Friday 23 September

Isaiah 55:1-57:13

There are two sets of invitation in here.  First of all there is the invitation to mercy.  Oh what an invitation this is.  The One whose ways are higher than ours and whose thoughts are deeper than ours invites us to come, to hear, to taste and to see.  He invites us to be caught up into his ways and to be carried along in his thoughts.  He invites us to the satisfying and the delightful and the rich and the everlasting.  And he invites us free of charge.  And alongside us he invites the impoverished and the parched and the foreigners and the eunuchs.  A merry cavalry of the odd and the ill crashing into the biggest party of eternity.  And then there is another invitation.  And this one is not one you want. This second invitation is to the mockers and the sneerers and the rebels and the liars.  Those who mistreat those around them and who arrogantly disdain God and make their beds on high and lofty hills.  These are the people who regard themselves as superior to others around them and regard God as inferior to other things.  The self-important and the self-reliant are invited to come and be crushed.  God in his love for victims and in the rightful pursuit of his glory will not permit bad behaviour to be left to roll along.  God is passionate - passionate for us and passionate to see things done right.

Ephesians 2:1-22

This is the spiritual reality of our salvation.  This is what has happened in the hidden spiritual realm that dictates eternity.  We weren’t featuring in it at all.  You could have looked for us throughout all the heavenly realms.  You could have scoured every seat like a friend arriving late at the cinema and trying to find their party.  But you would have come back disappointed.  We were not there - we were in the shadowy darkness of the back car park, chained to the railings and playing with broken bottles and used needles.  But Jesus, in his grace - entirely in his grace - walked round the back of the building, found us, took the shackles off our wrists and carried us into the heavenly realm.  He then sat us there in a seat with our name on, in full gaze of our Father and in touching distance of His throne.  That is what has been done for us.  That is what it means that we are saved.  So Paul says - show it off.  Flash some of the spiritual realm in your everyday life.  Boast about the grace you’ve received, demonstrate the peace you’ve found, do the amazing and good things that are the lifeblood of the heavenly realm.  Live like you now are rather than what you once were.  

Psalm 110:1-7

“Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth”.  Sorry, you’ve lost me with that one.