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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.
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch
no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of
the Lord’s house. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord
will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
Isaiah
52:11-12
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Seventy years of captivity. That’s
how long the Israelite people were in exile at the hands of the Babylonians. Think
about that for a moment.
To place it in perspective, the
average life expectancy in the year 2012 for someone in the United States was
nearly 79 years. Of course, when that is compared to the Israelite period of detention,
we can see that a person born right around the time the people of Israel were
carried off would have spent almost their entire life as a prisoner. Indeed,
many of the Israelites that were taken to Babylon never got to see their
homeland, a penalty that was by God’s design for that generation had been the
ones who had so blatantly sinned against Him. The hope was that the returning
Israelite contingent would not fall into the same apostasy and sinful idolatry
that their ancestors had.
In other words, God expected a
changed people when He restored them and as we see in our passage today from
Isaiah 52, the prophet is exhorting the people as to what the Lord expected as
well as what they could expect from Him upon their release. Through His words,
we too are instructed in the Lord’s expectations for our own lives.
So what did the Lord expect from
His people?
He wanted them to return to Him
clean and pointed toward righteousness.
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out
from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord’s house. v. 11
When the people left Babylon behind
to return to Judah and Jerusalem with the articles of the Lord’s house,
articles presented to them by King Cyrus of the Persians who had overthrown the
Babylonians, they were expected to leave everything else behind. The
Babylonians worshipped many gods and the Lord did not want His people falling
back into the things that brought them into His wrath in the first place. They
were to leave anything that He would despise behind and come back to their
homeland (and to Him) pure and undefiled.
This is what the Lord expects from
us as well when we repent of our iniquity, break away from our sin captivity, and
proactively seek to return to a place He favors through thoughts, words, and
actions that are pleasing in His sight. He wants us to come back to Him pure
and unblemished with a heart and mind that is not just partially committed to
His cause but all in, willing to give Him all just as He has given us.
Friends, this is what the Lord
expects from His people, no matter if they lived in Old Testament times or the
21st century. In return, He gives us His presence and protection.
But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go
before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. v. 12
When we come back into a place of
the Lord’s approval, we need not worry about being reattacked by our enemy. The
people of Israel traveled home but they didn’t do so alone for God went before
them while having their back at the same time. He guarded them from the front
and back as their almighty Leader and Defender, their Guide and Shield. And He
does the same for us today.
This is good news for us because
Satan, our chief enemy in this earthly existence, is never going to give up. He
will not rest until he has destroyed and laid to waste any good and perfect
thing God has done and that includes taking out as many of His people as
possible. With this, we need some comfort and find it when we know that we don’t
have to walk this world alone. Rather, we have a Lord who goes before us and
keeps watch behind us, ready to guard us and provide security so we can be free
to follow His will and way while completing His blessed purposes.
Rest easy and know God is with you.
All you need to do is place your trust in Him and follow Him in uncompromising
obedience during every day He blesses you with.
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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