For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you. Isaiah 54: 10, NKJV.
Merciful God, today we come rejoicing into Your presence. Please speak to our hearts through the study of Your Word. This is our prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our study of God’s never-ending mercy takes on a new dimension today. It is being compared with the endurance and stability of the mountains and the hills. None of us expect a mountain to just depart, or for a hill to be removed. These giant masses, and mounds, of earth, have to be intentionally removed. I believe that the only time this actually happens is when earth suffers some major shift or catastrophe. The removing of a mountain is such a rare occurrence, that in Scripture, it is referred to figuratively, or, as something so extraordinary, that only God, or our faith, can cause it to happen. Let us read the following verses:
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah” (Psalm 46: 1-3, NKJV).
“I looked when He opened the sixth seal . . . Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place” (Revelation 6: 12a, 14, NKJV).
“So Jesus said to them . . . ‘ “for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” ‘ ” (Matthew 17: 20, NKJV).
As you can see, it is not every day that mountains and hills depart or are removed! God was making a point: even if the unlikely should happen, even when the supernatural is taking place,” . . . My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” because I will extend My “mercy” to You! Hallelujah! Glory to God in the highest! Oh what love!
Dearly beloved, I pray that You will fully understand what I am about to say. It is unfortunate, and sad, that sometimes when we preach about the final destruction of sin, and sinners who have utterly rejected God and His mercy, we actually sound as if we are gloating over their destruction. This is rather unfortunate, and I hope that I am wrong in my perception of this. When God has to finally destroy unrepentant sinners, I believe that it will be one of the saddest moments for heaven! If the repentance of one sinner causes such joy in heaven (Luke 15: 7), can you imagine the opposite – the extreme sadness that will fill heaven, when, by their own choosing, numberless sinners will be destroyed? Scripture refer to it in these terms:
“The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon— to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task” (Isaiah 28: 21, NIV). Emphasis supplied. The original context of this text has to do with God’s plans to put an end to the disobedient children of Israel, who seemed to have hit rock bottom in their sinfulness (see the entire chapter). Just imagine what it will be like when He has to destroy a great portion of the earth’s population! The destruction of His creatures has never been a pleasant thing for God to do – because God loves His creatures!
Death and destruction are strange, and alien, to God, and were never a part of His plan in dealing with His creatures. It is foreign to His nature. May we never forget that God not only loves – GOD IS LOVE! The same way that we were not created to “know evil” (Genesis 3: 22), is the same way that we were not created to be destroyed! Hell was prepared for “the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25: 41). Only those who cling to evil, and reject God’s everlasting mercy, will be destroyed with evil.
May God help you and me to be grateful for, and, make good use of, His mercy – that will outlast even hell and destruction!
We will continue.