Friday after the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on November 15, 2019 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 33:17-24 (NKJV)
33:17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off.
18 Your heart will meditate on terror:
“Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”
19 You will not see a fierce people, a people of obscure speech, beyond perception, of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down; Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the majestic Lord will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail, nor majestic ships pass by
22 (for the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us);
23 Your tackle is loosed, they could not strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail. Then the prey of great plunder is divided; The lame take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”; The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.
Devotion
Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture of the restoration of Israel. Brought back from the edge of destruction and captivity to the Assyrians, God would once again restore His people to the land he had given them. But in addition to a restoration in the course of time, there would come an even greater and permanent restoration when God’s people will “see the King in His beauty.”
The earthly restoration of Israel did not last. Israel would turn from God, and God would have others come and conquer the people of Israel. Yet, those who trusted in God were given a promise that would last for eternity. God would bring His people to be with Him forever.
As we approach the last days of the Church year we are reminded that the whole of creation is nearing its end. Crops are harvested and fields are bare. Leaves, once lush and green, have withered and fallen to the ground. We see that which was once alive looking all but dead.
God has given us this cycle to remind us that nothing of this world will last forever. He would have us look beyond this world and the death that surrounds us. He turns our eyes to “see the land that is very far off.” Through the working of the Holy Spirit, God keeps the eyes of our faith ever fixed on Jesus. Greater than the hope of earthly restoration for the children of Israel is the hope of eternity with God. That is our hope, too.
We pray: Almighty and Everlasting God, who didst give Thine Only-Begotten Son to be a High Priest of good things to come, hereafter grant unto us, Thine unworthy servants, to have our share in the company of the blessed. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
