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The Chosen Servant

By James Austin on August 24, 2020 in Theology

This post is about the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the Servant of Yahweh, as described in his first Servant Song (Is 42:1-7). Through the course of history, we come to recognize the characteristics of this Servant as the Messiah promised by Yahweh through the prophet Isaiah and others. Moreover, we are able to see what was written about Him by the prophet to reveal His activity and identity as Jesus from what was recorded within the New Testament gospels. The Servant’s work, as described in the Song written through the prophet of Isaiah, gives us specifics about what to expect in terms of forthcoming fulfillment. Its implications and purpose have an enormous significance concerning the freedom and enlightenment of humanity for many generations.

Setting & Background

Prior to the Assyrian and Babylonian exile of both Israel and Judah (~740BC), Isaiah wrote a series of four Songs (poems) about the servant of YHWH to describe the coming Messiah’s prophetic and corporate solidarity¹ between Jesus and Israel as they concern God’s people returned to Him. The Servant passages in the book of Isaiah from chapters 42 through 53 describe the context by which the first Song of the Servant becomes revealed. To bring Israel, and His people back to God, the Servant is selected (Is 42:1-7) to make the way (Is 49:1-6) through suffering (Is 50:4-9), and to become a sacrifice which was cut-off (Is 52:13, 53:12) as it was revealed by YHWH in the New Testament while referenced through the prophet Isaiah.²
All four songs of the Servant work together to form a clear view about who YHWH is.

#	Song / Poem	Scripture
1.	The Chosen Servant	Isaiah 42:1-7
2.	The Called Servant	Isaiah 49:1-6
3.	The Stricken Servant	Isaiah 50:4-9
4.	The Suffering Servant	Isaiah 52:13- 53:12

The Chosen Servant

From a careful analysis of the first song, Isaiah 42:1-7 describes the character attributes of the Messiah. YHWH describes His Servant as delightful and the One whom He has chosen to accomplish His redemptive will. He was appointed to bring justice through His sacrifice for the sins of the elect among humanity. To bring the Kingdom of God to the Earth and provide the way (Jn 14:6) by which its people among the nations are justified and put in right standing with God. The Kingdom of God is upon the people of the nations with the Holy Spirit placed upon the Servant of YHWH to accomplish His will by returning His people to Him.

The Apostle Matthew cited the fulfillment of the first prophetic song of the Servant as a gospel witness to what Jesus spoke about concerning His identity and mission. Where Matthew 12:18-21 calls attention to the Isaiah text about His appointment as the Servant of YHWH.³ There is no other, but YHWH incarnate eligible to bear the iniquity of us all (Is 53:6) to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of humanity. People within generations of humanity who by faith repent and follow Him.

As Jesus was called to become the light of the nations, His salvation extends to everyone throughout the Earth over time (Is 49:6). This light is perceived to make a way out of the darkness of sin and its consequences. While the restoration of Israel through a Messiah was expected from His people at the time of Assyrian, or Babylonian captivity, various prophets pointed to a much more significant promise. Where both the Jews and Gentiles would come into His Kingdom of a different sort. Through the light of the Messiah to lead people out of the darkness of sin and death into restoration and renewal.

To produce this light referenced in Isaiah’s prophecy (Is 49:6), the significance of Isaiah 42:6-7 is astonishing in both a literal and figurative sense. On the one hand, it is recognized throughout the New Testament; people are spiritually blind, where they well in the darkness of their sin and corruption. Subject to permanent separation from God, people throughout history were without hope. Due to their disobedience, rejection of former covenants, and total alienation, they had no way to return without direct spiritual intervention from YHWH. Groping about without eyes to see, people were lost and no way back to God.⁴

The people of God needed a restored vision to perceive hope with credibility from the prophet Isaiah, among others. As through His prophets, YHWH reiterated the specific details about the future coming Messiah. Where in the New Testament we are given Jesus as a source of light for our vision as we are made to see. As prophesied, a new covenant was given as a light for the nations to open eyes that are blind, both symbolically and literally.⁵ In fulfillment, through spiritual rebirth, people are able to see the truth of Christ by what He accomplished. In a literal sense, we read of accounts where Jesus physically healed individuals who were blind (Matt. 9:27-31, Mark 8:14-30, John 9:1-41). In both cases, we see God’s concurrent work through the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning Christ’s work as the chosen Servant of YHWH.

Implications & Purpose

From long ago, the people of Israel were given details about the Messiah so that they would know what to expect. Both literally and figuratively, the prophet Isaiah provided sufficient details about the Chosen Servant’s work to understand the nature of the new covenant ahead. The transition from the Old Covenants of Adam through David toward a New Covenant through Christ away from the Mosaic Law (Heb 8:13), brought in an age of grace for both the Jews and Gentiles. Where this light in the darkness among the nations would shine to illuminate the way back to YHWH.

Just as His people were held captive in both Assyria and Babylon, they were held captive to sin, which brought them to continued judgment. The people of YHWH repeatedly unable to fulfill their covenant oath would become transformed through Christ’s work in the New Covenant. As explicitly written by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer 31:33, Ezek 11:19, 36:26, Heb 8:10), the hearts of the people would become transformed as they are made to see most often toward spiritual sight, but also at times in a literal way as well. To demonstrate the literal healing of the blind, Jesus physically healed people who were unable to see. As given by the miracle accounts given in the gospels to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah that Christ would open or restore the eyes of those who were blind.

The entire purpose of the promised new covenant was to bring them out of darkness to point them to who He is and what He was chosen to do (John 17:24) as the work of the chosen Servant was to bring the people of God to Him (John 17:4, 6-10). He went about the people of Israel healing them of handicaps and permanent physical conditions. To restore sight to the blind was especially significant because of what it represented in terms of what it meant and what prophecy was fulfilled.

When the Pharisees of John 9:13 learned of the blind man who was healed, they knew what the implications were. Since they were adept at the law and the prophets, they certainly knew of Isaiah’s prophecy written (Isaiah 42:7). The fact they were in witness of a man who had his sight recovered directly informed them that fulfillment of this prophecy had occurred in a literal way. Yet they were in denial (John 9:29) of who Jesus was as the Messiah. Just as the people of Israel rejected their covenants with YHWH, the religious leaders of first-century Jerusalem did the same of their Messiah. In fact, they were blind too as Jesus Himself refers to them as “blind guides” (Matt 23:24). A direct reference to their inability to see the truth of who Jesus is even while He fulfilled prophecy and performed miracles before them. They were blind in a figurative way while in denial.

The song of the chosen Servant in this way involved His work to fulfill prophecy and perform miraculous signs, but also to suffer eventual and thorough repudiation from the blind guides among religious leaders of the time. The religious leadership in opposition to Jesus as Messiah was remarkable even with the bald-faced evidence of what He accomplished, from the testimony of others and that of Himself. The numerous woes cast upon the Pharisees made repeated references to their spiritual blindness throughout the gospel of Matthew and elsewhere. As having further prophetic meaning, Jesus was rejected through the messianic imagery presented by Isaiah as a stumbling block (Is 8:14) and a costly cornerstone (Is 28:16) that was rejected (Ps 118:22).There was nothing the chosen Servant of YHWH could have done in the fulfillment of prophecies, or through His miraculous signs performed to reach the blind religious leaders that rejected Him. Their self-inflicted condemnation by refusal to accept the truth of the Messiah was in itself an indication that Jesus was who He said He was.

Among the fulfilled prophecies of healing the blind, the Mark 8:22-26 account of the restored sight of a man in Bethsaida gives further context to what Isaiah wrote. This healing had a secondary effect among the Apostles, as demonstrated by taking a wider view of Scripture to understand what occurred. Just before Jesus healed the blind man, He asked His Apostles if they were unable to see because they were concerned about having food to eat. As if they had eyes, but were unable to see, Jesus asked them if they were not able to understand what it is they were able to perceive. What Jesus did to produce food for five thousand people on one occurrence and four thousand on another should have opened their eyes to inform them that He is the Light of the world (John 8:12).

After this confrontation with His Apostles, when they come upon the blind man in Bethsaida, it’s as if he was there to further fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah and demonstrate to the Apostles what it was to have your eyes opened both literally and spiritually. The fact that He performed such a miracle after feeding several thousand people with a few scraps of food should be jarring to the Apostles in terms of His identity and what the prophet Isaiah spoke about Him. Right after this encounter, Jesus asked His Apostles about who He is. To check and see if they got the picture, “but who do you say that I am?” In a not-so-subtle way, Jesus demonstrated before them the fulfillment of the prophecy, and they were certain to know about it from the prophet Isaiah. And before that, among other miracles, they were front-and-center to demonstrable proof about who He is.

It was Peter who finally acknowledged, “You are the Christ.” The magnitude of forbearance, for Jesus to spell it out for His Apostles by miraculous activity was staggering. After all, as the healed blind man in Jerusalem before the Pharisees testified, “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. (Jn 9:32)”

Citations

1. Dr. William Varner, “The Prophet Isaiah.” Lecture Presentation: Masters University, 08/20/2020.
2. J. Daniel Hays, Tremper Longman III, Message of the Prophets (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 125.
3. John Walvoord, Roy Zuck, Matthew, The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1986), 46.
4. John Lange, Philip Schaff, Commentary, The New Creature. Vol. XI., Section III, C, 2(a), (1878).
5. David S. Dockery, Luke: Who is Jesus? Holman Concise Bible Commentary (Nashville: Holman, 1998).

Bibliography

Dockery, David S. Holman Concise Bible Commentary. Nashville: Holman Reference, 1998.
Hays, J. Daniel, and Tremper Longman III. The Message of the Prophets. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.
Jamieson, Robert, David Brown, and A.R. Fausset. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. 1871.
Lange, John Peter, Phillip Schaff, G.F.C. Fronmüller, and J. Isidor Mombert. A Commentary of the Holy Scriptures: 2 Peter. n.d.
MacArthur, John. MacArthur Study Bible NASB. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Varner, Dr. William. “Lecture on the Prophet Isaiah.” Sun Valley: Masters University, 08 20, 2020.
Walvoord, John F., and Zuck Roy B. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1983.

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The Final Admonition

By James Austin on August 20, 2020 in Theology

The final admonition given to the post-exilic people of Israel included instructions concerning obedience of the Torah (the Mosaic Law) and to watch for the arrival of the Messiah. While the people of Israel returned from Babylon to rebuild their city, temple, and homes, they get back to life with hope in the promise of YHWH as foretold by His prophets. Even as there were continuing issues surrounding their return involving justice and religious ritualism, the people were on track. Notwithstanding the neglect, obstruction, and delays related to the construction of the second temple, the people of Israel were responsive and worked toward its restoration. Even while the people of God were given mercy, love, and freedom from idolatry, they were aware that the presence of God and His glory had not returned to the temple.

YHWH promised to be with His people as they returned, but the circumstances were different. The prophecies concerning the arrival of the Messiah were pending fulfillment, and the people looked toward His messenger Elijah to proclaim His arrival (Malachi 4:5). However, before that were to occur, YHWH instructs His people to remain in the Torah and watch for His return. They were to practice justice, rebuild their lives, worship YHWH in truth, and fulfill the requirements of the law and the prophets (i.e., Shema). Here in the final admonition (Malachi 4:1-6), we see a new beginning as YHWH’s people have returned. With that new beginning is the hope of the Messiah to come.

With the arrival of Jesus and during the course of His ministry, it became widely recognized that He was the promised Messiah. Yet just prior to His advent, it was John the Baptist who had proclaimed His arrival. He revealed His identity as incarnate God (John 1:36), it was God Himself who revealed to John the Baptist the identity of Jesus as the Messiah. Namely, the Lamb of God (John 1:36), who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). While John the Baptist did not have the literal persona of Elijah as prophesied by Malachi (Malachi 4:5), it was yet the angel of the Lord (Gabriel) and Jesus who both reveal under their authority that John the Baptist carries the spirit of Elijah who testifies of the Messiah’s arrival of (Luke 1:11,18, Matt 11:14). Moreover, it was the prophet Isaiah who foretold of John the Baptist to corroborate the prophecy of Malachi (Isaiah 40:3). Whereas the arrival of John the Baptist is described as a voice calling out, “clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness.”

The sequence of all those who gave an account of the spirit of Elijah’s arrival through John the Baptist provides valid witness to the fulfillment of Malachi 4:5—supported by both Old Testament and New Testament accounts in terms of his identity and activity. What John the Baptist did to fulfill the prophet’s foretelling of his arrival and function was specifically through preparing the way of Christ through repentance. He was calling out to people that the Kingdom of God has arrived through Jesus the Messiah. As John’s baptism was the baptism of repentance through water, Jesus baptizes through the Holy Spirit (John 1:33). Both Jesus and John the Baptist were prophesied through earlier prophets as they were both transformative in spirit and mind. While they were ushered in by the Spirit of God, the prophets Malachi and Isaiah’s messages concerning John the Baptist were fulfilled.

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The Spirit of Power

By James Austin on August 19, 2020 in Theology

To assure the construction and completion of the second temple after Israel’s Babylonian exile, Zerubbabel was commissioned to undertake the project with supernatural help. As we read in Zechariah 4:6, Zerubbabel as governor of Judah was empowered by the Holy Spirit to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. As the first temple was destroyed in 587 BC (2 Kings 25), it was in fulfillment of YHWH’s judgment upon Jerusalem and all of Judah. Where until its final destruction, numerous occupants of the city were exiled to Babylon, and for 70-years, they remained in captivity. After the Persians of the North conquered Babylonia in 539 BC, its emperor Cyrus the Great released the Hebrews back to their homeland to complete the 70-year expulsion due to their rejection of God.

As promised of YHWH, the people of Israel returned to their appointed country and began to undergo restoration to include the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple, among other dwellings. Not to the former grandeur that it was known of before, but to a reduced stature without the presence of God and His glory to occupy it. The people of Judah were again free, but they still faced hardships as they worked to regain stability through trade, agriculture, husbandry, farming, and other areas of city living. The context of living at the time involved the strenuous and burdensome recovery of the land and the rebuilding of the previously destroyed city.

The visions of the golden lampstand and the olive trees (Zechariah 4:1-14) provide the surrounding context by which the Holy Spirit inhabits Zerubbabel and fills him with the power to build the second temple. As decreed by YHWH, Zerubbabel accomplished this task over time, not by his strength, stamina, wealth, or capabilities but by the Holy Spirit’s power.

While presented within the vision of the golden lampstand with a bowl above it, we encounter the Holy Spirit’s symbolism over the total construction effort. That the bowl symbolizes the supply of power necessary to complete the task set before Zerubbabel, that is, to build the second temple that shall exist during the time of Christ to usher in the Kingdom of God.

The second temple’s existence contributes to the physical environment by which the work of Jesus is carried out. It so appears that the restoration of the physical temple without its indwelling presence provides the situational and eschatological framework by which the life and ministry of Jesus are set in motion. The reconstruction of the temple and the return of the people were to become restored in the near term and the distant future in support of Christ’s future redemptive work. Altogether part of an orchestrated effort to include the destruction of the temple yet again by the Romans in 70 AD.

Through these circumstances, as given by Zechariah 4:6, we are presented with an example of an empowering work from the Holy Spirit. YHWH provided the indwelling of the Spirit within Zerubbabel to empower him, as He can do the same for those in Christ who are born of the Spirit. So, it is here the theological principle applies to bring confidence that we are to trust in Him and live by the Spirit. As it is a reliance on the Spirit rather than our capabilities, resources, intellect, or strength to accomplish what He desires of us.

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Dancing with Fire

By James Austin on August 18, 2020 in Theology

A recurring emphasis throughout this textbook concerns YHWH’s judgments upon Israel, Judah, and the surrounding nations. The stated causes of these judgments are identified as idolatry, “social injustice,” and empty ritualism, based on the authors’ analysis of the biblical text across both major and minor prophets. The authors rightly recognize the historically offensive behaviors of the people in these regions, including the moral failures of the neighboring nations. While such observations are both legitimate and instructive, the terminology of “social justice” introduces significant ideological baggage. Its repeated use suggests that the authors approach the biblical material through the lens of modern racial-justice activism, thereby imparting a culturally weighted and theologically slanted perspective—one that diverges from a properly biblical framework of justice as it applies to the life of the Church.

The use of the term “social justice” places the cultural meaning of “social” before justice, thereby implying a form of race theology that aligns with culturally and socially driven causes. This ordering of terms suggests that social and cultural constructs bear equal or greater authority than the concept of justice as biblically defined. Although the authors appear to employ social justice merely to describe interpersonal wrongdoing, many readers will inevitably associate the phrase with modern ideological movements and thus draw questionable conclusions about the kind of justice YHWH requires.

By framing justice in this manner, the emphasis shifts from covenantal obedience under divine authority to a humanly defined sense of justice—one derived from social consensus rather than revelation. Social justice, as commonly understood, represents a collective or nationalized ideology rooted in humanity’s self-interest, continuously redefining its standards of morality and acceptability. This becomes especially evident in contemporary “social justice” movements shaped by critical theory, intersectionality, and evolving views of marriage, gender, and lifestyle—each of which stands in tension with the biblical vision of justice, righteousness, and virtuous living as revealed in Scripture.

“Social justice” movements often degenerate into forms of mob rule, driven more by cultural emotion than by divine truth. Any genuine pursuit of racial or societal justice must arise from a standard rooted in Scripture—interpreted through sound hermeneutical and exegetical principles—not from the opinions of those who seek to reshape society in their own image. Every human being, as an image-bearer of YHWH, carries the Imago Dei and thus possesses inherent worth that precedes and transcends all human constructs of social order.

To suggest that social justice can correct or improve theology is both offensive and counterproductive when compared to the biblical concept of justice itself. The peoples of the earth, with all their ethnic and racial distinctions, are equal in dignity and value according to God’s revealed standard—not according to the mutable moral fashions of society or the mob, whose definitions shift daily and often contradict the original meaning of Scripture. Whether the source of such distortion lies in government, academia, the church, or popular movements, any justice detached from divine revelation inevitably abandons righteousness for self-defined morality.

The presence of Cushites (Black Africans) in Scripture—numbered among the redeemed from the Gentile nations—has no legitimate bearing on the development of sound biblical or theological understanding regarding “social justice.” Their inclusion serves instead as a testimony to YHWH’s sovereign purpose in calling and redeeming people from every nation for His glory. To construe these accounts through the lens of race theology is both theologically unsound and morally repugnant, for it diminishes the divine purpose behind redemption and obscures the universality of God’s call to all whom He draws into His Kingdom. The mysteries and truths of God are not to be confined within racial or social frameworks that foster division or isolation among those whom Christ has made one.

A brief search reveals that this textbook is sometimes marketed alongside titles such as Woke Church, The Color of Compromise, From Every People and Nation, and White Fragility—works frequently associated with advocates of race theology or sociopolitical activism rather than classical biblical theology.

In Christ, we are one people and belong to one Kingdom, as it is written: “Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:11).

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The Faith That Counts

By James Austin on August 15, 2020 in Theology

It was YHWH Himself who said, “the righteous shall live by faith (Hab 2:4). While speaking to the prophet Habakkuk, the context of this piercing message was about Judah’s injustices and how God appointed the Chaldeans (Babylon) to bring them to enslavement, disaster, and destruction. The bitter and hasty nation of Chaldea, having a reputation for ruthless violence, will overpower Jerusalem and Judah because they rejected YHWH. They chose to live their way apart from God, who gave them their land, prosperity, and protection. They were unwilling to reciprocate the love He had so entirely given to them throughout the centuries among their predecessors.

That YHWH would say to the prophet, “the righteous shall live by faith,” carries with it a meaning that extends well beyond ink on paper, or even far above the unmistakable message this phrase conveys. These are six words that freeze in place the hearer and melt the heart of those who would seek YHWH to learn of Him and have some semblance of hope to love Him, despite their continued failures and the iniquity that places them at a distance from God. Because they know what it is and what it would be to remain in a fully intimate relationship with God to know Him and live out an intense love, that is the best way to live.

The prophet wrote out these words of YHWH’s and placed them before us to convey a meaning that gives us hope in the face of perpetual failure. Those who are moral or righteous in action or conduct are they who live by trust in YHWH their God. In fact, they live in such a way that their faith is the cause of justification. Present throughout their lifestyle of faith are those who are becoming sanctified. It is by faith that justification and sanctification through perseverance before YHWH we are at our fullest way to God and His interests. To know Him fully and be one with Him because of who He is.

The Apostle Paul wrote about these words that YHWH spoke to the prophet Habakkuk (Rom 1:17). He cites Habakkuk 2:4 to inform his readers that the righteous shall live by faith. Said another way, the one who by faith is righteous shall live. As the object of a person’s faith, or trust, is in YHWH, while that person is made righteous. For example, of this truth from the inspired words of YHWH (2 Tim 3:16), we look back to what He said to Moses about Abram. That as Abram believed the LORD, YHWH counted him as righteous. Yes, his belief in YHWH was reckoned to him as righteousness. This is what we continue to read about from Romans 4:1-8. Paul zeroes in on the principle of justification through faith, where the sin of the ungodly is not counted against him or her.

As it is by grace we are saved through faith (Eph 2:8-9), we are even more made righteous through Christ as we are made new in Him. It is written, in Christ, we become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). Just as it is fully revealed and orchestrated for our redemption, it is this good news of the gospel that our being is captivated and made completely His.

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Seeds of the Wretched

By James Austin on August 14, 2020 in Theology

2020 Update: This is an edit to an earlier post. It has been a few years since I began to give these booklets out to people. Looking back, I suppose they have made a difference one way or another. I have given out hundreds. It merely feels like waving a handful of seeds out in different places without knowing whether they would take root. Where ever they fell, if they are read, trashed, or ignored.

The effort demonstrates a place in life where maybe these seeds have made a difference. Over the last year, it has been a time of a change in message and method. Millions of words written and spoken where if just a fraction of them made it within me and before YHWH, maybe this ocean of wrong can become outweighed by faith lived out and proven.

The more I learn, seek, and love YHWH through affections and devotion, the clearer it gets how utterly wretched I am and have been all along. The closer I get, the more I am aware that I drink iniquity like water. Were it not for very scary trust lived out; I would not have recognized that I am not my own. No matter how much I get in the way. And I am beginning to realize this is the point.

I’m going to need more booklets. This time of a different sort.

Overflowing Presence

2017: It is because of Bema. Because time as short as it is. Because it’s new and interesting. Because it is straight to the point.

I’ve ordered hundreds of small printed booklets a few pages in length. A couple of packs to give out to people among places here and there. At the idea of someone somewhere taking the booklet to see what it says and for it to take root. Merely another small effort among a series of words and actions to demonstrate love. Love by what I do and not just by what is said or written.

Because of the indwelling Spirit within, I love YHWH and have become the object of it. Not because I feel it, or know it, but because it is this faith made alive within. Each day something more than the day before.

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Altar of the Destitute

By James Austin on August 13, 2020 in Theology

“With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” – Micah 6:6-8 ESV

The message of Micah concerns the historical people of Israel, but also in theological principle any person today who claims YHWH is God and seeks to understand what He requires (Micah 6:6-8). Rhetorically, the prophet Micah asked a few pointed questions concerning religious practices or offerings of sacrifices and good works. To use hyperbolic language, he exaggerates types of premium offerings given in abundance before YHWH to win His favor. That by doing so, Micah writes of the absurdity of such efforts as if God would somehow see past their asceticism and injustices. So as to continue in their rejection of the covenant, they were obligated to keep. While sacrificial offerings were standard practice at the temple in Jerusalem, it was an attempt to keep tradition before YHWH despite their heart condition before Him.

From the spirit of the covenant summed up in the pericope involving the Shema (Mark 12:29-34), we are given a clear view of its intent, and it all comes around to love. Active love for YHWH and people bring about the fulfillment of what God requires. Namely, a love fulfilled through justice (miš•pāṭ’), lovingkindness (ḥĕ’•sĕḏ), and humility (ṣn ^c) as these were the virtues or fruit, that identified those who seek to honor and obey YHWH.

As we listen carefully to what Jesus said to the religious authorities in Jerusalem, He called them hypocrites by echoing what Isaiah prophesied concerning their hearts (Matt 15:7-9). Religious people who honor YHWH with their lips, their pen, or their pixelated words typed on a device while yet having their heart far from Him are they who worship or serve Him in vain. As it is a form of worship that involves teaching the doctrines the commandments of men (Col 2:22, Titus 1:14). Jesus was very clear in this message. Our heart’s desire for God and each other is that we would fulfill as a reciprocal obligation of love made by action and not just by what is instead going through the motions as an expression of personal self-interest.

The specific manner in which we demonstrate love appears from the reminder of Micah himself. Reiterated from the Mosaic covenant and prophet Isaiah (Deut 30:15, Deut 10:12, Is 56:1, Is 57:15, Is 66:2, Jer 22:3, Hos 6:6). While people have a high propensity toward veering away from God their creator or outright rejecting Him to live out disloyal lives, any effort to mask their sin or error through religious practices is ineffective and only worsens matters. As YHWH knows the heart and our thoughts and intentions, we can apply what we understand from His word through Micah. About what we should do to live in a way that pleases Him, according to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and the Shema by what we read through the words of Christ (Mark 12:29-34).

As we have the opportunity, and in daily life, we are better situated at peace before God and others when we humble ourselves and demonstrate consistent love for Him and others. At the same time, we speak and act justly among people. Yet only a principled justice guided by Scripture to keep from neglecting others, abusing people, or causing undue harm. If authentic Christians today were to practice what Micah wrote about, their efforts would lead to a pleasing lifestyle that honors God and His desires for us within the new covenant.

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Burden of the Nevi’im

By James Austin on August 12, 2020 in Theology

As Jonah was an obstinate and disobedient prophet of YHWH, he refused the LORD’s instructions to travel to the city of Nineveh in Assyria and warn them of destruction. Due to the great evil in Nineveh, they were subject to what God would do to them if they would not repent or turn from their wickedness (rā’āh). The words of YHWH to Jonah were unambiguous: “Arise and go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2)” with no ambiguity whatsoever. Their evil was before God, their creator, and they were to have His judgment proclaimed against them. Along with Jonah, we are informed that they must repent of their evil, or else.

Incredibly, Jonah attempts to flee from YHWH’s presence, the omnipresent God of the world he occupies. With the narrative of Jonah’s story, interwoven with poetic Hebrew wordplay, it is revealed that his efforts did not turn out well. Numerous incidents provide lessons about circumstances in opposition to YHWH that point to His will and sovereignty. God will have His decree spoken before Nineveh one way or another. To warn the city and its occupants and make clear the differences between them and His people within Judah and Israel when Nineveh does repent. In fact, by carefully reading through the story, and by careful reflection on the general nature of prophets (Nevi’im), would Jonah have known the direct or inferred comparison between God’s people and Nineveh to the North in Assyria? That God’s people would not repent, but Nineveh, the people of Assyria, a foreign nation who worshiped false gods, would, in fact, repent only to anger Jonah. That he would resent the difference and that God would relent from the destruction of his enemy.

Jonah 4:2 informs us exactly why he quickly fled to Tarshish, in roughly the opposite direction of Nineveh. His words spoken in prayer to YHWH were as follows: “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah did not flee to another country away from the presence of YHWH because he was afraid of God, or the people of Nineveh. He was afraid that if his enemies repented, God would not destroy them. He knew the character of YHWH, and he did not want mercy and kindness to appear in the lives of those who were doing exceedingly great evil.

In the end, the story was largely about Jonah. Much to the prophet’s dismay, the people of Nineveh repented and were spared of imminent destruction. His enemies were shown mercy after Jonah did eventually and reluctantly declare to them, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” That by the circumstances orchestrated through the sovereignty of YHWH; a poignant lesson is revealed to Jonah and us through Scripture about obedience. Are we more for YHWH’s interests, or those of our own? Even if we are offended, fearful, or resistant to where God would want us, or have us do, what is our heart attitude? Just as God’s lovingkindness (ḥĕ’•sĕḏ) and mercy are present with us, how can we not delight in that of God even if present among our enemies?

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Four Beasts of the Apocalypse

By James Austin on August 9, 2020 in Theology

This post is in the context of my Psalm 82 worldview. I follow and accept the first-century perspective of the Apostle’s view of Scripture. So that may provide some sense of premise I have as to what scenario is offered here from personal studies and interpretation in the book of Daniel. I am aware of the conventional interpretations from dispensationalists. I have read the Hays text as well on this. Still, I am fully prepared to be entirely wrong, or corrected on this. This is merely a preliminary perspective about the four-beasts written about in the book of Daniel (chapter 7). Some suspicions and written observations are here about what the near and far view of Daniel’s prophetic meaning looks like apart from an amillennial or preterist perspective.

Gentile pagan empires are the four beasts we read about in Daniel. From a prophetic and historical perspective, the lion is Babylon (Assyria), the bear is Medo-Persia (Iraq/Iran), the leopard is Greece (Yavan, or Asia Minor/Turkey in Daniel’s time), and the fourth beast of iron and clay is fierce, unlike the others (Europe/Rome occupied Caliphate). The corollary to this vision is Nebuchadnezzar’s statue, as interpreted in Daniel. Since Daniel 7 is an interpretive repetition of the statue in Daniel 2, all inferior empires (beasts) were historically destroyed by the fourth empire.

Prior to the rise of the historical Roman empire, it was Greece that campaigned throughout the Middle East and conquered numerous nations to the East. This third beast (kingdom), under the leadership of Alexander the Great, was also responsible for the destruction of numerous nations. As a beast that devoured the rest (Babylon and Medo/Persia), this historical empire looks to have wrought a level of destruction entirely familiar to what we read about from the fourth beast. To include the spiritual principalities over the nations or territories set before Greece (Macedon) under Alexander the Great.

The Empire of Alexander illustrated above is a fulfillment of the prophecy and angelic interpretation concerning the conflict between the ram and the goat. Symbolic of both Media/Persia (ram) and Greece (goat) respectively. Where eventually the great horn that emerges from the goat is recognized as Alexander the Great. Once that great horn is destroyed, the four horns that emerge from it will produce a single ruler of great power. It was and is to have great power as the already, but not yet. From Daniel’s perspective, the vision was in the distant future to explain Antiochus Epiphanes of Greece. Historically originated from Seleucid kingdom, and the one who is not of his own power (Dan 8:24), he was anti-Christ type figure risen to commit the atrocities written about in Scripture and across history. To fulfill the relative near view of prophecy concerning the evil ruler among the four receding kingdoms we are informed about by Gabriel, the archangel in Scripture (Dan 8:16).

I am aware of traditional views that accept the fourth beast of iron as Rome. And that the “Roman” empire is predicted to revive during the end times. However, I suspect the region is “governed” or headed by a principality that includes Europe. Rome is in Europe, and I am coming to the view that the fourth beast/empire is the Islamic Caliphate’s presence across the European Union. The onslaught invasion of the Islamic peoples throughout Europe is happening again, but it is also growing well beyond that.

Historically, Rome never entirely destroyed the other three empires/beasts as we read about in Daniel as the Parthians of Persia remained in the North, and they were not fully conquered (Dan 7:12). However, the historical Islamic Caliphate did, in fact, conquer all three of the empires. And on its current trajectory, it may become revived with a substantial presence in Europe (Rome) by geometric growth. It can develop a coalition of nations (10-horns; Dan 7:27) in which anti-Christ may emerge (Daniel 2:34-35, 40) if there is such a person after Antiochus Epiphanes (175 – 164 BC) who desecrated the Jerusalem temple just prior to its destruction in 70 AD (abomination of desecration).

So, I am inclined to tentatively recognize the view that the four beasts are Babylon, Medo / Persia, Greece, and Rome. A Rome (Europe) that is fed by Greece (Yavan/Turkey) that is again flooded by Islam with its Caliphate of nations. One could also easily take the position of Greece becoming the eschatological fourth beast, or that it overlaps Europe/Rome, since it is Yavan from the root text of Scripture to identify its geographic position of modern Turkey. Moreover, in my reading of Daniel, Greece is Yavan, as written in Daniel 8:21 and elsewhere. Since Greece did not exist at the time of Daniel’s prophecy, it is rendered in the root language as Yavan / Javan (Asia Minor).

Today it is widely recognized that Turkey aspires to rebuild a Caliphate and is forming its Islamic alliance. This is presumably the 10-horns (Dan 7:7) that grow from the fourth beast written about in Daniel. To infer that the current Caliphate coalition-building among nations are Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Still, the identity of coalition nation states, and borders by quantity are not as precisely important as is the controlling spiritual principalities in the region. The prophecy of ten horns is of the area to include its spiritual involvement as eschatological messaging, not of the entire planet. As an aside, in my view, Turkey is today a government-sanctioned version of ISIS, and it needs to be ejected from NATO.

This is where my tentative opinion is currently, and I understand the history of Antiochus Epiphanes as an anti-Christ type from long ago. Specifically, the little-horn among the ten that emerged (Dan 7:8, 7:20, 8:9, 8:23-25). Since I so far fully accept the near/far view of concurrent truth and prophetic fulfillment, I would watch for the origin of a final principality-controlled anti-Christ from the Seleucid (Greek) lineage. Some (preterists) speculate that there is no further prophetic prediction of anti-Christ while others think the far view of fulfillment arises from either Judaism as their long-awaited messiah of the Hebrew Old Testament. See Daniel 8:5-9 for its background identity in terms of its geographic proximity.

Prophecy is a puzzle that comes into view from various perspectives among everyone who studies eschatology. As the pieces are brought together, the prophetic vision becomes clear. Most especially in light of definitive historical fulfillment AND support from authoritative Scripture as such.

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Let Justice Roll

By James Austin on August 7, 2020 in Theology

When a person walks by the Spirit as written about in Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Gal 5:1-26), we are guided in Christlike behavior that honors God’s instructions to love one another. As Christ’s life is narrated in the gospels of Scripture, we observe numerous examples of what it looks like to love people and act upon God’s interests to meet the needs of others. By doing so, we are making a lasting difference among friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and people in general. It is to interpersonally live out the kindness, patience, joy, gentleness, and peace that speaks about what God has done in our lives. Each individual who experiences a life transformation through Christ must love others, as it is an inevitable outcome of a fruitful relationship that develops between us and God.

We read within Scripture the words of Yahweh Himself about what offends Him concerning Christian behaviors. Particularly among those who go through the motions of spiritual interest without regard to others’ safety, protection, and well-being. Amos 5:23-24 gives us the specifics. Where, in Scripture, the worship of God’s people becomes rejected in the following way — “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Notice that the music that could delight God instead becomes noise to Him. By contrast, the music and worship of an individual or a congregation are accepted and fulfilling when done within the context of ongoing care for others. Not just as a mental hope for the well-being of the needy, disadvantaged, abused, or wronged, but by a willful effort to apply restorative action where or as suitable. It is necessary to seek out where there are needs and fulfill them as an act of service and a form of worship even as we appear before God in prayer, with music, song, or benediction.

As there are continued injustices that accompany a fallen world, we as individuals have a responsibility to find them and make a difference where we can. Each person can make a difference through volunteer work, donations, mentoring, teaching, counseling, advocacy, etc. As bearing one another’s burdens is a conscious activity that is not merely an emotional exercise, but a surrounding effort to our being’s entire realm or context. Particularly among those relationships we have. We help as we can in duty and support for people through God who has given us the hope we have.

When God conveys the term “justice” to us, He intentionally allows its definition to emerge for clarity and depth. “Justice,” as a definition, is usually rendered in a bible lexicon as “the quality of being free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception, especially conforming to established standards or rules.” How the term “justice” is used in Amos 5:23-24 implies a refreshing and life-giving effect. That it is preferred over music, song, sacrifice, or religious praise as a ritualistic effort Yahweh often condemned. God requires of us as individuals, and organizations, both obedience and justice. It is a biblical justice that is above and over the significance of worship or spiritual disciplines.

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The Rose of Antipathy

By James Austin on August 5, 2020 in Theology

The unfaithful spouse imagery in Hosea’s book is common to the same type of betrayal that we read about among the major prophets (Jeremiah 3:1, Ezekiel 16:32). The prophets describe how the rejection of a marriage covenant in a person-to-person context makes more directly relatable the abandonment of the divine covenant between Yahweh and His people. His people have rejected Him; they are akin to a prostitute wife who leaves her husband. The comparison carries far less weight as a wife leaves her a husband compared to God and His people, but the betrayal is felt in a tangible and lasting way among people obligated to their covenant with God. The disloyalty felt brings substantial pain in both scenarios in a hurtful and memorable way.

Today, the message of Hosea reminds us of what a violation of a covenant oath looks like. It is a rupture of intimacy, both physically and spiritually, in the context of a marriage that does not honor exclusivity. Where in the Mosaic covenant, Yahweh explicitly forbids idolatry (Exodus 20:3), He informs His people that they were to have no other gods besides Him. If His people were to have and worship gods other than Him, that by definition is idolatry and is the same as adultery in a spiritual sense. Specifically, between Yahweh’s people and the other gods they worship or serve. Putting another god, or anything, above or before God Most High was the first commandment He gave to His people. Down through the centuries, it was also a commandment that His people often broke. With significant influence among neighboring nations and their own hearts, they participated in the behaviors that Yahweh sought to keep them from.

The principles given to us between Hosea and Gomer (husband and wife) offer insights into what people do spiritually to stray or outright reject God their creator. As Yahweh sought to maintain a fruitful relationship with His people Israel, He loved and cared for them in ways that speak to us today. Whereas, the “gods” of today are not ancient idols, figurines, or images that are worshiped and treasured; they are instead anything and everything that love and honor more than God. Examples include status, people, success, material objects, hobbies, or interests that occupy people’s hearts and desires beyond what He intended. It is where creation is worshiped, served, or held in higher esteem over the Creator, which is the modern equivalent to ancient idolatry, or spiritual adultery, that God forbids.

The God of the universe, who made everything, is rightfully and necessarily served and worshiped over anything and anything else. To not abide by our Lord Yahweh’s wishes in this is offensive to Him. Through our free agency, He entrusts us to seek, honor, and love Him. If we do not, we miss out on the blessings, or may even stand condemned while God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked who reject Him (Ezekiel 33:11). Yahweh is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) who can become offended and hurt. So, as we learn of Him and trust Him, we must do all we can to remain faithful to Him as we set Him above anything and everything else. He is worthy of all glory and the source of life and healing we trust Him to provide.

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The Chosen of Shamayim

By James Austin on August 5, 2020 in Theology

The promise of the Spirit of Yahweh poured out upon His people includes individuals written about in the context of Joel 2:28-29. Specifically, Israel’s people identified as sons, daughters, men, both young and old, and male and female servants. Yahweh’s people were fraught with wayward rebellion, and like sheep, they often went their own way (Isaiah 53:6). From the beginning, all the way back to Yahweh’s garden, humanity has been walking out their own desires without full concern for what God has required to keep their covenant and maintain fellowship with Him. Since the beginning of humanity, the heart, the center of the will, has been corrupted and hardened. As drawn away by desires outside of Yahweh’s will, the inevitable consequences and destruction of His people were due to their significant error. It was upon them to bear the weight of their guilt.

The covenant promises Yahweh made from the beginning were to be accomplished no matter what. Despite the continued failures of His chosen people across numerous covenants, Yahweh would be the God of the people of Israel. Moreover, He would be the God of all nations to reclaim creation as His rightful possession. With judgment and punishment would come redemption and reconciliation. As it is written, “They will be my people, and I will be their God,” we are in full view from the early prophecy of what will transpire to fulfill His intentions. His glorious place among His people (Joel 2:32) and those who call to Him will be saved (Romans 10:13). Ultimately, saved from the power, penalty, and presence of sin. That as unencumbered by sin, His people would be healed of their corruption and hardness of heart to restore fellowship with Yahweh. From the Edenic garden of paradise to the deserts of Arabia, God had a plan of permanent retention through a new covenant unlike all those previously formed.

The long view of prophetic fulfillment begins from Isaiah 44:3 as reiterated in Joel 2:28. As it is written, “I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants.” It would so appear that the prophet Joel was aware of the writings of Isaiah. Moreover, Joel appears to echo Ezekiel 39:29, which explicitly says Yahweh will “pour out His Spirit on the house of Israel.” Yet as it appears through hardship, disappointment, rebellion, and the devastation of thousands of people destroyed, humanity would become brought back to Yahweh even if only through a remnant. The God of all creation would return people to Him through His Spirit’s work to transform their hearts. To reshape their desires with a power that is not their own. To bring His people the will to know, follow, and love Him to involve a heart change. As recorded in Scripture, that is precisely the indwelling Spirit’s work poured out and into people. That the hearts of people would be transformed that they would desire Him and His plan for them and creation.

During the time of judgment and immense destruction, we witness through Scripture and history the prophetic promise and its fulfillment. To realize that from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, we are given a long view of prophetic fulfillment to provide us with hope through Christ. With the full authority of God’s word, we have every confidence in Him.

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