The Cross - Jesus' hour of glorification

(Written July 29, 2012)

A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

 - John 19:29-30

"It is finished." The finality. The end of all sacrifice, of all of blood shed for forgiveness of sins. FINALLY, God had satisfied Himself with the death of His chosen, anointed Innocent One.

"It is finished." It was not a mere era ending; it was much more than that. A highway now lies between mankind and God, where for many thousands of years before there was just a huge chasm that could not be bridged. It was not the dawn of merely a new age; it was the dawn of a NEW MAN!

I find it absolutely amazing that Jesus had this perspective at the time He died. This cry was uttered at the doorstep of death. What was finished? His God-appointed task of substitution for mankind's penalty. It's amazing how little the people around the Cross that day might have known about what had been accomplished that moment.

Misunderstood, betrayed, His body a river of blood, hanging cursed and an outcast, a common criminal outside the city gates, Jesus still had His perspective so clearly before Him at the doorstep of death.

John has been talking about the "hour of glorification" of the Son of Man; at the moment Jesus died, that hour was finished. Jesus had been perfectly glorified.

The perfect glorification of our God is not in His majesty, or in any of His attributes, or even the mystery of the Incarnation, or Jesus' teachings, or miracles, or even His life. The perfect glorification of our God is HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS. 

How can we glory in this grisly symbol of murder? How is God glorified in Jesus' death? This, I believe, is where Christianity is unique. It is our belief that God chose the moment, the darkest hour, to win an irreversible victory. That which the world considers the most foolish thing - the Cross of Jesus - THAT is our greatest glory.

God indeed SHAMED the wisdom of the world, and frustrated the understanding of the "wise".....through the Cross. He silenced human wisdom for all time.

I want to dwell on the defeat that the kingdom of darkness endured at the moment Jesus cried out "It is finished." No longer could there be any hope of victory. Cosmic powers had been stripped of their power and the strength of their delusions. They were led captive in the train of the Victor, publicly shamed, disgraced, rendered powerless.

All that remained to the kingdom of darkness was the power of bluff - a bark far worse than its bite. There is no bite left, actually.

Let's call this power of bluff of the kingdom of darkness. It has no place anymore in the lives of us who believe in the substitutionary death of the Son of God for us. 

Jesus' 'cry of dereliction'

(Written July 26, 2012)

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

- Matthew 27:45-46

This cry of Jesus is famously remembered as the "cry of dereliction". All the scholars agree that Jesus was quoting Psalm 22:1 (a Messianic psalm). Jesus quoted scripture to emphasize that it was fulfilled in Him.

I wonder whether we have thought about this cry of dereliction. We do know Jesus FELT forsaken by God. But was He really forsaken? Was Jesus ASKING A QUESTION "why"? The most correct explanation seems to be that Jesus' cry was in fact a cry of REAL, ACTUAL dereliction - that God forsook Him IN REALITY.

I also wonder whether we think about the weight of sin. To bear the weight of our sin, it took God Himself to become a man, and die the kind of death Jesus died. It's not just about HOW FAR GOD WOULD GO.......it is also about how far He would HAVE TO GO. As human beings we are quick to shuffle off our responsibility and guilt. But the darkness of those three hours, and God not just "being away" from His Only Son but actually FORSAKING Him (depth of abandonment) gives us an idea of what cost was involved. Matthew also says that there were earthquakes during that time as the Son of God bore the sentence of the Father in our place. The horror of sin is not something we should take lightly, if it cost God Himself so much!

If Jesus, the very Son of God, Himself felt the "abandonment" so sharply that He cried out in such unbearable anguish, we ought to consider soberly whether, when the time comes, some of us will be able to bear eternal separation from God.

What we RISK in not believing is not "mere" eternity. It is the absolute horror of an eternity WITHOUT GOD. Forsaken, abandoned to our just desserts, our rewards for sin and rebellion.

The Gardener's hand

(Written March 1, 2012)

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

 - John 15:1-2

One of my precious friends sent me this verse the other day.

It seems quite expected for The Lord to say that He "cuts off" branches that do not bear fruit, even though in reality it is a very chilling thing. But what caught my imagination is what He does with those who DO bear fruit.

Does it say "He rewards"? or "commends"? "pats on the back"? "gives special blessings"? Of course He definitely does all of that too. But this verse is drawing our attention to the one all-important thing the Father does with those who truly bear fruit for Him - He PRUNES them. Pruning involves shearing off boughs and leaves to stimulate growth, which in turn stimulates more fruit.

Do you feel today that He has dealt harshly with you and you don't know why? Do you feel like here you are, going through the very valley of the shadow of death, and He does not seem to care? Do you feel prayers going seemingly unheard? Do you feel your efforts for the Kingdom are not precious to Him?

This verse tells me that in order for me to grow to fulfill His purposes and His purposes only, He must indeed let me go through the valley of the shadow of death. He knows the best way to teach me hard truths, to refine and purify me. And sometimes this involves feelings of abandonment, smallness, enormous feelings of having wasted efforts, and prayers not being heard. 

If you are in a bad way today, God knows what He is doing. Do not mistake your circumstances to be His displeasure or His abandonment. It is only MORE PROOF of His deep involvement, His appreciation of how precious your faith is to Him and how precious you are to Him. I can personally testify that when I come through the valley, He has taught me so much I never even knew I was learning. And I realise that He could only have taught me those truths in the valley. If I was in the plain, on level ground, happy and without a care, I would never learn those truths.

Another reason God PRUNES us is to refine us. Isn't our prayer to Him primarily to enter into His righteousness? To become like Him? Well, if He is going to have to answer that prayer, hard times are ahead because we are full of sin. He is going to have to purge, cleanse and perform surgery, sometimes without an anaesthetic. Sometimes, He is going to leave us crying for a while. Sometimes, He is going to have to be harsh with us, so that we will learn how sinful we are.

So, dearly beloved, let us remember John 15:1-2 in our troughs, valleys, and hard times. Let's pray what David prayed when God confronted him with his sin - David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men. (I Chronicles 21:13) Let us fall into the ever loving arms of our Lord!

Be blessed! I don't know why The Lord wanted me to write this, but I feel blessed for having written it...may it bless your heart.

Psalm 23

(Written June 28, 2012)

As the world hurtles at breakneck speed down only to find itself back where it began....
Slow down. Let it pass on.

Step off the path. On to the grass. It's fresh and new and is cool on your bare feet. Lie down upon it and gaze at the limitless expanse above you.
Do not look to the broad path, where everyone wants to get somewhere before everyone else.
Slow down.

Wander wondrously and dreamily over the rolling meadows. Sit by the clear, still, pristine stream and look up at the top of the mountain.
Don't turn back. The shrill metallic cacophony of the broad path - shut it out. 
Shut it out.
Slow down.

You won't be left behind just because you stopped to lie on the grass, or wander over the meadow, or drink from the clear, still water.
The ones on the broad path are very fast, but they're not really going anywhere; just round and round and getting dizzy.
Slow down.

Sit down to a meal. Take your time. Try out everything on the table. Have a chat with the host. Isn't it so fascinating that when you look into His eyes, the deafening roar of the broad path just dies away in the distance?
Take your time. This is the repast of kings, taken at their leisure and without a care in the world.

Aren't you glad you stopped? Here is the anointing. You are special to Him. Your soul is restored. Now you see things clearly as they really are.

Take your time. He heals. He restores. You won't be left behind. Surely, His goodness and mercy follow you always. But you have to slow down to know that.

"And now these three remain......"

(Written May 16, 2012)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
- I Corinthians 13:13

I am absolutely entranced, enchanted, fascinated and insatiably intrigued by the way the Bible WORDS things. It has a way of reaching out to your heart, pulling you by the heartstrings and saying to you, "isn't this the truth? and how did I know you were thinking about this?"

The context of this absolutely pivotal and significant verse is what Paul has been saying to the Corinthian church about love. It yanks the word out of the miry depths into which the Corinthian world had buried it, and sets it up as an unreachable ideal, stressing that unless we aspire to the unreachable, we will get nowhere. When Paul is done with what he has said about love, love has become such a pure thing that the reader will want absolutely no impurity to be associated with it. It is an "aha" moment for the Corinthian church.

This verse has been on my mind for a few months now, very strangely. I even went out and searched for a song that specifically explains this verse, which I hope to do with our church choir soon:)

One of the things that slowly came clear to me is that these three are 1) inextricably linked to each other, and none can truly exist without the other 2) Neither faith nor hope can truly breed if there is no love 3) All three are intangible. I believe that these thoughts have important implications for me.

There can be no faith without love; there can be no love without faith. And both faith and love need to exist, if there is to be any (tangible) hope at all. Faith and love are handmaidens; together, they inculcate a sense of hope which is so powerful that it helps us overcome handsomely ANYTHING the evil one throws at us.

Faith without love is suffocating legalism. Love without faith is hypocritical. Faith or love without hope is inhuman. Hope without faith and love is impossible and a delusion.

If we have faith, it is because God first loved us. If we have hope, it is because we have faith in God who first loved us. If we have love, we have faith in God and hope for the age to come.

In the Corinthian church, probably mooring the word "love" inextricably with its two handmaidens faith and hope was a totally new concept. It was absolutely an eye-opener to realise that true love cannot exist unless we have faith in God, and that this gives us hope not just for this world but also in the age to come. The Corinthians were well-known for their purely earthly definitions of 'love'. In their view, it was possible for love to exist all by itself. By mooring love with faith and hope, Paul was indeed opening their eyes to new vistas and an altogether heavenly vantage point.

We need this so much today too!!!!! Why?

Because in our world today, if something is intangible, it is assumed to not exist. If it cannot be observed, described, measured, proven, demonstrated, seen, touched, felt, in fact, if it doesn't show up on any dial, scientific or even emotional, then we are exhorted to consider whether it exists at all.

Notice a few things about these three intangible things - 1) all of them have to do not only with the age we're living in, but more primarily in a future time and place 2) though intangible, they are the only things that "REMAIN" (v.13) - that is, when all is said and done, and our lives on earth are complete, all that will truly 'remain indelibly' for future generations is whether we had faith in God who loved us, and whether we attained our hope in Christ. Three intangibles, inextricably linked, are all that remain from our lives for eternity.

Lots of us think our world is WYSIWYG - 'what you see is what you get'. We do not suspect that there might be any reality beyond the physical that we see. Though there is evidence that God exists, that a spiritual reality exists, that the evil one exists, and there is a cosmic spiritual battle going on, which affects life on earth in many significant ways, the average person does not consider the existence of an unseen spiritual reality. And yet, faith, hope and love ultimately have to do with the spiritual reality. It is there that they become tangible. In the physical world, they cannot be proved to exist as entities. In essence, Paul is also exhorting us to consider our spirituality. Do we have faith? if so, in whom or in what? Do we hope for true eternal life? And do we respond in love to God's unfathomable, first, amazing love for us? If not, what do we achieve in our physical lives that will ultimately "REMAIN"?

Sometimes I feel Christianity is extremely simple. Have faith in God, who provides an imperishable hope for us through His love for us in Christ Jesus. If we live this way, we will impact life on this planet significantly and our faith, hope and love will REMAIN as testimonies to those who come after us.

The "greatest" of the things that "REMAIN" is LOVE - God's love for us in Christ Jesus, and whether we responded to His love so lavishly poured out on us through His grace. God's love is the greatest, because it is the point where we come in to the picture. If we did not know His love, it would be difficult to have faith and understand the hope God provides for us in eternity. God's love is also the greatest, because it is the only remotely tangible thing among the three - faith cannot usually be proved, there is no guarantee of hope realised, but we can feel, know and respond to God's love while we live.

Consider His love. Consider how He steadfastly searched for us (remember the lost coin? the lost son?) and remember where and how He found us. Consider how He places His arms around us and carries the lambs among us upon His shoulders.

Look up beyond what you see. Can you feel God's love? Do you have faith in God? Do you know the hope He provides for us in eternity?

In the verses just before verse 13, Paul says, For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

This speaks of a spiritual reality where we will fully know, as we ourselves are fully known. There will come a day when the only reality we know will be the spiritual one. In that day, our faith in God, hope for eternity and God's love for us and our response will be all there is, because only these three "REMAIN". Are we ready for that day? That's the only question that matters while we live in the physical realm.

Jesus meets the zombies

Today's ominously sinister age - beyond worldviews

Thank God for our Christian apologists! They stand up to a world that's determined to make short work of us Christians; and that is a very tough calling indeed.

Last week I obtained a copy of Ravi Zacharias' latest book Why Jesus?, and I began reading it immediately. I've read and loved many of Ravi's books, some of them so finely crafted that they minister so tenderly to people like me.

Ravi and others of his ilk - John Lennox, William Lane Craig, Stuart McAllister, Alistair McGrath, just to name a few - their area of maximum effectiveness, in a manner of speaking, is the marketplace of "worldviews". They do address people, yes, but they appeal to a person's heart through his or her worldview. It is true that every person HAS a worldview, a set of ideas, tenets, beliefs, whatever, that they really do consider inviolable and (dare I use the word) sacred, and which form a lens through which their world is interpreted and becomes comprehensible to them. Worldviews are shaped right from infanthood, actually, and begin to take rather unshakeable forms close to middle-age.

With all due respect to Ravi and others like him, though, and giving God His due in raising up men like Ravi, there is something that I find profoundly sinister among people today. There was an age when worldviews were held fondly and people would discuss them, even be fervent about them in public debate and private living. Frankly, however, that age seems to have moved on.

I'm not saying people do not have worldviews anymore; they certainly do. The frightening thing today is that people are beginning to forget this and live like they don't have a worldview. This is an age for being passionate about SELF, yes; but it is a sterile self which neither cares what it believes, nor how the world looks to it - it is a self determined to do what it wants no matter who or what gets in the way.

There is really no such thing as a "cause" anymore; people can rationalise just about anything. People will get very upset if any person's views are violated, except when they are doing the violating. In an age where "tolerance" is paid very vehement lip-service and is considered something to protect at any cost, there is very little real tolerance for anyone except self. Anyone who thinks differently from me really doesn't matter to me, really, till I see SOMEONE ELSE being intolerant to that person. When I am the one being intolerant, "tolerance" is just a platitude to me.

There's worse. Today all people do is live for themselves. Okay - I agree this was always the case with human beings ever since Genesis 3:6. But at least there was some respect for others. Today there is none. I am not saying people are NOT respectful anymore. I am saying that today respect itself is not something we even know or care about. We do not respect the elderly; if we did, we would not dump them in old-age homes. We do not respect young people; if we truly did, we would be very careful indeed what messages our lives gave them. We do not respect peers anymore; if we did, we would be learning from each other a lot more.

Today's average working person has emasculated all passion from his or her life. There is nothing so worthwhile as to sacrifice something for it, except my own peace of mind and well-being. There is nothing worth talking about to anyone anymore, unless we can manipulate that person to give us something we want. There is nothing "noble", really; if someone tries to act noble, you can be sure it's either self-serving or an obvious sham. In the end, we really will watch the news and see "things" happening; we will not care to call these things "bad" or "good". Good and evil will not exist, at least in our minds and hearts. That frightens me, because it is the ultimate heart of stone which nothing on earth can melt, no emotion can reach. It will be robot-like; we will start to live like automatons. We would have truly lost OURSELVES! At that point, distinctions such as "YOU" and "ME" will be obliterated, because I am like you and you are like me - encased in hearts of stone.

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Hearts. Of stone.

How do you tell automatons about Jesus? What apologetic can cut through the radiation-resistant lead fortresses that block up hearts today? Ravi Zacharias can make a dent, perhaps, if a person admits to a worldview. How will you reach a person who doesn't care if he has a worldview or not?

This is not to say Jesus CANNOT penetrate hearts of stone - it's His specialty and indeed a small thing for Him to do. I am only asking, what apologetic can we use? It might have to be direct Divine intervention alone - time for the Lord to do what He said He would through the prophet Ezekiel:


I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)


In James Cameron's Terminator II - Judgement Day, the automaton called the T800 finds the little boy whom it is trying to protect crying, and sees his tears. It asks him, "what is wrong with your eyes?" The boy answers, "Nothing", too hurt to explain. On another occasion, the automaton asks him, "why do you cry?" and the boy answers saying human beings cry when they hurt; the automaton tries to assimilate this as best it can. Cameron's film was made not in this century, but in the previous one, mind you.

It's not very far to the day when we will ask each other that, in all sinister innocence. Will we then be able to explain why we hurt? The truly chilling thing is, if asking the question is frightening enough, the failure to answer it will be even more terrifying to contemplate.

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The flicker on the dial

Let's get closer home. Is there anything at all that really moves you today? Forget mere emotions and feelings. Is there something that you want BEYOND what you can get for yourself in this world? Can you recognise that some longings are truly eternal and they are in you for a purpose?

Do you feel purposeful about your life? Or do you think there is no such thing as "purpose"? If you were asked to name the ONE THING (only one, to the exclusion of all others) you believe you are living for today? First of all, would you answer the question honestly and candidly or with small talk? Secondly, would you tell the truth? We must soberly recognise that when we lie often enough to others, there is all the danger that we ourselves will ultimately believe our own lies and not know it.

What do you really think about people out there? Do you think about them at all? The lonely, the homeless, the diseased, the destitute, the hungry, the despised, the rejected, the depressed, the insane? Is there anything at all you can do that you really want to do but haven't done yet? Or do you only think about the normal course of your own life - study, work, marry, have children, get them educated and married? Oh yes and the most important thing - seek your comfort and prosperity? A little greed perhaps? A little greed goes a long way in this world, you know.

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Jesus is His own best apologetic

Now we're almost home.

Jesus.

I can guess many don't want to come to this point. Jesus is equated with religion and since we reject religion as the one thing that divides human beings (how did we suddenly start feeling strongly about something like that? I wonder...), Jesus is bracketed with religion and rejected as a package deal.

Have you ever thought about this God-Man? Who He is, what He came to do, how He lived among us, things He said. Does He fascinate you? Do you see anything unique about Him at all?

Think about Him. I challenge you. Think about Him seriously and then see if you still have a heart of stone.

A word here. Forget what the preacher said. Forget what the church says. Go back to the Bible. See for yourself. Let no one deceive you. I myself here, in this piece of writing, will write nothing to prejudice your thinking.

Meet Him.

Isaiah 40:11

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

How shall I bless your people, O Lord? How shall I minister?

Among the ruins

Somehow I feel we need the warmth of the un-encompassable love of The Lord, painted in vivid words across time, through His servants the prophets, and eternally in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Too many of us live among the ruins, desolate, cauterised, the nerve-endings of our emotions severed, never to dream again, never to feel again, never to open our hearts again.

Others live in tears that flow day and night; whether in remorse or in regret, or in rejection, hearts broken beyond mending, our sighs sinking empty into pillows each night.

Some of us live in loneliness among the desolate ruins. People stopped wanting us too long ago to remember what it felt like to have friends. People do what needs to be done for us to maintain our existence, but no more than that. We exist; we do not live.

A lot of us find it impossible to believe we are loved by God, because we are only too painfully aware of how sinful we are.

If we aren't any of these I just described, we're on our way into one of them.

If you are one of the fat, sleek ones who feel no lack of just about anything, I guess I am not writing this to you and you can stop reading it. There are some of us like that; indeed, many.

It is a cold age; an age of fierce individualism which treads over the weaker ones. The also-rans are not just left behind, but they are mowed down into the dust. The shrill strength of the individualist beats down the average Joe. Small beginnings, little dreams, tender steps.....are sitting ducks for the achievers. Come to think of it, it's always been this way with mankind - from the ages of kings and empires down to the reign of money in this age.

And among us, in this age, come the words of the Lord to Isaiah.

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It isn't over until The Lord says so

Tender, faltering steps. Fragile, slender courage. Barely learning to stand. Still feeling the pain of the past. Wisps of hope finer than the filaments of a spider's web. All but just about to give up.

Are you there today? Thinking it is over? If you are, I want you to meet a God for Whom it is never over. It is never too late. It is never too far gone that it cannot be redeemed. 

I want you to know what our destiny is, we who trust in God. Believe me, we need to know this, because it is precisely what our oppressor does not want us to ever find out.

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Hearts of stone

Isaiah 40 is a unique chapter in all of the Old Testament. It is one bubbling wellspring and a beacon of hope for all who read it and take it to heart. If you ever want to start reading Isaiah, you will be blessed if you begin at chapter 40.

Here God comforts His people.

Living as we do in this apathetic, indifferent, insensitive, chilly age, we have forgotten what it means to be comforted. Our wounds have scarred over and the scabs are set like granite. Our hearts are of stone (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26). What does this mean?

It's not good news, I'm afraid. Tears are a sign of wellness, much as they are hard to bear; pain that is felt is a sign of life, much as it is hard to endure. But a heart that does not feel any emotion is a heart of stone; it is a heart cauterised, where the nerve endings to both physical feelings and emotions have been severed. In such a heart, wounds are not acknowledged, or bound up. A hard, bitter, pragmatic exterior scar hardens into a granite scab. We are "self-made", individualist, hardened mercenaries. The only way we know to live is for ourselves; we feel neither our own pain nor the pain of others.

Does this sound extreme? It actually is not. It is the way most of us in this age normally live, only no one has called our bluff so far. Many indeed are the rationalisations - "God helps those who helps themselves", "we need to be tough because no one will do it for us", and the list goes on.

Alas! How cold and hard is a wounded, crushed heart that does not know it needs to be comforted! 

Isaiah 40 is for hearts of flesh. Hearts that feel the wounds and come to God to be comforted and healed. Its everlasting words of hope and healing are for the tender-hearted. For the weaker ones.

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Tender God

The picture of a shepherd and his flock is a kind of logo, almost, all over the Bible. Now it won't make much sense until we understand the relationship between an Israelite shepherd and his flock.

We must learn to compare ourselves to sheep, first of all. God uses the most perfect analogy when He speaks to us likening us to sheep. Sheep are interesting creatures, so like human beings in their behaviour and temperament that the comparison is uncomfortably close and scary.

To start with, sheep are easily led. In fact, without leading, they go astray and run riot. If you want an orderly flock, you need a shepherd.

Curiously, sheep are also highly individualistic. The stronger ones tend to keep butting the weaker ones out of their way. They keep trying to get the best for themselves.

Even closer to human territory, sheep instinctively know where the good things are, and importantly, they trust a shepherd to lead them to the good things. In fact, sheep know when the shepherd calls them. They know the shepherd's voice. In one sense, they know authority and respect it; they can tell the voice of the hireling from the voice of the shepherd, like Jesus said in John 10:1-6.

Sheep are also highly dependent on the shepherd. They need the shepherd to do part of their thinking, and will trust without reservation. These are the good side of being easily led.

Sheep cannot resist danger and temptation too much. We do know the famous picture of a shepherd reaching out for his lost sheep that has wandered off the top of the cliff.

The relationship between a shepherd and his flock is far more intimate than we understand in this age, inured as we are to anti-establishment and individualistic leanings.

The shepherd knows his sheep individually. He is aware of the minutest wound; he knows who the strays are and how to woo them back; he knows the ones who struggle; the fat, sleek and overfed ones; the rejected ones. He knows where to lead the sheep, where the grass is sweet, where danger is minimal and where water is abundant. He knows how to protect his flock from danger.

Does this sound merely "symbolic"? I was in fact speaking of a real shepherd and his flock; not really of the symbolic picture of an Israelite shepherd and his flock as it is used innumerable times in the Bible. The analogy is from the actual to the symbolic; not the other way round. The Biblical passages about shepherds and sheep must be understood from the REAL point of view first before they can be understood as symbolic of the relationship between the Lord, our Shepherd, and us His flock.

Isaiah 40:11 is a grand, intricate piece of art which tempts us to believe how real it is and how close at hand it is. It is an end-time prophecy and must be understood as such. How can an end-time prophecy comfort us? We may not even live to see the end times. So must we wait till after we're dead and gone to know our God the way Isaiah 40:11 paints Him?

Yes and no. In one sense, for the present, it is immensely comforting to know that Someone is indeed keeping track of our lack of nourishment, our child-like dependence and our difficulties. And it is eternally comforting to know that this Someone Who knows us so minutely is indeed our Lord! Are you living among the ruins today and scraping your wounds with a shattered piece of glass like Job did? God knows it. Have you given up? God knows it, and He does not give up. Wherever we are today, let's know that God's love reaches us there.

In eternity, Isaiah 40:11 will still be true, in fact, more true than it is today, at least in perception if not in reality. How often we lose out on the promised future restoration! It is not one of Christianity's pipe dreams; it is not pie in the sky; and not merely a "ticket to heaven".

Isaiah 40:11 is the REALITY of eternity. Because we have hearts of stone, we may not perceive that our deepest human longings are eternal both in scope and fulfillment. Our deepest HUMANITY is eternal. We will not, indeed CANNOT, be comforted except our God Himself comfort us. And Isaiah 40:11 is the promise of our God that He understands and has made provision not just now but in eternity, in REALITY, for our deep longings. No temporal human agency or comfort will be a balm to us like Isaiah 40:11.

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We know the God of Isaiah. We know the God Who spoke Isaiah 40:11.

Isaiah 40:11 must be read from the King James Bible, which rightly speaks it in FUTURE TENSE, because it is primarily a FUTURE promise, just like the rest of Isaiah 40 and the remainder of the book of Isaiah.

Today, we must take this grand verse to heart. If indeed the Holy Spirit in our hearts is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, we must rejoice, for what is Isaiah 40:11 but a glimpse of our inheritance in Christ Jesus? The Lord will indeed feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arm and carry them close to his heart; and those with young he will lead gently. Are you a special sheep with special needs? Are you a little lamb, perhaps the littlest? Or do you feel like just one of the flock, an ordinary one? Whoever you are, He will feed you; envelop you in His arm and carry you close to His heart, and will gently lead you.

When Isaiah 40:11 is fulfilled, we will be there to see it; if not, prophecy has no meaning. What is it that you long for the Lord to do today? Wait a little; be patient. Since you wanted it, He has taken it to heart; and when He fulfills you, you will know He has fulfilled it; and you will know HE and no other has fulfilled it. Whether it is in this life or in eternity, YOU will know that to hope in the Lord is not to hope in vain; He will do that which He has purposed for you, and your heart will be comforted never to grieve again.

We tend to take restoration a little glibly, underestimating how deeply we need it and how impoverished we are without it. All effects of having hearts of stone. We must think about how fulfilling The Lord's fulfillment will be. He has taken note of our suffering, beloved; He has seen our hearts. Now let us look to Him for His comforting, whenever it comes.

I hope I have been able to convey how deeply Isaiah 40:11 has blessed me; but I suspect strongly that my deepest heart, where this prophecy touched me, has not been revealed. Never mind; I only meant to provide a glimpse of how deep, how wide, how long, how high, and yet how tender, sensitive and gentle God's love is, painted across the ages for us.

We know the same God Isaiah did, beloved. And He has not changed towards us in 2013!

May God's grace be lavished on each of us abundantly.

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Resources

Other important pictures in the Bible of shepherds and sheep that you can study to understand how God speaks to us using this theme:

• I Samuel 17, specifically v. 33-37
• Psalm 23
• Ezekiel 34
• Zechariah 10:1-5; 11:4-17
• John 10
• Numerous others