Isaiah

Hello, dear friends!

I am hoping you had a wonderful Easter last week and you’re feeling blessed as we head into spring! If those of you here in Ohio are looking at white on the ground and are tempted to think maybe spring isn’t coming, relax. It always does. And it always comes after a little more early April snow. That’s just how things work around here. But what a beautiful snowfall it was!

Many of us heard excerpts from the book of Isaiah last week as is customary for believers during Holy Week. I love the words of this prophet and have found they’ve truly deepened my faith and steadied my walk with the Lord. It is my sincere hope they do the same for you as I share with you an expounded version of the communion meditation I shared with my church family this morning.

Remember, the book of Isaiah was written some 700 years before the birth of Christ. It is the 53^rd chapter of Isaiah that speaks the very accurate and chilling prophecy regarding what would happen to Jesus on the Cross. That is why we often study this chapter on Good Friday. Isaiah 53:4 is a verse that many of us are familiar with: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” and Isaiah 53:5 (also very familiar) ends with “upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with His stripes (or ‘by His wounds’ in another translation), we are healed.”

It only occurred to me recently to examine the succeeding chapters of Isaiah as continued prophecy of the Cross. I’ve read these chapters before but never in this way…and I thank God for what He reveals to the willing heart.

So after Isaiah 53, we surely come to Isaiah 54. And do you know what Isaiah 54 is all about?…

A covenant of peace.

Isaiah 54: 9 – 10 reads:

“ ‘This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

And then, in the following chapter, Isaiah 55 elaborates on that “compassion” bidding us to come to Him, all of us who are thirsty, that our souls may live and including the well-known scriptures, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” and later, “you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace.”

You can read these passages yourselves, my dear friends. And I pray when you do, you will take heart…

because the horrific punishment of the Cross more than satisfied the wrath of God. God’s anger is a thing of the past and even though it was born of an all-consuming, jealous love for His people and even though sin had to be punished with that anger because God is just (He’s always been and He always will be just), those of us standing on the other side of the Cross do not know that anger and we never will.  To the contrary, we only know His peace and His blessed compassion.

When God looks at us, He sees His precious Son. We are covered by the blood of Christ. And peace is our reward, though surely not one we’ve earned.

***

Someone dear to me said something last week along these lines: “They make it seem like you just accept Jesus and that’s that; you’re good. Nothing else required. Done deal.”

To which I replied, “Well, yes. That’s the very message of grace. And it needs to be taught.”

See, it’s not that nothing is required of us beyond the acceptance of Jesus. I mean, yes, if we believe and receive Him into our hearts, our salvation is secure. But, if we are to know the blessed fruits of a life lived close to Christ, we have to do something very important:

Believe in His Love and take Him at His Word.

This means we have to stop assuming that angry, accusatory voice in our heads is our God’s.  And it means we have to stop allowing our limited understanding to negate God’s love seeking to resolve all scripture under the most accurate and most important truth that God has always been and always will be love.  And it means we need to come to Him, secure in the price He paid and grateful in the blessings that follow.

Friends, if you want to hear God’s voice, listen for the voice of compassion.  He may speak with gentle conviction but that will be the very voice that opens your eyes and changes your heart.

If God is love as 1 John says, then…

God is love. Period. Done deal.

If Jesus is our King,

we are covered fully by His blood and walking in His blessed grace.

If we miss this very important truth, we miss so very much. And we end up feeling separated from the One who gave everything to set us free and to remove any and all obstacles between Himself and the children He longs to embrace.

Fear and love can’t coexist. Scripture makes this clear. When fear gets a little too real and a little too big in our lives, we need to look to the Cross; the greatest display of love the world has ever known.  He’s not mad at us and He never will be. His love shall never be removed. So, look up at the Cross with love and gratitude, not with fear and guilt. Because the Cross is the very guarantee that your heart matters to God more than anything…

and it always, always, always will.