#DailyDevotion The Revelation Of Christ Brings Great Rejoicing
Isaiah 35:1–4
35 The wilderness and the parched ground will be glad, and the desert will be happy and blossom. Like a rose 2they will blossom richly and be glad with joy and singing. They will be given Lebanon’s glory, the splendid beauty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the stumbling knees. 4Tell those who are worried: “Have courage, don’t be afraid. Look, your God comes with vengeance; God will pay back. He will come and save you.”
In this passage of Isaiah, he is seeing the perhaps the Last Day. There seems to be some back and forth between Jesus’ first advent and his second advent in verses 1-10. However these verses are definitely looking forward to Jesus’ second advent. At Jesus’ second advent to which these verses point to, there is going to be great rejoicing, at least by creation and all who love Jesus. There are four different Hebrew words that convey rejoicing here. Transliterated they are sis, gheel, rawnan and gilat (from gheel). So there is going be a lot of joy, rejoicing, glee, dancing with joy and gladness, and shouts of joy and rejoicing. And why will that be the case?
Isaiah tells us, the wilderness, the parched ground, and the desert will blossom. They will receive the rains and due season and the earth will be refreshed. The earth will be resurrected even as the children of God are resurrected in the glory of the only begotten Son. Creation will behold the glory of the LORD and the majesty of our God. That is, Christ Jesus will make himself manifest to the creation and to us.
Paul writes in Romans 819“For the created world is waiting on tiptoe to see the unveiling of God’s sons. 20For this created world must waste away, not because it wants to but because its Master would have it so, but it does so with the hope 21that this created world also will be freed from the slavery of decay in order to share the freedom of glory with the children of God. 22We know that all creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth until now.” Isaiah speaks here of the creation sharing in the freedom of glory with the children of God. It is no wonder then that it rejoices with these four Hebrew words. It will be a great day.
Since this is the case, Isaiah reminds us then, 3“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the stumbling knees. 4Tell those who are worried: ‘Have courage, don’t be afraid. Look, your God comes with vengeance; God will pay back. He will come and save you.’” It is the promises of God in Christ Jesus that gives us strength for the day and this present age. We can bear with anything if we know our God who is faithful and true has promised us the renewal of creation and our renewal in the image and likeness of God. While the world, the devil and even our sinful flesh make our hands and knees weak and feeble, the Lord’s promises strengthens them and encourages them as we look forward to the day of Christ’s return. He tells us to have courage because he comes back with a vengeance. The Hebrew word for vengeance is not a word that has a negative connotation but rather a positive one meaning to make everything right, put things back in good order, everything is brought back to balance. Have courage, Jesus is coming to save you.
Almighty God, may we all be strengthened today by your promises so on the day of Jesus’ revelation we may with creation rejoice, be gland and sing your praises. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.