Isaiah 40:4
Ever valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain.
At first glance this appears to be merely discussing landscape rearrangements. But a deeper study shows this to be more than a topographical rearranging and more like a personal change.
With this in mind we read in Isaiah 42:16, "I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them." Jesus is the Light in the darkness. When we follow Him faithfully (keep Him near to us), we are able to walk where He walks.
Who is more blind than the person who walks in darkness?And, yet, we who walk by faith in Christ Jesus, walk where we cannot see. But Jesus sees what is before us and leads us where He desires we go.
Where we see an impassable river, Jesus sees a stream. We climb mountains only to discover these were mere hills. We run through wide open valleys only to realize these were but paths. We trip on boulders that are actually pebbles; but we get back up and move on.
The status quo is about to change. 1 Samuel 2:8 "He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and He has set the world upon them."
In Matthew 22:1-14 we read of a banquet that is being given. The invitations have gone out but the recipients chose, for one excuse or another, to not go. So the king invites everyone else. It is written that he sent his servants out into the streets to invite people in to the banquet.
These people were raised to the level of respected invitees. The people who had been invited and refused to attend were killed off. But, really, who are all of these people?
The second group is the believers, the born again through the blood of The Lamb and the baptism of The Spirit. The ones who refused to attend are the unbelievers. Which group do you want to be in?
LION/LAMB - Josh Leventhal
