The Lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer brings us this week to a portion of Scripture from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Here we can learn several spiritual lessons, including one that we might have learned back in school in our science class, a lesson in physics. Let’s look into the Bible reading for today.
As our Scripture opens, the prophet Isaiah is speaking to the Jewish people of the Kingdom of Judah. He called upon the people to look back at where they had come from. They were to look back to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah (vs. 2). The people of Israel descended from an aged man and a barren woman. These were two people who God called out from an idolatrous family who originally lived in Ur, a city whose citizens worshiped a moon goddess. Abraham and Sarah were not perfect but they had faith, strong faith in Yahweh, the true God. God made those two into a nation. Yet now the vast majority of the people, including both the political and religious leaders, were deep into idolatry.
However, the prophet Isaiah knew, and certainly God knew, that there was still a faithful remnant of people who did not bow their knee to false gods, who remained true to their faith in Yahweh. Abraham and Sarah were just two, out of a whole family, who were faithful to God. They were a remnant, yet He increased them. The faithful remnant in Isaiah’s day may have felt alone because they were few. If the faithful few would remain true, even more could come from them. If the loyal few, but true Christians today remain faithful, think of what God can do through us?
The nation was on the verge of being overrun and destroyed by their enemies. How could they possibly recover from that? When the powerful Assyrian empire destroyed countries, they did not recover. Now the Babylonian empire was rising. Could they withstand and recover from that? That seemed impossible. The prophet, though, reassured the people. The same God who fulfilled His promises to Abraham would transform Israel’s desolation into a paradise, both nationally and spiritually (vs. 3). It is important, though, for us to be hearing and listening to God, and obeying His Word (vs. 4).
Then as Isaiah continued, he spoke of the righteousness and salvation of God being near (vs. 5). God’s salvation was through His Son, the Messiah Jesus, yet His Son was still several centuries off. However, God called it near. God’s timing is not our timing. As the Apostle Peter tells us, one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (II Peter 3:8). Jesus has come near, with salvation and righteousness. He is near, within reach of all who come to Him, sincerely seeking Him. If men and women will only turn to Jesus, they will find exactly what He has promised.
As our Scripture draws to a close, Isaiah speaks of how both the heavens and the earth will grow old and wear away (vs. 6). These are two things that seem like they will be here and last forever. However many of us learned in school, in science class, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which basically states that everything will eventually break down and deteriorate. This is called entropy, which is a gradual decline into disorder. People who are homeowners know this only too well! If someone buys a house, they know that they will need to keep on top of all repairs and maintenance, otherwise their home will deteriorate after a few years. The same goes for owning a car. Without proper care, it too falls apart, even more quickly. Everything eventually falls apart, including our bodies, as we all discover as the years pass by! This world may seem stable. It certainly did in the days of Isaiah. But one day it will be destroyed, and then made new again.
Isaiah closes this passage with proclaiming the truth that God, His salvation, His righteousness, and His Word shall be forever, and shall not be abolished. God never changes! He is not subject to entropy. He will not decline into a state of disorder! Yahweh is not subject to any laws of thermodynamics, as He is the one who made or ordered these laws of physics to begin with!
God never fails. Every promise of God has been fulfilled (Joshua 23:14). His compassions never fail (Lamentations 3:22). No Word of God will ever fail (Luke 1:37). God’s unchanging nature is our rock-solid source of hope!
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