In Isaiah 41, God is commanding all the far-flung nations of the world ("coastlands") to step into His courtroom. The nations-of-the-false-gods are told to enter in silence, but they are then given the opportunity to defend their idolatry before Him (vs. 21-24). Chapter 40 ended with God's promise that those who wait upon (hope in) the Lord God will have fresh strength. The godless nations, however, are another story. They are told to gather up their strength, because they are going to need it. They have no true God on which to depend in this sobering situation. They are without hope.
There follows a Job-like proclamation of the everlasting nature of God and His mighty acts to direct the affairs of men. In Isaiah 40:28, He proclaims Himself to be "the everlasting God". In 41:3, He repeats this by referring to Himself as having been there at the establishment of the first (nation) and will be there with the last. In one of His claims as Messiah, Jesus referred to Himself as the Alpha (first letter of the Greek alphabet) and the Omega (last letter). In English, He would have said, "I am the A and the Z." By saying this He was claiming to be equal with God the Father; and, his listeners - - - faithful, learned Jews - - - knew it.
Throughout this chapter, God is recounting His mighty acts on behalf of His chosen people, Israel. He refers back to the covenant that He made with Abraham, to make of him a mighty nation (Genesis 12:1-3). He steadfastly affirms in Isaiah 41 His faithfulness to Israel.
In 41:8, Abraham is called "God's friend". That shorts out my circuits. It is analogous to my considering an amoeba my friend. While that microscopic organism is a living thing, and while I can study it through a microscope...I am, as a human, so vastly different from it (superior in that we are created in God's image) that I cannot even relate. This is an imperfect analogy, because God desires our fellowship, limited and imperfect though we are. But, I ask....do any of you reading this see yourself as a friend of God? There's a contemporary worship song called, "I Am a Friend of God", which I've sung vigorously. But, all the while, I have wondered.....what in the world does that really mean? Is it ... presumptuous?!
To a certain extent, I "get it". Being a Christian is all about our relationship with God. You can't be a Christian if you don't have a relationship with Him. How does that start? It starts when each person deals with his/her "sin problem". All humans are born with sin hard-wired into our circuit boards. The world does not like this truth and rejects it, claiming to the contrary that "Man is born good". Wrong. God's Word tells us that we inherited our sin nature from Adam (1 Cor. 15:22) and that God cannot tolerate sin, in any form, even the least little bit. Sin is totally incompatible with His perfect Holiness.
"Your eyes are too pure to approve evil
and You cannot look on wickedness with favor."
Habakkuk 1:13
So, what to do? Well, there was nothing that we could do....until God did what needed to be done. The Old Testament believers offered imperfect, animal sacrifices to God, in atonement for their sins. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." They exercised their faith that God would accept their sacrifices, honor His word to them. He did. But, way back in the Garden of Eden, God promised a Deliverer - - - "the last Adam", as He is called in 1 Corinthians 15:45. God's promise was that Messiah would come and conquer the sin problem once and for all.
This was the heart of Jesus' first earthly ministry, to redeem fallen, sinful man....to buy us back with His perfect blood, to make a way for us to have all our sins forgiven, past, present, future, so that we can fellowship unhindered with God the Father. That is the essence of "divine friendship".
It was Abraham's faith in God and His word that formed the basis of his friendship with God. (Genesis 15:6) Likewise, it is our step of faith in accepting Jesus' finished work that initiates our relationship with God, and our walk of faith that deepens that divine friendship. (In the first Resplendent blog posts, I shared in more detail about how someone begins his or her relationship with God through His Son, Jesus. I invite you to read those entries if this is where you are in your spiritual journey.)
And then, we walk with Him, talk with Him, learn from Him ... are loved by Him, love on Him, obey Him, praise Him, worship Him as we are transformed into His image. Oh hallelujah! "Christ in me, the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27) With this Colossians passage, the apostle Paul affirms that Gentiles too can inherit the promises to Abraham's descendants, through faith in Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, the apostle Paul describes the divine friendship like this.
He says that before we come to Jesus, it is as if we have a veil over our faces so that we cannot see God clearly. The Message version: (underlines are mine)
"Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did,
God removes the veil and there they are - - face to face!
They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us!
Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of His face.
And so, we are transfigured, much like the Messiah,
our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful
as God enters our lives and we become like Him!
Look back at Isaiah 41:9-10 now.
"I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, 'You are my servant.' I have chosen you and not rejected you.
So, do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
I love the precious promises of God to those who are His friends.
Dear Savior Jesus, thank you for making a way for us to have friendship with Our Father God. I earnestly pray that if there is anyone reading this blog who does not yet have that relationship with You, that he/she would seek You and accept Your finished work, done on their behalf. "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!" For those of us who already know You, may our faces shine today with the brightness of the Father's face! Resplendent with His glory! Amen.
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