From Eternity to Eternity

 

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Bring out the people who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.  Gather the nations together!  Assemble the peoples of the world!  Which of their idols has ever foretold such things?  Which can predict what will happen tomorrow?  Where are the witnesses of such predictions?  Who can verify that they spoke the truth?  “But you are my witnesses, O Israel!” says the Lord.  “You are my servant.  You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God.  There is no other God—there never has been, and there never will be.  I, yes I, am the Lord, and there is no other Savior.  First I predicted your rescue, then I saved you and proclaimed it to the world.  No foreign god has ever done this.  You are witnesses that I am the only God,” says the Lord.  “From eternity to eternity I am God.  No one can snatch anyone out of my hand.  No one can undo what I have done.”  Isaiah 43:8-13

The prophet is taking his beloved kinsman to task (as most prophets did!).  Their history was unmistakably orchestrated by the sovereign will of Jehovah, Creator of the universe and all it holds.  Yet, they had somehow forgotten that, and taken the seemingly more convenient approach of accepting their neighbors’ gods.  It was “convenient” in the sense of going along, to get along.  It is easier, in the short run, to  surrender truth to those who only believe what denies the facts.  But, in the long run, you eventually run into….God, specifically, the one, true, living God.  Everything else is an idol. 

Isaiah reminded Israel they were supposed to be faith-believing witnesses of the God Who stretches from eternity past through eternity present and future.  There is no time when God did not exist or rule the universe, and that includes forever, as well as today.

So, the question for Israel, for us, for anyone, is:

When does it ever make sense to trust in anyone but God?

Consider this picture; a 7-year-old boy was delivered from his mother’s womb.  She and the dad fed, diapered, and loved him.  They trained him to walk and talk.  They taught him to act like a human…sort of.

One day the dad took his son to work with him at the nuclear reactor energy plant.  He showed him all the dials, levers, gauges, and control panels that ran the place.  He showed the boy how, when he flipped a switch, things buzzed, moved, and either turned on or off.  He even let his son get in on the fun, allowing him to flip one switch that returned electricity to a neighborhood that had been powerless due to a storm.  The emergency crew had finished their repairs, and the boy was permitted to flip the switch, and voilà, there was light!  

Well, as 7-year-olds are wont, the young man decided he wanted more of a good thing.  If it was fun to press one switch that turned on thousands of lights, there must be plenty more where that came from!  So, in his newfound joy of turning dials, switches, handles and control panel buttons, he began running around touching everything. 

I do not need to carry this imagined scenario any further.  A seven-year-old, turned loose near the controls of a nuclear reactor is a tragedy just waiting to be written (assuming, of course, anyone lives through the day).

Imagine Israel as the little boy; favored by their Father, Jehovah, and heir to the power of the universe, far superseding anything manmade, such as a little nuclear energy plant.  This is what Isaiah saw, an heir of universal greatness, running around in juvenile playtime, instead of growing up to boldly proclaim the name of Yahweh to the nations.  Like the little boy in the imaginary tale of going to work with daddy, Israel had grown bored with just pushing buttons as instructed.  I can just hear the words:  OK, dad.  I got it from here.

That is the condition of our world today.  God is largely ignored, and we, human children are pressing as many buttons as our pudgy little fingers can reach.  Some day we will press the wrong button – not the nuclear annihilation one connected to all those bombs – but the one that crosses the line of God’s patience.

For You Today

If Yahweh was God before the beginning, and He will be God after whatever ending we humans engineer, it is safe to assume He is God right now.  What further call do we need to worship Him at this (and every) moment?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on Isaiah 43 see Eyes that Do Not See; Ears that Do Not Hear and No Other God

 

When Destination Enters the Journey

Monday, March 23, 2020

In the beginning the Word already existed.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:1

So the Word became human and made his home among us.  He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.  And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.  John 1:14

Genesis tells us that when humans sinned in the Garden of Eden it broke the fellowship between man and God.  But it also broke the intended destination of mankind.  We are created for relationship and residence in our ultimate destination, the presence of God.  We are His family.

Jesus had that.  As the Word, Jesus was with God.  Jesus was always at the Father’s side in unbroken fellowship since before time began.  But it was interrupted by the cross of Calvary.  He came to dwell among us and die for us.  Fellowship with God was our intended destination.  When sin shut down man’s journey, Jesus came to enter and walk the journey with us. 

The Bible tells us that Jesus promised that:

“I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you.”.  Hebrews 13.5b

Before September 2001 many Americans felt safe, like our borders were largely impenetrable.  Nowadays the word terrorist is a daily part of our vocabulary; it is an uncertain and anarchy-prone, tumultuous world in which we live. Our children walk their journey somewhat nervous and cynical about the future. 

And, who doesn’t get even a little concerned, (or full-blown manic) about the novel coronavirus, Covid-19?  I went into a store last week and intentionally stuck my left hand in my pocket, so I’d only use my right hand to touch things.  I did everything one-handed, and when I got back to my car, I used the left hand to drench/cleanse my right hand with sanitizer. 

Life is different than it used to be…and isn’t that the nature of a journey into the future?

Jesus came to walk this valley journey with us.  He is the destination for which our souls were created, and that for which we crave.  But Jesus does not make us wait to get there – Jesus, our destination, has entered the journey to run the race with us.  What a joy!

For You Today

The main issue here is one of faithfulness.  Jesus is eternal, and yet he walks this temporary journey with us.  When He says, I’ll never abandon you, He isn’t just talking about this week, or as long as you do everything right.  This is an eternal commitment from Jesus to each of us who follow Him. 

How comforting is that thought!  It’s good to know you have something you can count on during this difficult and uncertain journey we call life. 

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

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Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on John 1 see Catch  or  And the Word Became Flesh