“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.”
~ Isaiah 51:6
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel when a guy, gal or kid preaches at you – telling you that you have to change or . . . do you like preaching at another kid telling him or her that he or she has to change or . . . God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, gave clear instructions to guys – who He tasked to be spokesmen for Him on planet Earth, for them to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, and to other people groups of guys and gals as to how He expected them to live their lives on planet Earth. Isaiah – for around sixty years, was one of God’s most vocal voices on planet Earth. Even though Isaiah’s primary task as a prophet spokesman for God was to God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah – which included the city of Jerusalem, Isaiah was there when the Assyrian people group army overran and captured God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the northern part of the land area of Israel – which was called Israel. Isaiah leveraged what took place with God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the northern part of the land area of Israel to bolster what God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, wanted him to communicate to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah. Isaiah 51 to your grandpaa is a preacher’s message. Isaiah begins his preaching message to God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah by telling them to ‘listen to me’. Isaiah ends his preaching message to God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land area of Judah by telling them that ‘your backs will be made like the ground of a street so that your backs can be walked on by your enemy tormentors’. Isaiah uses this preaching message to make a case for God’s efforts – starting with the laying of planet Earth’s foundations to the fulfillment of the promise that He gave to Abraham that Abraham would become the father of a great nation – which became the nation of Israel, to opening up a dry path through an impassable sea so that His specially chosen guys and gals could cross through to the other side of the sea in order to escape an angry Egyptian Pharaoh to placing the gift of hope into the hands of His specially chosen guys and gals by guaranteeing them an eternal future with Him if they faithfully did what he scribed to them in verse 6 for them to do, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.” How do you think that Isaiah felt when God’s specially chosen guys and gals kept on spitting the words back at him that God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, was telling them through him that they had to do or . . . how do you feel when a kid does not listen to you when you know that you are absolutely right in what you are telling the kid what he or she is to do?
Nothing has really changed over the past 2700 years on so on planet Earth since Isaiah preached this message of impending doom if . . . Isaiah begins this doom message with God’s answer to hope – which is to believe that He is the creator of all things, that He is able to do all things and that He is the accomplisher of all things – including freely giving everlasting life. Isaiah ends this doom message with God’s response to disobedience – which is to bring a double calamity of ruin, destruction, famine and sword on every guy, gal and kid who persists in drinking from the evil goblet of sin. The evil goblet of sin today – as it is being drunk from by a guy, gal or kid who has not yet accepted and experienced the cleansing freedom brought about by two crude crossed beams of wood, a couple of nails and Jesus’ blood – and who may never ever experience that feeling of relief and hope, is actively compelling these guys, gals and kids today to deliberately distort truth in order to promote personal agendas and/or to pursue personal power grabs, to intentionally manipulate data in order to advance untrue facts for financial benefit and/or for future self-gratification and to purposefully challenge moral integrity in order to validate an immoral lifestyle and/or to dumb down the lifestyles of Christ-follower guys, gals and kids. It seems incomprehensible to your grandpaa that one group of advocates – such as those who are okay with guys and gals adopting immoral lifestyles, can get away with their adamant condemning criticisms of a guy or gal who verbalizes his or her belief that pagan lifestyles are immoral while not accepting the fact that these guys and gals have the right to disagree with their lifestyles and/or opinions. Immorality is being protected more and more by laws. Immoral, illicit behaviors are being tolerated more and more by society norms. Guys and gals who live God-fearing, conservative lifestyles are the ogres to progressive proclaiming guys and gals. Through the legal maneuverings that has had Bible reading and praying removed from public schools and allows for the killing of a disease – an unborn fetus, by aborting it, has to be to your grandpaa have been . . . – even though through His omnipotent power He could have at any moment stopped these things from happening, for God to have to witness – as these are blatant mockeries that blasphemes His Word and that takes a life that He providentially allowed to begin to grow in a ma’s womb.
The message that God – as God the Father, through God – as God the Spirit, passed on to Isaiah to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals instructs His specially chosen guys and gals to choose between gladness and joy or sorrow and sighing. One choice leads a guy, gal and kid to heaven and eternal life and the other choice leads a guy, gal or kid to hell and absolute misery. Have you made a decision yet as to where you want to ultimately land?
Isaiah 51 (818)