We read the headlines, tumbling one after another. Stories of war, abuse, and deprivation. No good news, just the bad. Of the headlines it could be said, "Of the increase of the trouble and woe there will be no end." Man has never known a different world.
But another world is still to come, waiting for its coming creation. A greater reality will one day dawn upon us, and God has promised that this current reality, the only reality man has ever known, will not even be remembered, nor come into mind.
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." ― Isaiah 65:17
Did you even know that promise was there? These thoughts came to me after reading a line from another verse in Isaiah. It is from chapter 9, verse 7.
"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."
Can we even imagine a world like that? It's a world mankind has never known before as a whole.
What a hope! Jesus will be King. Over the whole earth. Now, that will get you excited on your worst Monday morning. What if all the bad stuff happening now is just ushering in the best day of our lives?
He's coming . . .
But even in this present world, don't we, who are His faithful followers, experience this reality in our daily lives? When we're surrendered, when we're submitting to His gentle power, there is no end to His government and peace over us! His abiding presence controls and comforts regardless of the circumstances surrounding our lives, for we exist even now in His kingdom, and we know the benefit of His benevolent rule over us. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, with His banner soaring high over us. It is not the red, white, and blue, but the pure scarlet of His blood that He shed for the ones He so loved. The anthem of His country is ringing in our hearts, not the anthem of spangled stars, but of a rugged cross, the anthem of Immanuel's land, where glory dwells.
"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."
One day His government and peace will be known through all the world. The best part is that it will never end. It's not a fairy tale. The perfect ending our spirits long for will truly be ours, only it's not an ending but just the beginning!
But another world is still to come, waiting for its coming creation. A greater reality will one day dawn upon us, and God has promised that this current reality, the only reality man has ever known, will not even be remembered, nor come into mind.
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." ― Isaiah 65:17
Did you even know that promise was there? These thoughts came to me after reading a line from another verse in Isaiah. It is from chapter 9, verse 7.
"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."
Can we even imagine a world like that? It's a world mankind has never known before as a whole.
What a hope! Jesus will be King. Over the whole earth. Now, that will get you excited on your worst Monday morning. What if all the bad stuff happening now is just ushering in the best day of our lives?
He's coming . . .
But even in this present world, don't we, who are His faithful followers, experience this reality in our daily lives? When we're surrendered, when we're submitting to His gentle power, there is no end to His government and peace over us! His abiding presence controls and comforts regardless of the circumstances surrounding our lives, for we exist even now in His kingdom, and we know the benefit of His benevolent rule over us. We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom, with His banner soaring high over us. It is not the red, white, and blue, but the pure scarlet of His blood that He shed for the ones He so loved. The anthem of His country is ringing in our hearts, not the anthem of spangled stars, but of a rugged cross, the anthem of Immanuel's land, where glory dwells.
"Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end."
One day His government and peace will be known through all the world. The best part is that it will never end. It's not a fairy tale. The perfect ending our spirits long for will truly be ours, only it's not an ending but just the beginning!
The sands of time are sinking;
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair sweet morn awakes;
Dark, dark has been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
The dawn of heaven breaks;
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair sweet morn awakes;
Dark, dark has been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory, glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
― Samuel Rutherford
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