Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 61 verse 1, “The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,” (NRSVB). The prophecies of the Prophet Isaiah deal with the back-sliding that happened in Israel, so much so that the “iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face for you, so that He will not hear,” for “the way of peace they know not, and there is no justice or right in their goings. They have made them into crooked paths. Yes, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And the Lord saw it and it displeased him that there was not justice,” Isaiah Chapter 59 verses 2, 8 and 10, (Amplified Bible). Isaiah tells of times, past, present and future, and the outcomes that happened when God was not obeyed, when people became a law unto themselves and suffered the consequences. The outcomes for the Israelites were captivity and exile, the loss of their land and their temple. However, Isaiah tells of a time that will come when the temple will be restored, and ultimately a time will come when the crooked roads will be made straight, and then God will sent his righteousness to dwell on earth.
Isaiah foresaw that God would personally intervene and fight for the salvation of all people, “And God saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor, therefore His own arm brought Him victory, and His own righteous, having the Spirit without measure, sustained Him. For the Lord put on righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet upon his head. So as a result of the Messiah’s intervention they shall reverently fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun,” Isaiah 59 verses 16 -19, (Amplified Bible). In this vision of Isaiah, that is also echoed by the Apostle Paul when he wrote about the Armour of the Christian soldier, the captives were given the prophesy of restoration, also of ultimate future restoration, and the prophet is given the promise that God’s word would never depart from his mouth, “My Spirit, who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your true, spiritual children, or out the the mouths of your children’s children,” as we read in verse 21. Because of this great promise for the future, Israel can already rise from her depression, and shine, for the Lord’s light has come. “Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising,” as we read in Isaiah Chapter 60 verses 1 and 3. We know that the Kings from the East came to bring homage to the Christ Child, for they saw his Star rising in the East, and the Prophet John the Baptist called that the roads must be made straight, for the Lord is coming.
Our watchword is quoted by Jesus as his own understanding of his mission as the Messiah, who came down from heaven to earth, when John’s disciples came to ask him if he were the One, the Messiah, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the poor have the good news, the Gospel, preached to them, Luke 7 verse 22, (Amplified Bible). We live in the time of the fulfilled prophecies of the coming of the Messiah down to earth, to bring Salvation to Humankind, and we await the time of his coming in glory to be worshipped and adored by all the nations. However, in the time between Christ’s gift on the Cross for all and his coming again in glory, the we have to continue to fight the good fight, for we are the children’s children, whom have received the good news, and we believe and wait with eager hope, for our hope will not be disappointed.
The Apostle Paul urges us in his Letter to the Galatians, in Chapter 5 verse 1, “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery,” (NRSVB). We do not have to submit to the lies that we see around us, the lies that fill us with fear and anxiety, yes, we will have trouble, but we are of good cheer, for our Lord, the Messiah, has overcome.
Father, we thank you that you have come to set us free of the lies of the world, and the state of captivity of our minds and the burden of anxiety that is created by those roaring like a lion, trying to make us fearful. We can stand firm in the knowledge and know that you intervene and save magnificently, Amen.