ALSO VISIT: http://creationdesign2013.blogspot.com/ CONTACT: trsii2004@msn.com * ALL ARTICLES ARE FROM OTHER AUTHORS*
Search This Blog
Friday, April 15, 2022
Let the Wicked Return to the Lord
Let the Wicked Return to the Lord - by Kevin D. Gardner - https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/let-the-wicked-return-to-the-lord/
In the book of Isaiah, there is an abrupt transition at chapter 40. After many chapters of pronouncing judgment and the need for restoration, the prophet shifts gears: “Comfort,comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:1–2). So begins what has aptly been calledthe Book of Comfort or the Book of Consolation—Isaiah 40–66, a glorious recitation of God’s affection for His people and His promises of blessing for them.
In the midst of the Book of Comfort is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. Isaiah 55 begins with a plea from God: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (v. 1). The invitation—echoed later in Jesus’ words in John 4 and 6—is almost too good to be true. Who would believe that someone would offer food for free?And if someone did, surely the food would not be worth eating.
But no. God goes on to plead with His hearers to forsake their practice of pursuing food that does not satisfy: “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” He then reveals the goodness of the food that He offers: “Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live” (Isa. 55:2–3). The food is rich, and it is good. It is no earthly food; this food, the food that truly satisfies, is the Word of God. The one who listens to God will be filled.
This is not a call to abandon all other interests than the Lord but rather a call to recognize Him as the highest pursuit. Where are we ultimately finding satisfaction?In success, money, or power? Or in the One who made us, who knows us, and who calls us to Himself? The things of this world cannot ultimately satisfy, because they were not made to. We are called to forsake our empty, unfulfilling, self-focused endeavors andto come to God and be satisfied.
God offers this rich food to His people, the Israelites. The offer is in keeping with His promises to them in the past, as He notes by referencing His covenant with Davidin verses 3–4. The richness of the Word of God as revealed to Israel is so attractive that other nations will come to hear it (v. 5). For Israel, it is easy to hear this Word. But still, they are urged to “seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon himwhile he is near” (v. 6).
But the call to seek the Lord, as hinted at in verse 5, does not go out only to Israel; it goes out to the nations as well. All nations and all peoples are called to seekthe Lord. Moreover, “the wicked” are called to seek the Lord: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (v. 7). To theancient Israelites, “the wicked” referred to those from the surrounding nations, the very people referred to in verse 5. They were the ones who did not know or serve the Creator of heaven and earth. And yet, here is a call for mercy, for pardon, for the verypeople who had oppressed God’s chosen nation.
Sometimes, we have a hard time thinking that God could ever reach a certain person. He is too bad or she is too far gone for God to reach, we think. This was how the Israelitesthought of the gentile nations. Despite the fact that the call to minister to the nations was built into Israel’s very makeup (Gen. 12; 1 Kings 8), the Israelites had a hard time carrying out that mission. There was no way that God could reach those people.And furthermore, they didn’t deserve mercy. Their punishment was just. Right?
Wrong. God rebukes such thinking in the next verse. To those who think they know the way that God ought to operate, how He ought to dispense His mercy, God says: “For mythoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9).
While we’re busy dividing “us” from “them” or “the righteous” from “the wicked,” it’s easy to miss one simple fact: we are the wicked.
This verse is often generalized to speak of God’s being something other than us. He is the Creator, and we are the creature. He is, by definition, higher than us, and wecannot access His thoughts. He has made Himself known to us, so to that extent, we can know the mind of God, and based on that, we can try to reason the way that He does—to think God’s thoughts after Him. But we cannot think in precisely the same way thatHe thinks.
While this verse can certainly be generalized legitimately, it’s important that we recognize the context in which it occurs. God is not speaking of His thoughts as generallyhigher than ours. He is speaking of His thoughts as higher than our thoughts specifically when it comes to how “the wicked” should be viewed—that is, “the wicked” are to be called to return to the Lord and to be welcomed.
This was likely a shock to the Israelites, and it can be shock to us, too. It’s easy to fall into the trap of dividing “us” from “them” and of thinking of “them” as unworthy.When we do that, we run the risk of placing our thoughts higher than God’s thoughts, thinking that we know better than He does.
But God delights to show mercy—and it’s a good thing for us that He does. While we’re busy dividing “us” from “them” or “the righteous” from “the wicked,” it’s easy to missone simple fact: we are the wicked. The Israelites began to think that they were better than the nations, but they weren’t, and they should have known that (see Deut. 9:4–6). We also are not more righteous in ourselves than those who do not know Christ, yetGod in His mercy has provided righteousness for us (Rom. 5:8; 2 Cor. 5:21).
The story of the Old Testament is God’s calling a wicked people to Himself and accomplishing His purposes in spite of their wickedness. God does this by means of His Word,the very same “rich food” we are called to eat in Isaiah 55:2. This Word in verses 10–12 is likened to the rain and snow that water the earth. As the rain causes plants to grow, so the Word of God makes things happen: “It shall not return to me empty, butit shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (v. 12).
This active, generative Word is God’s revelation in Scripture and especially in the person and work of Christ. The next verses tell us what the Word accomplishes: creationjoins in song in praise of the Creator, and new life springs forth in a reversal of the curse of Genesis 3 (Isa. 55:12–13). This new life happens not only in the new heavens and new earth but also in the fallow ground of human hearts when they are regeneratedby the Holy Spirit. For the sake of His own glory God does this: “It shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off” (v. 13).
Praise God that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts, for He has brought us, the wicked, near to Him, that we might feast on His richfood. And praise Him for the power of His Word, which has brought us to new life. May our lives shine forth the glory of His name.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
MY OTHER SITES: CREATION DESIGN: God through Creation
DEBATE VIDEOS and more......
- creationist verses evolutionist
- Home
- DEBATE BETWEEN RABBI AND PASTOR
- The Creation: The Earth is a Witness
- Jesus's claim of Divinity
- Why should I accept Christianity?
- ERRORS IN THE QUR'AN
- 108 year old Rabbi declares just before he died that Jesus is Messiah
- CREATION
- CREATION II
- DOES CREATION MAKE SENSE?
- VERY END TIME VIDEO......
- BIRTH AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST VIDEO
- PROOF OF JESUS RELATIONSHIP TO GOD
- ENDTIMES VIDEO
- EVIDENCE FOR GOD
- EVIDENCE FOR GOD PT.2
- EVIDENCE FOR GOD PT.3
- EVIDENCE FOR GOD PT.4
- EVIDENCE FOR GOD PT.5
- RABBI HAS VISION THAT SAYS JESUS IS THE MESSIAH
- HEAVEN
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 1
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 2
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 3
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 4
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 5
- FEMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
- Existence of God
- JESUS IS GOD Whether You Believe It Or Not
- BEST BIBLE QUESTIONES ANSWERED
- Jewish man turns to Jesus and explains why in a way you never heard before!
- JEWISH MAN TURNS TO JESUS
- RELAXING SOUNDS WITH BIBLE STORY
- JESUS CHANGED THE WORLD
- THE UNTOLD REASON WHY JEWISH PEOPLE DO NOT BELIEVE JESUS IS THE MESSIAH!
- WHY MESSIAH MUST BE GOD!
- THE TALMUD (RABBINIC TRADITION) VS. THE NEW TESTAMENT
- WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD HAS A "SON"? ISN'T THAT A PAGAN CONCEPT?
- MESSIANIC PROPHECIES - WHAT ARE THEY?
- CAN WE AS JEWS TRULY TRUST THE NEW TESTAMENT?
- ZECHARIAH 12 PROPHECY ON THE PIERCING OF THE MESSIAH
- ISIAH 53 - THE FORBIDDEN CHAPTER!
- "IF JESUS IS REALLY THE MESSIAH - HOW COME THERE NO WORLD PEACE?"
- REFUTING THE RABBINIC FABLE ABOUT JESUS IN THE TALMUD!
- DO JEWS NEED JESUS?
- THE 3 REASONS WHY JEWS DON'T BELIEVE IN JESUS & ISRAEL EVANGELISM REPORT
- ARABIC OUTREACH FILM - THE SON OF GOD
- WOW! THIS JEWISH MAN TURNS TO JESUS AND EXPLAINS WHY IN A WAY YOU NEVER HEARD BEFORE!
- DR. EREZ SOREF - THE MESSIAH IS THE PURPOSE OF THE TORAH
- FALSE TEACHINGS ABOUT HEAVEN ENCOUNTERS
- The Resurrection. Amazing video.....
- WHAT WILL HEAVEN BE LIKE?
- WHAT WILL HELL BE LIKE?
- COVID19. WORSE THEN YOU THOUGHT!!!!
- ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS? JEWS FOR JESUS
- Rapture video
PROOF OF JESUS FOR THOSE WHO QUESTION JESUS'S DIVINITY
- Home
- Jesus Abolished the Law?
- The End of the Law?
- Tongues in Acts
- Tongues in 1 Corinthians
- Observe Sunday?
- Body, Soul, and Spirit
- Torment in Hell
- God is Not a Trinity....DON'T PANIC, THIS IS A BREAKDOWN OF THE TRINITY WITHOUT ACTUALLY USING THE WORD.
- Paul: Not Anti-Jewish/Torah
- Truth About the Rapture
- Jesus is Not Literally God
- Clarifying Tithing
- The Church and Israel
- The Future is Unsettled
- Christians and Heaven
- The Sacred Name
- Jesus is the Way
- What is a Christian?
- Origin of Easter/Communion
- Christians and Torah
- Christians Better Than Jews?
- Torah a Mere Shadow?
- Paul a Hypocrite?
- Basic Grammar Refutes the Trinity | An Argument for Biblical Unitarianism
- Why Jewish People Do Not Believe In Jesus
- DOES GOD EXIST? PART 4
- The Case for the real Jesus
- How do we know Jesus is the Messiah
- A pivotal sign we're living in the last days
- Jesus is coming!!! We are the Generation!!!!
- The rapture trigger that leads to Daniel 9:27 Covenant
- Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah Debate...
- JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD
- EARTH.....WONDERFUL CREATION
VIDEOS AND MUSIC IN ADDITION TO MY OTHER WEBSITES:
- Home
- CREATION DESIGN: MY OTHER WEBSITE
- PROPHECY WATCHER: MY OTHER SITE DEALS WITH PROPHECY ONLY.
- Very Good Acapella (Little Drummer boy) worth seeing....
- 4 HOURS OF UPLIFTING CHRISTIAN MUSIC
- 100 HOURS OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP MUSIC
- Jews who believe that Jesus is Messiah
- THE CASE FOR CHRIST
- Beautiful video and song. MARY, DID YOU KNOW.... A must see....
- GRAPHIC VIDEO ON THE CONDITION OF THE WORLD
- Gadol Adonai...Lovely Hebrew Christian Song(Subtitles)
- Adonai Machesenu The Lord is Our Refuge/Haruach Vehakala
- El Avoteinu - God of Our Fathers
- Praise to Our God 5 Concert - Ashuv Eleicha (Coming Back to You)
- Thais Schucman 05 Worthy
- Praise to Our God 5 Concert - Lechu Nerannena LeAdonai (Let us sing to the Lord
- Praise to Our God 5 Concert - Gadol Adonai (Great is the Lord)
- Beautiful! Israelis Worshiping Jesus in Hebrew in Jerusalem!
- "Kol Haneshama" (Everything that has Breath) Music Video
- Beautiful Hallelujah Song
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.