Isaiah 60 - The glory of the LORD

Praise be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give you all the praise and honor LORD God. Let everything that has breath praise the LORD God, the Creator of heaven and earth. We thank you God for all that You have been to us and all that You continue to be to us in the name of Jesus. Give us understanding and knowledge as we read the Word and may Your holy name be glorified in our lives in the name of Jesus, Amen. Thank you LORD.

Today's lead Word is from Isaiah 60:16-18 (NKJV)

"16.You shall drink the milk of the Gentiles, and milk the breast of the kings; you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

17.Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron I will bring silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates righteousness.

18.Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise."

AMEN, thank you LORD.

At this stage, I'm sure we can agree that the book of Isaiah has many beautiful chapters and this is also one of my favourites. This chapter contains many of God's promises and I encourage you to read it when you have a chance.

In this chapter, the LORD God is re assuring His people of His deliverance which is ultimately the manifestation of His glory upon their lives after an arguably difficult season.

The LORD says, "Arise. shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1-2 NKJV) - Amen!

As we have seen in previous posts, God does not just speak words because He is bored. He speaks the Word because His intent is to perform that Word in order for His glory to be revealed in your life. In Isaiah 60, God is speaking life, hope, redemption, restoration and ultimately the manifestation of His Word to His people who may have been troubled by different circumstances in the world. In the above verses, the LORD God, says He is their Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. He also promises to make His people's officers peace and their magistrates righteousness. As a result, we see that there is no longer violence, wasting and destruction in the land but only the LORD's salvation and praise as the people by faith through grace (Ephesians 2:8-9) behold the Son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

It is important to note that the glory of the LORD is revealed where He is welcome. When Jesus was physically on the earth, He said in both John 6:44 and John 6:65 that nobody could come to Him unless God, the Father drew him/her to Him. The same applies to us today as well. That is, to be able to fully experience the glory of the LORD as a child of God, we have to be fully yielded and surrendered to His will, plans and purposes for our lives which eventually reveals His glory. When we choose a bit of God, and a bit of our way, the expression of His glory is frustrated upon our lives.

A good illustration of the manifestation of God's glory in the Bible is the story of Moses. When he was a younger and more youthful man, Moses could sense a calling on his life which was to rescue God's people from bondage. However, he chose his personal understanding of delivering God's people from bondage which later led to him fleeing from Egypt in fear for his life as a result of the bad decisions he made (Exodus 2:11-15).

By the time God calls Moses to fulfil the calling He had put on his heart, he was now in his 80's which is approximately forty years after the above incident happened. Interestingly when God approached Moses, he told God he could not speak (Exodus 4:10-13). During his 40's and in his personal attempt to deliver God's people, his mouth was full functional, but now the LORD God calls him, suddenly he can no longer talk. Friend, this is what they call death. Sometimes God's calling is intimidating to the natural mind which may be a sign that you are on the right track. With Moses, the human zeal, approval, pride, self recognition that came with the fulfilment or desire for that calling he perceived on the inside of him died. I believe the level of power that God was going to do through Moses was too great and mighty for it to be done through any carnality. Moses had to be fully obedient and surrendered to God for His mighty wonders and signs to be revealed through Him without compromise.

Apostle Paul during his ministry says in 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 (NKJV), "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

I always find it amazing that the children of Israel were rescued from bondage at God's appointed time. This perfect time also included all the time Moses needed to get ready for his assignment and calling despite his shortcomings. Friend, isn't God amazing?!

Unfortunately, the children of Israel that Moses led actually did not believe in his leadership but they were fully aware of the power of God that was operating on his life. Since Moses was fully surrendered and in relationship with God, their approval was no longer an issue for him as prior years. So we see that with obedience and full surrender to the Holy Spirit, the glory of the LORD is inevitable because it becomes clear that it is not your human effort or understanding but the mighty power of God working in us.

I'll end with this Word found in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (NKJV)

"13.But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

14.to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Galatians 5:10 (NKJV)

"I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is."

AMEN, thank you LORD.

Invitation to salvation: If you would like to get to know this ever faithful God who glorifies those who are surrendered and fully obedient to Him and keeps His promises to His children without changing His mind, I invite you to make this confession that invites you to new covenant of love that is found in the precious blood of Jesus Christ where we get to have a personal relationship with God, the Father where His heart to lead, to be an ever present help and guide you as His child is found when you choose Jesus Christ, His only Son as your Lord and Saviour.

Please speak the words below:

"I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose relationship with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and with God as my loving Father today and forever." AMEN.