"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."
Isaiah 61:1-4
This chapter is about Christ and the last days, and I love the positive themes here. Good tidings, healing, freedom... even vengeance is a positive theme in a world where evil has been slowly gaining strength--finally it will end, and we will be free from that as well.
I love the beauty for ashes part... trading all of these amazing things for basically the nothingness or the negative that we had before. And everything rebuilt and made new, physically *and* spiritually. :)
Today, let's remember that the evil ends. It can't last or continue forever, because God will personally stop it. And when he does, he will give us beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, and we will praise God rather than feeling like we are suffering. Of course let's choose happiness as much as we can now, but when life gets us down, let's remember to look to the Lord who can deliver us from evil and everything else in the way of our salvation.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations."
Isaiah 61:1-4
This chapter is about Christ and the last days, and I love the positive themes here. Good tidings, healing, freedom... even vengeance is a positive theme in a world where evil has been slowly gaining strength--finally it will end, and we will be free from that as well.
I love the beauty for ashes part... trading all of these amazing things for basically the nothingness or the negative that we had before. And everything rebuilt and made new, physically *and* spiritually. :)
Today, let's remember that the evil ends. It can't last or continue forever, because God will personally stop it. And when he does, he will give us beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, and we will praise God rather than feeling like we are suffering. Of course let's choose happiness as much as we can now, but when life gets us down, let's remember to look to the Lord who can deliver us from evil and everything else in the way of our salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment