Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Oct 31 2019 - Isaiah 62 – Zion's new name

When the Babylonians captured Jerusalem they ransacked the city, removing all that was of value and then burning down the temple and the other buildings and breaking down its walls. The city had been left in ruins. Now the Lord promises to restore the city and to bring back its inhabitants.

Zion and Jerusalem are used in this chapter as shorthand for the people of God. The speaker in these verses seems to be different from the Lord (see, for instance, vv. 1-3), and yet also seems to play a key role in ensuring the restoration of the city (see vv. 6-7). Who then is speaking in this chapter? In light of the opening verses of the previous chapter, it is perhaps best to read these words as the voice of the Messiah, the Suffering Servant and triumphant Saviour. It is our Lord Jesus who, on the basis of his death and resurrection will not remain silent until all whom he has ransomed are vindicated and their salvation shines out like the dawn (v. 1). The risen Lord wants his people to share in his risen and ascended glory and will not be satisfied until they do.

Nor is the Lord Jesus alone in this work of intercession. In verses 6-7 he declares:

I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
    they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest,
and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes her the praise of the earth.

The Lord has appointed people to act as intercessors for the kingdom. Just as the Lord Jesus himself takes no rest from his work of intercession, so they are to take no rest. They are to call upon God day and night, giving him no rest until "he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth."

What does this mean? These watchmen are to keep watch over the safety and wellbeing of the people of God – they are watchmen upon the walls, ever alert to the danger of attack. They are to pray continually for the coming of God's kingdom and for the arrival of the day when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. They are to refuse to be satisfied by the present state of the people of God but are constantly to plead with God for more – more of his glory to be seen in his people and more to be added to their number. In the homely but remarkable language of these verses, they are to allow God no peace until his kingdom comes.

Who are these watchmen? It might be comfortable to see them as a special class among the people of God, maybe Ministers or Pastors whom the Lord Jesus has called to watch over and intercede for the people of God. That is indeed an important aspect of the task of such Pastors. But I would suggest that, just as the Lord taught all his disciples to pray "Your kingdom come…", so this also is, in measure, part of the calling of every Christian. Our prayers for the coming of God's kingdom are to be ceaseless, fervent and are to give God no rest. This is prayer that delights his heart for it is firstly the prayer of his Son and secondly the prayer that his Spirit prompts in our hearts.

And this is prayer that receives a speedy reply from the Lord. He has already given us his Son to be Saviour of the world (v. 11). And what he is now doing among his people will attract yet more to "pass through the gates" of salvation and enter into the fellowship of his redeemed people (v. 10). Make unceasing prayer a priority: prayer for God's glory to shine unhindered in the church; prayer for the expansion and coming of God's kingdom.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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Oct 31 2020 - John 3:1-21 – Healing judgment

Nicodemus the Pharisee had come by night to talk with Jesus. He recognised that Jesus was a teacher sent from God and wanted to understand more of who Jesus was and to learn from his teaching. But as Jesus speaks to him about the need to be born again, born of the Spirit, Nicodemus is confused; he cannot understand what Jesus is saying. So, to help him, Jesus uses an illustration that Nicodemus would have been familiar with from the books of the Law; “‘Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:14-17)

How strange that Moses should have been told to construct a brass snake on a pole for the healing of those who were being bitten by snakes. The snakes, we are told in Numbers 21, were sent as a judgment by God upon a rebellious people. Yet whoever looked at the image of the snake, the object of judgment, would be healed from that judgment and would live.

Jesus speaks prophetically of his death as being like that snake on a pole. In his cross we see the judgment of God upon a rebellious people, he became the object of the judgment that was our due:

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

And so we have this strange source of healing – through looking at a man who hangs upon a cross; “There is life for a look at the crucified one.”

The cross is a demonstration not only of God’s wrath but also of the depth and extent of his love; “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We are as incapable of fully understanding these things as was Nicodemus, but we believe them and lay hold of Christ by faith that we might live.

God did not send his Son into the world for the sake of a few. God loves the world, and sent his Son to be Saviour of the world. It is not enough for us to look to Christ and live. Like John the Baptiser of whom we were reading two days ago, we must point others to the Saviour that they also might look and live.

Father God, I thank you for your love shown towards us in the Lord Jesus. Help me to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that I might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Fill me with your love that I might share your passion to rescue a lost world. May your Spirit who has given me life help me to tell others of the life that is to be found in Jesus the Crucified Saviour.

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Peter Misselbrook