Restored!

Restored!

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 NIV

Context:

Isaiah writes about the coming Messiah, by whom we all have the opportunity to get all that God has promised through his son. As I look at the entire chapter, it is apparent that if you are not careful to observe what is going on around you, you may most likely miss the time of God's visitation. The people of Jesus' age were focused on the letter of the law and how it made them feel. They knew nothing of the plans of God or how he intended to bring them to pass. Am I all about what makes me comfortable or what is right in God's eyes? Not all that God demands will be easy, but as I get to know God more and more, he makes it easy for me to choose him. 

Isaiah spoke these words at least 700 years before Jesus was born, so if he was looking for physical signs that supported his message, he would have been disappointed, discouraged or distracted. I must be careful about a focus on signs, symbols and tokens at the expense of a personal walk with God. Men will lay claim to having God's direct line, yet God does not know them as his own. The other extreme is to think that because of my past, God cannot forgive me. With God, the grace of forgiveness and mercy had been supplied even before I was aware; if I will get all that God has promised, the journey starts at the place where Jesus went to seal the deal for me: at the cross. 

Message and Response:

No one can lay claim to any righteousness or perfection of his or her own accord. The best of man is a sinner first and foremost, because at birth, we inherit the sinful nature of Adam and Eve. All our lives, no matter what we accomplish, we are only preparing for the accounting that must be done at the end of it all. How do I prepare for that accounting?

We are referred to as sheep that had gone astray. We thought we were wise in our eyes and could take care of ourselves; we were smart, as after all, we had a brain. We felt we did not need the help of anyone. Unfortunately, the plan and purposes of God do not need man's cooperation for them to be true and valid; it is man that needs to cooperate with the plan and purposes of God if his life will make sense. 

So man's past, present and future are all presented from God's perspective; there is a reckoning with my past that I must settle, before I can sort out my present and secure my future. No man is exempt; all have sinned. No man is exempt; all have equal access to the free gift of life available in Jesus. No man is exempt; eternal rest lies at the end of life for all who hold on to the free gift of Jesus to the end of their days on earth or when Jesus returns to take home those who belong to him. No man is exempt; eternal death in hell is God's verdict on all who reject the free gift of Jesus to the time of the final judgment. 

Consider what God did: he gave up his son who knew no sin, to become the sin offering for those who had committed the sin but could not pay the price. He turned his eyes away from his son as he bore our sins on the cross, which is the first and last time the son would cry out that his father had forsaken him. Those who sinned looked on and some even mocked him, ignorant that it was their sin that took him to the cross. 

For those hours that Jesus hung on the cross, I can imagine the scene in heaven: the Word of God, the glorious one, being treated in such a disdainful manner. Consider this: all he did was for you and I. Now that I know the price paid and the options now available, I know what lies at the end of whatever option I take. I just have one choice to make; I can't blame God for the consequences of my own decision. What is that decision going to be? His time of favour is here.