Conviction and salvation for all mankind!
One of this month’s readings is from Isaiah 45:2-3. New International Version (NIV)
2 I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
This was part of a prophecy to Cyrus who was anointed by God to subdue nations.
"Cyrus the Great (559–530 B.C.E.), whom Isaiah 45 calls Yahweh’s anointed, was the Persian king of Fars, a southern province of present-day Iran. By 546 he had defeated the wealthy king Croesus of Lydia (in modern Turkey), and the Lydian capital of Sardis fell to him along with all the other cities of Asia Minor. Cyrus then turned his attention to the most powerful kingdom in Central Asia: Babylon. By the end of 539, he had taken Babylon and captured its king, Nabonidus. The Persian Empire founded by Cyrus extended from the Aegean to Central Asia." (https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/people/related-articles/cyrus-the-messiah.aspx)
Cyrus the Great was a Persian King, a gentile whom God at this time established to be the saviour of his people; Isaiah refers to him as God’s anointed, this can also be interpreted as Messiah. God had great things for King Cyrus to do. While I am a foreigner here, I notice we are living in a very religious nation but a nation of people who do not know God, people who worship many gods, worship a philosopher, others who worship natural things, in the north near Kilinochchi I have even found a shrine where an unusually shaped rock is worshipped.
As I sat here in prayers yesterday, I read the words behind me that state that we should establish a Salvation Army barracks on every corner. I have thought about this and my view is that this is a possibility! As I have travelled around the Island I have seen a shrine of some kind on nearly every corner, so why not a barracks? Right now you are probably thinking that The Property Secretary has gone mad and where would the funding come from, may be his furlough was not long enough?
But listen to these words from Isaiah 46:9 and 10.
"Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”
I firmly believe that God is a God of awesome power and grace and mercy, in fact the only God who truly is. While we are established in thinking things cannot happen, or do not look to God for his leading, God will rise up another force to do his work, to be directed for his good pleasure. I believe that salvation for his people and his people is his purpose and all people's salvation is what brings him pleasure. The barracks that are to be established are through the infilling of The Holy Spirit not physical buildings. I am often reminded of God’s words through the prophet Joel.
No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
“It will come about after this, That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will dream dreams,
Your young men will see visions.
“Even on the male and female servants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)
I would ask that as you pass a shrine of any kind on a corner, that you are mobilised for mission and pray at those places that God, the one true God pour out his Holy Spirit on those who are worshipping in those places who are part of “all mankind” that those people be convicted of their sins and seek salvation through Jesus Christ, for I am sure that he can accomplish this as we rely on him!
