Tag: Isaiah 31

LOVE

Isaiah 31:4-6 NET.

⁴ Indeed, this is what the LORD says to me: “The LORD will be like a growling lion, like a young lion growling over its prey. Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it, it is not afraid of their shouts or intimidated by their yelling. In this same way, the LORD who commands armies will descend to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill. ⁵ Just as birds hover over a nest, so the LORD who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it; as he passes over, he will rescue it. ⁶ You Israelites! Return to the one against whom you have so blatantly rebelled!

We are now in our fourth Sunday of Advent meditations. During this season, we have explored various themes found throughout scripture. In November, we focused on the theme of hope. We examined a passage in Ecclesiastes that encouraged people to live with hope, even though everyone eventually goes to the grave. It’s only when the New Testament message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is included that it genuinely makes sense. That is the purpose behind this Advent theme. We are reminded to center our hope on Christ and Christ alone. The Bible teaches us that we are mortal and that there is no hope for us after death. Therefore, we must find our hope in Christ and Christ alone. In the New Testament, we learn that Jesus revealed life and immortality through the gospel. He is our hope for eternal life.

In the second week of Advent, we learned about peace. However, the message of peace also relates to a prophecy about a great day of the Lord that will bring destruction upon the Earth. On that day of destruction, most people will realize they trusted the wrong thing and will be doomed. But the good news, as foretold in the book of Isaiah, is that before this day of the Lord, God will send a message of peace. That message was born in a stable in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ is our peace. Again, we see both good and bad news. A day of ultimate war and destruction is coming, and this terrible day of the Lord will happen according to God’s own will. It cannot be stopped or changed by human effort. It will surely happen because it is part of God’s plan. But the good news is that God has another plan. We learn about that plan in the Bible. We know that God will send his only Son to pay the price for our sins. He is the Prince of Peace. He makes peace possible. He brings peace not only between people but also between God and us.

Last week, we examined another passage from Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah spoke out against the nation of Moab, foretelling its destruction. He said that God would take away Moab’s joy. This doomed nation serves as an example of all the nations that have rejected Christ. On the day of judgment, there will be no joy for them. They put their trust in the wrong things and will try all kinds of ways to reconcile themselves, but they will never look to the Son of God for salvation. This is terrible news—God is even upset that this nation has not repented, and He mourns for them. However, there is no hope for them because they have not turned to the King of Kings. Yet, amid this darkness and sorrow, there is good news: joy is available forever in Christ. The Advent season prompts us to ask whether we have room in our hearts for Jesus Christ. The joy of Christmas is ours if we can answer yes. Similarly, the joy of His second coming is ours if we have made room for Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Otherwise, like the Moabites, we will only experience loss, and even our sincere prayers will never reach God. Worse still, when Jesus returns in His glory with all His angels, He will greet us not as our Lord and Savior but as our Judge. To experience true, lasting, and incredible joy, we must open our hearts to Jesus.

We now enter the fourth week of Advent, and our fourth message focused on the theme of love. As Christians, we often say that God is love, and we have evidence to support this. He demonstrated His love by creating us. He showed His love by giving us the gift of life. He has blessed us with a beautiful creation, supportive families, and wonderful friendships. However, there is also evil in this world. This evil challenges our understanding of God’s love. We are compelled to confront the reality that things are not right in the world that God created. The Bible explains why this is the case.

In the book of Genesis, we learn that God created everything good. But He gave our ancestors the choice of whether it would stay good or become corrupted by sin. They chose to sin. Their decision turned a perfect creation into an age of imperfection and corruption. You and I were born into that age.

The Israelites in Isaiah’s time were born into the same era. They faced destruction by a mighty superpower that aimed to wipe them out. Because they were in danger, the Israelites had a choice. They could either trust in their God or seek help from a neighboring nation. In this chapter, Isaiah encourages the Israelites not to rely on the Egyptians but to trust in their God for protection and safety. In today’s passage, Isaiah explains why they should trust in their God rather than rely on their neighbor.

The Lord’s love is a fearless love (4).

To understand what Isaiah is saying in verse 4, imagine a group of shepherds who realize that one of their lambs has been attacked by a fierce lion. The shepherds are courageous. They gather together and try to scare the lion away to protect the injured lamb. However, all their efforts are in vain. The lion is not going to release his prey.

In Isaiah’s imagery, the lion represents God Himself, and the lamb symbolizes the nation of Israel. Isaiah chose a lion as a symbol of God because lions are fearless. He wanted to demonstrate that God was unafraid of any of the surrounding nations. Israel didn’t need to rely on Egypt; they had a God they could trust. They could trust God because He loved them, and He loved them with fearless love. He would not abandon them. The God of armies isn’t afraid of anyone else’s army.

The Christmas message is also a message of fearless love. Lord came down to this earth during a time of great violence. His life was in danger from the very beginning. But God would not let us go. He clung to His people even when we were still in our sins. To show us how much He loves us, He sent His Son to the cross to die in our place. His fearless love was a stubborn love. It will never let go of us. Though danger surrounds us, we can trust in God’s stubborn, fearless love.

The Lord’s love is a protective love (5).

In verse 5, the image shifts from a lion to birds. Since moving to Delco, I’ve learned a lot about birds. Once, walking on the lawn beyond the cemetery, I was approached by a bird. I had no idea why it wanted to attack me, but it soon became clear that the bird must have a chick nearby and was protecting it. Similarly, there was a time when I was leaving the house when birds suddenly swooped very close to my head. They were dive-bombing me. Again, I had no idea why I was the target of this experience, but then I noticed the nests. The birds had built nests in the rafters of the fellowship hall, and I was getting dangerously close to them. The same thing happened when I tried to enter the church building—suddenly, the birds were there, aggressively defending their nests. Wherever the nests were, the birds would be there to protect them.

So I can understand Isaiah’s illustration here. He says just as birds hover over a nest, so the Lord who commands armies will protect Jerusalem. God’s love is a protective love.

In the New Testament, we learn that Jesus is the door through which the sheep come in and out, finding safety. He leads us into the way of life and away from the way of destruction. Ultimately, we will see victory for eternity through the resurrection. And during this life, we will understand what it means to live victoriously through the power of His Holy Spirit. It is wise to be protected by a loving Savior.

In the New Testament, Jesus pleas for people to come to him. He calls on all who are weary and burdened, promising to give them rest. He invites us to take his yoke upon ourselves and learn from him because he is gentle and humble in heart, and we will find our rest in him because his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We don’t need to rely on ourselves. We don’t have to depend on the world around us. Our Lord loves us, and we can trust in him.

All this talk about Advent truly centers on God’s plan. God has a plan for the universe, and we’re living it out. We haven’t reached the end yet; we still face hardships, difficulties, and challenging experiences. But we can look back at what God has said in the past and realize he was working out his plan then. We can also look forward to what God has promised to do in the future and trust him to follow through.

We can look to Christ as our example in doing just that. He faced hardship and suffering, including the cross, because he trusted God. He endured the cross until it was finished. The next time we see him, he won’t be as a baby in the manger, but as a victorious, triumphant king returning. That is God’s plan — to bring hope, peace, love, and joy to the world.

What Advent challenges us to do is to embrace that plan. The season invites us to accept God’s plan for our lives and to live accordingly. It challenges us to make room in our lives for the Savior of the world while He is still pleading for us to repent.

The Lord’s love is a pleading love (6).

Isaiah pleads in verse 6. He tells the Israelites to return to the one they have openly rebelled against. As God’s prophet, Isaiah speaks for God and urges his nation to turn back to Him. They had rebelled and were trying to do things their own way. Now, when faced with danger, they look for an alternative other than returning to their God. God could reject them and let them suffer the consequences of their rebellion. But that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is always pleading for people to come back to Him. He does not want to destroy us; He desires repentance and restoration. That is why, in this passage, the prophet is pleading with the people to repent.