Isaiah 40:3-5 ESV
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Now, I believe this is a prophecy about John the Baptist who
was called of God to do this, but honestly there is nothing in this that we
should not be doing, too, as servants of the Lord, and as ministers of the
gospel of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And what is the wilderness? It is the world we
live in. And what does it mean to make straight a highway for our God? It means
for us to share the truth of the gospel of Christ so people can come to know
him.
[1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:21; Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 28:18-20;
Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom. 10:14-15; Jn. 4:31-38; Jn. 13:13-17; Jn. 14:12; 1
Jn. 2:6]
And what is a straight way? Well, straight is the opposite
of crooked, so straight is righteous, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, and
faithful, etc. We need to be those who are preparing a way of the Lord for the
people to follow that is teaching righteousness and holiness and obedience to
our Lord and which is not crooked, i.e. which is not giving them carte blanche
to keep on in their sin without punishment.
And when we are believing in Jesus Christ as Lord
(Owner-Master) and Savior of our lives, we are crucified with Christ in death to
sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, not like
our old lives. So sin is to no longer have mastery over our lives for Jesus
died to deliver us out of our slavery to sin so we would now be slaves of God
and of his righteousness (Romans 6:1-23). So everything is supposed to change.
We used to walk in sin, now we walk in righteousness and
obedience to our Lord. We used to live for self. Now we live for God to please
him in all that we do and say. Our time used to belong to us. Now it belongs to
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God. We used to give honor and praise to the
things of this world. Now our honor and praise goes to God. We used to hate.
Now we love others with the love of God. And we aren’t the same as we used to
be.
And our Lord gets all the glory and praise for all that he
has accomplished in and through our lives to transform us and to deliver us out
of the darkness and to bring us into the light of his truth and righteousness.
Yes, we have to cooperate with our Lord in his work of grace and heart transformation
or it could not happen, but we can only do what we do because of what Jesus
first did for us, and only in his power and strength, and not of ourselves.
Isaiah 40:9-11 ESV
“Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
‘Behold your God!’
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.”
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are all to be heralds of
the Good News of the gospel of our salvation. We are to proclaim the excellencies
of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. And we are
called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world in living godly
and holy lives and in sharing the gospel of our salvation, which includes the
teachings on holiness, righteousness, and walks of obedience to our Lord.
[1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:21; Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 28:18-20;
Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom. 10:14-15; Jn. 4:31-38; Jn. 13:13-17; Jn. 14:12; 1
Jn. 2:6]
And we should be teaching/sharing the straight way, not the
crooked way, and we should be teaching the narrow road and gate which few enter,
and against the broad road and gate which most people are entering (Matthew
7:13-14). In other words, we should be teaching repentance and righteousness
and obedience to our Lord and not the easy way which just makes a profession of
faith in Jesus but no heart transformation truly occurs.
So, when we say, “Behold your God!,” this is not a casual
thing we are stating here. We are asking people to get a good hard look at who
God is and at what he requires of us who say we know him. For if we claim to
know him and to be in fellowship with him, but we are still walking in sin and
we are not obeying his commands (New Covenant), then the Scriptures teach that
we are liars who don’t live by the truth (1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10;
Matt 7:21-23; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Rom 2:6-8; Gal 6:7-8).
And Jesus Christ is our God – the second person of our
triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), and he is also our Good Shepherd who
watches over us, and who cares for us who are his. And those who are his, who
are in Christ, are those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to
the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. They are those who are being led by
the Spirit and who are not living in sin but who are walking in righteousness
and holiness, in walks of obedience to our Lord.
Nothing
Can Separate Us
An
Original Work / March 28, 2013
Based
off Romans 8:28-39
Nothing can separate us
From Christ’s love now within us:
Not trouble, hardship, nor famine,
Nor danger, nor sword.
No, in all of these things
We are more than conquerors!
For your sake we face hardship.
We are sheep to be slaughtered.
I am convinced that death,
Nor life, nor anything else
Will separate us from
The love of God now in Christ.
What, then, shall we say to this?
God for us: who against us?
He who did not spare His Son
But gave Him for us all –
How will He not, with Him,
Graciously give us all things?
Who brings a charge against us?
God justifies His chosen.
Who is He that condemns?
Christ Jesus, died, rose again.
He’s at the right hand of God,
Interceding for us.
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