Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Today we begin a new month, November! Usually the sound of that word, “November” brings to our minds wonderful things like Thanksgiving family gatherings and good food, but this year, it also brings a caution, doesn’t it? We’re in the final days of a frenetic American election cycle which has been as chaotic as many thought it would be, and when further complicated by wars in Ukraine and Israel; rapidly rising cost of living; famine in some parts of the world and even nuclear war tensions, this November may be unlike any other. Are you ready?
So, let me ask this question of all of us: no matter where you live in the world, what is the ROLE of the people who are making the biggest difference for good and hope in your part of the world? As always, I’d like to give you God’s answer and it may not be what you think!
Come with me again back to Jerusalem about 2700 years ago. It was a time very similar to our time as people, in almost every place, lived in great anxiety in global turbulence and terrorism. The dominant world power was Assyria with its capital city Nineveh. The Assyrian armies had ravaged and ransacked hundreds of towns and cities of several nations as the Assyrian empire sought to dominate the entire world. The northern kingdom of Israel had already been one of Assyria’s victims and Jerusalem was fearful it could be next.
God gave the prophet Isaiah a powerful message, recorded for us in Isaiah 61, which we’ve spent the last several days seeking to understand and apply to our world. Today we come to the verses which answer the question I posed a moment ago: ‘What is the role of the people who are making the biggest difference for good and hope in the world?‘ Listen to God’s answer: “They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor. They will REBUILD the ancient ruins and RESTORE the places long devastated; they will RENEW the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” (Is. 61:3b,4)
Yesterday we looked at the first part of this powerful statement, a declaration by God of how His people could be among the most important people in any community, especially in times of social chaos. Like oak trees in the storms, God’s people should be able to stand strong, courageously living by and when needed, proclaiming God’s Truth! God’s people living their lives where God has placed them, even if in difficult situations, and living lives which display the glory and splendor of Almighty, Holy, Sovereign God!
Now today, let’s see what difference it makes when those people, God’s people, are flourishing WHERE God has placed them, as they LIVE God honoring lives! Do you see the words REBUILD and RESTORE and RENEW as applied to RUINED cities long devastated in Isaiah 61:4? “They will REBUILD the ancient ruins and RESTORE the places long devastated; they will RENEW the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” So, look around your city and your country. Do you see portions of your city or other cities ‘long devastated’ and lying in ruins?
What caused that devastation? Was it war or crime or neglect or abandonment? Was it natural disasters or simply the normal decay of time? I live in a town whose current public High School was built in 1927! Many parts of our city are in desperate need of RESTORE and RENEW and even REBUILD and the longer I live here the more deeply I understand the root causes of the decay and devastation here. How well do you understand it in your city?
For the people of Isaiah’s day, this message from God would have applied to those places all around the known world ravaged by the Assyrian armies, but Jerusalem still stood strong and proud as a beautiful city with the great Temple of God rising up from its highest point, as a spectacular beacon of hope to all Jews worldwide. But Isaiah knew this message from God was also a forward-looking message, a prophecy for future times.
About 125 years after Isaiah wrote these words, Jerusalem was attacked, captured and demolished by the ferocious Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar. In the years that followed these words of Isaiah 61 were hopeful words that someday Jerusalem would be rebuilt, not by the Babylonians who destroyed it, but by God’s people, the Jews.
In fact, that is the miracle of the first six chapters of Ezra and then later the miracle story of Nehemiah in rebuilding the Jerusalem wall, in 445bc. And as you perhaps know Jerusalem was destroyed again in 70ad by Titus and the Roman army, and over the centuries destroyed and rebuilt several more times, but always in the same place which is why if you visit Jerusalem today you will find some parts of the city dated all the way back to Isaiah’s day and even further back to King Solomon’s day!
But God is talking in Isaiah 61:4 about more than bricks and mortar, foundations and walls, streets and buildings. God is talking about PEOPLE, for the difference between a ‘ghost town’ of abandoned rubble, where once there was a city, and a city inhabited but devastated and needing rebuilding is the PEOPLE! God is declaring that in any city in the world, in any generation, when there are a group of God’s people, empowered by God’s Holy Spirit, who understand their God given purpose for living, the difference they make in their city will result in REBUILD, RESTORE and RENEW!
Now this, my friends, is very, very significant! HOW, of course, would be the first question most people would ask. HOW can a few people in a broken down, devastated city, anywhere in the world, make such a difference that the city itself changes, and the city experiences a spirit of Rebuild, Restore and Renew?
Have you noticed Rebuild, Restore and Renew of a city does not happen with a fresh coat of paint on the buildings, nor a street sweeping, nor a pickup of all the trash, nor the demolition of all the abandoned buildings, nor the removal of all the debris? Have you noticed Rebuild, Restore and Renew of a city does not happen simply with elections and some new people in leadership? Have you noticed Rebuild, Restore and Renew of a city does not happen with a windfall of Government aid in money or programs?
This transformational miracle of a city being Rebuilt, Restored and Renews happens as the SOUL of the city changes and that happens when the HEARTS and MINDS of the people in that city change from despair to hope; from bondage in darkness to freedom in light; from living in defeat to living victoriously; from living in shame to living forgiven and forgiving, with a new IDENTITY as a renewing people!
Does that almost sound like political rhetoric? It is not my friends, rather, this is the promise of God for any people who will turn from their wicked ways and turn to God and repent of their sins and trust God to transform them into a new people with a new future! You perhaps remember God made this promise to the people of Jerusalem about 3000 years ago: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) Now you’ve heard that many times before, but can you see how it applies to Isaiah 61:4 and the rebuilding, restoring and renewing of the people of ANY city, anywhere in the world?
I think we should pause right here and give this serious consideration, and tomorrow we’ll come right back here and dig more deeply into this remarkable answer and promise which God has for any city in the world!
I urge you to pause and look at your city. What needs REBUILDING, RESTORATION and RENEWAL in your city? How did it decay to its present point and what might God do if HE unleashed His mighty power to restore your city?
No song today, just time to reflect…and tomorrow we’ll look at more answers from God for cities around the world!
Today’s Scripture: Isaiah 61:4.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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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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