The Old Testament prophets suffer from bad press. They live in hard to get to ‘streets’ and they are perceived to be cranky old men.

Yet they have so much to offer. For to them has been given vision. To them has been given a passion. They know God and they see what could be, ought to be and should be. They see life under God as He wants it to be. Their passion for God, His name, His honour and His people is of such a strength they are indignant when they see one person ripping off another, or when they see the plight of the poor, the orphaned, the fatherless and the widowed. Even more so when these “little ones” are exploited, abused or ignored in the shadows of some who enjoy prosperity and comfort.

Rather than fear what these men might say to us there is life for those who take the trouble to visit their ‘streets’.

Such life frees us from the deadening existence that passes for life in Sydney where life is squeezed out of a human being. Such “life” suffocates much like a businessman’s tie on a summer’s day and can leave you, in the words of author Matthew Thompson,  “loving [your] child but hating her father: a man without spontaneity; a man who missed history; a man born between years, between places, and without a calling or crisis.” (Matthew Thompson, My Columbian Death, [. 94).

But for those who would listen – really listen – there is life. Particularly for those who would listen to Isaiah who promises “your soul will delight in the richest of fare …” (Isaiah 55:2).

Isaiah speaks to us of a counterintuitive vision. Life is found not in the comfort and security of prosperity and luxury. It is found in living as God’s people, under God’s rule in God’s place. And that means living in such a way that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy life in the Kingdom of God. This calls for eyes to see as God sees and a heart to love as he loves and a mind to process the world as God does. In short, it calls for the pursuit of justice.

Israel’s sin in this area was so deep, so devastating, that God establishes a cosmic court in which heaven and earth, no less, are called to bear witness to the prosecution of His people. The sin of His people has affected ALL of creation!

The sin of injustice God hates but he loves his people such that He will not let them stay in such sin. He takes up the rod of Assyria to chastise them in their land. He then uses Babylon to take them out of their land. And when they are broken by suffering, he summons Cyrus to set them free to thereby give them a chance for a start over.

On top of this, he scourges His Servant as a Whipping Boy with such punishment His people become totally aware that their sin – including the sin of injustice – has caused this. And not just to any servant. It was meted out on Messiah.

Finally, his people are purged of hubris and arrogance and injustice. They are marked with humility and a willingness to live with justice and righteousness in the Kingdom of God.

Isaiah is the Romans of the Old Testament. It’s rich veins of truth run deep and will stir our hearts and transform our analogue lives into full blown HD digital blue ray lives. As with much of the Old Testament, Isaiah is first a mirror and then a window. As a mirror we are given the opportunity to examine ourselves – so we might see where we need to change. As a window Isaiah shows us the direction we need to take.

It is my prayer that we will so see Isaiah’s grand vision that we will be captive to it.

It is my prayer that we will experience the exhilaration of life in the Kingdom of God coursing through our veins.

It is my prayer, therefore, the world will be better off.

These may not be our favourite passages of Scripture, and they may never get featured on our calendar of daily inspiration, but truth be told, the Bible is not coy about the kind of world into which Christ has sent his disciples. Job 24:2-4; Job 24:9-10; Psalm 34:17; Isaiah 3:14; Ezekiel 22:29;Joel 3:3; Amos 1:13.

- From Gary Haugen, The Good News About Injustice, p. 48 – 49.

What place justice?

For most of the 35 years I have walked with   Christ justice has, at best, been relegated to the sidelines by the church and, at worst, not considered. It has been associated with Liberation Theology and, therefore, had to be wrong. It has been associated with Marxism, Socialism, Revolution in Cuba but, I have to admit, it has not been associated with “mainline” church – at least not in my experience. And so my mind is being exercised as I study Isaiah.  Some 99 times he refers to justice and righteousness (almost interchangeable concepts). It is because of a lack of justice and righteousness that God’s people are to judged, punished and exiled.

This lack is evidenced in the absence of: encouragement for the oppressed, defense of the fatherless and pleas on behalf of the widow (Isaiah 1:17). The nation’s leaders did not do any of this (Isaiah 1:23-24) nor did the people. The vulnerable were left to their own devices while the wealth of the nation was enjoyed by a few.

This is so shocking God calls heaven and earth to witness the prosecution and judgment of his people (Isaiah 1:2-4).

Justice and righteousness is the standard by which God will judge his people (Isaiah 28:17) And so God calls on his people to seek justice (Isaiah 1:17.  Isaiah 58:6-7) THEN they will enjoy the presence and fellowship of God (Isaiah 58:8-14).

All of which is left out so often in discussion about justice and righteousness.

Often these discussions centre on the saving work of Christ. For “there is no one who is righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). Without Christ’s substitutionary sacrifical death we are left without hope. But with it we have righteousness imputed to us. Of course, this is true! And absolutely vital to and for us. But then discussion about the justice Isaiah speaks of – and which is echoed throughout Scripture a thousand times – is silent.

Is our God the God of justice and justification or just justification?

He is both!

I am looking forward to preaching through Isaiah soon. It will stretch our minds to see the massive and phenomenal vision of God. It will help us develop healthy connections with our forebears. Carl F. H. Henry has said of 19th century evangelicals that their “evangelical movement was spiritually and morally vital because it strove for justice and also invited humanity to regeneration, forgiveness, and power for righteousness. If the church preaches only divine forgiveness and does not affirm justice, she simply implies that God treats immorality and sin lightly. If the church proclaims only justice, we shall all die in unforgiven sin and without the Spirit’s empowerment for righteousness. We should be equally troubled that we lag in championing justice and in fulfilling our evangelistic mandate.”

Take a few minutes, watch the video here -> Top Jobs Abroad

… and ponder …

It is estimated that two children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation.

Article 4 of the universal declaration of human rights says that people should not be bought and sold. And yet today the trafficking of people is the fastest-growing global crime.

“It is an evil time when the world is dumb before injustice. When the oppressed, the poor, the deprived, cry aloud unto heaven, while the judges and the lords of the Earth keep silent …” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The new Sherlock Holmes movies is a great “boys” movie! One fight scene after another – the most intense fights are with the dark Lord Blackwood who uses his mysterious powers in an effort to rule London. I  enjoyed it as pure escapism – even more so seeing it with my teenage boys.

Of course it’s fantasy – that adds to the escapism when you are on holidays. But Sherlock Homles is like Jesus.  Not the finger nail drying space cadet of the Easter movies. He is like the Jesus we seem NOT to see in the Gospels - the One who with a magnificent and defiant courage (as John Ortberg calls it) took on Herod.  He is like the Jesus we see in Revelation 19:11ff who rides on a white horse and with justice he judges and makes war; with eyes blazing with fire and wearing a robe dripping with blood he fights against the dark lord who is his enemy – finally throwing him into the lake of burning sulfur (Revelation 20:10). Jesus is the fearsome warrior God who did bloody battle with the dark forces of the Dark Lord, Satan decisively defeating him on the Cross (Colossians 2:15).

The great difference between Sherlock Holmes and Jesus Christ is, of course, Holmes is fantasy: Christ is reality.