2334AFC082523 – God’s got you pegged.
Read it online here, please. And please – when you visit there – use one of the social media links at the bottom of the page to share this post. Thank you! And remember, we now have a READER VIEW available, so share this link or this email often. Do you know someone who enjoys Bible study, or who might like to read this? Ask them to email us or to subscribe on our blog-site.
Isaiah 22:22-23 – 22 I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his ancestral house.
Psalm 138:1 –
1 With all my heart
I will praise you, Lord.
In the presence of angels
I will sing your praises.(CEV) [1]
Romans 11:33 – 33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
Matthew 16:19 – 19 I will give you the keys * of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. * kleidas plural of κλεῖς – key
Aloha nui loa, ʻŌmea! Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Christ Jesus our Lord. We are already at the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. The reading in this cycle (A) point us toward the investiture of The Apostle Peter as “The Rock.” Now, this is not the Rock like Dwayne Johnson. No, this is The Rock like the Rock of Ages (↔ Music Link) and that Rock – Jesus the Lord – bestowed that stability on The Apostle Peter and the Εκκλησία – Church (See Matthew 16:18) which he would build. He gave The Apostle Peter the Keys of the Kingdom (See Matthew 16:18-19). The Key of the Kingdom are the insignia, the badge, of power. That’s the importance of our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah – I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. The Apostle Peter was given the keys to the Church, and since the Church was established on the Rock of Jesus’ authority through God and the House of David, not even the gates of Hell could conquer it. This is similar to the promise made to Eliakim in today’s Key Verse from Isaiah.
Eliakim (meaning “whom God will raise up”) was the son of Hilkiah (meaning “my chosen portion”). God chose Eliakim to take over the duties of Shebna (perhaps “Jehovah has brought me back) who was a spectacular failure and who built his own very elaborate sepulcher while he was still alive. He was a self-absorbed show-off who held the position of the King’s secretary or scribe. Isaiah called him out and predicted his fall from his fantasy of glory. In his place, God set Eliakim – his chosen servant – and Eliakim eventually became the King’s Prime Minister – the person who was the supreme gatekeeper for the House of David. Whenever he spoke, he spoke with the authority of the King. If he shut the door, it was shut. If he opened the door, it stayed open unless or until he shut it. This is a prefiguring of the authority given to The Apostle Peter. He held Christ’s authority to open or shut the door.
Whatever door is closed by Christ cannot be opened by any other for any reason. Jesus opens to us the door of eternal salvation for soul and body, but to those who refuse to enter by that door, the door will be shut as surely as God closed the door on the Ark (See Genesis 7:16) Christ has this authority from God. It is his to use, or to share, as pleases him. He himself stated this unequivocally. Then he shared it with his Apostles, and their successors who share it among us to this very day. This is another of the Core Principles in the Absolutely Perfect Plan. This is why we say “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!”
You can see several passages such as these that show how Jesus described his own authority: Matthew 11:27, Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:35, John 17 (←IMPORTANT!), Daniel 7:13-14. I want to give you the text of Matthew 28:18 as it represents the other passages well. It says, 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” This is part of “The Great Commission” where Jesus gave his authority to all Disciples (including us) to spread the Gospel. It is Scripture that is the framework for the Church, and the foundation of the Church is the teaching of the Apostles, especially Peter.
Why do we say, “especially Peter?” We say that because it was Peter who received the “badge of authority,” the Keys of the Kingdom, the very Kingdom that God promised through David, the Kingdom over which Eliakim presided. Only Jesus had the power to elevate The Apostle Peter to this position of authority, and that designation was made “in accordance with the Scriptures.” Eliakim was given authority over the post vacated by Shebna in the same way that Isaiah prophesied that the government would be on the shoulders of the coming Messiah – “And the government shall be upon his shoulder.” (Isaiah 9:6 ← Multiple translations) Government in Hebrew is ham-miś-rāh – dominion, rule, government. In the same way that Christ himself addresses the church in Philadelphia and in the same way as in Daniel 7, the Kingdom of the Son of Man, the Messiah, is an everlasting kingdom with authority over all of creation because he is the “God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great God mighty and awesome,” (See Deuteronomy 10:17-18) who reigns forever and ever (See Exodus 15:18). That is our God! He is indeed an Awesome God (↔ Music Link) in Three Persons who reign from Heaven above and it is that Awesome God that gives us the Rock of Ages called The Church which is built upon the Rock of the Apostle Peter. Our Holy Triune God – who is the Rock of our Salvation – has used his authority to commission a sure and safe place in the tradition of the Psalms. You perhaps will recall this gem in Psalm 18:2 – 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. That is such an inspiring image!
When we think of inspirations, we often think of images like this one. For those of us who have music constantly playing in our heads, we might hear certain tunes going off: Here’s a great tune by Stewart Townend and Keith Getty and performed by Keith & Kristyn Getty, with Alison Krauss: In Christ Alone (↔ Music Link) Here is another hymn that reminds us of Jesus’ words to The Apostle Peter: Upon this Rock. Just as God set Eliakim in a place of authority and secured him as “a firm peg” (or nail), The Apostle Peter was set in an unassailable position of authority. There are so many connections between the prophesies of Isaiah and the Gospels!
The entire book of Isaiah is a compilation of prophetic poetry, mostly composed by the Prophet himself, and the section here mentioned, 56-66, is notable for the contrasting hopes of the families who have returned from exile and the condemnation and destruction of the corrupt leaders of Israel. The warnings God had given to King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7 include the oft-quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 where God states that the nation who repents and calls upon him will be saved. As Paul Harvey used to say, “Wait ’til you hear the rest of the story.” In that same chapter there is a very blunt, stark, and (frankly) scary Word from the Lord. Take a look:
2 Chronicles 7:19-22 – 19 “But if you* turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from the land that I have given you; and this house, which I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And regarding this house, now exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord the God of their ancestors who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore he has brought all this calamity upon them.’” * In Hebrew this pronoun is plural – the Nation. It is a central theme throughout the entire Bible – if you fail to love God and neighbor, you must repent. If you do not repent, the consequences will be very unpleasant. If you do repent, the consequences will be wonderfully splendiferous. Now, doesn’t that seem like a no-brainer? Well, that’s pretty much how most of us handle it – with no brains. That’s easier to spot than you might think. You’ve heard this one many times: “by their fruits you will know them.” We have all heard about the “deeply faithful Catholic” who carries a rosary in his pocket but still won’t follow the teachings of the Church. We call people like that “good for the country.” That’s like calling elephant scat “milk.” We rename someone/something bad as something/someone good. So, you know what is coming next, correct?
Isaiah 5:20-23 – (use this link to study the GNT version)
20 Ah, you who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,
and shrewd in your own sight!
22 Ah, you who are heroes in drinking wine
and valiant at mixing drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of their rights!
Wisdom 5:14 –
14 Because the hope of the ungodly is like thistle-down carried by the wind,
and like a light frost driven away by a storm;
it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,
and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.
If you want to read something that will cheer you up, follow this link: Wisdom, Chapter 5 and read about the eternal rewards earned by the lifetimes of the righteous and the wicked.
Isaiah 43:11-13, 25 (GNT) [2] –
11 “I alone am the Lord,
the only one who can save you.
12 I predicted what would happen,
and then I came to your aid.
No foreign god has ever done this;
you are my witnesses.
13 I am God and always will be.
No one can escape from my power;
no one can change what I do.
25 And yet, I am the God who forgives your sins,
and I do this because of who I am.
I will not hold your sins against you.
Isaiah 3:11 –
11 Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,
for what their hands have done shall be done to them.
Belovéd, are we the guilty ones? Are we crossing the swamp or standing on the rock? Are we held in a firm place like a peg, or are we blowin’ in the wind? God has us pegged into a safe and secure place if we repent, believe, and live the Gospel.
The people addressed by Isaiah in this passage would recognize the image of a peg pounded into a wall to hold pots, jugs, bowls, wineskins, or other items securely. It was a common practice to have such pegs to keep items safe and organized (“A place for everything and everything in its place,” as my dad used to say.) Now, in this image we do not see Eliakim held up against a wall and pounded over the head with a hammer! What we do see is Eliakim held firmly in the hands of El Shaddai so that he might be a blessing to his People. The same is true for us – IF we allow God to establish our secure position instead of always saying “I do it myself!” We have already learned that saying that is in direct disobedience to God’s will and God’s Way. If God’s got us pegged he’s got our true nature defined and has still put us in a protected place where we can use our strength in him to support others, to support materials for our ministry, or to hold onto what has been handed down to us by the Apostles: the Gospel. We rest in God knowing that he’s got us covered no matter what. Here’s a tune about being secure as sung by Johnny Cash: I shall not be moved (↔ Music Link) Our YOLO-F life is safest when we entrust it to God so he can hold us in the hollow of his hand. (↔ Music Link) I’m looking forward to that because when I get there I am going to live out the opening of my favorite Psalm:
1 With all my heart
I praise you, Lord.
In the presence of angels
I sing your praises.
Adelphos, once I make it Home, “I shall not be moved!” I’ve been pegged in where I belong. See you there!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] (GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible. Used by permission.
[1] Passages marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible. All right reserved. Used by permission.
