Readings for today: Isaiah 18-22
“On that Day…” Over and over we read this refrain in Isaiah. It refers to the Day when God will bring an end to all idolatry and injustice. He will break the power of tyrants and oppressors. He will lift up the poor and powerless and seat them at His table alongside the rich and powerful. He will level the playing field. He will assemble all the nations before Him. He will rule over the earth with mercy and grace and compassion. The world will heal. The nations will bow before Him in wonder and awe. There will be no more crying, no more suffering, no more pain. Evil and sin will be vanquished along with death. It’s a beautiful Day and one we all long for down deep inside.
Until that Great Day, we have been given a Great Commission. We’ve been called as God’s people to proclaim this Great News to the nations. And this is not just a New Testament command! Consider these words from today’s reading in Isaiah, “On that Day, more than one city in Egypt will learn to speak the language of faith and promise to follow God-of-the-Angel-Armies. One of these cities will be honored with the title “City of the Sun.” On that Day, there will be a place of worship to God in the center of Egypt and a monument to God at its border. It will show how the God-of-the-Angel-Armies has helped the Egyptians. When they cry out in prayer to God because of oppressors, he’ll send them help, a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them. God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they’ll get to know him on that Day. They’ll worship him seriously with sacrifices and burnt offerings. They’ll make vows and keep them. God will wound Egypt, first hit and then heal. Egypt will come back to God, and God will listen to their prayers and heal them, heal them from head to toe. On that Day, there will be a highway all the way from Egypt to Assyria: Assyrians will have free range in Egypt and Egyptians in Assyria. No longer rivals, they’ll worship together, Egyptians and Assyrians! On that Day, Israel will take its place alongside Egypt and Assyria, sharing the blessing from the center. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, who blessed Israel, will generously bless them all: “Blessed be Egypt, my people!. . . Blessed be Assyria, work of my hands!. . . Blessed be Israel, my heritage!” (Isaiah 19:18-25 MSG) Can you imagine it? Israel’s greatest enemies gathering with her to worship and bring praise to God! It’s an incredible vision. Assyria and Egypt learning the language of faith. Crying out to God in prayer. Erecting monuments to God in their lands. Taking vows to God and keeping them. Building a highway from Assyria to Egypt so all people can gather together for worship. All the nations of the earth experiencing God’s blessing. This is God’s heart on display and it remains His heart to this day.
God is on a mission, friends. He is on a mission to gather the nations of the earth before His throne in worship. Every tribe. Every tongue. Every ethnicity. Every generation. All will appear before Him. All will bow the knee to Him. All will proclaim Him as Lord and give Him praise. John Piper once said, “Mission exists because worship does not.” Until the Great Day of God comes, God’s mission remains. To proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth. To proclaim the good news to every nation on earth. And God entrusts this mission to His church. To the people called by His name, set apart for His purposes, and empowered by His Spirit. It is not God’s church that has a mission but God’s mission that has a church. (Newbigin) Like Israel before her, the church is called to be a vessel for the good news. A light to the nations and salt to the earth. May we never rest until every person in every village in every nation on the face of the earth hears about Jesus.
Readings for tomorrow: Isaiah 23-26