Isaiah 14:14 - Becoming like God

Isn't there similarity in these verses:

Isaiah 14:14: "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

Genesis 3:5: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God."

Ezekiel 28:2: "yet you are but a man, and no god, though you make your heart like the heart of a god"

Ezekiel 28:6: "Because you make your heart like the heart of a god"

Ezekiel 28:9: "Will you still say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you, though you are but a man, and no god"

Here are statements made by or about one who is not God who desires to be like God: the king of Babylon in the first case (Satan personified); Satan in the second case, and the prince of Tyre in the third case (Satan personified probably). God will not share his glory because it belongs only to him. Mark the following:

Exodus 8:10: "Moses said, "Be it as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God.""

1 Samuel 2:2: "There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God."

Psalm 89:6: "For who is the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?"

Psalm 113:5: "Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high?"

No creature in God's universe is like him or can aspire to be like him without his help or permission. See the following:

Exodus 7:1: "And the Lord said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh."

Zechariah 12:8: "the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them."

Ephesians 4:24: "to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."

Indeed, in wanting to be like God, man or angel will only end up fit for wrath and destruction because we pursue divinity without the attendant righteousness and holiness befitting the divine. Such ambition corrupts and cannot be permitted to continue. Rather, God provides a way for man to be like him. Before, he has created man in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27). Now, he has opened the way for redemption of our sinful selves in Jesus Christ that we might be renewed in his likeness (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10). Only then can we share in his divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Only then can we become like God.

Isaiah 10:5-19 - How Not to be an Assyrian

The Assyrians were to be Yahweh's rod against Israel, his own people. They were called upon to inflict punishment for Israel's waywardness and rebellion against God's rule over their lives. Yet, the Assyrians thought themselves masters of their own destiny, powers in their own hands, to invade, conquer and destroy Israel. For that, the Assyrians would also be punished for their arrogant excesses.

God uses people as his instruments unto others, whether his instruments are good or wicked, and whether the objects of his work are good or wicked. As for me, I must be careful to be a useful instrument in his hand, fit for noble purposes (2 Timothy 2:20-21). God might use me to strengthen the discouraged or to rebuke the complacent. Either way, unlike the Assyrians, I must understand what his will is for me in those roles to which I have been appointed so that I do not overstep my delegated authority and do that which is not his will.

Isaiah 7:1-25: Sheer grace

Ahaz, that wicked king of Judah, that disgraceful son of David who stooped at nothing to promote idolatry in the land and who sacrificed his own son in fire (2 Kings 16:3), deserved the panic and anxiety that he got when Syria and Israel banded together in warfare against him. Yet, God in his mercy sent Isaiah and his son to meet Ahaz with a word of assurance to Ahaz: Syria and Israel would not prevail. Instead, they would be destroyed.

Would Ahaz take heed in that hour of desperation? Would he repent and turn from his evil?

No, the silly man disbelieved Isaiah (v.9b). He was unable to take God at his word. Further, in declining God's invitation to ask for a sign out of false, misplaced and misguided piety, he rejected God's protection for Assyria's and God showed him what Assyria, whose very help he sought, would do.

What grace for a man who deserved none. What a God who would leave us with nothing to accuse you with by his act of mercy.

Help me, Lord, to stay true to you. As you have shown grace to Ahaz, you have also shown to me. Help me to trust you and take you at your word. Keep me focused so that I hear only your voice, especially in my hour of need.

Attention is the only faculty of the soul which gives us access to God.

Simone Weil (from Berne)

Isaiah 6:9 - the commission to speak judgment

Upon Isaiah's acceptance of the call to ministry, God assigns him to speak judgment to the people of Judah. This ministry was to go on until Jerusalem was laid waste by exile. God intends for them to keep on hearing and seeing but not understanding or perceiving. Somehow, he doesn't intend for them to get understanding and repent. Is this unfair? Perhaps not. In many ways, God expects his people to obey, even when they do not understand. The basis of faith is that God can be trusted and his word is trustworthy, even when we don't understand it, because he is trustworthy. When we do not obey God, we show our distrust of him, we think that either God is unreliable or God will not carry out his word. But God would not be slighted in this way. So if his people refused to obey him, he blocks their understanding as a way of punishment. In Romans 1, in respect of those who did not honour God despite knowing him, he "gave them over" to greater and greater depths of depravity, thereby blocking their ability to understand him.

Lord, I pray never to treat you or your word with contempt. Forgive my past sins and lead me in the way everlasting. Amen.

Mnemonic for the Books of the Bible

Here's my take on the matter:

Old Testament (39)

Law (5): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Goats Eat Like Nobody Does

History (12): Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Jumping Joe Rarely SwimS, KeepS ChaSing Everyone No End

Poetry (Wisdom) (5): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
Joe's Piano Plays Every Song

Major Prophets (5): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
Itchy Joe Laughs Every Day

Minor Prophets (12): Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Handsome Joe Always Owes Jonah Money, Now He Zaps Helpless Zulu Mothers

New Testament (27)

Gospels and History (5): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts
My Mother Likes Juicy Apples

Pauline Epistles (13): Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Red CatS Give Every Pink Cat ThoSe ThingS That Pop

General Epistles (8): Hebrews, James, 1&2 Peter, 1&2&3 John, Jude
Helpful Joe PickleS JoSe'S Jelly

Apocalypse (1): Revelation
None, we're supposed to remember that Revelation is the last book of all.

Some notes:

1. I picked the name "Joe" because many of the guys in the Bible have a J-O start in their names, and not because of any Joe I know.
2. Words with capital "S" signify a multiplicity, e.g. "CatS" would mean "1&2 Corinthians" while "JoSe'S" would mean "1&2&3 John."
3. By referring to Zulu, I don't mean to deprecate Zulus. Rather the emphasis is on the wickedness of "Handsome Joe."

1 John 5:2-3: Loving People God's Way

The only way to love God's people is by obeying his commands concerning how to relate with them. We may want so badly to prove everyone wrong and ourselves right because we want what is BEST (so we say) for God but if we don't get to this by obeying God's commands, we fall short.

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by
loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.

God's Word is not recorded for nothing. When we choose our own way instead of the way of God's explicit commands, we sin as much as Adam and Eve sinned by taking the forbidden fruit, because they trusted themselves to be smarter than God. We will fail and be frustrated.

God's commands are not burdensome. It can be done! So let me get down to it!

Luke 6:27-36 - The Call to Show Divine Mercy

In relation to one's enemies, Jesus gave the following commands:

1. Love them;
2. Do good to them;
3. Bless them;
4. Pray for them;
5. Willingly suffer a greater disadvantage for their benefit if put to the task.

He explained that disciples should exceed sinners in their manner of loving. He gave two incentives and one reason for so doing: first, our reward would be great; second, we would be sons of the Most High; and third and most importantly, for our Father is kind and merciful to the ungrateful and evil and we are to emulate him. The words are "Be merciful even as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:34). These words rings with familiarity with the following:

• Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48);
• Be holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).

The context of the Matthean text is similar to this passage of Luke - to exceed sinners in their manner of loving. The Petrine text urges its readers to set themselves apart from their former sinfulness.

It will hurt everything in me to love enemies, especially those who hate me. I will experience vulnerability to hurt. Yet, there are things that I can do first to mitigate those fears. I can purpose to bless and to pray. I hope that in a meeting, I will not be thought hypocritical. I guess I should quit worrying about what people will think of me and just trust God enough to do exactly what he says and leave to him to deal with all my insecurities.

Christ has called us to be merciful. This actually puts us in a position of strength that we can absorb and accommodate those in a position of weakness. So my enemies are in fact weak and I am commanded to pity them. Give me grace, Lord, to dare to take you at your word here.