Isaiah 46:8-13
God's Plan to Grant Salvation to Zion
8 "Remember this, fix it in mind,
take it to heart, you rebels.
9 Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
10 I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.
11 From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about;
what I have planned, that will I do.
12 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
you who are far from righteousness.
13 I am bringing my righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
my splendor to Israel.
God has a plan...God's plan is a mystery to us...
Imagine you live around the time of Isaiah in 740 b.c...In Isaiah chapter forty five and forty six, the Israeli people are to to captured and exiled to Babylon...Much of Judah and Jerusalem would be destroyed... Only a remnant of the people of Israeli's would be exiled and return to Jerusalem years later...
Isaiah, a prophet of the God of Israel, tells us the story over one hundred years before it happens...
Isaiah served four different kings in and around 740 b.c...The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem approximately 150 years later... God has given Isaiah the foresight and wisdom to see these things long before they happen...In God's patience the Israeli's have all these years to repent...They do not...
Imagine, now, you live in Jerusalem in 586 b.c...Jerusalem is (then) destroyed in 586 b.c....Years later, King Cyrus defeats Babylon in 539 b.c. and allows the Israeli people to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their city and country...
God has a plan, part of that plan was for the Israeli people to be defeated by the Babylonians....The next part was to have King Cyrus of Persia defeat Babylon and allow Jerusalem (Zion) to be rebuilt...Salvation would come to Zion when they returned to
Jerusalem to rebuild their city...
If you had lived in with Isaiah would you have believed many years later, your town and country would be destroyed???... Would you have cared???...Would you repent???...If you lived in 586 b.c. would your think Isaiah was talking about King Cyrus???...In Isaiah chapter 45, he specifically writes about King Cyrus (by name) who was not even born yet...
The LORD tells us to "remember" these things...They happened so long ago, we have trouble putting a lot of concern with these events...But just because something happened long ago, doesn't mean it did not happen...The importance of things that happened hundreds of years ago have less importance to us...
We are to "remember" The God of Israel, is our God and there is no other...There is nothing or no one like HIM...He knows what is still to come...
God tells us He has a plan...We live in our world at this time (and not in 740 or 586 b.c., but people did) and do not understand the plans of God...I wonder if the people of Jerusalem understood they were living right in the middle of this part of God's plan written by Isaiah...
We are in God's plan...Do we understand it??...Do we even know we a part of His plan???...God works in mysterious ways...We may not know, but God does...He is in control...God lives in infinity, past, present, and future...He is not confined to time...He created time...He knows what was, what is, and what is to come...That is why we cannot trust so much in ourselves or others, but we should trust in the LORD...