“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.” [1]
“Who makes you different from anyone else?” You will no doubt recognise this question forming the Apostle’s challenge that was delivered to the Church of God in Corinth. Continuing his probe of attitudes and motives among those saints, Paul asked, “What do you have that you did not receive” [1 CORINTHIANS 4:7]? This is a serious question; and ignoring the question leads to self exaltation and self delusion. And those twin evils, when given opportunity to root in our lives, inevitably imperil our relationships both with God and with our fellow man. The litany of self praise, manifesting self-exaltation and self-delusion, which characterises modern North Americans seems ever present on our lips. “By my own strength, I have achieved all that has happened in my life. By my own abilities, I have accomplished all that has occurred in my life. With my own hands, I have acquired all that you witness.” Tragically, we sound suspiciously like Bart Simpson offering thanks: “Dear God, We pay for all this stuff ourselves; so, thanks for nothing.” [2]
We recognise this claim of self-exaltation is a lie, even though we who are followers of the Risen Lord of Glory are susceptible to seduction by its dulcimer claims. We need to be confronted again with the knowledge that all people, and especially we who are believers, are sustained by unrecognized strength. In order to explore this question more fully, let's consider the words of the erudite Judean prophet, Isaiah.
Writing in the Eighth Century B.C., the prophet was compelled to confront incipient idolatry among the professed people of God. Lured by the rising power of Chaldean armies, the people were willing to embrace even the worship of Bel and Nebo, principle gods of the Babylonians. Inspired by the Spirit of the Living God, the prophet ridicules these gods so called. Prophesying the rout of the Babylonian empire and the rise of the Medo-Persian empire, God's spokesman forces the people of God to consider a spectacle which would be played out before all the earth in an exceptionally brief period of time. These gods of wind and wisdom would present a laughable image as they are carted away on the backs of donkeys by the victorious armies of the Medes and the Persians. In contrast to these gods who need to be carried by ox and ass, God the Almighty carries His people. Which was it to be? Would the people carry their gods? Or would the True and Living God carry them?
The words recorded in the THIRD AND FOURTH VERSES of this FORTY SIXTH CHAPTER of Isaiah's prophecy, have become most meaningful and exceptionally sweet to many of the Lord’s saints throughout the ages. I have found numerous occasions when I resorted to reciting these verses, having found myself in need of this precise promise.
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.”
[ISAIAH 46:3-4]
Though the prophet’s words served as a serious call for the people of Judah to repent, the truth presented comforts and consoles all who confess the Name of the Lord GOD even in this day. The words Isaiah penned still provide a wealth of divine wisdom available to be discovered and applied in our lives. I invite you to join me in exploring some of the exciting parameters of these terse, though timeless, thoughts inscribed by the pen of God’s powerful court prophet.
THE EVIDENCE FOR GOD’S PREDESTINATION —
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb”
[ISAIAH 46:3]
We speak of God's predestinating activity, but the more important question is whether we are able to demonstrate that divine work either from the Scriptures or from experience? From our own experience, we may look back and conclude that we did attempt to pursue God. And though we pursued Him, it seemed to us that He hid Himself forcing us to search Him out. That is our experience as we see it, and we are certain that that is what transpired. From experience, we may be convinced that it was a joyous happenstance that God and ourselves were united. Without giving much thought to the matter, we may ascribe the union to luck, sheer chance.
Let's admit something which casts our salvation, our experience with God in an entirely different light, however. God is infinite. We recognise this both from logic and from Scripture. Further, being infinite, God is beyond our discovery. Were it not for His self-revelation to us, we could never know Him. He is beyond our comprehension. It is only as He makes Himself known to us that we may speak with any authority concerning Him or concerning His nature. Therefore, anything we know of God, and more particularly, anything we know of His predestinating activity, we know reliably from His revelation, from the Word that He has given us. In that Word, we discover that God has acted, and that He does act, to direct nations and individuals.
God predestines nations employing them for His purpose. While we haven't time to catalogue the whole of the evidence for such work, a few incidents recorded in the Word will suffice to demonstrate the reality of the claim. One exciting demonstration of such predestinating activity is a prophecy recorded on the page immediately prior to the one on which we find our text.
“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
‘I will go before you
and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
“‘Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the LORD have created it.
“‘Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, “What are you making?”
or “Your work has no handles?”
Woe to him who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”’
”Thus says the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
‘Ask me of things to come;
will you command me concerning my children
and the work of my hands?
I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
I have stirred him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways level;
he shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the LORD of hosts.’”
[ISAIAH 45:1-13]
In the passage just cited, God, through His prophet, speaks of raising up Cyrus.
Cyrus was not a Jew—he was a Gentile. Moreover, the LORD is quite specific in stating that He was working through Cyrus for the benefit of the LORD’s chosen people! What I find to be the fascinating aspect of this work is that though God speaks as though His work is fait accompli, the prophecy is nevertheless given centuries before the rise of the Medo Persian Empire. In this passage, God is quite definite in stating that a pagan emperor who neither knew Him nor acknowledged Him [verses 4-5] would reinstate the chosen people [verse 13], and he would do this without financial inducement or remuneration [verse 13]. Another example of the LORD calling this pagan emperor to accomplish the purpose of God is seen in ISAIAH 41:2 and 25.
At the time Isaiah was exercising his prophetic ministry, the Assyrian empire was the great, imposing, overwhelming threat then looming on the horizon both of the nation of Judah while casting a shadow over history, darkening every aspect of national life for God’s people. By the Spirit of God, Isaiah saw that this frightening spectre was but an instrument in the hand of the Almighty to accomplish His will. Listen as the LORD acknowledges Assyrian might even as He dismisses the same. “In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
“In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also” [ISAIAH 7:18 twenty; see also ISAIAH 5:26 30]. Again, God speaks of what He will do to Assyria when He is finished with them as an instrument of His punishment when Isaiah writes, “When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes” [ISAIAH 10:12]. Surely the wrath of man praises God if even the nations accomplish His will! Who can speak against Him, and who can ask, “Why have You done this?” Amen.
We who know God readily acknowledge that the Lord employs nations to accomplish His will and to fulfill His purpose. Not only does He raise up nations for judgment, or even to restore His people to their purpose and position, but God, both in the past and to this day, raises up nations to disseminate knowledge of Him and thus to glorify His Name. In THE THIRTY THIRD PSALM is found a beautiful promise; and though spoken of Israel, the promise nevertheless presents a glorious truth for us today.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!”
[PSALM 33:12]
Notice that God chose. It was not because the nation merited God's choice, but it was by grace, as Moses makes clear when he writes, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” [DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8]. What a let down that must have been. Moses just informed the people that the blessing of God’s choosing had nothing to do with their attributes. Despite what must have felt like a bit of a downer, Moses testified to the people of Israel, “Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day” [DEUTERONOMY 10:15]. Thus, does God deal with nations, even our own.
In our text, we see the Lord God speaking, reminding the people that He has upheld them since conception. An exciting truth revealed in the word recorded in our text is that God predestines individuals. Certainly, we are forced to concede that it is God who gives birth, who gives children. I do not understand how it is that some, longing to hold a child and who would surely bring forth children which would prove a blessing and a benediction to the Name of the Lord God, are not permitted that joy of holding a wee bairn of their own, while others who are cruel and capricious are given a tribe. I cannot explain the workings of God. I am assured from the Word, however, that it is God who gives birth.
I admit that I am a naive literalist when it comes to interpreting God's Word. There, in that Word, I read that Rachel and Jacob understood that it was God who either gave or withheld children. Listen as this couple react to Rachel’s childless condition. “When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or I shall die!’ Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb’” [GENESIS 30:1-2]?
Hannah understood that it was the Lord who either opened or shut the womb. Her situation and her plea is recorded in the following verses. In the opening verses of First Samuel, we read, “[Hannah’s] rival— [Peninnah, who was Elkanah’s other wife]—used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat” [1 SAMUEL 1:6-7]. Note that the Word specifically states that “the LORD” had closed her womb.
Hannah was moved to pray, and in her distress she made a vow before the LORD. “She vowed a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head’” [1 SAMUEL 1:11].
You will no doubt recall this moving story, for the LORD did hear her prayer, granting her a son. Therefore, we read, “They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked for him from the LORD’” [1 SAMUEL 1:19-20].
David, prophesying in the Psalms, reminds us that it is God who settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. This is the Psalm in question.
“[God] gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!”
[PSALM 113:9]
Elsewhere you will recall that David speaks of children given to the family, as he writes,
“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.”
[PSALM 127:3]
In the physical realm, we must admit that the Word of God supports the knowledge that it is God, and God alone, who gives life. We may argue against this, but we may only do so if we dismiss the Word of God as authoritative and as accurate. Children are given at the discretion of the Living God.
Why was I born the son of a Kansas blacksmith where from earliest days I heard the Word of God read, having been blessed with a father who believed in prayer, and from whom I learned of God? How was it that I was given the privilege of a heritage of faith found in both my father's life and in my grandfather's life, while all about me were multiplied others who had neither opportunity nor desire to know God? How is it that I had health and strength while a precious young woman born in our same little town at the same time was crippled from her youth? Labour ever so long in the field of obstetrics or in endocrinology, neonatology, or human genetics, and at the last you will be forced to concede that though you may do some good you yet are only cooperating with God. He gives children, and He shuts the womb. His power is beyond mere mortals.
If God gives physical life, then it is evident that He also gives spiritual life. John would confront us with the humbling truth that we are born from above not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but that we are born of God. Hear the Apostle of Love. “To all who did receive [Him identified as the Word sent from God], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” [JOHN 1:12-13].
More than that, the birth into the Family of God results from a call in eternity past according to the apostles. For instance, here is Paul’s assessment of God’s call. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” [EPHESIANS 1:3-6].
And this is the understanding Peter adds to this exciting situation for the redeemed of God. “If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” [1 PETER 1:17-21].
What God has done is beyond comprehension. Who can understand His work on our behalf? Who can explain what He has done for those whom He saves? As the Apostle would say to the Athenian philosophers, “In Him we live and move and have our being” [ACTS 17:28].
THE EVIDENCE FOR GOD’S PRESERVATION OF THE SAINTS —
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.”
[ISAIAH 46:3-4]
God predestines men and nations, and God preserves men and nations. Of Israel, God, through Isaiah, says:
“Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
all you who are left from the family of Israel,
you who have been carried from birth,
you who have been supported from the time you left the womb.
Even when you are old, I will take care of you,
even when you have gray hair, I will carry you.
I made you and I will support you;
I will carry you and rescue you.”
[ISAIAH 46:3-4 NET BIBLE 2nd]
Logic compels us to confess that if God calls nations, then God likewise preserves those nations which He has called. Since God can call, then to fulfill His purpose in election, He must preserve and sustain those whom He calls. Is anything clearer than this?
Do you remember earlier that we considered the blessing pronounced on that nation God calls, which blessing is found in the twelfth verse of the thirty third Psalm? In that verse, it is evident that God chooses even nations for His own purposes. In the following verses [verses 13 19], He speaks at length of His preserving activity on behalf of that nation so chosen. It is God who delivers from defeat, from dearth, from death, from destruction.
What He does on behalf of nations, insuring that they complete that which He has assigned them to fulfill His purpose, He does for individuals. There is a beautiful statement of God's preserving work on behalf of the righteous found in the thirty seventh Psalm. There, in verses 12 19, 23 and 24, and in verses 39 and 40, the Psalmist speaks of God's gracious preservation. The righteous are protected against the plots of the wicked, for they are upheld by God Himself. They will be cared for in the day of judgment, for God Himself will be their stronghold. How often has it seemed that this was all I was left to cling to, these precious promises of God. I do not say that the torrents which swept about me and the family God gave me were pleasant—they were not. I do say that I can attest to God's gracious provision in my own life. Through all the torments, threats, and troubles with which my soul was tried, God has been faithful to make my steps firm, insuring that I neither stumbled nor fell, for He Himself was upholding me with His great hand. That is God! That is the Lord! Blessed be His Name.
THE EVIDENCE FOR GOD'S PROVISION — Here is a beautiful thought, a soft pillow for weary heads.
“I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.”
[ISAIAH 46:4b]
Is that not precious? Surely, God has applied this promise of His blessing to those nations He has chosen. To Israel, you will recall that God promised rich and multiplied blessings if the people would but obey Him. As one example of this promise, listen to God’s promise delivered through Moses as the people having passed through the wilderness were poised on the cusp of the Promised Land.
“If you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out” [DEUTERONOMY 28:1-6]. These are statements telling of the general blessedness for a nation walking in the way of the LORD.
Then, the LORD becomes more specific. “The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. The LORD will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them” [DEUTERONOMY 28:2-14].
Nations enjoy wealth and peace by the determined will of God and by His mercy. Can we say that it is our hands which have brought us wealth and peace in Canada? How is it that we are so situated that we have never suffered invasion or occupation by virtue of sustained assault by a determined and hostile enemy. We fret over the ruminations of an American President who is displeased with our Prime Minister, but few Canadians fear being absorbed into the United States. Not since the days of conflict between Great Britain and the United States, a period of nearly two hundred years, have we faced any serious threat of invasion. And we enjoy the security of knowing that our northern border is protected by our benevolent neighbour to the south.
Has any nation in all the earth enjoyed such an extended and undefended border as we enjoy with our neighbouring country? Was ever a nation more blessed with natural wealth, with rich soil and climate conducive to production of food grains as is our nation? What other nation ever had benefit of the hidden wealth of necessary minerals as does Canada? Would you not say that God has blessed us beyond measure? And would you not say that this blessing is utterly undeserved? We have done nothing to merit God’s rich blessing on our nation.
Nor should we imagine that choosing of a people, or choosing of a nation, is capricious on the part of God. If He is Sovereign, as is proper and logical for the Creator, then we must admit that He has both the right and power to choose whom He will. More than that, if He has the power of sovereign choice, then He as the right of rescission if conditions He sets are neither met nor maintained. Resident within the verb which is translated variously throughout the Old Testament in speaking of God's electing or choosing of men and nations is the thought of careful thought preceding the expression of choice. If the purpose to which a nation was chosen is not fulfilled, then we must concede that God has the right to reject that nation as well. That should give us pause when we imagine ourselves chosen of God in this nation. The wealth can be removed in a moment. The peace can be shattered without warning. Security can be withdrawn sooner than we dare imagine. I fear for my children and for my grandchildren since we have forgotten God in this day.
What God does for nations, He does for individuals. Does God call men to salvation? He also preserves those He calls. Preserving those whom He calls, the LORD provides richly for them as well. Appealing to the words of the Psalmist, we read of God's constant provision.
“I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing.
“Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.”
[PSALM 37:25-29]
Security and stability is the heritage of the people of God. Note that God also promises sustenance both for the righteous and for their families. This should be no great surprise, since the Holy Spirit through James reminds us that God chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits [see JAMES 1:18]. God has invested His very life in us, and He shall protect His investment eternally. This is nothing less than a practical demonstration of the truth revealed through the apostle's confident word. Remember this promised and rest on it: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” [PHILIPPIANS 1:6].
The Lord will never permit His redeemed child to slip from His grasp. He has promised: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” [JOHN 10:27-30].
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF GOD’S SUSTAINING GRACE — It is a strange observation of human nature that two people can view the same information and draw wildly different conclusions. One individual, viewing God's grace as He predestinates, preserves, and provides for those whom He has called, will say that God is unfair. They see the evidence of the Word as presenting a world stacked against them. Since God is unfair in their estimate, they reason that they will teach Him a lesson and refuse to believe in Him. How foolish, and yet how common. Another individual, viewing that same evidence will see God's grace and goodness magnified and they will glorify Him for what He has done. What is the difference? It is simply that each individual reveals who they are even before the judgment. What they are is seen in their response to the revelation of God.
As for myself, I see the evidence which I have presented, and I draw strength, encouragement and confidence from that which God has revealed of His activity in choosing and keeping the saints. By His grace, I am one of those elect. Having believed in Christ Jesus the Son of God as my Saviour and Master, I am one of God's chosen, and that knowledge gives me confidence in His salvation and encourages me to serve. It is not that I sought out God, but rather that He called me and provided for my redemption from eternity. Confident of the salvation He has given, I am free to serve Him without pretense or unworthy motive. I need neither attempt to make myself acceptable nor need I seek to earn the salvation He alone can give. Saved, I am free.
Let me illustrate this point. When the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my door, they often ridicule any faith but their own with the observation that no one visits door to door but them. They imagine that this observation in some way validates their faith. I have on occasion pointed out to these cultic visitors that their concept is invalid since other cult and sects are also active in an effort to move the hand of God. Certainly, other cults visit door to door, and some do even more than that. It was common in the recent past to witness Hare Krishnas dancing on the streets, chanting, and soliciting participation by those passing by. It was not difficult for the cultic visitors to agree that mere activity in and of itself in no way validates either the end sought nor does such activity validate the group perpetuating the activity.
In days past, I visited door to door as have many other evangelical and fundamental Christians. This is not the most productive means of disseminating the message of salvation, however; so it has fallen out of favour as the primary means of evangelisation for most Christians.
Finally, and because I believe it essential that I should instruct such individuals peddling error when they come to my door, I point out that when we Christians visit, we do so because we are already children of God and redeemed. We do not visit other people to promote ourselves before the Lord or to obtain salvation. In contradistinction to this, Jehovah’s Witnesses visit because they must; and thinking themselves able to somehow coerce God into receiving them, visitation becomes a burden, laborious and fraught with uncertainty. We who are Christians visit because we are already accepted in the Beloved One, visiting others to minister to their needs and to tell them of Christ the Lord is an act of love. We are free to serve, rather than serving in order to be free.
Because God's grace extends to preserving me as well as predestinating me, I have confidence in His love. The continued preservation of both men and nations should serve to remind each of us of God's love. Confident of His love, we are free to worship. No longer need we fear that some inappropriate action will render our praise and worship unacceptable since we rest in His love; nor need we fear that we might have forgotten some mundane or obscure point of ritual, thus invalidating our worship. No longer need we seek either mediator or mediatrix since we are already accepted and acceptable in the Son of God, the sole mediator between God and man. In Him, Christ Jesus the Lord, we boldly approach the throne of grace, knowing that we shall receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Worship becomes for us an act of love as we respond to the love we have already experienced and continue to experience. There is no longer place for any concept of worship as a duty—worship is an act of love which flows naturally from hearts filled with the love of God.
Every provision from God, whether for my physical need or for my spiritual need, is evidence of His continuing grace toward me. Revelling in His grace, I am made ever more confident in His grace, and I am free to speak. Especially am I free to speak of Him, entreating others to know Him and to love Him. What need have I of idols or of the security so dear to the rest of mankind?
He is God, and His grace is poured out on me without measure. What more do I have need of? Because I am confident that He is the source of all good, and because I know His grace is continually supplied me for every situation, I can speak of Him, declaring His gospel to all who will hear.
Do those worshiping at the shrine of evolutionary thought promote praise of time and chance as though this can account for the world and all that is in it? I will speak out, ridiculing their naiveté and misplaced faith. Do those worshiping at the shrine of humanism promote mankind? I will speak out, demonstrating that since man is but dust and must die that their faith is foolish and that in which they trust but a spider's web. Do those worshiping at the shrine of materialism promote the acquisition of goods as the summum bonum of life? I will speak freely, reminding them that their goods cannot deliver them from the grave, and what they accumulate brings them neither peace nor joy. Do those who worship at the new old shrine of ecology promote their religious experience of saving their earth mother? I will expose them for their foolishness of worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator. It is because I am confident of God’s redeeming grace and because of Whose I am that I am free to speak boldly in His Name.
This same confidence can be yours, whoever you may be and regardless of what may have transpired earlier in your life. The confidence the Lord gives will not be found in religion but in Christ. Of Christ we read in the Word, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” [JOHN 1:10-13]. To be born of God is to believe in the Risen Son of God. Scripture promises you, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [ROMANS 10:13]. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Bart’s Prayer, YouTube, barts prayer (youtube.com), accessed 15 October 2024
