Awake, Awake, O Arm of the LORD!
(ISAIAH 51:9-16)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? 10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? 11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

1. [v.9-11] *Biblical principle – “WAKE UP, GOD!” – Calling for His Strong Arm: Calling upon the LORD to awake is purposed to wakeup ourselves from our slumber, recalling His strong arm that leaves us to ask, “Was it not you…?” The LORD does not need to be woken up, for He has never fallen asleep (Psalm 121:4). Rather, we are the ones who are asleep, in slumber, and need to wake up from assuming He has been inactive to hear or help us. God’s people at the time had been hopeless in His deliverance, asleep to His powerful arm that moved to deliver them in the past from the pride of Pharaoh, described as “Proud One” (=Rahab [Isaiah 30:7]) and “dragon” (Ezekiel 29:3). Although his pride chased them to the sea, it was the LORD’s mighty arm that dried up the sea, making a path for the redeemed to pass over. Call upon the LORD to awake, for you yourself to awake, with gladness and joy, to His powerful arm!
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – When have we desperately called for God to wake up? Was it God who needed to be woken up, or you who had fallen asleep?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – The LORD desires to pierce our prideful and anxious desperation that labels Him asleep. When God appears asleep in our times of desperation, how should our reactions of “sorrow and sighing” be warnings to awake ourselves? In all circumstances, how can we awake to reactions of “everlasting joy upon our heads…. obtaining gladness and joy” in His presence? Share a time when God awakened you to give thanks, rejoice, and pray no matter what the circumstance you found yourself in (see 1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)?

 
12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, 13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? 14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.

1. [v.12-14] *Biblical principle – SNOOZING HIS ALARM – Forgetting His Comforting Arm: The LORD’s response for Him to wake up is to assure us that He has never fallen asleep. He has remained our promised comfort and Creator while we have consistently forgotten Him by fearing man and things in creation. Like pressing the snooze button constantly after the alarm has rung, God’s people were consistently forgetful in their spiritual slumber. He had promised to be their rock of comfort (Isaiah 51:1-3), turning their wilderness back into a garden again. Yet it was the trials and oppression along the way that made them waver from the LORD. They continually set their fear on their captors – the Babylonians – and lost hope in being delivered. Some even preferred life in Babylon over hoping in God’s promised return to their homeland. Snoozing numbs the soul to remember. Stop snoozing! Start arising to His alarm!
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – God is always awake and at work within us, around us, ahead of us, for our greatest good and His highest glory. Yet at times, we “snooze” His work, delaying it or forgetting it in our lives. When have you “snoozed” God, asking for Him to come back another time or not come back at all? How are you deferring the work of God by fearing things of creation?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – When the time came for the release of God’s people after 70 years in Babylonian captivity, a large portion of the people did not want to be freed. Instead, they wanted to stay in Babylon under their new rulers (the Persians) because they had grown comfortable to life in a foreign land/language, treated fairly well by their newer captors, and had forgotten God’s word to return them back to their home. In addition, the prospect of the long and difficult journey back home to a ruined city with nothing left for them was daunting and unappealing. Many did not want the added task of rebuilding the demolished temple for worship nor the crumbled city walls. What and where is your “Babylon” – your bed that you have refused to wake up and move out to do what the LORD asks of you? What is the “Babylon” that makes you settle for the prosperity of here and now, cancelling out the narrow road to life with Jesus as something too daunting and unappealing because there’s nothing in it for you? Where are the ruined temples of worship and walls of God’s protection we need to stop delaying and starting rebuilding in our lives?

 
15 I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

1. [v.15-16] *Biblical principle – [v.15-16] “WAKE UP, CHURCH!” – Covered in His Arm: Like the stirring up of the sea so that its waves roar, the LORD stirs us to wake up from our slumber – not uncovered, but covered – by His promised Word to roar them through our mouth. If we know the LORD has always been awake, and His alarm has gone out to comfort and deliver us, it must move us to arise from our slumber. He stirs us and shakes us to wake up, as He does the sea as it awakes with the roar of its waves. The LORD stirred up His people to move out of captivity in the past. He still does the same today. We arise out of slumber and sleep, fully clothed with His shadow – His image – on us with the words He put in our mouth. Only those awake can roar the words that He has become our God, and we have become His people. Only those He has awakened are stirred up to speak what comes from the power of His arm covering them!
   1. *FOCUS QUESTION #1 – What are you “stirred up” by? What does God need to “stir up” to get your attention and wake up to His presence, like He stirs up the sea so that its waves roar?
   2. *FOCUS QUESTION #2 – In the movie “Inception,” the “totem” was an object that could show you if you were still in the dream world or back in the real world. For us, this is the Word of God. When God’s Word remains closed, what dream world are you living in? When God’s Word stays open, what real world is before you? How can we be God-dreamers instead of daydreamers? Read the following Scriptures:
      1. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. (LUKE 21:36)
      2. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:6-11)

 
The central truth of this word was –
Will each new morning of 2024 awaken you to more of His strong arm at work in your life? Let us set our alarms aright – not for God to wake up to our needs, but for us to wake up to His ways. Call upon the LORD’s strength which He is working in you and has worked for you, even from the days of His overwhelming power over Pharaoh’s pride in ancient Egypt, to the way He made by drying up the sea for the redeemed to pass over. Stop snoozing the alarm of His Word ringing to get your attention. Snoozing strengthens forgetting. Do not forget Your Creator who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth! He remains as Your promised Comforter and Deliverer from all oppression! His arm destroys the fear of anything in fallen creation. When we bow down to Creator and not creation, the LORD stirs us up to be freed from our slumber with the roar of His Word indwelling us. Awake, O soul, for your LORD God is not asleep!

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray for one another.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)

I Have Set My Face like a Flint
1.[v.7] The Immovable Face of Jesus: “But the Lord God helps me… therefore I have set my face like a flint”
2.[v.8-9] The Imperishable Face of Jesus:
     A.[v.8] Perishing adversaries: “Who will contend with me? … Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.”
     B.[v.9] Perishing prosecutors: “Who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment”
3.[v.10-11] The Illuminating Face of Jesus: “Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord… Walk by the light of your fire… you shall lie down in torment”

 
I Have Set My Face like a Flint
(ISAIAH 50:7-11)
 
Pause & Reflect
 
7 But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

1. [v.7] *Biblical principle – IMMOVABLE FLINT: Like streaks of immovable flint rock trapped between sediments of towering stone in the Judean wilderness, the face of Jesus was immovably set towards Jerusalem at the cross for the joy of bringing you to Father God (Hebrews 12:2): Jesus was resolutely unshakable in His mission – to give His back to those who strike, give His cheeks to those who pulled His beard, give His face to those who disgracefully spit. Like flint rock that cannot be removed in sediments of stone, Jesus’ face never moved away from the earthly shame and sufferings of the cross. Yet by the LORD’s help, He was not disgraced nor shamed, but rather vindicated for His perfect obedience and sacrifice for our sins. So Jesus has never looked-off of you. Are you moved by His immovability? Set your face to Jesus!
   1. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #1 – In honor/shame culture of biblical times, shame was to be avoided on the face at all costs (known today as “save-face”) in order to preserve being honored. Yet, how does Jesus show the way to truly “save” our face? Was the face of Jesus “saved” by avoiding shame or bearing shame? In what ways has your face avoided shame in following Jesus? In what ways have you welcomed shame in following Jesus?
   2. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #2 – Our sin nature is set on shaming ourselves, shaming one another, and shaming God. With the Lord God’s help, we can overcome all three of these shaming ways like Jesus did. How do you need to repent in these three areas? Shame is hard to look at, but does the face of Jesus move away/turn away like us? How is the immovable flint-like face of Jesus helping you not turn away from shame, but use shame to bring glory to God through Christ-exalting confession and testimony? With godly discretion, wisdom, and discernment, confess the shame that Jesus has delivered you from that brings glory up to the Savior and joy down to the saved.

 
8 He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
9 Behold, the Lord God helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

1. [v.8-9] *Biblical principle – IMPERISHABLE FLINT: Like flint rock that cannot perish over time, the face of Jesus remains imperishably unblemished, without guilt nor defeat from unjust prosecutors nor adversaries, because the LORD vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead forever: Jesus can never fade away nor become worn out like an old garment. He is immortal as the very substance of eternal God. No one can contend to stand up and over Jesus. No one can be an adversary equal with Jesus. No one can get away with declaring Jesus guilty. Everyone’s face will become blemished with perishable existence, but the face of Jesus continues to eternity without a single blemish. Because we were in danger of perishing, the imperishable Jesus put on perishable humanity to show the way to Father God. Is your face turned that way?
   1. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #1 – What perishables are you afraid to stand up against because they have become such a contender in your life next to Jesus? What perishables have you allowed to defeat you as a stronger adversary next to the still stronger Jesus? With a tight grip on your perishables, how is your face accusing Jesus as guilty, inadequate, a failure, at fault, deficient, limited, weak, defective, constraining, or flawed?
   2. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #2 – If the perishables perish, why do we keep holding on to them and what eventually happens (like perishable food) when they expire? What is the worn-out garment you are still wearing, where your face still thrills with excitement for? When we look into the imperishable flint-like face of Jesus, what happens to our rotten, smelly, blemished/stained, worn garments? How can we throw away our perishables, stop covering-up our blemishes to preserve our own self-image and secrecy, look-off ourselves to behold the unperishing beauty of what is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ? What does a life look like that is face-to-face with this unperishing beauty of Jesus Christ?

 
10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.

1. [v.10-11] *Biblical principle – ILLUMINATING FLINT: Like the luster shine of flint rock alongside its power to produce fire when struck together with steel, the face of Jesus illumines the way to walk, even into our present darkness, guided by the fire of His voice calling us to trust and obey Him: In the darkness of Babylonian captivity, the people had to trust that God was going to deliver them. This was the illuminating light He was shining forth to His people. Yet instead of listening to His voice and following His light, they kindled for themselves their own fire, equipped themselves with torches, and walked by the light of their own illumination. The only end that awaited them was torment. Let us discern which fire is warming us, which voice is guiding us, which light is illumining us to walk. Our kindled fires will burn us and harm us, while God’s fire will heal us and guide us, even through this present darkness.
   1. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #1 – Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” When we walk in the light of Christ, His Word is a lamp to our near-sighted next step on foot as well as far-sighted long distance by path. Walking in His light means to fear the LORD and obey the voice of His servant Jesus. How is your fearing of the LORD and obedience to Christ illuminating both your next step and long-distance path?
   2. *RE-CENTER FOCUS QUESTION #2 – How has your own kindled light and fire burned and harmed you? How has God’s light and fire healed and guided you? How can we discern which light is illuminating us to walk? A central work of the holy Spirit is illumination. We cannot understand spiritual truth by our own efforts or knowledge, but only when the Spirit illuminates His Word into our minds and hearts. Ephesians 1:17-18 says, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” How is the Spirit’s illuminating glow being a teacher, corrector, trainer, reprover/admonisher, even rebuker, warning you of your own kindled light?

 
The central truth of this word was –
Into the new year 2024, where will your face be set? Jesus set His face resolutely to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), to bear your sins in His body at the cross, for the joy of bringing you to God. Like an immovable flint rock, nothing can turn the face of Jesus away from you. Like a flint rock that cannot perish, the face of Jesus did not grow old, wrinkly, and defeated. Instead, He conquered His perishable enemies and remained unblemished as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Like flint rock that shines and ignites real fire, Jesus’ face speaks the light of God’s words that carries us through the darkness. Won’t you turn your face to His face more and more this new year? Fear Him. Walk courageously into your present darkness, for Your Rock like a flint sees you, goes before you, and is the light to carry you through.

– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 

Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)