How Can Anyone "Delight in the Fear of the Lord?"

Part 5 – Then the Prophets, and Now the Saints, Adore Jesus

Having fully established Isaiah’s prophetic identification in chapter 11, of the coming Messiah as none other than Jesus of Nazareth, we can now more specifically investigate the core of this passage, regarding the very person and attitude of our divine human Savior, Jesus himself!

 

Jesus is indeed the Shoot from Jesse’s stump, the Branch that bears much fruit, and also the Stone who grows into a mountain, as revealed to the prophet Daniel, recorded in his second chapter.

 

Knowing, without any doubt, that we have the prophetic spiritual bona fides of Jesus, unfolded before us here by Isaiah, we can then clearly see our Lord in all His magnificence, and more specifically in His perfect characteristic of “delighting in the fear of the Lord.”

 

We can then carry on to learn from and to emulate Jesus, as we grow in grace and by the workings of the Holy Spirit, within our own hearts.

 

With Isaiah, we also choose to gaze lovingly and longingly at our Lord Jesus, who not only fulfilled everything prophetically written about Him hundreds of years before, but was so astounding in His self-revelation of the full Godhead, that He completely reduced the prior conceptualizations of His followers, and totally redirected those who believed in Him, into new dimensions of revelation.

 

As the apostle Peter wrote so aptly, for all of us who have been called to leave behind our small worlds of self-centered comfort and false fulfillment, to grow more completely in our own following of Jesus unconditionally, unapologetically, unabashedly, unreservedly, and unswervingly:

 

1 PETER 1:8 Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy. 9  [At the same time] you receive the result (outcome, consummation) of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 10 The prophets, who prophesied of the grace (divine blessing) which was intended for you, searched and inquired earnestly about this salvation. 11 They sought [to find out] to whom or when this was to come which the Spirit of Christ working within them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow [them]. 12 It was then disclosed to them that the services they were rendering were not meant for themselves and their period of time, but for you. [It is these very] things which have now already been made known plainly to you by those who preached the good news (the Gospel) to you by the [same] Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Into these things [the very] angels long to look!

 

Though we are looking at Him from our vantage point centuries in future, just as the prophets did from their place in the long past, yet all seeing one single revelation of who He really is now in glory, and who He was as He walked the earth in His own day, overflowing with love and ministry wherever He went, with whoever He touched.

                                                 

This focus should bring all of us into the same state of marvelously joyful reverie, as we deepen our true knowledge of Jesus, coming closer together with all those past saints and beings who worship Him face-to-face in the throne room of heaven itself, as believers and children of God, from every time and place!

 

We are each so privileged and grateful to be enabled, as we joined together with this adoring eternal company of the prophets and the angels, in one company glimpsing our Lord Jesus, through His word and by His Spirit, preparing our hearts to be in His presence forever and forevermore!

 

Our united, adoring company can also begin to see in some measure just who Jesus is, not only from the outside, but through the Holy Spirit inspired insights of the Prophets and the Apostles, into the very core of His divine human being!

 

Neil Uniacke

Executive Director

 

A Closer Look at Marriage (Part 2)

As I wrote in my last blog (September 30), I am looking at the gift of marriage, and now, specifically, about honoring the gift of sex in marriage.
 

Recently I was prompted by some discussions I've been a part of to think more about the importance of sharing about sexuality in the context of the church. I believe if we can't talk about sex in the context of the church, Scripture, and the fellowship of believers, then where can we talk about it? Where can our young people talk about it? And, of course, we need to learn to talk about sex with our children as well, because if we don't teach them, they will learn it from places we don't feel good about.

So a little more about the gift of sex, because that's really what it is, a gift from God. When God looked at his creation in Genesis 1, after he had made man and woman in his image, he said, "It's VERY good." We are created male and female in God's image...girls have special bodies and boys have special bodies and God planned it that way.

When girls and boys get to be teenagers, something interesting happens. Their bodies change and they start to have a new interest in each other; we call this attraction. Like magnets, they start to feel pulled toward a special person.

When we reach late teenage, young adult years, we zero in on a special person and we eventually want to get married, and we show our love by being together, by being close and touching (hugs and kisses), we get married, and in many cases we begin a family, a further expression of our love as man and woman.

God made us with feelings and the capacity to show our feelings of love to that special man/woman in our lives.

And in God's Word we find the Song of Songs - in our Bibles! The language is about marriage; the language is so beautiful and so descriptive we usually don't read it in church. The text is sexual and it celebrates the gift of sex in marriage. I often suggest to engaged couples that they consider, maybe in the first weeks of marriage, reading this together, taking the lover and the beloved voice parts.

Some theologians over the years have tried to say this book is an allegory of Christ and the Church, but I don't think so. It is much too graphic and suggestive for that. It is about the passionate sexual love between a husband and wife and is blessed by God. Even though it may use imagery that is a bit out of date for us:

●      A lover who says his beloved's hair is like a flock of goats, "your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep...your temples are like the halves of a pomegranate...your neck is like the tower of David...your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle."

●      A beloved (the woman) who says of her lover: "His head is purest gold...his eyes are like doves...cheeks like beds of spice...lips like lilies, dripping with myrrh."

Yet this book also teaches the beauty of affirmation, of recognition of beauty in each other, and stating it verbally. This is one thing that so often lacks in marriages - the verbal affirmation of each other and the thankfulness each has for the gift they find in the other.

And so it is important to understand that sex is a gift from God and as married persons, sexual intimacy is a part of our relationship that we naturally expect to enjoy, as is our right and privilege. If we are having difficulties or conflicts in our marriages around the issue of sex, whatever the issue may be, it is good to seek outside help to find answers to our questions.

In my next blog post I will conclude this series on sexuality by looking at some factors that cloud or damage our awareness of others and ourselves as sexual beings, created in God’s image.

Tom Horst, Therapist, New Hope Community Life Ministry

Claudio

            On Wednesday, October 22, 2014, my pastor was scheduled to speak for the chapel service at Lancaster Bible College. After I arrived there to hear him speak, it was getting closer to the time for the chapel to start and it appeared to me that I was either in the wrong place or maybe there was a change as I did not see him. I asked someone who told me that he had been rescheduled for another day. I felt God leading me to stay anyway and that is what I did.

The speaker that was there changed the rest of my day. His name was Claudio. He was from Brazil. Although he had spoken at many different places around the world, this was his first time speaking in the United States. He was born with a condition that has been described as “with his head upside down”. A power point presentation was given from which we learned that doctors tried to convince his mother to abort the pregnancy when it was known that there were problems. She refused.

            What impacted me most was the fullness of the joy of the Lord within Claudio. He shared his testimony (which included graduating from college), sang a song to us, and drew a picture for the college by using a marker in his mouth. I cried, but not tears of sadness. Instead my tears were a result of the overwhelming joy that I felt to see how someone could be so joyous and bring such glory to God in spite of difficult circumstances.

I thought about how so often when we are asked to do something we respond with a reason why we cannot so quickly. Claudio also reminded me that there is something that all of us can do to be a blessing to others no matter our circumstances.

Submitted by: Ann L. Gantt, Ph.D., LCSW, NEW HOPE counselor

He welcomed getting pictures taken with him:

 

 

How Can Anyone "Delight in the Fear of the Lord?" - Part 4

Part 4 – Prophetic Picture of Jesus, Eternal Son and Savior

Isaiah has given us an amazing prophetic picture of Jesus, both to understand Him and to adore Him.

 

First, the prophet identifies Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s longing for a living Hope, the Messianic Savior they had been waiting for.

 

Next, Isaiah gives us deep insights into His very heart and His internal attitudes as the only begotten God, the eternal Son of His Father, through which we can both worship Him and by His grace, emulate Him as well.

 

After describing in great detail what the effects of Jesus’ Presence as the Prince of Peace would be, both in the lives of those He walked among during His earthly sojourn among the Galileans and Judeans of the first century, and in all of those who would be gathered to Him throughout the ages to come beyond His ascension, Isaiah turns to write about His eternal nature and future fulfillment:

        

¹⁰ And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse shall stand as a signal for the peoples; of Him shall the nations inquire and seek knowledge, and His dwelling shall be glory [His rest glorious]  

 

By referring to the future coming of Messiah as the “Root of Jesse,” just a few verses beyond already describing Him as the ‘Shoot’ that would come from that same stump, and the ‘Branch’ that would bear fruit from that same stump, Isaiah showed that this Person would have an existence not known by any other human being. The great prophet placed the coming “Son of David,” beyond any historical period, into a timeless dimension, only inhabited by God Himself.  Isaiah also told us that “the Root of Jesse shall stand as a signal,” indicating that the Messiah to come was literally a human ‘sign’ to the entire world, which would draw all the nations to inquire and seek knowledge.

 

We know that Jesus has fulfilled this prophecy, with an understanding even by fair minded nonbelievers that He stands far above most, if not all historical figures, in His Personal impact on the world over many centuries. The glory spoken of here in verse 10, could be the general regard for the “Holy Land” or Israel, and especially Jerusalem, as a very special place. The glory may be more specifically, the much greater significance that true followers of Jesus give to all the geographical locations where He lived, worked, preached, did miracles, shed His blood, was buried and resurrected, or appeared after His resurrection. His rest being glory or glorious, could also be symbolic of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, His return to the glory of His Father and heaven, until His coming again.

 

All these insights focus on the fulfillment of Jesus in His first coming, which we would be looking back on from vantage point 20 centuries further out.

 

Another focus could be on the effects of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, on the many nations of the world since His first coming, in His bringing of them all into His own Kingdom, through many millions of disciples going forth into all the earth and preaching of the Gospel, over all those centuries. This focus leads us right into Isaiah’s next verse, in which he reveals the hand of Lord God being lifted up a second time, to draw in the remnant of His people from all the nations of the world. This could be seen either as a literal ingathering of Jewish people from many lands across the earth, or a symbolic beckoning of the true lsrael of God, those with hearts circumcised by faith, coming to Jesus from around the globe into the Body of Christ: 

 

¹¹ And in that day the Lord shall again lift up His hand a second time to recover (acquire and deliver) the remnant of His people which is left, from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam [in Persia], from Shinar [Babylonia], from Hamath [in Upper Syria], and from the countries bordering on the [Mediterranean] Sea.  ¹² And He will raise up a signal for the nations and will assemble the outcasts of Israel and will gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

 

While any of these perspectives, whether fulfilled at the time of Jesus’ first coming into the earth or in the intervening periods, do involve some or all of the significant supernatural elements revealed in this entire passage, there is also a fuller picture of Jesus offered to us in the whole of Scripture, both in this section and in the broad sweep of the entire catalogue of the apocalyptic Scriptures.

 

Both in His first coming and in the period since His ascension, Jesus is shown to us in many ways, with each revelation as a prophetic milestone along the way, moving toward a greater fulfillment. The emphasis in verse 11, on the hand of the Lord being lifted up again a second time, written just after declaring the rest of the Stump of Jesse being glorious, “also in that day” indicates a frame of reference of opening and closure, and pointing to the greatest fulfillment in Jesus’ second coming, unveiling, revealing, or apocalypses.

 

Ultimately, God’s “signal” will find its absolute and final manifestation only in the actual physical return of Jesus, when He is to be seen by the whole world, and Who will then judge all humanity from all time periods, and every variety of rebel spiritual forces, inaugurating His absolute reign forever.

 

Once again, we can clearly see from both the substance and the prophetic unfolding of this passage, which totally parallels the manifold variety of eschatological visions throughout the whole Bible, both from the Old and the New Testaments: this Messianic Personage being spoken of by Isaiah, is undoubtedly Jesus of Nazareth.

Neil Uniacke
Executive Director

Twitter

In this day and age, businesses are told that the best way to promote their company is through social media. For those of us who are over fifty this is not the easiest thing to do. I was relieved to become fairly accomplished with Facebook and my Smart Phone. Did I really need to learn how to navigate Instagram and Twitter too?

 

Recently here at New Hope we began working with a Senior in college who is majoring in communication, specifically focusing on writing and graphic design. We asked Hannah to critique our website and social networking skills and give us some feedback and suggestions for improvements. She is very knowledgeable and friendly and she kindly looked through our website and checked out our Facebook page and gave us some very helpful insights on how to upgrade our website and use our Facebook page more wisely. She recommended that we begin to use Twitter and Instagram as well. This all sounds like a wonderful idea, but inwardly I am thinking, "can I master yet another social media tool?"

 

Sometimes I find myself afraid to try something new because I am afraid of failure. "What if I really can't learn this? What if I try hard, but in the end I still can't do it? I don't want people to think I am stupid." These are the thoughts that run through my mind when I am faced with a situation that I am not sure I can handle. I often choose what I feel is the safest route which is usually running away from the new experience rather then tackling it. I wonder how much I have missed out in life because I was not willing to try or to face a problem head on.

 

The Bible has quite a few verses about fear. David spent sleepless nights worrying and then wrote psalms that address why he shouldn't be afraid.

 

Psalms 27:1 - The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?

 

Psalms 118:6 - The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

 

I like this last verse. Why should I be afraid? What can man do to me? I do not need to worry about what others will think. I need only to put my faith and trust in the Lord. He will never fail me and He will give me the strength that I need to face the complications of life. I can do everything through Him, who gives me strength ~ Philippians 4:13

 

So...I will not be afraid of Twitter (or Instagram). We now have a Twitter account and I am learning how to use it. I am understanding that there are proper and improper ways to post and I am trying to conquer the language of hashtags. I may make some mistakes, but so what? If you would like to follow my/our progress, please click on the link below and become one of our followers!

 

https://twitter.com/newhope2481

Mary Lehman
Secretary

Customer Service

Some of the things we hope you find when you shop at New Hope Community Closet are clean, quality merchandise, a peaceful environment and caring friendly service.  While we hope to always deliver these, sometimes we struggle.  Lately I have been thinking about how caring and friendly my service is to our customers.

 

Some customers are easy for me.  I want to offer caring service to them.  But, some who shop in the thrift store are a little more difficult to be kind to and love.  How do I love the customer who talks without seeming to take a breath?  Their chatter can interrupt my interaction with other customers.  They ask question after question.  They take up a lot of my time.  And, they often come at the end of the day when I am tired and ready to go home.  Will I really show this customer caring service?  Or, will I seemingly show them caring service while in my mind I am being less than kind?

 

Or, what about the customer who really just does not smell good?  This customer is offensive to my sense of smell and is also very difficult to be around.  Other customers also notice and are offended by this customer's seeming lack of hygiene.  It is easy to hope that they quickly exit the store.

 

Have I shown either of these customers caring service?  Do I really show them love?  When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your mind.”  The second commandment is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

 

This may be easy when I like those around me, but what about those who are difficult to be around?

 

I do not have any answers to these questions.  Just questions.  I wonder how I really should live out these commandments.  But, do I even want to be a disciple and follow what Jesus taught?  Or, do I want to take the easy out.

 

I would love to hear your ideas on how to love those who are difficult.  But, I guess for each of us the answer comes when we listen for God's still small voice whispering to us-”This is how I would love that one.  Are you willing to do the same?  Remember-  I love you when you are difficult and your odor is offensive.  What will you do?”  Jesus patiently waits for me to decide which way I will go this time.  Hopefully, I am learning to love better and I really am offering caring, friendly service.

 

Deb Riddell

Closet Manager

Financial Dependence: Real Security

Financial coaching is more than helping you to set up a budget or be able to find resources that will enable you to pay all of your creditors. It is first helping you to find your security from your faith in God and gaining the understanding that He is the One who gives us the ability to acquire wealth.  My best bet is that when our finances are out of order, so is our spiritual life.

Often we can have a false sense of security dependent upon what our check-book says. If there is a substantial balance in our bank accounts we can feel secure, especially if we find our security in money. However when there is a lack, we can feel like our entire lives are on the brink of destruction.

It just dawned on me recently after going through a faith test that it really doesn’t matter whether it is easy or difficult to trust God. As my circumstances began to “look” better, I noticed myself trusting a bit less in God and a bit more in myself. After all, my circumstances weren’t requiring as much faith. I kind of slapped myself a bit and realized that I am no less dependent on God when things are going good as I am when they are going terrible.

The good circumstances are only an illusion of security. When things look good, it is easy to understand how things will all work out. But isn’t it amazing how quickly I can go running back to God in faith when things look bad again? I quickly realize that “good circumstances” provide no true security.

The great news is that for believers, bad circumstances are only an illusion of a lack of security.

It reminds me of Jesus sleeping on the boat during the middle of the storm. He said, “let us go to the other side.” But yet when things started looking bad enough, they started to doubt that would happen. The truth is, no matter how bad things looked, they were just as secure. They had God in the flesh on the boat with them! How could they really think that they wouldn’t make it?

When they finally were freaking out enough, they woke Him up and frustrated with their lack of faith, He told the storm to calm down. They just didn’t get it. They didn’t realize who Jesus was. They didn’t realize that it didn’t matter how bad it got, He was there with them.

It is no different for us today. We have the promise of God that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. It doesn’t matter how bad things look, it is merely an illusion. Don’t be deceived: when your trust is in God, you could not be more secure.

Connie Hanten, BCMCLC

New Hope Financial Coach