Article for December 3, 2023
Isaiah 64:1–2 1Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— 2 as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
It seems more and more that the Lord is not with us as the world turns more and more towards hate and violence. But is it the Lord who has left us? Or is it we who are leaving the Lord. Time and a time again we have read where God’s chosen people have turned their backs on God. We are no different than the Hebrews whom God promised a land of milk and honey. We to keep turning our back on God.
When the Jews turned their back on God, they lost their land of milk and honey to the world that wanted to swallow them and make them no more. We see the news and how, once more, the world is trying its best to rid the world of God’s first chosen. Let’s be perfectly clear the world is not made up of God-fearing people but of greedy power seeking people like those before the flood.
Our world deteriorates more each year turning freedom into slavery. The masters are the wicked and the slaves are all who the masters want to exploit for their pleasure. This is not new, but it is becoming more relevant each day.
We who are believers are as guilty as everyone. We become more complacent with our world who boils us like a frog who thinks it is adapting to its environment and dies without knowing its environment has overtaken them. The world is the environment, and we believers are the frogs.
Isaiah 64:3–4 3When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. 4From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
Many times, reading the Holy Bible I wish to see firsthand the wonders and miracles of God as He performed them to save His people. Maybe it is time…, actually…, it is time that we look and prepare for the second coming of our Lord. We know through the Holy Scripture that Jesus will return in the same manner that He ascended. Jesus will descend to save all believers who still follow Him.
A sight to see, an event to behold, the clouds will open, and Jesus will descend to gather His sheep. We will meet Jesus in the clouds and be lifted-up to the place He has prepared for us. This will be like that of old, when Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah were witnesses to God’s power and God’s love to all His chosen. Both Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus Christ and all whom the Lord deems to save, will be saved and that too, is His miracle.
Isaiah 64:5–6a 5You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? 6We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
Do not count your good deeds, do not count where you believe to be righteous. None of that will help any of us. In fact, if you are counting anything that you think you did, this might be to your detriment. Rather count how many times God has saved you from your sin, the consequences of your sin, and the many fixes you found yourself in. Then go prostrate laying yourself down to give glory to the Lord.
Our good deeds and our self-righteousness will not save us. God’s forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love will be the salvation that Jesus Christ bought with His suffering death and glorious resurrection. We have nothing to do accept follow Jesus Christ the best we can and then count on God’s forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love.
Isaiah 64:6b–7 6We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. 7There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
Has God hidden His face from us? Or is it we who have turned our back on God? Again, reading the Old Testament we see that God was always near to bring His people back to Him. God is near us today and He is working through us with His Holy Spirit to bring us back to Him always. Let us shout to the Lord our God, not to come and save us, but shouts of thanksgiving that He has saved us through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus died for our sins, don’t just remember this but keep it dear to your heart. Jesus was resurrected for us, do not just remember this but let the great love God has for all of us swell-up in our hearts. Know Jesus did not die for no reason, rather Jesus died to save us, God’s dear children, for our dear Father in heaven.
Isaiah 64:8–9 8But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. 9Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.
God is the potter, and we are the clay, let us take form in His hand as He prepares us for His joy of eternity with us. Amen.