Good Monday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
When you look at our world through the lenses of God’s holiness and you try to imagine what God sees as His eyes roam all over every city in our world, every family, every school, every segment of entertainment and politics… if God put a pen in your hand and told you to write what He sees, what do you think God would tell you to write?
Yesterday we looked at the first two verses of Isaiah 57 which call us to consider what death looks like from God’s perspective, especially when people might be asking “Why did God allow such a good person to die so early in life?” As I read through the rest of Isaiah 57 it seems to me most of it could be words God might be speaking today over every city in our world, every theatre, every casino, every bar, and maybe many of our schools, businesses and government buildings!
I’m going to invite you, if you are courageous enough, to listen to the dramatized audio Bible link below for Isaiah 57 and do so with pencil and paper in hand. Imagine as you listen to Isaiah 57 that God is looking at your city, the viewing options available on the TV in your home; the movies playing in your local theatre; the political news coming at you by radio or TV; the social media flood today on all the social media platforms. As you hear something in Isaiah 57 which sounds like God describing your city, jot it down on your paper, then when finished, take a look at what you’ve written and let’s look at three specific statements God makes in Isaiah 57.
First, Isaiah 57:13 “When you cry out for help, let your collection of idols save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But whoever takes refuge in ME will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.”
It’s shockingly true, isn’t it? So much of what the people of your city and mine value and prioritize today will be considered worthless by all of us as we near the end of our lives and consider what our lifetimes were all about, as we ask ourselves what difference we’ve made in our world? And 100 years from now, when viewing our world from the vantage point of whichever eternal destiny you and I will be experiencing, heaven or hell, so much of this world which occupies our time and attention today will be meaningless to us in eternity. Am I right?
That’s why God said to Isaiah “But whoever takes refuge in ME will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.” Does that sound very much like what the disciple Matthew wrote as he reported what Jesus said when speaking to a crowd in the Galilee region, around 20ad when He said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matt. 6:21, 33)
Secondly, listen to Isaiah 57:14,15 “Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of My people. For this is what the high and exalted One says – He who lives forever, whose name is holy: I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to renew the heart of the contrite.”
Oh my, can you see how encouraging this promise of God might be for people living in desperation around the world? Those living under the scourge of corrupt and violent governments; or those living in broken down cities controlled by gangs and drug cartels; or those who’ve been sold by their own families into sex trafficking; or those who’ve fled their homes in war torn places or famine-stricken places now living in refugee tents with nothing. Do you see God’s promise here is NOT to bring wealth to the poor or perfect health to the ill or change of government or elimination of crime or corruption, but rather God’s promise is that He will be here, with His people, in the midst of the terrible stuff of our world!
That’s what God did visibly, practically, when He came here and was born in a stable, raised by Joseph and Mary after He was rushed to Egypt in the middle of the night to escape terrorism; then raised in Nazareth and for all of His life Jesus was surrounded by, immersed in the greed and wickedness and evil and violence of our world! And yet every person, whose life Jesus powerfully and genuinely touched, was radically changed!
On the one hand they lived with miraculously given sight or healed limbs or delivered from demons, or even raised from the dead; but on the other hand, they still lived in the mess of our world and in many cases died horrible deaths by persecution or execution. But they suffered and died knowing God was with them in the suffering and ready to escort them into His presence when they died.
Are you experiencing the power of Isaiah 57:15? Do you sense the Presence of Almighty, Holy God with you day and night? Is God reviving your spirit and renewing your heart? Is the Holy Spirit of God warning you of evil seeking to attack you and strengthening you as you stand firm as a man or woman of God, an Ambassador of Jesus Christ, in the darkness of our world?
Peter wrote about this when seeking to remind followers of Jesus in a very difficult time near the end of the first century: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God! …” (1 Peter 2:9,10)
And may I show you one last verse of truth in Isaiah 57? It’s the very last verse of the chapter: “the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. There is no peace’, says my God, ‘for the wicked.” (Is. 57:20,21) It’s true, isn’t it?
Do you sometimes feel as though you are alone, on a little rubber raft, surrounded by an ocean of wickedness, deceitfulness, greed, corruption, and every manner of evil which seems to be destroying our human race and every city of our world, more and more each day? Do the waves seem to be crashing all around you? Do you sometimes feel as though the light of day is dying and the darkness seems to be gaining strength?
Here God calls us to recognize that Almighty, Holy, Sovereign and Supreme, Creator God will ultimately bring all things under His holy control when Satan and evil finally dealt with? Here’s how John the apostle describes this ultimate end in Revelation 20:10,14: “The devil, the deceiver, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever…. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Do you hear God’s description of a finality that is certain for all things, all people and all demonic forces which are wicked? Do you understand only an Almighty God who is sovereign and supreme over all things could bring this to pass?
Yes, my friends, much of Isaiah 57 may seem dark and dismal, a fair reflection of much of our world. And yes, there may yet be many even darker days ahead in your part of the world and mine, but God is also calling us to understand He is NOT abandoning His people in these dark times! He will be with us in difficult times and there will come a day of reckoning when ALL evil will be judged by the resurrected, reigning Jesus Christ, as King of kings and LORD of lords, standing supreme over all! (Rev. 19:16) And then, finally, God will create a new heaven and new earth where evil and wicked will never exist again! (Rev. 21)
Oh, my we have much to reflect on today, don’t we and here’s a great song to help us, especially if you live in a very dark part of our world, or are struggling with the heaviness of wickedness all around you. . . there’s HOPE with Jesus, my friends!
Today’s Scripture: Is. 57.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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