Today
I was delighted with these two connections of Scripture. First, in Isaiah 57:19
God described how he would bring healing to his people in such a wonderful way
that it would result in “creating the fruit of the lips.” This
pictures the way God’s work would so touch the hearts and lives of his people
that they would not be able to hold in their praise and thanksgiving for what
God did for them.
This connects
to a verse in the New Testament that applies this to the way people would respond
to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Israel returning to their
homeland after seventy years of captivity would fill their hearts with
thankfulness that would be expressed through songs of praise, so Jesus Christ
bringing people out of their sin and into the righteousness that is by faith
would result in even greater thanksgiving and praise. The writer of Hebrews put
it this way: “Through
him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”[4]
The
second connection this morning also began with Isaiah 57:9 where Isaiah
continued telling us the words of God. He wrote, “Peace, peace to the far and the near…” These words spoke hope into
a situation that, at first, would be filled with anything but peace, but was
guaranteed to end in peace. The promise of peace was a gift of hope to carry
through the season filled with the heartaches of discipline.
This
is expressed in a more pronounced way in the New Testament when it is applied
to the work of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote, “And
he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”[5] While God’s promise of peace to those who were far and near was
first applied to the return from Babylonian captivity, it held out an even more
profound promise that was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. God’s own Son came
preaching a gospel of peace.[6]
The
bottom line was that it didn’t matter if people were far away or near, Gentile
or Jewish, Jesus comes to preach peace with God to the whole world,[7] and grants that peace to all who repent of their sin and receive
him by faith. When anyone turns to God through faith in Jesus Christ they enter
into this new reality: “Therefore, since
we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ.”[8]
This
is the peace Jesus preached, and that God promised seven hundred years earlier.
It is the peace that is still preached in Jesus’ name two millennia after Jesus
secured our peace through his suffering and death. Isaiah also announced that Jesus
would be known as the “Prince of Peace”,[9] because of this wonderful characteristic of his redemptive work
bringing people from all nations into a peace-based relationship with the Only
True God.
I
hope that you will welcome the double-sided gift of God today. One side is to
enjoy the wonders of how his thoughts are woven through the Old and New
Testaments with such complexity that we can gladly stand on his words as
exalted over anything written by man. The other side is to enjoy the specific
revelations of God, that his work will bring such peace to the hearts of all
who receive Jesus Christ that they will delight in any and every opportunity to
express our joy through the fruit of lips that gladly confess his name.
Or,
as Paul said it so beautifully, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts
to God.”[10]
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
John 15:11
[2]
“97 Oh
how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. 98 Your
commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. 99 I
have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are
my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged, for
I keep your precepts. 101 I hold back my feet from every evil
way, in order to keep your word. 102 I do not turn aside
from your rules, for you have taught me. 103 How sweet
are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through
your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Psalm 119)
[3]
“For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and
by this word you shall live long in the land that you are
going over the Jordan to possess.” (Deuteronomy 32:47); “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of
God.’” (Matthew 4:4)
[4]
Hebrews 13:15
[5]
Ephesians 2:17
[6]
Ephesians 6:15; “36 As
for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus
Christ (he is Lord of all),” (Acts 10)
[7]
16 “For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3)
[8]
Romans 5:1
[9]
“For to us a child is born, to us a son
is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
[10]
Colossians 3:16
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