"Tell the Righteous It Shall Be Well With Them" - Day 248 Through the Bible

Bidding Farewell to the Butterflies - in the cabin garden - near Mt. Celo Church.  (Butterflies are an ancient symbol of Christian resurrection.)

My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings

(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)

Tell the Righteous It Will Be Well With Them - Isaiah 3 and 4 (What It Says - Summarized) - God is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah "the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and water, the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skillful artisan. the enchanter."  The haughty will be brought low, "the people will be oppressed, the child will be insolent toward the elder, the base toward the honorable"...BECAUSE :"their tongue...and their doings...are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory...They declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it.  Woe to their soul!  For they have brought evil upon themselves.  Tell the righteous it shall be well with them.  For they shall eat the fruit of their doings.  Woe to the wicked!  It shall be be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him...What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor?" says the Lord GOD of hosts."  In Chapter 4 Isaiah prophesies the second coming of Jesus which will bring prosperity and peace.  "In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious...when the Lord has washed away the filth...by the spirit of judgment...and by the spirit of burning...for over all the glory there will be a covering."

The LORD Remembers His Covenant - Psalm 105:7-22 (What it Says - Summarized) - "He is the LORD our God...His judgments are in all the earth...He remembers His covenant forever...His word which He commanded...His oath...and confirmed it for a statute...an everlasting covenant...when they were few in number...indeed very few...and strangers in it."  The psalmist remembers our covenant-keeping God in the exodus, with His Chosen People, with his prophets, with Joseph.  He reflects on the  years of hardship, the testings, and the triumph of Joseph because of God's faithfulness.

Prepare, Make It Fit, Build - Proverbs 24:26-27 - (What it Says) 1) "Prepare your outside work. 2) Make it fit for yourself in the field; 3) afterward build your house...He who gives a right answer kisses the lips."

Receive, Stand In, Be Saved, Hold Fast - 1 Corinthians 15:1-28 - (What It Says - Summarized) - The Apostle Paul reminds those at the church in Corinth that he has "declared the gospel to them...they have received it...they stand in it...they are saved by it...if...they hold fast that word."  He stresses the foundational tenets of the faith:  "1) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 2) He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures; 3) He was seen by Peter, the twelve, by over 500 brethren at once, by James, by all the apostles; by Paul himself, "as by one born out of due time." His great concern is that many are not believing in the resurrection of the dead.  The Apostle Paul says, "If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.  But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.  But each one in his own order:  Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.  Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.  For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet...Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

My Lessons and Applications - God's Salvation Plan is revealed in today's readings.  In the OT reading, God speaks through the prophet Isaiah.  The nation Israel has been destroyed, and the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah are imminent because of their idolatrous words and ways, because they have forsaken God.  BUT God also wants to comfort and confirm His covenant to the righteous.  A remnant will always be saved; God will stand true to His Word; it WILL be well with the righteous (eternally and, perhaps, temporally.)  The Proverb (more of Solomon's "under the sun" - horizontal, worldview perspective) also applies to our personal lives and communal work of evangelism.  Personally, we are to prepare our hearts by yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit in our own lives in the study of the Word and in prayer and a personal walk with God.  Then we must go out into the field - fulfill the Great Commission. (Matthew 28: 15-20) Our house - our faith, our homes, our church - are built as a result of using the spiritual gifts we have been given (1 Cor. 14), as a result of standing in the faith by which we have been saved, by holding fast to the truths we have learned in Scripture, by holding fast to our Resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  But where Solomon spoke of "your work",  "make it fit for yourself", "build your house", we as believers (with a vertical, God-focused perspective) do His work, for Him, for His kingdom, enabled by His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection, empowered through His Holy Spirit within us, all done for God's glory - "that He may be all in all."  Do I remain humble to God's leading in my life?  Am I steadfast in trials as Joseph was for years?  Do I "hold fast" in plenty, remembering that this is from God and not for my own indulgence but to be used for His kingdom work?  Do I keep the eternal, heavenly perspective or have I given my faith over to the worship of pleasure and things of the earth as Solomon did?  When I am discouraged at circumstances, do I remember what God spoke through His prophet Isaiah to us? "Tell the righteous it shall be well with them."

"We are immortal until our work on earth is done." 

 George Whitefield (English Anglican preacher in the 1700's who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain and in America and is considered one of the founders of Methodism.)