Hope! Isaiah 4-5; Revelation 4

May the mumbling commence!

Life is fragile.  We look around us and see institutions that we thought to be strong withering.  But there is hope.  In the future with Christ, there is hope.

I think of the young tree in my front yard.  It is obviously dead.  There are no leaves on it, and the bark is falling off the limbs.

However, there is a shoot growing out of the roots.  It has branches with lush, green and healthy leaves.  This set of branches is twining themselves around the dead wood.

There is hope if we remain connected to our Lord, our Root and Branch.  Read from Isaiah chapter four:

But in the future, Israel – the branch of the Lord – will be lush and beautiful, and the fruit of the land will be the pride of its people.  All those whose names are written down, who have survived the destruction of Jerusalem, will be a holy people.  The Lord will wash the moral filth from the women of Jerusalem. He will cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains by a spirit of judgment that burns like fire.  Then the Lord will provide shade for Jerusalem and all who assemble there. There will be a canopy of smoke and cloud throughout the day and clouds of fire at night, covering the glorious land.  It will be a shelter from daytime heat and a hiding place from storms and rain. (Verses 2-6)

As followers of the Way of Christ, we gather in a spiritual Jerusalem.  These promises are for us, too.  Cleansing will happen.  It will hurt and burn like fire, but we will be cleansed.  And God will be our shelter from the daytime heat and the storms that rage in our lives. 

Heat and storms will still predominate, but we will have the Lord for our shelter.  Hallelujah!  There is hope, indeed!

And we look forward to heaven.  But what will heaven be like?  Many people have sought the answer to this question.  One thing is certain.  Heaven will be like a worship service… a real worship service that even the best worship services on earth is but a pale reflection.  Read from Revelation chapter four:

In the center and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back.  The first of these living beings had the form of a lion; the second looked like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth had the form of an eagle with wings spread out as though in flight.  Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying,

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty—

the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come." 

Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one who lives forever and ever. And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, 

"You are worthy, O Lord our God,

to receive glory and honor and power.

For you created everything,

and it is for your pleasure

that they exist and were created." (Verses 6b-11)

Let’s fall down and worship the Lord God, our only hope and stay.

Enough mumbling for now… 

Peace Out