Recently I was at home and decided (between watching Curb Your Enthusiasm and Prison Break) that I would pick up the Bible and look for a place to read about God's love. I stumbled over Isaiah 60 and I'm glad I did!At first glance it doesn't seem very exciting but as I thought on it deeply I realised it's all about how God loves his people (including you and me if we trust and follow Jesus) and it's full of how God wants to romance us and lavish gifts and good things on us because he wants far more than to be our God or even our friend. He wants to be our lover and Isaiah 60 seems to be a glimpse of how God wants to spoil us!
Isaiah starts with the difference that being a Christian makes. While everyone else is living in darkness without forgiveness or God's life in them, we as Christians are forgiven and alive in the light and have his loving presence living in us all the time (v1-2).
After this, Isaiah lists and describes load of things God wants to do for his beloved people and the things that will happen because of his relationship with them and there is tons of meaning implied for us in our own lives today if we have a relationship with God too. As Christians we can expect much of what's described here and now in this life but it is merely a taste of when these things will be fully completed for us in heaven. Let's look forward to heaven but let's also look for these things here in our lives on earth! Eternal life starts now!
- Others will be drawn to God through us (v3).
- Be alert and expect others to come to you to know God (v4).
- Our attractive lives will bring us joy and good things even in this world as people are drawn into praising God and they will come with good things for us as they worship him (v5-11).
- Those who continue to ignore or reject the God we follow (despite the radiance of his work in our lives) will ultimately die unforgiven and miss out on him completely and totally forever (v12).
- We will become a beacon of hope, life and joy for people around us because of God's love alive in us (v13-15).
- We will enjoy peace and well-being and nothing but God's very best for us (v17-18).
- We won't rely on natural schedules or pattern because God will sustain us and energise us (v20).
- God will make us like him and we will be strong (v21-22).
Notice verse 16! If we're Christians we might think we know already that Jesus is our rescuer and saviour but we haven't seen it all - not by a long way!
God loves us more than we can imagine. How much have you realised it so far?
