Wednesday, 27th April 2022
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V-12 God’s Mercy
V1 ‘For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob.’ God has mercy for His people, and He wants to save us from destruction. We share the Good News because this is the Will of God, He wants everyone to be saved and set freed. What is true freedom? It’s not about buying whatever we want, instead, this is the opposite of freedom when we feel that we must do what we want to do.
V2 ‘Then people will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them for servants and maids in the land of the Lord; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors.’ He is calling out to all, not only the Israelites but also the strangers. God’s mercy is not to give us everything we want, but to set us free, to restore our true identity, and we will not be the same anymore. We will be able to enjoy under the fragrance of the Tree of Life, to enjoy this world God created, and to live out the life of freedom.
Section Two V3-23 God’s Salvation
V3-6 ‘It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers; He who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, He who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders.”’
We are being lied to by this world, we thought we know who we are, but a lot of time, it’s because we are unwilling to let go. God has given each one of us a position, we must know who we really area! A husband and a wife should know their worth and value in a marriage, to support each other and to build up each other, not to become each other’s burdens. True rest is for us to connect with God, we tend to find many ways and entertainments to allow us to have rest. But we can only find true rest in God.
V7 ‘The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.’ God’s salvation is coming upon us, and we are no longer the same. We can praise God freely; our enemy will be destroyed, and we can reconnect with God.
V13-14 ‘For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Babylon represents our sinful nature, we tend to focus on the things of the world, but only God exists yesterday, today, and forever. Nothing else lasts forever, so what is it that we really need?
We must examine into our hearts, what do we work hard for? Are we doing what God wants us to do and are we being faithful in our position to fulfil God’s purpose for us? God wants to bless us generation by generation, but when we decide to follow the world instead of God, then at the same time, we take away the blessings God wants to give to our next generations.
Section Three V24-32 God’s Intervention
V24-25 ‘The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”’ When God’s determined to intervene, He will surely do it, He will save His people and destroy His enemy. Who do we really rely on? Ourselves, others, or the Lord of Host? Do not live a life of slavery but to rely on God, let our lives no longer be the same.