The Lost Art of Discernment

By Tabletalk 5/1/2006

     The publication of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has highlighted a great need in our generation. That such a poorly written work of fiction containing, as it does, such invention, distortion, and deliberate deception should cause mature Christian people, as well as young believers, to find their faith challenged comes as a shock. It is no surprise that it should draw so much attention from the non-believing world; but it is a surprise that it should evoke so much concern among so many Christians, who take seriously its claims to be founded upon truth. We have lost sight of what the first Christians seemed to know so well, that it is important for believers to exercise discernment. Indeed, it is of such importance that the apostle Paul understood “spiritual discernment” as a spiritual gift in itself (1 Cor. 12:10). Discernment is a Bible mandate that cannot be ignored by Christians claiming to walk in the light of the faith.

     In the New Testament, the word that is translated “discernment” is derived from the decision of a judge adjudicating between conflicting claims. It is seen as necessary to be able to distinguish between what is good and bad, true and false, and between evil spirits and good spirits. Christian discernment is the careful process of sorting through truth claims to arrive at the clearest possible decision concerning their trustworthiness and value as it relates to Christian orthodoxy. Such discernment reveals, clarifies, and proclaims truth and exposes, examines, and rejects error. This involves the Christian fully, as it is a personal commitment to the command of 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22 as a necessary part of Christian growth in grace (or as verse 23 points out, sanctification). The word “discern” appears in Matthew 16:3, Hebrews 5:14, and in Ezekiel 44:23. The clear sense of the term is that discernment necessarily involves making value judgments between differing claims as needed so as to reveal by examination what is right or wrong, or somewhere in the middle. To make such judgments involves the process of examining the claims by an objective standard, and for the orthodox Christian, such a standard exists only in the Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16).

     Discernment involves each one of us in thinking in a specifically Christian way about each issue. It requires of us that we employ our minds by informing ourselves through the study of the truth revealed in God’s Word. To be grounded in the revealed truth is the surest way to prepare to be able to recognize error. Yet information alone does not provide us with discernment. At the same time our hearts have to be engaged in devotion to Christ. Then and only then will we find ourselves in tune with the mind of God and be able to make judgments and appraisals that accord with that mind, because to the believer is promised the presence of the Holy Spirit. It is the ministry of Word and Spirit in the life of the Christian as in the Christian community that produces the certainty of faith and the obedience of faith.

     Discernment is seen in Scripture as an essential component for spiritual growth. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews expresses the importance of spiritually mature believers regularly and routinely making their decisions by distinguishing between the principles of good and evil: “solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (5:14). In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel makes clear that spiritually mature leaders will teach others how to recognize accurately the difference between the holy and the unholy (Ezek. 44:23). Discernment, according to Scripture, is a critical part of Christian life.

     It was also seen as essential in making wise decisions, as James makes clear when he wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5). If we are to be faithful, wise Christians in the pluralistic setting where we live among people who do not share our convictions and values, we need to see the need for discernment and also to develop skills in discernment.

     Assessing and judging truth from error enables us not only to believe the truth but to be able to live appropriately. For it is clear that if you believe the wrong things, you will most certainly end up with a distorted piety and an impaired Christian witness.

     In the providence of God, a book that was written to belittle Christ and Christians can be used to serve kingdom purposes. The interest that has been created by this work gives to the believer a unique opportunity to engage the non-believing culture in an honest pursuit of truth. The content of the book is demonstrably inaccurate and deliberately hostile both to Christ and the church. The believer should understand that, and Jesus warned us that the hostility of the world is a natural condition. The responsibility of the believer is to know and trust the truth, and so be confident as we expose evil, confront lies, and unmask deception; and in so doing we are given a unique opportunity to present honor to Christ and announce the truth of His Gospel, which brings life, light, freedom, and hope.

What If God Were One of Us?

By R.C. Sproul Jr. 5/1/2006

     It is an old temptation, to construct images of Jesus out of celluloid. Christians have fought for and against it, and will likely do so for generations to come, until the next medium seeks to supplant the Word. We have not only debated whether such images should be made, but have argued over whether such images are true to life. Long before The Passion of the Christ became a cultural phenomenon, one that many Christians cheered on, there was The Last Temptation of Christ. This film became a financial success, albeit a minor one, precisely because of the furor of Christians over the film. When we charged the film company with producing blasphemy, the resulting hub-bub put the film on the map. We marched, we protested, and the evening news sold tickets. Hollywood has always known that controversy is on their side.

     At the time of the movie’s release, however, the studio put up an actual defense of their film. The film suggested that Jesus, at some point in His ministry, among other hardships, struggled with the sin of lust. The defense of this was rather clear, and expected. The producer, Martin Scorsese, affirmed that while he believed in the divinity of Christ, he simply wanted the film to affirm with that His humanity. He actually claimed he was honoring Jesus in making the film.

     The doctrine of the incarnation, from the beginning, has suffered from the weakness of the pendulum. The great christological creeds came to pass because one side or the other was missing the other side of the coin. That is, the trouble was never the affirmation of the deity of Christ, but the denial of the humanity. Or, from the other direction, the trouble wasn’t the affirmation of the humanity of Christ, but the denial of the deity. In our age, with the secular world all-too-willing to deny that Jesus could be God, sometimes we fall into the trap of denying His humanity.

     Like the Last Temptation, much of the uproar over The Da Vinci Code centers not around the sundry plot twists, but the suggestion that Jesus married and had children. While the Bible teaches no such thing, as such, our reaction may have more in common with Islam than with Christianity. That is, Islam refuses to embrace the doctrine of the Trinity because they believe it beneath the dignity of God that He should have a son. And we think that Jesus marrying and having children somehow besmirches His purity. In a strange sort of irony, a novel steeped in gnostic notions and ancient Gnostic texts has brought to the surface the gnostic notions that still lurk in our own hearts.

     The truth of the matter is that Jesus did take a bride. Better still, Jesus and His bride have begotten children. And I might as well admit in these pages — I am one of those children. So are my father and my mother. My sister and her husband are from the same line, as are their children. My wife too is a part of this family, as are all of our children. I know it’s shocking, but it’s true. And this is the good news. You are one of us too.

     Well, truth be told, the shocking thing is that it is not so shocking. We have grown accustomed to His grace. We are appalled by the notion of a few powerful men and women who are descended from Jesus’ line, who strive to rule over all the world. But that is not only what we are, but what we are called to do. Jesus, the second Adam, took as His bride, the second Eve, the church. Husband and wife have, ever since, been busy being fruitful and multiplying. They are, together, in fulfillment of the dominion mandate, filling the earth and subduing it. They are bringing all things into subjection for the glory of the Father. The conspiracy is that we didn’t even know we were part of a conspiracy. We have forgotten that our endgame is total world domination. Indeed, we have been promised that we not only will judge the world, but the angels themselves.

     The problem, then, isn’t that Christians have sullied themselves by reading Dan Brown’s silly fiction. The trouble isn’t that Christians have been tempted to believe it. The problem is that we haven’t believed God’s outrageous facts, given to us in His Word. We haven’t believed the good news, that our heavenly Father loves us so much that He allows us to be called His children, that He has seated us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Our problem is that we won’t believe that God took on flesh and dwelt among us, precisely so that He could win a bride, and that He might be given a kingdom. Our problem is that we have missed that in Him we too are more than conquerors.

     I haven’t read The Da Vinci Code. I don’t intend to. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to do so. Instead, what I need is the courage to read the Bible as it is written. We will seek first the kingdom of God only when we realize that His kingdom has come, that His kingdom is forever, and that we reign with Him, kings and queens now and forever. May our Husband be pleased to purify us such that we might believe in the prodigality of His love, and the fullness of His promises.

The Da Vinci Conspiracy

By R.C. Sproul 5/1/2006

     Yes, Virginia, there really is a lunatic fringe on the ideological spectrum. We commonly hear perspectives described as left-wing or right-wing. Beyond that, the descriptions become more precise in terms of radical right and radical left. If we cross the border beyond the radical of right or left, we enter into the domain of the lunatic fringe. There is a lunatic fringe on the right, which would include neo-Nazis, skinheads, and the like. On the radical left there is also a lunatic fringe that would include within it radical conspiratorialists and even academicians who are educated beyond their intelligence. For example, the Jesus Seminar represents the lunatic fringe of the theological world. The proper response to their views is not patient, critical analysis but scorn and ridicule. Their theories and hypotheses are not worthy of serious rebuttal.

     In the realm of ideological discussion, there is always a curious phase called the “journalistic phase.” The journalistic phase is the phase that feeds upon sensationalism. It grabs the headlines and the interest of reporters because it is so far out that it is news. The Jesus Seminar has fascinated news makers by virtue of its being so radically new. The same sort of thing catches headlines with the cultural success of a book like The Da Vinci Code. The Da Vinci Code sensationalizes historical evaluations of the New Testament documents and their portrait of Jesus of Nazareth.

     We are a people absorbed by finding flaws in the famous. We are incurably iconoclastic, relishing the fall of the mighty. We love to sing “O How the Mighty Have Fallen” when we see famous people caught in criminal acts or moral improprieties. Notice the attention given to the criminal trials of high-profile people such as O.J. Simpson. Whenever the mighty or the hero of the culture falls into corruption, it provokes juicy discussion with delicious elements for a public hungry for controversy. No one in the historical stage of history is represented with less flaws than Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, even beyond the church and her confession, Jesus is often perceived as being flawless. Yet there is no more delicious target for sensational fiction writing than Jesus. To sully His character by salacious innuendos is the ultimate form of iconoclasm. Add to the mix the appetite for conspiracy and cover-up, and it’s easy to see how The Da Vinci Code can be catapulted to the top of the best-selling list. It adds to the critical exposure of Jesus’ hidden love life, the additional cover-up involving clues from one of the most high-profile artists in history, Leonardo da Vinci. The famous painting of the Last Supper itself supposedly reveals one of these enormous clues.

     Why are we so gullible as to take this kind of thing seriously? The author, who is writing a fictional work, nevertheless claims to be basing his story on real historical data. That claim adds to the fictional dimension of the book. We have here fictional fiction with a fictional claim to historical sobriety. The claims of historical knowledge in this book rely on completely non-credible sources. The actual historical source for the salacious speculations of the behavior of Jesus is found in the pseudo-gospels of the second and third centuries. Very early in church history these pseudo-documents were exposed as frauds that were advanced by the early Gnostic community.

     Who were the Gnostics that produced such fraudulent literature? The Gnostics were so named because they claimed to have a special type of knowledge that was unavailable to other people. They borrowed their name from the Greek word for knowledge, which is gnosis. The Gnostics eschewed normal categories of knowledge, such as found universally in human epistemology, namely that we learn what we learn by a combined use of sense perception (empiricism) and rational deduction from the data (rationalism). The Gnostics rejected both and claimed a superior way of knowing through immediate apprehension of truth by mystical intuition. These people who claimed to be “in the know” advanced their intellectual theories as being superior to the insights given by the first-century apostles. They claimed to have a knowledge that superseded the knowledge of the first-century eyewitnesses of Jesus. There was no end to their fanciful speculations that they claimed were rooted in their own special mystical revelation. In a word, the Gnostics were anti-science and anti-sober history.

     It’s important for us to understand the rudiments of Gnosticism in as much as we live in what has been called a neo-gnostic culture. Our culture has been defined by an intoxication with New Age theories that share many things in common with Gnosticism. The most obvious point of commonality is the substitute of mystical insight for rational and empirical investigation. We also live in an age that is characterized by the embracing of philosophical and moral relativism. Relativism and Gnosticism are not one and the same thing, but they have so many common elements that they are compatible with each other. Once relativism is embraced, there are no brakes on the roller coaster of sensational epistemology. It opens the door for the kind of literature that makes The Da Vinci Code well read and its author, Dan Brown, famous. The flaws of this book reveal far more about the flaws in the character of its author than it does about alleged flaws of the most impeccable character in history.

Robert Charles Sproul, 2/13/1939 – 12/14/2017 was an American theologian, author, and ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian education and discipleship organization located near Orlando, Fla. He was also copastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., chancellor of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine. Dr. Sproul has contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, has spoken at conferences, churches, and schools around the world, and has written more than one hundred books. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible.

Bringing Christ Into the Problem

By Gene Edward Veith 6/1/2006

     Charles Darwin finally gave up his belief in God not because he discovered evidence for evolution by natural selection (a theory he developed some years earlier) but because of his anguish at the death of his ten-year-old daughter. When he published The Origin of Species in 1859, he purported to prove that the world itself did not need God, an act of vengeance against the God whom He insisted did not exist.

     The problem of evil is not just a philosophical or even a theological problem. It is concrete, personal, sometimes irrational. Many people cannot conceive of a loving, all powerful deity, given the evil and suffering in the world. Even when they are convinced rationally that the existence of evil by no means rules out the existence of a good God, they are overwhelmed with the darkness they see in life. And though non-believers seek any pretext to rebel against God, Christians too are sometimes overwhelmed by tragedy and grief, to the point that they question their faith.

     When one of their children is wracked with unbearable pain, or is brutalized by a criminal, or dies in a senseless accident, Christians can hardly keep from asking, why did God not intervene? Perhaps He cannot, which saves His benevolence at the expense of His power. Or perhaps He will not, which upholds His power, but which throws His goodness into question.

     These conundrums can be solved rationally and theologically, as the articles in this issue of Tabletalk show. But the answers are sometimes small comfort to a soul stretched to the breaking point on the rack of this world. In all of his agony, he cannot help but ask, “Where is God?” Part of the problem is that people tend to imagine God as someone far away, looking down, as from a great height, on the pain and malevolence that plague His creation. Not only attackers but also defenders of God tend to operate in terms of that picture. But Christians do not believe in a God who is merely distant.

     The God Christians know became incarnate in Jesus Christ. He entered the human condition. He suffered. He took the world’s evil into Himself. He died. And He rose again, so that those who have faith in Him will enter a realm where every tear will be dried and the problem of evil will disappear.

     Much theodicy (the justification of God’s justice and goodness in light of suffering and evil) makes no reference to Jesus Christ. It analyzes an abstract deity. There is nothing distinctly Christian about it. The arguments could just as easily apply to the Allah of Islam. To be sure, the problem of evil applies to every kind of theism and such metaphysical reasoning has its place.

     But the triune God of Christianity has a different relationship to His creation — and to sin, evil, and suffering — than the gods of other religions or the impersonal deity of the philosophers. Bringing Christ into the problem of evil does not answer all of the metaphysical questions, but He does complicate it in an important way. And, more importantly, Christ brings profound comfort to people in their deepest need, because they know that God is with them in their suffering.

     The second person of the Trinity suffered. He was scourged. He fell under the weight of the cross. He was weary, thirsty, bloody. And on the cross He experienced the utmost physical pain the Roman Empire could engineer and was tortured until He died. And the physical pain was only part of Christ’s agony. He also experienced emotional agony. He was despised and rejected (Isa. 53:3). In the garden of Gethsemane, He knew loneliness. His friends and disciples abandoned Him. He was mocked, humiliated, stripped. And worst of all, He was forsaken by His heavenly Father. That should make a difference to someone enduring physical pain or emotional desolation. Jesus Christ, through whom the whole universe was made, was also wracked with pain. He too experienced rejection, isolation, ridicule, and cruelty. He too felt the absence of God.

     But Christ’s suffering resolves the problem of evil in another way. He received the world’s evil. By His own will, He allowed Himself to suffer at the hands of evil men. But more than that, He bore in His body the sins of the world. That is another way of saying that He bore the world’s evil.

     Christ took upon Himself the punishment that evil deserves. And through His work on the cross, He gives us evil people who turn to Him free forgiveness.

     And in that mysterious exchange that took place on Calvary, in which Christ took on our sins and imputed to us His righteousness, something else took place. According to the prophet Isaiah, He would not only bear our sins. He would bear our suffering. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isa. 53:4).

     The problem of evil and the problem of suffering are resolved in Jesus Christ and His cross. God has intervened. He is not absent. His power and His love come together in the work of Christ. This is not just a solution to an intellectual puzzle. It gives concrete strength, support, and comfort to people in anguish. When the worst happens, the sufferer can know that Christ has been there, bringing redemption, and that even God the Father knows what it is like to lose a child.

A Refuge for the Weary Soul

By Robert Rayburn 6/1/2006

     The sufferings of our Lord and Savior were the penalty He bore for our sins. But those same trials and sorrows served another purpose. Living a very difficult life prepared our perfect Savior to be a better help to us in our temptations and trials than otherwise He could have been. Much as we may struggle to understand this, it is what the Bible teaches. We read in Hebrews 2:18: “For because he himself has suffered…he is able to help….” and again in 4:15: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are….” The fact that Jesus suffered as we suffer, that He endured our kind of pain and sorrow, is the reason we can trust Him to help. His own afflictions enable Him to understand what we are going through. His experience of sorrow has taught Him what we are feeling. His experience has made Him wiser still as a comforter and helper. In some mysterious way this is knowledge that even His omniscience did not give Him. It was His very hard life as the Man of Sorrows that equipped Him so perfectly to care for us when we suffer.

     Empathy is an art, not a science; an art learned in the trials of life.

     Surely this is one reason why the Lord appoints so many trials for His followers. If even the sinless one, even the Lord Christ Himself needed His own afflictions to attain the perfect empathy with us that His high priesthood required, how much more must we poor, selfish sinners suffer to become truly tenderhearted toward others? If to love others is one of the two great purposes for which we human beings have been given breath, then blows that soften our hearts and experiences that teach us how to find our peace in God must be necessary indeed.

     It is not so hard to imagine that the Lord’s terrible loneliness (Matt. 26:36–46) — who really understood Him or even began to grasp the burdens He was bearing? — made Him still more perfectly compassionate toward the lonely. Having been “forsaken” later by His own beloved Father (Matt. 27:46) must have had something to do with the way He felt the grief of the widow of Nain, who had lost her only son (Luke 7:13). When out of compassion He helped the sorrowful, and when He does so today by His Holy Spirit, His help had then and has now a special authority because it comes from His own wounded and experienced heart. He understands as only the sufferer can.

     The power of empathy rests in a shared understanding, a shared experience of pain. The great missionary John Paton acknowledged this when speaking of his own broken heart upon the death of his wife and infant son: “Let those who have ever passed through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me; as for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows.” This is what makes Christ’s empathy so valuable to us. If He had not suffered precisely every pain or loss that we have, He has suffered similarly and far more heavily than we have.

     As Christians, it is our calling, as we are often told, to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). When we do so we are imitating the Lord Jesus (Phil. 2:1–9). In fact, we are never more like the Lord Jesus than when our sorrows and our disappointments are turned to the advantage of others. And as with the Lord Himself, nothing equips us more effectively for this sacred work than our own suffering, sorrow, and trial, at least, if we bear our trials as Christians should in faith and hope.

     The old writers used to speak of the importance “improving our afflictions,” that is, turning them to the best and holiest use. Well, the best use we can make of any of our suffering is to turn it into empathy and wisdom with which to love and help others. Patrick of Ireland provides a splendid example of this. Reflecting on the terrible ordeal through which he passed when, as a teenager, he was kidnapped from his home and sold into slavery in Ireland, he said, “God used the time [of my slavery] to shape and mold me into something better. He made me into what I am now — someone very different from what I once was, someone who can care about others and work to help them. Before I was a slave, I didn’t even care about myself.” We all have too hard, too selfish hearts. Trials are necessary to soften them so that we can be of real use to others in this benighted world. To be of such use, to love others when they need love the most, is our special calling as the followers and imitators of Jesus Christ.

     As such, much of the Lord’s own care for His people is to come through His people. He appoints our afflictions in part to teach us what pain feels like, what happens in the confused and broken heart, and how the Lord can lift us up and will in His own time. But this is empathy and knowledge to be shared! Christ suffered nothing for Himself! Every Christian should judge himself strictly by this rule: in imitating Christ and following Christ I should regularly bring comfort and consolation to others as He did. Do others look to me to find hope and encouragement? Do folk grow calmly restful and quietly smiling because they have been with me and talked with me?

Psalm 38

By Don Carson 4/27/2018

     One of the most attractive features of David is his candor. At his best he is transparently honest. That means, among other things, that when there is an array of things going wrong in his life he does not collapse them into a single problem.

     Nothing could be clearer from Psalm 38. Commentators sometimes try to squeeze the diverse elements in this psalm into a single situation, but most such re-creations seem a trifle forced. It is worth identifying some of the most striking components of David’s misery.

     (1) He is facing God’s wrath (38:1), and (2) suffering from an array of physical ailments (38:3-8). (3) As a result he is full of frustrated sighing and has sunk into depression (38:9-10). (4) His friends have abandoned him (38:11). (5) Meanwhile he still faces the plots and deception of his standard (political) enemies (38:12). (6) He is so enfeebled that he is like a deaf mute (38:13-14), unable to speak, for his enemies are numerous and vigorous (38:19). (7) Meanwhile he is painfully troubled by his own iniquity (38:18).

     One can imagine various ways to tie these points together, but a fair bit of speculation is necessary. What stands out in this psalm is that even while David is asking for vindication against his enemies, he does so in the context of confessing his own sin, of facing, himself, the wrath of God. It is quite possible that he understands both his physical suffering and even the loss of his friends and the opposition of evil opponents to be expressions of God’s wrath — which intrinsically he admits to deserving. In the psalm David does not ask for vindication grounded in his own covenantal fidelity. He frankly confesses his sin (38:18), waits for the Lord (38:15), begs God not to forsake him (38:21), entreats God to help him (38:22) and not to rebuke him in anger and wrath (38:1). In short, David appeals for mercy.

     This is another face of the vindication theme (see the meditation for April 24). Yes, we want God to display his justice. In circumstances where we have been frankly wronged, it is comforting to recall that God’s justice will ultimately triumph. But what about the times when we are guilty ourselves? Will justice alone suffice? If all we want from God is justice, what human being will survive the divine holocaust?

     While pleading for vindication, it is urgently important that we confess our own sin, and entreat God for mercy. For the God of justice is also the God of grace. If this be not so, there is no hope for any of us.

Don Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and co-founder (with Tim Keller) of The Gospel Coalition. He has authored numerous books, and recently edited The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures (Eerdmans, 2016).

Read The Psalms In "1" Year

Psalm 43

43:1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
against an ungodly people,
from the deceitful and unjust man
deliver me!
2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?

3 Send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling!
4 Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the lyre,
O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

By Gleason Archer Jr.

Isaiah

     THE HEBREW NAME of this prophet is Yeša˓-Yāhû, meaning “Yahweh is salvation.” Appropriately enough, the basic theme of  Isaiah’s message is that salvation is bestowed only by grace, by the power of God, the Redeemer, rather than by the strength of man or the good works of the flesh. The holy God will not permit unholiness in His covenant people, and will therefore deal with them in such a way as to chasten and purge them and make them fit to participate in His program of redemption.  Isaiah sets forth the doctrine of Christ in such full detail that he has rightly been described as “the evangelical prophet.” Deeper Christological insights are to be found in his work than anywhere else in the Old Testament.

Outline of Isaiah

I. Volume of rebuke and promise,  1:1–6:13

     A. First sermon: rebellion confronted with judgment and grace,  1:1–31
     B. Second sermon: present chastisement for future glory,  2:1–4:6
     C. Third sermon: judgment and exile for the stubborn nation,  5:1–30
     D. Fourth sermon: the prophet cleansed and commissioned by God,  6:1–13

II. Volume of Immanuel,  7:1–12:6

     A. First sermon: rejection of Immanuel by worldly wisdom,  7:1–25
     B. Second sermon: speedy deliverance foreshadowing the coming Deliverer,  8:1–9:7
     C. Third sermon: inexorable doom of exile for proud Samaria,  9:8–10:4
     D. Fourth sermon: the future downfall of the false empire (Assyria); the glorious empire to come,  10:5–12:6

III. God’s judgment—burdens upon the nations,  13:1–23:18

     A. Babylon,  13:1–14:27
     B. Philistia,  14:28–32
     C. Moab,  15:1–16:14
     D. Damascus and Samaria,  17:1–14
     E. Ethiopia,  18:1–7
     F. Egypt,  19:1–20:6
     G. Babylon, second burden,  21:1–10
     H. Edom,  21:11–12
     I. Arabia,  21:13–17
     J. Jerusalem,  22:1–25
     K. Tyre,  23:1–18

IV. First volume of general judgment and promise,  24:1–27:13

     A. First sermon: universal judgment for universal sin,  24:1–23
     B. Second sermon: praise to the Lord as Deliverer, Victor, and Comforter,  25:1–12
     C. Third sermon: a song of rejoicing in Judah’s consolation,  26:1–21
     D. Fourth sermon: punishment for oppressors and preservation in store for God’s people,  27:1–13

V. Volume of woes upon the unbelievers of Israel,  28:1–33:24

     A. First sermon: God’s dealings with drunkards and scoffers in Israel,  28:1–29
     B. Second sermon: judgment upon blind souls who try to deceive God,  29:1–24
     C. Third sermon: confidence in man versus confidence in God,  30:1–33
     D. Fourth sermon: deliverance through God’s gracious intervention,  31:1–32:20
     E. Fifth sermon: punishment of treacherous deceivers and the triumph of Christ,  33:1–24

VI. Second volume of general judgment and promise,  34:1–35:10

     A. First sermon: destruction of the Gentile world power,  34:1–17
     B. Second sermon: the ultimate bliss of God’s redeemed on the highway of holiness,  35:10

VII. Volume of Hezekiah,  36:1–39:8

     A. Destruction of Judah by Assyria averted,  36:1–37:38
     B. Destruction of Judah’s king averted,  38:1–22
     C. Judgment upon the king’s pride in his earthly treasures; Babylonian captivity predicted,  39:1–8

VIII. Volume of comfort,  40:1–66:24

     A. Purpose of peace,  40:1–48:22
          1. Majesty of Jehovah the Comforter and Sovereign Deliverer of Israel,  40:1–31
          2. Challenge of the God of providence to worldly minded unbelievers,  41:1–29
          3. Servant of Jehovah, individual and national,  42:1–25
          4. Redemption by grace,  43:1–44:5 (deliverance through Cyrus)
          5. Dead idols or the living God? ( 44:6–23 )
          6. The sovereign God employing Cyrus as deliverer and the ultimate conversion of converting the heathen,  44:24–45:25
          7. Lessons to be learned from Babylon’s downfall and Israel’s preservation,  46:1–47:15
          8. Judgment upon faithless, hypocritical Israel,  48:1–22
     B. Prince of peace,  49:1–57:21
          1. Messiah to bring restoration to Israel and light to Gentiles,  49:1–26
          2. Sinfulness of Israel contrasted with the obedience of the Servant,  50:1–11
          3. Encouragement to trust in God alone, not fearing men,  51:1–16
          4. Summons to Israel to awake and return to God’s favor,  51:17–52:12
          5. Divine Servant to triumph through vicarious suffering,  52:13–53:12
          6. Consequent blessing to Israel and the Church,  54:1–17
          7. Grace for all sinners who trust in Christ,  55:1–13
          8. Inclusion of Gentiles in the blessing of Israel,  56:1–8
          9. Condemnation of the wicked rulers of Israel,  56:9–57:21
     C. Program of peace,  58:1–66:24
          1. Contrast between false and true worship,  58:1–14
          2. Confession of Israel’s depravity, leading to deliverance by God’s intervention,  59:1–21
          3. Glorious prosperity and peace of the redeemed,  60:1–22
          4. The Spirit-filled Christ by whom the kingdom comes,  61:1–11
          5. Zion to be restored and glorified,  62:1–63:6
          6. God’s former mercies to cause Israel to plead for deliverance,  63:7–64:12
          7. God’s mercy for spiritual Israel alone,  65:1–25
          8. Externalism in worship to be replaced by heart sincerity,  66:1–24

     It is important to note in regard to the last section, the Volume of Comfort, that the twenty-seven chapters,  40 through  66, show a remarkable symmetry in the three subdivisions. The end of subdivision A, “The purpose of peace,” is virtually identical with the end of subdivision B, “The Prince of Peace”; that is to say, they both conclude with the formula, “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Each of the three subdivisions sets forth in a systematic way an area of doctrinal emphasis — theology, soteriology, and eschatology. This architectonic structure points to a single author rather than to a collection of heterogeneous sources. What is said about the volume of comfort as to its systematic arrangement may be extended to the first thirty-nine chapters as well, for even the outline as here given indicates a deliberate use of balance or parallelism in structure.

Isaiah: Authorship

     The prophet  Isaiah, the son of Amoz (ʾāmōṣ — “strong or courageous”), was apparently a member of a fairly distinguished and influential family. Not only is his father’s name given, but he appears to have been on familiar terms with the royal court even in the reign of Ahaz. He must have been a well - educated student of international affairs, who spent most of his time in the city of Jerusalem, where he was in touch with the crosscurrents of national and foreign affairs. Directed by God to oppose with vigor any entangling alliances with foreign powers (whether with Assyria as against Samaria and Damascus, or with Egypt as against Assyria), his cause was foredoomed to failure, for both government and people chose to put their trust in political alliances rather than in the promises of God.

     Until the death of Hezekiah (in 697 or 698),  Isaiah enjoyed a large measure of respect despite the unpopularity of his political views, and in the period of religious reform carried through by Hezekiah, his influence upon religion was most significant. Yet as God warned him in the temple vision ( Isa. 6:9–10 ), the nation by and large turned a deaf ear even to his spiritual message. Apart from a small minority of earnest believers, his ministry to his contemporaries was little short of a failure. In the reign of Manasseh, the degenerate son of Hezekiah, a strong tide of reaction set in against the strict Jehovah - worship of the previous reign.  Isaiah lived to see the undoing of all his own work so far as contemporary politics were concerned. In spiritual matters, his countrymen fell into an even more desperate condition of depravity than they had in the reign of Ahaz. Recognizing the inevitability of God’s judgment upon the unrepentant nation,  Isaiah’s interest during the reign of Manasseh came to be focused increasingly upon the coming overthrow of Jerusalem, the Babylonian Captivity, and the restoration which lay beyond. An old tradition relates that he was martyred at some time in the reign of Manasseh, possibly by being sawed in two inside a hollow log (cf.  Heb. 11:37 ). Since he records the death of Sennacherib in  Isa. 37:37–38, it is fair to assume that  Isaiah lived until after Sennacherib’s death in 681 B.C.

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction

The Continual Burnt Offering

By H.A. Ironside - 1941

April 27

Jeremiah 23:21  “I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22  But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.   ESV

Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!

What think ye of Christ? is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest,
Unless you think rightly of Him:
As Jesus appears in your view—
As He is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you,
And mercy or wrath is your lot.

Some take Him a creature to be—
A man or an angel at most;
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched and lost.
So guilty, so helpless am I,
I durst not confide in His blood,
Nor on His protection rely,
Unless I were sure He is God.
--- John Newton

The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Translated by Henry Beveridge

     OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN.

36. The first thing suggested at the very outset is, as we have already said (sec. 17-19), that all our prayers to God ought only to be presented in the name of Christ, as there is no other name which can recommend them. In calling God our Father, we certainly plead the name of Christ. For with what confidence could any man call God his Father? Who would have the presumption to arrogate to himself the honour of a son of God were we not gratuitously adopted as his sons in Christ? He being the true Son, has been given to us as a brother, so that that which he possesses as his own by nature becomes ours by adoption, if we embrace this great mercy with firm faith. As John says, "As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name," (John 1:12). Hence he both calls himself our Father, and is pleased to be so called by us, by this delightful name relieving us of all distrust, since no where can a stronger affection be found than in a father. Hence, too, he could not have given us a stronger testimony of his boundless love than in calling us his sons. But his love towards us is so much the greater and more excellent than that of earthly parents, the farther he surpasses all men in goodness and mercy (Isaiah 63:16). Earthly parents, laying aside all paternal affection, might abandon their offspring; he will never abandon us (Ps. 27:10), seeing he cannot deny himself. For we have his promise, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Mt. 7:11). In like manner in the prophet, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee," (Isaiah 49:15). But if we are his sons, then as a son cannot betake himself to the protection of a stranger and a foreigner without at the same time complaining of his father's cruelty or poverty, so we cannot ask assistance from any other quarter than from him, unless we would upbraid him with poverty, or want of means, or cruelty and excessive austerity.

37. Nor let us allege that we are justly rendered timid by a consciousness of sin, by which our Father, though mild and merciful, is daily offended. For if among men a son cannot have a better advocate to plead his cause with his father, and cannot employ a better intercessor to regain his lost favour, than if he come himself suppliant and downcast, acknowledging his fault, to implore the mercy of his father, whose paternal feelings cannot but be moved by such entreaties, what will that "Father of all mercies, and God of all comfort," do? (2 Cor. 1:3). Will he not rather listen to the tears and groans of his children, when supplicating for themselves (especially seeing he invites and exhorts us to do so), than to any advocacy of others to whom the timid have recourse, not without some semblance of despair, because they are distrustful of their father's mildness and clemency? The exuberance of his paternal kindness he sets before us in the parable (Luke 15:20; see Calv. Comm). when the father with open arms receives the son who had gone away from him, wasted his substance in riotous living, and in all ways grievously sinned against him. He waits not till pardon is asked in words, but, anticipating the request, recognizes him afar off, runs to meet him, consoles him, and restores him to favour. By setting before us this admirable example of mildness in a man, he designed to show in how much greater abundance we may expect it from him who is not only a Father, but the best and most merciful of all fathers, however ungrateful, rebellious, and wicked sons we may be, provided only we throw ourselves upon his mercy. And the better to assure us that he is such a Father if we are Christians, he has been pleased to be called not only a Father, but our Father, as if we were pleading with him after this manner, O Father, who art possessed of so much affection for thy children, and art so ready to forgive, we thy children approach thee and present our requests, fully persuaded that thou hast no other feelings towards us than those of a father, though we are unworthy of such a parent. [489] But as our narrow hearts are incapable of comprehending such boundless favour, Christ is not only the earnest and pledge of our adoption, but also gives us the Spirit as a witness of this adoption, that through him we may freely cry aloud, Abba, Father. Whenever, therefore, we are restrained by any feeling of hesitation, let us remember to ask of him that he may correct our timidity, and placing us under the magnanimous guidance of the Spirit, enable us to pray boldly.

38. The instruction given us, however, is not that every individual in particular is to call him Father, but rather that we are all in common to call him Our Father. By this we are reminded how strong the feeling of brotherly love between us ought to be, since we are all alike, by the same mercy and free kindness, the children of such a Father. For if He from whom we all obtain whatever is good is our common Father (Mt. 23:9), every thing which has been distributed to us we should be prepared to communicate to each other, as far as occasion demands. But if we are thus desirous as we ought, to stretch out our hands and give assistance to each other, there is nothing by which we can more benefit our brethren than by committing them to the care and protection of the best of parents, since if He is propitious and favourable nothing more can be desired. And, indeed, we owe this also to our Father. For as he who truly and from the heart loves the father of a family, extends the same love and good-will to all his household, so the zeal and affection which we feel for our heavenly Parent it becomes us to extend towards his people, his family, and, in fine, his heritage, which he has honoured so highly as to give them the appellation of the "fulness" of his only begotten Son (Eph. 1:23). Let the Christian, then, so regulate his prayers as to make them common, and embrace all who are his brethren in Christ; not only those whom at present he sees and knows to be such, but all men who are alive upon the earth. What God has determined with regard to them is beyond our knowledge, but to wish and hope the best concerning them is both pious and humane. Still it becomes us to regard with special affection those who are of the household of faith, and whom the Apostle has in express terms recommended to our care in every thing (Gal. 6:10). In short, all our prayers ought to bear reference to that community which our Lord has established in his kingdom and family.

39. This, however, does not prevent us from praying specially for ourselves, and certain others, provided our mind is not withdrawn from the view of this community, does not deviate from it, but constantly refers to it. For prayers, though couched in special terms, keeping that object still in view, cease not to be common. All this may easily be understood by analogy. There is a general command from God to relieve the necessities of all the poor, and yet this command is obeyed by those who with that view give succour to all whom they see or know to be in distress, although they pass by many whose wants are not less urgent, either because they cannot know or are unable to give supply to all. In this way there is nothing repugnant to the will of God in those who, giving heed to this common society of the Church, yet offer up particular prayers, in which, with a public mind, though in special terms, they commend to God themselves or others, with whose necessity he has been pleased to make them more familiarly acquainted. It is true that prayer and the giving of our substance are not in all respects alike. We can only bestow the kindness of our liberality on those of whose wants we are aware, whereas in prayer we can assist the greatest strangers, how wide soever the space which may separate them from us. This is done by that general form of prayer which, including all the sons of God, includes them also. To this we may refer the exhortation which Paul gave to the believers of his age, to lift up "holy hands without wrath and doubting," (1 Tim. 2:8). By reminding them that dissension is a bar to prayer, he shows it to be his wish that they should with one accord present their prayers in common.

40. The next words are, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. From this we are not to infer that he is enclosed and confined within the circumference of heaven, as by a kind of boundaries. Hence Solomon confesses, "The heaven of heavens cannot contain thee," (1 Kings 8:27); and he himself says by the Prophet, "The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool," (Isa. 66:1); thereby intimating, that his presence, not confined to any region, is diffused over all space. But as our gross minds are unable to conceive of his ineffable glory, it is designated to us by heaven, nothing which our eyes can behold being so full of splendor and majesty. While, then, we are accustomed to regard every object as confined to the place where our senses discern it, no place can be assigned to God; and hence, if we would seek him, we must rise higher than all corporeal or mental discernment. Again, this form of expression reminds us that he is far beyond the reach of change or corruption, that he holds the whole universe in his grasp, and rules it by his power. The effect of the expressions therefore, is the same as if it had been said, that he is of infinite majesty, incomprehensible essence, boundless power, and eternal duration. When we thus speak of God, our thoughts must be raised to their highest pitch; we must not ascribe to him any thing of a terrestrial or carnal nature, must not measure him by our little standards, or suppose his will to be like ours. At the same time, we must put our confidence in him, understanding that heaven and earth are governed by his providence and power. In short, under the name of Father is set before us that God, who hath appeared to us in his own image, that we may invoke him with sure faith; the familiar name of Father being given not only to inspire confidence, but also to curb our minds, and prevent them from going astray after doubtful or fictitious gods. We thus ascend from the only begotten Son to the supreme Father of angels and of the Church. Then when his throne is fixed in heaven, we are reminded that he governs the world, and, therefore, that it is not in vain to approach him whose present care we actually experience. "He that cometh to God," says the Apostle, "must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him," (Heb. 11:6). Here Christ makes both claims for his Father, first, that we place our faith in him; and, secondly , that we feel assured that our salvation is not neglected by him, inasmuch as he condescends to extend his providence to us. By these elementary principles Paul prepares us to pray aright; for before enjoining us to make our requests known unto God, he premises in this way, "The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing," (Phil. 4:5, 6). Whence it appears that doubt and perplexity hang over the prayers of those in whose minds the belief is not firmly seated, that "the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous," (Ps. 34:15).

41. The first petition is, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. The necessity of presenting it bespeaks our great disgrace. For what can be more unbecoming than that our ingratitude and malice should impair, our audacity and petulance should as much as in them lies destroy, the glory of God? But though all the ungodly should burst with sacrilegious rage, the holiness of God's name still shines forth. Justly does the Psalmist exclaim, "According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth," (Ps. 48:10). For wherever God hath made himself known, his perfections must be displayed, his power, goodness, wisdom, justice, mercy, and truth, which fill us with admiration, and incite us to show forth his praise. Therefore, as the name of God is not duly hallowed on the earth, and we are otherwise unable to assert it, it is at least our duty to make it the subject of our prayers. The sum of the whole is, It must be our desire that God may receive the honour which is his due: that men may never think or speak of him without the greatest reverence. The opposite of this reverence is profanity, which has always been too common in the world, and is very prevalent in the present day. Hence the necessity of the petition, which, if piety had any proper existence among us, would be superfluous. But if the name of God is duly hallowed only when separated from all other names it alone is glorified, we are in the petition enjoined to ask not only that God would vindicate his sacred name from all contempt and insult, but also that he would compel the whole human race to reverence it. Then since God manifests himself to us partly by his word, and partly by his works, he is not sanctified unless in regard to both of these we ascribe to him what is due, and thus embrace whatever has proceeded from him, giving no less praise to his justice than to his mercy. On the manifold diversity of his works he has inscribed the marks of his glory, and these ought to call forth from every tongue an ascription of praise. Thus Scripture will obtain its due authority with us, and no event will hinder us from celebrating the praises of God, in regard to every part of his government. On the other hand, the petition implies a wish that all impiety which pollutes this sacred name may perish and be extinguished, that every thing which obscures or impairs his glory, all detraction and insult, may cease; that all blasphemy being suppressed, the divine majesty may be more and more signally displayed.

46. The sixth petition corresponds (as we have observed) to the promise [491] of writing the law upon our hearts; but because we do not obey God without a continual warfare, without sharp and arduous contests, we here pray that he would furnish us with armour, and defend us by his protection, that we may be able to obtain the victory. By this we are reminded that we not only have need of the gift of the Spirit inwardly to soften our hearts, and turn and direct them to the obedience of God, but also of his assistance, to render us invincible by all the wiles and violent assaults of Satan. The forms of temptation are many and various. The depraved conceptions of our minds provoking us to transgress the law--conceptions which our concupiscence suggests or the devil excites, are temptations; and things which in their own nature are not evil, become temptations by the wiles of the devil, when they are presented to our eyes in such a way that the view of them makes us withdraw or decline from God. [492] These temptations are both on the right hand and on the left. On the right, when riches, power, and honours, which by their glare, and the semblance of good which they present, generally dazzle the eyes of men, and so entice by their blandishments, that, caught by their snares, and intoxicated by their sweetness, they forget their God: on the left, when offended by the hardship and bitterness of poverty, disgrace, contempt, afflictions, and other things of that description, they despond, cast away their confidence and hope, and are at length totally estranged from God. In regard to both kinds of temptation, which either enkindled in us by concupiscence) or presented by the craft of Satan's war against us, we pray God the Father not to allow us to be overcome, but rather to raise and support us by his hand, that strengthened by his mighty power we may stand firm against all the assaults of our malignant enemy, whatever be the thoughts which he sends into our minds; next we pray that whatever of either description is allotted us, we may turn to good, that is, may neither be inflated with prosperity, nor cast down by adversity. Here, however, we do not ask to be altogether exempted from temptation, which is very necessary to excite, stimulate, and urge us on, that we may not become too lethargic. It was not without reason that David wished to be tried, nor is it without cause that the Lord daily tries his elect, chastising them by disgrace, poverty, tribulation, and other kinds of cross. [493] But the temptations of God and Satan are very different: Satan tempts, that he may destroy, condemn, confound, throw headlong; God, that by proving his people he may make trial of their sincerity, and by exercising their strength confirm it; may mortify, tame, and cauterize their flesh, which, if not curbed in this manner, would wanton and exult above measure. Besides, Satan attacks those who are unarmed and unprepared, that he may destroy them unawares; whereas whatever God sends, he "will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." Whether by the term evil we understand the devil or sin, is not of the least consequence. Satan is indeed the very enemy who lays snares for our life, but it is by sin that he is armed for our destruction. Our petition, therefore, is, that we may not be overcome or overwhelmed with temptation, but in the strength of the Lord may stand firm against all the powers by which we are assailed; in other words, may not fall under temptation: that being thus taken under his charge and protection, we may remain invincible by sin, death, the gates of hell, and the whole power of the devil; in other words, be delivered from evil. Here it is carefully to be observed, that we have no strength to contend with such a combatant as the devil, or to sustain the violence of his assault. Were it otherwise, it would be mockery of God to ask of him what we already possess in ourselves. Assuredly those who in self-confidence prepare for such a fight, do not understand how bold and well-equipped the enemy is with whom they have to do. Now we ask to be delivered from his power, as from the mouth of some furious raging lion, who would instantly tear us with his teeth and claws, and swallow us up, did not the Lord rescue us from the midst of death; at the same time knowing that if the Lord is present and will fight for us while we stand by, through him "we shall do valiantly," (Ps. 60:12). Let others if they will confide in the powers and resources of their free will which they think they possess; enough for us that we stand and are strong in the power of God alone. But the prayer comprehends more than at first sight it seems to do. For if the Spirit of God is our strength in waging the contest with Satan, we cannot gain the victory unless we are filled with him, and thereby freed from all infirmity of the flesh. Therefore, when we pray to be delivered from sin and Satan, we at the same time desire to be enriched with new supplies of divine grace, until completely replenished with them, we triumph over every evil. To some it seems rude and harsh to ask God not to lead us into temptation, since, as James declares (James 1:13), it is contrary to his nature to do so. This difficulty has already been partly solved by the fact that our concupiscence is the cause, and therefore properly bears the blame of all the temptations by which we are overcome. All that James means is, that it is vain and unjust to ascribe to God vices which our own consciousness compels us to impute to ourselves. But this is no reason why God may not when he sees it meet bring us into bondage to Satan, give us up to a reprobate mind and shameful lusts, and so by a just, indeed, but often hidden judgment, lead us into temptation. Though the cause is often concealed from men, it is well known to him. Hence we may see that the expression is not improper, if we are persuaded that it is not without cause he so often threatens to give sure signs of his vengeance, by blinding the reprobate, and hardening their hearts.

     Christian Classics Ethereal Library / Public Domain

     Institutes of the Christian Religion