Devotional on Isaiah

2008 – Old Mill – Pigeon Forge, TN

That we may be one
Isaiah 60: I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen.
Sin separated them from their Maker and destroyed their nation. God sent their enemies to conquer them and then to scatter them throughout the world. Now, the Lord is making plans to gather his people from the four corners of the earth and make them into a nation of especially blest people once again. Isaiah encourages them that it won’t be long now before it happens. What plays out in the history of Israel reflects the larger journey of humanity. We read in Genesis of the fall of the human race in the Garden and the resulting “driving out” that takes place. Later on, Cain’s sin causes him to, again, be driven out. Then, after the Flood God tells the renewed human race to fan out and populate the face of the earth. Instead, they gather at Babylon to build a tower. The Lord confounds their languages, forcing them to scatter into many different people groups. This, though, isn’t the final intention of God. When the time is right, he’ll gather his people to himself. Jesus tells his followers that God wants to make us one. He encourages us that in his Father’s house there’s room for all and that he’ll take us there. Even as Isaiah describes a reuniting of Israel, the larger picture of the Bible describes God’s plan to reunite humanity in an eternal relationship with him. Since that’s God’s plan we can be sure that he’ll “make it happen.”
Take Away: The Lord’s intention is to unite the human race with one another and, especially, with himself.