Good weekend to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
These days children around the world are starting school again. Where I live now school started two weeks ago. Where I used to live, schools begin the first week of September. And what is school all about? May I suggest these three things at least:
* LISTEN, for everyday teachers will explain new things the student did not know before!
* LEARN, for school is an incubator for important life growth!
* LIVE changed by what you’ve heard and learned!
Now here’s my question for us today: by God’s design isn’t that what living your life ‘walking with Jesus’ should be? Does God want to SPEAK to you and me, His people, everyday, several times a day? Does God want to teach us more about Himself and His ways everyday? Does God want us to LIVE changed by what we have heard & learned from God?
Ponder that for just a moment. How would your life and mine be different if that was our aim with God each day?
Join me again with the prophet Isaiah around 690bc as he is LISTENING to God and writing some of God’s most powerful messages for humanity. Isaiah 40:8 says “A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?” For the prophet Isaiah this brief statement was very significant, for it describes Isaiah’s life mission! You’ll remember it started for him in Isaiah 6:8 when Isaiah had his first life changing encounter with God and Isaiah heard God’s voice say: “Whom shall I send?” And moved to action, Isaiah responded, “Here I am, send me!” And from that moment, for the rest of his long life, an entire nation of God’s people was relying upon Isaiah to LISTEN carefully, everyday, for any and every message God may give to Isaiah for the people.
Isaiah LEARNED how to discern when the Almighty God was speaking to him and Isaiah learned to proclaim what he had heard from God. Isaiah learned to LIVE in full obedience to what God instructed him to do. As evidence of this over the past few days together we’ve looked at the strategic role Isaiah had in the life of king Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem when Sennacherib and the Assyrian army came ready to conquer and destroy! (Is. 37:5-7) We’ve seen the remarkable role Isaiah had in the miracle of Hezekiah’s healing from his terminal illness. (Is. 38:4-8) We’ve seen Isaiah’s message of warning to Hezekiah about the future. (Is. 39:5-7)
Now in these precious years of Isaiah’s life, with miracles happening all around, the messages Isaiah received from God, which he wrote in Is. 40-66, are among the most amazing chapters in the entire Bible. Because we human beings have a very strong tendency toward self sufficiency and pride, Is. 40 is all about God challenging people of all generations, all cultures, to recognize our human frailty and His divine Supremacy. So Isaiah continues writing the message he was hearing from God in Is. 40:8 “All people are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall…but the Word of the LORD endures forever!“
Now pause one second and wrestle with that statement. It’s true isn’t it? My father is 97 years old. He’s lived a long full life and the end of his earthly journey is likely not too far away. According to statistics, in 2024 about 167,000 people, of all ages, will die EVERYDAY around our world. Do the math, how many is that every minute of every day?
God has designed our earthly bodies to last only a short while, as compared to eternity. No matter what any person accomplishes in their lifetime, like the grass or the flowers, there will come a time they will be but a memory. But by contrast, God Himself is eternal, no beginning and no end; and God’s TRUTH, HIS WORD lasts forever!
So, what does that mean PRACTICALLY today in our world,for you and me and all of us? Well, among other things I think it means God and His TRUTH are the unchanging, eternal, everlasting FOUNDATION upon which our Universe is built. As we human beings develop our thinking, our initiatives, our agendas, our plans and we make our choices and live our lives, every step we take AWAY from God or HIS Truth is a step toward idiocracy, foolishness, stupidity and ultimately self destruction.
Now ponder that powerful truth a moment as you look around our world and briefly evaluate the prevailing social opinions and attitudes, the dominant philosophies of life, popular trends and prejudices, the expectations of people and whatever progress might mean in your country. Is most of the news information you hear ‘good news’ or ‘bad news’ or maybe even ‘terrifying news’ that are the headlines all around the world these days?
Listen, Isaiah continues: “You who bring good news to Zion, go up to a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up and do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and He rules with a mighty arm. See His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.” (Is. 40:9,10) If Isaiah wrote this message around the time of king Hezekiah’s death, those people would have easily remembered how God had come to their aide by sending an angel of the LORD to annihilate the Assyrian army! (Is. 37:36,37)
The people of Israel who knew their history would have remembered that God had several times come to defend His people from aggressors! But Isaiah was looking forward also, for God would do it yet many more times in the future. Some believe it happened even in our lifetimes as in 1948 when modern Israel became a nation and was quickly attacked by surrounding Arab nations, yet Israel prevailed. Some believe God intervened in defending Israel in the 1967 & 1973 wars.
One of the most amazing future events that mirrors these words from Isaiah is found in Revelation 19 when the Lord Jesus Christ will return to defend Israel as armies from around the world will gather to destroy Israel. Listen to this description and see if it seems to be a remarkable fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. John writes: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns… He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and His name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: ‘King of kings and LORD of Lords’…” (Rev. 19:11-16) If that intrigues you, I urge you to listen to all of Revelation 19 from the dramatized audio Bible link below.
As powerful and reassuring to the people of Israel these words of Isaiah are, he added this tender sentence as he drew to close this victorious picture of God’s hand upon Israel: “He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart; He gently leads those that have young.” (Is. 40:11) Oh my, isn’t that a wonderful picture? Of course those in Isaiah’s day would immediately think of shepherd boy David who became their great king and beloved leader.
Those reading Isaiah 40 in the first century would think of Jesus and His description of Himself, remember? “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy but I have come that they might have life and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me…and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd!… My sheep listen to My voice, I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of My hand. No one will snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10)
Is that you my friend? Are you one of Jesus’ sheep and do you know and follow His voice? Have you received the eternal life Jesus earned for you? Oh my, do you see the advantage we have of reading Isaiah’s messages in 2024, able to look back on history to see how God fulfilled these messages, but also able to look forward into eternity with confidence that is only found in Jesus Christ, God the Son?
I think we need to worship Him, right now and I’ll see you back here tomorrow, for Isaiah has much more to tell us. And here is a wonderful worship song. . .
Today’s Scripture: Isa. 40:8-11 & Revelation 19.
Choose below to read or listen.
Isa. 40:8-11
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Revelation 19
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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