I’m slowly walking through a book on Isaiah by Alec J. Motyer and came across something that reminds me of what we are hearing as we sit on the mount with the disciples at Jesus’ feet. Motyer notes a stunning fact about one of the prevalent themes in the Book of Isaiah—God’s holiness. He writes, “in the Isaianic literature the adjective ‘holy’ is used of God more frequently than all the rest of the Old Testament taken together.” Motyer calls Isaiah the “prophet of holiness.” If we get anything from reading all 66 chapters of Isaiah, we see that our God is a Holy God—He is the Holy One of Israel.
Motyer takes this motif of holiness and unpacks how it relates to the structure of Isaiah. When you get a chance, write this down in your Bibles so that when you read Isaiah next, you have the whole picture in front of you. He writes:
“As a title (i.e., the Holy One of Israel), it is full of majesty and mystery: the God who is transcendent in holiness has brought himself into close relationship with a specified people whereby they may claim that he is theirs and he that they are his. The whole Isaianic literature is an explication of this basic situation:
1. The awesome threat which holiness constitutes to an unworthy, careless, rejecting and unresponsive people (chapters 1–37);
2. The lengths to which the Holy One will go to deal with sin, reclaim the sinner and create a righteous people for himself (chapters 40–55);
3. The eternal state of holiness which he will prepare for them and wherein they will enjoy him forever (chapters 56–66).”
I’m specifically thinking about Motyer’s second point above in light of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, our Teacher, is instructing us in what it looks like for God to create a righteous people for himself. This is the greater righteousness we are learning about—a righteousness where anger, lust, infidelity, and loose lips are exchanged for ways that lead to flourishing in the kingdom community.
This Sunday, Lord willing, we will be challenged once again by a call to greater righteousness—one that only the Spirit of Christ can bring about. Meditate on his words this week, and pray that our Lord, through his Spirit, would meet us.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” (Matthew 5:38–42)
Learning with you at our Lord’s feet,
Pastor Lew