Reassure the Righteous...

God-of-the-Angel-Armies says,

"Reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off. But doom to the wicked! Disaster! Everything they did will be done to them." Isaiah 3:10-11

This, again, is from The Message version of the Bible - Eugene Peterson.

When reading Isaiah from the beginning this scripture seems out of place to me. For 64 verses God declares that He has had it with the nation of Israel. He rails against them for their lawlessness, their immorality, their pagan worship of tree groves and - for a long rant - against their egos. Isaiah, I'm finding, is an uncanny parallel between Israel that God judged severely and America that God's hand of judgment is moving against even now.

The accusations hurled at unfaithful Israel, even seem pale in comparison to what is happening in America. God even accuses them of leaving justice after having been a nation once known for being fair to all people. Sound familiar? Once we were a nation... that loved the True God.

Then, however, there is this oddly placed verse (Isaiah 3:10). In the middle of God's rant against the nation of Israel, He stops in a breath and says, "Reassure the righteous...".

Isn't God amazing? Further in Isaiah the Watchmen see a person walking in crimson stained robes. The depiction is as one having finished treading grapes for wine and the clothes they are wearing are stained by squished grapes. The Watchmen ask, "Who goes there?" And, the Lord reveals that it is He. When they ask why His robes are stained as such Eugene Peterson answers from the biblical account like this,

"...I trampled the people. Their blood spurted all over me - all my clothes were soaked with blood." Isaiah 63:3-6

We see a God of wrath... a God fed up... a God on fire! Yet He takes the time to instruct Isaiah to comfort and reassure the righteous that their good living will pay off.

God's vengeance is soon coming. His wrath has been held in and it's about to erupt forth spewing fire all across our nation. Yet, in His wrath, God wants His children to know that it is He who protects them. Be assured YOU RIGHTEOUS God is in control. God gets no delight in judgment and has been patient, but enough is enough. The God-of-the-Angel-Armies will strike in furious vengeance and He will not allow His message to be missed by those being judged. He will also not allow the message of reassurance be missed either. His wrath is not in conflict with His love. He maintains both in harmony.

The sad thing is that those being judged could have been preserved. We could have not had to suffer the terrible fury of our Lord. Repentance and turning to God is still an option if the call will not fall on def ears. But, righteous be reassured, His hand will preserve you.