One on One: January 2025

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Keep Going and Going and Going

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
– Everlasting Father
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 40:1-11; 28-31

[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 Energizer Bunny has been around since 1989. You know the commercials! The ones with the toy bunny that runs on an Energizer battery and is beating a drum. Then the narrator says: “Nothing outlasts the Energizer battery. It keeps going and going and going.”

In a world where nothing seems to last – marriages and jobs for instance – it would be nice to have something that you could count on. Something that would last forever.

Isaiah lived in a time when the world was unstable. Nothing lasted! The people that God had called as His own, had divided into two nations – Israel and Judah. Unable to reconcile, there was bad blood between the two.

In addition, Assyria was aggressively invading the nations of the known world. They were a very real threat to Judah and Jerusalem. Many Jews would be captured and others forcibly exiled to a foreign land. Nothing seemed to last forever.

However, during this time of uncertainty, Isaiah spoke these words about an Everlasting Father.

⁶For 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.             NIV    Isaiah 9

Later, in Isaiah 40, he spoke about the comfort that God would bring to his people. He painted a picture of “preparing the way” for a king who would return to Jerusalem! He described how people are like grass which will wither, but that “the word of our God endures forever”! Finally, he declared how the people of Jerusalem would shout, “Your God is coming!”

The Energizer bunny keeps going and going and going. If only life were so simple. But life can be hectic, if not chaotic. Life can be out of control, despite our best efforts to control it. Life can be painful, even though we try to avoid pain.

Thankfully, our God, is a God who comforts us in those chaotic, out of control and painful times. To make this point, Isaiah used a shepherd as an example.

¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd.
He will carry the lambs in his arms,
holding them close to his heart.
He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. NLT

Jesus embraced the imagery of being a shepherd. But for him, it wasn’t just imagery, it was who he was and what he came to accomplish. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep”.

When we experience the comfort of the “good shepherd”, he gives us hope and strength to keep going and going and going.

³¹but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. NIV

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

Saturday, January 4, 2025

The Incongruities of Life

A series on Isaiah 9:6 – The Child of Prophecy
– Mighty God
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Isaiah 8:19-9:7

The definition of the word incongruous is: “strange because of not agreeing with what is usual or expected”. Something that is incongruous is something that doesn’t fit; it doesn’t make sense; it’s out of place... like a duck out of water.

In the days that Isaiah walked the earth, the Israelites were in a hopeless situation. Judah and Israel were already divided and at odds with one another. On top of that, Assyria was baring down on both.

As a result, the Israelites were dealing with economic oppression, war and destruction. However, rather than calling out to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they consulted mediums.

Despite this, Isaiah brought a message of hope from the Lord. He told them that “darkness and despair will not go on forever”. That the “rod of the oppressor” would be broken… could that be Assyria? That warfare would end.

Then he made a statement that had so many incongruities that it would make your head spin.

Isaiah goes on to say that the child will sit on David’s throne for eternity. How can this be? How can a child, a little baby, at the same time be called Mighty God and establish an eternal kingdom?

The Israelites may very well have applied Isaiah’s words to their situation at the time. But the truth is, his words were a Messianic prophecy that wouldn’t be fulfilled for over 700 years.

In Matthew 4 we read that when John the Baptist was put in prison, Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee.

¹³He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
    beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
    in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,
¹⁶the people who sat in darkness
    have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
    a light has shined.”        NLT

Isaiah spoke words that on the surface were filled with incongruities. But in the fulness of time, in God’s time, his words made perfect sense. The child would be called Mighty God as he established the Kingdom of Heaven. An eternal kingdom that still brings light and hope for us today.

God works through the incongruities of life. Even when we experience great troubles, He is the “the great and mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of unfailing love”.