Isaiah 30:8-15, 18 NLT
Now go and write down these words. Write them in a book. They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions. They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’” This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down. You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.” This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.
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Could Isaiah be writing about you?
I like a bit of Sci-Fi, and one of my favourite little series is the short-lived but much loved Firefly programme and the film Serenity that followed.
In episode 4, "Jaynestown", River Tam attempts to 'correct' the character Shepherd Book's Bible. River Tam, a genius though mentally disturbed girl due to government experimentation, is caught rewriting the Bible. River had removed pages, cut bits out, reordered parts and rewritten lots of the Bible. She couldn't accept the bits that didn't match her understanding and vision for the world. And neither could God's people in Isaiah's time. Nor can most people today, I dare say.
In episode 4, "Jaynestown", River Tam attempts to 'correct' the character Shepherd Book's Bible. River Tam, a genius though mentally disturbed girl due to government experimentation, is caught rewriting the Bible. River had removed pages, cut bits out, reordered parts and rewritten lots of the Bible. She couldn't accept the bits that didn't match her understanding and vision for the world. And neither could God's people in Isaiah's time. Nor can most people today, I dare say.
We can't accept hell, judgment, or God creating everything for himself. We want to ignore the difficult bits. We can't compute the cross being God's plan since before the creation. We don't like being told we have to love our enemies, and we'd rather ignore the implications of loving our neighbour as ourselves.
Truth be told, the majority of God's word little fits with our world view, and we've busily set about to reconstruct it according to our own liking.
2 Timothy 4:3
" For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear."
" For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear."
It seems the time foretold by Paul has been before and will be no stranger to the future.
Apparently Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) wasn't the first to ask to be told lies.
God's people didn't want to be told the truth either.
Apparently Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) wasn't the first to ask to be told lies.
God's people didn't want to be told the truth either.
Neither God nor Isaiah his spokesman are the puppets of the people's whim. The truth would be told and the people would have to decide. Hiding behind their candy coated world view wouldn't suspend the coming judgment.
So can you handle the truth? Jack Nicholson, as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in the film A Few Good Men, tries to paint a picture of honor, trust and strength. But under the guise of national security, murder had taken place.
Isaiah and Jesus both were threatened, scoffed at and abused for telling the truth.
But with the terrible truth of our rebellion and its deserved judgment is the invitation to find safety from the judgment by getting close to the judge.
And so grace is the scandal most people are unwilling to accept. How can God condemn the treacherous, lie-propagating people in one verse and offer them protection in the next?
He can because of Jesus. He can because of the cross.
I believe that the most difficult thing for people to hear from God today is not the exacting holiness of a perfect sinless Saviour, but rather the right of judgment and the extravagance of grace.
Quick, escape the coming wrath of God and be safe in his expansive grace.
God will judge.
God does save.
God does save.
Will you be saved?
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