Slices
Prepare
Pray: ‘My Lord, my judge, my lawgiver and my king, help me remember that I am in your presence today and speak to me through your Word. Amen.’
Bible passage
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
18 In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
‘Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?’
19 You will see those arrogant people no more,
people whose speech is obscure,
whose language is strange and incomprehensible.
20 Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
21 There the Lord will be our Mighty One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship will sail them.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king;
it is he who will save us.
23 Your rigging hangs loose:
the mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 No one living in Zion will say, ‘I am ill’;
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
Explore
In this section, Isaiah picks up on a theme that we saw in chapter 14. When God establishes his kingdom once and for all, his people will think back to the things we feared and say, ‘Where are they now?’
The different kinds of officers listed in verse 18 possibly sound more like petty bureaucrats than military leaders. They have a small amount of power and abuse it to make life difficult for others.
It can be hard for us sometimes to understand what God’s promises of our future home really mean. Unlike the people of Israel, most of us are not facing the threat of invasion or domination by hostile armies. We don’t feel the annual fear of our crops failing. In passages like this, though, we see that God won’t deal just with enormous, life- or-death-level threats, but the smaller, day-to-day niggles too.
God will be a righteous judge and king. Living under his rule won’t be tedious or frustrating; he won’t try to make things difficult at every turn. Life in his kingdom will be characterised by abundance, wholeness and freedom from sin. What a wonderful promise.
Respond
Thank the Lord that he cares about every aspect of life. Lift up to him again those things, large and small, which make life feel less than the ‘life … to the full’ (John 10:10) that Jesus promised.
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Deuteronomy 12–14; Romans 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for all those who faithfully support the work of the movement. Pray that God will honour their generosity and that they might know his power at work in their lives. Pray that others will identify with and support our mission to Reveal Jesus to children and young people.
