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A King to Comfort

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Hezekiah was the king of Judah from 715-686 BC.  He was a good king who restored priestly temple service (2 Chr. 29), reinstituted the celebration of the Passover (2 Chr. 30), destroyed places of idol worship and even broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made (Num. 21:6-9) which the people had turned into an idol (2 Kgs. 18:4). Because of Hezekiah’s prayers, God delivered Jerusalem from Assyrian siege (Isa. 36, 37) and extended his life by fifteen years when he had become deathly ill (2 Kgs. 20:1-11).

But even good kings have their failures. In Isaiah 39, Hezekiah showed all his riches to Babylonian ambassadors who came bearing gifts after he was restored from his illness. The prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah and told him how Babylon would come one day and take all these treasures and his descendants away (Isa. 39:5-7). When good leaders fail us, it can be depressing. God’s people had been plagued by wicked rulers throughout much of the history of the divided kingdom. To have a good king like Hezekiah was beneficial, yet he only slowed the process of apostasy that led eventually to punishment. Our nation has been drifting from God for years. When the dam has burst and a flood of moral laxity has swept so much away in our society, we are thankful for good leaders who have tried to stem the tide, but even good leaders are not perfect. Is there any hope and comfort to be had after those we looked to as beacons of hope fail us?

After the sad message of Isaiah 39, comes Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 speaks of God who is our hope. God created the universe and is supreme of over all (Isa. 40:12). God knows all (Isa. 40:13-14). He is sovereign over all nations (Isa. 40:15-17). “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins” (Isa. 40:1-2). There is nothing that can be compared to God (Isa. 40:18-20; 25, 26); no god we have fashioned nor earthly leader we have exalted is anywhere close to Him. God never grows weary or faint; He restores those who wait on Him and renews their strength (Isa. 40:28-31).

The following chapters of Isaiah disclose the details of God’s Suffering Servant—Jesus Christ—Who would come and ultimately deliver His people. Earthly rulers may let us down or even persecute us for our faith, but remember Jesus Christ came to earth to become King of Kings and He will never let us down (Isa. 9:6-7, 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16). He is reigning now and will continue to reign until the end; all enemies will be put under His feet (1 Cor. 15:24, 25). God says to His people, “I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass” (Isa. 51:12).

 

 

 

 

-Mark Day

 

The Plan for Unity

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The world will know God’s love—that the Father has sent Jesus Christ—if those who believe on Him are one; Jesus prayed for such (Jn. 17:20-23). Many man-made ecumenical attempts have been made throughout the centuries, but have failed. Usually men, instead of going back to the Bible, try to shorten the list of items upon which we must agree in order to embrace an ever-widening field of divergent opinions. However, the Bible shows that the fundamental doctrines of Christianity cannot be abandoned for some pseudo-unity. In Paul’s inspired exhortation towards unity, he wrote that we are to be: “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:3-6).

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Instead of concocting our own system of agreeing to disagree, we must maintain the unity the Holy Spirit provides. The oneness of the Lord’s followers is emphasized in the book of Ephesians. God was able to make first-century Jews and Gentiles one in the church, the one body where both are reconciled to God (Eph. 1:22-23; 2:16). Christians can be one as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one. Ephesians 2:18 goes on to say of Christ, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” By the Spirit we are to walk worthy of our calling (Eph. 4:1). We have been called into the fellowship of God’s Son through the preaching of the gospel (1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Thess. 2:14). This fellowship with the Father and the Son is maintained by abiding in the doctrine of Christ, not changing it to include those who bring other doctrines (2 Jn. 9-11).

The mindset that is key to unity is seen when Christians walk “with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2). Notice how the same words appear in Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” The Spirit has produced results (fruit) in our lives that create the possibility for unity we could never achieve on our own without Him. We can show humility (Phil. 2:3), because Jesus showed the ultimate humility (lowliness) in giving up the glories of heaven to come to earth, not only to live as a man, but also to die a despicable death on a cross for us (Phil. 2:5-8). The meekness and gentleness Paul showed to His brothers was really the meekness and gentleness of Christ (2 Cor. 10:1). We love others because love was first shown to us (Jn. 13:34; 1 Jn. 4:10). Loving others in the same way results in all men knowing we are disciples of Jesus (Jn. 13:35). God’s plan is for every Christian to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), continuing in the unity and edification of the truth (Eph. 4:13-16), and building one another up in most holy faith (Jude 19-21).

-Mark Day