Isaiah Day 138 - Every. Single. Person.

45:18  For thus says the Lord,

Who created the heavens,

Who is God,

Who formed the earth and made it,

Who has established it,

Who did not create it in vain,

Who formed it to be inhabited:

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

19 I have not spoken in secret,

In a dark place of the earth;

I did not say to the seed of Jacob,

‘Seek Me in vain’;

I, the Lord, speak righteousness,

I declare things that are right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come;

Draw near together,

You who have escaped from the nations.

They have no knowledge,

Who carry the wood of their carved image,

And pray to a god that cannot save.

21 Tell and bring forth your case;

Yes, let them take counsel together.

Who has declared this from ancient time?

Who has told it from that time?

Have not I, the Lord?

And there is no other God besides Me,

A just God and a Savior;

There is none besides Me.

22 “Look to Me, and be saved,

All you ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

23 I have sworn by Myself;

The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,

And shall not return,

That to Me every knee shall bow,

Every tongue shall take an oath.

24 He shall say,

‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.

To Him men shall come,

And all shall be ashamed

Who are incensed against Him.

25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.’”

Could it be more plain? If you are reading this, it includes you. If no one ever reads this it still includes them.

Every. Knee. Bows.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. It answers so many of our "Why?" questions. Why did God not destroy Satan in the beginning. Why is suffering permitted to continue? Why doesn't God put an end to evil?

The reality is He will bring an end to suffering and deal with evil. He can only do it when we're ready. He can only do it when every knee is ready to bow, both His friends and His enemies. That is the only way to ensure this disaster never starts again.

Where there is good, evil is always a possibility. Where there is love, there must always be freedom. In eternity future this place we call heaven will be a place of freedom. In it evil will not exist but only because those who live there will never again choose it. They will never choose it because they know all about it and have forever decided already.

Those who won't be in heaven have also made their choice. So completely free were they to make their tragic choice and so encouraged were they by God to choose love and life that they will fully admit on bended knee that God is innocent.

Only that declaration of God's innocence spoken from the lips of His most bitter enemies will forever end the controversy. All questions are answered. Tragic as those choices are to turn from Him forever, it will end all doubts.

There is but One God. Only He declares the end from the beginning. Only He could name Cyrus 150+ years before his birth and outline His life. Only He has the wisdom, love, and self-restraint to permit each of us to make our choices, good or evil. What kind of love is this? He has all power and yet gives each of us complete power to choose.

Look to Him and be saved, all you ends of the Earth, for He is God and there is no other.