“A Car filled with festive, laughing people grinds to a halt as the old man flags them down. “Don’t go on!” the man shouts. “The bridge is washed away.”
“Drunken old man,” the people laugh. “Don’t listen to him.” The car roars off into the darkness and plunges into a raging river. There are no survivors.
Nobody is that foolish, you might think. But the people in the nation of Judah were. The prophet Isaiah warned them, again and again, of the disaster that would happen if they did not get right with God. “Silly old man,” they must have laughed. Then they plunged headlong into disaster. (Wow…Lord, let that not be us!)
In the first 39 chapters of the book, Isaiah urged the people of Judah and the surrounding nations to repent of their sins and get right with God. He pleaded for spiritual and moral renewal. He told of the captivity that would come if the people continued to ignore God. Living under the threat of invasion and deportation, the Judeans should have listened to Isaiah. But they were too busy doing their own thing. They didn’t have time for God. And so Isaiah’s words fell on deaf ears. (Again, Lord, let that not be us!)
Chapters 40-66 then take an abrupt turn. Even though the people of Isaiah’s day would not listen, the time was coming when the people would turn back to God. So for those who would listen, Isaiah’s words here are filled with promise and hope. They also include some of the most amazing prophecies in all of Scripture about the birth and death of Jesus, the Messiah, 700 years before these events occurred! If you have listened to Handel’s Messiah, you will recognize that much of it comes from these later chapters of Isaiah.
Isaiah’s message could easily be interpreted as a message for his times, and it was. But it is also a message for us today, nationally and personally. The erosion of the moral and spiritual fabric of a nation is the foreshadowing of the disintegration of that nation. The nation that forgets God will wither and die, easy prey for outside enemies or for inside rot. Isaiah’s message to Judah and its surrounding nations is still a vital message for us: Repent, turn from sin, and acknowledge the Lord. (Yes!!!)
Are you plunging ahead in life, busily following your own agenda? You have bills to pay, a career to manage, hobbies to pursue, a house to fix up, kids to cart around, meetings to attend, classes to take – you’ve got things to do! But you may be going too fast to read the warning signs. You may have become to deaf to God’s Word that you don’t even remember what warning signs look like.
Slow down and rethink your priorities before you plunge headlong into disaster – eternal disaster. Read God’s words, recorded in the Bible. Listen to those who are teaching and explaining it. Heed the real signs of the times before it is too late.” (Touch Point Bible)
Lord, thank you for your Word today! Help us refocus our attention on you! Help us turn from our ungodly ways and follow you! As we read the book of Isaiah, place in our hearts a desire to know you…place in our hearts a passion for wanting to please you, for, Lord, we are nothing without you! Lord, we love you and need you!
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
….AND MAY WE ALL PRACTICE THIS WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Comments