It's been a few days since posting. I hope that when my reading guide arrives I can be a bit more consistent! But that head cold attacked, and then laundry, home schooling, baby....I have been reading, but not posting.
Today I grabbed my old Bible that I received back in '94 when I finished Sunday School at church and graduated into 'big people' church. (I'm glad I no longer go to a church with what basically amounts to kids' church. I love how at my church we have kids in the service with us! But that's another topic altogether.)
I flipped it open to a page I'd bookmarked about 10 years ago, when I first tried a read-the-Bible-in-a-year program. I don't often think of reading prophetic books when I'm randomly picking passages. I usually pick psalms, I think because they are short and self-contained in a sense. I like context and don't really like just reading anything. But this bookmark was in Isaiah 64, and I had made some notes and underlining.
I loved reading this chapter! It's so dramatic, and I don't think in Isaiah's context it was apocalyptic, but those overtones are definitely there: "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you" (v.1)! There are days I feel like that. Like I am weary of this world and its hard work, and ready for the rest of heaven. It's not like I want to die, but I'm definitely waiting for Jesus to return. I know I won't enjoy having my sins exposed to the world; even my righteous acts are like filthy rags (v.6). Isaiah asks in verse 5, "How can we be saved?" To have Christ step forward and claim me as his own at that moment will be amazing. What a blessing to be living after Jesus' life, death and resurrection! I have the whole picture. It's a shame that I don't live like it more.
As post-election day #1, it's interesting to read the last section of this chapter. "Our sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation...all that we treasured lies in ruins" (v.10-11). I'm convinced that our way of life in the west is coming to an end in the next couple centuries, if not sooner. So much of what we treasure is showing itself to be fake or ruined already. So what is the church in the west resting in? Our democratic governments? Democracy is great, but it won't save us. The reality is, our 'sacred cities' are now deserts because we've abandoned the Lord God of the Bible. We're in a post-Christian world. I know Canada is probably a bit worse on the social scale, but it bothers me to hear people call the USA a "Christian" nation. (If you know your history, it honestly never really was.) Believing in God and/or calling yourself Christian doesn't make you one. Resting in the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ to cover our sins is what makes us Christians. I think it's safe to say that's not the case for the majority of North Americans.
The New Testament is pretty clear that the end times are 'always'; everything that needed to be accomplished by Christ has been. We should always be ready for his return. Even though our world is a desolation, it is awaiting renewal with Christ's return, which will be the most dramatic event in world history in a couple thousand years. I think that's something worth looking forward to. It will be a terrible day, in the old literal sense, but also the most joyous.
Lord, help me to keep this life and world in perspective. You have numbered its days already, and the governments of this world can't help our biggest problem--sin that leads to death. Help me to look forward to Christ's return, and also not to fret about anything that happens in the governmental affairs of the world. Let me rest in nothing but Christ crucified.
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