#showthemjesus

"But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you in exile..."

This world is not our home, and our King is coming again! Are we getting too comfortable in Babylon? or are we trying to take things into our own hands?

We have a hope, and a reason for our hope. We have the glory of God fully revealed to us in the good news of Jesus Christ! We have the Word of God in our hands and in our hearts. what are we doing with it?

Isaiah 35:5 (ESV)

⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,   and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶then shall the lame man leap like a deer,   and the tongue of the mute sing for joy...

If you’re familiar with the New Testament, reading through Isaiah is gonna have a lot of “I’m sure I’ve read this somewhere before...” moments... 55 times to be exact. And this is one of them, one of my favourite ones in fact. 

Luke 7:18-20 (ESV)

¹⁸The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, ¹⁹calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” ²⁰And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

At first glance, one wouldn’t think much of this. But upon further thought, this is actually very strange. Wasn’t this the same John the Baptist who often spoke of the One who would come after Him, whom he was preparing the way for? The same John the Baptist who witnessed the the heavens open and the Spirit fall when baptizing Jesus, as God declared Jesus as the chosen servant (Isa 42:1)? The same John the Baptist that actually proclaimed with full conviction, “Behold the Lamb of God!”(John 1:35) Surely, if there was anyone more sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah, it would have been John. Yet, here we find him doubting... Why?

We know from Mark 1:14, that almost as soon as he baptized Jesus, he was imprisoned. Perhaps sitting there in prison, with seemingly nothing but his execution at hand, doubt ensued. Perhaps he thought to himself, “If Jesus really is the Messiah, why are the powers of darkness still prevailing over me? Why am I still sitting here awaiting my death? Has not the Lord come to set us free?” 

And so it was under these circumstances that John’s disciples came up to Jesus, on one of his busier days, where many were coming to him for healing and deliverance of all sorts - and indeed many were being healed! (Luke 7:21) Under these circumstances in which they essentially asked on behalf of John, “Have I lived my life in vain? Are you truly the Messiah that has come to set us free?”

What comes next is probably one of my favourite things about Jesus. He is such. a. boss. You can’t make this kind of thing up! 

²²And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. ²³And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  (Luke 7:22-23 ESV)

If it hasn’t hit you yet, this was a major throwback to the prophecies of Isaiah! 

Isaiah 35:2-6 (ESV)

²...They shall see the glory of the Lord,    the majesty of our God.

³Strengthen the weak hands,    and make firm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart,    “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God    will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God.    He will come and save you.”

⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,    and the ears of the deaf unstopped; ⁶then shall the lame man leap like a deer,    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy...

I don’t think there was ANY WAY anyone could have answered John’s question better. Jesus knew what was upon John’s heart. And in the most reassuring way possible (without even actually answering the question!), He comforted John and relinquished any lingering doubt.

You see, while we definitely don’t want to deny, nor discount that Jesus worked miracles in that day out of compassion for the people around Him, He never lost track of the greater purpose. All of the miracles that He did (in a way no other ever did) served to show one thing - He was indeed the Christ, and He has come to save. 

Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Though he may heal them physically now and save them from the brink of death, unless Jesus saves their souls, they shall surely die! That’s why Jesus at several occasions had to tell people not to speak of the miracles He had done, or had to pry himself away from the hurting, because He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 4:43). 

But you see, this message wasn’t just for John...

²³And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. (Luke 7:23)

Like John, the Jews in that day were expecting a Messiah to come to free them politically, to free them physically. For them who have been waiting for their Messiah with such eager anticipation, as they endure having their dignity as a nation being stripped away again and again, how preposterous it would be for this man who is doing absolutely nothing about Rome claim to be the Messiah! But blessed is the one who is not offended by Him, for He did not come to bring judgement, but to bear it. Instead of ascending a throne, He ascended a cross. He has come to save, but not in the way the people thought. The Kingdom has come, and we enter it through repentance and faith (Mark 1:15). 

Jesus worked miracles to show that He was indeed the Christ. The Christ who has come to seek and save the lost. In Jesus, we have seen the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of our God. He will return again to put an end to the effects of sin once and for all! But until then, like the Jews of the day and like John, our earthly kingdoms are not the same as His Kingdom! There will still be sickness and death, but we have hope - for all our sins are washed away! We have hope in our King!

Isaiah 7:1-2 (ESV)

“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. ²When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.”

As enemies encroach and surround, the hearts of Ahaz and His people shook as trees in the wind. So much so, that Ahaz, in desperation turned to every way he knew, except God’s. He worshiped Baal, sacrificed to all sorts of idols in every place, he even burned his own sons (2 Chron 28:1-4)!!

And as I cringed and shook my head at the atrocity of this evil king, I realised, isn’t this me? In the face of trials and temptations, does not my heart often shake like trees in the wind, and turn to trust my own systems, my own ability, my coping mechanisms, and yes, even to the sinful desires of my own heart?

Yet, the Lord knows the condition of our sick and feeble hearts, and He sends the remedy - His Word. 

Isaiah 7:3-4,11,14 (ESV) “³And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz... And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint... ¹¹“Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be... high as heaven.”... ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us).”

To the people of Judah, God intervened and reached out to give hope to His people to turn the hearts of His remnant to Himself. And He continues to do so even today. God Himself has reached out to us in our sin, even while we lived in rebellion. He has intervened with a sign truly “high as heaven”, He sent His Word, the one and only Son of God, Jesus - who is literally God with us. Today, despite the trials and temptations that come our way, we have the living and abiding Word of God, Christ in us, the hope of glory.

Isaiah 29:13 (ESV)

“...this people draw near with their mouth    and honor me with their lips,    while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men”

Why? Why would this people bother to continue in proper outward acts of worship if their hearts were cold and far away? If they did not even fear God? Perhaps one might consider our own experience and think - oh, it must be to fit in! Perhaps we’ve had times where we were compelled to appear to worship passionately, to serve “sacrificially”, to give “generously” because everyone else was doing it. And this verse does speak to that too. But I don’t think that’s what “this people” experienced. You see, in the context of this passage, it was clearly the majority that had their hearts far away, the majority that didn’t actually fear the Lord. Which begs the question... why? why would this people bother to continue in their hypocritical acts of worship? 

Might I suggest, that these people were outwardly “worshiping” God, as a way of evading Him at a deeper level. The people they were putting up a front for were in fact themselves! That in outwardly checking all the boxes, in going through the motion, they could get on with life without any real consideration for God. That by keeping up their outward acts of worship, they could tell themselves, “It’s all good”, when in reality, they are cherishing sin in their hearts, and have no regard for God (v15-16). 

God desires genuine worship from His people, hearts that fear Him and are drawn to Him. There must be a change of affections!

How often have I been guilty of this myself? When I’ve tried to check QT off the list without actually getting bare before God? When I go to church as a routine, without actually anticipating to be blown away by the glory of God with His saints? Yes, it may be hypocritical worship, but even worse than that, have I been evading God, from allowing Him to reveal the ugly bits in me, and to actually turn my heart wholly to Him? It isn’t just hypocritical worship, it’s silent, sinful, selfish rebellion of the heart. 

Yet how can I change that? Why would I? What would change my heart? But there is hope...

Isaiah 29:18-19 (ESV)

¹⁸In that day the deaf shall hear    the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness    the eyes of the blind shall see. ¹⁹The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

How will this happen?

Isaiah 33:10 (ESV)

¹⁰“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,    “now I will lift myself up;    now I will be exalted.

He will cause our blind eyes to see, for then, our eyes shall behold the king in his beauty (Isa 33:17). 

To the people of Judah in that time, this was their hope - 

“²²For... the Lord is our king; he will save us.”  (Isa 33:22)

Today, this hope has come in Jesus. For we have seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ our King, who has come to save. Who has come to make blind eyes see, and deaf ears hear, who has come to draw all men to himself.