A Few Things About God

"For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us." Isaiah 33:22

There are a few things that are necessary to understand about God:

1. "Our lawgiver," i.e., the giver of morality. He says what is good and evil, right and wrong, holy and sinful. He lays down the rules; and because He lays them down, He is the only one who knows fully what is right and wrong. No one else can say anything against Him, and no one else can create any new morality (see C.S. Lewis' essay "On Ethics" for further study). To the old question, "Does God gives us morality because it is good, or does His giving it make it good?" I have only this to say: the morality God gives us is good because it is God's morality, and He is good. The question makes it look like morality is something separate from God. It is not; they are one and the same.
   
2. "Our judge," i.e., the interpreter of morality. Because it is His morality that He gives us, only He knows what it says and means, for they are His words and meanings. This is why eisegesis is so dangerous: any attempt to understand a biblical principle apart from the Spirit and within agenda driven mindsets is bound for disaster.
3. "Our king," i.e., the enforcer of morality. He gives us His morality, and just as that makes Him the only one who can properly say what it means, so also He is the only one who can properly enforce it. There is no "divine right of kings" here. God does not enforce it for some self-centered, tyrannical purpose. God is holy and good, and thus His morality is holy and good; therefore, us keeping it and Him enforcing it are all for our benefit and not detriment.
4. "He will save us," i.e., the source of salvation. I fear most people would skip this one due to grammatical biases in sermon notes. However, it is vital to a full understanding of God. It is interesting to note that the morality God gives us, the "law" He gives to us, cannot save us; only He can. God is the Savior (Isaiah 49:26; Jude 25), not the law. As fallen people, the law cannot save us, it can only condemn us (Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:10, 11), and through condemnation, point us to salvation, i.e., God through Christ (Galatians 3:23, 24).

It only makes sense that because God gave us the law, He is the only person who can properly keep it (as well as properly interpret and enforce it). That makes Him our savior, not the law. The law cannot make us keep itself; it can only tell us that we fail to keep it. God, however, can make us keep the law by giving us His nature through the sacrifice of Christ. When God's Spirit tabernacles within us, when His disposition has replaced our own, when can keep His morality, because it is Him keeping it through us.

"What this world needs
Is not to do good.
What this world needs
Is to be Good.
God above, invade our souls..."
-Jon Vowell

Wall of Separation

"Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty..." Isaiah 33:17a

There is a sense of separation in our humanity that gnaws at our very souls. We cannot explain it. Some say we are merely separated from each other and need to form strong friendships and bonds. Some say we are merely separated from our inner self and need to self-actualize, or "find yourself". Some say it is because we are separated from the universe and that technology must increase so that we can return to the bosom from which we accidentally sprang forth. Whatever we say, we all agree that we are missing something, something terribly necessary to our humanity; we feel as though we have lost something irreplaceable.
The separation caused by Sin is not stressed enough this day. We hear a great deal about badness and guilt, but very little about separation, and separation touches a deeper chord of our humanity than guilt ever could. Preach to people guilt by sin, and they will scorn your gospel. Preach to the people separation by sin, and you will capture their attention. As Christians, we hold the secret to the great ache of humanity (i.e., the Fall), and the great healing (i.e., the Redemption). Why do we distract people with side eddys?
"We have peace with God," i.e., the end of separation; that is what Christ did for us (Romans 5:1). The triumph of the cross was the overturning of separation with reconciliation, of death with life, of Sin with Holiness. "Thine eyes shall see the King," the wall of separation is broken down. The cross has ground it into dust.

"The void inside
Eats me like a cancer.
Fill this absence
With Your Presence..."
-Jon Vowell

The Firstborn

"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly...he shall dwell on high..." Isaiah 33:14-16

From the burning bush of Moses, to the pillar of fire in the wilderness, to the burning presence on Mt. Sinai, redeemed Israel knew one thing for certain: "Our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:29) Fast forward around a thousand years: Israel is once again threatened by a terrible foe (i.e., Assyria). What is worse, Israel's sin has incurred the wrath of her Lord, and His burning presence is coming to wreck havoc on the land. "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?" they rightly ask. Then comes their answer, "The righteous."
The presence of God is all consuming perfection. No imperfections will last even a second in His blaze. Sin (the absolute absence of perfection) will be instantaneously obliterated, not necessarily because of what God does as much as who God is. God is holiness and perfection; anything less than that will not survive His presence. Outer darkness is the only place Sin can survive. In short, only perfection can stand before perfection; only God can stand before God.
If such a statement does not create despair in you, than you must not be awake. Mankind may act charitable sometimes (to ease their guilt, and only if they get something in return, of course), and may act moral on occasion (in order to keep out of trouble and not ruin future enterprises); but all in all, human history cries vehemently in rebuttal to any claim of human perfection or perfectness. There are some fools who claim humanity can reach perfection with time as our intelligence grows. Look at the last century: our grown intelligence only helped us kill ourselves in more brutal and effective ways than ever before; and that fact lingers to this day. Nothing, absolutely nothing, we have ever or will ever do can create the inner disposition of perfection needed to stand before Perfection Himself.
If only God can stand before God, then our only hope is if somehow, someway God can be within us. Not placed within us (like a transplanted organ), and not in us merely as power so that we become a god; but that the Spirit of God somehow intimately mingles and mixes with us, somehow His Spirit unites and communes with ours. In short, our only hope is incarnation, and Christ is the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).

"Spirit of the Living God,
Mingle with my dust,
Dance within my frame,
And make us One..."
-Jon Vowell

The Fear of the Lord

"...the fear of the Lord is [thy] treasure..." Isaiah 33:6b

The "fear" here is not merely that of the terrifying to the terrified as it is the superior to the inferior. You fear the judge or police officer, not because they are immediately evil or out to harm you, but because you know that on legal grounds they are superior to you. You fear a certain professor because you know that on intellectual grounds he or she is superior to you. As a child, you feared your parents because they seemed superior to you on all grounds. This fear is not mere dread alone; it has with it a sense of awe or wonder. You feel like a peasant coming before a king: you know you are in the presence of greatness.
The same is with God. We fear Him, not because He is evil, but because He is great. He is "high and lifted up," transcended above us on all levels (see esp. Isaiah 55:8, 9; Romans 11:33-36). His greatness does create dread because He is beyond our ability to manipulate or control. We step into His presence and immediately recognize that He is Lord and we are not. The fear of the Lord is, ultimately, an act of submission: you do not fear what you do not recognize as greater than you.
This fear, this submission, is a "treasure" to us. Proverbs seems to stress such wisdom (see esp. Proverbs 1:7, 10:27, 14:26, 15:16, 19:23). There is something in this act of submission that is beneficial to us. Perhaps we should not be surprised. When an authority is good (in every sense) and out for our good (in every sense), we know that submission to them is what is best, even if we do not understand all that is going on (I speak hypothetically, of course; no human government has or ever will reach such an ideal state).
Now, through God's word we know that He is our authority (Isaiah 33:22; Acts 17:24), He is good (Psalm 34:8, 106:1, 136:1), and He is out for our good (Jeremiah 29:11; Roman 8:28). It only logically follows that submission to Him is beneficial to us; for if God is above us and sees far more then we can what really is going on, any defense on our part is a detriment to us, not so much because God smites us as much as we fall head-over-heels into the ditch He was trying to get us to avoid.

"When by my strength I stand
I trip over my own feet.
Carry me,
Lest I fall forever..."
-Jon Vowell

The Only Child

"Woe to thee that spoilest...and dealest treacherously...When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; and when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee." Isaiah 33:1

The law of retribution has not changed; "an eye for an eye" still stands. Though Jesus clarified the issue on the willful level (Matthew 5:38-42), He did not say anything about the consequential level. Your actions still have consequences; your choices can still lead only to life or death. (Deuteronomy 30:19).
"The wages of sin is death," and that principle does not change because you are born again. Though you are free from the final end of sin, and though Christ's blood washes us clean from sin continually, we are not free from the consequences. Sin breeds death. Get it through your head: sin breeds death. There is no other thing that it breeds, no other result that its equation can produce. Whether you are saved or not, on this issue, is irrelevant; the consequences of sin have not changed, and our choices still release either life or death into the world.
"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap," and though you are forgiven forever in the eyes of God, you can never escape this principle of the universe: evil can only come of evil, good can only come of good. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, but know what you're getting into. Sin only breeds death; it has no other children.

"Death is an only child.
Sin has no other sires
No other heir,
No other inheritance
To offer the sons of men..."
-Jon Vowell

Righteousness and Peace

"And the work of righteousness shall be peace..." Isaiah 32:17

To be "righteous" means to be "in the right," so to speak. Now, the "right" here is not speaking of legal grounds, as when four people pull up to a stop sign and wonder who has the "right" of way. "Right" in the sense of "righteous" is speaking of moral grounds. Moral and legal are not the same thing; something can be legal and yet be immoral (e.g., abortion). To be "righteous" means to be standing in accordance with what is moral; or, to be more redundant, to b e"righteous" means to be in the state of righteousness.
Now, Christ is not only revealed as our righteousness (I Corinthians 1:30), but also as "Melchisedec," which is translated two ways: "King of Righteousness," and "King of Peace" (Hebrews 7:2). Taken in the light of Isaiah 32:17, these two translations make perfect sense: righteousness and peace are inseparable--you can hardly have one without the other.
This connection is vital in our understanding of salvation: if Christ has been made our righteousness (not that He gave it, but that He is it), that that means we have some kind of peace as well. What kind of peace, you ask? Peace with God (Romans 5:1).
This peace is vital to our salvation. In "The Weight of Glory," Lewis spoke of an innate need we have as humans to feel right with our Maker, to know that we are approved in His eyes. Thanks to sin, we can never be approved on our own. Christ came and became the righteousness we needed in order to be approved, and now we can have peace with God.

"My Soul longs to be
All my Maker made it to be.
Through Christ, all that God is,
I Am. I am approved,
For He Himself is my approval,
The Only Approval..."
-Jon Vowell

The Presence of Christ

"Behold, a King shall reign...[and He] shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isaiah 32:1, 2

In the immediate and literal sense, these verses speak of the Messiah's final coming and victory over all His people's enemies. Christ, however, is all these things regardless if they have been actualized in a literal sense or not. Even this day, Christ is our shelter from the howling and storming noise and lies of the enemy and the world. He is the sustenance and strength of our souls. These things are just as much realities today as they will be one day when the whole world recognizes them.
Also inherit in Christ's presence is this: that which is right is kept right (vs. 3) and that which is wrong shall be exposed as wrong and set right (vs. 4-8). In short, the presence of Christ is the presence of truth. There is no more confusion or deception; no more calling evil good and good evil. One day the whole world will be affect by such a thing; but as for today, we who have the life of Christ within us live in the reality of truth. We cannot escape it. We may try and bury it under heaps of lies and excuses, but we cannot escape the living truth that burns within us. Besides, it is apart of our life to let that living truth shine forth, not hide it under a bushel basket.

"All that You will be,
Is all that You are now;
And all that You are now,
Is all that You've made me.
Let that Light so shine..."
-Jon Vowell

The Eternal Bond

"As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem...'Return ye unto Him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted'...saith the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." Isaiah 31:5-9

The tenderness and intimacy of God with His people (even in their rebellion) is a precious thing.
"As birds flying," i.e., as a bird defends her nest. God will not defend Jerusalem as some pagan deity defending his worshipers and servants so that he can continue to be praised and lauded. He goes much deeper than that. God will defend His people as a mother bird defends her nest full of her babies, viz., with passion and maternal fervor.
"...the children of Israel have deeply revolted," but they are still "the children." They have not been disowned, they have not been rejected by God. Despite their rebellion, He will still defend them, and still lets them return.
"...whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem." The image here is that God's oven is in Jerusalem, i.e., His dwelling place, His home. Jerusalem, despite her rebellion, is still the place where God dwells. Jerusalem is still His own, and He is theirs, and He will defend them.
When through Christ you become the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:29), you are locked into that same intimate, eternal bond. Psalm 139 and Romans 8:31-39 are yours forever. Once your are God's, you are God's. Nothing, neither rebellion or tribulation, can separate you from the eternal bond paid for by the blood of Christ.

In Your Presence
There is no escaping
Your Terrifying, Irresistible Love.
Even if I found the way out
I have Tasted Eden
And can never turn back..."
-Jon Vowell

Curve Balls II: The Fearless Lion

"For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, 'Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof." Isaiah 31:4

The purpose of a shepherd, besides leading the flock, was to protect the flock by driving away all things that could cause harm, which included lions. A shepherd is supposed to be used against a lion. It's not a good idea, it's the only idea. There is nothing else you're supposed to do. Here we learn that Israel's enemies will not merely send their best against them, but what is supposed to work. God, however, will make what is supposed to work null and void. He will come at them as something that should be easily crushed, but he will be doing the crushing.
Read again I Corinthians 1:18-31. That passage applies to all of God's dealings in this world, including with you. Remember: His favorite pitch is a curve ball. Your best laid plans are meaningless to Him. He will hit you with what you did not expect, where you did not expect. Your wishes, wants, desires, dreams, preferences, opinions, and plans may be noble, logical, practical, and very spiritual, i.e., they may be what is supposed to work, what is supposed to be approved of by God. However, if they are not from Him and do not lead you back to Him, He will smash them to the ground for your own good. Anything that does not come from or lead you to Him is to your detriment.

"Let all the dreams
That abide in me
Lead me to the Reality
That abides in You,
Or else let them fall to the ground..."
-Jon Vowell

A Bit of Christian Mythos: Mythical Eyes

"Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots...but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord...The Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit..." Isaiah 31:1, 3

We are called to "walk by faith," i.e., walk in the constant acknowledgment of a higher reality. It made practical common sense to seek an alliance with a fellow nation; but God does not call His people to mere common sense, He has called us to the supernatural, the unseen, to Himself. We cannot seem to imagine going forward without a security net that we can see, handle, and control; God says we must. Our only hope is Him, and we cannot control or predict Him, and that frightens us.
"Man looketh on the outward...but the Lord looketh on the heart." (I Samuel 16:7) Humans, because of the Fall, can only properly and naturally grasp the physical reality. God exists where he can see and grasp all; and if we are His children, filled with His Spirit, we can and should do the same. It is the basis for "mythical eyes"--to see the magic of God's presence in all things, to really see an angel behind every bush and a demon within every shadow. Unless you see the world with mythical eyes, you will never truly see the world, and you will never truly know how to walk through it. May God open our eyes.

"This life is only an Echo
Of the Deeper Life to come.
This ache is born of Your Spirit in our hearts
Pressing us onward
Till the Shadowlands are done..."
-Jon Vowell

The Weapon of God

"Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with His anger...His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire: and His breath as an overflowing stream...The Lord shall cause His glorious voice to be heard...for through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down..." Isaiah 30:27-31

The image we get here is of a "pulling in". We start with "the name," the spoken word itself. Then we pull back to "His lips," that which speaks the word. Next we pull back to "His tongue," that which forms the words the lips speak. Finally, we reach "His breath," that which makes the whole speaking process possible. Put all these elements together, and you get "the voice," God's primary weapon. Like taking a deep breath, the imagery "pulls in," until the voice is released like the unsheathing of a sword.
In Psalm 46, the enemies of God's children are defeated by His voice: "Be still, and know that I am God." (vs. 10) He spoke, and the earth melted (vs. 6). Come and see the desolations He has made (vs. 8).
In Revelation 19, we find that the primary weapon of Christ when He returns is a sword "out of His mouth." (vs. 15) The imagery is consistent again: His voice is His weapon.
This makes perfect sense: the Creator, through which and by which all things exist, need only speak and the battle is over. The same voice that made the world (see Genesis 1; "and God said, 'Let there be...'") is the same voice that can unmake it. God's power comes forth in the words of His voice. By contrast, Satan's comes only from the noise of His emptiness.

"May Your Voice guide me
Through the noise of this world
Ever onward, ever Upward
To You..."
-Jon Vowell