“I am the Lord”

“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.” (Isaiah 48:17 ESV)

In Chapter 48, Isaiah was convicting Israel of its treachery. As their cycle of obedience and rebellion continued, Isaiah told Israel, “you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass.” (v4) The world today is much like Israel.

Isaiah said to the Israelites, “You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it?(v6). Most people, even though they are not Christians, have heard that Christ walked on the water, He healed the blind, the sick, and those with leprosy, and they have heard He raised the dead. Yet, they will not come to Him.

Despite their disobedience, God was merciful and had patience with His chosen people. Isaiah told the Israelites this very thing, “For my name's sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.” (v9). When we look around today, we must ask, has God lost His patience with creation. We know He will continue to call people despite the rejection of the world, we see this in the Book of Revelation. But has God lost His patience with humanity.

I hear people talk about the sins of humanity and how every day God is rejected more and society tries to remove God from His own creation. I also hear, “ God will judge humanity.” My friends, when we look at society and the alienation of God, it is clear God has already judged humanity, for it has been turned over to reprobate minds exactly as Paul said in Romans 1:28, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” Both reprobate and debased mean the same thing, perverse, depraved, corrupted, and degraded are all synonyms of these words, and clearly, a description of societies mind and thinking.

Yet, God is merciful, as he walked passed Moses on Sinai, God said, “as the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 3:46) God is merciful and slow to anger, which is why salvation has not ceased. God continues to call his children, and grace is given to come to faith in Jesus Christ as a Savior.

Even in the tribulation and the time of the anti-Christ, the Word will be preached, and Christ will save those called to the father. The apostle John described what he saw, “ before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,

who sits on the throne,

and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders, and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

 “Amen!

Praise and glory

and wisdom and thanks and honor

and power and strength

be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen!”

Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Brothers and sisters, God’s plan of salvation will remain until such time as He withdraws it, and He will. We who are in Christ will be raptured, but those who remain may still come to faith. If you do not know Christ, do not wait. Seek Him, know Him, and know the mercy and peace of God. As Isaiah told us, “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” (48:22)

Grace and Peace.