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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Then will the eyes of the blind be
opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and
the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and
streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling
springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will
grow.
And a highway will be there; it
will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The
unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion
will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah
35:5-10
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
There is a way to life and not just
any life but a life that is full of joy and peace and love, a life that grants
you the promise of victory over death and release from sin and suffering and difficulty
and brokenness. That way is through Jesus, the One who said proclaimed Himself
as THE way and THE truth and THE life.
Jesus, you see, changes everything.
This is the message today as we
look at the closing verses of Isaiah, Chapter 35, verses that paint an
incredible, encouraging picture for those who place their hope and trust in
life. Let me it down in smaller parts to show this point.
1. The eyes of the blind be opened and
the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the
mute tongue shout for joy. Isaiah 35:5-6a
a. Jesus heals the blind, opening
eyes to see.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him,
calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
When He had gone indoors, the blind men came to Him, and He asked them,
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then He
touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and
their sight was restored. Matthew 9:27-30
b. Jesus unstops the ears of the
deaf and allows them to hear. He removes the inability to talk from the mute, miraculously
restoring speech.
There some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and could hardly
talk, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.
After He took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put His fingers
into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. He looked up to
heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be
opened!”). At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he
began to speak plainly. Mark 7:32-35
c. Jesus repairs the lame and
crippled so that they not only walk and run but leap.
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic
is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a
great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When
Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a
long time, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool
when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down
ahead of me.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. John 5:2-9
2. Water will gush forth in the
wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the
thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass
and reeds and papyrus will grow. Isaiah 35:6b-7
Jesus brings us a water that is
unlike any other, a water that quenches our thirst and desires forever, a water
that springs up and brings eternal life.
So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as
He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.
When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you
give Me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to Him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan
woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with
Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that
asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you
living water.”
“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is
deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father
Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and
his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but
whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I
give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get
thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:5-15
3. And a highway will be there; it
will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The
unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion
will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only
the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.
Isaiah 35:8-10a
Jesus leads those who place their
faith and trust in Him as Savior (aka the redeemed) on the narrow path of
righteousness, also known as the Way of Holiness.
Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and
broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But
small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find
it.” (from His first teachings, the Sermon on the Mount) Matthew 7:13-14
4. They (the redeemed) will enter
Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy
will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10b
Jesus is coming back to save His
disciples, the redeemed who placed their full hope in Him as their Savior. That
day of His return will be a day of rejoicing and celebration as Christians,
freed from the sorrows and troubles of the world, receive their promise of
eternal life.
Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see Me no more, and
then after a little while you will see Me.”
At this, some of His disciples said to one another, “What does He mean
by saying, ‘In a little while you will see Me no more, and then after a little
while you will see Me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept
asking, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what He is
saying.”
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask Him about this, so He said to them, “Are
you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will
see Me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me’? Very truly I
tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve,
but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain
because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish
because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is
your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one
will take away your joy. John 16:16-22
Jesus heals us where we need it,
whether broken bodies or broken hearts.
Jesus brings us living water so we
will never thirst for anything but Him.
Jesus leads us to righteousness and
holiness, to the way that ensures we live right and holy.
And Jesus saves and leads us to
eternal life where there will be unlimited peace and light and love.
In other words, Jesus changes
everything.
Have you accepted Him into your
life?
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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