The Day Is Coming

As I've mentioned previously, I'm reading through Isaiah, 5 chapters a week with my church (Calvary Chapel of Wilmington - CalvaryofWilmington.org)

Today is chapter two.

Chapter two is an interesting chapter. It can be broken into two sections.

Verses 1-5 describe the Millennial Reign of Christ (See Revelation 20:1-6)
Verses 6-22 describe what it will take for that Millennial Reign to arrive.

Let's take a look.

The Millennial Reign of Christ will be a beautiful time. Satan will be bound and in the bottomless pit. For 1,000 years, his authority and power will be gone. What a beautiful day that will be!

The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established and lifted up. This refers to Jerusalem. People will flock to Jerusalem from every corner of the world to seek God. Wow, that sounds very different to what is happening today.

While we're on the subject of Israel, In Genesis 12:3, God promised to bless those who bless Israel, and curse those who curse Israel. As more and more of the world decides to stand against Israel, we've seen God protect her. Nobody has been able to wipe them out, and nobody will be, because their God protects them.

Throughout the Old Testament, there are numerous prophecies of Israel being back in the land, and bearing fruit. (for one of my favorites, read Ezekiel 36:24-36) This has happened! God has fulfilled this prophecy. He still cares for Israel.

So in that Millennial Reign, the nations will seek God. That will be a beautiful day! They determine to follow Him, and to learn His ways.

Verse 4 adds that they will turn all of their weapons into farming tools. There will be no more war. Global peace will finally arrive, when the Prince of Peace finally arrives.

Verse 6 takes a drastic turn though. We begin to see what must happen before that glorious day.
Because of idolatry, because of the sin in their hearts, God will reject His people.

Israel's problem was that they had everything they needed. They had gold, they had silver, they had horses, they had chariots, and they decided that they had done it all themselves. They decided that they didn't really need God. They began to worship idols. They began to worship something that they made for themselves.

Psalms 115 says that we become like what we worship.

These idols had eyes, but couldn't see. They had ears, but they couldn't hear. They were unable to save.

In worshiping these idols, they became prideful, they became dull of hearing, and blind to what was happening around them.

Because of their pride, judgement was necessary.

Verse 12 of Isaiah 2 says "For the Lord of Hosts has a day against all that is proud... and it shall be brought low." 

God will deal with the pride and sin in all of us. Verse 22 says that this is what it will take for them to realize that their idols can't save them.

Before the day where Jesus reigns, there is a day where God will judge the earth. This isn't something that we like to talk about. This is something that many people will brush past. We don't like the idea of judgement. But check this out - God is just, He is righteous. His standard is perfection. Because of His nature, and because He is a just and fair judge, He has to judge sin. It is below His standard.

So how do we escape that day of judgement? Jump back to verse 5.

"O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk in the light of the LORD."

Here is our key! The way that we escape judgement is by walking in God's light.

1 John 1:5 says that God is light, and if we want to have fellowship with Him, we have to walk in that light with Him. Light and darkness can't coexist. That means the closer that you get to Jesus, the more of your sin He'll deal with. The key to following God is staying in the light.

I'll end this post with a passage from Romans 13 that seems fitting...

Romans 13:11-14
"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cat off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

The Problem With Churchianity

For the next few months, our church (Calvary Chapel of Wilmington - Calvaryofwilmington.org) is reading through the book of Isaiah. 5 chapters a week. I've decided that I'm going to blog my thoughts on these chapters as we go through. Hope you're blessed!

Chapter 1:

Isaiah was written by Isaiah the prophet. Tradition says that he was the cousin of King Uzziah. He prophesied for at least 58 years (739-681 BC). Isaiah's name means, "God is Salvation" pretty fitting seeing as his ministry mainly consisted of telling Israel to turn back to God, and that they could only receive salvation from Him. 

Isaiah is writing in a time when the nation of Israel is in political turmoil (in 722 Israel will go into captivity to Assyria) and in Spiritual decline. Nobody follows God anymore. 

In Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah paints a picture of Israel being God's children. He claimed them as His own and He raised them, but they have turned away. 

Verse 4 says "They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged."

Israel had chosen sin over God, and it put up a barrier between them. 

We can be just like Israel. Our sin will always separate us from God. That's the reason that Jesus came. He came to break down the wall of separation! But we can still try and rebuild it. 

Christian, be careful. Stand firm in your faith and don't allow sin to divide you from your Creator.

God challenges Israel on this sin, He asks them why they're continuing in it. Don't they see what it's doing to them? Their country is being laid to waste because of these decisions. 

They need to turn back to God, but that isn't what they do. They decide that the best course of action to fix this problem is to make a bunch of sacrifices. They're giving offerings left and right, but it isn't helping. In verses 11-15, God says that He is sick of their sacrifices. Not because the sacrifices are bad, but because their attitude is incorrect. In verse 13, God calls them "vain offerings". They aren't helping anything. 

The problem that Israel has is one that we face all the time. Israel was trying to fix their problem with doing "spiritual" things. Today it might be seen in someone feeling guilty about sleeping with their girlfriend, so they go to church that week. 

I've coined this "Churchianity".

We think that all of our problems will be solved if we can check everything off on our Spiritual checklist.

Go to church. 

Tithe.

Read a pastor's blog and call it a quiet time.

The problem with "Churchianity" is that it deals with the actions without dealing with the heart.

It fixes the symptoms without ever addressing the cause.

Now understand me here, I'm not saying that these are bad things to do! 

The problem was not that Israel was making sacrifices. They were commanded to do that.

Israel's problem was that their heart wasn't lined up with their actions.

In verses 16-18, God shows Israel what a correct response looks like.

"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil..."

"Cease to do evil, lear to do good;"

You see, God was going beyond Israel performing the correct actions, to them changing the way that they were living. He calls them to stop living in sin. To turn back to Him.

Verse 18 is beautiful.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

God's promise to Israel is that if they will turn from their sin and turn back to Him, He'll make them clean. He'll wipe their sins away.

Verse 19 adds a condition. It starts with the word "if". Israel has to do something.

"If you are willing and obedient." Not just willing, and not just obedient. You have to follow God with the right attitude. 

God continues through the rest of the chapter painting a picture of what Israel's sin has done to it. God promises that their sin will be dealt with, but those who turn back to God, and repent of their sin will be redeemed. 

It's the same for us today. If we look at the course of our lives, it isn't hard to see where sin took us, and (if we're saved) what God has redeemed us from. 

However, there is a choice to be made. Will you follow God? Will you repent of your sin, and turn to Him with your whole heart? He wants to wash you white as snow, if you'll let Him.

If you don't want to do that, you can see how it will go for you in verse 28.

"But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed."

The choice is yours.

How to Start a Revival

Have any of you ever asked God to change the world? I've prayed some big prayers, asking God to bring revival to our nation, but the more I pray those things, the smaller my prayers become. Not smaller in the sense of not asking God to do those big things, but more focused. It went from asking God to bring revival to our nation to asking Him to bring revival in this city, of Wilmington, NC. From there it went to asking for a revival in our church, and eventually, my prayers worked their way down to, "God, bring a revival in me. Revive my heart for You!"

The more that I thought and prayed about this idea of revival, the more I realized that it has to start somewhere. Someone has to be the first one to seek after revival, not in others, but in themselves.

So what is a revival? 

Dictionary.com defines "Revival" as an improvement in the condition or strength of something, or an instance of something becoming popular, active, or important again. 

If we want to see revival in our cities, and in this nation, it has to begin in our own hearts.

We must be the ones to put God back into the place of Lord in our hearts and our lives.

In 1 Kings 18, Israel is completely wrapped up in idolatry. The nation that is supposed to be God's own has turned their backs on Him. There is only a small remnant of people seeking God, and all but one of them are in hiding. All of them but Elijah.

Elijah goes to the King, Ahab, and puts him on the spot for his rebellion against God. It hasn't rained in 3 years, and Elijah puts the blame on Ahab for leading the people away from God.

Elijah challenges Ahab to a duel of the gods. He says, "Hey! Why don't we let what we're worshiping decide for us. They can't both be God." So they set up this contest. 

Two altars

Two sacrifices

No fire.

The 400 prophets of Baal set up their sacrifice, but they aren't allowed to bring fire. They have to ask their god to bring the fire. So they have this whole elaborate worship service to Baal. They're going at it for 3 hours. Nothing happens. 

No fire.

So it's Elijah's turn. He rebuilds an altar to the Lord, and then he makes it interesting. He has some people get water, and pour it all over the sacrifice. The wood is soaked, the animal is soaked, the water even fills a trench around the altar. 

And then Elijah prays. 1 Kings 18:36-37, "And at the time of the offering of oblation, Elijah the prohet came near and said, O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back." 

Simple prayer. Elijah asks God to show up and defend His name. "Show them that You're God!" 

"Show them that You're calling them back to You!" 

Any guesses as to what happened?

Fire.

Fire fell from Heaven, and it consumed the offering, the wood, the stones of the altar, and the water around it. It even burned up the dust!

When the people saw it, they shouted out! "The Lord, He is God!" 

God showed up in a major way, and He defended His name. There was a revival in the nation. But it started with one person. It started with only Elijah. A man willing to take a stand and say "this isn't okay." 

Notice that in 1 Kings 18:30, "Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down." 

For revival to come, the altar had to be rebuilt. It took work. For there to be change in our lives, it takes work. We have to rebuild some things that have been torn down. Maybe it's your devotional life, your prayer life, or your marriage. 

Maybe you're on the other end of the spectrum, and there are some things in your life that need to be torn down...

If that's the case, keep reading 1 Kings 18. In verse 40, Elijah takes the 400 prophets of Baal, and he kills them. 

Maybe you're thinking, "that's a bit harsh!" But think about it. These were men who had led the nation away from God. They needed to not be able to do that again. Deuteronomy even says to kill false prophets who lead people away from God. 

It's a serious thing.

But think about this with me. There might not be 400 prophets following your around every day, pulling you away from God. That would be kind of weird. 

But there might be things in your life that are pulling you away from God. Maybe it's the group of friends you hang out with, or your entertainment choices. 

Just like Elijah did, it's time for us to put those things to death. If we want to see revival begin in our hearts, we need to build up the things of God, and tear down the things of this world.

And watch. When you do that, when you take a stand for Jesus, the world will notice. 

"Lord, let revival come in my heart. Help me to see the things that need to be rebuilt and the things that need to be torn down. Give me the strength by Your Holy Spirit to make these changes, to follow You with everything I have. Help me to live for You, and for You alone. In Jesus' name, amen."