“Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed.”Isaiah 56:1 ESV
Reflection: is it ok to do what is wrong in order to achieve good, even to get rid of evil?
I was listening to a “current day prophet” yesterday, who was trying to explain world events using several chapters of Isaiah as his guide, drawing parallels to what happened almost 3000 years ago. It is a fascinating study and approach, but is such an approach right? And, as there are many voices out there, is this guy right? Clearly, the Bible carries many prophecies; some that have been fulfilled, and some still to be fulfilled. And, what some will argue is that certain prophecies are in a way cyclical; meaning they will be fulfilled more than once. How is that possible? Well, if we look at history, we can certainly see patterns in humanity that are repeated. Think of the rise and fall of leaders, kings, kingdoms and empires. There are a lot of similarities between them, if you take a step back. The details, the names and places change, but the general structure of rise and fall is just part of human nature. So from that perspective, we can see repeated patterns also in applying prophecy.
What worries me, however, is when some start making excuses for acts of injustice, for doing what we know is wrong, in the name of God, even if the purpose is to destroy evil. Our model to live by, the only way given to us, is Jesus Christ. But, if we try to use Isaiah as a framework for understanding the current world, we have to be very cautious just selecting the verses that fit a specific narrative that we want to be true. We always have to measure the application against the character of God, to validate whether we can apply stories and verses to current events. In Isaiah chapters 52-53, we looked at the prophecies related to the coming of the Messiah, which ultimately led to the Lord declaring an everlasting covenant, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In chapter 55, the Lord therefore offers life, “living water”, available to all who “thirst”. And we see all those who receive forgiveness and salvation, who drink from the living water for life, are told to go forth in peace and joy,
“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12 ESV
And today, we see the instructions of the Lord continue from this foundation, “Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.””Isaiah 56:1-2 ESV. Now, this instruction is very different than what we see play out in the world today, right? The Lord says we are to “keep justice” and “do righteousness”. That is His character, and we are to reflect and do that in this earth. And He says, those that do that, will “be blessed”. He mentions here also the importance of keeping the Sabbath rest, and notice, He instructs us to “keeps his hand from doing any evil.” We cannot excuse doing wrong, doing injustice, to justify an outcome. The end cannot be used to justify any means to get there, which many seem to support. And, on a practical level, we can see repeatedly from history of what happens when societies ignore justice and righteousness,
The world falls into chaos.
The verse from YouVersion today is Jesus talking of the end times, to be awake, on-guard, which is a good context for what we have looked at today. Notice the first concern of Jesus here to his followers, “And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.” Mark 13:5-8 ESV. And, a bit later he states, ““But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”” Mark 13:32-37 ESV.
So let’s keep our heads straight and stay awake. We go out in joy and are led forth in peace, doing His work of making disciples. Let’s bring the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. And, let’s not get too distracted by all the craziness going on, including all the voices pointing here and there. We have been given only one way to enter, to be free, and to live. Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.
