Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
SABBATH LEADS TO FULLNESS OF CREATION
Bible portion: Isaiah 65:17-25V:25 Wolves and lambs will eat together, lions will eat straw as cattle do, and snakes will no longer be dangerous. On Zion, my sacred hill there will be nothing harmful or evil.
It was God's desire that Israel seeks him and enjoy his blessings, but instead, the nation rebelled against Him and stubbornly went their own way. Only a minority within Israel along with gentile nations who turned to Israel's God was really God's people. So God is going to create an entirely new heaven and earth.
Everything that existed before will no longer be remembered by anyone. He will create the new Jerusalem as a place where joy and delight are the rules both for God and the people living in that city. Weeping and despair will come to an end. In chapter 65, we see God's anger at the rebellious people, who are wicked and abhorrent to God. The passage clearly talks about the impending disaster of the wicked who forsake him.
But for the people of Judah and their descendants with whom God is pleased will possess the land of the mountains. Those who obey him will enter the new heaven and earth. The creation story is going to repeat, where God will dwell among his faithful forever, and evil or sorrow will no more be there. As an ultimate answer to the world's problem of man's sin, God will redeem and remake all creation.
This will take place after the millennium, the glorious thousand years reign of Jesus Christ, the very sky and earth is done away and the new Jerusalem is created. Based on 2 Peter and the book Revelation, we must see that Isaiah is switching quickly from one-time frame to another, when he speaks of the eternal state in 65:17 and the millennial earth in 65:20-25. Isaiah is trying to give a good picture of the blessed state of new heaven and earth in this passage.
From the heaven to cross, God the father communicates his love for you
and me. It reminds us of the message of his care through His intricate design. The millennial reign of Jesus Christ will not only be a time of biological transformation, but also a time of social transformation when perfect justice reigns over the earth.
Prayer: Lord our Savior, forgive all our rebellion, wickedness, and evil which we sinners did, which are abhorrent to you, forgive us and bless us and make us worthy enough to be counted in your new Jerusalem. Amen.
Thought for the day: God's people, His chosen ones, His blessed offsprings in Jesus Christ will inherit a new Jerusalem which will be another Garden of Eden.
Everything that existed before will no longer be remembered by anyone. He will create the new Jerusalem as a place where joy and delight are the rules both for God and the people living in that city. Weeping and despair will come to an end. In chapter 65, we see God's anger at the rebellious people, who are wicked and abhorrent to God. The passage clearly talks about the impending disaster of the wicked who forsake him.
But for the people of Judah and their descendants with whom God is pleased will possess the land of the mountains. Those who obey him will enter the new heaven and earth. The creation story is going to repeat, where God will dwell among his faithful forever, and evil or sorrow will no more be there. As an ultimate answer to the world's problem of man's sin, God will redeem and remake all creation.
This will take place after the millennium, the glorious thousand years reign of Jesus Christ, the very sky and earth is done away and the new Jerusalem is created. Based on 2 Peter and the book Revelation, we must see that Isaiah is switching quickly from one-time frame to another, when he speaks of the eternal state in 65:17 and the millennial earth in 65:20-25. Isaiah is trying to give a good picture of the blessed state of new heaven and earth in this passage.
From the heaven to cross, God the father communicates his love for you
and me. It reminds us of the message of his care through His intricate design. The millennial reign of Jesus Christ will not only be a time of biological transformation, but also a time of social transformation when perfect justice reigns over the earth.
Prayer: Lord our Savior, forgive all our rebellion, wickedness, and evil which we sinners did, which are abhorrent to you, forgive us and bless us and make us worthy enough to be counted in your new Jerusalem. Amen.
Thought for the day: God's people, His chosen ones, His blessed offsprings in Jesus Christ will inherit a new Jerusalem which will be another Garden of Eden.
Dr. John K. Thomas
Tabor Mar Thoma Church, New York
Tabor Mar Thoma Church, New York