Good Morning All!!
Isaiah 54:10; ‘“for the mountains may depart and the
hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my
covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has
compassion on you.”
There is discussion of the “Cold War”
between the United States and Russia may be heating up again. A little while ago, Turkey shot down a
Russian jet. There were decades of the
stand-off with the occasional flare-up and brinkmanship. Sometimes it was scary like the Cuban missile
crisis. Sometimes it was ridiculous like
when Kennedy and Khrushchev engaged in a stare down at a summit meeting. Supposedly, it all held together because both
the United States and the then Soviet Union engaged in a military posture known
as mutually assured destruction. This
meant that if either side launched a nuclear attack against the other, enough
nuclear bombs would survive and launch a counter attack guaranteeing that each
side would be destroyed. Thus peace was
kept because both sides feared total annihilation. It was always ironic to me that this theory
of “peace” was known by the acronym “MAD”- mutually assured destruction.
That is the problem with manmade peace; it
really isn’t. Manmade peace is usually
just a lull in fighting, either to regroup or re-arm. It is peace if you are afraid of your
opponent or the cost of fighting is too high.
None of this is peace. None of
this provides any sense of security. You
could say that during the cold war we had peace. But we also had attack drills, the emergency
broadcast system which practiced “in case of attack”, we were encouraged to
have safe houses with plenty of canned food and water and we had fallout
shelters; peace, not really.
In some ways, our verse is like this. Jerusalem is about to be destroyed. Yet through it all, God is promising to
restore and return Jerusalem. God is promising
to keep his eternal covenant of peace both with the Children of Israel and with
you and me. God’s covenant of peace will
not be removed; what a blessing!
It gets linked
to us with the New Covenant of Jer. 31, for its benefits become possible
only after the Messiah forgives the sins of God’s people and makes them righteous.
Yet the focus of this covenant is on
security. We do not have to fear. God
throws a protective blanket over His people so that they will be safe. While
this is an eschatological covenant, it has present application to you and me.
God’s protective blanket has been thrown over us as well today in the present
age. God the Holy Spirit is Himself “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance
until the redemption of those who are God’s possession.” Because we are God’s
own we are safe and secure. We can sleep
at night and work by day knowing that God has rescued us and will protect us and
keep us safe.
Father of all mercies, you give us peace that no one
else can. Through your loving embrace we
are kept safe in your arms. Be with
those who do not know of your great and wonderful peace. Send your Spirit to free them from all harm
and danger. Send them your peace. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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