9 January 2010
Psalm 121, 122, 123; Isa. 45:14-19; Col. 1:24-2:7; John 8:12-19

The point of the passage from Isaiah is to point to the one true God to whom other nations will come, the God of Israel. The final verses of the passage are a beautiful homage to the God of creation, the God who called the nation, the God of order. It is easy to see things as chaotic in our world and yet there is an orderly precision on the macro scale. In science, on the quantum level there are wide variations and unpredictability that to us looks like chaos but the orderliness of the world around us tells us that even on the quantum level there must be an orderliness that we cannot measure at this time. So does it seem to us on the ground in space and time, but from the perspective outside space and time, all is according to God’s will and is working towards His aim.

Jesus speaks with confidence, the confidence of one who knows where He came from and where He is going. He speaks to those who believe they know these things but do not. If we can’t make sense of Jesus then we truly don’t know who we are, where we come from, or where we are going, He is the key to understanding everything. That is a statement of faith, but once accepted, we should think differently about everything in our world, including life and death, possessions, the created order, etc. In order to judge anything, good and evil, for instance, requires us to judge by the Spirit of God. We need a new perspective, and Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension are what we need to see from that perspective. As Paul tells the Philippians, Jesus didn’t count equality with God as something to be grasped but laid it all down for us. Is our attitude the same?

Rejoicing in sufferings is one of those things that reflect changed perspective, Godly perspective. Voluntary servanthood to the body of Christ is another, as is a willingness to struggle on behalf of others. Paul has laid down his life, his future and his rabbinic hopes for the sake of the glory of Christ. Whatever he thought his life would be it all changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and he made a free choice to move in another direction after that encounter. Have we seen our lives radically transformed by Christ? Do we see and understand the world differently because of Him? Are our hopes the same as Paul’s here in this passge?

To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!