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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.
“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and
not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations
with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of
sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.”
“All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.”
“See, it is I who created the
blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And
it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against
you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is
the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from Me,”
declares the Lord.
Isaiah 54:11-17
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever found yourself broken
in life, your dreams left shattered and scattered in pieces by certain
circumstances?
I know I have.
It’s a very difficult place to be,
falling off the ledge of certainty into uncertain times, times when you’re not
sure how you will be able to piece your life back together, times when you’re insecure
about what the future might hold.
The people of Israel were in this
place during the time that the words of Isaiah were written, a time where they
had been ripped away from their homeland which was subsequently destroyed and
ransacked while they were carried off to the foreign land of Babylon for a
seventy year exile, the judgment God placed upon them for their worshiping of
idols and false gods.
Everything that they had was taken
from them. They went from freedom to oppression. All their future expectations
were either placed on hold or postponed for good. Indeed, many of the
Israelites who were taken into captivity would never get to return to Judah and
Jerusalem. They would instead perish in the midst of their internment.
But there was good news interlaced
with hardship. For as we will see in our scripture passage from the final
verses of Isaiah 54, the Lord had made promises to His people about their
post-exilic lives and those promises offered hope in the midst of their
brokenness. The Lord was shining a bright light at the end of the Israelites
custody tunnel. Look at these words which bring pledges of rebuilding,
restoration, reinstitution, and vindication for the people of God:
“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you
with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your
battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of
precious stones.”
“All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you.”
“See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and
forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to
wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute
every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and this is their vindication from Me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah
54:11-17
First of all, God’s people would be
returning home to rebuild and that effort would return the grandeur and
splendor to Jerusalem, the once afflicted holy city. The imagery from the Lord’s
words paints a picture of beautiful opulence and lush richness. The Lord would
spare no expense at rebuilding His beloved city back to magnificence.
Second, the Lord would restore His
people and they would be reinstituted in righteousness. Their children would
find instruction in the Lord within a peaceful environment because tyranny and
terror would be far from them. There would be no need to live in fear and even
if someone would choose to attack, the Israelites were guaranteed victory and
the certain surrendering of their foes. No weapon formed against the people of
God would be able to prosper nor any tongue offer up valid accusations.
Finally, the combination of these
things, the rebuilding, restoration, and reinstitution of things to the way
they were before the exile, served as proof of God’s vindication of His people.
They did the crime and as a result did the time. It was now time to start anew
and fresh, reestablished and recommitted to serve God the right way this time,
proving to Him that they had learned from the mistakes of their past.
So what are we to glean from this
word of the Lord today? What truth is He passing onto us that will serve to
help us as we live this thing called life?
The first thing is that we need to
look to the Lord to help us rebuild our lives when we are in the midst of
brokenness. Who better to help us put the pieces back together than the Master
Architect of life itself? Turn to the Lord and never give up hope. He will
reward your faithfulness in accordance with His will and bring you to the place
of restoration, the second point for us to take away from this message.
We’ll recognize that restoration symptomatically
by looking at the experience of Israel. The initial sign of restoration comes
in a reestablishment of righteousness or rather doing all the right things in
obedience to the way, will, and word of the Lord. Within this righteousness, we
will see our children finding instruction in the Lord, not in a threatening
environment but rather one marked by peace and freedom from harm. It’s a
setting where there need be no fear, a place where no instrument intended to
damage would prevail.
And when we see the Lord bringing
us to a place where we are able to rebuild what was once broken, restored to a
place of solace and security, then we will know we are basking in the glow of
His blessed vindication.
Indeed, the Lord has a way of
taking us from brokenness and making our lives beautiful once again. All we
need to do is maintain our faith and trust in Him.
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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