Revival and Spiritual Awakening Part 2
Revival and Spiritual Awakening • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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I Am With You
I Am With You
Have you ever had a time when you were about to face something fearful or challenging in life and you had a friend or family member say to you, “Don’t worry, I am right here. I am with you”?
I know there have been several times as a father I have told my kids that as they grew up. I hoped it would help them overcome their fears and face their challenges. But that is not a promise I can make to them eternally. However, I pray, that they have learned that their earthly father may not always be right there with them but their Heavenly Father, the Lord their God, is always right there with them.
Hear the words of the Father to Israel:
But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Now as you read this you might say, “Those are wonderful ancient words of encouragement to Jacob. But how do they apply to me personally?” I am glad you asked.
At first God defines the one He is speaking to as the one of covenant who is Jacob whom God called Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל meaning God prevails). However, God goes on to say that this includes those whom He has gathered into this covenant of promise from the farthest corners of the earth. That would include those of us who walk in the covenant as discipled servants of the Lord.
Just as God commanded Jacob, so God commands us to “fear not”. This is not a suggestion or recommendation. It is indeed a command. You might say, “but how do I not allow fear to overcome me in the most difficult times in life?” That which God is commanding is, to not fear anything other than the Lord Himself. For if God be for you, who can stand against you.
And what does it really mean when God says, “I am with you”? The phrase is immeka עִמְּךָ. It means so much more than just being in the same presence of another. Generally speaking, God is saying that He is with you, accompanying you, He goes before you, stands behind you, beside you, and all around you. But at its root, God is saying, “I shall overshadow you.” That means God will not only be your defender and deliverer but also your shield and strength. It further speaks of God’s fellowship, companionship and championship.
In fact, contextually in Isaiah 41, God is using the idiom as a battle phrase. As David knew God was with him as he faced Goliath, so God is with Jacob. For example, the phrase חָלַק עִם means fellowship in action. But there are some key things that are extremely relevant to having such faith and fear in the Lord.
First, God called him “servant” and “chosen”. That means that Jacob had resolved to be solely and eternally bound to God as His duly elected in covenant. It was a call to monogamous devotion. Second, the focus of his fear is the Lord and not his situation or enemies. Jacob has reasoned that if God is indeed Lord, then what would be greater to fear than the Lord Himself. If God is greater than any of his enemies or anything this life could throw at him, as he walked upright before the Lord, then what would be the point in fearing anything other than the Lord? Finally, the Lord affirms that Jacob has made the Lord his God and no other. Jacob has to put away all other idols to include materialism, hedonism, humanism, and any other physical, spiritual, natural or mental thing or ideology that may compete with, interfere with, or usurp the sovereign authority of God in his life.
How often do we live our lives only acknowledging God when we are in crisis or need? The rest of the time we live as if God is just the Elf on the Shelf until we need a Santa Clause. That is not being a follower of Christ or making Him Lord. That is stinking pagan mindsets that have crept into our lives, and we justify it by telling ourselves, “Well, I affiliate with God in general, but He is only Lord when I am in need of someone to fight a battle for me.” So often, we don’t go to the Lord nor do we tend to apply His precepts and principles when we are making other decisions in life like our relationships, our spending, our entertainment, our faithfulness, our offenses, our consistency, our devotion, our prayer life, or our diligence to His Word.
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’
Keep in mind that in Isaiah 41, God is speaking through the Prophet Isaiah to God’s people who are in exile. In Malachi they have been out of Babylon for about one hundred years. They are again in that phase of their consistent cycle of having rebelled against God and assimilated into the idolatrous practices of those around them. God is calling them back to intimate relationship through repentance and restoration. Though they had turned from the Lord, His love has never ceased toward them. This does not mean that Israel had escaped God’s judgment and reaped the consequences of their rebellion. But it does mean that God has not ever abandoned them and seeks to restore them in right relationship and holiness.
In Malachi, God uses the reference to a “refiner’s fire”. This speaks of the refiner’s ability to look into the molten pot and see his reflection signifying the purification process is complete. (Baldwin, Joyce G. "Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary" Volume 27 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Downer's Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1972)
In preparation for this season of redemption and restoration, there is a call to repentance for the salvation of their God is at hand. It is a call not to the Jew only but also the Gentiles among them.
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
We see this fulfilled in the New Testament:
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
This is all so important to God’s purpose for all of Israel even up and to the coming of the Messiah. One of God’s purposes of His covenant with Abraham and Israel is their chosen responsibility to call mankind to repentance. We too, as part of that covenant, are to fear the Lord, serve the Lord, honor the covenant with the Lord in our lives and cry out for the salvation of our God that all the peoples of the nations should hear and come to repentance. This is where the Great Commission begins.
Isaiah 52:10
The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
We see Jesus the Christ repeat this same command in Matthew 28:19-20. Yeshua’s disciples started putting it together a bit when He echoes this command which is tied immediately to the covenant and promise of God to Abraham.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Here we see Yeshua say to His followers the same words God uttered to Jacob (Israel יִשְׂרָאֵל meaning God prevails), “immeka עִמְּךָ”, “I Am is with you”.
God is with you Church. Will you answer the call to the Refiner’s Fire and respond to the Great Commission?
