Old Sandals

The LORD will march forth like a mighty hero. He will come out like a warrior, full of fury. He will shout his battle cry and crush all his enemies.

Who is this LORD?  It is so easy to project our own image when we think of Him. God is fully, definitively revealed in Jesus Christ. His first and his second coming will reveal him, who he really is. A God of furious love.  A gentle giant.

Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds,  so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad,  so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable. 

The idols were challenged to foretell the future, as a test of their “God-ness”.  The strong implication here is that no one can foretell the future, except God alone.  These verses do not square with the notion of open theism.

 

To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

O God.  My God.  My God.  There is none like you.  Infinite.  Sovereign.  Holy.  Compasssionate. Personal. I have no unique words to write down.  No clever thoughts that have not already been thought a thousand times over.  But I have my life, my unique life.  In my offering it up to God, I bring Him something no one else can bring.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?”

Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.” “What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah.

“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”

God sees everything.  The prophet here calls upon king Hezekiah to give an account.  All of us will have to give an account on that great day.

But what could I say? For he himself sent this sickness. Now I will walk humbly
throughout my years because of this anguish I have felt. Lord, your discipline is good, for it leads to life and health. You restore my health and allow me to live! Yes, this anguish was good for me,  for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins. For the dead cannot praise you;  they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness. Only the living can praise you as I do today. Each generation tells of your faithfulness to the next.

From Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things.  Health,  sickness.  Life, death.  Time, eternity.

And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.  Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.

 Then the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat.

Hezekiah spread the letter out before the Lord, and prayed earnestly.  The Lord answered mightily.  What a wonderful picture of faith and trust in the living God!

“Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;  until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.’ Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

The king of Assyria did not know Who he was dealing with.  The Lord of the Israelites was no different to him than the gods of the other nations he had conquered.  I can only imagine what a terrifying scene this would have been, and what courage it would have taken to stand against the Assyrian invaders.

A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness….Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.

Thank God for that.

For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

How important to have a biblical and balanced understanding of God.  God is Love, but that is not all that needs to be said.  His love is free, and yet it obligates us.

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty.

What will it be when our eyes behold the Lamb on his kingly throne?
When He welcomes us to the heavenly fold
And the joy of His Father’s home?
As we bow at His blessed nail-pierced feet
To worship and adore;
Ah, that will be ecstasy full, complete,
Abiding forever more!