Isa 40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth.
In the previous verse we see that the prophet, not just this prophet, but the role of the prophet is to be the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The wilderness is a world without God. A world that has rejected God and the highway that makes its way through the wilderness is established by God through His prophets and by the Blood of Christ Himself. This highway is the Holy Highway of the saints. John the Baptist would famously repeat the words of the prophet Isaiah in John 1:23. John was in the wilderness crying out the message of repentance, He was making the way for His Lord to come in this sense. We too saints are ones crying in the wilderness. We too are a light that dwells in the darkness who cry out to a world lost in sin to repent for the Lord is coming.
Those who walk along the valley floor, along the Highway of Holiness that runs through the wilderness of sin and death and rejection of God, shall be exalted up into the high places of our God where He dwells with the broken and the contrite. For thus says the Lord, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones( Isa 57:15) Every mountain and hill or any high thing that exalts itself against the Lord our God shall be brought low. The proud shall indeed be humbled as the glory of the Lord is revealed. The crooked places, the lies, the deceit the vain imaginations of men and all arguments that exalt itself above the Lord shall be made straight as the signs of His coming begin to appear.
All flesh is grass and its beauty is like the the flowers of the field. The world and all who dwell in it fade away. Only by the very breath of God are all things maintained. The one thing that remains is the Word of God and it stands forever. He is coming and and the nations shall discover they are as a drop in bucket. They will faint and lose heart as they begin to understand that it is God Himself that stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He brings the proud and elite men of this world to nothing. The Lord blows upon them and they wither in the whirlwind and are taken away like stubble in the wind. Yet to those who walk along the highway of Holiness, He increases their strength. He dwells with the lowly of heart and renews them. They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint and they indeed shall rise up with wings like eagles and fly to the high and holy place where the spirit of the humble is revived.
Isa 35:2………………they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
All the world without Christ is but a fruitless wilderness. A barren soulless desert in which nothing blooms. A dead place, a place without living water, a place only of the dying. I would argue that the world we live in is a soulless barren place. A place given over to sin and death and destruction. A world that has “crossed the Rubicon,” and been given over to a reprobate mind. A world not unlike the times of Noah where “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”(Gen 6:5) And yet, within this dead and dying world there exists the Kingdom of God in the hearts of the saints.
Even when we are surrounded by such a barren desert of wickedness, God has strengthened the weak hands and made firm the feeble knees. He says to His people who may be fearful of heart at what they see “be strong, do not fear, behold your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God, He will come and save you.” (Isa 35:4) Brothers and sisters, He has given us the strength to survive in this wicked desert world. He promised us that the waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water. A highway shall be there and a road and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. This is where you shall find the redeemed of the Lord as they make their way to Zion with everlasting joy.
Saints, we are traveling on this Highway of Holiness that traverses the desert places. We are as a pool of water to the thirsty. We are streams in the desert. Living waters flow through us from heaven above. We not only survive but live an abundant spiritual life where no life should be. We have joy where there should be no joy. We have peace when all around us have lost their minds. We are marching to Zion and there is a joy that dwells within us that is perpetually filled from the inexhaustible wells of salvation. The world shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God as we march along, in lockstep with one another, the Highway of Holiness, the narrow road that leads us home. Take strength brothers and sisters, the Lord is at the door, we are almost home. In His strength alone we shall endure and overcome.
Isa 33:5 The LORD is exalted; for He dwells on high: he has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
The Lord our God dwells on high. He is high above the fray. He is high and lifted up above mere mortal men and their affairs. Nothing touches His glory, nothing defiles the beauty of His holiness. He is not righteous, He is righteousness. His judgments flow from justice. He is justice. He fills His children with righteousness and judgment. In a day where everything is spinning out of control, the wisdom of God in us, and the knowledge of God in us, this is our stability (And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times Isa 33:6) Salvation is our strength and the fear of the Lord is our treasure. This is our solid ground upon which we shall not be moved.
This which is to come has not overtaken us like a thief in the night. The Lord speaks to the hearts of His sons and daughters. They “see,” what is soon coming in the midst of a world overtaken by madness and blindness. The strength of our “knowing,’ God is the strength that will see us through. When all around us is spinning out of control and they come against us like men possessed, then they shall truly see the glory of our God. They will see indeed that He is exalted and magnified and they will see it in a people who know. What do we know? We know God in the intimate sense of that word. Tis not in the head but in the depths of the heart. And because His Spirit speaks to us we know that “now I will rise, says the the Lord, now I will be exalted, now I will lift Myself up.” (Is 33:10)
Christ is at the door. Let us lift up the eyes of our Spirit and see His appearing. Magnify Him from the depths of your heart to a broken and dying world which has plunged into darkness. The Lord promises us saints, that in that day there shall be a tabernacle that shall never be taken down. Not one of its stakes removed nor will any of its cords be broken. There the majestic Lord will be for us a a place of broad rivers and streams. Can you see it brothers and sisters? Can you see what the Lord will do when He comes back to judge the earth and raises up His children? Can you catch a glimpse of His glory? Magnify Him in your hearts today, exalt Him today and let your spirit go to where the glory is for He dwells on high and we dwell with Him.
Isa 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction.
Who is the Lord talking to and what is this bread and water? In verse 17 we see a winnowing, a falling away of what is not of God and what are we left with? A remnant left as a beacon upon a mountain and a banner upon a hill. There is one thing about a beacon that shines out from a mountain, everyone can see it. God will be very gracious to those who are left when all others have fled. Don’t we see that now in Christendom? Have the majority not fled to the world? Those who “wept for Jerusalem,” are the ones who are left. We see this in verse 19, the Lord Himself will gather up our tears. In Ezekiel chapter nine we read that the Lord says “And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.”
The remnant saints who bear the mark of God, are the beacons upon a mountain. We are God’s banner and it must be flown high above the battle-field, above the world. And even though the Lord gives us the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction, we shall flourish in the midst of it all. Adversity and afflictions are our teachers. Teachers have authority. We yield to God in the midst of them all for it is He that has given us these teachers for His own purposes. Do not think it a strange thing brothers and sisters that we must learn in this fashion. God scourges those He loves, does He not? It is our reaction to such scourgings that separate us as sons and daughters from the pretenders. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons; for what son is he whom the father does not chasten? But if you are without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons (Heb 12:7-8)
Brothers and sisters. In the end days that are ravaged by spiritual famine and drought, God has made provision. The waters that pours forth from our afflictions is the very thing that waters the seed. And this seed leads to the increase of bread throughout the land. “Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.” (Isa 30:23) Saints, we, who are sons and daughters of the King, are water to the thirst and bread to the hungry. All of this comes from our teachers, adversity and affliction. Are you suffering adversity, are you afflicted? Yield in the midst of the darkness of these teachers and see the light that shall forth. The whole world shall see the light that shines forth from God’s sons and daughters. The Lord will cause His glorious voice to heard.
If our evangelism has become shallow, then it is only because our Christianity has become shallow. If our evangelicalism has become mechanical and predictable, then more than likely so have our lives as believers. If our proclamation of the good news is merely verbal and formalized, then that it is a sure sign that truth has become mere words and formulas in our daily walk. I cannot draw someone to a place I am not in myself. We can always speak the proclamation, to do so requires only that we remember the correct words. However in order to move men, we need also to be the proclamation, and that requires a life immersed in the Spirit of Truth (Art Katz, The Spirit of Truth)
Can you see what our dear brother Art is saying here? It is not good enough to make a proclamation, one must be the proclamation. Another pastor said that “I am not waiting on a move of God, I am a move of God.” Can you see the difference between mere intellectual assent to abstract truths and those whose lives are the truth? One knows about it, the other walks it. Jesus is the word made flesh. If we are to draw men to Jesus we must be in the place that we seek to draw them too. We cannot speak of coming to Jesus if we do not dwell in the glory. Our lives must be a manifestation of Jesus. It is not good enough to just talk to someone about Jesus ( I wish we really had that problem) they must see Jesus when they see us. After all, are we not living epistles read by men?
In the last several generations of Christendom, one shallow generation has followed after another. Each generation shallower than the one that went before them. What a tragedy that the church has been slowly and surely all but swallowed up by the world. In politics either the Liberals or the conservatives say something like ” I did not leave the party, the party left me.” This too could be applied to much of Christianity. Denomination after denomination has fallen and left its true believers behind. No longer could they be a part of the most shallow generation of Christianity that has ever walked the earth. And if shallowness was its only problem, that would be bad enough, but it is outright wickedness that walks the halls and assemblies of men today.
There must be a manifestation of Jesus on the earth today. He has to manifest Himself in us and He only does that in willing obedient servants. He has His people still, He is never without a witness. They are people who not only know the Word but who are themselves living epistles easily read by men. They are not “just a sinner saved by grace,” God forbid. No, they are sons and daughters. The Word of God is in them and by the power of the Holy Spirit the Word becomes life. It does not become life in the hands or mouths of those who are spiritually dead, that is the realms of religious men and pharisees. Life begets life. Glory leads to glory. Love and mercy and grace leads to the manifestation of love and mercy and grace. The talents given to each saint are multiplied by their willingness to share what they have as they are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Brothers and sisters, we stand like well fed men and woman in a land that is dying from famine. The fat on our bones, so to speak, speaks to the life that is in us. Can men see that you are well fed? Do you stand out among the dead and the dying? Are they drawn to you because of the depths of Christ in you? Are those who dwell in the shallow places drawn to the deep? We must ask ourselves these questions for our calling is but salt and light. If we are not salt to the world, then what is our purpose? If we are not light to the world, then why are we alive? Tragically, over the generations, the people in the shallow end, the world, have drawn many to them instead of the other way around. We must fulfill our purpose here on earth. and we can only do that by dwelling where the the glory is for all the world to see.
Isa 30:10……………………..Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things and prophesy delusions.
In verse eight of Isaiah 30 it was written than the next words are so important that it should be “written on a tablet.” Write it down on a scroll for all to see for all times to come. Not only is the generation here spoken of wicked, and trust in oppression and perversity, but so also shall all proceeding generations fall into their perverse ways. The pattern would, and has, repeated itself over and over again and will do so until the Lord Himself comes back again the second time. In Jesus’ day, He spoke to a wicked and perverse generation. We live today in such a generation. Not any old generation mind you, but the generation that proceeds the coming of the Lord so therefore our generation is akin to the times of Noah.
This generation perhaps more than any other demand “smooth words,” to be spoken to them from the pulpit or anywhere else. They do not desire to hear what is right, they would rather have their ears tickled. God spoke to this situation. ” Because you despise this word (the word of God) and trust in oppression (where the true prophets are muzzled) and perversity, and rely upon them, therefore this iniquity shall be for you.” What iniquity is God speaking of here? He says that this generation is like a bulge in a high wall and the fall will come in an instant. He likens them to lying children who will not be led by the Word of God. They prefer the traditions of their fathers that demand nothing more than an outward show, but have no inner reality. Anyone who dares to point out the glaring discrepancies in the lives of these people are hated and despised and ridiculed and banished. In older days they would be burned at the stake.
The solution the Lord tells us in verse 15 is “In returning and rest you shall be saved and in quietness and confidence you would find your strength.” Come to me says the Lord Jesus all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. There is rest and strength to be found in coming to Jesus. Yet, we see that they would not come to God and be saved. They would have no rest. They would have no strength. They would run from God, they would ride on swift horses to get as far away from God as they could, but you cannot run from God. Their hearts fainted and even at the threat of one, a thousand shall flee we read in Isaiah 30. Contrast that to the saints spoken of in Psalm 91 ” A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but none of it shall come near you.” What a privileged people we are who dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, who abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He is indeed our refuge and our fortress, our God in whom we shall trust.
Isa 29:18 And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
There is coming a day soon when even the “blind,” shall see beyond the obscurity of their lives and through the darkness of their wilful ignorance. They will see the hand of God move and they will be astonished. Perhaps the hosts in the heavens shall disappear in a moment of time, as if they were simply rolled up like a scroll. What would the willfully blind man make of that? Some, in that day will come to a right understanding of God. The Lords own people will rejoice to see a world discover that there is indeed a sovereign God. The world will be thrown into chaos as their dull eyes are open to see the signs and wonders in the heavens that the Lord is surely God and He is coming.
Out of the darkness the world shall see a great light. The Christ is coming. Such rejoicing in the hearts of the saints, weeping and gnashing of teeth from those who do not know Jesus. Even as these signs unfold, the wicked shall double down on their wickedness. What promotes joy in the hearts of the saints, promotes hatred in the hearts of those who are unsaved, such is their rebellion. One would imagine that the signs and the wonders of a coming Christ would make all the world fall down and worship Him. Alas it is not so. Even although their eyes shall have been opened, they shall fall back upon their willful blindness. A sinful rebellious life requires a sinful willful ignorance. The signs of the Son of man coming will prove the guilt of the world.
Very soon the field shall become more and more fruitful. The hearts of the saints shall rejoice and be glad at the signs of His coming. Even in the midst of great tribulation, when the enemy has indeed come in like a flood, the standard of God shall be raised very high. It shall flutter high above the battle-field for all the saints to see and to rally to. The standard that flutters in the wind of the Holy Spirit is the flag of victory. It has been raised. The battle may rage and soon become severe but we know that the victory is assured. Imagine being a soldier in an army in the midst of war who knows the outcome. What strength this would give him. We do not have to imagine this saints. We know the war and we know how it ends. Praise the Lord our God on high. On to victory saints, it belong to the Lord.
Isa 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as these people draw near me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the commandments of men.
Fearing God cannot be taught by men. True fear of God comes through encounter. We must encounter God in order to actually fear Him. Dead generation after dead generation have taught this by the commandments, by the traditions of men. One dead generation after another passes on abstracts truths that bears no life. They draw near with their mouths and with their lips they honor God and teach that we should be afraid of Him, but their very traditions are insurmountable barriers. Only the heart that has encountered God can truly know and fear Him. It shapes us and molds us, like the potter molds the clay. The clay cannot gain anything outside of the hand of the potter. How arrogant and utterly foolish are we who think that by mere head knowledge we can come into a right relationship with the Almighty God.
Isaiah finds this out. He finds himself in the presence of God. He is utterly undone. If he had something to cover himself with, he would have covered himself. If he had something to crawl under he would have crawled under it. Yet no, there he stands and his eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, the King of all glory. Notice what happens when he is touched by the coal of fire from the altar and his iniquities are taken away and his sin purged. He no longer has a desire to hide. He cries out “here am I.” What a transformation! Here am I God, here am I. When God called out in the garden, Adam and Eve could say no such thing. Rather, they covered themselves and hid. Now Isaiah can be sent. He “knows,’ God. He has encountered God. He knows what it is to fear God. And that fear promotes within him a reverence and and awe of the Majesty of God and now he can be trusted to go, God could send him.
We must know the fear of God. It is fundamental to our relationship with Him. It is fundamental to our being sent. It is fundamental to representing God here on earth among men. This is who God will send. If you do not fear God by virtue of encounter then you can honor God with your lips all day long, you can try and teach man the fear of God, but your heart will be far from Him. There will be no power in your words, no meaning in your traditions, it will just be the empty sound of the clanging cymbal and a resounding gong. If we shall see a marvelous work in our day, then it must start here. God will cause the wisdom of their wise men to perish. The wisdom that has propped up dead religion shall perish and good riddance to it. For unless this barrier comes down we shall not see, in our day, the marvelous works of God. One must choose whom they will serve. The wisdom of men or the fear of God?
There is an old black gospel song that says “Lord don’t move the mountain, just give me the strength to climb.” This sentiment for me, drives to the very core of a person who follows Jesus. There are those whose sole aim is for the mountains to be removed. Night and day they cry out for the Lord to remove the mountains. Night and day they look for miracles. Night and day they seek health and they seek wealth. At the core of these desires is the life that they have in the here and the now. It is self orientated, there is no eternal value to it. Self lies at the heart of it.
We all walk through valleys in this life. There are those who cry out to God night and day to get them out of that valley. They want transported through it. They have no desire to walk through the darkness, to walk through the fire, to wade through the troubled waters. Their only desire is that in the here and now they want out of that place. There is no eternal perspective, at the heart of it all lies self. Their eyes are not on Jesus, their sole focus is on the circumstances that surround them and their burning desire is for escape. They don’t want to climb that mountain therefore they would never cry out for strength. They do not want to walk through this valley therefore they would never cry out for the Lord to be with them in the midst of it.
Jesus was offered the whole world if He would only fall down and worship the devil. Not only was He offered the whole world, he was offered the opportunity to avoid Calvary. Avoid Calvary plus gain the whole world. There are two broad categories of saints within Christendom. On one side there are the many, and on the other side the few. The many desire the world and are repulsed at the thought of Calvary and therefore they cry out for it to be taken from them. The few want nothing to do with the world, they are certainly afraid of the valleys and the mountains. Yet, their prayer is that God would give them strength to climb those mountains and that He would be with them as they negotiate the valleys. They desire above all to do the will of their Father. Not their own wills but His be done.
There are no shortcuts in our lives saints. We must climb the mountains, with all the fears and dangers that go along with that, and we must walk through the valleys. Even as we walk through the valleys of the shadow of death, the Lord is with you. He is your rod and staff. He leads you, He guides you, He refreshes your soul by making you to lie down in green pastures and to sit awhile beside the still waters. In doing this He refreshes your weary soul which has suffered in the mountains and suffered as you walked through the valleys. In the very midst of these places He prepares a table before you. And His promise to you who walk this narrow path, praying eternal prayers, is that goodness and mercy follow you up and over the mountains and down and through the valleys. It follows you all the way home.
Isa 29:8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty.
The nations are like hungry men. They dream of eating, they salivate at the prospect of devouring the saints around the world, but they shall awake hungry. Their present reality is but a dream like state. They believe themselves to be rich and in need of nothing and they cast their wanton eyes upon the saints of the earth who are, to them, their enemies. The saints stand enriched even in the presence of their enemies. The Lord has provided them a banqueting table and His banner over them is love. His mercy pursues them, it runs after them, surely the goodness of God follows them all the days of their lives even as they are surrounded. Those who come against the Body of Christ, who array themselves for battle against God’s people shall awake from their present day reality only to discover that it was in fact a dream. The true reality is the Kingdom of God and its King, Jesus, not the kings of the world.
The world is in the midst of the greatest drought that it has ever seen. It is a spiritual drought and the nations dream of being quenched but in fact they awake thirsty still. They faint from the enclosing reality. Their world is the shallow world of self and their inner shallowness desires more depth but only under their own terms, and so they thirst on, and awake with a craving soul. Rather than turn to the Lord they turn on the saints. Rather than being humbled in their own eyes they are angered and full of hatred and shake two angry fists at God and His people. Verse six lays out the inevitable end. The Lord will speak in the thunder, He will shake the whole earth by earthquake. Terrible storms await the earth and the the flame of His devouring fire is last.
Yet in the very midst of this terrible judgement God has promised His people that in that day that He would raise up the tabernacle of David. We are the tabernacle and Christ has raised us up. Our enemies may rejoice in our defeat………but wait, we shall arise by the power of God. Did not the enemies of the Lord Jesus rejoice at his death on Calvary? Their rejoicing was short lived. Up from the grave that He was laid in He arose. They may put the saints of the Lord in a grave but we shall arise. They may win great battles but we have won the war. Out of the dust and the ashes of a disintegrating world set against God and His people, God said that He would cause the plowman to overtake the reaper (Amos 9) The abundance of the harvest in that day will be so great that while those who reap are still reaping, there is not enough time to gather it all up. It will be time again to sow. The true spiritual abundant life lived out by the victorious saints whose victory was attained for them at the bloody battle-field of Calvary. Do not despair saints, the Lord is coming.
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall will not act hastily.
The word of God is tried and true. It has never failed and will never fail. It is immovable and sure. The promises of God to His people remain and shall remain forever as a beacon of hope and direction in the days of darkness that have come upon us. More importantly, the stone that is laid in Zion, this eternal foundation, is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the Word of God and He was tried and He is true. He is the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father accept by the eternal foundation stone. Everything that is eternal stands upon this. The Lord is so precious to those who know Him. He is the pearl of great price. Those who are His willingly lay down everything for this pearl. Those who have glimpsed His glory and understand and know Him shall never deny Him. For we are one with Him just as He and His Father are one. We are part of something that has not been shaped by human hands.
Now brothers and sisters, we are lively stones. We have been shaped and chiseled by the hand of God Himself to take our place in the temple that sits upon the eternal foundation. This eternal foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, rightly divides truth from error, light from darkness and though it may be assaulted and laid siege to, it shall not be overcome. It stands immovable. It rises from the ashes of a fallen humanity and stands for all the fallen world to see. And though the world rages in its vain imaginations, it cannot topple this temple built upon the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Those who know this truth and stand upon it, shall not be moved. We shall, with patience, wait upon the Lord. We shall not act in haste nor make golden calves and rise up and play. His promises to us are the firm foundation upon which we stand and the gates of hell shall not prevail against that which the Lord Himself has built.
Isa 28:6 Strength to them that turn the battle at the gate.
The Lord gives strength to His people, to His remnant. Even as the enemy encircles the cities of the world and evil lurks everywhere, God strengthens His people. To those who have lamented and wept over the state of he church and over the state of the world, God sees this and puts His mark upon them. In the previous verse it says that God will be “for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people.” The beauty of the Lord is the beauty of Holiness. His people will shine with the holiness of God and the dark evil world will marvel. They will marvel at our strength and at our resolve to ascend to higher ground. The Lord of Hosts is our higher ground. In Him we shall stand or fall. By Him we shall be unmoved by our enemies. We shall hold the ground and not break ranks even as all the hordes of hell gallop towards us.
The soldiers of the Lord that stand their ground at the gate are those who have, over the years, laid precept upon precept, line upon line. Day after day, week after week and year after year, the saints have walked faithfully in the Lord. They have been taught by Him. They have been tried by Him and they have been tested by Him. He made them walk through fire just so they would meet Him in the middle of the flames. He made them wade through flooded waters just so they would find out that He would not allow the billows to overwhelm them. The faith that they have is no mere head knowledge and is no mere mental assent to abstract truths. There is nothing abstract about the lives of the Lords remnant saints. They have stood the line in the face of withering fire from the enemy. They have been prepared for such a time as this. You have been prepared for such a time as this saint.
You shall not be afraid of the terrors by night nor the arrows that fly by day. You shall stand in the glory of the Lord your God and this is what you shall pray. Holy Holy, Holy is the Lord God almighty. A thousand shall fall by your side and ten thousand by your right hand, but know this saint, you shall surely stand. For you have made the Lord your God your habitation over the years. He has been your high tower and your refuge therefore you shall stand and the evil of this world shall not touch you. You shall stand with the full armor of the Lord, clothed in righteousness and Holiness, and this is why you will stand. You will be strong in the Lord and the power of His might and you shall turn back the battle at the gate. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, for it is built upon and stands immovable upon the Rock, upon the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
But it is the in the exercise of love in our practical Christian life that our chief lessons in walking in the Spirit must be learned, as our heavenly Teacher leads us in detail through the blessed yet often painful discipline of the school of experience, and grounds us not only in the principles, but in the most difficult practice of this heavenly grace (A.B. Simpson)
Every part of who we are and all areas of our lives are part of the classroom curriculum of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit leads us and guides us in the way that we should go. In the great battles we face He molds us. In the most mundane of things of our every day lives He teaches us. Many of us rise to the challenge of the great tragedy, but it is in the little things that we are surely molded. Patience and kindness and love for those who are in our sphere. Our spouses, our parents, our children, our dogs. Patience in the car when we are driving. Patience with our coworkers. For the shy He calls us to speak out. For the bull headed He calls us to remain silent. The bold learn meekness and the timid learn courage. Those with bad tempers learn to shut their mouths.
There is a revolution going on inside of you and it rises from within. We change from the inside out. Christ in us touches every part of who we are. The very intelligent among us are humbled. The man or woman who were of no great intellect are given wisdom beyond what they could have imagined. Our characters, our personalities have been given over to the Lord. We died when we came to Jesus did we not? We sing “I surrender all,” with great emotion not truly considering the absolute revolution of those words. Those who once sought riches now seek the glory of God. Those who once were paupers God raises them up to walk with Kings.
No matter what your background is, no matter what personality and character traits you have. No matter if you are black or white or rich or poor, you are one in Christ and the one thing you will have in common with your brothers and sisters will be the painful lessons of discipline that will be worked out in the very experiences of your lives. Each of us are unique so therefore there is a unique cross to take up daily. Never try and put your cross on anothers back. The Lord knows you intimately and the cross that you will bear at any given time is intimately yours. Every day you must pick it up, and depending where you are in your sanctification, the cross will change. It always fits your back perfectly but it changes.
You may ask “when does it end?” It does not end brothers and sisters. Not in this life. The crosses that are ours will be ours until the day we come into glory. Now to many this will bring dismay. Yet to the saints of God they have learned to embrace the cross for the cross is victory. The cross is death to their flesh. The cross is the markers along the narrow way that point us to heaven. The cross is the entryway into the Fathers heart. Cross after cross leads us deeper ever deeper. The cross, which represents death to the world is the key to life in the Kingdom. The natural man will be repelled, the spiritual man will be drawn. It is life to one and death to another. It is a sweet fragrance to one and a foul stench to the other.
The cross causes the one who bears it to willingly decrease and the Lord in us to increase. As we die to ourselves then the Lord in us is lifted up and if He be lifted up then He will draw men to Himself. And this process plays out every day in saints from every tribe and every tongue. No matter what your culture is, this same process plays out. The rich man, the poor man, the man who lives in the middle of the jungle or in the middle of a city. It does not matter. Every single saint has the equal opportunity to glorify Christ in their everyday lives. God is no respecter of persons in this matter. We all have the same calling in this regard and we all have the same training. We are called to yield and to be disciplined and to surrender. Yield today brothers and sisters and let this revolution have its way in you. This revolution that was taught in the sermon on the mount is as strong today as it was in the beginning. Let Christ be glorified in us.
Isa 27:5 Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.
Who will reach out and take hold of that hand that is stretched forth? The hand of God is for His people, there is no fury in God for His people. He has a longing heart for those who call themselves by His name, those that have been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift. Those who have been partakers of the Holy Spirit. Men and women who have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, He has an outstretched hand towards them. God is well able to deal with the briars and the thorns that grow up among the vineyard, for the rain that falls upon the vineyard falls upon them all. Yet, to those who will reach out and take a hold of God’s righteous hand, He will forgive them and restore them. it is His heart to do such a thing.
Before the great trumpet is blown, who will make peace with God? Who will walk in the power and the glory of God and be fruitful? There is a generation today who ignore His hand, who have rejected His offer, who refuse to humble themselves and repent. They are powerless and without purpose. They are the briars and the thorns that are only good for the fire. There is a day of indignation coming, the fury of the Lord. We can be as fruit in the vineyard, or we can be briars and thorns set for the fire and the fury. It is ironic that the the briars and the thorns believe themselves to be rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing, but in actuality are wretched and miserable, poor, blind and naked. They are not fruit, they are not wheat, they are but weeds and tares. Before the trumpet blows, the Lord stands at the door and knocks. He reaches out that we may reach back and take a hold of every part of who He is. Shall we take a hold? Shall we answer the knock? There is yet time, but the sands of time are running low, and then the end shall come. Peace for one, fire for another.
Isa 26:20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut thy doors behind you.
There is a time coming of the Lord’s “indignation.” Now, in our present day language this word has lost its true meaning. The word in the Hebrew is zah-am. It means, figuratively, to foam at the mouth, to rage to be in a fury. Imagine such a time when the God of all creation is furious. And the Lord’s advice to His people is to separate themselves, to come into the innermost part of who they are in Christ and stay there. God has set us apart, we are a called out people. We have been called to shut the door to the things of the world and to be locked in with our Lord and our God. The intimate part of the house is the bedroom. We have been called to intimacy with our Lord and God. It is this very intimacy, this overwhelming love and desire for our Lord that initiates the separation from all else. Without this love, without this desire, how can we be separate? If we have competing loves in our life then we shall never make our way to the chamber and shut the door. We will, in a sense, look back at Sodom and we know how that turned out for Lot’s wife.
Psa 27:5 “For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.” He has set His people upon the Rock. We are called to come away with Him that He may hide us under the shadow of His wing. Who hears the call? One must be able to hear the call. One must be able to know the still small voice that speaks even amidst the whirlwind and the earthquake. To those who have ears to hear, no matter how loud the noise and how great the distractions, they shall hear the call. For the heart has panted for the water-brooks and the soul has longed after the one that they love. At His calling they shall come. They shall abandon all else for they abandoned their life to their Lord. And they shall come into that place and shut the door. “Come my people, enter your chambers and shut the doors behind you.” The Lord is calling, shall you stay in the world in the day of His indignation? Or shall you enter in?
Isa 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You: because he trusts in You
Perfect peace. Oh what a marvelous state. Who among us would not revel in “perfect peace.” Yet here is a promise from the Living God to His people, with two conditions. Conditions you say? Yes, indeed. And the two here stated are firstly, “whose mind is stayed on You.” Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. See Him in all His glory. See Him high and lifted up above your circumstances. Was He not lifted up upon a cross for you? See Him high and lifted up above every storm. Above every set of circumstances, above every ailment and serious infirmity. For when you see Him as such and glorify Him as such does not the Spirit of Christ rest upon you? When the world and even your own mind and body attempts to wrestle you away from a singular focus on Him, shall we not resist this?
Secondly, trust in the Lord your God. Trust Him on the mountain, trust Him in the valley, trust Him when your enemies are all around and to your aid He rallies. Trust Him in the morning when the sun rises in the sky, trust Him on your sickbed when men say that you will die. Trust Him in the noonday when the sun is overhead, trust Him for your sustenance and for your daily bread. Trust Him as the sun goes down and in the twilight hour, for even in the darkness He is your light and He’s your power. To keep your eyes on Him and to trust Him in all things is to walk through the door of perfect peace. Won’t you go in brothers and sisters? Look up unto the heavens and revel in the glory of God and you shall revel in His peace, His perfect peace.
A Call To The Remnant 