"But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread" (Isaiah 8:13, ESV).
Yet another glimpse into the incredibly complex and amazing God. In the same breath, God says he will become a sancturay and a stone of offense, a stumbling rock, snare, and trap. (v. 14). How is it possible that God can be a place of safety and rest and at the same time cause people to stumble and fall and be caught in a snare? There is one word that can explain this: Calvery. Christ death and ressurection has caused wars and brutality and persecution while at the same time it saves lives and gives rest to the weary. The most beautiful and horrifying event in all of history, has been, to this point, Christ's work on the cross. And it will remain that way, I believe, until his second return and God pours out his judgement on the earth and wipes away all our tears.
But this passage not only gives us a glimpse into the the character of the Almighty, it intructs us on how we should act toward him. "You shall regard him as holy." That is not a suggestion. "Let him be your fear." This is advice, especially for gaining wisdom (see Proverbs 1:7). "Let him be your dread." This, too, is advice, but on how to respect him. God is no joking matter. He is real, and he is powerful. We should be in awe whenever we come into his presence. Those of us who have entered into a relationship with him, we have comfort and peace beyond measure. But those of you who have not yet turned thier lives over to him, have much to be afraid of, whether you realize it or not. Yet if you only turn to him and humbly surrender your life to him, he will have mercy on you and rescue you from total destruction.
"But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary..."
1 comment:
This is very interesting to me! I am currently doing a bible study of Romans, and in chapter 9:30-33 Paul talks about how men who follow God's law as if they are doing good works do not attain it- and he says that they stumbled over the "stumbling stone." He then references verse 14 in this passage of Isaiah. Curious, I looked up the passage to read the verse in context and was very confused on why God would want to act as a stumbling stone to men! Wanting to get some more insight, I looked the passage up online and found this.
I think I have come to the conclusion that here Paul is saying that God's law itself became the stumbling stone for the imperfect men who tried to view it from the wrong perspective. What you said about how God's word and Christ's death having caused so much good AND anger among the world helped me to understand that it wasn't necessarily God that was purposefully trying to trip them but rather that man, being fallen as he is, will always be viable to misinterpret or misuse God's word.
So this was helpful:) Thanks!
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