Essentials – God

The Nature and Attributes of God

What is God like? What are his attributes, his characteristics? We have already learned that all that we know about God is only what he has revealed about himself. Now we come to a study of God himself, and who and what he is. The Westminster Larger Catechism states, “God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all‑sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, everywhere present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long‑suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (WLC #7).

Most theologians, when they speak of the attributes of God, begin with the incomprehensibility of God. That is to say that no human being can completely understand God. It does not mean that we cannot know or understand anything about God. It just means that we cannot know and understand everything about him. The reason for this is what is known as the Creator/creature distinction.

God is infinite, with no beginning and no end. We, on the other hand, are his creations. There was a time when we did not exist, and we are finite. We cannot know everything. An old philosophical adage states that, “the finite cannot grasp (or contain) the infinite.” If it could, the infinite would no longer be infinite. If we could completely understand God, he would no longer be God. The greatness and incomprehensibility of God can be seen in Deuteronomy 29:29; Job 38:1-41:34; Isaiah 55:8-9; and Romans 11:33-36.

The next attribute of God is what is referred to as his triunity. This describes the Trinity – one God in three Persons. In the early centuries of the church, there was much debate over the relation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Some, who believed what was known as modalism, wrongly taught that the three persons were just different ways of God expressing himself. God the Father ruled in the Old Testament and delivered his people from bondage. God the Son was a manifestation of God on earth as he lived among men and saved them. God the Holy Spirit now inhabits his people as he hears their prayers and witnesses to their being children of God. Equally false was the teaching of tritheism, which said that there were actually three beings which came together and made up God.

Finally, the Nicene Creed became the orthodox statement of who God was and how the three Persons are related. We believe that, as stated in Deuteronomy 6:4, there is but one God. But, we also believe, from Scriptures such as Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; and 1 Peter 1:1-2, that there are three persons in this one Godhead. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, “In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son” (WCF 2.3).

God is self-existent. No one created God. He has always been, and he is the Supreme Being, the first cause from which all other causes flow. This self-existence is the essence of the Creator/creation distinction, in that God has always existed, but we were created by him (Psalm 90:2; John 1:1-5; Acts 17:28; Colossians 1:15-20; and Revelation 1:8).

The omnipotence of God speaks of his great power over his creation (Genesis 17:1; Psalm 115:3; Romans 11:36; and Ephesians 1:11). This allpowerfulness of God is a great comfort to the Christian, because we know that the same power with which God created the universe is available to him to assure our salvation. Nothing can thwart his holy will.

God is also omnipresent. He is everywhere. Not only is God everywhere, but, because he is an eternal spirit, all of God is everywhere. In other words, God is fully present in the worship of his people throughout this city, this state, this nation, and this world. There is no corner of the universe where God is not. Even the wicked in hell are in the presence of God. They are merely separated from his benevolence; not his presence. Solomon speaks of the inability of earthly houses to contain God in his prayer of dedication for the temple in 1 Kings 8:27. Also, David, speaks of the fact that we are always upheld by God and in his presence in Psalm 139:7-10).

The omniscience of God speaks of the fact that God know everything. Because he is infinite, his knowledge is infinite. His omniscience is closely related to his omnipotence. He knows all things, because he has created all, and he has willed all (Psalm 147:5; Ezekiel 11:5; romans 11:33-26; and Hebrews 4:13).

In Scripture, the word holiness has two meanings. Firstly, holy means set apart, and God is holy, because he is above all his creation. He is set apart as the almighty, sovereign Creator of all things. Secondly, holy means pure and righteous. It refers to God’s actions. God is right in all that he does. He does not do the things he does because they are right. The things God does are right, because he does them. He is altogether holy (Exodus 3:5; 1 Samuel 2:2; and Psalm 99:5-9).

R.C. Sproul says, “God’s goodness refers both to His character and His behavior. His actions proceed from and flow out of His being…. The law He obeys is the law of His own character. He always acts according to His own character, which is eternally, immutably, and intrinsically good.”

Lastly, God’s justice speaks of his giving to people what they deserve. If someone receives less than what they deserve, we call that injustice. But with God, his justice is closely tied to his mercy. With the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, the whole human race became rebellious against God. What we deserve is his wrath, death, and hell. However, he has called some to himself, and he has saved them. In this case, not receiving what we deserved is mercy; not injustice.

 

The Works and Decrees of God

The first work of God that we see in Scripture is creation. God, as we have said, has always existed. From eternity past God has existed as three Persons in a triune Godhead. But, at some point in time, God saw fit to create the universe, for his own glory. Despite what others will say, the universe did not come into existence through a big bang. It did not suddenly appear, for a basic tenet of science is the Latin phrase, “ex nihilo nihil fit, – out of nothing, nothing comes.” Someone, or something, had to create the universe. And, Scripture tells us that it was God who created the universe, in such passages as Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:1-9; Psalm 104:24-26; and Hebrews 11:3.

Theologians refer to providence as the second of God’s works. Providence deals with the fact that God, after creating all things, now sustains all things. He governs his universe. The Westminster Confession states, “God – the great Creator of all things – upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least. He exercises this most wise and holy providence according to his infallible foreknowledge and the free and unchangeable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy” (WCF 5.1).

God’s decrees have to do with his will. Theologians speak of God’s will in three ways. God’s decretive will is his sovereign will by which He ordains everything that comes to pass. His preceptive will is that will which is revealed through his law. It is the moral law written in our hearts. Lastly, God’s will of disposition describes his attitude and what is pleasing to Him.

The basic structure of the relationship God has established with His people is the covenant. A covenant consists, basically, of three elements, a preamble which tells who the parties to the agreement are; a list of the obligations of both parties; and a list of the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience of the various responsibilities.

In Scripture we see two covenants between God and men. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve lived in what was known as the covenant of works. In this covenant, God promised eternal life as the blessing for perfect obedience, and death as the penalty for disobedience. We know that Adam and Eve broke this covenant, and they died. They also plunged all their descendants into a life of sin, misery, and death. But God then established the covenant of grace. In this covenant God again promises salvation and eternal life, for all those who have faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

 

Essential #2:

We worship and serve a God who was not created or made, but who has existed from all eternity. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, holy, unchanging, good, and merciful. This all-powerful and all-knowing God saw fit to create a universe and fill it with men and women made in his image. He now sustains this universe by the power of his word, and he provides the needs of his people.

 

Note: Again, I need to mention that I got a lot of this material from R.C. Sproul’s Essential Truths of the Christian Faith.

Essentials – Revelation

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting the classroom handouts from a seven-part series we did on the essentials of the Christian faith. I need to begin by saying that I got a lot of this material from R.C. Sproul’s Essential Truths of the Christian Faith.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2a). God is a God who speaks. Everything that we know about God and about Christianity has been revealed to us by God.

We know from Scripture itself that God has revealed himself in various ways throughout the history of mankind. In the Garden of Eden, he walked and talked with Adam and Eve. He spoke to Noah and to Abraham. He appeared physically to Abraham. He revealed his will to various people through dreams and visions. He spoke to Moses through a burning bush. He spoke to Balaam through a donkey. And, finally, he spoke to a great number of people through the incarnation of his Son, Jesus Christ.

God also speaks through his creation. This is known as general revelation, because it is general in content and audience. In other words, it is available to everyone everyday. In Scripture we read that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). And Paul writes, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). So, God’s creation tells us about God.

But what does it tell us? Creation tells us that ours God is a God of order. It tells us that he is a God of power and deity (Romans 1:18-23). According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, creation reveals “the goodness, wisdom, and power of God” (WCF 1.1).

Included in this general revelation is the idea of immediate general revelation. In this form of revelation God reveals himself directly to the human mind. This is what Paul speaks of when he writes of the law being written upon our hearts (Romans 2:12-16). It is this revelation that is denied by those whom the Bible calls fools (Psalm 14:1).

But, general revelation is not completely adequate. Creation does not give a full revelation of God. Also, the direct general revelation in the heart of man is so suppressed due to sin, that it is also ineffective. Therefore, God has seen fit to give man his special revelation in his word.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes of the special character of God’s word. He writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Here we learn that God’s word is breathed out by God. Often translated as inspired, the Greek word is theospneustos. It means that the words contained in Scripture are the very words of God. When we speak of inspiration, we do not mean that God dictated his words to those who wrote Scripture, or that he poured his words into their brains. We mean that the Holy Spirit communicated the Word of God to the writers and allowed them to use their own styles of writing. As Peter write, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Paul also tells Timothy that God’s word is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. In other words, God’s revelation of himself in his word is sufficient for our salvation. Thus, Paul writes, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).

We often speak of the Canon of Scripture. This is the set of books which make up our present-day Bible. The word Canon comes from the Greek word kanon, which was a reed or cane used as a measure or a standard. Over many years of the first centuries of the early church, there was discussion about which books should be included in the Canon of Scripture. Generally, the Old Testament Scriptures of Israel were accepted, but there was great debate about the books of the New Testament. Eventually, the church used three guidelines to determine whether a book should be included: 1) apostolic authorship or endorsement, 2) recognized as authoritative within the early church, and 3) in harmony with the books that were undoubtedly part of the canon.

John closes the book of Revelation with the following words, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19). This, along with other verses, are used by most Christians as proof that the Canon of Scripture is closed. God has revealed all that is necessary for our salvation and godly living. Nothing else needs to be added either in the way of further writings or private revelations. Thus we speak of the fact that Scripture is the word of God; not that it contains the word of God.

Finally, a word on interpretation. Again, the Westminster Confession states, “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself. Therefore, when there is a question about the true and full meaning of any Scripture, that meaning must be searched out and ascertained by other places that speak more clearly” (WCF 1.9). Men and churches are not permitted to give their own, private interpretation of Scripture. If anyone’s interpretation of Scripture, or teaching from Scripture, is not in line with what other parts of Scripture say, then that interpretation is not to be accepted.

 

Essential #1:

God is a God who speaks. The writer to the Hebrews warns, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (Hebrews 12:25). God has revealed himself to man through his creation and his word. A true believer accepts God’s written word as infallible, inerrant, and breathed-out by God himself.

The Prayer of Jesus

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

…

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:1-26)

 

Background:

In the 13th chapter of his Gospel, John begins what is known as the Upper Room Discourse. This is the Passover Seder which Jesus celebrated with his disciples on the night he was betrayed. This was the last Passover he observed with them, and it was also the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the covenant meal of the new covenant.

During this time together, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. He gave them the new commandment to love one another, and he told Peter that he would deny him in chapter 13. In chapter 14 taught them that he was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and he promised the Holy Spirit when he was gone. Chapter 15 contains his teaching of the vine and the branches, and the fact that the world would hate them, because it hated him. In chapter 16 Jesus comforts the disciples by telling them of the work of the Holy Spirit and the fact that he has overcome the world. In chapter 17, we have the prayer before us. Many commentators remark that it appears, from John, that Jesus prayed this prayer before leaving the upper room and going to the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

The Prayer:

when Jesus had spoken these words (v. 1):  While in the upper room, Jesus had just comforted his disciples with the words, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). It was after speaking these words that he prayed the following prayer.

the hour has come (v. 1):  Jesus knew that the Father was in sovereign control of all things, and he knew that the redeeming event for which he came to earth had arrived. Earlier in his ministry Jesus had spoken of the hour of his death, but always to say that the time had not arrived. Now, he acknowledges that the hour has come. Unlike the prayer in the Garden later, he does not pray here that the cup of suffering might pass from him.

glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you (v. 1):  The writer to the Hebrews writes that for the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross and despised its shame (Hebrews 12:2). That is his prayer here, that in his death he might be glorified as the obedient Son of Philippians 2:8 who did what the Father sent him for. In so doing, he would be glorified and also bring glory to the Father at the same time.

to give eternal life to all whom you have given him (v. 2):  The coming death of Jesus on the cross would be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of his people. In accepting that sacrifice, the Father would grant eternal life to all those for whom Christ died. And, as the Father had given him the authority over all flesh, those whom he would save would come “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

and this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (v. 3):  This is not a definition of eternal life, but shows how eternal life makes itself known. It is more than just a basic abstract knowledge of God the Father and his Son. James writes that “Even the demons believe – and shudder” (James 2:19). To know God and Jesus Christ as he mentions here is to know the Father as the sovereign creator and ruler of the universe, and to know the Son as the only savior of God’s people. It is an intimate relationship with God which is in view.

I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world (v. 6):  In this section, Jesus turns from speaking about himself to praying about, and for, his disciples. They are the ones whom God the Father has given him out of the world. They followed him to this point, and he has taught them about God the Father and the kingdom at every turn. He has thus manifested the Father’s name to them at all times. For Jesus said that he taught only that which the Father had given him to teach (John 8:28 & 38).

yours they were (v. 6):  Jesus acknowledges that the disciples (and all God’s people) are the elect. They are the ones whom the Father ahs chosen from all mankind to bring into his kingdom. He chose them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and he has now given them to Jesus the Son (John 10:29).

they have kept your word (v. 6):  Interestingly, Jesus had earlier referred to the disciples as men of little faith, and he knew that they would desert him when the time of crisis came. Yet, here, as he prays to the Father, he calls them those who have kept the word of God – the faithful ones. This high-priestly prayer casts no dispersion upon the followers of Christ.

everything that you have given me is from you (v. 7):  Jesus Christ did and taught only what he had received from the Father (John 8:28 & 38). And, those whom the Father had chosen were given to him.

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world (v. 9):  This is a difficult saying for many. In our human nature, we want to see Jesus praying for the whole world, but he prays only for those whom the Father has given him. We see here the idea that Christ died only for those whom the Father had chosen. The saving benefits of Christ’s sacrifice are not universal.

they are in the world, and I am coming to you (v. 11):  A difficult teaching for the disciples to receive was the fact that Jesus was going to be going away. He was going to return to the Father. Earlier he had told them that the world hated him, and now he was going to be leaving this world. They, on the other hand, were staying behind in the world, to carry on Jesus’ work of telling others about the kingdom. Now the world would hate them, just as it had hated Jesus. But, his prayer is that the Father will keep them in the power of his name. As strong as the wicked power of the world is, the power of God’s name is stronger. The people of God are in his hands, and no one can snatch them away (10:29).

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one (v. 15):  We are told that “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, God took him” (Genesis 5:24). For reasons known only to God, he removed him from the evil prevalent in the world at that time. And, God can do that. However, he can also leave his people in the world to accomplish his plan for mankind. In those cases, he keeps them and protects them from the ravishes of the wicked world around them.

sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (v. 17):  The word translated sanctify in this verse is the Greek word hagiazo. It means to set apart, and it’s sister words are translated holy and saints. Jesus is asking the Father to set his people apart in the world for holy service to God. And, the way the saints are set apart is through the word of God, which is truth itself.

I do not ask for these only (v. 20):  Here Jesus makes another change, as he begins praying for the church universal.

those who will believe in me through their word (v. 20):  When Thomas saw the scars in Jesus’ hands and side, he cried, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus replied, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). There, as here, he spoke of those believers who would come after his ascension to the right hand of the Father. Indeed, those who saw him on earth and believed were blessed, but Jesus said that we, who believe because of the words of the apostles, were more blessed, for we believe with our hearts; not because our eyes have seen. And here, in the prayer just before he was crucified, Jesus prayed for all of us who would one day believe the word of God and trust Jesus as our Savior.

that they may all be one (v. 21):  Here we see Jesus’ reference to what is known as the church universal. There is only one church – one body of Christ in the world. Many have used this verse to condemn the idea of denominations, but that is not what appears to be in Christ’s mind. What he is praying for is that the church will be set apart from the world as the one true body of Christ to carry on the work of the kingdom until his return.

 

Relevance:

This last prayer of our study, unlike the others, is not necessarily an example of how we ought to pray. Rather, it is a glimpse into the interaction of the Father and the Son. Through it we learn that Jesus Christ sought to glorify the Father through his atoning death on the cross, even as he was glorified in his obedience. We see that he was truly concerned for his disciples, even on the night before he was to be crucified. Rather than spending the night praying for himself and the easing of his suffering, he prayed for his followers, asking that God would protect and sustain them in a fallen world. And, to the wonder of many, he prayed for us, also. Knowing that future generations would believe in him as Savior from the teaching and writing of the apostles, Jesus prayed that we also would be kept by God as we strive to live as obedient servants and children of God.

The Prayer of Mary

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. (Luke 1:46-55)

 

Background:

Luke begins his gospel with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both descendants of Levi. After the story of how Elizabeth became pregnant after many years of barrenness, Luke turns to introduce us to Mary, a young woman of Nazareth.

Mary was a virgin, a descendant of Judah, pledged to be married to Joseph, also a descendant of Judah. In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would be with child. He told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and that the baby she carried would be the Son of God. Rather than fear or anxiety, her reply was, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

After this, Mary went to visit Elizabeth who was a relative. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, we are told that John leaped for joy in her womb (Luke 1:44). Elizabeth said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). As Elizabeth blessed her, Mary recited the following prayer/song.

 

The Prayer:

In this prayer, we learn a great deal about worship from Mary. Unlike those in Isaiah 29:13, who honored God only with their lips, Mary’s worship was internal and intense.

my soul magnifies the Lord (v. 46):  This song is known as the Magnificat, which is the Latin word for magnifies. The Greek word is megaluno. It means to exalt, glorify, magnify, highly esteem, laud, or praise. This is the thought expressed by the psalmist when he writes, “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together” (Psalm 34:2-3). It is also reminiscent of Psalm 18:46; 57:5; 69:30; 97:9; 99:5; and 108:5.

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior (v. 47):  Mary continues her exaltation, as she rejoices in God. It is significant that she acknowledges God as her Savior. Only sinners are in need of a Savior, thus the Roman Catholic view of Mary is dashed by her own words.

for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant (v. 48):  God quite often uses the lowly and humble in his plans, rather than the high and exalted. This too is reminiscent of Hannah’s prayer for a son when she prayed, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son” (1 Samuel 1:11). Mary acknowledges the sovereignty of God and his power to use those whom he will in the accomplishment of his plan. She was well aware of the fact that, as God’s creation, she was his servant.

all generations will call me blessed (v. 48):  This is another passage that has been misinterpreted by the Roman church. Their belief is that, because Mary is blessed, she blesses others. Therefore, prayers are supposedly made through her to Jesus Christ. But, Mary here states that she is the one blessed; not the one who blesses. Interestingly, Jesus responds to such a comment during his earthly ministry. At one time, a woman cried, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” But Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” (Luke 11:27-28).

for he who is mighty has done great things for me (v. 49):  Mary was blessed, because God had chosen her to bear his Son. It was not because of anything she had done by or for herself. Again, It is when God chooses to bless his people that they are truly blessed.

and holy is his name (v. 49):  Holiness is one of the attributes of God. It is who God is.

his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation (v. 50):  Here Mary speaks of God as he spoke of himself. As he passed before Moses on Mount Sinai, God proclaimed his name saying, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). Earlier, when he gave the Ten Commandments, God spoke of idols and said, “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6). Who are those who receive God’s mercy? It is those who fear and love him, for he is a gracious God, and his mercy is sufficient for his people.

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate (vv. 51-52):  Throughout Scripture we read of God’s bringing down the haughty and exalting the humble. During his earthly ministry, Jesus spoke of the first being last and the last being first (Matthew 19:30; 20:16; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30). Being merciful, God cares for the widow, the orphan, and those who are downtrodden. And, that is what Mary acknowledges here.

he has filled the hungry with good things (v. 53):  Again, God cares for those in need. Not only does he provide for their needs, but he also often grants the desires of their hearts (Psalm 37:4). Every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17).

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever:  God’s mercy is a special mercy. It is sovereign, in that he chose to bestow his mercy upon Abraham and his descendants. It is a covenantal mercy, as God entered into covenant with Abraham and his descendants. And, it is a benevolent mercy, as God cares for the hungry and exalts the humble.

 

Relevance:

God uses his people to accomplish his plan. And, God blesses his people as he uses them. Even the humblest of servants will be blessed as they realize that God’s sovereign plan involves them. God cares for his people – those who love and fear him. They will be exalted above their circumstances, and all things will, indeed, work together for their good (Romans 8:28).

The Prayer of Habakkuk

O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

…

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:2-19)

 

Background:

Habakkuk was a prophet in Judah before the people of God were taken into captivity. Acting as a representative for the people, he takes their complaints before the Lord in the first chapter of his book. As he looks around him in Judah, he sees violence and injustice. He complains that “destruction and violence” are before him, and “strife and contention arise.” “The law is paralyzed,” and “justice never goes forth.” He begins his complaint by asking, “How long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” (1:2). He, and those he represents, are frustrated that God has done nothing to punish those in Judah who continually sin against him.

God answers Habakkuk’s complaint by telling him that he has a plan. God says, “I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (1:5). He is going to bring the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) to invade Judah and carry the people into captivity, as he had warned and promised in Deuteronomy 4. God says, “Don’t worry. I have everything under control, and I will punish the evildoers.”

This was not what Habakkuk had in mind. The Chaldeans were worse than the Israelites! How could God possible use a violent, heathen, Gentile race to punish his own people? How was it just to favor a nation of even worse sinners? But, God assures Habakkuk that the Babylonians will also be punished. As we know, the Medes later came and overthrew the Babylonians. In telling of the eventual overthrow of the Chaldeans, God informs Habakkuk that “the righteous shall live by faith” (2:4), a verse later referenced by Paul in his letter to the Romans.

At this, Habakkuk realizes that God is, indeed, the sovereign ruler of the universe, and that he is just in all he does. Thus, he prays the prayer found in chapter 3 of his book.

 

The Prayer:

I have heard the report of you (v. 2): It is as if Habakkuk answers God’s question to Isaiah, “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (Isaiah 53:1). God had spoken in answer to Habakkuk’s complaint, and Habakkuk had heard.

and your work, O Lord, do I fear (v. 2): Not only did Habakkuk hear the word of the Lord, He knew what it meant for the people of Judah. He knew that punishment was coming for all their sins against God, and he knew that it was to be a harsh punishment. The people would be overrun by heathen foreigners and carried into captivity, away from the land which the Lord had given them. When he thought of the Lord’s punishment, he was filled with fear.

In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy (v. 2): Habakkuk was fearful of the people suffering for a great number of years. Was he told how long the captivity would last? Was he afraid of their suffering for seventy years? What he asks is that God would rescue and revive his people (his work) before the end came. Interestingly he asks the Lord to do it because it is his work. In other words, rescue and revive the people, because they are God’s people, not because of anything they had done. He calls for God to reveal himself in the midst of their trouble and to have mercy, even in the midst of his wrath. Of course, this is the very thing God does, as is so evident from Isaiah.

Habakkuk now begins to recount the history of God’s bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and giving them the law at Mount Sinai.

God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran (v. 3): Teman was the eldest son of Eliphaz, the first-born son of Esau. His tribe settled in the area south of Judah, and the name of the land soon came to mean “south.” Paran was a mountain in the area, closely associated with Mount Seir and Mount Sinai. Here Habakkuk speaks of God’s descending on the mountain when he gave the law to the people through Moses. Thus he speaks of God’s “splendor covering the heavens,” the earth full of his praise,” “his brightness like the light,” and “rays flashing from his hand.” This is the same language used by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:2-4.

before him went pestilence (v. 5): This section tells of God bringing the plagues upon Egypt. Pestilence went before him, and the plagues followed at his heels. Thus, his power and might were exhibited against the Egyptians who refused to release his people.

he stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations (v. 6): After delivering the children of Israel from Egypt, the Lord brought them, eventually, into the Land of Promise. There he forced out the nations already in the land and divided it among the tribes of his people. God is sovereign. He does what he says he will do. He had told Abraham that he would deliver his descendants from their slave masters and bring them back to the Land of Promise. He had told the Israelites that they would be disobedient, and he would punish them for their disobedience. Now the time of their judgment had come.

Was your anger against the rivers; or your indignation against the sea (v. 8); the sun and moon stood still in their place (v. 11): In bringing the people out of Egypt and to the land, God parted the waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan River. In a day of battle, he caused the sun to stand still in the sky, so that the Israelites could conquer their enemies.

you went out for the salvation of your people (v. 13): God cared for his people. Even in the midst of forty years in the wilderness and battles to take the land which he had promised to their forefathers, God cared for his people.

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us (v. 16): Again, the words of the Lord bring fear and trembling to Habakkuk. When he considers all that the people will have to suffer as punishment for their disobedience and turning from God, it causes his knees to go weak and his lips to quiver. Yet, as he remembers the history of God’s dealing with his people, and God’s work for the salvation of his people, he is content to wait for the full term of the punishment to come, and for God to then punish those whom he used to invade Judah. In the end, God will save his people.

Habakkuk then completes his journey from frustration, to comfort, to worship. Though the fig tree does not blossom, there is no fruit on the vine, the olive trees fail, God is sovereign. Though the fields yield no food, there are no longer flocks of goats and sheep, and there are not cattle in the stall, God is sovereign. Though everything the people might hope in is completely decimated, yet the prophet will rejoice in the Lord. Though circumstances are dire, yet he will praise the Lord who is his strength, for he gives him sure feet in times of trouble, and he raises him from the depths of despair to the high places of divine security.

 

Relevance:

God is sovereign, and he works all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Even in the midst of discipline, God is still a merciful God, and he cares for his people. So, with Paul, we can rejoice in our sufferings (Romans 5:3), and we give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

The Prayer of Jonah

I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! (Jonah 2:2-9)

 

Background:

The story of Jonah is one of the most familiar in the Bible. God was aware of the evil of the people of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire from 705 to 612 B.C. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, sending him to Nineveh to call the people to repentance.

Instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah ran from God and his command. He went to Joppa and caught a ship to Tarshish. While he was asleep below deck, God sent a terrible storm upon the sea. The sailors cried out to their respective gods and cast the cargo overboard, but the storm did not lessen in strength. Finally they awakened Jonah and commanded him to cry out to his god as they were doing to theirs.

They cast lots to see who was accountable for the trouble they were in, and the lot fell to Jonah. He told them he was a Hebrew and a worshiper of the Lord, God of heaven. He told them the storm was sent for him, and they must throw him into the sea. The men rowed harder, trying to escape the storm, but they finally relented. Jonah was thrown overboard, and the storm stopped.

As he sank into the sea, God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah, so that he did not drown. He was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. From inside the belly of the fish, Jonah prayed this prayer.

 

The Prayer:

I called out to the Lord, out of my distress (v. 2):  This was not a gentle prayer offered up to God from a believer who was sitting in comfort in his house. This was the desperate cry of a man who was greatly distressed. Everything had gone wrong for Jonah. Just as Job cried out in his despair; just as David cried out as he was hunted by Saul; so Jonah cried out to the One who could save him. Through Isaiah God declared, “Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

and he answered me (v. 2):  This is what all the people of God want to acknowledge about their prayers and about God. God is a God who answers prayer.

out of the belly of Sheol I cried (v. 2):  Sheol is Hebrew for grave or pit. It is considered to be the place of the dead, and was usually considered to be under the earth, possibly at the roots of the mountains. The word is used several times in Scripture. When Jacob is falsely informed of the death of Joseph, he cries, “I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning” (Genesis 37:35). In her prayer of rejoicing after the birth of Samuel, Hannah speaks of God’s greatness, saying, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6). David, speaking prophetically of the Messiah, wrote, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Jonah acknowledges that he is in the pit. He is separated from God.

and you heard my voice (v. 2):  Yet, even in the pit of death and hell, God heard his servant.

you cast me into the deep (v. 3):  Although the sailors had thrown Jonah into the sea, he knows that God is ultimately in control of all things. It was God who had cast him into the deep. It was God who had sent the great fish to swallow him. It was God who had put him where he was. The is no escaping God.

I am driven away from your sight (v. 4):  From the beginning of this story, Jonah had sought to run from the presence of God. He did not want to do what God had commanded, and he sought to hide himself from the Lord. Now he was in the pit of hell, and he did not like the prospects. It now appears that running from God was not the proper course of action. How sad that Jonah did not truly appreciate being in the presence of God until he thought that he was out of God’s sight – away from his presence.

yet I shall again look upon your holy temple (v. 4):  But, Jonah realizes that he is not completely out of God’s sight. In the words of David, “If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there” (Psalm 139:8). Again, the beloved of God cannot escape his gaze. And, so, Jonah knows that he will live again. He will again go to the holy temple of God for worship. The God who sees is the God who is worthy of all worship and praise.

Jonah then recounts a number of things that happened to discourage him.

The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; (vv. 5-6)

yet you brought up my life from the pit (v. 6):  Yet, despite all these things, God was still with him. God saved him and brought him up from the pit of death and hell.

when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord (v. 7):  Jonah’s life was passing away. He was dying, he thought, away from the presence of the Lord. When all seemed lost, Jonah remember God. As is often the case, the people of God must be stripped of all other things in which they might place their trust before they remember the Lord. And, interestingly, God is not averse to placing his beloved ones in such situations, to do that very thing, thus driving them back to himself and the communion for which they were created and called.

Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love (v. 8):  God is a God of steadfast love for his people (Exodus 20:6; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18-19; Psalm 17:7; 25:10; 33:5; Isaiah 63:7; Lamentations 3:22). Yet, man-made idols have no love or compassion. Those who worship such vain idols have no hope of love, as Jonah and the people of God do.

Salvation belongs to the Lord! (v. 9):  “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

 

Relevance:

Even from the depths of the pit of death and hell, God heard the cries of Jonah. Even though he sought to run from the presence of the Lord, Jonah could not escape his sight. Even though we may feel despair and wonder if the Lord still cares for us, he is ever present. He will never leave us or forsake us. “If God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31).

The Prayer of Daniel

I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

“O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” (Daniel 9:4-19)

 

Background:

As we mentioned in our study of Isaiah’s prayer before the people of Judah were led into exile, God warned the children of Israel of a coming time of apostasy and exile before he even brought them into the land of promise (Deuteronomy 4:25-28).

We know, from the history of Israel given to us in 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles, that the people did exactly as God had warned. We read in the prophets of the many times that God sent his messengers to the people warning them of their sin and calling them back to communion with and obedience to God. But we also know that the people continually refused to hear the word of God presented to them. Finally, God reached the end of his patience, and he declared that the people would be delivered into exile as punishment for their continued sin. But, even in the midst of punishment, the mercy of God showed through, for he declared that the exile would only last for a determined number of years. It would not be indefinite. Through Jeremiah he said, “Because you have not obeyed my words, behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. I will bring upon that land all the words that I have uttered against it, everything written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall make slaves even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and the work of their hands” (Jeremiah 25:8-14). And, again, through Jeremiah God says, “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile” (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

In the first part of Daniel 9, we learn that Daniel had been reading the book of Jeremiah. He says, “in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years” (Daniel 9:2). God had said that the exile would last seventy years, and Daniel knew that those seventy years were almost over. And, so, he prayed.

Several of the commentators made two important observations at this point. Daniel was a prophet, and he received words and visions directly from God, yet he still spent time in the written word of God. Though he was a prophet and a high-ranking official in the Babylonian government, he still spent time in the word. And, thus should each of us. No one is above the word of God. Also, it was God’s promise to his people which drove Daniel to prayer. Matthew Henry remarked that “God’s promises are intended, not to supersede, but to excite and encourage, our prayers.” As a parent wants to hear his children remind him of his promises to them, so God wants to hear us prayerfully remind him of his great promises to us. Thus, Daniel goes before the Lord to remind him of his promise of deliverance.

 

The Prayer:

O Lord, the great and awesome God (v. 4):  As with so many of the prayers in Scripture, Daniel begins with an acknowledgement of the greatness of God. Scripture teaches us that our prayers are made to God, who is worthy of our praise. There is no other like him in all the universe. He is our Creator, Sustainer, Shepherd, Father, Judge, and Friend. He is, as Daniel says, great and awesome (dreadful).

who keeps covenant (v. 4):  If nothing else, God is the God of the covenant. Scripture constantly reveals the centrality of the covenant to God’s relationship with his people. God made – or reestablished – his covenant with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, and Jeremiah. In the New Testament we read of the new covenant in Christ’s blood which was shed for the remission of our sins. From beginning to end, the foundational promise of this covenantal relationship is, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” It is a relationship which God had promised, by himself (Hebrews 6:13), and he passed between the cut animal pieces, thus sealing the covenant in blood.

steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments (v. 4):  When, on Mount Sinai, Moses asked to see the glory of God, God placed him in the cleft of the rock, covered him with his hand, and passed by, declaring his name. As he did so, he said, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7). This steadfast love of God is so sure and so strong that it is actually part of his name. It is strongly tied to the foundational promise to be a God to his people.

we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled (v. 5):  Part of true prayer must be a confession of sin. Daniel, knowing the Creator/creature distinction, followed the adoration of God and his holiness, majesty, and justice, with a confession of the sinfulness and spiritual debt of the people. It is only when that spiritual debt is acknowledge that true acts of repentance can show themselves before God.

we have not listened to your servants the prophets (v. 6):  As mentioned earlier, God sent his prophets with words of warning to the people. They urgently called the people back into healthy communion with God, but the people refused. That is the reason they had been delivered into captivity in Babylon.

to you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame (v. 7):  God is righteous. All that God does is righteous. God does not do certain things because they are right. All things that God does are right, because he does them. Sinful man, on the other hand, does nothing, by himself, which is righteous. In the words of Isaiah, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6).

to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness (v. 9):  God is full of mercy. He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). Although they were in exile, removed from the land, the people of Israel still experienced the mercy and forgiveness of God. Their punishment for disobedience and straying from the Lord was not as harsh as it could have been.

as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us (v. 13):  As mentioned earlier, God warned the people in Deuteronomy 4, that a time would come when they would turn from him, and he would punish them with exile in a foreign land. Daniel, here, admits that God’s words through Moses were true, for they had strayed, and God had punished.

yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God (v. 13):  When God warned of the coming exile, he also revealed his mercy to his people. Through Moses he said, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31). Daniel admits that his is true, but the people had not yet done this. They had not yet repented of their sins and returned to the Lord.

and now, O Lord our God … as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly (v. 15):  Daniel, for himself and for his people, confesses that they have sinned. He knows that God promised to bring them back to the land when, after seventy years, they returned to him. So, Daniel, realizing that the seventy years are almost complete, comes before the Lord on behalf of all of Judah, and he confesses. He repents.

for your own sake (v. 17):  Even when his realization of the nearing end of the seventy years drives him to prayer, Daniel still does not pray that God will deliver them for their sake. His prayer that God will be the righteous God that he is. His prayer is that God will uphold his own honor. His prayer is that God will do what is just for all the world to see.

 

Relevance:

Daniel says, “while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me” (Daniel 9:21). This tells us something very important about God and the prayers of his people. God hears the prayers, and he answers them – sometimes immediately and sometimes after a time – but he always hears the prayers of his people.

Also, this powerful prayer of a servant of God shows us very much about how our prayers should be structured. Daniel begins with adoration of God and a recognition of his holiness and righteousness. He next moves to a time of confession of his sins and the sins of his people. Never does he try to shift the blame for anything that has happened to them, so that it appears that God is at fault. He reminds God of his promises to his people. But, his reminding is so that God will do what is right and bring even more glory and honor to himself. Even is reminding God of the promise of deliverance, he does not ask for deliverance back to the land, because the people deserve. The only reason, according to Daniel, that God should return the people to the land of promise is that he had promised to do so, and he must do what he has said.

The Prayer of Isaiah

Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and beautiful habitation. Where are your zeal and your might?

…

Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly? (Isaiah 63:15 – 64:12)

 

Background:

Before he brought them into the Promised Land, the Lord foretold of a time when Israel would forget about him and turn from him. He said, “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you” (Deuteronomy 4:25-27). The people had done exactly as God had said they would, and he was now prepared to send them into exile in a foreign land. It was to these people that Isaiah spoke for the Lord.

In preparation for the exile, Isaiah began chapter 63 with a word on the vengeance of God. Yet, as he did so often in his prophecy, Isaiah turned immediately to the mercy of God toward his people. Interestingly, God actually seems to waver between anger and mercy throughout Isaiah’s book. After speaking of vengeance, he wrote of the “steadfast love of the Lord” and the great goodness that he has granted to Israel” (v. 7). But, the people rebelled against this God of love and mercy. And, in their rebellion, God seemed far off from them. So, Isaiah, on behalf of the people prayed to God for mercy in their time of affliction.

 

The Prayer:

look down from heaven and see (63:15):  God, in his majesty, is seated upon his throne far above the earth. Also speaking of the steadfast love of God, the psalmist says that “God looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man” (Psalm 33:13). Though we may think of these two words meaning the same thing, there is actually a difference. To look at something requires only the perception of it’s existence with the eyes. However, to see, means to gaze upon the object and to ascertain what it actually is. Here Isaiah asks the Lord to look down upon the children of men to know that they are there. But, he also asks him to see them, knowing they are his and perceiving the afflictions which they are suffering.

from your holy and beautiful habitation (63:15):  The Hebrew word translated beautiful, can also be translated glorious. God’s dwelling place in heaven is both holy and glorious. It is holy, beautiful, and glorious because God is there. When we think of God, we think of his holiness and his glory. In those two things, he is greatly exalted above all his creation.

where are your zeal and your might (63:15):  Isaiah is not insinuating that God has lost either his zeal or his strength. Rather, because of the sin of the people, God and his divine attributes seem far removed. This is why Isaiah is praying. He is asking for God to come to the aid of his people – to be merciful to them and to save them from their affliction.

for you are our Father (63:16):  During the earthly ministry of Jesus, he often referred to God as his Father. After that, the apostles wrote of the fatherhood of God and the fact that believers were his children. Paul speaks of our adoption into the family of God (Romans 8:23; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:5). Interestingly, the idea of God as Father is not as prominent in the Old Testament. Therefore, it is even more powerful here as Isaiah reminds God of the fact that he has taken his people as his own and cares for them.

our Redeemer from of old is your name (63:16):  When God sent Moses back to Egypt, he was to tell the people, “I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment” (Exodus 6:6). Job told his false counselors, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). And, David writes, “Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies” (Psalm 69:18). Redemption speaks of the buying back or rescuing of a slave. Isaiah speaks here of the fact that God, in bringing his people out of slavery in Egypt, was the Redeemer from ages past.

why do you make us wander from your ways (63:17):  This could be seen as a hard saying, because it appears that God actually causes his people to sin – hardens their hearts and causes them to stray. Yet, from Paul’s letter to the Romans we see that God often lets man live out the full consequences of his sinful nature. He even sometimes allows his children to stray from him and to suffer the consequences of their sin, as punishment.

oh that you would rend the heavens and come down (64:1):  After asking God to return, Isaiah now becomes even bolder in his requests. At first he asked God to look down from heaven and see the affliction of his people. Now he begs him to actually come down. He asks him to tear open the heavens and to descend to the aid of his people, causing mountains to quake. When God descended upon Mount Sinai, it quaked to it its very foundations (Exodus 19:18; Judges 5:5).

no eye has seen a God besides you (64:4):  Moses said to the children of Israel, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Solomon prayer, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath” (1 Kings 8:23). There is only one God who created and rules over the heavens and the earth. None can compare with him.

who acts for those who wait for him (64:4):  David wrote, “Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield” (Psalm 33:20), and “I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1). In another place, Isaiah writes, “they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). Unlike some would have us believe, Scripture does not say, “God helps those who help themselves.” Scripture says that God helps those who wait upon him and his good pleasure. If Israel and Judah had waited upon the Lord, their current troubles would not be pushing them away from the Lord.

we have all become like one who is unclean (64:6):  One of the first things which a sinner must admit is that he is unclean; that he is a sinner. Scripture is replete with passages which speak of the fact that man cannot save himself. Only when we admit that we are unclean and separated from God can we come to him with the requisite broken spirit and broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).

there is no one who calls upon your name (64:7):  This rings with the finality and conviction of Paul in Romans 3. There is no one who seeks after God; no one who understand his ways. All have gone astray, and only God can retrieve us and redeem us. Only he can make us clean and whole again.

we are the clay, and you are our potter (64:8):  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Paul all speak of man as being clay in the hands of God the potter. This is a rather unique admission of God’s sovereign power over his creation. In the instance of a potter, he has command over the clay with which he works. The clay does not tell the potter what to make of it. He can make one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use (Romans 9:21).

and remember not iniquity forever (64:9):  Isaiah asks again for mercy from God. In answer, David writes, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:8-14). God does not remember our sins forever, when we come before him with a heart of repentance.

will you restrain yourself at these things (64:12):  The temple and the holy city of Jerusalem had been destroyed. God seemed far away from his people. Isaiah asks, “Will you not do anything about these circumstances? Will you let our enemies have their way with us? Will you not have mercy?”

 

Relevance:

Before he brought them into the Promised Land, the Lord foretold of a time when Israel would forget about him and turn from him. And, when that happened, he would send them into exile as punishment. But, even before that happened, there was a promise of grace, mercy, and redemption. God said, “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31). Isaiah prayed that God would deliver his people from their affliction and that he would forgive their sinful ways. God answered that prayer, but in his own time. After seventy years of exile, God remembered his people and his covenant with them. He brought them back to the Promised Land, and he enabled them to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple.

Because of sin still existing in us, we may often feel that God is far from us. Yet, Jesus assured his disciples that no one can snatch the redeemed from the hand of the Father (John 10:29). As the Westminster Confession says, “True believers may have the assurance of their salvation shaken, diminished, or temporarily lost in various ways: as by negligence in preserving it, by falling into some special sin which wounds the conscience and grieves the Spirit, by some sudden or violent temptation, or by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance and allowing even those who reverence him to walk in darkness and have no light. Yet, true believers are never completely deprived of that seed of God and life of faith, that love for Christ and fellow believers, that sincerity of heart and conscience concerning duty, out of which – by the operation of the Spirit – this assurance may in due time be revived; and by which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair” (WCF chap. 18, para. 4). God knows his own, and he will keep them against all evil.

The Prayer of Moses

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

…

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:1-17)

 

Background:

After 400 years of captivity in Egypt, God was ready to fulfill his promise to Abraham and deliver the children of Israel into the Promised Land. God sent Moses back to Egypt to bring the people out. After crossing the Red Sea, the people entered the wilderness through which they were to travel to Canaan. Almost immediately, the people began to grumble and complain against Moses and God. They continually spoke of returning to Egypt and the better life they had there. When they camped on the edge of the Promised Land, the people rebelled to the point that God judged them for their lack of faith.

Twelve spies were sent into Canaan before the people entered. On their return, ten of the twelve reported, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13:31). Only two – Joshua and Caleb – reported that, with God, they could indeed take the land, because he had promised it to them. The people accepted the report of the ten, and rebelled against God.

God threatened to destroy the people and make a new nation of Moses. But, Moses prayed on behalf of the people (Numbers 14:13-19). God relented and agreed to spare Israel. But, the first generation to leave Egypt would not be permitted to enter the land. During forty years of wondering in the wilderness, they would all die (except for Joshua and Caleb), and God would bring their children into the land.

Matthew Henry and others feel that this prayer in Psalm 90 was written at that time. It seems to have been written by Moses to be prayed daily by the people or the priests, during their long time in the wilderness. In it, the people acknowledge the eternality of God, the humility of man, and the necessity of coming to God for mercy and grace.

 

The Prayer:

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations (v. 1):  The people had just left captivity in Egypt. They were on their way to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, at the present time, they were wanderers without a home. They lived in tents and roamed throughout the wilderness as they were led by the cloud of God’s glory, and by Moses. But, even without permanent homes, the people still had a dwelling place in the Lord.

Boaz referred to the fact that Ruth had come to take refuge under the wings of the Lord (Ruth 2:12). David says that “the Lord is a shield for all those who take refuge in him” (2 Samuel 22:31). God is called a refuge for his people in Psalms 7, 11, 14, 18, 27, 28, 31, 34, 37, 64, 71, 73, 91, 94, 118, 141, 142, and 143. He is also called a refuge for his people by Jeremiah, Joel, Nahum, and Zephaniah. The idea of the people of God dwelling and finding refuge in him is a thread which runs throughout the Bible. It is with this idea in mind that St. Augustine prayed, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.” It is only in the Lord that we find true rest and a true dwelling place, protected from the harms and cares of the world.

from everlasting to everlasting you are God (v. 2):  When Abraham prayed in Genesis 21, God is referred to as the eternal God. Moses calls him “the eternal God” and a refuge in Deuteronomy 33:27. Isaiah calls him “he who lives forever” (Isaiah 57:15). God is eternal. He had no beginning, and he will have no end. There was never a time when God was not, but there was a time when there was only God. Before the creation of the heavens and the earth, God existed in three Persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all eternal.

you return man to dust (v. 3):  Although God is eternal, man is not. Moses speaks here of the declaration of God in the Garden of Eden. When mankind was cursed after the fall of Adam and Eve, God said, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). And it is God who makes man return to dust. Because of sin in the world, and the fact that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), our body of flesh must die. Also, although those of us who have been adopted and have entered the kingdom of God will live in the presence of God forever, we are not eternal like he is. We all have a beginning. We are not “from everlasting to everlasting.”

a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past (v. 4):  It must be remembered that time is a creation of God, just like everything else around us. God is above of time, but he acts within time as he deals with mankind. The same idea is presented by Peter when he writes, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). God knows all things at all times, since he does not live in time as we do. Thus he can say, “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose” (Isaiah 46:8-10).

we are brought to an end by your anger (v. 7):  Referring back to the fact that man is mortal, and that God causes his death because of sin, this is probably speaking of the fact that the first generation of those leaving Egypt would die in the wilderness. They did not believe, so the Lord caused them to die outside the Promised Land.

you have set our iniquities before you (v. 8):  God knows all things, and he knows our sins. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:12-13).

teach us to number our days (v. 12):  Again, Moses speaks of our mortality. Jesus said that no one can add a single hour to his life by being anxious (Matthew 6:27). Although we do not know the hour of our death, God had set the limits of our life. Since we do not know the hour of our death, we are called, here and elsewhere, to number our days – to live our lives in such a way that we know we are following God in all we do.

have pity on your servants (v. 13):  Pity can also be translated as compassion. Webster’s online dictionary defines pity as “A feeling of sympathy and sorrow for the misfortunes of others,” and compassion as “a deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering.” Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology adds that compassion is a form of love “that fuels acts of kindness and mercy.” Here it speaks of the love of God for his people and the resulting compassion that he shows toward them in their suffering – even when inflicted upon them by him because of their disobedience.

satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love (v. 14):  This phrase brings to mind the words of Jeremiah: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ’The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’” (Lamentations 3:22-24). Moses rightly prays to God for compassion and mercy. He is the Faithful One who cares for his people. Moses tells the people, “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7), and “Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years” (Deuteronomy 8:4).

make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us (v. 15):  A simple, childlike prayer, Moses here calls for the Lord to bless his people and make things right for them. In words similar to Paul’s declaration that God works all things together for the good of his people (Romans 8:28), Moses calls for the Lord to give his people good and glad days to match the days of sorrow which they must endure.

let your work be shown to your servants (v. 16):  Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul wrote, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6), and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-12). It is God who works in history. It is God who works all things together for the good of his people (Romans 8:28). And, when the people of God see the works of God, they give him the glory.

let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us (v. 17):  Let all that we do find favor with God, and let him favor us in all he does. This is what we, as true believers seek – God’s favor. In the words of Paul, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

 

Relevance:

We must always remember the Creator/creature distinction. God is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting; yet, we are not. When all around us is chaos and flux, we have a dwelling place in one who has no beginning. God has always been, and he always will be. And, it is in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). He is our refuge. Through every circumstance, every situation, every hardship, and every trial, God is our God. He cares for his people, and he has compassion on them.

The Prayer of Solomon

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart, who have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

…

“Let your eyes be open to the plea of your servant and to the plea of your people Israel, giving ear to them whenever they call to you. For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be your heritage, as you declared through Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.” (1 Kings 8:22-53)

 

Background:

David wanted to build a temple for God, so that he no longer had to dwell in a tent among his people. Because of the blood on David’s hands, he was not allowed to build that house. But in telling this to David through the prophet Nathan, God made a covenant with David. God promised that rather than David building him a house, he would build a house for David. And he promised that his throne would be established forever. Within that covenantal agreement, God told David that his son would follow him to the throne, and that the son, Solomon, would build the temple.

The story of the preparations and the building of the temple is found in 1 Kings 5-7. Using materials from a variety of places, Solomon built a temple in seven years. When it was finished, Solomon had the priests bring the ark up and place it in the Holy of Holies. “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11). Solomon prayed a prayer of blessing because God had kept his promise to David. Then Solomon prayed this prayer of dedication.

 

The Prayer:

before the altar of the Lord (v. 22):  This would have been in the courtyard, before the entrance to the Holy Place of the temple. In the retelling of this story, we are told that Solomon stood on a bronze platform he had built for this occasion (2 Chronicles 6:13).

in the presence of all the assembly of Israel (v. 22):  This was not a private prayer. All of Israel was there for the dedication of the temple. It should be noted that Solomon had no problem praying to God in the presence of a multitude of people.

spread out his hands toward heaven (v. 22):  The retelling in 2 Chronicles 6, says that he knelt before the Lord and spread his hands toward heaven. Kneeling was the posture of supplication – the posture of a servant coming before his king. In this situation, Solomon was not the king of all Israel. He was an humble servant of God, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe.

O Lord, God of Israel (v. 23):  This is God’s covenant name. Solomon begins his prayer with praise for God as the covenant God of Israel. The foundational promise of this covenant is, “I will be your God, and you will be my people.” In dedicating this temple, the people acknowledged that God now had a permanent house in their midst. This was the place where his name would dwell (1 kings 8:16). Repeating the words of Hannah and David, Solomon acknowledges that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), and there is no other god like him.

keeping covenant and showing steadfast love (v. 23):  Again, the foundational promise of the covenant was that God would be the God of his people, and they would be his people. Solomon refers to this as he calls God the covenant-keeping God. In Genesis 15, we read of God making his covenant with Abraham. God told Abraham to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. He was to cut the heifer, goat, and ram in two, and arrange the parts, with the birds into a walkway. This was the act of cutting a covenant. As the covenant was established, each party of the covenant was to walk between the dismembered animals, pledging that the same would be done to him, if he ever broke the regulations of the covenant. When God established his covenant with Abraham, Abraham was sleeping. God, in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, passed through the pieces. Thus, God swore that he would always keep his covenant with his people. Using the same words as Solomon, Moses reminds the people of Israel that “the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).

your servants who walk before you with all their heart (v. 23):  When God talked to Abraham, he said “walk before me and be blameless” (Genesis 17:1). Paul urges believers to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1). Psalm 1 speaks of the man who does not walk, stand, or sit in the presence of the Lord. And Micah urges the people to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Throughout Scripture, we read that the people of God are to walk before him and with him. Even in the Old Testament, the relationship between God and his people was a relationship of the heart. Only when the people did the things of the Lord with all their heart (in faith) were they said to be in communion with God.

kept with your servant David (v. 24):  Solomon acknowledges that God has kept his promise to David that his son would build the temple. He also asks that God would remember the rest of his promise and establish the throne of David forever.

will God indeed dwell on the earth (v. 27):  How could man possibly think that God could dwell on the earth? One of God’s characteristics is omnipresence; he is everywhere at all times. How could he limit himself to being only on the earth? Commenting on this verse, Matthew Henry wrote: “Can we imagine that a Being infinitely high, and holy, and happy, will stoop so low as to let it be said of him that he dwells upon the earth and blesses the worms of the earth with his presence – the earth that is corrupt, and overspread with sin, cursed, and reserved for fire?” But God had already come to earth. We read of several meetings between God and man before this. We are told that the presence of God went with the children of Israel in the wilderness as a pillar of cloud and fire. When the tabernacle was originally built, the presence of God descended upon it, so that Moses could not go in. And, when the temple was finished, the presence again descended, so that the priests could not enter to perform their required duties. Although God cannot be contained by the highest heaven, even so, he dwells in the midst of his people. Known as the Emmanuel Principle, God’s presence with his people is spoken of by the prophets and Paul (Romans 8:31).

have regard to the prayer of your servant (v. 28):  Several prayers in Scripture include a plea for God to hear (Nehemiah 1:6; Psalm 4:1; Psalm 38:12; Psalm 143:1). Solomon prays that God will hear his prayer at this time, but he also asks that God will hear the prayers of his people as they come to this place or pray toward this special house of God on earth.

made to take an oath (v. 31):  In seeking forgiveness for sin, people were often required to make an oath before God. Solomon asks God to hear all such oaths made at the temple, or toward it. Sadly, in the days of Jesus, this practice was abused, as people thought that the temple held some sort of magic which made their oaths even more important.

defeated before the enemy (v. 33):  When the people of Israel sinned, they were often defeated in battle (Joshua 7). Solomon pleads that God will forgive the people when they have thus been defeated, but turn in repentance to God.

heaven is shut up (v. 35):  God sends rain upon the earth (Job 5:10; Matthew 5:45), and he also withholds it (Amos 4:7). The prayer of Solomon is that, when the skies are shut up because of the sin of the people, God will open them again when the people repent and ask for forgiveness toward the temple.

for there is no one who does not sin (v. 46):  These words sound very much like those of Paul in Romans 3. There is no one who does not sin. Yet, Solomon prays that even when the people are carried off into captivity because of their sin, God will hear them when they repent and cry out to him toward the temple.

 

 

Relevance:

 

The tabernacle and the temple were pictures which showed the way to God. They were also pictures of Jesus Christ, because he is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:1). Jesus referred to his being the temple when he spoke of the raising up the temple in three days (John 2:19). When Jesus ascended into heaven, he took his body, which was the true temple, with him. Therefore, there is no longer any need to travel to, or face, Jerusalem when we pray. We now pray directly to God. And, when we pray directly to God, when we come into his throne room with our praise, thanksgiving, and petitions, he hears. He is still our God, and we are still his people. He hears, and he provides. He hears, and he forgives.