Sunday, April 12, 2015

THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS (PART 10)



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of. You heavens above, rain down My righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it. It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.”

Isaiah 45:1a, 8, 12

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

“I have created it.”

This is what the Lord is saying to us today and we need only look everywhere around us to see this. It’s spring here in southeast Virginia and everything is coming to life. Winter is finally past us and there are signs of new life around my home and throughout our community. Flowers that have been dormant underground have emerged and bloomed. Our dogwood trees first budded and then blossomed. Grassy lawns have begun to flourish under the falling rains, growing in green majesty and summoning the lawnmowers from garages and sheds to give them a trim.

Yes, the glory of the Lord is on full display this time of year through His creation.

As we turn to our scripture passage today, we see the Lord having a broader creation discussion with all of us, His believers. Look again at His words here:

“This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of. You heavens above, rain down My righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it; I, the Lord, have created it. It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.” Isaiah 45:1a, 8, 12
  
As we see through the words of the Lord, He created the earth as well as the mankind on it. His almighty hands stretched out the heavens and He organized the starry hosts, setting them in their places. It’s a majestic vision when we think about it, an unfathomable display of power and might beyond anything we know. No one but the Lord could have done this. Only He is the Maker and Creator of all things.

But note one more thing that we see from these verses. For the Lord indeed created all things but He also dictates the way all things happen and through our passage reveals His desires for the creation He so perfectly established. Of interest, His following words have an amazing connection to my opening words on this wonderful season of spring and how things rise to life:

“You heavens above, rain down My righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness flourish with it.”

I simply love the imagery expressed here. The Lord commands the heavens to rain down His righteousness, showering the earth with it from the clouds. We know that the Lord deeply desires His people to receive and adopt His righteousness into the way they live their lives but here we see where He wishes for that righteousness to fall from the heavens on His beloved mankind. The Lord longs for His people to live a life filled with the blessings that come from living in accordance with His will and way, to live as His Son Jesus did in the glory of receiving His salvation promise. In other words, when righteousness rains down on His people, they are led to His Son Jesus and thus salvation springs up just as the water He rains down from the heavens brings new life to plants and trees and grass in the spring season.

As you enjoy the newness in life that is rising up after the dead of winter, let’s all remember what the Lord said, “I created these things”, and then lift up a prayer of thanksgiving and praise, fully knowing that He is the awesome Giver of life, physically and spiritually, now and forever more.

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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