2017年11月25日 星期六

以賽亞書54:1-17



54:1 你這不懷孕、不生養的要歌唱;你這未曾經過產難的要發聲歌唱,揚聲歡呼;因為沒有丈夫的比有丈夫的兒女更多。這是耶和華說的。
54:2
要擴張你帳幕之地,張大你居所的幔子,不要限止;要放長你的繩子,堅固你的橛子。
54:3
因為你要向左向右開展;你的後裔必得多國為業,又使荒涼的城邑有人居住。
54:4
不要懼怕,因你必不致蒙羞;也不要抱愧,因你必不致受辱。你必忘記幼年的羞愧,不再記念你寡居的羞辱。
54:5
因為造你的是你的丈夫;萬軍之耶和華是他的名。救贖你的是以色列的聖者;他必稱為全地之上帝。
54:6
耶和華召你,如召被離棄心中憂傷的妻,就是幼年所娶被棄的妻。這是你上帝所說的。
54:7
我離棄你不過片時,卻要施大恩將你收回。
54:8
我的怒氣漲溢,頃刻之間向你掩面,卻要以永遠的慈愛憐恤你。這是耶和華你的救贖主說的。
54:9
這事在我好像挪亞的洪水。我怎樣起誓不再使挪亞的洪水漫過遍地,我也照樣起誓不再向你發怒,也不斥責你。
54:10
大山可以挪開,小山可以遷移;但我的慈愛必不離開你;我平安的約也不遷移。這是憐恤你的耶和華說的。
54:11
你這受困苦、被風飄蕩不得安慰的人哪,我必以彩色安置你的石頭,以藍寶石立定你的根基;
54:12
又以紅寶石造你的女牆,以紅玉造你的城門,以寶石造你四圍的邊界(或譯:外郭)。
54:13
你的兒女都要受耶和華的教訓;你的兒女必大享平安。
54:14
你必因公義得堅立,必遠離欺壓,不致害怕;你必遠離驚嚇,驚嚇必不臨近你。
54:15
即或有人聚集,卻不由於我;凡聚集攻擊你的,必因你仆倒(或譯:投降你)。
54:16
吹噓炭火、打造合用器械的鐵匠是我所造;殘害人、行毀滅的也是我所造。
54:17
凡為攻擊你造成的器械必不利用;凡在審判時興起用舌攻擊你的,你必定他為有罪。這是耶和華僕人的產業,是他們從我所得的義。這是耶和華說的。

“Sing, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
burst into song, shout for joy,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband,”
says the Lord.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
    stretch your tent curtains wide,
    do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
    strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
    your descendants will dispossess nations
    and settle in their desolate cities.
“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.
    Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.
You will forget the shame of your youth
    and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
For your Maker is your husband—

    the Lord Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
    he is called the God of all the earth.
The Lord will call you back
    as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
    only to be rejected,” says your God.
“For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
    I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord your Redeemer.
“To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
    never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
11 “Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,
    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,[a]
    your foundations with lapis lazuli.
12 I will make your battlements of rubies,

    your gates of sparkling jewels,
    and all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord,
    and great will be their peace.
14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
    you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
    it will not come near you.
15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;
    whoever attacks you will surrender to you.
16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
    who fans the coals into flame
    and forges a weapon fit for its work.
And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc;
17     no weapon forged against you will prevail,
    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord.

************

    上帝是我們永遠的安慰的上帝,祂的慈愛永遠長存,正如上帝透過先知以賽亞所的:大山可以挪開,小山可以遷移;但我的慈愛必不離開你;我平安的約也不遷移。

    雖然猶大和以色列預到外邦勢力的侵略,甚至於遭受道滅國的命運,但是上帝仍然愛他們,使他們有復國的盼望。上帝在此更是宣告的:「我離棄你不過片時,卻要施大恩將你收回。我的怒氣漲溢,頃刻之間向你掩面,卻要以永遠的慈愛憐恤你。

    同樣,照上帝形像造的人,雖然犯罪受到上帝的懲罰,但是上帝不是永遠懷著憤怒,祂在萬世以前就設立救恩,要透過愛子耶穌基督,使人可以重新與上帝和好,並且接納我們成為祂的兒女,承受上帝的國,這是何等的恩典!

2017年11月24日 星期五

以賽亞書53:1-12



53:1 我們所傳的(或譯:所傳與我們的)有誰信呢?耶和華的膀臂向誰顯露呢?
53:2
他在耶和華面前生長如嫩芽,像根出於乾地。他無佳形美容;我們看見他的時候,也無美貌使我們羨慕他。
53:3
他被藐視,被人厭棄;多受痛苦,常經憂患。他被藐視,好像被人掩面不看的一樣;我們也不尊重他。
53:4
他誠然擔當我們的憂患,背負我們的痛苦;我們卻以為他受責罰,被上帝擊打苦待了。
53:5
哪知他為我們的過犯受害,為我們的罪孽壓傷。因他受的刑罰,我們得平安;因他受的鞭傷,我們得醫治。
53:6
我們都如羊走迷;各人偏行己路;耶和華使我們眾人的罪孽都歸在他身上。
53:7
他被欺壓,在受苦的時候卻不開口(或譯:他受欺壓,卻自卑不開口);他像羊羔被牽到宰殺之地,又像羊在剪毛的人手下無聲,他也是這樣不開口。
53:8
因受欺壓和審判,他被奪去,至於他同世的人,誰想他受鞭打、從活人之地被剪除,是因我百姓的罪過呢?
53:9
他雖然未行強暴,口中也沒有詭詐,人還使他與惡人同埋;誰知死的時候與財主同葬。
53:10
耶和華卻定意(或譯:喜悅)將他壓傷,使他受痛苦。耶和華以他為贖罪祭(或譯:他獻本身為贖罪祭)。他必看見後裔,並且延長年日。耶和華所喜悅的事必在他手中亨通。
53:11
他必看見自己勞苦的功效,便心滿意足。有許多人因認識我的義僕得稱為義;並且他要擔當他們的罪孽。
53:12
所以,我要使他與位大的同分,與強盛的均分擄物。因為他將命傾倒,以致於死;他也被列在罪犯之中。他卻擔當多人的罪,又為罪犯代求。

Who has believed our message
    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
    and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
    for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
    and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
    he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors.

*************

    耶穌基督為了拯救我們,所面對到的苦難,是文字很難形容的。然而先知以賽亞竟然可以這樣詳實生動的描述,使我們感受到主耶穌為了拯救祂所愛的人,所付出的代價是何等的大啊!

      祂本是上帝的獨生子,竟然願意順服在上帝的旨意之下,取了奴僕的樣式,放棄原有與上帝平等的特權不僅如此,還謙卑自己成為祭物。然而要成為祭物可不是那麼容易,要無罪的才能替有罪的死。若是自己有罪,為罪而死是罪有應得,沒有罪才是可以承擔我們所有的罪。也因為祂是無限的上帝,才能因一次的獻上,具有永久的功勞!而祂必須要有人的樣式,才能夠代替人受死,才能實實在在死於十字架上。

    也因為如此,基督必須是完全的上帝,而且是完全的人,才能真正拯救我們。也因此,在這裡再次強調「道成肉身」,不是道「變成」肉身,而是道「取了」肉身,神人二性聯合成一位格,這是我們得救的基石。

       

2017年11月22日 星期三

以賽亞書52:7-15



52:7 那報佳音,傳平安,報好信,傳救恩的,對錫安說:你的上帝作王了!這人的腳登山何等佳美!
52:8
聽啊,你守望之人的聲音,他們揚起聲來,一同歌唱;因為耶和華歸回錫安的時候,他們必親眼看見。
52:9
耶路撒冷的荒場啊,要發起歡聲,一同歌唱;因為耶和華安慰了他的百姓,救贖了耶路撒冷。
52:10
耶和華在萬國眼前露出聖臂;地極的人都看見我們上帝的救恩了。
52:11
你們離開吧!離開吧!從巴比倫出來。不要沾不潔淨的物;要從其中出來。你們扛抬耶和華器皿的人哪,務要自潔。
52:12
你們出來必不致急忙,也不致奔逃。因為,耶和華必在你們前頭行;以色列的上帝必作你們的後盾。
52:13
我的僕人行事必有智慧(或譯:行事通達),必被高舉上升,且成為至高。
52:14
許多人因他(原文是你)驚奇;他的面貌比別人憔悴;他的形容比世人枯槁。
52:15
這樣,他必洗淨(或譯:鼓動)許多國民;君王要向他閉口。因所未曾傳與他們的,他們必看見;未曾聽見的,他們要明白。

7
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9
Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

11
Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.
12
For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight;
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

13
See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up,
and shall be very high.
14
Just as there were many who were astonished at him
—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—
15
so he shall startle many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

***********

    上帝的確來到人的中間,還取了人的樣式來到人的中間!為甚麼用「取了」呢?因為「道成肉身」不是說「道」變成了肉身,照正確的說法是取了人身,正如亞他那修信經的描述:「彼為一,非由於變上帝為血肉,乃由於使其人性進入於上帝。

    也因為這樣,上帝的神性和受造的人性,在基督裡成為一個位格。若基督是上帝變成人,就失去了上帝的位格,沒有神性。所以我們要駁斥「道(上帝)變成肉身」之說,這不但無法說明基督對世人的愛,更是抹煞上帝拯救人的有效作為。因為基督若沒有神性,就沒有拯救的功效,只是一個人死去,沒有甚麼意義!然而基督的死,是代表上帝為愛世人所做的犧牲。

    而基督更是以受苦的僕人,向人顯明上帝是如何的愛!因為基督是神人二性,所以基督所做的,就是上帝所做的。也因此,上帝的拯救是透過耶穌基督臨到我們,我們也要在基督裡尊上帝為大!