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.
Isa 25:3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee.
Who are these strong people who will glorify God? Consider verse one of Isaiah 25 “Oh Lord you are my God, I will exalt you, I will praise your name, for You have done wonderful things, your counsels of old are faithfulness and true.” No matter what, Isaiah is determined to praise God, for they who truly know Him can do no other. Isaiah has been touched by the fire. Isaiah has been changed by encounter. God is Isaiah’s grand obsession and whether he lived or whether he died Isaiah shall exalt and glorify the living God. This is what makes him strong, it is the strong people who glorify God even as the whole world turns on them. They are unashamed of the living God even unto death. There is power in this un-ashamedness. Jesus said that if anyone is ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of them. Paul says this “therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest upon me. When a man or woman knows their true state, because they have seen themselves in comparison to to the magnificence of God, then that weak man or woman becomes mighty in God because Christ’s power rests upon them.
They become strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Saint, you are strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Consider how Isaiah describes God in relation to you in verse four of this chapter. 1. You have been a strength to the poor. 2. A strength to the needy in his distress. 3. A refuge from the storm. 4. A shade from the heat. He is all these things and more to us brothers and sisters, it goes on to say that a blast from the terrible ones is as a storm against a wall. The Wall still stands saints. God is a wall of fire to every child of His. Let the terrible ones come against the Body of Christ. They shall not prevail. And when the last and terrible storm is over, verse eight says that He will swallow up death forever. Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Verse eight finishes with this ” And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth. Be strong brothers and sisters and glorify God, even in your own bedroom, for your praises, whether you know it or not, echos down through eternity.
Isa 24:3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
“The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The haughty people of the earth languish.” This word languish means to be weak and feeble. In the same passage it gives us the reason why. “Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant.” We are living in days of disorder and this disorder, in great part, stems, from a complete rebellion against God and His order. We see in Gen 1 that the earth was without form and void and was in darkness. And the Holy Spirit hovered over all of it and God commanded that there be light. God begins to bring order to that which was without form and void. And so out of that which was desolate and empty came order and the fullness of God’s creation.
When we reject the light and we reject God’s order, because of haughtiness, pride and rebellion, then we begin to revert to disorder and darkness. The windows from on high are open and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth shall reel to and from like a drunkard. God has stepped down and not in ways that will cause men to celebrate. The world has wholly rejected God and only His remnant remain. They are to be found all over the world, in every village and town, in every tribe and nation. God has His people. Even the gross darkness of a world gone mad cannot extinguish the Light that is found in God’s own saints. As the darkness grows deeper, the light of Christ stands out. It defies that which is without form and stands in opposition to the void hearts and minds of those who despise God.
No matter the darkness, the light prevails. Just as we saw in the thorns and the nails. Victory in Christ as the darkness drew near, victory over hell and death and fear. The world may languish and be spiraling down, yet victory belongs to the One with the crown. He shall be glorified by His own, in the dawning light, filled with His strength and ready to fight. The proud shall fall, never to rise. His glory shall be revealed in His glorious skies. The sun shall flee and the moon disgraced and the stars in the heavens shall be violently displaced. The Kings of Kings and the Lord of the ages, steps down once more as the devil rages. Then victory is final and the darkness is gone and the saints, all together, shall sing a new song.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was at hand. He pushed through, despite humiliation, torture and suffering. He led the way, He calls us down that same narrow road. We are called to pray for the strength to endure, not for the suffering to be taken from us. We are called to cry out to God that we would have the strength to climb that mountain, not that the mountain should be removed. How shall we cross the raging river? How shall we walk through the blazing fire? With confidence in the one who has already came this way before us. With an eye on the horizon which with spiritual eyes is eternity. No matter how far it is, or it seems to be, we put one foot in front of another.
Brothers and sisters, there will be sorrow. There will be pain, there will be trials and tribulations. There is a whole segment of Christendom whose sole purpose it to avoid, at all costs, suffering. Rather they pray for the things of this world. How can they be immersed in the waters of life when they are standing in a few inches of water? Imagine trying to entice saints from the deep into the shallow. Imagine warning their adherents to avoid at all costs the deep. We are called to the deep saints. Into the depths of the storm. Into the depths of the floods and the raging fires. We shall not drown neither shall we be burned. We are called to run with patience the race that is set before us.
In order to do that we must lay down the things that burden us. We cannot run the race burdened with our own flesh. Our wants, our desires, our own temperament. To indulge the way we were, the old self, we must look back, yet no one can run a race looking backwards. It must die that we can run. Sin is a weight that is akin to dragging an anchor. The sin that so easily “besets,” us is the sin we find ourselves often running to. Can we run to sin and run the race of eternal life? We cannot. It is literally impossible to run two races at the one time. We have to quit one race and be sold out to the other. Looking unto Jesus is looking at the eternal horizon that lies before us. Keeping our eyes on the finish line is to keep our eyes on Jesus. The waves and the flames and the floods in life are designed to take our eyes off Jesus and take us out of the race. Victory lies ahead in the ones who endure to the end, to the horizon, to eternity and beyond. Jesus is the horizon, He is our eternity and He is everything that is beyond.
Isa 22:12 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning…………but instead joy and gladness.
God almighty calls His people to weeping and to mourning but instead of that, there is a call for joy and gladness. We do not understand the nature of the times in which we live. We have blinded ourselves to the overflowing sewers that run open down the middle of the streets. We are so long among it we cannot smell the stench. We overcome the stench by “slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine.” And the verse concludes with this “let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” This is a people that have thrown off any vestiges of the fear of God. They have made their deal with their souls, every man is a law unto himself. And so wine it is and feasting it is, when God has called for weeping and mourning.
Paul quotes this very scripture in 1 Cor 15:32. “If the dead do not rise, let us eat and drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” It comes after a series of “if’s.” 1. If there is no resurrection of the dead then Christ is not risen. 2. If Christ is not risen then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 3. If Christ is not risen your faith is futile you are still in your sins. 4. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are all men most pitiable. Can I argue that in this Christ-less Christianity, this Cross-less religion, this generation of practical atheists, their faith is indeed empty, they are indeed still in their sins and they are most pitiable. This is why they eat and drink and are merry, for tomorrow, in the depths of their souls, they know they die eternally. Only in this life do they have “hope,’ in Christ. There is nothing eternal in them.
God’s people of the cross mourn and weep for the state of what passes for the church. Ravenhill says “this is an hour of anarchy in the world and lawlessness in the church.” Surely he was truly speaking of this hour in which we now live, he just did not know it. The church in Ephesus had labored and not fainted according to Jesus, but they had left their first love and had fallen. They were fallen. They were in a fallen state even although they confessed the name of Jesus. Jesus commands them to repent. They were to weep and mourn over their state and repent. Or they would simply be no more, they would devolve into the vast swamp known as religion. It seems the choice has been made around the world by those who call themselves after the name of Jesus. They will not mourn, they will not weep and neither shall they repent. Rather, they have decided to eat and drink and be merry. The die is cast and the writing is on the wall.
Isa 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifts up an banner on the mountains; and when he blows a trumpet, hear ye.
The Lord our God surely gives signs and evidences of the days in which we live. He speaks to His own of course, yet He also speaks to the world. They see the banner on the mountains, they hear the trumpet being blown. Men today look around at the calamities and even use the words “Biblical,” and “plague.” They see it, they see a dying world and yet they refuse to listen to the trumpet, refuse to listen to the word of God. Everywhere they speak of the world heating up, global warming, and yet they refuse to listen the Word of God that has already told us that this world will burn up. Their own garbage pollutes the rivers and the oceans and yet they refuse to look at the pollution of their own souls. Greed and an insatiable desire for more creates pollution, spiritual first then physical. One cannot be fixed without the other.
And so the banner on the mountain beckons. Will you stand under the banner in the shadow of the mountain and listen to the trumpet blow? All who dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, the shadow of His mountain, the shadow of His banner, are safe. Safe from the inevitable destruction to come. The world has forgotten the God of their salvation. They have not been mindful of the Rock which is a stronghold. Every tribe, every tongue, every nation stepped of the ark. They stepped of the ark with the sure knowledge of God and how God can and does judge the earth. And yet even then, they ran from Him. They cut down trees to cook and to heat themselves and made idols out of the leftovers. Foolish man, you build towers to the sky, running from the judgement of God. You spread out over all the earth and you raised up idols and forgot the God of your salvation.
Yet even in the midst of calamities and impending destruction, there is a tower. Not a tower built in Babel in a desperate and foolish attempt to avoid the judgement of God. This tower is a high tower and His name is Jesus. The righteous run into it and they are safe. There is a banner. His banner over us is love. We stand in the righteousness of Jesus and we are warmed by the love and the mercy and the goodness of God in the land of the living. There is a trumpet and it heralds in the hearts of His saints and they are drawn unto His holy mountain. Higher and higher. Above the tree line. The air becomes rarified and the saints breathe by the power of the Holy Spirit. This higher ground where men cannot exist is the tabernacle of the saints. It is time to come up higher. “Come away with me,” says the Lord. I am your Holy mountain, I am your higher ground, I am your high tower. And on this mountain and in the high places you shall dwell as the end of the ages draws nigh. ……….Come unto Me.
Psa 27:13 I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Can I go a wee bit further brothers and sisters. I would have died unless I had seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I have seen His goodness. I have laid down in that goodness the way a child lays down in the arms of his mother. He has been so good to me. I am not hoping in some goodness in some future time, I am alive because of the goodness of God. He was good to me in the depths of the fire. When everything around me was falling to pieces, when I was hard pressed on every side, He was good to me. When I was lying wounded on the battle field of life, His goodness came charging in on a white Horse and picked me up. When I could see no way ahead and despair began rising like mighty floodwaters all around me, His goodness lifted me up to higher ground.
The Lord is my strength and my shield and my heart rejoices in Him. ‘When my mother and my father forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me.” Many saints have been rejected by their loved ones for a myriad of reasons and the Lord is with them through it all. His goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives. In the great dark dungeons of our lives, Gods goodness light up the way out. When we are faced with challenges that we simply cannot face, His goodness brings strength to our inner man. “In the time of my trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion.” Oh brothers and sisters, I know this pavilion, I have hidden there many many times. In the secret place of His tabernacle He hid me and set me high upon a rock.
The greatest desire of my life has been to dwell in the house of the Lord. His pavilion, His tabernacle. I want to dwell there all the days of my life to behold the beauty and the holiness of my God. Yes indeed, I would have died if I had not seen these places, not hidden in these places, not run into that High Tower. The Lord is my light and my salvation and my goodness and He is the strength of my life. My own strength has failed me so many times, and I am glad, for in my weakness, I experienced the goodness of God. In my weaknesses I boast. I can do no other. And in that boast the power of Christ rests upon me. For surely, when I am weak, He is strong in me. When I am dying, His goodness is displayed in me. When I come to the end of myself the Lord Jesus is there for all the world to see. Lord Jesus, be glorified in your servants
I was born by the river
In a dirty ol town of hard livin
And that old river just keeps on running
And I know I just got to keep on forgivin.
That old river is fast flowin
But it couldn't wash away all the pain
For in the eddy's and the alleys
The gutters of life kept pouring down rain.
Cobblestones streets illuminated by full moon nights
Lamp posts silhouetted, sandstone chimney pots
The thing about this rain that never seems to stop
It soaks you to the bone and everything rots
As I flew a long long way from the valley
And left it far far and away behind
To the big sky horizons of a different world
Yet the valley was never far from my mind
Still the river flowed, still the rain fell
And even in this land of vast horizons
I was walking though the long deep valley
Looking for a world I could arise in.
And then a hand reached down through the rain
Through the misty darkness of cobblestone streets
Where the gutters were awash with pain
A new land came forward and the old ones retreat
Now the river keeps running through the valley
And the rain keeps fallin from above
Yet the sun has broken through the landscape
And has filled that old valley with its love.
A Call To The Remnant 