Isaiah 43:1-7, Psalm 29:1-11, Acts 8:14-17, Luke 3:15-17, Luke 3:21-22.
A). PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT, AND LOVED.
Isaiah 43:1-7.
This beautiful poem is a love letter. It is from the LORD, who created the world (Isaiah 40:26), and who directs the affairs of nations (Isaiah 40:22-23). It is from the One who created Jacob, and formed the nation of Israel (Isaiah 43:1).
The LORD exhorts His people to “fear not” (Isaiah 43:1).
This reassures the captive Jewish exiles in their plight. It speaks to strangers and pilgrims in this earth (1 Peter 2:11). It greets a people who are scattered abroad, (James 1:1).
“Fear not,” He says - “for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 43:1).
Your Creator is also your Redeemer. For the Christian, the link between creation and redemption is the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16; Colossians 1:20).
“I have called you by name. You are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).
The LORD addresses His people in the first person singular, speaking to them collectively as one person, and each one individually. We are called by name (see John 10:16), and become His peculiar possession.
“When you pass through the waters…” (Isaiah 43:2)
recalls the Exodus, when the people passed through the sea upon dry land (Isaiah 51:9-10). Significantly, this is described as the fathers being “baptised into Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:2). The One who has called us has also instructed us to pass through the waters of baptism, and promises to be with us (Matthew 28:19-20).
“I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:2).
‘Emmanuel, God with us’ is one of the names of Jesus (Matthew 1:23).
“Rivers… shall not overflow you” (Isaiah 43:2).
He promises to be with us, also, when we pass through troubled waters. He does not necessarily promise to spare us from trouble, but promises to sustain us through it. The LORD led His people through the Jordan river in the flood season (Joshua 3:15-16).
“When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned” (Isaiah 43:2).
The LORD appeared to Moses in a bush which burned with fire but was not consumed (Exodus 3:2). For the Judean exiles, the fire was the burning anger of the LORD against their nation (Isaiah 42:25). Yet, in God’s mercy, there was always a remnant who were not consumed (see Daniel 3:17; Daniel 3:27).
“I (am) the LORD your God ” (Isaiah 43:3).
Just as we are His, so He is ours. He is “The Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 43:3), and expects His people to partake of that holiness (1 Peter 1:16). Yet He is also our “Saviour” - and styles Himself as husband to His people (Hosea 2:16).
In His anger, the LORD ‘gave Jacob for a spoil’ to the Babylonians (Isaiah 42:24). Now He rewards the Persian king Cyrus for releasing His people. He gives other nations as a ransom for them (Isaiah 43:3-4), thus expanding Cyrus’s empire.
“You were precious in my sight” (Isaiah 43:4).
The LORD chose Israel out of His love for them, and He loved them because He had made a promise to their fathers (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). The first disciples did not choose the Lord, but He chose them (John 15:16). The church is ‘chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world’ (Ephesians 1:4).
“You have been honoured, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:4).
We may be able to trace the day and name the date when we ‘made a decision’ for Christ - but His love precedes ours. His love gives us our identity in Christ. ‘We love Him, because he first loved us’ (1 John 4:19).
“Fear not,” He says: “for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:5).
‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5).
The LORD promised to gather the children of Jacob from the four points of the compass (Isaiah 43:5-6). This anticipates the return of the Jewish exiles, but also the in-gathering of the nations. People will come from the east, the west, the north and the south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God (Luke 13:29).
Christians are called by HIS name (Isaiah 43:7), and become His peculiar possession. The LORD created the Christian, and formed the church, “for His glory” (Isaiah 43:7).
B). THE SONG OF THE THUNDERSTORM.
Psalm 29 - “The voice of the LORD”.
1. The thunderstorm
Storm clouds gather over the Mediterranean. The thunder rolls inland over the cedars of Lebanon, and lightning strikes strip the cedars bare. Even the mountains of the North seem to be shaken to their very foundations. The storm turns, travelling the whole length of Israel, and seems to shake the wilderness. The sand cannot remain still, and anything loose is driven like tumbleweed across the plain. The red deer calves early, and all creation stands in awe at the might of the storm.
The claps of thunder are not the sound of the mighty Thor of Norse mythology, who was said to be riding his chariot across the sky. Nor are they the voice of the Canaanites’ storm god Baal, who allegedly dwelt ‘in’ the storm (and if he was not there, he was on vacation - or maybe sleeping - cf. 1 Kings 18:27). Nor is this the beginning of yet another disaster movie, but a metaphor of the awesome might of the LORD, who sits “above” the storms of life (Psalm 29:10).
Repetition drives the momentum of the storm in this song. This is not the ‘repeat, ad lib, and fade’ of popular music, but a powerful push towards peace. Three times the “sons of God” (Hebrew), the ‘mighty ones’ or ‘heavenly beings’ are called to give - or “ascribe” - glory to the LORD (Psalm 29:1-2). Seven times the thunder claps are identified with “the voice of the LORD” (Psalm 29:3-9). “The LORD” is named four times in the closing verses (Psalm 29:10-11), reminding us that the Psalm is not about the storm, but about the LORD who sits above the storm. Nothing is outside His power.
2. Thunder from heaven
There was thunder at Sinai when the LORD appeared to Moses and the children of Israel (Exodus 20:18). On one occasion the LORD Himself - in rebuking His prophet - described His voice as thunder (Job 40:9). When the Father spoke of His glory in answer to Jesus’ prayer, some of the people said it thundered: others said it was an angel (John 12:27-29). More than once the Apostle John uses the motif of thunder in describing what he heard in heaven (Revelation 6:1; Revelation 14:2; Revelation 19:6).
3. “The voice of the LORD” is not confined to the thunderstorm
There was an earthquake at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:50-51), and the Talmud tells us that in that year the Sanhedrin was “banished” from its favoured site to a less favourable site within the Temple - perhaps, I suggest, on account of earthquake damage. (Yes, God does sometimes speak through temporal judgements!) There was another earthquake also at the resurrection of Jesus, whereby God spoke His final word on the finished work of Christ (Matthew 28:2).
Certainly the LORD sent fire from heaven to consume Elijah’s saturated sacrifice, and then sent an abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:38, 1 Kings 18:45). In the next scene, however, Elijah sought the LORD in the wind, earthquake and fire - but the LORD merely passed by. Only then did the prophet hear “the still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-12).
Our psalm moves in the same direction: from “Glory to God in the highest” (Psalm 29:1) to “Peace to His people on earth” (Psalm 29:11). When the storm-tossed disciples - experienced seamen though they were - were in fear of their lives in the storm-tossed sea, Jesus arose and said, “Peace be still” (Mark 4:39). The Lord calms the storms of life, and gives us a peace which the world cannot give.
Peter, James and John heard an audible voice in the mountain of transfiguration, telling them to listen to Jesus (Mark 9:7). Paul also heard an audible voice: this time it was that of the risen Lord Jesus (Acts 9:3-7). We hear the voice of the LORD when we read the Bible, the Word of God.
We hear the voice of the Lord also in the whispers of the night. Before the lamp went out in God’s house, young Samuel laid himself down to sleep. Three times the LORD called him, and three times the boy ran to his master. The fourth time he answered according to the old priest’s instruction: “Speak, LORD; for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:3-10).
We hear the voice of the LORD when we worship Him, and offer Him the praise and glory due to His name (Psalm 29:2). This is not horizontal worship, aimed at giving us a ‘buzz’ in His presence - but true worship, aimed at honouring God: offered in the name of Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit. In contrasting the worship of Sinai and that of the heavenly Jerusalem, one writer exhorts us: “See that you refuse not the One who speaks… from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25).
C). THE EVANGELISATION OF SAMARIA.
Acts 8:14-17.
1. The gospel is not only for Jerusalem and Judea. It is also for Samaria, and all the nations. So when the church was scattered by persecution, the deacon Philip went to Samaria and there preached Christ.
Philip's words were accompanied by signs and miracles. Demons were cast out, and the lame and the paralysed were healed. The Samaritans were willing to listen to what the evangelist had to say.
The people believed Philip's message concerning the kingdom of God, and they believed in the name of Jesus Christ, and were baptised.
2. In his Pentecost sermon Peter had taught, “Repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Paul would later teach, “If anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9). Yet the Holy Spirit did not immediately fall upon the new Christians in Samaria.
There was nothing wrong with Philip's preaching, nor with the response to the gospel of the generality of the Samaritans. However, it was important to maintain the unity of the church in the face of the historical schism between Jews and Samaritans. The sovereign Holy Spirit withheld Himself until Philip received backup from Jerusalem!
Peter and John came up from Jerusalem and prayed over the converts, laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15-17). At one time John had wanted to call down fire on the Samaritans (Luke 9:54), so it is nice to see him involved in their reception of the Holy Spirit here.
Such apostolic delegations were unusual, but punctuated each new phase of the church's mission. Even Peter himself would be called to account upon the conversion of the Roman centurion Cornelius' household, and later still Barnabas was sent to check out the evangelism that had been going on amongst the Greeks in Antioch.
3. Peter and John testified and preached the word of the Lord. They then preached the gospel in many Samaritan villages, and returned to Jerusalem.
D). BAPTISM OF THE LORD.
Luke 3:15-17; Luke 3:21-22.
The ministry of John the Baptist was causing quite a stir. It was four hundred years since there had been a prophet in Israel, and expectations were high. The question on many people’s hearts was, Could this be the long-awaited Messiah (Luke 3:15)?
John had to set them straight (Luke 3:16). John mentioned his own ministry: “I indeed baptise you with water.” Then, as was his habit (cf. John 3:30), John immediately points away from himself to Jesus: “but He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
John spoke of Jesus as “He who comes who is mightier than I, of whom I am not fit to loosen the thong of His sandals.” This should be the position of all ministers. ‘We do not preach ourselves,’ said Paul, ‘but Jesus Christ as Lord’ (2 Corinthians 4:5).
“But He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Ten days before Pentecost, Jesus said, ‘For John truly baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days hence’ (Acts 1:5).
To be baptised is to be immersed. John’s water baptism anticipates the Father immersing us in the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:16). For Christians, water baptism is an outward symbol of our new birth, and by it we testify that we have been cleansed from our sins by the blood of Jesus. Our baptism with the holy Spirit is an empowering for witness and for ministry (Acts 1:8).
To be baptised “with fire” is somewhat ambiguous. It may relate to the ‘tongues of fire’ which rested upon the disciples at Pentecost (Acts 2:3). Or it may relate to the refining work of the Holy Spirit within the believer.
Fire purges, but it also purifies. The image seems to tie in with the “winnowing” process of Luke 3:17, separating the wheat from the chaff (cf. Matthew 13:30). The wheat is “gathered into His granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
“Jesus having been baptised” (Luke 3:21) is an affirmation of who He is. It marks a turning point: the end of John’s ministry, and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus’ identification with the people is clear. They “having been baptised” and “Jesus having been baptised, and praying.” Jesus sets an example, by prayerfully participating in a baptism which He did not need.
After all, John’s baptism was a ‘baptism of repentance for the remission of sins’ (Luke 3:3). Jesus is the One alone ‘who knew no sin’ (2 Corinthians 5:21); ‘who did no sin’ (1 Peter 2:22); ‘and in Him is no sin’ (1 John 3:5). “Heaven was opened” by way of endorsement of what Jesus was doing.
“The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in a bodily form like a dove” (Luke 3:22). This is an anointing of Jesus for His unique ministry. Hereby Jesus is identified, for our benefit, as the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 61:1).
All three Persons of the Holy Trinity were present. A voice from heaven, the voice of God the Father, authenticated Jesus: “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found delight.”
Application.
The commission which Jesus left us is, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:19).
Christian baptism is different from the baptism administered by John.
The Apostle Paul found some believers in Ephesus who had been baptised into John’s baptism. Paul said, ‘John indeed baptised with a baptism of repentance, saying that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 19:3-5).
The Apostle Peter said, ‘Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38).
Jesus associated Himself with man’s sin when He was baptised by John. When we are baptised, we are associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The Holy Spirit is the bond by which Jesus unites us to Himself. Our union with Christ is secured when we put our faith in Jesus. Our baptism visibly seals the work of God in our hearts.
To His name be all the praise, and all the honour, and all the glory. Amen.
