Isaiah 51:2-3 [Consider and Remember]

[Things to Meditate On]

1. To the children of Israel, who were in a hard and difficult situation at that time, the prophet Isaiah spoke as above, telling them to remember the power of God that had worked long ago in their ancestors Abraham and Sarah. He also said that God would comfort Zion, and that just as He had comforted all her waste places and made the wilderness and the desert like Eden, the garden of God, He would do so again.

2. At that time, the children of Israel said, "The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isaiah 49:14). Through this, we can imagine how severe their suffering was. And from the words, "walketh in darkness, and hath no light" (Isaiah 50:10), we can also know that the situation at that time was like deep darkness with no hope at all.

Nevertheless, the prophet Isaiah told them to remember God, who had worked in their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, and proclaimed that even now, just as He had done then, God would comfort them. However, to the children of Israel at that time, who had no hope at all, the words Isaiah preached may have seemed like only a story from the distant past, or like a dreamlike story far removed from reality. This is because they could not turn back to God even after hearing not only the words Isaiah preached, but also the words of God spoken through many other prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In the end, the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria, and the southern kingdom of Judah by Babylon. What about us today? Are we also receiving the Bible, the word of God, merely as a story from the distant past, or thinking of it as something idealistic and far removed from reality?

3. In fact, the suffering that the children of Israel endured at that time was because of their own sins.

Isaiah 50:1-3 "1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. 2Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 3I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

Thus, the children of Israel suffered because of their own sins, and yet they did not listen to the word of God spoken to them through many prophets. Because of this, they were eventually destroyed. But on the other hand, what about the word of God? We can see that God fulfilled, through "Jesus Christ," the word He had spoken long before through the prophet Isaiah, even to the end.

Luke 4:16-21 "16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

Thus, God fulfilled exactly what He had spoken through the prophet Isaiah, and through Jesus He comforted the waste places and made the wilderness and the desert like Eden. This shows that God is the One who surely fulfills what He has spoken (Ezekiel 17:24, Numbers 23:19). Therefore, even to this day, people trust the Bible, the word of God, and seek to live humbly relying on the written word. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and that word is not a vain thing, but our life.

Deuteronomy 32:46-47 "46And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it."

[Decision and Application]

Now, the harder and more difficult things become, the more we must "remember" the word of life, just as God said, "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you." The children of Israel in the days of the prophet Isaiah were busy being discouraged in their painful reality, saying, "The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." Yet they did not make the word of God spoken through the prophet Isaiah their comfort and joy. If they had done so, they could have repented of their sins, humbly relied on that word, and received the power of God.

Therefore, we today must take such past mistakes as examples for ourselves (1 Corinthians 10:11), and the harder and more difficult things become, the more we must direct our thoughts and hearts toward Jesus (Psalm 39:7). No matter what our present reality may be, our hearts must become bold by faith in the promises of Jesus. This is because Jesus promised that He would come quickly (Revelation 22:20), and He promised that He would reward those who keep "the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12) to the end (1 Peter 1:6-9).

1 Peter 1:6-9 "6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

Because the word of God is like this, we must be careful not to lose the faith of Jesus because of our immediate reality. We must not become like the children of Israel in the past, who became proud when things went well, and unbelieving and complaining when things did not go well, and were eventually destroyed. Whether our present reality goes well or poorly, it is important that we do not let our thoughts and hearts be taken away by it, but instead live by relying "unchangingly" on the words of Jesus by faith. This, in the end, is the way for all things to go well with us.

Acts 20:29-32 "29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. 32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified."

Amen.