With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.” Isaiah 35: 3, 4, NLT.
Gracious God, our hearts rejoice as we look into Your Word. Please open the eyes of our imagination, and help us to catch a “glimpse” of what awaits us; in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
This chapter speaks of renewal! It describes the state of things when God would bring back His people who had been exiled in a foreign land! His promise of renewal was not only for the people, but also for the land! Perhaps you have observed how, time and again, because of the sins of the people, the land suffered.
You may remember when we spoke about the drought in the days of the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17: 1), during the reign of king Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Again, in 2 Chronicles 7: 14, God promised that if His people were to repent of their evil ways, He would “heal their land.” And in the book of Romans, Paul describes how, “…the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now” (8: 22).
Isaiah 35 is one of those chapters in the Bible, that within its immediate context, makes reference to a specific time and situation; but can also be used to describe another occasion, and period of time. It gives us a limited picture of the condition of the earth made new, when the inhabitants, and the entire creation, have been set free from the effects of sin! Then our exile in the foreign land of sin will be forever ended!
There will be no desert there, for the entire land will be in full bloom (1, 2)! For those of us who are flower lovers, we will have our fill of the most exotic and beautiful assortment of flowers of every description and hue! I believe that when it speaks about the waters breaking forth in the wilderness, and “streams in the desert,” and the parched ground becoming a pool (6, 7), it is a reminder that in the garden of Eden there was no lack of moisture, because “a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground-(Genesis 2: 6, NRSV). The vibrancy and beauty of Eden will be restored!
And humanity, God’s crowning act of creation, will be forever healed! We will be made completely whole; once again, in the “image of God!” The blind will see; the deaf will hear; the dumb will speak! We will need no scooters in “paradise restored,” for the legs that were once weak, and/or lame, will leap! Oh, what a day that will be!
In view of all the joys that await the people of God, these are the words of God through His prophet to us, “With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you.’ “
Yes, dear friends, every “enemy,” will be destroyed by God! Everything that cause us pain and sorrow will be forever gone! By God’s grace, and in His strength, let us be ready, because, better days are ahead!