Credo 1
` Behold, I lay a stone in Zion . . . .'
We paused for a short while with a Selah. Now it is time to move on, yet keeping in mind the purpose of a Selah - which in Scripture means to pause, to consider, to hold in the mind what has been written in order to be able to fully understand what is yet to come. Selah is a connecting bridge in an unfolding word, and for that unfolding word we would turn to the Book of Isaiah, from which comes the title for this Credo.

First, a confession, which we are sure can be shared by many, for who cannot but confess to `colour coding' in our Bibles when with childlike joy in earlier days we discovered the wonder of God's Word? Many are the Bibles that have within their covers bright colours scribbled over the Lord's Blessings, but more sombre are the colours for His Judgements - and unfortunately `neither shall the twain meet' as we pick out the Blessings for our comfort! Herein lies a paradox: the loss of simplicity with its inherrent joy, and the growing into maturity, with its inevitable sense of reasoning which can so often cover our joy. Such is the danger in our search for truly Scripturally-based prophetic understanding of His Word. Our trust, therefore, must always be that the Holy Spirit, whilst leading us into all truth will hold us in our joy, thereby dealing with this paradox. His `colour coding' compounds the two - Righteous Judgements with unfailing Blessings - which is at the heart of this Credo.

As we have set out in an earlier Credo, the Book of Isaiah should be seen as one complete `vision' entrusted to Isaiah, which can be seen in his opening words:

" The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. "

Yet it can also be seen that the whole vision can be broken down into several `sections', provided that we keep the sections within the context of the one vision which Isaiah saw. In this Credo we are concerned with a short passage from chapter 28, which is the opening chapter of one such section that extends from chapter 28 through chapter 35 - all of which contains `Woes' to various nations as well as to His `obstinate children'. However as we read through these chapters we will see that the `Woes' are interspaced with the LORD's glorious purposes - which takes us back to our opening comment that the LORD's Judgements and Blessings must always be kept in balance lest we enter in condemnatory self- righteous judgements.

The preceeding chapters of the Book of Isaiah (chapters 13 through 27) comprise another such section which contains `the Burden of the LORD (or, as some translations record it, `an Oracle') concerning various nations, interspaced with the LORD's Blessings for Israel. There is a clear implication in this `vision' that the Blessings for Israel in the Land are intrinsically linked to the Blessings for the whole earth, for as Isaiah saw:

" . . . concerning Judah and Jerusalem: In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's Temple will be established
as chief among the moutains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all the nations will stream to it.
Many peoples will come and say,
`Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the House of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways,
so that we may walk in His paths.'
The law will go out from Zion,
the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem. "
And so, when `colour coding' Scripture, whether in reading the Word or expounding the Word, our understanding must always be kept in `simple joy and mature reasoning'. With these thoughts in mind we shall look at part of the `Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards', and begin at verse 14: `Therefore hear the Word of the LORD, you scoffers . . '. The word `woe' has a deep meaning which is more easily understood with the old English word `Ho'. It is a summons to pay attention to a disaster that is going to happen. The earlier chapters in the section revealing the `burdens' should be understood in the main as a series of warnings against those nations who seek the destruction of Israel, through whom He intends to reveal Himself and His glorious purposes for the whole earth. Now would come the summons, the `Ho', to the people in Judah and Jerusalem who had not heeded the warnings of the `Burdens of the LORD' through which He would bring His people into their rightful place in the Land of Israel to reveal the Blessings of the LORD to the whole earth: (28:14)

" Therefore hear the Word of the LORD,
you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. "
There is indeed scorn in these words for the Hebrew word used here for men is `enoshe', which has a meaning of `incurably weak, feeble men' who are scornful of the need of trusting in the faithfulness of the LORD for their protection. The armies of Assyria under Sennacherib had now arrived at the very gates of Jerusalem, and the words inscribed on Sennacherib's victory tablet described it thus: "I shut up like a caged bird in Jerusalem his (Hezekiah's) royal city . . . " Now the rulers of Jerusalem could cry: (v 15)

" We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the grave we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by (the Assyrian armies)
it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place. "
Hezekiah had offered tribute to Sennacherib, and we can read of it in 2 Kings 18:14:

" So Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: `I have done wrong. Withdraw from me and I will pay whatever you demand of me'. "

As we read on we find just what that `tribute' cost as Hezekiah stripped off the gold with which he had covered the doors and the doorposts of the Temple of the LORD - a covenant with death indeed by `incurably weak, feeble men', even to the point of desecrating the Temple of the LORD! That `covenant with death' struck at the heart of Sennacherib's armies, for we read in 2 Kings 19:34-37: " That night the Angel of the LORD went out .." with death and destruction which eventually extended to Sennacherib himself. His proud. boastful victory tablet at Lachish describing his victories reveals his pride. In those days defeats were never recorded, only victories (whereas today we tend to record defeats, such as Dunkirk, as victories) for inscribed above Sennacherib's head it proclaims:

" Sennacherib, the King of the world, the King of Assyria, sat on his throne and the spoil of Lachish marched before him. "

This, however, is but the background against which the LORD works - what Isaiah later calls "His work, His strange work . . . . His alien task" (v21) and it is here that we would enter into our main thoughts in this Credo.

"So this is what the LORD God says: (In the Hebrew Scriptures this is recorded as: `This is what Adonai Jehovah - or Yahweh - says')" In doing so we are given clearer understanding of the purposes of God in this series of `Burdens and Woes', for it is this use of the title `Adonai' that reveals the LORD in relation to the earth, and His blessings for the earth, and in combining it with the Covenanted Name of Yahweh for Israel the two become compounded into one. In that sense, the title `Adonai Yahweh' becomes a covenanted Name for the whole earth through His chosen vessel, the redeemed nation of Israel, and reveals His ultimate purpose in the `Burdens and Woes' we have mentioned. Nothing can finally thwart these purposes - not even in those days of the mighty armies of Sennacherib, who `watched the spoils of Lachish march before him'.

And so Isaiah calls out the words of the LORD God to the faithful remnant in Judah and Jerusalem, those who have not entered into `a covenant with death' but trust totally in the faithfulness of the LORD - His faithfulness to His Covenanted Word to His people: (v 16)

"Behold, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed,
(or as the KJV says: shall not make haste). "
There is a sharp reminder here to the LORD's people of the contrast between trusting in a `covenant with death' (man's strength) and trusting in the Covenant with the LORD's tested Cornerstone planted firmly in Zion for eternity! Once again the Hebrew brings out the depth of the words for it speaks not only of a `sure foundation' but of a `foundation founded' - a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. If indeed it is a `foundation founded' then it must have been known to those people in their previous Book of the Law, and indeed the Promise is found in the Book of Genesis, `the Book of the Beginings' of God's revelation, for in chapter 49 we find Jacob blessing his sons. From verse 22 we find the blessing for Joseph, who is long understood to be a type for the Messiah of Israel: (v 22-26)

"Joseph is a fruitful vine . . . .
With bitterness archers attacked him . . .
But his bow remained steady . . . .
because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
because of your father's El, who helps you,
because of Shaddai who blesses you,
who blesses you with the blessings of heaven above . . .
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of One separated from His brothers. "
Surely the Tested Stone built on a foundation founded in God's purposes, the Shepherd of Israel, can never fail the one who trusts in Him, and the KJV records this certainty, that such a one `shall not make haste'. Using the terms of the battle-field: When soldiers are in confusion and haste over a perceived battle failure they are easily put to route as they flee the field of battle. Now such a terror fell upon the rulers and people of Judah and Jerusalem as they saw the armies of Sennacherib take over the fortress cities surrounding Jerusalem, and in haste they entered into `a covenant with death' with Sennacherib instead of remembering the immovable Foundation Stone of the LORD's Covenanted Word! We need to paraphrase (interspaced with Scripture) the remaining verses 17 through 21 that we are looking at in this Credo lest we miss the subtlety of the Hebrew script which does not easily fit into our Greek-programmed intellect:

" Because I am Holy and Righteous in My Covenanted relationship with you . . I will make Justice the measuring-line and My Righteousness the plumb-line . . in all My acts concerning you, therefore . . hail will sweep away all else that has become your refuge, the lie . . which is your trust in Assyria's soothing words of peace . . and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled, your agreement with the grave will not stand . . as I cause the Assyrians to renegue on their `covenant' with you . . You will be beaten down by it for as often as it comes it will carry you away. Morning after morning, by day and by night it will sweep through . . Then you will see My faithfulness to My Covenant with you - as you saw at Mount Perazim when I routed the Philistines and caused David to cry out: `The LORD has broken forth upon my enemies before me as the breach of waters' - and also earlier in the Valley of Gibeon when Joshua defeated the Amonites, who set out to destroy the Gibeonites who were under the protection of Israel. Joshua trusted in the Word of the LORD: `Fear not for I have delivered them into your hand' and David, following on, also knew God's faithfulness when the LORD said to David: `Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand'. The rulers in Judah and Jerusalem, now facing the armies of Assyria, knew exactly what the LORD was saying through Isaiah the LORD's prophet, and an earlier verse records . . `their understanding of this message which will bring such terror . .'. The rulers of Judah and Jerusalem had slipped so easily into trusting in their own strength and wisdom, coupled with their understanding that in any case the LORD would deliver them as He had in the past. The terror which came upon them was the realisation that there was to be no immediate `Mount Perazim' or `Valley of Gibeon' experience, for the LORD would do . . His work, His strange work, and perform His alien task . . The LORD would do that which was unaccustomed and unwonted of Him, and yet was Holy and Righteous in His Covenanted relationship with Israel . . Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the LORD, the Lord of Hosts, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land. "

Those words were spoken through Isaiah for a time to come well beyond those who heard them in the time of Hezekiah, for a full generation of people would come and go before the eventual captivity in Babylon. As we have seen, the Assyrian armies did not capture Jerusalem in those days and Sennacherib himself was later murdered by his own sons. The LORD did indeed outwork His Word in an unaccustomed way, but Israel had to learn a lesson not easily forgotten with the deeply implanted knowledge that He `will make Justice the measuring-line and Righteousness the plumb-line'. and nothing else is of any value! Neither were those words of Isaiah totally fulfilled through the Babylonian captivity and the eventual return to the Land under Ezra and Nehemiah, for they await a time still yet to come when Israel will once again make `a covenant with death' with the armies of the Antichrist and they will have to recall the faithfulness of their LORD God Who will rise up `as He did at Mount Perazim and in the Valley of Gibeon'! This Credo is not intended to be an interesting Bible study alone, for once again the nation of Israel is facing powerful enemies - not just the forces of Islam but the hostility of the nations of the world also. They perceive Israel to be the cause of most of the world's tension, and so once again she is making `a covenant with death' in an effort to survive, coupled with a self-satisfied knowledge that there is a God Who has sustained them and kept them over long centuries of emnity from the surrounding nations. Therefore, with the LORD's words spoken through Isaiah firmly in mind, we would look to see how far we are towards the complete fulfillment of those words, and for that we have to step back into history.

To use a natural allegory: To be able to hit a point on a target with a rifle more is required than just shooting in the target's general direction. The marksman requires a set of sights to be able to focus his rifle. The more `cross hairs' he has in his sights the more certain he is of hitting the centre of the target. History gives us those `cross hairs' to more certainly hit our Scriptural target. The `target' is Israel, now joined, through the `New Covenant' spoken of through Jeremiah and Ezekiel with the Church on a parallel journey towards the Coming of the Lord - which is the `spot on the target' we are aiming for. But we need to fix a Scriptural point lest our `cross hairs' comes from a false basis. In the process of writing this Credo we recalled reading many years ago the work of a Doctor Grattan Guiness, born in 1835, who was a well-respected Bible believing academic (of whom there were many in those days) and so we turned to our library. Through many years of studying the Scriptures he became aware, as the Psalmist said, that `the heavens declare the Glory of God', and the cycle of the heavens recorded numerically in Scripture reveals God's purpose and the historical sequence of His purpose, seen particularly in the number `seven' - and he linked it to a 360 day year.

As another academic wrote: " The moon is the clock-hand of eastern nations". Many of his studies centered on the Book of Daniel, which he clearly understood to be linked with the Book of Revelation. In particular he sought understanding, like Daniel before him, of what "He would accomplish in the seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem". Grattan Guiness, working on the Scriptural principle of `a year for a day', and starting from the beginning of the seventy-year captivity of Judah and extending it by `seven times', arrived at the historical year of AD 1917. This became Grattan Guiness's fixed point! Looking for a `cross hair' to confirm this historical year and, as we have said, aware that Daniel and Revelation are closely linked, he saw that in chapter 12 of Revelation (when talking of the period of the Great Tribulation) the same cycle of numbers appeared in the words `Times, times and half a time' - a total of 1260 days. Still seeking his `cross hairs', (and we must always remember that Grattan Guiness was a scholar whose complete life was immersed in the Scriptures) he recalled that in Daniel chapter 12 these 1260 days were spoken of, and that `the man clothed in gold' said `Blessed is he who waits for and reaches the end of 1335 days'. He then worked from the Muslim calendar, which began in AD 622, and found that 1335 `days' (of 360 days to the year) extended to the Christian year of AD 1917. He was therefore left with the conviction that 1917 would be a significant year in the history of the Jewish people. Unfortunately he did not live to see that significance for he died in 1910!

Here we would leave the work of Grattan Guiness for it is not our intention to promote the work of this extraordinary man. Suffice to say that this brief background gives this Credo our starting point of the year 1917, for we know that 40 days after the Balfour Declaration was signed General Allenby, on 11th December 1917, walking beside his horse, entered Jerusalem, liberating it from the Muslim oppression which had lasted for so many centuries. A very significant year indeed! Not only is the year significant but also consider the month, for it would have centered upon the Feast of Hanukkah - the Festival of Lights or Dedication recorded in John's Gospel. Although not a Levitical Feast it is clearly a Biblical one, celebrating the success of the Jews' revolt under Judas Maccabees and the defeat of the thenoccupying forces of Jerusalem and the recapture of the desecrated Temple. This was then celebrated as the beginning of the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel. We move on another 50 years from 1917, which brings us to the year 1967. As we have repeatedly said this was also a significant year, marking the recapture of the whole of the city of Jerusalem, `the undivided and eternal city of Jerusalem', and the beginning of a Scriptural Probation Period - the testing of the character of the people.

Do we see in these events even more significance than Grattan Guiness could have foreseen in those earlier years of the probability of a Jubilee cycle of 50 years, beginning in 1917 and culminating in the return of the Land to its Original Owner in 1967, entrusting it once again to His people Israel? Now, nearly 40 years on, the Probation Period - the testing of His people's character - will draw to a close in the year 2007 and many are now saying that the year 2007 could well be a significant year! We would go one step further and see that from 1917 to 2007 is a total of 90 years - which in Scriptural terms is also a significant number denoting the finality of Judgement, of Divine completeness. Such thoughts can now take us back to the passage of Scripture from Isaiah that forms the heart of this Credo, for it too speaks of significant events that will take place and culminate in a time known as the Great Tribulation. We would suggest that we have enough `cross hairs' of historical dates, each one highly significant and correlating to the warnings of Scripture, giving a clear understanding of what lies immediately ahead. Israel and the Church have, within those 90 years mentioned, known the LORD breaking out at `Mount Perazim' in the event of 1917 freeing the Land from Muslim oppressors! Israel and the Church have seen the LORD breaking out in `the Valley of Gibeon' in the taking of East Jerusalem in 1967 and unifying the city! Israel and the Church, in the following 40 years, have clearly entered into `a covenant with death' with forces whose avowed intent is their destruction!

Both Israel and the Church have given away `the silver from the Temple Treasury and stripped the gold from the Temple doors' in their efforts to placate the surrounding hostile forces and have assimilated into the world! But the words of the LORD still ring out from the Book of Isaiah: " Your covenant with death will be annulled . . . the understanding of this message will bring sheer terror". We need to remind ourselves that every Scriptural Probation Period ends in captivity and `death' for `that generation who did not know My ways'. The remnant who stood before Moses in that time knew exactly what he was reciting to them: Their forefathers died in the desert in their unbelief. The remnant today who know the Voice of the Holy Spirit understand the significance of the words He speaks through His Word. Our sure and certain hope is that once more He will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim . . . as He did in the Valley of Gibeon . . and do His strange work and alien task and remind us of the `Covenant of Life' He has made with His people as He allows us to go through much distress and heartache in order that we may know His Redemption - an `alien task' indeed!
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