Food For Thought: Isaiah 55:1-3 Part III

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has not money, come buy and eat! Come by wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

NO MONEY
The call to come is for those who have no money. What happened to it? I think that a few thoughts could fit ... (1) the person had counterfeit money which is no money at all, (2) the person never was given money, or (3) the person had spent all of the money. The latter seems to fit well. Why do we have no money? Because we have spent it ... yet we have spent it on that which does not satisfy, because I am asking from it what it only points to rather than gives.

I THOUGHT IT WAS BREAD
When I look for substance in the shadow I will never be satisfied. Food, relationships, work, clothing, buildings, nature ... all these things are emblems ... road signs that point to a greater reality a higher satisfaction.

To be satisfied in the emblem and not the substance is like a man getting filled on magazine pictures of bread. He sees the food and then gorges himself with the print outs, but is never satisfied. He thinks it is "bread" but can never get enough. He continues to spend his money on the pictures ... and even begins to "bake" the pictures ... but it never satisfies him.

Imagine a family going on a trip to the Estes National Park in Colorado ... as they are driving to the park they come across the sign which reads "Estes Park Ahead" and instead of being guided by the sign they mistake it for their destination. The whole family jumps out of the van and they take gobs of photos and video footage of them by the sign. Then, "satisfied" that they made it, they return home ... we laugh ... but do we not do that with the blessings of God? Do we not spend our money on that which is not bread and labor for that which does not satisfy? We hope it will deliver, but it never does. Why? We are asking from it, what it was never meant to produce. It is a sign, pointing to the real Bread ... are we willing to go?

Random Thoughts: 1 Thessalonians 4:17b

"... and so we will always be with the Lord." 1 Thes 4:17b

STOP AND 'SMELL' THE PASSAGE
If you haven't already, stop and contemplate this passage. Think about its implications. The context is Paul writing to the Thessalonians about the Second Advent of Christ. He does not want them to be uninformed and to grieve as others do who have no hope (4:13). As Christians, we do have hope ...

HOPE IN THE RESURRECTION
"For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep." (v 14) We no longer fear death nor the wrath of God, for 'through Jesus' (dia tou Iesou) God will 'bring with him' those who have believed in him.

HOPE IN THE VICTORY OVER DEATH
"And the dead in Christ will rise ..." (v 16b) Death has no hold on us. Those who have died to self and died 'in Christ' will be made alive 'in Christ.' Christ is the firstfruit of this hope.

HOPE OF AN ETERNITY WITH CHRIST
"... and so we will always be with the Lord." (v 17b)

• "we" - this is a corporate hope and not simply something that happens to one person. It is not a "me and Jesus" but a "we and Jesus." All those who have believed in this hope will be there ...
• "always" - never ending, ever increasing! We will never again be separated from Christ and the redeemed. Picture it. Imagine it. 'Always" with the Lord.
• "the Lord" - though it is true that there will be loved ones there, and that pain will cease, and that death will be conquered, and that joy everlasting will be heaped upon us, and that eternal blessings will be stored up for us ...... the greatest treasure and the greatest delight is that Christ will be there, and we will "always be with the Lord."

HOW'S YOUR HOPE?

What are you hoping in? Do you long to be with the Lord? Do you long to be with him forever?

Random Thoughts: Revelatory Epistemology

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, by my Father who is in heaven." Mathew 16:13-17

HOW DID PETER KNOW JESUS WAS 'THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD?'
According to Jesus, Peter "knew" that Jesus was 'the Christ' because God give him that knowledge. In other words, if God had not revealed this truth to him all other answers would have been human speculation but woefully short of the glorious reality ... Jesus was the 'Son of the living God.'

Jesus is adamant in contrasting what did reveal this truth to him with what did NOT reveal this truth to him: 'Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you.'

WHY WOULD JESUS TELL PETER WHERE HE LEARNED THE TRUTH OF CHRIST?
One must wonder if Peter might have felt smug about his answer. 'Others say such and such, but I know better. You are the Christ.' It isn't much later (chapter 18) when the disciples are arguing over who will be the greatest, so you can imagine that some of this attitude had to be present in this profession. Jesus asks the question and Peter jumps on the opportunity beating the other disciples to the punch, like a school boy who knows the answer to the teachers question and wants to be picked so that he can demonstrate his knowledge to the classroom (though as an adult I still do this).

But Jesus deflates any notion of pride that Peter may have had. 'Yes, Peter, your are right and consider yourself blessed for knowing this, but don't think that it was your own intellect and acumen that gained you this knowledge. This truth is not derived from man, but God. You know, because God has chosen to let you know.' In other words, Peter has this knowledge only because it was given to him. If God did not reveal this truth to him, no amount of study or seeking would ever discover this truth. Man is at the mercy of God revealing himself and his truth to us. All 'Eureka's' should be followed with exclamations of praise and thanksgiving to God who has been gracious to impart an insight to an otherwise dull and blinded mind.

REVELATORY EPISTEMOLOGY
This story is an illustration of what I call revelatory epistemology, the belief that all knowledge is a gift from God. Therefore, to know is to be endowed by God with the grace to do so. Some may find this elementary, but I find it profound, because it deconstructs any refutation that "One cannot 'know' truth absolutely." I think we can know truth, because truth is not limited to the realm of abstraction, but is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ who himself proclaimed to be "the way the truth and the life" (John 14:6). We can know truth, because we can know Jesus. But we know Jesus, not because we went searching for him and found him ... but because he sought us and revealed himself to us. We know him because he has shown himself to us. This should humble the wise and encourage the simpleton.

WHAT DO WE DO IF WE DO NOT KNOW? AN OBJECTION
If we find that we are ignorant or without, what do we do then? I can hear the objector, "Well, if I don't know than it is God's fault since he has not 'revealed' himself or the truth to me!" No, God is not to blame for your ignorance, O foolish man. You do not have because you do not ask or seek, and when you do, you ask or seek amiss and for your own passions and not for the glory of God ... thus God will give you up to your own passions which will not lead to wisdom, but foolishness, perversion, and destruction (James 4:2,3; Rom 1:24, 26, 28).

WHAT DO WE DO IF WE DO NOT KNOW?
Paul would tell us to "Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything" (2Tim 2:7). As John Piper would say, "Thinking is a gift for thinkers." No amount of thinking will gain us understanding unless God gives it to us. But the means by which he imparts understanding is by us thinking! "Thinking is a gift for thinkers." Do you not know? Then ask (but not amiss), seek (but not for your own passions), think (but with all the God given ability to do so) ... and then you will receive, you will find, and you will know what you do not now have and know. So that when you have received this knowledge ... praise God and acknowledge that 'flesh and blood' did not gain this knowledge, but the grace of God revealed it to me through the means of asking, seeking, and thinking.

Random Thoughts: 1 Chronicles 17:1-2

Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent." And Nathan said to David, "Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you." 1 Chronicles 17:1-2

What is in my heart?
David was grieved to see that he lived in a better house than did the ark of the covenant. In the preceeding chapter David let loose a litany of praise to God ...

"Splendor and majesty are before him,
Strength and joy are in his place.

Ascribe to the Lord, O clans of the peoples,
Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name"

David had ascribed to the Lord the glory due his name in word ... and now he desired to magnify the majesty of God by making for Him a glorious temple. There was a discrepancy in the splendor of his house and the splendor of God's tent, and he wanted to change that.

No Word, No glory
There is another discrepancy that I see. There are millions of people who do not have the Word of God in their own heart language. Their hearts are darkened and the Spirit of God does not dwell in these "temples." Yet here I am in a sea of Bible versions and translations ... this is cannot be.

Lord, my heart is for your splendor and majesty. Oh that I may do what is in my heart because you are with me. May it be so, O God of heaven and earth. May I magnify your glory and spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

I do not want to waste my life. Grant my heart's desire (Ps 37:4).

Food For Thought: Isaiah 55:1-3 Part IIa

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money come, buy, and eat ..."

After thoughts
Last night as I was reading the news letter from Desiring God Ministries, John Bloom was reflecting upon God's provision. He retold the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. As I read the familiar verses, one line jumped out at me in light of yesterdays, post:

John 6:5-7
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip,

"WHERE ARE WE TO BUY BREAD, SO THAT THESE PEOPLE MAY EAT?"

He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."

Echoes of Isaiah 55
This parallels yesterdays question? How can a person buy food without money? Philip was asking this very question, "Jesus, didn't you hear Judas' financial report this morning? We're broke! We don't have enough money to buy food for these people."

All they had to their name was five loaves and two fish from a generous but naive child. Five loaves and two fish were nothing compared to the enormous needs of a throng five thousand strong (not including the women and children). But the disciples had forgotten basic Jesus arithmetic ... that 5 + Jesus = 5,000! They came with nothing and yet were completely satisfied. They "bought" with the provision and blessings of God ... they deepened their debt to Jesus, thus demonstrating his glorious provision. He received the glory, they received the joy.

Food For Thought: Isaiah 55:1-3 Part II

"And he who has no money, come, buy and eat..."

The invitation to "come" is for everyone who thirsts (part I) and everyone who has "no money." These are both humble postures of need. The person who thirsts, needs water. The person who is poor, needs money. Those who are satisfied won't come for they are no longer thirsting. Those who's accounts are full won't come for they are not in need.

The thirsty and the needy
How desperate am I? In Worship by Bob Kauphlin he tells of a time when he was depressed and despondent. As he lamented to a friend of his about his desperation, he expected the man to respond with the usual Christian encouragement of "everything will be alright, God is in control." Instead, the friend looked at him and told him straight, "The problem is not that you are desperate, its that you are not desperate enough." Those who are desperate despair in any self-reliance and fly to Christ as their strength and joy. Why do I not take to flight? I am still relying upon myself. I am not desperate enough.

The paradox
Notice that the invitation is to those who have "no money" ... yet the command is for them to "buy and eat." How can a person with no money buy food to eat? Today when a person has no cash they just buy it with a credit card ... in other words they don't pay for it, they accumulate a debt! In the case of the illustration, the credit agency is the one to whom the debt is owed, but in Isaiah, the lender of LORD. In other words, God commands us to become more in debted to him, to rely not upon our selves and our own "money" which is nothing more than "monopoly money." We are to see that in reality we have no money that can purchase real food. Thus we must come to God, not to give but to get and so go deeper and deeper in debt to God.

It is the lender who receives the glory and honor for his generosity and provision and it is the debtor who receives the joy and provision of his needs. Therefore it can be stated: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.