Nobody expected it!

The most radical of all perspectives on the cross will become clear to us if we reflect on the relation between the Old and New Testaments in this regard. To put it in the bluntest possible terms, no one expected a crucified Messiah. Isaiah 53 provided a clue of a suggestion of a hint of a prediction (“He was despised and rejected by men. . . . The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all,” 53:3, 6), but virtually no one understood this to refer to the Messiah of Israel until after the resurrection.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 90 (emphasis original)

Psalm 33 and Isaiah 40

Yesterday's devotional at Seedbed was on Ps 33. It's a short little thing, as devotionals usually are, but this one seems especially appropriate for today:

If you feel powerless today, or that the purposes of God are somehow being thwarted in the world, then take heart. God is in control of human history. His plans will unfold according to his eternal and unchanging purposes. The last headline of the newspapers of the world will be: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).

I'm pretty sure that when they wrote this, they weren't intending to target a certain event happening in Washington, DC later today, but it is timely, isn't it?

And if you are one of those who is rejoicing over that event, remember that he, too, will one day bend the knee before the King of creation and give an account. Isaiah says it well:

5 The Lord’s glory will appear,
      and all humanity will see it together;
      the Lord’s mouth has commanded it.

6 A voice was saying:
       “Call out!”
And another[a] said,
      “What should I call out?”
All flesh is grass;
      all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
7 The grass dries up
      and the flower withers
      when the Lord’s breath blows on it.
      Surely the people are grass. Isaiah 40:5–7 (CEB)

Thought for the day

9b If you remove the yoke from among you,
the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;
10 if you open your heart to the hungry,
and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted,
your light will shine in the darkness,
and your gloom will be like the noon.
11 The Lord will guide you continually
and provide for you, even in parched places.
He will rescue your bones.
You will be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water that won’t run dry.
12 They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account;
the foundations of generations past you will restore.
You will be called Mender of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Livable Streets. (Isa 58:9b–12 CEB)

Thought for today

10:1 Doom to those who pronounce wicked decrees,
and keep writing harmful laws
2 to deprive the needy of their rights
and to rob the poor among my people of justice;
to make widows their loot;
to steal from orphans!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment
when disaster comes from far away?
To whom will you flee for help;
where will you stash your wealth?
4 How will you avoid crouching among the prisoners
and falling among the slain?
Even so, God’s anger hasn’t turned away;
God’s hand is still extended.

13 He said, “By my own strength I have achieved it,
and by my wisdom, since I’m so clever.
I disregarded national boundaries; I raided their treasures;
I knocked down their rulers like a bull.
14 My hand found the wealth of the peoples
as if it were in a nest.
Just as one gathers abandoned eggs,
I have gathered the entire earth;
no creature fluttered a wing or opened a mouth to chirp.”

15 Will the ax glorify itself over the one who chops with it?
Or will the saw magnify itself over its user?
As if a rod could wave the one who lifts it!
As if a staff could lift up the one not made of wood!
16 Therefore, the Lord God of heavenly forces
will make the well-fed people waste away;
and among his officials,
a blaze will burn like scorching fire.
17 The light of Israel will become a fire,
its holy one a flame,
which will burn and devour
its thorns and thistles
in a single day.
18 Its abundant forest and farmland
will be finished completely,
as when a sick person wastes away;
19 its forest’s remaining trees will be no more than a child can count. Isaiah 10:1–4, 13–19 (CEB)

Thought for today

14 I hate your new moons and your festivals.
They’ve become a burden that I’m tired of bearing.
15 When you extend your hands,
I’ll hide my eyes from you.
Even when you pray for a long time,
I won’t listen.
Your hands are stained with blood.
16 Wash! Be clean!
Remove your ugly deeds from my sight.
Put an end to such evil;
17 learn to do good.
Seek justice:
help the oppressed;
defend the orphan;
plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let’s settle this,
says the Lord.

22 Your silver has become impure;
your beer is diluted with water.
23 Your princes are rebels,
companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe and pursues gifts.
They don’t defend the orphan,
and the widow’s cause never reaches them.
24 Therefore, says the Lord God of heavenly forces,
the mighty one of Israel:
Doom! I will vent my anger against my foes;
I will take it out on my enemies,
25 and I will turn my hand against you.
I will refine your impurities as with lye,
and remove all your cinders. Isa 1:14–18, 22–25 (CEB)

The nourishing God

Blending the imagery of flowing milk into that of flowing water, the passage goes on to promise that the wealth of nations will be “like an overflowing stream,” inverting the negative imagery of floods as a violent threat in, for example, [Isaiah] 30:28; 28:2, 15–18; and 10:22. God then says: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (66:13). So this passage distances YHWH from breastfeeding imagery both through the use of simile and by projecting the divine nursing onto Jerusalem/Zion as a proxy. Nevertheless, it is difficult to ignore the effort to connect God with dea nutrix imagery. —Christopher B. Hays in Divine Doppelgängers: YHWH’s Ancient Look-Alikes, 207