Isaiah 62:1-3 NIV
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
her salvation like a blazing torch.
The nations will see your vindication,
and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,
a royal diadem in the hand of your God.”
Before we trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our
lives, we are separate from God, unable within ourselves to be acceptable to
God or to share in his holiness and righteousness (Romans 3:23). For there is
nothing we can do in our own selves to be made right with God. No amount of
good works we do in our flesh will ever be enough to earn or to deserve our own
salvation. Only by the grace of God, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ,
can any of us be made right with God (Ephesians 2:8-10).
But let’s take a look at that word “faith.” The faith
required of us for salvation from sin is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ
(Hebrews 12:1-2), so it comes from God. And it is gifted to us by God, and it
is not of our own doing (Ephesians 2:8-10), not of the flesh or the will of man
(John 1:13). So we don’t get to choose what that faith looks like. God does!
And we can’t even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God
the Father first draws us to Christ (John 6:44), i.e. unless he first persuades
us as to his holiness and righteousness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need
to repent of (turn away from) sin to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his
commands (New Covenant). And the word “faith” means “to be persuaded.”
So, since this faith is authored and perfected by Christ, it
is gifted to us by God, it is not of our own doing, and it means to be
persuaded by God, then this faith is going to align with God’s moral character
and with his expressed will for our lives. And all throughout the New Testament
we get glimpses of what this faith looks like and what it doesn’t look like. So
we need to be diligent about reading the Scriptures in their context and
learning what God-given faith in Christ looks like for us.
But let me give you a few snapshots from the Scriptures.
Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). He died that we might live for him and no longer
for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5:15). And he shed his blood for us to buy us back
for God (to redeem us) so we would now be God’s possession, and so we would now
honor God with our lives (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must
deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow
(obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self,
we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of the name of Jesus we are
crucified with Christ in death to sin that we might be raised to walk in
newness of life in him, and so we walk in obedience to his commands, then we
have eternal life in him (Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14;
Ephesians 4:17-24).
So, when we believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-given
(not man created) faith, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we
are raised with him to walk in newness of life in him. Our old self is
crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,
so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So we are to let not sin
therefore reign in our mortal body, to make us obey its passions. For if sin is
what we obey, and not obedience, it leads to eternal death, not to eternal life
(Romans 6:1-23).
Isaiah 62:4-5 NIV
“No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
and your land Beulah;
for the Lord will take delight in you,
and your land will be married.
As a young man marries a young woman,
so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you.”
But this isn’t about just being delivered out of our slavery
to sin so that we can walk in newness of life in Christ. But by God-given faith
in Jesus Christ we are married to Christ. We are his bride, and he is our
husband. But this marriage is more like the Jewish marriage as described in the
Scriptures. It is a marriage contract (covenant agreement) but it is more like
an engagement period, for the couple are not living together, and the marriage
is not consummated until the groom makes a home for his bride and then one day
he comes to get her to live with him.
When Jesus Christ was about to leave this earth he told his
disciples that he was going to prepare a place for them and that one day he was
going to come back and get them and take them to be with him forever (John
14:1-3). So this parallels over to the Jewish marriage covenant. And when he
does return, and he takes us to the home he has been preparing for us, only
then will our marriage (Beulah) to him and our salvation from sin be complete (consummated).
And this is why the Scriptures teach that we must walk according to the Spirit
to have eternal life with God.
Isaiah 62:6-7 NIV
“I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night.
You who call on the Lord,
give yourselves no rest,
and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.”
Now, if we are truly in Christ, by God-given faith in him, we
have now become members of his body, the church (not the institutional church)
which is a spiritual building comprised of us believers as its living stones,
with Jesus as the cornerstone. And we are being built up as a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ (see 1 Peter 2:5; cf. Romans 12:1-2).
But we as the body of Christ are to be the Lord’s witnesses
in taking the gospel message to the people of the world, and we are to be
ministering God’s love and grace in its various forms to the rest of the body
of Christ. And we are to be using the spiritual gifts we have been given to
edify, urge, exhort, instruct, and encourage one another in our walks of faith
and in obedience to the Lord, in the body parts assigned to us by God.
And this is a lot like being watchmen (and women) on the
spiritual walls (our salvation) of this spiritual building. And we should not
be silent day or night, too. And we should not think our time on this earth is
for ourselves to do whatever we want. For we have a moral responsibility to the
rest of the body of Christ to help her, along with ourselves, to grow to
maturity in Christ. And we have a moral responsibility to get out the message
of the gospel, too.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn
14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 26:18; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Rom.
10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 3:17; 1 Co 5:1-13; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph
1:4,22; Eph 2:19-22; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-30; Col 1:18-22; Col 2:19; Col 3:12-16;
2 Tim 1:9; 2 Tim 2:21; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-31; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Pet 1:13-16; 1
Pet. 2:4-9,21]
By
Annie Herring
There's a stirring deep within me
Could it be my time has come
When I'll see my gracious savior face to face when all is done
Is that his voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
Is he calling me?
Is he calling me?
I will rise up, rise up
And bow down
And lay my crown
At his wounded feet
Is that His voice I am hearing?
'Come away, my precious one'
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