Have you ever seen one of those videos of a local news station where the on-scene reporter has overdone the theatrics of their job just a little too much? I’m thinking of the reporter who appears to be straining against the overwhelming force of the wind and the rain. He is standing there with his feet spread out wide and leaning to one side to keep from being simply blown out of frame by the devastating winds. Then, in the background, two guys stroll by as though they are taking a nice walk in the rain for pleasure. They are not being blown around. They are not on the verge of tumbling down the street. In that moment, we the audience realize that we have been fooled. The reporter is dramatizing to the point of communicating falsehood.
This is what Satan is trying to do through the news feeds that dominate our social media and our television screens today. He wants us to believe that this crisis is the final existential threat to humanity. He wants us to panic in the face of the overwhelming opposition. He wants us to fail to trust in Jesus as our true rest in the present and hope for the future in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
This is why we have promises like this one in Isaiah 2:2-3:
“2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3 and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
We are always tempted to look at the rising storm around us and take our eyes off Jesus Christ. What we need is a word from the prophet Isaiah to come waltzing calmly across the screen of our souls amid the storm. Isaiah lived amongst the political and spiritual downfall of the Kingdom of Israel. Isaiah knew of the threats of the Assyrians and the Babylonians from the outside and the threats of idolatry and complacency from the inside. Isaiah had more reason to panic than we do, but he strolls across the pages of history with confidence and surety in his pace. “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains.” The Kingdom of God will conquer. The people of God will gain the victory. There will one day be a reality among the peoples of the world that will be lifted up over all things, and people from every nation will be drawn to it. That reality is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. Jesus is the fulfillment of the mountain, and we are in Christ. Therefore, we are not afraid of the raging nations and rising and falling kingdoms. We are not cowed by the threats of the government.
We can see Isaiah strolling past in the background. His word from the Lord is not bowed by the wind. His prophecy is standing straight and tall. Christ will have the victory. His Church will not ultimately fail. Therefore, we are not afraid of what man can do to us. We are confident in the knowledge that whatever we suffer in this life, our suffering serves the perfect purposes of the One who is establishing the Mountain of the House of The LORD as the highest of all mountains. So, be at peace. Rest in faith. You are Christ’s, and Christ is Lord over all things.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Charles
