Author: joesterwind

I have worked in the corporate world and as a roofer with my father. I taught for five years at Heritage Baptist Academy (1991 – 1996). I earned a B.A. degree in Bible with an ancient language minor from Bob Jones University (1996-1999). I returned to Heritage Baptist Ministries and assumed the role of associate pastor and school principal. While working in that capacity I earned an M.A. degree in Christian studies from Luther Rice Seminary (2008). I became the sole pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in 2010. I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Follicular Lymphoma in that same year. I have completed treatment for this non-curable but manageable cancer. I stepped down from my role as pastor in 2021 to move to northwest Ohio. I am working on building my own roofing and handyman company, attending a wonderful church, and striving to be a good dad and husband.

The Afflicted God

April 16, 2024Leave a comment

“In all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isaiah 63.9).

Enslaved in Egypt. Wandering in the wilderness. Failing to conquer the land and realize the promises of God. Repeating a cycle of failure over and over again. Entering exile. Rejecting Messiah. Repeatedly suffering horrific persecution up to this very day. These are the afflictions of Israel. “In all their affliction He was afflicted.”

It is very painful to watch someone you love go through great affliction. God cares for me even as I wander in my own wilderness or repeat a cycle of failure over and over again. But remember that the majority of those who wandered in the wilderness died in the wilderness. “They rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them” (v. 10). There are people who claim Jesus Christ as Lord but fail to do the will of His Father in Heaven. His Father is not really their Father. Not everyone who claims to be a Christian will enter the kingdom of Heaven (see Matthew 7.21).

Yet, there are true children of God. They are mindful of the privilege and position they have before the Father. They have a Savior who sympathizes with their weaknesses. He forever intercedes on their behalf. He will never leave nor forsake them. But with great privilege, there is great responsibility. Since I have been bought with such a great price, I must glorify my God with my body and spirit. I am His great possession. I am not my own. Even my afflictions afflict Him.

The Multitude of His Mercies

April 6, 2024April 6, 2024Leave a comment

“I will mention the loving kindness of the LORD and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses” (Isaiah 63.7).

Think of “the multitude of [God’s] lovingkindnesses.” It’s not just that God’s merciful disposition is unexpected and undeserved, but it is also overwhelming. There are so many ways in which God demonstrates how much He loves me. As a matter of fact, I cannot count the ways in which He demonstrates His merciful benevolence toward me in a given day.

I am a Christian, a child of God. I have a Savior who protects me. He willingly holds me in the grip of grace. He has sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and encourage me. He provides His Word to renew my inner man and aid me in putting my fleshly nature to death. As the hymn-writer put it, I am His and He is mine. There are a multitude of ways in which He demonstrates this on a daily basis.

I Am His and He is Mine

Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;

Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!

O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!

In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!

Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;

Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,

Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;

Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.

O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,

While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?

Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!

Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;

But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

The Free Mercies of God

April 4, 2024Leave a comment

This is on the heels of a passage that depicts the LORD as a Warrior with the blood of His enemies sprinkled upon His garments. His fury sustains Him as He brings down their strength to the earth. But His lovingkindness and mercy are always in view. God’s mercy and goodness usher in a sense of great contrition and repentance. The result is a deep and abiding hope when we receive them. We are keenly aware of what we deserve. Apart from God’s mercy, hope would dwindle away and we would be nothing but dry stubs in the desert.

It is when we come face-to-face with our sinfulness that we are able to magnify the mercies of our God. It is delusive to think that we deserve anything good from God. We are wholly undeserving – every single one of us. A deep and abiding sense of thankfulness dies whenever we think we deserve anything but God’s wrath for our sin. God’s mercy comes through God’s Son. Those who reject the Son, reject mercy. The difference between the unrepentant and the contrite is summed up in this one word: mercy.

Paul asks, “Who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it” (1 Corinthians 4.7)? That is, why are you deluded to think you earned it instead of freely receiving it? The fallen angels cannot receive God’s mercy. The hardened rebel will not receive God’s mercy. How are we different from such creations? We are not. It is in accordance with all that the LORD has bestowed on us. It is in accordance with His great goodness, lovingkindnesses, and mercies. He freely extends all of these to you and me today.

Savior and Warrior

April 3, 2024Leave a comment

“Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength” (Isaiah 63.1)?

When Jesus walked the earth, He did so as Savior. When He returns, He comes as Warrior. He will travel in the greatness of His strength. The day of vengeance will be in His heart (63.4). But that vengeance comes upon the enemies of Israel. He will return as One mighty to save. He will rescue Israel from her enemies in a way that many wanted Him to during His first coming. Jesus will come from Edom, a great national enemy of Israel. He will put an end to Edom’s enmity and the enmity of all those who oppose His people.

Jesus returned the first time to rescue mankind from sin and Satan. The ruler of this world is judged. He will be cast out (Jn 16.11; 12.31). Jesus has “disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them” through His work of redemption on the cross and out of the tomb. “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2.14-15).

Who is this who will come? He is the Divine Warrior. But the blood on His garments belongs to His enemies and did not issue forth from His own wounds. He is no longer a man of sorrows determined to reach Jerusalem, enter as a King, and die on a cross. Instead, He travels in the greatness of His strength in glorious apparel. Who is this? It is the God who makes all things right, the Captain of the Army of Hosts. He speaks in righteousness as the Word of God. He ushers in righteousness as Savior; He establishes it forever as Warrior.

The blood of His enemies is sprinkled upon His garments (63.3). He alone exacts the toll upon all opposition. He alone receives all the glory. He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Do not be found among those who oppose Him. May the blood upon His garments belong to others and not you. He will break all those who oppose Him with a rod of iron. Jesus is our great Warrior and King.

Eternity’s Relationship to June 20, 1987

April 2, 2024Leave a comment

“For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62.5).

One of the wonderful characteristics of the book of Isaiah is the use of metaphorical language to describe God and His stance toward Israel. They are a lamp that burns or a crown of glory. Here, He is the bridegroom rejoicing over His bride. Of course, Israel is none of these things at the time Isaiah writes. Instead, the southern kingdom is moving away from God and about 100 years away from being taken away into captivity. It is not until the 20th century that the desolation of Israel ended and the nation was reborn after World War II. Yet, she still moves away from God and His desire for her. But God sees the end from the beginning. He knows His plans for her. He will fulfill all of His promises. He will rejoice over His bride.

Again, there is a parallel to the Church in this metaphor. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church (consisting of Jews and Gentiles) is the bride. Jesus Himself said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled” (John 3.29). Paul described the one flesh relationship of husband and wife as analogous to Christ’s relationship to the Church. Revelation 21.9 indicates that one of seven angels invites John to come and see the bride, the Lamb’s wife in the New Jerusalem.

Sin clouds the clarity of this metaphor to be sure. But I would testify that the greatest earthly joy I have ever experienced is the joy I felt on June 20, 1987, the day I was a bridegroom marrying my beloved in a park in Benicia, California. As I think of the joy of that day, I think of how much God rejoices over me. I can’t understand that, but I know it to be true. Something temporal clarifies something eternal.

Since God loves me like this, how shall I now live? I must truly love Him and rejoice in Him. My faithfulness to Him must be unquestioned. His will must be mine as well. While my sin obstructs this relationship here on earth, everlasting joy awaits in Heaven above. Sorrow and pain will one day cease. Joy will come in the eternal morning, the day when the Bridegroom invites me to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

A Crown in God’s Hand

April 1, 2024Leave a comment

“You shall also be a crown of glory by the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God” (Isaiah 62.3).

The promise in this verse will be fulfilled after the nation of Israel finally recognizes her Messiah is indeed the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel will be a crown and diadem in the hand of God once Jesus becomes King of Kings over all the kingdoms of this world. This yet-future period of time is known as the Millennium.

Crowns are symbolic of power and authority. Those who possess them treasure them. They protect them. God chose to communicate His loving kindness and faithfulness through the nation of Israel. Here, they are described as His crown or diadem because God will not hold His peace or rest until the righteousness of His chosen people goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns (62.1). “As a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall [Israel’s] God rejoice over [them]” (62.5). They will be yet called “The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD …A City Not Forsaken” (62.12).

All this concerns the future of Israel, but there is a parallel for all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Every believer is as precious as the crown described in our text. As such, we strive to be blameless and harmless, children of God “without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” shining as lights in this present darkness (see Philippians 2.15).

The whole purpose of a Christian’s life is vitally connected to the purpose of his Creator. God has made promises to both Israel and the Church. He will keep those promises. If this were not the case, life would be void of any true meaning and wholly unsatisfying. All believers, Jewish and Gentile, will one day stand before the throne of Jesus Christ and give Him glory and praise. God will make all things right. He will make all things new. We live and work in the light of promises yet unfulfilled. I believe that God alone gives eternal life to those who trust in His only begotten Son. Eternal life is not just about living forever. It is about knowing our Creator and full reconciliation with Him. It’s about the quality of life lived.

Trees of Righteousness

March 31, 2024Leave a comment

“For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61.11).

Right now, in this present seemingly spiritually arid climate, righteousness and praise appear overcome by thorns and a very thirsty land. Still, the message of Easter is that the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings life and vibrant hope to the nations. The gospel is the good news that Jesus suffered and died for us, but now He is risen! He is alive and causing righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. The gospel is “in all the world and is bringing forth fruit” (Colossians 1.6). “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 55.13).

Why do we see very little evidence of righteousness and praise today? Most “think it strange that [believers in Christ] do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation [immorality]” (1 Peter 4.4). It is because we are waiting for the return of Christ and a great flourishing of righteousness. There is but a remnant of true believers today. Very few live holy lives that bring praise to the Lord Jesus today. Even the most faithful believers fall woefully short of their Father’s expectations. What of those who struggle with life-dominating sin?

Easter reminds us of the green pastures and peaceful paths of righteousness God makes available to all people in all the nations. The nations deserve the fire and brimstone that rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Lot, places that vexed his righteous soul. Still, God is merciful in this present barrenness. He makes new creatures for a new, future creation. This new world will bring forth eternal praise to His blessed name!

What are you looking for in life? What is missing? Are you dry and barren? There is a saturating and satisfying shower of grace for you. The Sun of Righteousness is able to shine forth and give you life. God is making trees of righteousness in His people today. “Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together” (Isaiah 45.8). May God revive in His people a desire to be His instruments to cultivate the wilderness of this world into a fruitful field that will be counted as a forest of trees of righteousness for His praise and glory.

The Joy and Glory of a Reflected Righteousness

March 25, 2024Leave a comment

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61.10).

There is yet coming a day when the LORD will clothe Israel with the robe of righteousness. As a matter of fact, “the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61.11). Isaiah speaks for Israel in verse 10. He speaks of a time when Israel will recognize what Christianity has acknowledged for over 2,000 years. Salvation leads to righteousness, a righteousness given without cost to the recipient but at great cost to the Giver.

The garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness come from God. The righteousness of God is received by faith in Jesus Christ. It is to all and on all who believe (Romans 3.22). Jesus brought in everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9.24) so that we might be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, “but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3.9). Jesus “became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1.30). Such righteousness is reflected in the way we think and act each day.

We greatly rejoice in our God for the righteousness He has imparted to us and will impart to all the nations of the world. These garments of salvation are like jewels which adorn a bride. They set us apart from this world for God Himself. “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great! … Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Revelation 19.5-8). The bride of Christ is arrayed in fine linen, clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The believer lives in a day of great expectations. Today, the Lord keeps me from stumbling. Tomorrow, He will present me faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24). The grace of God always leads to righteousness in this life and into the next. Therefore, grace is never an avenue to passive or lax Christianity. Righteousness yields a genuine holy life. Believers are set apart for good works. Inward change leads to outward expressions. These outward expressions are infused with the love of God and sow hope in the world around us.

Healer of Broken Hearts

February 12, 2024Leave a comment

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD” (Isaiah 61.1-2a).

Jesus began His ministry in a synagogue in Nazareth. He stood to read from the prophecy quoted above. He read the words cited in the opening of Isaiah 61. Once He did this, He gave the scroll to the synagogue’s attendant and sat down, assuming the place of a teacher that day. He said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4.21).

Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. The priests and kings of Israel were anointed by having oil poured upon them to indicate they were separated to God for His service. The Holy Spirit separated Jesus to God to serve Him as well. Jesus was fully empowered by the Holy Spirit like no other prophet, priest, or king. He was consecrated by the Father to preach/proclaim and to heal.

Jesus preached good tidings to the poor. The good tidings are the good news or the Gospel. He came to seek and to save the lost, those spiritually impoverished …those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He proclaimed liberty to those bound in the prison of sin. He healed the brokenhearted.

Jesus did all of this so that the poor and brokenhearted might be made the righteousness of God through Him. Jesus didn’t fulfill His ministry for those who are whole or for those who have it all. He didn’t come for the self-sufficient or for the self-righteous. Those who are whole have no need of a physician. Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. No one is free from sin until they understand their need for such freedom.

No one deserves this freedom. No one can earn this freedom. Mercy is best defined by the idea of NOT receiving what you truly deserve, namely God’s wrath for the sin you commit. The Good News is not too good to be true. Jesus knew no sin but became sin for us. He absorbed the wrath of God through His shameful death on the cross. He died and rose again so that we might have eternal life. He did this to glorify His Father through His finished life’s work.

Either we believe in Him for our eternal happiness or we face “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61.2b). Jesus spoke of that vengeance when He taught of Hell and eternal separation from our Creator. He will one day mete out this vengeance when He rules the world on the throne of David. He will finally and fully put down those who oppose Him. May God continue to show mercy and bring in a great harvest of the poor and brokenhearted around us. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be filled.

The Days of Mourning Will End

February 10, 2024Leave a comment

“The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended” (Isaiah 60.19-20).

The former things will have passed away once the days of mourning end. New Jerusalem will have no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, “for the glory of God illuminates it. The Lamb is its light” (Revelation 21.23). God’s “anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Ps 30.5). The days of mourning will end.

What’s true for Israel is true for all nations in the end. Light is life and hope while darkness is heavy and dreadful. Once in the light of God’s presence, all earthly sorrow is forgotten. It is true that we can glory in our tribulation here and now, but when Jesus reigns the days of mourning are ended.

The good gifts coming from above in this present darkness pale in comparison to seeing our God face to face. There will be no need for rest once the days of mourning end. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to trouble over. No confusion. No distress. The days of mourning end. They give way to one eternal Day.

Joy Comes in the Morning by Frank Garlock:

I trust in God through darkest night,

He faithful will remain;

I’ll trust Him till the morning light

Restores my sight again.

Chorus

Joy will come in the morning,

Hope is sorrow’s adorning;

Tears will vanish at dawning,

For joy will come in the morning.

Our Father leads through sorrows deep,

A cooling spring to make;

Where those who thirst and those who weep

May from that stream partake.

When disappointment breaks my heart,

And tears of sorrow flow;

When troubles come and hopes depart,

God’s promise stands I know.

Sun and Shield

Giving Expression to the Lord's Grace and Glory in Life