How to face these days without fear… Part 10

To face these days without fear, we must fix our eyes on the hope that is to come

Isaiah 2:2-4 ‘Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.’

Henry says – This begins with the prophecy relating to the last days, the days of the Messiah, when his kingdom should be set up in the world… In the last days of the earthly Jerusalem, just before the destruction of it, this heavenly Jerusalem should be erected, Heb. 12:22; Gal. 4:26. … We are to look for the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time, as the Old-Testament saints did for his first coming; these are the last times, 1 John 2:18.  The prophet here foretells: … Christianity shall then be the mountain of the Lord’s house; where that is professed God will grant his presence, receive his people’s homage, and grant instruction and blessing, as he did of old in the temple of Mount Zion… This wisdom of God in a mystery shall outshine all the wisdom of this world, all its philosophy and all its politics. The spiritual worship which it shall introduce shall put down the idolatries of the heathen; and all other institutions in religion shall appear mean and despicable in comparison with this … The nations shall be admitted into it, even the uncircumcised, who were forbidden to come into the courts of the temple at Jerusalem. The partition wall, which kept them out, kept them off, shall be taken down. All nations shall flow into it; having liberty of access, they shall improve their liberty, and multitudes shall embrace the Christian faith. They shall flow into it, as streams of water, which denotes the abundance of converts that the gospel should make and their speed and cheerfulness in coming into the church.

Adapted from Matthew Henry Commentary

There is a new day dawning

There is a new day dawning in which there will be a Day of the Lord when He will reign and rule on this earth.  A time when there will be no more war.  I for one, look forward to the day when there shall be no more enmity and we shall flow to Mount Zion to be taught directly from the Lord.  What a glorious time that will be.  When we fix our eyes on what is to come, we can hold today in perspective.  Whatever we are facing and whatever terrors in this world we know that ‘this too shall pass’.  A new day will dawn when there will be great peace and restoration.

A Promised Future
 
I know that I will never again
See all the worry, misery and pain
The blind now see, the lame now walk,
The deaf they hear, the dumb they talk.
Everyone, everywhere is now healed,
Your love abounds, nothing concealed.
I see all your people standing there
With open arms, your love to share.
There gathered now before You Lord
Together they speak with one accord.
The rivers now flow with tears of joy
From father, mother and baby boy
The children of God alive, on fire
Singing Your praises, a heavenly choir.
 
By the late Andrew Feakin (passed away 16th March 2019)
 

Prayer: Father I thank You for Your Word in which contains all the promises we need to fix our eyes on You and know that we are just passing through this world. Thank You that the days of evil are numbered and all the signs indicate that we are drawing ever closer to the end of this world’s age. Teach me how to fix my eyes on You and rise above every calamity in my life and in this world.  In Jesus name, Amen.