Isaiah 66:18-24
Today, as I end my thoughts of the book
of Isaiah, my prayer is first and foremost that this uneducated student of the
Scripture did not error in my thoughts put to paper. And in that prayer, I also pray that you the
reader will not take my word for anything but will run to the Holy Spirit and
ask Him to guide you into all truth. If
you had a problem with Isaiah’s prophesy you may not want to read these final
verses, but my hope is you not only will but also it will make you alert to the
soon return of our LORD.
From
the beginning of creation the heart of God has been for all men to seek and to
worship the only true God, the one who declared to Moses when sent by Him to
the people of Israel who were slaves in Egypt, and Moses asked, who am I to
tell them who sent me? And God said in
Exodus 3:14, tell them “I Am” sent you and it is always present tense, so God
is not confined by any of His creation, such as time; He has been to the front
and end of time and what we call past is as the present and what we call future
is also present for our Creator.
Do
you recall Abram being called by God from the land of his relatives and even
the house of his dad to a land God would show him, and God promised He would
make of Abram a great nation. Often, we
quote Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat
you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Our great and mighty Father God’s
plan wanted the whole world to see His might and love for mankind, by the favor
he showered on His chosen people. Their
independent spirit of looking to self and to other nations gave you and I the
understanding that God’s love would not allow His people to chase after the
foolishness of pagan nations, and often they chose the curses of God, and not
the blessings He desired for them. Some
refer to this and the law given to Moses as plan “A” and Christ coming to earth
as plan “B” but that does not hold water as we examine Scripture. Before God created the world His plan was to
send His Son, His only Son to earth, to take on flesh and live a pure and
sinless life, for He did not have the sins of man passed down from Adam, for
His Father was God.
Listen and ponder 1 Peter 1:19-21, “but
with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has
appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are
believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your
faith and hope are in God.” Do you
recall the apostle Peter’s sermon at Pentecost where he stated in Acts 2:23-24,
“this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and
foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24God raised him up, loosing the pangs
of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.”
God’s heart from the beginning was
for all to come to repentance, for none to perish and the Jewish people to
bring the good news of “I AM” to all people.
And in verse 19 we see the remnant of God’s people who survive the
judgment do just that. And out of the
nations will come people chosen by God before the foundation of the earth to
serve our Father as priests and Levites.
And all mankind will come and worship our great and mighty God. The last verse of Isaiah is a description of
the outcome of the wicked.
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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