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

Feel free to share this blog with others.

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

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

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

Feel free to share this blog with others.

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

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

World Domination

A series on the Judges of Israel
 – Deborah from the tribe of Ephraim
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Judges 4-5 

[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.]

  

Risk is a board game where winning means world domination. It requires strategic alliances and risky cutthroat moves. The board is a political map of the world that is divided into 42 territories across six continents.

 

Each player starts out with the same number of playing pieces (their army) which they strategically place on the board. From there, you try to capture other territories from your opponents. The goal is to conquer and eliminate all the other players. But in order to win, you have to take risks!

 

In the opening verses of Judges 4, we see Israel's cycle repeating itself. Israel turned from the Lord; the Lord gave them over to Jabin, a Canaanite king who oppressed them for twenty years; Israel cried out to the Lord for help; the Lord sent a judge to deliver them.

 

Deborah was not only the Lord’s judge who led Israel, but also a prophet who settled the disputes of the people. One day, possibly after the people asked her what could be done about Sisera, she sent for Barak with this word from the Lord.

 

^6b “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. ⁷ I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”                    NIV

 

Even though the Lord promised to give Barak victory over Sisera, he wouldn’t do it unless Deborah came with him. He wouldn’t take the risk. Deborah complied with his demand, but prophesied that a woman would defeat Sisera, not Barak.

 

In the meantime, a spy informed Sisera of Barak’s plans to take his army to Mount Tabor. With this information, Sisera gathered his 900 iron chariots and all his warriors at the Kishon River. With the Jezreel Valley spreading out between the two armies, the stage was set for an epic battle.

 

Chariots were the tanks of the ancient world. So even though Barak had ten thousand fighting men, the Israelites were outmanned. Despite this, upon Deborah’s command, Barak and his army charged Sisera and his chariots, soundly defeating them. How did the Israelites overcome their superior weaponry?

 

God had provided a downpour that caused the Kishon River to overflow its banks making Sisera’s chariots useless in the mud. And when Sisera fled the battlefield and tried hiding in the tent of Jael, the wife of the spy, she killed him by hammering a tent peg through his temple.

 

We may not be in a fight against flesh and blood where we’re overpowered by their weaponry. But we do fight with an even more dangerous enemy. Paul described it as “mighty powers in this dark world”. And Peter gave this warning.

 

⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.        NIV

 

Like the game of Risk, the battles we face in life also have great risks, but the rewards are much greater. It’s not for world domination, but for eternal life.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com