The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Isaiah 64-66
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 7: Kings and Prophets: The southern kingdom as God’s people
Background Information: Isaiah 64-66
We might wish that Isaiah would speak in less poetic ways and in more precise language. Why all the metaphors and symbolism? Wouldn’t it be better if we just had a simple news-like account of things to come? Try to imagine Isaiah, seeing future judgment at the hands of a foreign nation, then the return of the people to the land, then the coming of the Messiah. Much of this would be hundreds of years in his future. Then he sees the final judgment with the New Heavens and Earth (this still in our future). Even if God gave him a vision of all this, like watching a newsreel, how would he be able to make perfect sense out of what he was seeing? How would he be able to communicate it all? What we have is much better than a simple road map or a dry historical narrative. What we have communicates to both our heads and our hearts. It touches our minds and moves our emotions. We have a future where:
“The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent’s food will be dust!”
Does this mean predators will become friends with their food, lions will become herbivores, and snakes will eat dirt? No, it is a poetic description of a place where enmity is gone, fear is no more, and the evil one has lost his power. All this describes a real time and place that is hard to fully imagine, but we can understand this much…all will be made new. Not just new scenery, but creation will have a new nature. All will be restored to its original good design. This is not poetic wishful thinking. It is a poetically described future that has been firmly decided by God. All of what Isaiah wrote about has happened up to the final act: the creation of a new heaven and earth. We can be confident of what is to come because of what has come. Christ has come just as was foretold, and we know for sure that he will return just as he said he would.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that would come to you, searched and carefully investigated. They inquired into what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified in advance to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
1 Peter 1:10-11
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray for Youth Horizons. Ask God to encourage the new mentors from River. Pray that these new mentoring matches would get off to strong start building trust and friendship. Ask God to use Youth Horizons to make the gospel known.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.