So many beautiful verses in today's reading. I love the following passage from Isaiah 33.
"Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" That's a sobering question. In essence, how can we dwell with a holy God without being consumed.
The Bible continues: "He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil." (Isa. 33:14-15)
This is inspiring and yet discouraging however... for who is walking righteously? Who is living in all ways as he ought? We all fall short of the glory of God? There's not one of us that does only good... so still, what hope have we? How can we dwell with the everlasting burnings of the most Holy One?
A few verses further down, we get our answer... We can have hope because not only is the Lord our judge and lawgiver... but He's also our King, He's our advocate. And HE promises to save us! So... if we surrender to Him... if we continue to walk hand in hand, asking Him to burn away the dross, and cover us with His righteousness... we will live... and we will thrive with the one of everlasting burnings!
As I've heard one preacher say: Many people believe that the wicked will burn forever, but according to the Bible, it's the righteous that burn forever, not the wicked. But we burn with hearts on fire for the glory of God. And since we are covered by Christ blood and His righteousness, we can live with the everlasting burnings...
Tomorrow's Reading: Isa. 35-36 and Hebrews 3
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