epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Isaiah 52

When you have faced some wrenching experience for a sustained period of time, it would not be surprising to find out that your sleep loses something of its natural sweetness. You may wake up every morning tired and weary from thinking through some disturbing thought over and over again while you were apparently sleeping. When it looks like there simply could not be any good news in the morning, it is wonderful to consider how you might feel if you were greeted at the very beginning of the day with truly wonderful news.

You would have to take it in slowly, and taste the joy of it in your heart as your mind tested the reality of what you have heard. Could it be true? The best news for God’s people would be the final coming of Christ’s Kingdom. That is the news that I long to wake up to.

On that day Zion can really awake with joy. Then we can put on our beautiful garments. No longer will demonic enemies assail us. We can shake off the dust of mourning from this dying world and rise up as the glorified city of God. This is complete redemption.

Today we live as participants in not only the story of coming redemption, but unfortunately also the story of oppression and trouble. There is a history of oppression for the people of God. We were oppressed by Egyptian taskmasters. We faced the assault of the Assyrian empire. Babylon and Rome have their part in that story, as do nations of every age. None of these names is anything compared to our most formidable enemies: sin, death, Satan, worldliness. But God, who is greater than any enemy, has determined that His people shall know His name, and that He will be able to say to them in their affliction, “Here am I.”

The presence of the Lord is known to us now through the promise of the great day of Zion’s future redemption. This promise is proclaimed through messengers of God’s Word who are tasked with the telling of good news. One way of summarizing that message to God’s suffering saints is this brief but important message: “Your God reigns.” Through all the oppression and trouble, through the sin and through the weakness, it is a simple but life-changing fact that God reigns. This is something that we must understand, accept, and ultimately trust. Without a sincere and settled resting upon this great truth, there is something seriously deficient in our faith.

The person who brings this message of the reign of our great God to His oppressed and weary outposts publishes the news of a welcomed future salvation. The Word that He brings is the presence of God with His people as well as the good news of happiness that refreshes their hearts in a day of darkness.

In the camp of God’s covenant people, there should always have been watchmen who were waiting for the coming of messengers bringing this good news for the people of faith. These watchmen would have been the ones to first hear and see the blessed report. They would be the first ones awake to the presence of God with His people through the preaching of His Word. They would be the spiritual guardians of the people, appointed by the Lord of glory to know the Word of faith, and to recognize it and affirm it when it was spoken. They were to sing for joy at the sight of the return of the Lord to Zion, and at the message of encouragement that says to those who are weak with tears, “Your God reigns.”

Then the covenant people of the Lord’s nation would break forth in song. But it would not only be Jews who would rejoice at that sight of the messengers of the Lord and His King. “All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God,” says the Lord. Even now when we hear of this future day of glory, we know that it is time to depart from evil. Those who would be priests in the heavenly Zion will need to be more than ritually clean. The blood of Jesus Christ provides us with all the “clean” that we will ever need, and rids us of all our “unclean.” Through this blood our consciences are washed and we are moved toward holiness of life even now. But what a day it will be when the actual holiness of our lives will match the perfect holiness already credited to us through faith in Christ. Until that time there is something of an uneasiness with our remaining sin, but the day will come when that sin is gone in every way.

This can only come through the One Servant of the Lord. He will be exalted, though He was once marred beyond recognition. His blood shall sprinkle many nations, and the oppressive power of enemy kings will be stopped. His victory comes from the Lord our God and not from anything that men have executed, planned, or even heard about. This good news reaches us today through the powerful proclamation of Christ to the world. Awake once again even today to the best news that any ear has ever heard. Hear it, accept it, and trust it. And sleep securely and sweetly tonight when the evening comes. Our God reigns.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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