The Head

by MW Cook

Here’s an experiment with blogging by e-mail…

Syria and Israel teamed up one day to go see if they could split open Jerusalem and take it for themselves. Ahaz, king of Judah, was shaking in his sandals. He went to Isaiah and told him about the problem. Isaiah got a message from God and said:

It shall not stand,
and it shall not come to pass.
For the head of Syria is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you are not firm in faith,
you will not be firm at all.

Seems a little cryptic, eh? What did he mean? I think Ahaz was supposed to stand firm in faith
and ask what the head of Judah was. I suppose he well could have said:

The head of Judah is Jerusalem,
and the head of Jerusalem is Yahweh.

I want to encourage you with this one thought. When it seems impossible to succeed, when it seems like sin will always win the victory, when a normal, average,
fruitless life seems inevitable say this to yourself:

The head of Matthew is Christ, and the head of Christ is Yahweh.
If I stand firm in faith, I will be firm indeed.

Don’t give up. Go for the gold. In the race of faith and life there is no second place. There is only victory or defeat. Let’s press on together to a lifestyle that laughs in the face of Western priorities and worldviews. Let’s move away from the basic philosophies of the world to the truth of Christ. Let’s grab that cross, pick it up and sing with glee:

The body they may kill,
God’s truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.