Be Strong! Do Not Fear!

 George, a retired USAF jet jockey, bought a used aerobatic jet for a hobby. After taking delivery, he took a friend, Bob, to show it off. George put it through its paces. Loops. Tight turns. Climbing stalls. Suddenly, they were caught in a violent thunderstorm. Lightning was crashing all around them. Suddenly, most of the instruments went out. And the wind kept tossing them around. Suddenly, George said, "Uh-oh!" Bob feared the worst. "What's wrong?" George said, "I got the hiccups. Do something to scare me." We don't all fear the same things. Yet fear is sometimes in the air. Today it's fear of COVID-19. Governments everywhere have usurped unprecedented powers. In fear, people have emptied store shelves. Fear brought new acronyms to general use. For example, FOMO (fear of missing out). WFH (work from home). And PPE (personal protection equipment). We've lived with COVID-19 for nearly 2 years. Depending on the news source, its 3rd or 4th wave is on us. There's no end in sight. Constant fear isn't new. By the time of our verses, Isaiah's people were in constant fear. When he was a child, there was peace & prosperity. But by 745BC, superpower Assyria was expanding its empire into Palestine & Syria-areas controlled by Egypt. Damascus fell in 732BC. Assyria started expanding into Galilee in 727BC. In 721BC, Assyria conquered Samaria. By 705BC, much of Galilee had fallen. After 55 years of bloody expansion, in 701BC Assyria subdued most of Judah.1 As Assyria got closer & closer to Jerusalem, fear grew & grew. Everywhere. To make things worse, Babylon started rattling its sabers on the world stage. Fear was in the air. Everywhere. Just like today. Endless fear. Isaiah's message of hope for fearful people is for us. Let's look at Isaiah 35:4-7a. 4aSay to those with fearful hearts, "Strengthen your hands! 4bDon't tremble with fear! God's message isn't new. Remember Joshua? The only leader Israel knew, Moses, just died. Joshua is untested. And Israel has to conquer the land God promised. Joshua & his people knew fear. Heart fear. Repeated emotional trauma. Hands grow weak & knees tremble. With heart fear, it's hard to work or walk in God's ways. Fear was everywhere. Remember what God repeatedly told Joshua in Dt 31:6? 9"Be strong & courageous! Don't be afraid or terrified..., for the Lord your God goes with you. He'll never leave or forsake you." There was a difference for Joshua's people. Their 40 years in the woodshed is up. They're coming out. Not so for Isaiah's people. Their 75 years in the woodshed is about to start. God will send them away to Babylon. Far from their land. Like Joshua's people Isaiah's people do fear an enemy. But 75 years is a long time. They fear God will abandon them. They know endless fear. Joshua's people know God will go with them. Where's hope for Isaiah's people? God's promise. 4cYour God will come. This is a 2-fold hope. 1st, God never gives up on His people. 2nd, God is faithful. He hasn't changed. And He's never failed on keeping a promise. He hasn't changed. Why will He come? 4dHe'll come with vengeance. To us, these are scary words. But think. Is God righteous & just? Yes. Is God righteous & just if He lets oppressors go free? No. Peace with God (for oppressors & us) has to be the result of righteousness. And righteousness demands that sin be punished. God will come to judge sin. 4eWith divine retribution He'll come to save you." When God comes, oppressors will get what they justly deserve. And God's people will know salvation. So that God's people can enjoy the fullness of their salvation, God will judge the enemies of His people. There's only one way to avoid divine retribution. We know it. I'm not so sure that Isaiah's people did. Nor did Joshua's people. What is it? Become one of God's people! Jesus took divine retribution in their place. Jesus drank the full cup of God's settled wrath against sin. For those who accept Jesus Christ as Savior, divine retribution is already satisfied. The enemies of Joshua's & Isaiah's people didn't know Jesus. Even worse, kept abusing God's people. And God is just. They'll have to satisfy His wrath without Jesus. When Jesus returns, He promises to end all evil. Those who won't accept Him will remain in their sin. For them, there's no salvation. Only judgment & vengeance. When Jesus comes, for His people it'll be hope fulfilled! We'll be saved! Not just spiritually, but physically! 5aThen will the eyes of the blind be opened. Physically, Jesus began this ministry 2000 years ago. It'll be finished when He returns. Spiritually, we'll then see just as clearly. (In 1 Cor 13:12, Paul says similarly.) 5bThen will the ears of the deaf unstopped. Jesus began this healing ministry, too, when He 1st came. But the healing of blind eyes & deaf ears also points to something else. Look at Isa 6:10-11. God cursed His unfaithful people. They'll be 10ever seeing but never perceiving, ears dull & eyes closed. When Christ comes for His people, the curse is reversed. We'll see & hear Him clearly. The result? Joy! 6aThen will the lame leap like a deer. Completely healed, physically, emotionally, & spiritually! What can we do but leap for joy! 6bThe mute tongue will shout for joy. For the parched desert of our souls, it'll be living water! 6cWater will gush forth in the wilderness & streams in the desert. Like a river, Christ's love will pour through us onto others. 7aThe burning sand will become a pool. New pools of living water in us will refresh everyone around us. 7bThe thirsty ground will become bubbling springs. Springs of life will well up in us-for us & for everyone around us. That's God's promise. Where's the need for fear? For Isaiah's people, this hope was future. They still had to endure going into a long captivity. They had to trust God to bring it to them. For you & me, it's different. Hope is much more immediate. In Mt 28:20, it was just before Jesus ascended to the Father. He promised, 20"Surely, I'm with you always, to the very end of the age." How can He be with us? He puts His Spirit IN us to live in us. To us, God is closer than any relationship that was possible for Isaiah's people. God is in us! Know what that means? Look at 1 Jn 4:4 4The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. What's there to fear? Being alone? Failing at something? Falling to temptation? Someone trying to hurt us (or someone we love)? COVID-19? Whatever it is, remember this truth. Jesus is greater. And He's in us. What can they do? We already know the end of God's story. Jesus' story. God wins! Why should we fear? God's word in Isa 35:4 is for us. 4"Be strong. Don't fear. Your God will come... to save you." Where's the need to fear? One more thing... In his book God's Workmanship2, Oswald Chambers offers a powerful way to change how we see things. It'll help us remain strong & courageous, without fear. Chambers says clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or bad things that happen outside or inside our lives that seem to dispute God's Kingdom." The clouds are those things that make us fear. Chambers is reflecting on Rev 1:7. 7Look, He's coming with the clouds. How can that verse transform our fear? Chambers says "In the Bible, clouds are always connected with God. If there were no clouds, we wouldn't need faith. Seen apart from God, the clouds are accidents. But by those same clouds, God's Spirit teaches us to walk by faith." ... And here's the transforming thought. "Clouds are the very sign that God is there! Sorrow, bereavement, & suffering are clouds that come along with God! God doesn't come in clear shining. He comes in the clouds." Next time those clouds of fear come to us? Just remember. Those clouds are the evidence that God is with us! And He who is with us, within us, is greater than whatever we're facing. Where's fear? Gone! 1 Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol 6., Isaiah, Introduction, 1. Background. c. The International Scene 2 God's Workmanship, Chapter "What Do You See in Your Clouds." --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ Be Strong. Do Not Fear. - Isaiah 35:4-7a Page 1 of 1