Christ, supreme in creation and redemption
Tag Archives: memorize
Week 6 :: Col. 2:1-7
[1] For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, [2] that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, [3] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. [4] I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. [5] For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. [6] Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, [7] rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Psalm 2
[2:1] Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
[2] The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
[3] “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
[4] He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
[5] Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
[6] “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
[7] I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
[8] Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
[9] You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
[10] Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
[11] Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
[12] Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 1
[1] Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[2] but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
[3] He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
[4] The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
[5] Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
[6] for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Past Easter
With Easter now almost a month past, I find myself reflecting on the church experience with memorizing Isaiah 52:13-52:12 (the “Suffering Servant”). On one level, I have no idea how many participated in learning these fifteen verses. We did not ask anyone to sign up. I was hopeful that many would work on it since it was a shorter passage than the Sermon on the Mount. Yet, the few folks I knew working on it were not able to completely memorize the passage. Maybe the flow of the ESV threw off some who tried; it did take some getting used to. Although I really enjoy using the ESV, maybe a different translation would benefit more people.
On another level, I am very grateful for our pastoral staff, David, Jud, and Billy, who had a hand in weaving the passage throughout the church life during the five weeks prior to Easter. We read the passages together aloud in church. We received emails with the passages to remind us about the church-wide memorization effort. We listened to parts of this “servant song” set to music. We studied all the “servant songs” on Wednesday nights. We used the words of Isaiah to frame our Maundy Thursday and Friday Tenebrae services. I was pleased and encouraged by all the staff did to make this relevant to the church, to bring this passage alive to everyone. It was beneficial to me personally as well. I was not merely learning and studying a passage from a dead prophet. I was seeing the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus again, with fresh eyes, having witnessed the inner thoughts of the “Arm of the LORD” as revealed by Isaiah.
Week 5: Isaiah 53:10-12
[10] Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
[11] Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
[12] Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Week 4: Isaiah 53:7-9
[7] He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
[8] By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
[9] And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Week 3: Isaiah 53:4-6
[4] Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
[5] But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
[6] All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Week 2: Isaiah 53:1-3
[1] Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
[2] For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
[3] He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Week 1: Isaiah 52:13-15
[13] Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
[14] As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
[15] so shall he sprinkle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.