He Gets Us

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – Wonderful Counselor
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
John 7:10-52 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

  

You may have seen commercials for the media campaign called “He Gets Us”. The focus of this campaign is to reintroduce Jesus in a way that shows that he understands us, as well as to encourage people to love their neighbors.

 

During Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet of God, Israel had already been divided into the northern and southern kingdoms. And Assyria was aggressively expanding their kingdom. It was a dark world where Isaiah spoke mostly about judgment, but also words of hope. Words about a Messiah who they believed would one day rule their nation.

 

Isaiah told them that the “darkness and despair will not go on forever”. That the nation of Israel will see a great light and rejoice. Then he prophesized that a “child will be born and that the government will rest on his shoulders”. He then added that the child will be called “Wonderful Counselor”.

 

The Festival of Tabernacles was a pilgrimage festival that brought Jews to Jerusalem from far and wide. Jesus was freely teaching in the temple courts. Recently he also had healed someone on the Sabath, which was strictly forbidden by Jewish law. Between his teachings and the healing, Jesus was creating controversy.

 

The crowds couldn’t agree on who he was. Some thought he was the Prophet spoken of in the Old Testament. Some said he was a good man, while others thought he was possessed by a demon. Thinking that he might be the Messiah, many believed in Jesus. Others were amazed at what Jesus said because he had no formal training.

 

What would make someone a “Wonderful Counselor”? Being compassionate and empathetic? Or being wise and insightful? What about helping people to understand themselves and giving practical insights on how to deal with their problems?

 

Jesus had all these qualities and more.

 

The writer of Hebrews said that he can “empathize with our weaknesses” because he’s been tempted in every way like us but without sin.

 

When David confessed his sin of adultery, the Lord promised, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you”.

 

Upon reflecting about the Lord, the psalmist wrote that “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path”.

 

Prophesying about the Messiah, Isaiah wrote that the “Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord”.

The question asked by the festival crowds reverberates through the centuries: “Who is this man”? The same question is there for us to answer. Isaiah said that he was to be called “Wonderful Counselor”.

 

Indeed… “He Gets Us”.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Within You

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – King of Kings
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Daniel 2:24-49 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

  

In 1961 a movie titled “King of Kings” was released. It was an epic production about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. 

The person of Jesus came alive on the screen showing “the power, the passion, the greatness and the glory” of the King of kings. But there were many great and powerful kings before Jesus.

 

King Nebuchadnezzar was the second king of the Babylonian Empire. Early in his reign he had dreams that disturbed him so much that he was unable to sleep. His magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers couldn’t tell him what he had dreamed, let alone its interpretation. The king became furious and ordered the execution of the wise men which included Daniel, a Jewish exile in Babylon.

 

But the Lord revealed both the dreams and the interpretation of them to Daniel. Once he learned this, he went before Nebuchadnezzar and told him that his dreams were about the future. He explained that no man could do what the king was asking, but that the God in heaven had revealed it to him.

 

Daniel described what the king had seen in his dreams as an enormous statue of a man that was awe inspiring. Its head was gold, its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were iron and clay.

 

Continuing, Daniel related that the king had also seen in his dreams a rock that was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. And the rock smashed the statue to pieces which were then blown away like dust in the wind. Following this, the rock became a great mountain that filled the whole earth.

 

After describing the king’s dreams, Daniel interpreted them. The statue represented four successive kingdoms. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar. But after his kingdom comes to an end another kingdom will take his place, then a third and finally a fourth kingdom. Each kingdom will replace the one before it.

 

Finally, Daniel explained what the rock represented. The one that was cut from the mountain and had crushed the statue.

 

⁴⁴ “During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever.           NLT

 

For centuries, the Jews had been expecting a Messiah who would fulfill this prophecy of the rock by building a political kingdom. As Isaiah 9:6 states, “The government will rest on His shoulders”. But that wasn’t what Jesus did. Instead, he came to build an eternal kingdom… the Kingdom of God.

 

In Luke 17 we read that on one occasion the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. Here is his answer.

 

^20b Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. ²¹ You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”   NIV

 

In this verse the Living Bible translates “among you” as “within you”. Think about that for a minute. This means that as a believer in Christ that the King of king’s lives within you wherever you go and whatever you do. Paul put it like this.

 

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.      NIV

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

It’s Complicated

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – Son of God
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 7:1-17; Matthew 1:18-25 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

 

“The Night Before Christmas” is a classic poem/book about Santa Claus being discovered by a dad on Christmas Eve. It paints an idyllic picture of the children snug in their beds when Dad hears a noise and springs from his bed. To his surprise he discovers that it’s Santa and his eight tiny reindeer.

 

Another image of Christmas is the surreal picture of the baby Jesus lying in a manger with Joseph and Mary gazing at him. A bright star shines overhead. Close by are some shepherds. Three wise men are kneeling and a few barn animals graze nearby. It all looks so very peaceful.

 

However, life was anything but peaceful or idyllic during Isaiah’s ministry as the Lord’s prophet. Assyria was on a murderous rampage moving westward and conquering any nation that dared to get in their way… including Israel and Aram.

 

To protect themselves, King Rezin of Aram and King Remaliah of Israel, formed an alliance. Then they devised a plan to coerce King Ahaz of Judah to join with them. But their real plan was to dismantle Judah and put their own puppet king in place of Ahaz.

 

Despite Isaiah telling him that the Sovereign Lord had promised that their plan would fail, Ahaz trembled in fear. He didn’t have faith in the Lord. Because of this, he decided to take things into his own hands by making an alliance with Assyria against Israel and Aram. It’s complicated!

 

But the Lord gave Ahaz a sign to confirm his promise of protection.

 

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.                NIV

 

Fast forward over 700 years later. Mary, a teenage girl was engaged to Joseph. But he learned that she was pregnant so he planned to divorce her quietly. However, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him that the baby was miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit. Also, that she would have a son who was to be named Jesus because he would “save his people from their sins”.

 

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).       NIV

 

Truth be known, it wasn’t peaceful or idyllic for Joseph or Mary. In fact, it must have been very stressful! After all, Mary eventually went to her cousin Elizabeth’s to avoid the rumors and shame of being pregnant. And Joseph’s carpentry business could very easily have been hurt by the apparent illicit affair. It’s complicated!

 

In an effort to make it less complicated, John explained it like this.

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.         NIV

 

Jesus, the Son of Man and the Son of God doesn’t promise peace, but he does give us peace in the midst of chaos. Life is complicated, but the Sovereign Lord is always with us.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

The Rest of the Story

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – Son of Man
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Daniel 7:1-18; Hebrews 4:14-16 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

 

The story below was taken from a Paul Harvey radio broadcast in 2004.

 

During a winter storm one Christmas Eve, a man discovered that a flock of birds had flown into his picture window seeking shelter from the snowstorm. They were huddled outside under the window trying to survive.

 

Seeing their plight, he attempted to save them by getting them into his barn. First, he opened the barn door and turned on the lights. Then he made a trail of bread crumbs leading to the door. Finally, he tried shooing them into the barn. Nothing worked.

 

Suddenly, he realized that they were afraid of him. He thought, if only I could become a bird, then they would follow me into the safety of the barn. No sooner had this thought passed when he understood. That’s exactly what Jesus had done to save us.

 

In 605 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and defeated Judah. The king ordered that some of the best and brightest of the Israelites be deported to Babylon where they would serve him in his court. Daniel was among them.

 

Being uprooted was a challenge for Daniel and the others. They were forced to leave their family, their home and their Temple; to live in a land that they had never seen and amongst a people whose culture and gods they were in conflict with.

 

In chapter 7 Daniel has an apocalyptic dream about four beasts that represent four kingdoms that rise to power on earth. They were the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian alliance, the Greece kingdom and the Roman Empire. But then Daniel saw a vision of another kingdom.

 

¹³ As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.                    NLT

 

From these verses, Jesus chose the title that he most often used for himself… “Son of Man”. Like the man in Paul Harvey’s story, Jesus realized that he needed to become one of us so that we would trust him and not be afraid.

 

Isaiah prophesied, “For to us a child is born”. He became one of us… not a god or a king, but a child. The writer of Hebrews described what it means for the Messiah to be born a child.

 

¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.    NIV

 

As Paul Harvey said at the end of all of his broadcasts, "And now you know... the rest of the story".

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Survivor

 

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
 – Introduction
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 7:1-17; 9:1-7 

[Jesus was a child of prophecy. The Christmas story in the Bible was predicted in many Old Testament prophecies but the centerpiece of these is Isaiah 9:6. It was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. In this series we’re going to look at the meaning and implications of this amazing prophecy.]

  

The reality TV show “Survivor” is in its 47^th season. The premise is that 18 strangers are placed on an island together with no shelter and little or no food. One by one, they vote each other out of the game until only the winner remains.

 

As the number of participants are reduced, the lying and manipulation increases. Alliances are made and broken, sometimes on the same day. The prize is one million dollars… so the stakes are high. People become desperate to survive. It is survival of the fittest.

 

Isaiah lived in a tumultuous time of history. The world was full of political intrigue, shifting alliances and warring nations. It was a matter of survival on both a national and personal level. It was survival of the fittest.

 

The Assyrian Empire was expanding to the west. The brutality of the Assyrian military was evident in their merciless torture and terrorism. Fear and intimidation were among their weapons. They were masters at siege warfare and one of the first to use cavalry in battle giving them a decided advantage.

 

Israel was now divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, with the northern kingdom in the crosshairs of Assyria. As a result, both nations were weakened.

 

In order to combat this, Israel and Aram formed an alliance and then tried to usurp King Ahaz of Judah into a forced coalition against Assyria. Their plan was to replace Ahaz with their own man as king. As you might expect, this possibility terrified Ahaz as well as the people of Judah.

 

But Isaiah met with Ahaz and told him not to worry. That the Sovereign Lord wouldn’t let this happen. However, Isaiah also warned Ahaz of the consequences if he chose to form an alliance with Assyria instead of trusting the Lord. It would mean a broken alliance that would result in the oppression of Judah by Assyria.

 

Ahaz didn’t listen to Isaiah and the result was as prophesied. Assyria became not only the Lord’s instrument of judgement for Israel, but also Judah. But there was hope. Isaiah prophesied that the people who walked in darkness will see a great light; that they will be freed from the “yoke of their slavery”.

 

Into our world of survival, Isaiah pronounced this famous prophecy from the Lord.

 

⁶ For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

 

For centuries, the Jews believed that this meant someday they would have an earthly kingdom. But not Jesus, for him it meant an eternal kingdom. The birth of Christ was the kingdom of heaven come down to earth. He was, is and continues to be "Immanuel, God with us”.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Monday Morning Quarterback

A series on the Judges of Israel
 – Samson from the tribe of Dan
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 16:4-30 

[The book of Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]

  

Every Wednesday, I have a zoom call with a good friend of mine who lives in Nevada. At some point during the call the conversation invariably turns to the most recent Michigan State football game.

 

True to the “experts” that we are, we analyze the problems that the Spartans are having and what they need to do in order to correct them. If only the coach would contact us, I’m sure we’d have things turned around in no time. You could easily call us a “Monday morning quarterback”.

 

Sampson is an easy target for a Monday morning quarterback.

 

Once again Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. As a result, he handed them over to the Philistines who oppressed them for forty years. During that time the angel of the Lord appeared to a barren woman telling her that she would become pregnant and that her son would take the lead in delivering Israel from the Philistines.

 

True to the word of the angel, she gave birth to a son who she named Samson. Unfortunately, he became a flawed man with feet of clay. Although he was feared far and wide, he also had a weakness for Philistine women that led to his demise.

 

There are a series of bizarre stories that revolve around a Philistine woman that Samson insisted on marrying. These stories put on public display his compulsive, violent and vengeful behavior. However, the Lord was at work through this as Samson confronted the Philistines.

 

Later when Samson fell in love with Delilah, the rulers of the Philistines offered her a significant bribe to find out what gave Samson his strength. Motivated by greed, Delilah nagged Samson “day after day until he was sick to death of it”.

 

Having grown weary of her nagging, he finally told her that it was his hair. With this information, the Philistines were able to capture Samson, gouging out his eyes. In the closing story, the Philistine rulers gathered together to celebrate in the temple of their god Dagon.

 

But with one final act of revenge, Samson asked the Lord to give him the strength that he might kill all who were present at the gathering, including himself. There were over three thousand men and women praising their god for capturing their mortal enemy, when Samson brought the temple down on top of them.

 

As an experienced Monday morning quarterback, I would say that Samson had some great strengths, but also some glaring weaknesses. Despite this, God worked in and through his life.

 

In fact, he is mentioned as one of the heroes of the faith in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. Here’s what is written about Samson and some others.

³³ By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight.        NLT

 

Like Samson, none of us are perfect, and yet the Lord has called us to serve him by faith.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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A Cookie Cutter God

A series on the Judges of Israel
 – Jephthah from the tribe of Manasseh in Transjordan
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 10:6-11:33 

[The book of Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]

Every year before Christmas, my wife invites our grandchildren over to bake Christmas cookies. When she started this tradition, she used metal cookie cutters to form the dough into various Christmas images like a tree, a star or an angel. They would make a whole batch of cookies that all looked and tasted exactly the same.

 

However, life isn’t like that. It’s not a cookie cutter pattern. Life takes all kinds of unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. Here’s a story for you that exemplifies this.

 

⁶ Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all.         NLT

 

What happened next was predictable. The Lord burned with anger and gave Israel over to the Philistines and the Ammonites who oppressed them for eighteen years. Eventually, Israel repented and cried out to the Lord for help. But the Lord said no!

 

¹⁴ Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen! Let them rescue you in your hour of distress!”       NLT

 

Finally, the Lord relented when Israel “put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord”. But when the Ammonites prepared for war by gathering their armies together in Gilead, none of the leaders of Gilead wanted to lead the fight against them. Enter Jephthah! But there was a problem!

 

Even though Jephthah was a mighty warrior, his mother was a prostitute. Plus, his father had other sons by his wife. Those half-brothers decided to force Jephthah out of the region of Gilead. Something about not wanting to share the inheritance. As a result, Jephthah was an outcast in a foreign land.

 

Despite this, the elders from Gilead approached Jephthah and asked him to lead their army. They knew his reputation as a mighty warrior. Following some negotiations, they promised with “the Lord as our witness”, that if Jephthah accepted their offer, they would make him the ruler over all the people of Gilead.

 

Being a mighty warrior, you might have expected Jephthah to immediately attack the Ammonite armies. Instead, he sent messengers to negotiate. However, when the king of Ammon rejected Jephthah’s message, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.

 

³² So Jephthah led his army against the Ammonites, and the Lord gave him victory.  NLT

 

Jephthah’s life and faith was anything but a cookie cutter pattern. There were many unexpected twists and turns, ups and downs. But through it all, the Lord was at work.

 

Like Jephthah, the Lord is at work in your life and mine. But He is not a cookie cutter God. Not every person that has faith looks like a tree, a star or an angel. The Lord works in unexpected ways and in ways that we may never understand.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

Mighty Warrior

A series on the Judges of Israel
 – Gideon from the tribe of Manasseh
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 6 

[The book of Judges is a roller coaster ride. It’s about the history of Israel following their entry into the Promised Land. Unfortunately, Israel went through cycles of rejecting God and then repenting. Each time, the Lord saved them by raising up a leader who was called a judge. In this series, we will be looking at some of these judges to learn about God’s character as well as our own.]

  

¹ The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites.    NIV

 

Bam! Just like that! The cycle started again! Only this time, the Lord didn’t oppress Israel through an occupying nation, but instead through a nation of nomadic herdsmen that invaded the lush Jezreel Valley, the breadbasket of Israel. Like clockwork, when Israel was harvesting their crops, the Midianites would invade.

 

⁵ These enemy hordes, coming with their livestock and tents, were as thick as locusts; they arrived on droves of camels too numerous to count. And they stayed until the land was stripped bare. ⁶ So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help. NLT

 

Because the Midianites were so cruel, the Israelites hid in the “mountain clefts, caves and strongholds”, especially when they were harvesting crops. Such was the case for Gideon who was hiding in a winepress to harvest his wheat.

 

An angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to Gideon saying, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” Gideon was anything but a “mighty warrior”. He saw himself as a fearful farmer. A man whose clan was the weakest and whose family worshiped Baal. He even accused the Lord of abandoning Israel. Here’s what the Lord said.

 

¹⁴ Then the Lord turned to Gideon and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”            NLT

 

Gideon needed reassurance. Therefore, he asked the angel to show him a sign that it was the Lord who was speaking to him. It was a small step of faith, but Gideon was “going with the strength you have”.

 

Following this, the angel gave Gideon a challenge. He told Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and the Asherah pole. Because he was afraid of his family and the townspeople, Gideon did it at night. Still, he took a huge risk. This step of faith brought him closer to being ready to fulfill the angel’s title of “mighty warrior”.

 

As the Midianites and their allies gathered in the Jezreel Valley, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. He called the Israelites to prepare to fight. But even then, before Gideon was willing to go to battle, he twice asked the Lord for a sign.

 

Gideon was no different than you or me. He was afraid to take risks; to step out in faith; to lose control. He saw himself as the world saw him, not as the Lord saw him. He let the culture around him shape his life. Despite this, when he was called and sent by the Lord, he obeyed.

 

¹⁶ The Lord said to Gideon, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”      NLT

 

The Lord doesn’t want a mighty warrior. He wants us to “go with the strength you have” and in the knowledge that the Lord will be with us.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com