God's Eagerness is Snubbed by His Own People, but Welcomed by Outsiders (Isa 65:1-12)
Isa 65:1,2 anticipate the drama of the book of Acts and the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 28:17-28; Rom 10:20,21). God is patiently pleading with his obstinate people with outstretched hands, but to no avail (John 1:11; Isa 65:3). They were not atheists but religious people who claimed God in self-righteousness, traditional formalism and hypocrisy (Isa 65:4,5; Luke 18:9-14). God could not but deal with them according to his justice and righteousness (Isa 65:6,7,11,12), while preserving a remnant (Isa 65:8-10).
The Joy of the True People of God in their Eternal Home (Isa 65:13-25)
After excluding the outwardly religious Jews, God welcomed responsive open-hearted Gentiles to their eternal home (Isa 65:13-16). Isaiah then paints a magnificent poetic picture (Isa 65:17-25), far beyond anything the world has ever seen or known, to describe the joys of the world to come, the "new heavens and a new earth" (Isa 65:17, 66:22; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1), which will be fulfilled by the 2nd Coming of Christ. This invites all believers to yearn for that day, while playing our role as the story unfolds to its glorious end (Isa 2:5).
Practical Application: What is your ultimate hope? To get what you want now? Or to wait and renew our hope in the Lord (Isa 40:31)?
Food for Thought: There is no such thing for a believer as having his/her best life now, for the best is yet to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment