The Promise of Resurrection in Isaiah’s Teachings

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord. We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world. But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!”
Isaiah 26:17-19 NLT

Isaiah describes the efforts the people made so that something would happen. They writhed apparently in agony, “but nothing comes of [their] suffering”. In times of extreme stress and distress, people sometimes do extraordinary things, as much out of desperation as anything else. The bottom line, though, was that Israel’s own efforts could not bring about the salvation they desperately needed. That points us towards a fundamental biblical truth: our ultimate hope does not rest in what we can accomplish, but in what God accomplishes for us. Isaiah wrote that salvation could not come through human efforts, no matter how hard we try. Some people do extraordinary things to maintain their appearance or prolong their lives through this potion or that snake oil, but inevitably their efforts reach an endpoint that keeps them from reaching their ultimate hope. But even that doesn’t stop some people. They arrange for their bodies after death to be frozen, a process called cryopreservation, where their body fluids are replaced with a medical form of antifreeze before their remains are frozen in liquid nitrogen to a temperature of -196 degrees Celsius. But their salvation still cannot be guaranteed, even if, on some future date, they can be unfrozen and brought back to life. Sooner or later, eternal death will result. As we pilgrims know, there is only one way to be saved, and that is through Jesus. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Paul wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Ephesians 2:8). The reality is that no matter how much money you spend, it is impossible to purchase a life after death through anything we can do. Our bodies will die and be returned to the elements from which they have been constructed, but our souls and spirits will live eternally in the place of our choosing. We can reach out in faith to our Heavenly Father, accepting His free gift of eternal life spent with Him, or we can reject Him and find out what hell will ultimately be like. 

There is another Godly “but” in the next verse from our reading today. “But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again!” The previous verses speak of pain, failure and helplessness. Then God says that death itself is not the final word for God’s people. David wrote, “For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever” (Psalm 16:10-11). The first “Holy One” was, of course, Jesus, and we know that the tomb in which He was laid was soon empty. Jesus only borrowed it for the weekend. After the death of Lazarus, Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?” (John 11:25-26). Early on in His ministry, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Such a straightforward and simple statement, but the truth and reality of Jesus’ mission has divided mankind for centuries, with most people choosing to reject what He said. Worse, partly because of Jesus’ heritage and ancestry, there has been an uprising of animosity against the Jews, something we term anti-semitism. But this animosity has been extended to include Christians, and Open Doors has calculated that 388 million believers in Jesus are being persecuted for their faith today. This amounts to 1 in 7 believers across the globe. 

One day we pilgrims will be resurrected. Jesus was the first: the angel said to the women who had come to prepare His body for a proper burial, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay” (Matthew 28:6). No matter how hopelessly final Jesus’ crucifixion, death and burial seemed to have been, we worship a God who specialises in bringing life out of situations that appear to be hopeless. What happens next is beyond even our wildest dreams. Paul wrote, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). In 1 Corinthian 15:53, Paul wrote, “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies”. The hope that we pilgrims hold is therefore much more than wishing tomorrow will be better. Our hope reaches beyond the grave. Even death cannot separate a believer from God’s purposes and promises.

Our verses today end with a song. Isaiah wrote, “Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy!”. How marvellous is that! Our future hope is in a life of joy where there will be no more sickness, crying and death. The dead are described as awakening and singing, and we are promised that the grave is not the end; our resurrection will lead to worship. Can we get our minds around the fact that we will wake up in God’s presence with a song of praise on our lips? In our current lives, we may be passing through the valley of death, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. One day we will be singing our spiritual hearts out in God’s presence. It is only God who can deliver the salvation our hearts yearn for, and once again I am reminded that I have been commissioned to tell this fact to those around me. A simple message: “Hell is hot, Heaven is real, and Jesus saves!” 

Dear Heavenly Father. A song is already forming on my lips, a song of worship to You, who loved me so much that You sent Your Son, Jesus, to die for my fellow pilgrims and me. There are no words available to express our gratitude, but grateful we are with every fibre of our beings. We worship You today, and will continue to worship You across the Great Divide into Heavenly places. Amen.

Understanding Delayed Answers to Prayer in Faith

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Folded hands resting over an open Bible beside eyeglasses and beads

“Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord. We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world. But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!”
Isaiah 26:17-19 NLT

Do we hear a hint of frustration in Isaiah’s prophetic voice this morning? God’s hand of discipline weighed heavily upon them and, no matter what they did, “nothing [came] of [their] suffering. Like a woman in labour, they cried out in pain, but their efforts seemed to produce nothing. They had hoped to bring deliverance, but instead experienced weakness and disappointment. And, rightly, Isaiah continues with an acknowledgement of his, and the people’s, limitations. Perhaps there was a breakthrough when Isaiah realised that God’s greatness was infinitely more than any human being’s, because, as we move to verse 19 today, we find that he had received a revelation of hope. Hope for the future. Hope for all those who “die in the Lord”. 

Sometimes we pilgrims seem to work away, but nothing seems to come of our labours. A missionary might work in a foreign land and see no converts, despite many years of toil. Pastors might preach many messages from the pulpit, all focused on the congregation’s spiritual growth, but the same issues of sin remain. We pilgrims might pray for a long time for the healing of a loved one, but sickness remains. Perhaps we are praying for revival, for God to visit us again through His Spirit, but nothing changes. We pray over issues, but God never seems to hear our prayers, let alone answer them. Do we waste our time and effort? But then, like Isaiah, we realise God’s ability and our inability, and we shift our focus from the issues to the future. In this life, we pilgrims were never promised that the fruits of our labours would be seen straight away. The problem is that we live in an “instant” generation, expecting immediate answers.

The psalmist Asaph had similar problems. He looked on at the people around him, and found that the proud seemed to survive the catastrophes that he was facing. He had a good rant in Psalm 73, even confessing, “But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone” (verse 2). In verse 11, the people even wondered, ““What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”” Asaph’s depression deepened and he wrote, “Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain”. And then revelation finally came in verse 17, and he wrote, “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked”. 

There was a time when Daniel had been praying and, after a time, had a visitation from the Angel Gabriel on the banks of the River Tigris. The figure of the Angel was terrifying, but he said to Daniel, “ … Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer” (Daniel 10:12). The next verse explained the reason for the delay, “But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia”. Sometimes we don’t know why God seems to have ears deaf to our prayers. Or why the answers take so long to come. 

Peter wrote, “The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12). Proverbs 15:29, “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous”. We pilgrims are righteous in God’s sight because of Jesus, who died so our sins could be forgiven and we could receive His righteousness. So God hears our prayers, and in faith we believe that this is the case. So why does He seem to delay in answering them? There can be several reasons. Perhaps we have unconfessed sin that is blocking our prayer requests. Or perhaps God’s timing is different to our expectations, because He might have a better answer waiting for just the right time. Perhaps our motives are selfish. But whatever, I firmly believe that God answers “the fervent prayers of a righteous man”. His answers can be “Yes”, “No” or “Wait”. But answer he will. 

What are we pilgrims praying about this morning? Have faith that God has heard your prayer and, like Daniel, the answer will come in due time. In the meantime, however, we need to lift our eyes to Heaven and enter God’s sanctuary. Once in God’s presence, Asaph wrote, “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever” (Psalm 73:25-26). And he finishes the Psalm, “But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do”. 

Dear Father God. Sometimes we pray for years, for a loved one to be saved, or someone we know to be healed from a long illness. But we know that You hear our prayers, and we wait patiently for Your answer. We repent of any barriers we erect in response to our impatience, and instead we, in faith, leave the issues to You and Your perfect ways. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

How God’s Discipline Shapes Our Journey

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Potter shaping a clay vessel on a spinning wheel

“Lord, in distress we searched for you. We prayed beneath the burden of your discipline. Just as a pregnant woman writhes and cries out in pain as she gives birth, so were we in your presence, Lord. We, too, writhe in agony, but nothing comes of our suffering. We have not given salvation to the earth, nor brought life into the world. But those who die in the Lord will live; their bodies will rise again! Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy! For your life-giving light will fall like dew on your people in the place of the dead!”
Isaiah 26:16-19 NLT

Discipline. Not a popular word; one that conjures up memories of detention at school, or, for those of more mature years, the thought of the tawse, a leather strap with split ends used in Scottish schools by a teacher to keep classroom order. For a child, some form of discipline is necessary to keep them on the “straight and narrow” path so that they know the difference between right and wrong and choose the former more often than the latter. “Why can’t I?” is a familiar wail from a child when refused permission to do something. But no one likes being told what to do. There is something within a human being that rebels against the very thought that what they want to do is unacceptable. Solomon’s proverbs contain many references to the right way, God’s way, of living, and he wrote them for a particular reason: “Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair” (Proverbs 1:2-3). It is fascinating that most of the proverbs he wrote still apply today. 

The Israelites were guilty of going their own way, ignoring the instructions God gave them for a long and fruitful life, as recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy. Instead of worshipping God, they chose idols as a better bet. Instead of following His laws, they invented their own. And in Isaiah’s day, they were reaping the consequences of the evil seeds that they had sown. Whenever that happened, God allowed circumstances to build until the people turned back to Him. In Hebrews 12:5-6 we read, “And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child””. The Lord always intends to train His children to repent and turn back to Him when they have chosen to go their own way. He wants them to return to the path of life and blessing that He has provided for them. The Lord’s discipline is a loving action, not a punishment to make His loved ones “pay” for their sin. 

Isaiah then compares the pain of discipline to a woman’s pains as she prepares to give birth to her child. She cries out as each new contraction comes. Each breath brings more intense pain as the birth gets closer. Isaiah tells the Lord that the pain He has caused them is similar, growing greater with each new season of God’s discipline. Many believers are surprised by the thought that God disciplines His followers, His children. But God increases the painfulness of the discipline over time if His children don’t respond by repenting and turning back to Him. Israel’s distress grew with each passing day as they continued in their unfaithfulness to the Lord. Someone once said that if a believer doesn’t experience God’s discipline at some time in their lives, then they should go back to their roots in Him, back to the Cross, and start afresh with repentance for their sins. How many people sit in the pews each Sunday, going through the liturgical motions, singing the hymns, but not knowing the God they worship? Jesus said, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). It’s a scary thought that people who profess to be Christians will be turned away at the gates of Heaven. 

God’s discipline is there to ensure that His followers, pilgrims like you and me, do His will in every part of their lives. But God doesn’t demand we do His will just because He feels like it. Paul wrote to Timothy, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We have God’s Word, the Bible, to help us on our journeys through life, and we must read it to find the treasures contained therein. But not just read it. We must follow the precepts that God has put in there for a purpose. A Christian’s life starts at the Cross, but so many people seem to camp there, unable to move on in the journey to the Glory that awaits them one day. Salvation is often understood as a believer’s three-stage journey. Justification is the first, instantaneous stage where God declares a believer righteous and frees them from the penalty of sin. Sanctification (the ongoing process of holiness) and glorification (the final eternal state) follow. God’s discipline is there to keep us on the narrow way to life. Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow, and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). 

But we have a loving Heavenly Father who cares for us. He doesn’t want us to divert onto the wrong road and miss out on the eternal life He has promised us. So He disciplines us when necessary. What form does His discipline take? Well, there are many. For example, we can experience a deep loss of inner peace, a heavy conscience, or a restless spirit. Difficulties at work, instability at home, or strained relationships may force a person to re-evaluate their choices. Sometimes God will allow people to experience the natural, painful fallout of their own poor decisions or sinful actions. In extreme situations, His discipline might come through rebukes, advice, or confrontation from fellow believers or our pastors. But through it all, there is one place we need to go when things are not as they should be, and that is into God’s presence. On our knees we pray for direction and help in dealing with our problems. A good prayer to start with we find in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life”. God will never refuse such a prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father. You discipline us when we need discipline. You encourage us when we need encouragement. But in everything You do, it is because You love us. On our knees before You today, we pray David’s prayer that You search our hearts for anything that shouldn’t be there. We want to be pure and holy as You require, and continue on our Heavenly journey, day by day. Amen.

The Choice Between Two Masters: God or the Devil

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“O Lord our God, others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship. Those we served before are dead and gone. Their departed spirits will never return! You attacked them and destroyed them, and they are long forgotten. O Lord, you have made our nation great; yes, you have made us great. You have extended our borders, and we give you the glory!”
Isaiah 26:13-15 NLT

We cannot go far in this life without, sooner or later, finding that we have to answer to someone. As soon as a child is old enough to understand, they have to answer to their parents. At school, they answer to a teacher. Then, as a teenager, they might find that a policeman isn’t too impressed by their behaviour. In a workplace, an employer will tell them what to do. When they’re sick, a nurse or doctor will provide advice, quite strongly if necessary. Someone receiving benefits has to answer to the government agency to keep receiving them. The list goes on. But in a spiritual sense, there are two masters: one we pilgrims know well, God Himself, and it is a joy to be able to serve Him. The other is the devil, whom most inhabitants in the UK follow, although they would probably deny it. As Bob Dylan wrote, “But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed / You’re gonna have to serve somebody / Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord / But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”. 

Isaiah wrote, “O Lord our God, others have ruled us, but you alone are the one we worship”. The Israelites had many different rulers, as we can read in the Book of Judges. In this Bible book, we find that time and again, the Israelites “did evil in the Lord’s sight” and found that judgement soon followed, with foreign nations overpowering their nation. In Judges 4, we find the story of a Canaanite king, Sisera, who “ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years”. Then two chapters on, we find, “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Midianites for seven years” (Judges 6:1). Then on another occasion, “Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight. They served the images of Baal and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Aram, Sidon, Moab, Ammon, and Philistia. They abandoned the Lord and no longer served him at all. So the Lord burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to the Philistines and the Ammonites, who began to oppress them that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites east of the Jordan River in the land of the Amorites (that is, in Gilead)” (Judges 10:6-8). As we read further, we find the story of Samson and the Philistines, with the same pattern continuing.

So when Isaiah wrote, “others have ruled us”, he wasn’t wrong, and in his days, the threat was from Babylon and the cruel and unstoppable Assyrian army. But Isaiah could see a day coming when “those we served before are dead and gone”, and he celebrated the time when the Lord would make the nation of the Jews great again. Any student of history could see that even though the Israelites sinned and were subject to a foreign ruler for a time, the Lord saved them. This happened frequently, and even in Jesus’ time, the Romans were the occupying force, with the Jews subject to their rule. Today, the nation of Israel is self-ruling once again, although the land they live in is a fraction of what God promised them through Abraham. Will we one day see their border expanded as Isaiah prophesied? 

We pilgrims were once ruled by a power that Jesus destroyed on the Cross at Calvary. Hebrews 2:14-15, “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying”. Colossians 2:15, “In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross”. We were once ruled by the enemy of God, the devil, and we served him without realising it. Think of the lives we lived and the sins we committed. Think of the ways we offended God through our actions, our speech and our thoughts. But Jesus came to set us free from all that and through God’s grace, we are free indeed. 

But we pilgrims are soldiers on the front line of the battle between God and the devil. We are harassed and attacked on many fronts, but mostly in our minds. Paul wrote, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). A spiritual battle continues to rage, but we know that we are on the winning side. So we equip ourselves for the battles ahead with all of God’s armour, assured of the Lord’s support in the difficult times. Yes, we will occasionally fall, but God is quick to forgive, and He picks us up and dusts us off before sending us back to the conflict. And all the while we are being sanctified, made holy for the day when we will find ourselves in Heaven in God’s presence. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever”. 

Yes, one day we will see the greatness and glory of God shine out in a world where the devil is no more. Isaiah could see it. Can we? A few days ago, we delved into Psalm 73 and found how the Psalmist found his way back into God’s presence. Too often, we pilgrims fail to lift our gazes in a Heavenly direction. But we have read the end of the Book, and we know what will happen. We don’t know when, but what we do know is that God will keep His promises. But we are not a people who are “too Heavenly minded to be of any earthly good”. We pilgrims are a people who bring the message of our hope in God into the lives of our friends and families, those who are otherwise heading to the wrong place. We are the means by which Heaven will touch earth. In the Lord’s prayer, we pray for God’s Kingdom to come and for His will to be done. Do we think we can just sit back and wait for God to do something through some divine process? I suspect this process involves willing and able servants like us, serving as His hands and feet. So what has God asked us to do today? Come to that, have we asked Him? Hmmm..

Dear Father God. We reach out to You this morning in prayer, asking for the next assignment You have for us. We pray for willing ears to hear what You have to say, and for grace and compassion to equip us as we obediently do Your will in the lives of those around us. And above all, we thank You for Jesus and all that He has done for us, bringing Your Kingdom into our lives. We pray in Your name. Amen.

Understanding Why the Wicked Prosper

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty. O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies. Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.”
Isaiah 26:9-12 NLT

Isaiah introduces something that has constantly baffled the righteous followers of God for millennia. Why do the wicked get away with their wickedness? Why doesn’t God just zap them when they do wrong, those people who “take no notice of the Lord’s majesty”? But it’s worse than that because the same wicked people do harm to God’s people. Isaiah called out to God to “show them [His] eagerness to defend [His] people”. We can all think of people in the public eye who are overtly wicked and who, in their pride and arrogance, think that they are immortal and unstoppable in their wickedness. They may even redefine the word wickedness to mean good, and many gullible people will swallow the lies. Isaiah wrote about them once before in Isaiah 5:20, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter”. One current example of this can be found in the war between Russia and Ukraine, in which the leader of the attacking side declared his goal was to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine. Wasn’t that just an excuse to reoccupy a nation with the false justification that it had a moral duty to do this? We pray that God will bring justice to the poor people in Ukraine and Russia who are suffering so much.

The Psalmist, Asaph, had a similar problem, as we read in Psalm 73:3, “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness”. He goes on to describe the ways in which the “wicked” prospered, through good health, lack of troubles, and with everything they need. But in their pride, Asaph could see their arrogance, the way they boasted and crushed those less fortunate. They spoke only evil and scoffed at God. Psalm 73:11, “”What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”” Asaph concludes in the next verses, “Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?” He then continues with “I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain”. This is a very human Psalm, because Asaph’s feelings are bang up to date. Was there a hint of self-pity infecting his soul? As we read, he next tried to rationalise in his own mind why such evil people got away with their evil. “So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!” (Psalm 73:16). Don’t we do the same? A burglar steals and is never caught. A mobile phone is snatched, and the owner never sees it again. At the other end of the scale, a despotic leader sends a million young men to their deaths but is still in power at home. Why does God allow such people to get away with their wickedness?

Asaph finally went into God’s presence, and there he found the answer to his dilemma. “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked”. There is no use fretting about God’s apparent lack of action because God will act. Asaph wrote, “Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning” (Psalm 73:18-20). Asaph then turns his thoughts away from the wicked, as God’s light illuminated his soul. He realised how bitter he had become, and he turned his gaze to God Himself. Asaph completes the Psalm with, “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. … But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do” (Psalm 73:25-26, 28). When we lift our gaze into Heavenly places, we find a different perspective, because we find that God is still on His throne and He has everything under control. He wants no one to perish, and He is gracious and patient, just in case the wicked people finally realise the error of their ways and turn to Him in repentance.

But just one more thing that we need to bear in mind, even pilgrims such as us. Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). If God had zapped all the wicked people, would I be writing this? Would any of us be still alive on this planet? We pilgrims need to fall on our knees before God with grateful hearts, thanking Him for His patience and grace.

Dear Heavenly Father. We are so grateful that You sent Your Son “to seek and save the lost”. Unless Jesus had walked on this world, we pilgrims would have had no hope for the future other than a miserable existence in a place where we wouldn’t want to be. All other religions are about man seeking a god, but there is only one God who came to seek sinners like us. So on our knees before You today we offer our worship to the One who has done so much for us. Amen.

Seeking God: Morning and Night Reflections

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty. O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies. Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.”
Isaiah 26:9-12 NLT

Morning and night. Special times perhaps for God’s people, and pilgrims like us everywhere. Some nights, lying in bed in that “starting to drift off into sleep” mode, I’m conscious of a feeling of relief after a confusing and chaotic day, and I bring before God my thoughts and emotions, asking Him for His perspective and confessing any sins that I might have committed. This leads to praying for the issues that have emerged over the past few hours, and that’s how the day ends. But Isaiah went further; he earnestly searched for the Lord. That builds a picture of a man who is aware of society’s ills and where God cannot be found at all. We pilgrims perhaps feel the same, as we consider our increasingly secular society, where God has been forgotten, ignored and even vilified. Where our fellow citizens follow their selfish desires as they did in the days of the Judges: “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Their moral compass long gone. Their songs, devoid of praises to God, would instead have the lyrics “What’s in it for me” or “I’ll do it my way”. But Isaiah searched for God while lying on his bed, and I’m sure, in the quiet of the night, he found His Lord.

But on awakening, Isaiah sought God again. Faced with such an arrogant and Godless society, he knew that he needed God to be there with him. He didn’t know what he would face in the day ahead, and perhaps he was even a bit scared about the issues he would have to face. The people around him had forgotten God, as we have read in previous chapters, and were following sinful practices, particularly idolatry, even though they went through the motions of the Jewish rites and rituals. But do we pilgrims feel the same? Do we too wake up and immediately start to think God-thoughts, earnestly seeking Him for whatever resources we need for the day ahead? Are we like the Psalmist David, praying as in Psalm 5:3, “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly”? In a time of great stress, David wrote another prayer: “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). This might be an appropriate prayer for those of us pilgrims who are currently living in drought-filled parts of England. But the land in which we live is indeed parched without the living water of God’s Spirit flowing throughout our societies, our churches and communities.

What requests do we have this morning? And, here’s the thing, do we believe that God can bring answers to our prayers? But I know that some people wake up in the morning, just relieved that they have survived another night, having been racked with pain, or unable to sleep. Others wearily haul themselves out of bed, wishing that they didn’t have to face the day ahead at all. But not Isaiah. He had an eager expectation that God would be there with him. He knew what Solomon had written years before: “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” (Lamentations 3:23). 

Jesus always spent time in prayer in the mornings. Mark 1:35, “Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray”. Why did He have to do that? Because when He left Heaven, Jesus left behind most of His divine attributes, taking on human form with all the limitations that would follow. So He had to spend time communicating with His Father in Heaven to ensure that He would follow His will in the day ahead. We should do the same because we don’t have a clue about the issues that might appear in the hours ahead. We pray for grace and compassion in our interactions with fellow citizens, God-followers or not. We pray for the words to say when someone needs comforting. We need the leading of the Holy Spirit when God wants us to bring His message of hope into a life devoid of hope at all. And, above all, we need God to fill us afresh with His Spirit, resourcing us for the day ahead. I do not know what I will face today. But I know Someone who does, and I need to hold His hand throughout the day ahead. Thankfully, His hands are big enough to hold each one of us. 

Almost despairingly, Isaiah wrote, “For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right”. A statement of truth, but within it there are pockets of hope for those who follow Him day by day, for those who earnestly seek God for His resources and His righteousness. But by Judgment Day, it will be too late for most to understand the difference between right and wrong. For those who have never understood what God truly desires, Fanny Crosby wrote a hymn in 1869 called “Near the Cross”, and the first verse reads, “Jesus, keep me near the cross,/ There a precious fountain; / Free to all, a healing stream,/ Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain”. And the chorus goes: “In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory ever, / Till my ransomed soul shall find / Rest beyond the river”. That’s where we pilgrims need to be, always aware of what Jesus has done for us. Always close to our Master.

Dear Heavenly Father. It all starts with the Cross at Calvary, and Your Son in agony of body and spirit, taking on to Himself the sins of the world. And before You this morning, I declare my gratitude. In this weary and parched land, I pray that once again, You will awaken us with a new move of Your Spirit. Raise up Godly men and women, we pray, who will pray without ceasing for revival to hit Your churches, shifting the people’s gaze far above their leaking church roofs to Your throne. It’s all about You, Lord, and we echo Your prayer for Your Kingdom to come and Your will to be done, in Your precious name. Amen.

Righteous Paths: Navigating Life with Faith

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Moth hovering beside a lit candle on a rustic wooden table

“He humbles the proud and brings down the arrogant city. He brings it down to the dust. The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot, and the needy walk all over it. But for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name.”
Isaiah 26:5-8 NLT

In the next few verses in Isaiah 26, another city emerges. It is not the same as the previous city, the City of God. This one is arrogant. Once again, we are back to the theme of how destructive pride and arrogance can be, and how a city full of people infected with these traits thinks it is invincible and untouchable. The Jebusites, who populated Jerusalem before it became the city of the Jews, thought they were invincible. In 2 Samuel 5:6, we read, “David then led his men to Jerusalem to fight against the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land who were living there. The Jebusites taunted David, saying, “You’ll never get in here! Even the blind and lame could keep you out!” For the Jebusites thought they were safe”. But in the next verse, we read, “But David captured the fortress of Zion, which is now called the City of David”. How did he do it? By finding a way into the fortified city through the water tunnel. With God there is always a way. Without God, wicked people, in their pride and arrogance, amount to nothing. 

But the word “city” has another meaning. In the context of our verses today, it also means worldliness, the world system, and the people who support it. Many complacent people in the UK today believe they are safe from the collapse of their society. After all, they say, nothing bad has happened here for many years. Yes, they say, there are challenges and the tax rate is too high, but they’re comfortable and can get by because they think they are invincible in their riches, nice houses, and secure jobs. They are proud of their achievements, their education, their cars and so on. But none of them gives a thought that God can bring it all down to “dust, to a point where the poor, the needy, and the people they oppressed can trample over them. 

In this prophecy, Isaiah highlights the benefit of those who trust in the Lord, as we read in Isaiah 26:4, “Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock”. Those who trust in the Lord obey Him, and this obedience to God leads to living a life of righteousness. Because of that, Isaiah pointed out that those who live such lives of trust and righteousness will find that their ways through life will not be “steep and rough”, and the way before them will be smooth, without the hassles the proud and arrogant would find. Trying to live outside of the Lord’s design for life always introduces obstacles and difficulty. We find in Proverbs 1:7 the difference between the proud and the righteous: “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline”. And for us pilgrims, we do well to take note of, and follow, Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take”. The paths the proud and arrogant have chosen will not end well, as their “house of cards”, their trust in the world system and ways, comes tumbling down. However, those who look to God will find that His way is free of the disasters experienced by godless people. A headline in one of the papers this morning mourns the experience of some greedy people with too much money who invested in poor-performing stocks, with returns far from those promised or expected. Perhaps they should have invested instead in God’s Kingdom, building up treasure that will never suffer from poor returns. The world system, and those who support it, will never last beyond the grave.

So does that mean we pilgrims should opt out of our societies and find a way of life in a monastery or foreign land, where life is more basic and untainted by the hustle and bustle of Western ways? No, because in our verses today, Isaiah is saying that there is a straight path through all the pride and arrogance that blights the lives of those around us. Isaiah 26:8 reads, “Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name”. We pilgrims are living in two kingdoms, the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God, but we are only citizens of the latter. We are God’s ambassadors to a lost and hopeless people caught up in the pride and arrogance of the world system. We need to be like Isaiah, who lived in Judah amongst a people who had forgotten God and were living lives tainted by evil and idolatry. We need to be beacons of light, speaking out God’s message to this lost and hopeless generation. And so we echo Isaiah’s words today, “Lord, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart’s desire is to glorify your name“.

Father God. Please help us to navigate the ways of this world, staying righteous in our societies of unrighteousness. Maximise our witness, we pray, so that Your voice will prevail through all the noise and darkness declared by evil people. We pray for our governments and leaders, our churches and congregations, our places of employment and recreation, so that Your name will be glorified. And we pray for our families and friends, that we will indeed be that beacon of light that draws them close to You. We pray all this in Your precious name. Amen.

Finding Perfect Peace in God’s Presence

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Sunset sky reflecting on calm lake with mountain silhouettes and pine forest

“In that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is strong! We are surrounded by the walls of God’s salvation. Open the gates to all who are righteous; allow the faithful to enter. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.”
Isaiah 26:1-4 NLT

That phrase again, “In that day”. Isaiah could see a day coming when all his wishes would be realised. A day when he would be freed from the anxieties caused by the sins of his people. A day when God’s perfect order would be restored, along with His kingdom. A day when everyone would be singing from the same hymn sheet, and what a song that will be! And Isaiah lets his anointed imagination loose on what that day will look like. The strong city was a reference to Jerusalem, the City of God, and with Him dwelling there, salvation would be assured. Only righteous and faithful people would be allowed to enter, with, presumably, anyone else shut out. 

We read about this City in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem “coming down from God out of Heaven, like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband”. Further down the page we read, “So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:10-11). And at the end of the chapter we read, “Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”. In the next chapter, we read, “Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life”, and the unrighteous will be excluded, “Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie”. But there won’t be many of them, because we read in Revelation 21:8, “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death”. 

In Isaiah 26:3, one of our verses this morning, we read the well-known and much-quoted verse, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” Peace is a scarce commodity these days. Wars blight our world, with death and destruction following. But peace, or a lack of it, also impacts our societies and our relationships. In recent years, the UK seems to have become very angry, with different factions stridently declaring their beliefs and ideologies and denigrating those who believe otherwise. Many people fail to be at peace with their neighbours, with occasional court cases emerging that expose disputes over the silliest of things, like a boundary wall erected a few inches the wrong way. The UK fails to be at peace with itself, and the problem seems to be getting worse, with politicians of different colours stoking up dissent and failing to lead the country into the peace its citizens require. But, as we pilgrims know, it is only God who has the eternal solution. Perfect peace can only be found in Him.

Jesus said to His disciples, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). He knew that the world would never live in peace. He knew that even the people themselves were suffering from a lack of it. And He knew that there was no political or national leader who could ever deliver the peace that people yearned for. That peace can only be found in God. The Psalmist David knew all about that peace and where it originated. Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe”. His is an incredible story of highs and lows, hounded for many years by King Saul, betrayed by his own son, harassed by his enemies, and yet he could feel safe and at peace in God.

We often say of a recently departed person that they are now at peace, implying that their life, or their last days, were spent in conflict. But even that is not assured, because there will be no peace for those wandering souls, excluded from God’s presence in heaven because they failed to trust in Him. God’s peace extends beyond the grave into Heaven itself, where the redeemed will enjoy God’s presence for ever. That is why we pilgrims must be proactive in spreading God’s message of hope to all those we meet. So many people are living lives conflicted by their worries and anxieties, hopeless and without peace. But we pilgrims know the “peace that surpasses all understanding”, and we cannot keep it to ourselves. Who can we truly say “Shalom” to today? Let’s be ready, in case God is leading us to just the right person.

Dear Heavenly Father. It is only in You that we can experience perfect peace. Please help us to look at world events through Your eyes, and be at peace because we know and trust that You are still on Your throne. We praise You today. Amen.

End Times and Trust: Understanding Isaiah’s Prophecies

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“In that day the people will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us! This is the Lord, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!” For the Lord’s hand of blessing will rest on Jerusalem. But Moab will be crushed. It will be like straw trampled down and left to rot. God will push down Moab’s people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works. The high walls of Moab will be demolished. They will be brought down to the ground, down into the dust.”
Isaiah 25:9-12 NLT

“This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us!” What a wonderful way to start our devotions today, with the thought that God has saved us. But we need to unpick this verse a bit to extract some more important messages. The first thought centres on “in that day”. Once again, Isaiah’s writings refer to a day when the world order will be destroyed, and it must have been of some importance because the phrase “in (or on) that day” occurs 57 times in the Book of Isaiah. God revealed to Isaiah some important truths about what was to come, and Isaiah faithfully wrote down what God revealed to him. But when will that day be? Of course, we don’t know, and Jesus said to His disciples, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know” (Acts 1:7). In Matthew 24:6-8, Jesus set out some signs to look for: “And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come”. So the indications are that we are in the End Times, but, with more events scheduled to happen, we’re not there yet. John’s vision in the Book of Revelation is worth a read for the inquisitive. But, as any mother can tell us, the labour pains can come suddenly or can drag on for days. On the other side of all the End Time events yet to happen, though, there will be a people who will proclaim, “This is our God! We trusted in him, and he saved us!” 

What does it mean to trust in God? Trusting God means relying completely on His goodness, wisdom, and power, even when life is hard or uncertain. It is a daily choice to let go of control, stop worrying, and believe that His character and promises are true. But, human nature being what it is, we find that it is very hard to let go and trust someone else with our lives, both now and in the future. And if that Person we trust is God, who, in the natural, we can’t see or feel or communicate with, face to face… But that is when faith comes into play. The natural response, when we encounter hard and difficult times, is to cast around to find a human remedy. So when money is short, we head to the banks or moneylenders, or use our credit cards. If we are short of food, we think of the food banks. If we lose our jobs, we see what financial assistance, “benefits” we can receive from government agencies. If we are in danger of losing our homes, we think about alternatives, such as staying with relatives, or phone around to find another. But trusting in God means that we set aside our anxieties and instead look to God for a solution. Philippians 4:6, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done”. Jesus said, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:31-33). 

But trusting God also means that we must wait for His solution, and not try to get ahead of Him by producing an Ishmael. Remember the story? God promised Abraham a son, but after a few years of waiting, he and his wife hatched a plan to get one through Sarah’s servant. Ishmael duly appeared, but he wasn’t the son of the promise. That son, Isaac, was still to come. And, as we know, in this world, the consequences of producing an Ishmael still continue. Getting ahead of God would likely produce something second-best, not the perfect result our Heavenly Father has waiting for us. And in it all, when anxieties and problems emerge, as they will in this troubled and imperfect world, we learn the peace that comes from trusting in our Father with our lives and all that we are. After all, we know who controls this world, and we remain faithful and hopeful, calm in all the storms. 

The people will also proclaim “in that day” that God saved them. When God saves us, it means He rescues us from the punishment and power of sin through Jesus Christ. Salvation means that we are delivered from eternal death through our faith in Jesus, who granted us forgiveness and a new relationship with God. Think about it. All the sins, the things that we have done wrong, the thoughts that have polluted our minds, the failure to do what we should have done – the list is endless – have all been forgiven and erased from God’s Heavenly slate. Psalm 103:12, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west”. But it gets better. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ”. We pilgrims can now stand before God clothed with Jesus’ righteousness and adopted as His children. Romans 8:15, “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father””.

Isaiah 25 ends with a warning to Moab, but “Moab” can be extended to include all people who refuse to trust in God. Their pompous pride and evil works get in the way. As with all unbelievers, their belief that they didn’t need to acknowledge the Lord God of Israel is their downfall. But He will knock down the fortification of their human walls and defeat them in His judgment. We all know someone in this category, I’m sure, and we must reach out to them with God’s love, sharing His message of hope and salvation, so that the Holy Spirit can bring conviction of their sin. 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent”. Yes, God’s patience is driven by His love and grace for human beings, and we must, in our capacity as His ambassadors to Planet Earth, extend the same.

So we end these devotions today echoing how we started, declaring that the Lord is our God, that we trust in Him, and thanking Him for our salvation. We are truly favoured as God’s children.

Dear Heavenly Father. As we draw to a close in another chapter in Isaiah, we thank You for the prophet and Your messages communicated through him. We thank You for Your Word, and the truths held within, so useful for helping us, and keeping us founded on the Rock who is Christ. Amen.

Divine Banquet on Mount Zion: A Biblical Vision

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 25:6-8 ESV

There is a mountain involved in Isaiah’s vision, where God will prepare and serve “a feast of rich food” with all the trimmings. What a wonderful banquet that will be, particularly for the poor and needy people in their distress. And even for those who are accustomed to enjoying their food with a variety of possibilities, the divine banquet will be literally out of this world.  However, this event will be held on the mountain, assumed to be Mount Zion, where God will be a stronghold and refuge for those in need. 

There is much significance to this mountain. In the Bible, Mount Zion was first described as a specific hilltop fortress in Jerusalem captured by King David. Over time, the name expanded in scripture to mean the Temple Mount, the entire city of Jerusalem, the people of Israel, and finally a symbol for God’s Heavenly kingdom. In Hebrews 12:18, we read, “You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai”. This was the mountain we find in Exodus 19:12, “Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death”. The Hebrews epistle was addressed to the Jewish people, so they would have known the significance of any reference to Sinai. But back in Hebrews 12:22-24, we read about the “Heavenly Jerusalem”, where God will be found. “No, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel”. Will we pilgrims be there? Of course we will. Where else will we be able to enjoy “a feast of rich food”? A banquet like no other.

There is something else significant about that mountain. In our verses today, we read, “There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth”. What is this “shadow of death”? It is sin. Some translations refer to a veil hanging over humanity, so that they cannot see God, just as Moses wore a veil to prevent the Israelites from seeing his glowing face. The curse of sin and death hangs over every life, but God promises to remove that covering forever. Paul describes unbelievers as spiritually veiled, as we read in 2 Corinthians 3:14, “But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ”. Two verses on, “But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away”. We pilgrims have had our eyes opened to God and His Kingdom, through Jesus and all He did for us at Calvary. We have access to God beyond the veil that stops all unbelievers from seeing Him. Paul wrote, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12). For us pilgrims, the veil has been removed, but one day we will see God clearly, without any spiritual myopia at all. Will that be on Mount Zion, on that day when we will be enjoying the banquet of delicious food? That is our hope, our faith, in the promise of God.

There on Mount Zion, “[God] will swallow up death forever”. Revelation 21:4, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever”. Back to Paul again in 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory”. On the Cross, Jesus defeated death forever, and He confirmed that through the empty tomb. Jesus is still alive today, sitting at God’s right hand, where He is interceding for us. One day, we will be alive with Him for eternity. But notice what this means. Death is humanity’s greatest enemy. Medical science may delay it, and philosophies may explain it, but only Christ defeated it. And the enormous truth is that death itself will one day die.

Dear Father God. We pilgrims will one day come to Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem, Your dwelling. You are preparing a place for us there, something for which we are very grateful. Amen.