More English Classes and Isaiah 55

Saturday – June 7

We’re still at Camp Adatara. It’s a little after 8:00 in the morning. Dale and I woke up pretty early this morning. We think the worst of jetlag is behind us now, for which we praise the Lord!

Dale and Rachel participated in an English class yesterday with Beverly Tajima, the wife of BMM missionary, Nobby Tajima. Beverly’s class consisted of only one female student, name Junko. To get things started, Beverly asked Dale to tell Junko what her hobbies are. Dale answered, “Studying and teaching the Bible.” That answer led to a discussion of church and Christianity for the next two hours. As it turns out, Junko had attended Sunday School in an Evangelical Free church when she was a youngster. She is now a young mother; still, she was able to recite the Lord’s prayer even though it has been years since she last heard it from the missionaries in the Evangelical Free church. Dale invited Junko to church this Sunday, when I will be preaching. She agreed to come, but we ask that you pray for her to follow through.

I will be preaching on Sunday from Isaiah 55, which is the Bible chapter we have chosen for a theme for our trip. The particular verses from that chapter that stand out to me are 10-11: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish the purpose for which I sent it.”

I came across Isaiah 55 recently as I was preparing for a Bible study on John 2, which records Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine. At first, I was somewhat stumped as to why such a miracle would be the first one Jesus would perform. Traditionally, people believe the purpose of the miracle was to demonstrate Jesus’ power over nature. Normally it would take months for water to come down from the sky in the form of rain, be soaked up from the ground by the grape vines, where it would eventually become juice in the grapes themselves, finally to be harvested and expressed into a beverage that would refresh those who drank it. So for all of this to happen in an instant would have been an impressive display indeed of power over that process.

Even with all this said, I still wondered why such a display would have been chosen first as a sign of Jesus’ Messiah-ship (see John 30:31). It occurred to me to begin looking around in the OT for any significance that might be attached to turning water into wine. There are so many things that Jesus said and did that are similarly connected to things said and done in the OT. What I found was Isaiah 55.

Isaiah 55 begins with these words from the Lord: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”

Was Jesus illustrating the offer of Isaiah 55:1-3 when he turned water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana? Very possibly so. If not, it sure is a striking coincidence that such a strong connection exists between his offer through the OT prophet of “wine without cost” to provide for the soul “to live” and “delight in the richest of fare” and his provision of wine at a time when the wine of their own making, wine that “does not satisfy” had run out.

The connection with all of this to ministry in Japan is just as striking. People here are laboring for “what is not bread” and on “what does not satisfy.” There is so much materialism here, not just an abundance of things, but rather life that is anchored in the pursuit and possession of things. Life here for so many is anchored in the stuff of this material world. Very little, if any, thought is given to the realities of death, sin, righteousness, and judgment, even though the possession and pursuit of the stuff of this world is not what satisfies the soul.

People everywhere are made to be properly related to God through faith. Isaiah 55 refers to this in verses 6-7: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, for he will freely pardon.”

As you join us in reading through Isaiah 55, we ask that you also think of the spiritual condition of people here in Japan, especially the young people. Pray with us that the Lord will stir their hearts in mass to accept his offer of life and the richest of fare for their souls.

Pray too for a special time this afternoon when we will be meeting with some young adults from area churches. I'll write about it in the next post.