| January 3, 1999 |
Vol. I, No. 36
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The call of Isaiah to the prophetic ministry came about 740 B.C. His ministry covered a period of about 40 years. Chapter six records his call: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim... And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' Then I said: 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.' Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.' Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me'" (Isaiah 6:1-8).
Note that before the prophet was qualified to speak for God, it was necessary for his own sins to be purged or cleansed.
Secondly, before Isaiah took the message of God to the people, it was important that he be aware that most people would turn away from and harden their hearts to his message. God told him, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.' Then I said, 'Lord, how long?' And He answered: 'Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are desolate, the Lord has removed men far away...'" (verses 9-12).
Thirdly, lest the prophet lose heart, it was also important for him to realize some would receive, obey, and benefit from the truth he was to preach. "Yet a tenth will be in [the land], and will return... as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump" (verse 13).
Forewarned that his message would not be popular, but that it was the only hope for his generation, Isaiah went forth to preach the word. "Here am I! Send me."
As we look at the written account of Isaiah's message to Judah and Israel, it naturally divides itself into three parts, mixed and mingled throughout the book. (1) H spoke of the sins of Judah, Israel, and surrounding nations and of the inevitable consequences of those sins. (2) He foretold that after the sins of Israel and Judah resulted in the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, God would raise up a righteous remnant who would return and re-people the promised land. (3) And finally, through the righteous remnant, the Christ or Messiah would come and initiate a spiritual restoration in which God's chosen nation would expand to include people from all races, tribes, peoples and tongues. Isaiah admonished the sinners of Judah and Israel to return to God, receive forgiveness, and avoid the captivity and death to which they were otherwise destined.
Isaiah is often referred to as the Messianic prophet. Though all the Old Testament prophets foretold the days of Christ, Acts 3:21, Isaiah revealed far more than any other -- the virgin birth, 7:14; His vicarious death, chapter 53; the peaceful nature of His kingdom, chapter 11. No wonder he is quoted more frequently in the New Testament than any other Old Testament prophet.
In one of his Messianic sections, he exclaims, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" (Isa. 52:7). Paul applies this verse to the gospel preachers of the first century, and it is just as true today. I first began to contemplate this passage a number of years ago while relaxing after supper in the home of J.W. Hicks, the faithful gospel preacher who baptized me into Christ 36 years ago. He had taken off his shoes and socks and propped his feet up on a stool. As he looked down at his long, gnarled toes, he quoted, "How beautiful are the feet..." I took one look at his feet and concluded the passage had to have a figurative explanation!
As I think back over the years of my relationship with Christ, how fortunate I was that the feet of J.W. Hicks brought the soul-saving gospel to me. Truly, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom. 10:15).
Your feet can be beautiful, if you, like Isaiah, will respond to the Lord's call: "Here am I! Send me."
--CRJ
If you don't live it, you don't believe it.
We are told that baptism has numerous designs, the understanding of which is not essential to its validity. But there is ONE of these various and sundry purposes of baptism, it is contended, that MUST be always understood. If it is true that there are multiple purposes of baptism, by what authority does a man select ONE of these purposes, out of the many, as THE ONE which must be understood? What right has anyone to say that this one MUST be while the others [need] not be understood? That is a rather singular standard of discrimination, and a peculiar assumption of authority for an arbitrary selection of essentials and non-essentials.
It is interesting also to note that the one purpose picked as the essential one, is a "design" that is nowhere mentioned with the command to be baptized, and nowhere named by either Jesus Christ or His apostles as being THE DESIGN of baptism. It is argued that this one necessary purpose of baptism is TO OBEY GOD. The other purposes of baptism, such as remission of sins, washing away sins, to get into Christ, to be saved, and even to receive the Christ whom God would send -- all these are designs, we are told, which [need] not be understood, but the design TO OBEY GOD is THE ONE which must be understood. Now what is the basis for any such selection? I submit to you that if baptism has several designs, no man can select one and sift the others.
It is true that the design of baptism is stated in various expressions, but the language employed clearly indicates the one and the same design or purpose. Such terms as regeneration, reconciliation, conversion and the new birth are all descriptive of the same thing. So it is that the expression, "shall be saved;" "for remission of sins;" "that your sins may be blotted out;" "wash away your sins;" and "baptized into Christ" are all simply different ways of saying the same thing; and if a subject of baptism understands the TRUTH of any single one of these statements, he understands the TRUTH of all of them, for they all express the same truth, pointing to the same end, or design.
--Foy E. Wallace
In Matt. 8:5-7, The Bible says, "Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.'" While Matthew's account might leave the impression that the Gentile centurion came to Jesus in person, we learn in Luke's more detailed account of this incident that the centurion did not come in person, but by way of messengers. "So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant" (Luke 7:12).
It was refreshing and encouraging to Jesus to encounter a man with an understanding of the subject of authority in general, and Jesus' authority in particular. The centurion was under the authority of higher ranking officers in the Roman army. At the same time, he had a hundred soldiers under his authority. He knew what it was to give orders, and he knew what it was to obey orders. But most meaningful of all, he understood that Jesus had such authority as to "only speak a word, and my servant will be healed" (Matt. 8:8).
Luke gives us further insight into the man's background, showing that even though this centurion was a Gentile, he was evidently a great respecter of the one true God. He had built for the Jews in Capernaum a synagogue, and had their utmost respect, Luke 7:3-5. This was indeed an unusual accomplishment for a Gentile, especially an officer in the Roman army.
The centurion respected the Jewish separation from Gentiles, recognizing that he was not worthy for Jesus to so much as come under his roof, Matt. 8:8. Such faith and acceptance of Divine authority prompted one of the highest compliments Jesus ever paid to any individual during His earthly ministry. "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel."
This faith, which openly, willingly accepts the authority of Jesus, His right to command, and our duty to obey, will make it possible for us to "come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." But unbelieving Jews who were looked upon as "the sons of the kingdom," along with all other unbelievers, "will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 8:10-12).
--CRJ