Looking Forward To Better Days

Isaiah 51:1-6

Thinking about a hopeful time in the future can often help us get through some difficult times.  When going through school we can focus on the getting our diploma.  Working on a difficult project on our job, we can keep our eyes on the promised raise or promotion when the project is finished.  During the long days of winter we like to dream about the coming spring weather.  And during the difficult days of a pregnancy an expectant mother focuses on the day her baby will be born.  Here in the time of Isaiah, the people were going through some difficult times.  In our passage for today the prophet tells of some promising days in the future.

In verses 1 and 2 we read that God’s covenant with Abraham and Sarah was faithful and true.  Those of us who are believers, no matter who we are or where we’re from, we are spiritual descendants from Abraham, cut from the same rock, dug from the same hole.  As long as we, the faithful remnant, remain faithful to our spiritual heritage from Abraham, we can do much for God.

The remaining verses of this passage refer to the Millennial reign of Christ.  During this time, the time of the Millennium, God will turn the wilderness into a paradise, like the Garden of Eden (vs. 3).  Much of the land in that part of the world is desert, barren, dry and dusty.  This will all change after the Lord returns to earth to reign.  Imagine a barren desert being transformed into a garden, and like the Garden of Eden.  We all can imagine how lush and blooming with flowers, plants, and beautiful trees the Garden of Eden was.  That, the Lord promises, is how this land will be transformed when He returns.  I’m not much of a gardener, but I love flowers and beautiful plants, and this will be a joy.  Isaiah says that, indeed, at this time there will be joy, gladness, and singing.

The time of the Savior’s rule during the Millennium, will also be a time of righteousness and justice (vs. 4-5).  We sure don’t see much of that in the world today.  Crime, hatred, evil in the hearts of men.  That’s more of what is evident today.  When Jesus returns all of that will be changed.  We picture evil as being darkness, for that is what it is.  But the justice of God will be a light for the people.  As Jesus as said in the Gospels, He is the light of the world (John 8:12), and His reign on earth will be a time of light, truth, and righteousness.

Isaiah says in verse 5 that God’s righteousness is near.  We don’t know when the time of the Lord’s return will be.  As believers, we should be eagerly awaiting that day, though we don’t know how long that will be.  God’s timing is not our timing.  God is beyond all of our human timing, and not bound by it in the least.  What may seem like a long time to us, is a moment to Him.  Judging by all of eternity, the events Isaiah is prophesying are near, nearer each day.  God’s righteousness is near to us through faith in Jesus, as well.  Salvation in Him is within the reach of everyone on earth, as near as a prayer to Him.

The events in verse 6 begin during the Tribulation period.  During that time both the wrath of Satan and the wrath of God will wreck havoc on the earth.  There is a renewal of the earth during the Millennium, as we saw earlier in verse 3 of this passage.  Then at the end of the Millennium, there is a total destruction, which is also spoken of in II Peter 3:10-13, at the end of Jesus’s Millennial reign, a new earth will replace this old one.  The new heaven and new earth will go on forever.  

Those who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior will also perish, as Isaiah says here, but those who have will live with Him forever in His Kingdom.  As the last part of this verse says, His salvation will be forever.  There is no end to that, it will not run out or expire.  Those who have accepted salvation through the Blood of Jesus will be with Him forever.