the dead who die in the Lord

SDC11157 Rev. 14.  John in exile on Patmos had much time to reflect. He thought about the choices that he had made in his life, and the results of those choices.  When he had the choice to give in to the pressures of the idolatrous world around him, he made his choice. He would not drink the wine of Babylon (8).  When he had the choice to follow the Lamb wherever he goes (like the 144,000 of his generation who gave their lives for the gospel) he made his choice.  No regrets. The voice he heard told him that, like those who died for their faith, he too would rest from his labours, and his deeds will follow him (13). A life spent for Jesus is never wasted.

LORD, thank you for the blessed assurance.

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the old fashioned way

SDC11946Job 31. Job’s final appeal to his comforter-accusers reveal a high standard of integrity before God. Long before the law given at Sinai, the Creator imprinted on the human heart a law that teaches us faithfulness in marriage (1), business (5-6), relationships (13-15, 16-18, 19-23, 31-32) and faithfulness toward God (24-28).  These ancient words put modern humanity to shame.  They reveal an ancient law of love and respect for God and others.

LORD, grant us the grace to live the old fashioned way.

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but first

cross2 Isaiah 52:13-53:12.  The Servant shall be high and lifted up and exalted (52:13).  But first he will be despised and rejected by men (53:3). Kings shall shut their mouths because of him (52:15). But first he must go to the cross with his own mouth shut, like a lamb led to the slaughter (53:7). He will know eternal life and prosperity , but first he must allow God’s will to happen, which means he will be crushed (53:10). He will make many to be accounted righteous (53:11), but first he must pour out his soul to death, and be numbered with the transgressors (53:12).

LORD, thank you for the ultimate sacrifice: infinite purity made into a sin offering to rescue us from our own defilement.

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vindication

SDC11942 Rev. 11.  There is a great deal of variety in the interpretation of the symbols presented in this chapter, but  its interpretation is clear enough that we can derive comfort.  As believers witness to the truth of the gospel, we should expect both miraculous protection and demonic opposition. We prophesy clothed in sackcloth.  There will be a time when the witness will be all but snuffed out, but the church will revive. The second coming of our Lord will be a time of triumph for us, but a time of terror and wrath for unbelievers. Christ will reign over the kingdoms of the world. The dead will be judged, the saints rewarded, the destroyers destroyed.

LORD, keep us ever aware of our future, so that we do not despair as we prophesy in sackcloth.

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the sweet burden

SDC11940 Rev. 10:8-11.  An angel is about to announce what is going to take place on earth and the sea, as orchestrated from heaven (so the angel’s stance indicates). The scroll is the message that the angel is to announce. John eats the scroll, and it is sweet to his taste. Like any servant of God, knowing God’s will is a great desire for John. But it comes with a price. The peoples, nations, languages and kings to which the gospel message must go will resist it with violence. The knowledge that such warfare is the fate of humanity turns the sweet scroll bitter in the prophet’s stomach. Such is the burden that all God’s messengers have felt.

LORD, give us courage and perseverance to share your wonderful message, even when it is rejected by those who need you.

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the servant who laboured in vain

SDC11939 Isaiah 49:1-7.  Here is a prediction of a peculiar type. The prophet looks into the future and sees a man who was formed by the LORD in his mother’s womb (5) and called and named while in the womb (1).  His purpose was to bring Jacob back to the LORD, and to gather Israel to him.

But he apparently fails in the task. He laments “I have laboured in vain” (4).  But the LORD reassures him that his labour was not in vain. The original mission was too light — too insignificant for this Servant. Instead the LORD will make him a light for the nations, that God’s salvation may reach to the end of the earth (6).

LORD, when things get hard, and we feel like failures, help us to stay committed to the task. We might be accomplishing more than we think!

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the burdens of Bel and Nebo

SDC11938 Isaiah 46:1-47:15.   The gods of the Babylonians had their day.  They thought that they had exalted the empire (the daughter of Babylon) to everlasting prominence (47:7). But the LORD reveals through the prophet that it was HE who had allowed this power. Now he is determined to take it away. He will take vengeance upon that great political system that ruled by pleasure, idolatry, sorcery, and astrology. Why? He gave Israel into their hand, but they showed no mercy (47:6). They thought that no one saw them (47:10).  They were wrong.

LORD, forgive us for the times we do our own thing without a thought that it is to you that we are accountable. Grant us wisdom to submit to your word in the days of prominence and peace.

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taking Cyrus by the hand

SDC11937Isaiah 45.  The great empire of Babylon — that impenetrable fortress that conquered the earth — was itself to be conquered.  The prophet not only knew that this was going to happen, he knew how it was to happen . He also knew who would be God’s instrument — his anointed — to accomplish his will.  His name would be Cyrus. This is not prophecy after the fact. The whole point Isaiah is making is that God challenges the nations to give up their useless idols and follow him. Why? … because he is God, and he can save his people. He can take a Gentile king, call him by name (3-4), take him by the right hand (1) and cause him to conquer the world.  God will do this in spite of the fact that Cyrus does not know him (4).  He does it “that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other” (6).

LORD, take us by the hand as you did to Cyrus. accomplish your will through us.

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a lie in my right hand

SDC11936 Isaiah 44:9-20.  Those who make idols become useless like them (Psalm 135:15-18).  God shuts their eyes and hearts so that they do not see that there is a lie in their right hand. An idol is something that you decide to trust in instead of relying on the LORD who created you. It may be something close, like an tree you have planted. It may by your job, or your patriotism, or your family. It may be merely an idea which has become more important to you than the people you should care for. Usually it is such an important part of your life that you are oblivious to what it is doing to you. That is the nature of the deluded heart (20).

LORD, open our eyes that we may see the lies in our right hand that are keeping us from loving and serving you alone.

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a new thing

SDC11935Isaiah 43:16-44:5.  When the Israelites remembered all the miracles God did to deliver them, they never failed to remember when he made a “way in the sea path in the mighty waters” (43:16).  He opened the Red Sea and allowed his people to pass on dry ground. It was an unprecedented miracle.  Yet now the LORD promises through Isaiah that he is going to do a new thing, a new miracle. He will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert … that they might declare my praise (20-21).  He will pour out his Spirit upon their offspring and his blessing upon their descendants (44:3).  God’s punishment will flatten them into a dry desert, and then his grace will pour the water of the Holy Spirit upon that land making it spiritually prosperous again. This is God’s new thing which he started at Pentecost.

LORD, make us part of the new thing that you are doing. We accept your Holy Spirit.

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