1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.
"...you who pursue righteousness," are those that hear God's Word and live it out in their own lives. That is the pursuit of true righteousness.
YHWH is telling His people in this prophecy that they can be certain of His promises, by remembering where they came from.
He is the same God that blessed Abraham and Sarah. A couple plagued by infertility, with no prospect of a future family. Yet, God wrought a miracle in their lives, and their small family grew beyond our ability to count, just as He promised.
If He was faithful then, then He is faithful now. He does not change.
That is why we can have certainty, that despite our changing situation, our God remains constant, steadfast. We stand on the Rock, the firmest foundation -- Jesus Christ. Now and for eternity.
3 For the Lord comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
Our God is restorative. He takes broken things and makes them, not just new, but whole, complete, filled with life and abundance.
This is how God made the Earth and all of its inhabitants. It was a good gift, given out of love, and we had all that we could have needed and more.
Like Adam and Eve in Eden, we will walk with God. We will be fully in His presence, in a way that is beyond even our wildest imagination.
4 “Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. 5 My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait.
A new law, a new command for all people.
"My righteousness draws near"...
From earlier in Isaiah, chapter 42:
"My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put my Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations."
Jesus is that righteousness, who drew near to us. He is the light of justice.
He is the true, righteous judge. And he offers salvation to the whole world.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
This world, and everything in it, is wasting away.
It is broken. Now, maybe more than ever, we can see the evidence of that brokenness. We can sense the fragility of this world; we can sense the fragility of our own power and control.
And at the very end of this section, there's a promise, "...my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed."
Now, think about how you evaluate a promise. It's not just about what is being promised, right? There have been many promises made, in the course of human history. People make BIG promises, but so often nothing ever comes of them.
So, the best way to evaluate a promise is, really, to evaluate the promise-maker. Now, I could promise you that tomorrow the world will be back to normal, but we all know I have no control over that.
I could promise you that I will eat a pb&j sandwich for lunch tomorrow, but honestly, it is just as likely that I would forget the promise and eat something else. I am consistently inconsistent.
But God has a perfect track record. We can read the promises He has made -- and fulfilled -- every single day in the Bible.
We have experienced God's promises for ourselves, as well! We've also seen it in the lives of the people we know. We can know and believe in the promises of God because we know the character of God because we know Jesus. We know the power of God, over all things, even life and death because we know that Jesus conquered death. We have heard the testimony of those who witnessed it in person, and we have experienced it ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit, living in us, revealing the truth to us (just as Jesus promised)!
Trust in God. Trust in His faithfulness. Trust in His mercy, which is new for you today and every day. Trust in His promises.
Amen
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