Monday, January 24, 2011

Wounded for Out Transgressions

January 30, 2011

Background Scripture: Isaiah 53
Lesson Passage: Isaiah 53:1 – 12

What an unbelievable report. Or shall I say a difficult to accept and believe report? What kind of deliverer would allow himself to be taken captive and ill treated by some of the very ones he had come to deliver? How can the one being destroyed be delivering even some of his destroyers through the same process? How can a singular event be effective for everyone at all times? To those who preceded it, this event was a promise yet unfulfilled. To those who would come later, this event was an accomplished mission that would stand as such throughout the reminder of time. This passage of scripture stood out for hundreds of years as a dark passage out of the book of prophecy written by the prophet Isaiah. It seemed to have generated more questions for its readers than it provided answers. Who was Isaiah talking about? Is it him or someone else? Only the fulfillment of the prophecy could truly unlock its meaning. Only then could it be accepted that the suffering servant is also the savior of the world. Here then is the mystery revealed, God would use suffering as the remedy for the sinners’ transgressions against Him. The sinner would be healed through the suffering of the one who would take the sinner’s place. Death is the price for sin and suffering is the price for peace. No ordinary person could endure all of this and provide an acceptable offering to God. No ordinary person would submit themselves to such a cruel display of human torture and punishment on behalf of others. Indeed, God would not use an ordinary person. But God would send His own servant to do His bidding. God would be satisfied in the results that His servant would bring about. His servant will be innocent. His servant will be obedient. His servant will be perfect in his humanity. Divine justice had been violated by humanity and that violation had caused a separation between the creator and the creature. Man was not made to be eternally separated from God. But sin had created a great gulf between man and God that was impossible for man to cross. The gulf could not simply be eliminated nor the sin ignored by a holy and just God. The elimination of sin would eliminate the great gulf. To ignore sin would bring to naught the righteousness of God? The sin must be atoned for if the separation is to be taken away. God would accomplish both through His suffering servant. The servant would become the substitute for sinful man and experience the separation and divine wrath of God that sin brings. The servant did not sin but he would be made sin in man’s stead. As a sin offering, the servant would endure the divine punishment that sin exacts. Divine justice would be satisfied and the great gulf would be removed. This vicarious suffering would be for our transgressions that we could become the righteousness of God that was in His servant. What an unbelievable report. God’s only begotten Son would submissively become His faithful Servant. He would bring mankind back to God because he would be wounded for our transgressions.

Robert C. Hudson
January 15, 2011

Monday, January 17, 2011

Light for the Gentiles

January 23, 2011

Background Scripture: Isaiah 49:1 – 7
Lesson Passage: Isaiah 49:1 – 7

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3; “And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” Genesis 18:17-18; “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” Genesis 22:18; “And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of the heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” Genesis 26:4-5

These passages all show that God extended His covenant with Abraham to include the potential for all people of every nationality to be included. The last passage is where God renewed the Abrahamic covenant with Isaac after the death of his father, Abraham. Note that the extension of the covenant was based on Abraham’s obedience or faith in God. Likewise, the invitation to all nations is also extended based on individual faith in God and hence it does not presuppose a universal brotherhood of mankind but it makes clear the invitation to all to accept the light that God sent into the world to provide guidance to those who were once in darkness and outside of the covenant of promise between God and Abraham. Again, I say that the invitation is extended and not that universal salvation is applied without the consent of the saved. The invitation is initiated through the light that God sent into the world to bring understanding to, or to enlighten, those who once walked in darkness. It is this light to whom Isaiah refers in our lesson passage today. The light would be the culmination of the promise God made to Abraham many generations prior. He would be born of Abraham’s seed through Isaac. From the very beginning of his earthly life in the womb, he would be anointed and called to do God’s bidding and to bring God glory. It is through him that men will praise and worship the one and true living God. He will turn the hearts of Abraham seed to God and also unite the Gentiles within a new covenant. All people of the earth, both Jews and Gentiles, will turn to the same light for salvation. And through him shall all families of the earth be blessed. John the Baptist declared that he was not that light but he was sent to bear witness of the light. Jesus declared that he is the light of the world. This declaration was enough to drive some people away from Jesus because they preferred to be children of darkness because they loved the deeds of darkness. But all who turn to Jesus will have light and walk in the light and will not have to fear stumbling.


Robert C. Hudson
January 7, 2011

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Reassurance for God’s People

January 16, 2011

Background Scripture: Isaiah 48
Lesson Passage: Isaiah 48:12 – 22

It is comforting to know that everything will turn out alright when one is in the midst of difficult times. Even though the difficulties may have been brought on by disobedience or bad decisions in general, no one wants to endure trouble forever. But sometimes it is difficult to see how things will work out for the best. It is at times such as this that children of God receive what they need the most—His assurance. Even the song Blessed Assurance is a reminder that Christians have much to be thankful for. Sometimes future promises can brighten even the darkest of days.

In our lesson today, God continues to remind Israel that their stay in Babylon would not last forever. Israel certainly had plenty of reasons to be discouraged. They were suffering at the hand of their enemy because of their own errors or sins. They had been removed from their homeland—the land of promise. They were called to be a nation of priests but instead they had become slaves and foreigners. And all of this was their fault. To make matters worse, their captors were pagans and much more wicked than they were but yet God was using them to punish His own people. Yes they had plenty to discourage them but in the midst of their gloom, God was providing them a word of reassurance. God, indeed, may raise up the wicked to punish the just but when that punishment has run its course, God will then deal with the wicked. Even though God might have used them for His own purpose, this does not vindicate the unrighteous. Babylon will receive her just reward. Israel’s situation was temporary and God wanted them to see it that way. All situations happen in time and are temporary. A relationship with God is what should be viewed as permanent. God is eternal. God created time but He is not governed by or subject to it. God’s instructions are given for the benefit of His children. God teaches His children to do well and He directs their steps in the right path. He teaches them to do well so that He can bless them in unimaginable ways. Their blessings are not limited by God’s ability to deliver or perform but rather by their disobedience to the instructions that he provides them. It is this disobedience that often brings about punishment after repeated warnings. But after punishment has run its course, God again assures His children of His unfailing love towards them. He says that they should rejoice after they have endured His righteous judgment for they will again bask in the blessings that he has in store for them. God is our savior, redeemer, and protector. He will redeem His children out of all of their troubles. He will take care of them and they shall see their enemy punished because their enemy is also God’s enemy. Righteousness will prevail and God’s children can rejoice in the midst of troubles because they will be redeemed and restored.

Robert C. Hudson

January 3, 2011

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Salvation for God’s People

January 9, 2011

Background Scripture: Isaiah 45
Lesson Passage: Isaiah 45:14 – 25

God’s people have been called to eternal salvation. God’s people will receive eternal salvation. God gives the blessed assurance that He will bring His promises to pass. To those who live today as well as those who have died in the faith, eternal salvation has and always has been a promise that God has allowed His people to embrace. In the text of our lesson today, God declares that He will bring the promise to fruition. God creates, moves, and speaks with purpose. God does none of these things in vain or with emptiness of purpose. What God has declared, He will bring to pass. In the background passage of this lesson, God gave Israel an assurance that was so absolute that He called their deliverer by name over one hundred and fifty years before He raised him up to perform it. God challenges His people to not question His purpose. They were created to fulfill His will and therefore their purpose is intertwined with His. It is not the place of the created to question the creator. Here, God refutes all of the scientific theories of evolution and declares that everything that exists was created by Him. Not only was the earth created by Him but all of the heavens as well. The earth did not evolve to become an inhabitable planet with a sterile environment as a result of happenstance. God declares that He made the earth to be inhabited. In other words, God created earth’s atmosphere as it is. Afterwards, He created man to live on the earth. The earth is no accident and neither is mankind. They were both created by God with a purpose. Mankind’s purpose can only be realized as he seeks out God and receives directions from Him. The time is coming when God will destroy what He has created and recreate it anew. Mankind will only be saved from destruction by turning to his creator, God, and trusting in Him for deliverance. God declares that there is no other god. All that man may create to worship is utterly useless. Neither the work of man’s hands, those things found in nature, nor the heavenly bodies have any saving power in them. If a person is to be saved, they will be saved through God and God alone. There is no other hope for salvation outside of God. God describes everyone who turns to idols as being without knowledge or ignorant. They have no concept as to what God has done, what God is doing, or what God is going to do. But God has revealed many of these things to His people that they may know and seek after Him. God uses prophecy to inform His people far in advance of things that He will bring to pass in time. Therefore, He invites us to look to Him and Him alone for salvation. Whether one chooses to turn to God or not, one day everyone will bow down and acknowledge God. God’s people will be blessed and made happy in Him and those that are not His will be ashamed and afterwards destroyed. God is salvation for His people.


Robert C. Hudson
December 27, 2010