One More "a few excerpts"

I did say "a few" so here is another one. This time from Joseph Tson. Some of you may remember his visist to Springs of Grace a few years back.

TSON: "The strange paradox is that God's method of solving the human problem of suffering, of pain, and of death is by suffering and pain and self-sacrifice to the point of death. God's special servant will execute this plan, but this servant of the Lord will be only the initiater, the spearhead, and the trailblaizer, because the remnant of god's people are called to follow the servant, to imaitate him, and to continue his ministry using the same method of suffering and of self-sacrifice. Before we start exploring how this particular message is developing in chapters 40-66 of the prophecey of Isaiah, we must be aware of the literary technique used by the author throughout the book. It is best described by Allan MacRae:
'The construction of this part of Isaiah is somewhat like a symphony. A theme is presented and briefly discussed. Then, a second theme is introduced which, in turn, may lead into a third. Again there is a felt need for reiteration of the first theme, and perhaps of the third again, and then the second. Thus certain basic ideas are presented, repeated, and stressed, not merely to state the ideas they contain, important as this is, but to make a profound effect upon the hearts and minds of people who are already in their imaginations suffering the horrors of the Babylonion exile'."
-Joseph Tson, "Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven." Reprint 2000, The Romanian Missionary Society.