of Love Himself. That is where peace and harmony are found, and they are found no where else. This is what Christ wants to do for you: bring your soul back into communion with God, to place it back in the structure of His will, to put you back in the place where you belong and where you find fulfillment.
It is a truism (I believe) that inconsistency breeds pain: inconsistent eating habits, weather patterns, or the workings of a day or week can all bring varying levels of pain to body and soul. Now, God's will is a structure, hence order, hence consistency (not monotony; God's structure is orderly as He is orderly, but it is also endless various as He is endless various: every sunset varies from another, but they all stay within the laws that they abide by). To step out of God's will is to step outside the consistency that is of God, which means the inconsistency that is opposite of God's will is the worse kind of inconsistency ("corrupto optimi pessima"), and therefore it brings the worse kind of pain, i.e., the pain of the chaotic soul. The Word (the very essence of structure and order) came to bring us back to that consistency, to bring our chaotic souls back to the harmonious order of God's will. That is salvation, that is the peace of our lives. Oh, to be fully swept up into the wonders of His order! How infinite are its pleasures, for His pleasures are infinite! Amen.

The Wasting of Strength and the End of "Mere"

"O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength...Howl, ye ships of Tarshish: for your strength is laid waste." Isaiah 23:10, 14

First we saw that the consummation of God's will for Tyre stained its once glorious pride (vs. 8, 9): all that seemed glorious was revealed as ugly and defiled. Now God's will has laid waste to Tyre's strength: all that seemed impervious and strong is revealed as weak and empty. Such is what comes when God's Reality brings its own divine check to the world.
The consummation of God's will is much more than mere wrath and judgment; it is that, but it is much more. It is indeed a revelation: of His Son, of course, but also of everything else. Just as the veil will be lifted and we will see Him "as He is" (I John 3:2), so also we will see all things as they are. The presence of Truth incarnate will shed the clear light of reality across the dense smog of the devil and lay bare all the smoke and mirrors of sin. At the presence of Christ, all that we thought glorious and strong will be revealed as nothingness, and all that we though nothing will be revealed as containing the presence of God, with all His glory and strength shining through it.
There will be no mere mortals in that moment, either. As Lewis put it, at that day you will either meet people "that you will be strongly tempted to worship...or such corruptions as only found in your nightmares." There will be nothing that is "mere" anymore. Every man and woman, work and institution, will be exposed as either substanced by the presence of God or hollowed out by the void of sin. It will be the end of all masks and pretensions.

The Staining of Pride

"Who hath taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city...? The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth." Isaiah 23:8, 9

There are two types of works in this world: those done by and for the glory of man, and those done by and for the glory of God. That which is done in the strength of the presence of the Spirit of God will radiate the glory of God so that even the blind cannot deny its presence. That which is done in the strength of the arm of the flesh will rise up with a radiance all its own; but when Christ returns and the whole earth is filled with His glory, the radiance of the glory of God will make the radiance of the glory of men seem a stained and contemptible thing, for all we do outside of Him is as filthy rags.

The radiance of the glory of that done solely by and for men is founded on pride and nothing else. Charity and goodwill may augment it at times, but its roots are forever bound fast in the soil of self-gain. When the presence of God returns unveiled to the world, the false glow of pride will fade away as candlelight to the dawn; and when that once glorious thing is placed side by side with the glory of God, we will see it for what it is: ugly and defiled, tares in the midst of wheat, fit for the furnace. All that we thought was glorious and honorable will be seen as contemptible and corrupt if it not of God. Such is the way of all flesh when the Truth will bring every high place low and every low place high.

Irony and the Christian Faith

"And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house...In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed...the Lord hath spoken it." Isaiah 22:23-25

I do not think we know quite what we mean when we talk of God's "mysterious" ways. Such a title does not quite catch it. A better title would be "unexpected" or "unseen," or better yet "ironic." Just when we think we have Him mapped out pretty well, He goes and does something completely outside our expectations, and suddenly we realize that there was more in heaven and earth than our philosophy would allow.

We pray for release from the stresses that we are facing, and God instead sends from nowhere a new set of circumstances, calamitous or otherwise, that completely redirect our energies away from everything else. We long for patience in the face of a frustrating world, and suddenly everything seems to be bent on driving us insane all at once. We strive for excellence in the work(s) we do, only to have everything suddenly fall to the ground and built back up in a completely different way. God raises up a king and gives him glory, and then He tears the king down in the same breath. The thing to remember in the midst of all this irony is that no matter how or where God's ways come from, they all lead to Him, and that is where we want to be. Many times we shy away from the presence and communion of God because we are too in love with the way we want things to go.

The very foundation of Christianity itself, the Incarnation, is an irony, an unexpected twist. God coming in the flesh was the mystery of God kept secret from the world (Romans 16:25, 26). All the monotheism of Judaism could not contain the thought of a holy Yahweh mingling with the dust. All the mythology of the heathen could not comprehend that Prometheus would actually come. Even hell itself did not grasp the half of it, "for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (I Corinthians 2:8)

That God's ways are past finding out is the very essence of our faith. I suppose if we somehow knew all of God's ways in their entirety (without our heads exploding), then life would perhaps be more predictable, if not more boring. However, to know all the twist and turns is to have no doubt, to have no doubt leaves no need for trust, and no trust means no basis for a relationship (for relationships are built on trust). Without the presence of the mysterious in our lives, there is no room to trust God, and therefore no room for relationship, communion, or unity. Our existence would be built solely on facts about a person. Again, such a life would be easy to predict, but it would not be living. True life is found in an intimate knowing of God (John 17:3), and we were built for that intimacy and nothing more.

The ironic ways of God set up and bring down kingdoms as well as break down your car or redirect the theme of a term paper. The important thing is not the way itself, but the One Who it leads to; not the circumstance itself, but the One Who engineered it. It is what Moses learned in the wilderness: "Show me your way, that I may know thee." (Exodus 33:13, 14)

The Doom of God

"Watch in the watchtower...Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth...And [the watchman] answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen: and all the graven images of her gods He hath broken unto the ground." Isaiah 21:5, 6, 9

Babylon is merry and happy in her might, but like any good empire she is no fool. She sets watchmen up to warn against danger so she can play in peace. However, whereas the watchmen would normally give a cry to arms, now they only cry out that all is already lost. All the man-made barriers against God's will are rendered as chaff before the flame.

Here we see what can be called the "Doom of God," i.e., His inevitable victory over evil, revelation of His Son, and consummation of His will. It is why all the works of men (no matter how noble or wise) are all foolishness. If it is not of God, then it will not survive the coming again of eternity into time. Every grand institution, work, or ideology not built by God and for God is all but wood, hay, and stubble. No empire will stand the coming of His kingdom. No institution will survive the consummation of His will. No government will hold against the revelation of His Son. No work will bear the fire of His presence. All defenses are useless against the doom of God; it will be as sure a fact as the Incarnation.

To paraphrase Lewis: When the director steps onto the stage, then the play is over whether you want it to be or not. When God comes, His will will be done. There is no escaping the doom of God.

Who Is On the Lord's Side?

"At the same time spake the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot." Isaiah 20:2

It is a safe bet that 9.99 times out of 10 our expectations for the movements of God fall into some sort of preconceived notions of our own, so that 9.99 times out of 10 we are surprised out of our wits. A child of God never is to be surprised because he or she is never to expect anything except that God will do as He wills, and what He wills is good. They go about their business and run into God as He comes into their lives.
It is our business as the regenerate of the world to understand that "mysterious" ways means unexpected ways. I'm sure walking about naked offended some one's aesthetics and conservatism. I'm sure proclaiming judgment on another nation offended some one's feelings and liberalism. The point is that God is on His own side: we either get with it or get run over by it, and those are the only two choices we have. To get with it means life; to get run over by it means death, but it's your choice.
Life is much more amazing when you let your freewill be consumed into God's will. That is the only way to live. His ways are His own. May we follow them ever to His love.