“Listen to me O coastlands, pay attention you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born while I was in my mothers womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of His hand he hid me. He made me a polished arrow in His quiver; He hid me away. And He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet, surely my cause is with the Lord and my reward with my God.” (Isaiah 49:1-4)
This is part of the song of the servant and a promise of more to come. It goes on to proclaim that Israel would be made a light to the nations so that all people everywhere in the world may be saved (Isaiah 49:6).
Here, Israel being made a light to the nations so people everywhere in the world may be saved, is God’s dream. These promises are beautiful. Yet, in the midst of it, we hear this statement about laboring in vain and spending his strength for nothing and vanity. As it is Isaiah who is proclaiming this song and standing in the gap, this maybe came out of his heart.
Ever feel like this? You have a beautiful dream and promise from God. It is so immense and incredible at the time. You feel passion burning inside of you to see it come forth. Then you labor and press in towards it by faith. You labor, press and press and press. Then look hoping to see the beauty of it coming to pass. Yet, you don’t. You see trickles of blessing and hope, hope and hope some more. But then you wonder if you really even have a clue what you are doing and if all your labors are in vain.
Overtime, enthusiasm can wane. We see this in Haggai as the Lord confronts the people about rebuilding the temple. They had much opposition and, in the natural, the splendor of the temple was diminished. It just didn’t seem like this great and amazing work of splendor but just a lot of hard work against opposition. (Haggai 1-2)
So the Lord, “sparked the enthusiasm” of the leadership and the people to labor towards this (Haggai 1:14). And He promises the people, “The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory… And in this place I will bring peace” (Haggai 2:9).
Despite opposition and the way things looked on the outside, there was this incredible promise that if the people built by faith into what the Lord had for them, He would be with them, bless them and they would see an outpouring that was greater than with Solomon’s temple where the glory so filled the place that the priests could not stand.
Commentary notes, “If we also take up the question as to the fulfilment of this prophecy, we must keep the two features quite distinct - (a) the shaking of heaven and earth and all nations; (b) the consequence of this shaking, the coming of the heathen with their possessions to the glorification of the temple - although they both stand in close connection.” [1]
This is also a shadow of the Old and New Covenants. The first one appearing to have so much splendor as God shook the heavens and came down to bring His people into freedom and form them as a new nation that was intended to be a light to all nations. And, with the coming of Christ, some held to the Old Covenant splendor when the New Covenant through Christ was filled with glory beyond what they could imagine. The people of God were not meant to stay in the past glory but press forward into what God had for them in the coming of Christ.
But what this is really a shadow of is the True Temple, Jesus Christ. His coming to the earth was filled with glory and brought many people to into the covenant promises. God has opened the door and nations have turned to Him. Yet, there is a second coming where the glory is beyond our wildest dreams. And God’s heart has not changed that people all over the world would stream to worship Him (Micah 4:1).
But as in the case of the temples, people had to see what God had for them by faith and then press into it. It was through the pressing in and persevering, not giving up that the promises came forth. The Lord made it clear that it was past time and sparked their enthusiasm for it, giving them a vision of the future.
Faith is stepping out and trusting, moving towards the reality of what God tells us by acting upon it. It is making Kingdom realities substance through our believe. We see it with our spiritual eyes and believe He can be trusted to keep His promises as we move in obedience. As God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, He meets us in it.
Over and over, in the Word, we see God rewarding those with faith and perseverance. The Lord tells the church in Philadelphia, “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it.” (Revelation10-12a)
I once had a dream that I was in this beautiful home that was luxurious and had this room with a sound system to worship that was amazing. I was going to make eggs for the people who were sleeping and living there. I had tons of eggs and lots of oil but didn’t have all what I needed or didn’t know how to make the biscuits. It was dark outside before dawn and there was this terrifying noise outside and things were shaken. My house had this three-inch-thick shield around it but I was shaken by it and worried that the protection would shatter.
All that to say that we live in this place of God’s divine protection. He is a shield around us and, like the church in Philadelphia, in times of darkness and testing, we are protected by Him. The only way that the enemy can get in is if we quit and run out the door into the darkness. Then we could easily lose our way. But we are to be ones that persevere by faith until the end—immovable by circumstances.
We are to anchor our hope on God and His promises and not move from this as we run the race with endurance that God has set before us. We are called to persevere when we do not see the promises come forth. We are not to throw about our confident trust in the Lord and continue in God’s will, anticipating all that He has promised (Hebrews 10:35-36).
Hebrews 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.”
Achieving His promises, like everything else in my life, has some rooting in significance. In a way, it is about earning and working towards the goal so that I somehow would feel a sense of accomplishment and significance. It is task oriented in this way. Then when I achieve something significant, I struggle with feeling proud of my accomplishment.
I think this seeking after significance is at the root of me sometimes getting discouraged. I crave to have significance; for my life to have meaning and purpose that impacts others and matters. I want to make a difference. But like anything else that I would crave outside of God, even significance is illuding. It is never enough and the more I achieve the more I want.
I hear God speaking to move my desires from significance to magnificence. He is amazing and magnificent beyond measure. One glimpse from Him and my heart melts. Every time He cups my face in His hands or I get a glimpse of Him, everything is worth it and I so wish I would have given more. I long to do better, give more and say something to Him with how I live my life. I am undone in His presence.
When Moses was leading the people out of Egypt, it was not a joyful experience for him. It was work and difficult. Often people complained, grumbled and challenged him. I imagine that he wondered sometimes if he was accomplishing anything. Especially when the people shrunk back from entering the Promised Land because of a bad report.
But he had these incredible mountaintop encounters with God in the midst of it. All God’s glory and goodness passed by Moses and he radiated his presence. While Moses had promises to go to the Promise Land and was deeply disappointed to not be able to enter into it himself, it was the walking with God and seeing Him in all His magnificence as he pressed forward that mattered. If the Lord was not going with him, even in the most significant of journey’s, he refused to go.
With so many opportunities for people these days to do something of significance and meaning, it is important to remember that it is not about the measure of significance in opportunities. It is about the measure of magnificence we see when we are obedient, trusting and press into His promises. If He is not with us in it, it is not worth going or doing.
We need to build our lives, like Moses and other men and women of faith, around His magnificence rather than our significance. If we put doing for God or achieving for God above enjoying and being with God, we are missing out on the whole point. We will become drained and burnt out on doing good and wonder why. Burnout comes from being wrongly focused on achievement.
Another thing that gets in my way is that I’ve never went this way before. I know what it is like when He comes like wind, rain, fire and oil and pours out upon His body. It is beautiful and everything I could ever hope or dream of. I love when He comes in power and when He restores out of His mercy. There is nothing that I continually long for more than this. But how does it look to prepare for His return? How do we know we are making any progress toward it?
I hear Him speaking that He is coming and to hasten the day, praying and fasting for the bride to be prepared— holding tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm as the day of His return is drawing near. For God can be trusted to keep His promise. I also hear Him say that His plans are bigger than my wildest dreams.
It is now singing in the background, “Hallelujah, our Bridegroom is coming. Hallelujah, He will reign.”
Lord, I see where sometimes I can get off track and look at achieving and accomplishing something in significance rather than being swept away in Your magnificence. Forgive me for having the wrong focus. Free us and forgive us wherever we put accomplishing as our priority over seeking Your face. Let us see your magnificence at every turn. Give us vision for the future and make us ready for Your return.
1. Newton, John. Bible Commentary. Biblehub.com. Located at: The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth (biblehub.com). Last Accessed 12/12/22.
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