Thursday, January 20, 2022

Getting the Good News

 

Thursday, January 20, 2022

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.  He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.  To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.  In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.  They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago.  They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations.  Foreigners will be your servants.  They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards.  You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God.  You will feed on the treasures of the nations and boast in their riches.  Instead of shame and dishonor, you will enjoy a double share of honor.  You will possess a double portion of prosperity in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.                     Isaiah 61:1-7

It’s safe to say everyone on planet earth is waiting for a bit of good news these days.  With pandemic the last couple of years, economic struggles, international tensions, isolation woes, restrictions-by-the-truckload, and a million other reasons, it’s like the good news train has been derailed in the night by a tsunami of whatever-can-go-wrong.  For a change, we want to hear a little good news!

The story of Israel in the millennial time before Jesus’ birth is the backdrop.  From the time God’s special people escaped captivity in Egypt and entered the land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:8) they were the human poster child of what part of good news didn’t we understand!  God’s blessings were always forgotten within a few years, or a few generations.  They forgot their vows of allegiance to Jehovah and began chasing the rainbows of success and power.  Like the church today, hopping on political bandwagons of conservatism or progressiveness, they forgot who they were.  God would take them to the woodshed for discipline; they’d repent and cry-out for another Exodus kind of deliverance; God would hear and answer, and they’d do it all over again!

Then came Jesus with the final solution – good news that won’t ever be forgotten by posterity’s laziness, and won’t be forsaken by a righteous God who refuses to be forgotten.  The good news is that this kingdom, promised by Jesus’ word, and secured by Jesus’ death and resurrection, is now written on hearts. 

For You Today

No matter what social scientists, pandemiologists, and politicians may say about the present woes, or predictions about future disaster, the redeeming work of Christ is set in better than stone – it’s written on streets of gold in a temple built without hands.  It’s time the people of God get back to “getting” that Good News, and living by it every day.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©    

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