The Girl Next Door ☎︎: A Golden Platter

{ My Kitchen }

A Golden Platter

Can I just say how much I have enjoyed reading Isaiah? I love how it is God speaking directly to His people....but then, isn't that the whole Bible? So cool! However, this post will be centered around a passage from 2 Timothy 2:21. But don't worry, it ties in perfectly with Isaiah.

Isaiah 52 and 53 mention two different types of cleansing. The first type of cleanse is the one that we experience because of Jesus' death. Chapter 53 is a very humbling passage that foreshadows the death of Jesus, which would eventually save the people from their wicked ways.

The word "grief" comes up a lot in this passage. Jesus was acquainted with grief (because of us), bore our griefs, and God put him to grief. In the hebrew language, grief means sickness. We were literally plagued with an internal illness and the diagnosis of this awful disease is called sin. When Jesus died, God actually made Him sick with our sin so that we could be made well. And God was happy to do so. It pleased Him for it was His will.

{"Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief" Isaiah 53:10}

Jesus' soul made an offering for guilt. Just like the people of the Old Testament offered sacrifices to the Lord in order to cleanse their sin, Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we could be cleansed permanently. Once and for all. No more sacrifices. No more guilt. His sin-offering hurt more than the torture. He felt sin like no one has ever felt it. He was completely pure, absolutely no symptoms of the disease, and then the entire weight of evil was poured down upon Him all at once.

But in spite of it all, Jesus was completely satisfied. He gave His all. He held nothing back. In the midst of pain, He saw the light of righteousness. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. Because Jesus submitted to His Father, God highly exalted Him. And Jesus divided the spoils of His death with us! Now we are spotless! We are healed! God looks at us like He looks at Jesus. Perfect. Jesus made "intercession for the transgressors". That's us--the black sheep who were led astray but then saved by the spotless Lamb who also happens to be our Shepherd. We can now enjoy a personal fellowship with the Father, His Son, and their Holy Spirit. This is the first type of cleansing. Not our own works. Nothing we could do. All by grace!

Isaiah 52 discusses the other kind of cleansing. This is the one that follows our salvation (believing on the name of the Lord, confessing your sin, and having faith that Jesus' death and resurrection conquered sin and death, making you righteous in God's eyes). It is often called sanctification.

In this chapter, the Lord promised that His people would not be redeemed from their captivity of sin with money, but with the very blood of Jesus. Paul mentions this same thing in 1 Peter:

{ "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" 1 Peter 1:18-19}

But, as we saw in Isaiah 53, our freedom was not without cost. Jesus paid with His life. Chapter 52 is the Lord calling the people to live their lives for the Lord. Our lives are not our own. They were bought by the Lord to be used for His purpose and His glory. Now this may not sound like freedom, but trust me...trust God....it is. Why? Because that is what we were made to do and we will not be satisfied until we do it. Because with sin their is death, but with Jesus their is life and life abundant. Because not only will we spend eternity with Him, but Jesus has given us every good thing while we live on this earth. We will face trials under Jesus' authority, but He promises we will live a life of joy, satisfaction, and love when we find life in Him...when we choose to be vessels for His Kingdom.

In verse eleven, the Lord commanded the people to purify themselves, those who bear the vessels of the Lord. The people of the Old Testament owned actual vessels and some were used in the Lord's house (Ezra 1:7-11). Vessels were instruments or tools that served a specific purpose. Some were really nice, gold and silver utensils, used to serve important masters in fancy houses. Others were ordinary, wooden tools, used for unimportant things in plain, everyday rooms. But the people themselves were God's vessels too. We are vessels of the Lord.

As the vessels of the house of the Lord were used as sacred tools for sacred things, so may we be valuable instruments, ready to serve our Master.

This is where the second type of cleansing comes in. God's people are cleansed initially by the blood of Jesus. This requires no work from us. We must only have faith in what Jesus has already accomplished. But in order to be used by God as a vessel in His Kingdom, we must purify ourselves.

{ "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work." 2 Timothy 2:21 }

This takes effort on our part. It requires that we work alongside God in cleansing ourselves from our our old, sinful ways of doing things. Once we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus, we are saved from sin and death. We are righteous. There is no going back. But due to our flesh and this fallen world, sin is still there and we are still tempted. In order to be used by God, do good works, stay close to Him, glorify Him, and love His people, we must have the desire to run from evil and cling tight to what is good. The difference between evil and good can only be found in God's Word. So that means we have to read it in order to discern what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10).

You see, there are two options after we are born again as one of God's chosen people, set apart for good works. We can partner with God, ask Him for the desire and ability to glorify Him, get to know Him through His Word, and enjoy an abundant life of joy with our Savior. Or we can ignore God, choose to serve lesser beings, and fill our longing hearts with the things of this world. We may be extraordinary to the ungodly, but ordinary in the house of the Lord.

Once you were born again into God's kingdom, you became His vessel. You are chosen. You have everything you need to live a glorious life of service to our King. This isn't because you are special in and of yourself, but because you have the Holy Spirit and God's grace shining through you. You are made to be a golden tray. Don't settle for any less.

{ "We could be a gold platter in the house of God, beautifully displaying the fruit of the Spirit...or we could be an ashtray or a garbage can in God's house." Guzik }

Which will you choose?

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