Wednesday, February
13, 2013, 9:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Then Will the Very Rocks Cry Out (If We
Keep our Voices Silent)” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Isaiah 66
(selected passages NIV 1984):
This is what the Lord
says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you
will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made
all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.
Stephen quoted this passage of scripture from Isaiah, as
recorded in Acts 7:48-50. Stephen was “a man full of God’s grace and power,”
and he “did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people” (see Acts
6:8). Opposition arose against him. The men who were against Stephen spoke lies
against him. They stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the
law against him. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced
false witnesses against him. “All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked
intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
The high priest asked if the charges were true, then Stephen
spoke in his defense. He gave them a history lesson concerning Abraham, Joseph,
Egypt, Moses, the children of Israel, their rebellion, their idolatry, Joshua,
David, and the temple. He quoted Isaiah concerning God not living in houses
made by men. Then he chastised them for being a stiff-necked people with
uncircumcised hearts and ears who resist the Holy Spirit and who persecute the
prophets, and who even killed Jesus Christ, their Messiah, Lord and King. At
this they dragged him out of the city and they stoned him to death.
Isaiah was dealing with a similar situation in what he wrote
here in the book of Isaiah, some of which was a depiction of what was happening
with the people of God in his day, and much of which was prophetic concerning
the people of God, the church, at the end of the age prior to Christ’s return. They
were described as obstinate, idolatrous people who walk in ways that are not
good, pursuing their own imaginations – a people who continually provoke God to
his face. Though they may be among the church worshipers, they forsake the Lord
and they forget the kingdom of God (of heaven), Jesus Christ and the true
gospel of Christ. They forget that going to a building or going through forms
of worship is not what makes them in a right relationship with God.
“This is the one I
esteem:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
and trembles at my word…”
Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny
(disallow) himself (his self-will), take up his cross daily (die daily to sin
and self), and follow (obey) Christ. We read in Ephesians 4 that the way we
come to know Christ is by forsaking (dying to; putting off) our old lives of
sin and self, by being transformed in heart and mind (the working of the
Spirit), and by putting on our new selves in Christ Jesus, “created to be like
God in true righteousness and holiness.” This is what it means to believe in
Jesus Christ. This is the true meaning of faith, i.e. by grace we are saved
through faith, which is a gift of God. The one God esteems is the one who is
contrite (repentant) and humble in spirit and who trembles at his word, i.e.
who has the fear (awe; respect; and honor) of the Lord and his word, which is
evidenced by how his servants live their daily lives to honor and please their
Lord.
Hear the word of the
Lord,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who
hate you,
and exclude you because of my name, have
said,
‘Let the Lord be
glorified,
that we may see your joy!’
Yet they will be put to shame.
Hear that uproar from
the city,
hear that noise from the temple!
It is the sound of the
Lord
repaying his enemies all they deserve.
Jesus had enemies, Stephen had enemies, the apostles and
prophets had enemies, and we will have enemies, too, who will hate and persecute
us for our testimony for Jesus Christ, for our stand for the truth of the
gospel of Christ, and for our commitments to following our Lord Jesus Christ in
obedience and surrender to his will for our lives. Yet, we are to love our
enemies, pray for them, do good to them and say kind things about them. We
should pray that they will turn to Christ or if they are professing Christians
that they will return to their Lord, that God will revive their hearts, restore
them and renew them in faith.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her,
all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with
her,
all you who mourn over her.
For you will nurse and
be satisfied
at her comforting breasts;
you will drink deeply
and delight in her overflowing abundance.”
For this is what the
Lord says:
“I will extend peace
to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding
stream;
you will nurse and be
carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts
her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
When you see this,
your heart will rejoice
and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the Lord
will be made known to his servants,
but his fury will be shown to his foes.
I believe this is speaking of revival of the church, the
heavenly Jerusalem, Zion, the body of Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit,
the Holy City of God. All throughout the book of Isaiah we read concerning
Jesus Christ, the messianic age, the church age, the rebellion of the church,
God’s judgments, the revival of the church and the flocking of the nations to
salvation, and I believe Isaiah concludes with the same message. When I see
this, my heart will definitely rejoice, because I absolutely mourn over her
(the church).
“I will set a sign
among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to
Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece,
and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.
They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your
brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering
to the Lord—on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says
the Lord. “They will bring them, as
the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in
ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests
and Levites,” says the Lord.
“As the new heavens
and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so
will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from
one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me,” says the
Lord.
Again, I believe this is a picture of the judgments of God
against his disobedient and rebellious people, the revival of the church, and
because the church is now revived and is no longer living in disobedience, but
is following the Lord in obedience, they will spread out throughout the world
proclaiming the glory of God, his salvation and the true gospel of Jesus Christ
to the nations, and many will flock to God’s holy mountain, Zion, the new
Jerusalem, the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, the body of Christ, the gospel and
salvation. And, so shall we ever be with our Lord! Amen!
Luke 19:37-40: Then, as He was now drawing near the descent
of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice
and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,
saying:
“‘Blessed is
the King who comes in the name of the LORD!’
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest!”
And some of the
Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.”
But He answered
and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones
would immediately cry out.”
Then Will the
Very Rocks Cry Out (If We Keep Our Voices Silent) / Mark Hayes
If we keep our
voices silent, all creation will rise and shout.
If we fail to
praise you, Father, then will the very rocks cry out!
From a world of
tribulation, come and let your voice be raised.
Join us now in
congregation. Let the Living God be praised.
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