Month: December 2023 (Page 3 of 4)

I am writing this blog as our nation has been experiencing severe weather with floods and tornados as well as fires.  The footage on the nightly news depicts the terrible destruction and the heartbreaking experiences of survivors.  In addition, we are continually exposed to the devastation in Ukraine.  I am especially pained by the homelessness of the elderly and children.  In many cases, there do not seem to be any roads to travel, providing escape or access to emergency help.

The prophet Isaiah gives us a vision of a spiritual road being built in the midst of great uncertainty.  “God says, ‘Rebuild the road! Clear away the rocks and stones so my people can return from captivity” (Is. 57:14).   Later, Isaiah calls out, “Go out through the gates!  Prepare the highway for my people to return!  Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see” (Is. 62:10).

A common theme is clearing the debris from the road so people may walk safely back from captivity.  A road is being mended; a smooth highway through the wasteland. The good news of the reconstructed road is being announced.  A flag is the signal, bringing attention to the road that has been cleared and rebuilt.  Isaiah pictures a “highway” on which “the ransomed of the Lord will return.  They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads” (Is. 35:10).

Have you ever experienced a detour when you have been traveling?  It may have been new bridge construction… or fallen debris, like a rockslide… or it may have been an accident.  This is a picture of our nation today.  We have taken many  detours.  We have lost our way.  Many of the roads that people have chosen to follow are actually very dangerous.  There are rocks and boulders that may have fallen on some of the older, safer roads.  We are traveling through a spiritual wasteland, not sure if the road we are on will get us home.  

Our nation stand at a crossroads.  The prophetic words of Jeremiah speak loudly to our generation.  “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16).  There could be a man reading this blog who realizes he is at a crossroads.  Up to this point, he has been trying to navigate a dangerous road with much uncertainty and apprehension.  He is weary, lost, and not sure of the future.  

This man, along with the rest of us, needs to hear the strong, prophetic voice of John the Baptist, prophesied by Isaiah to be the “voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him'” (Matt. 3:4).  Luke identified John with Elijah.  “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). 

Men, the “spirit of Elijah” is at work in our day.  It is the loud, clear, prophetic voice of the Lord calling us back to the ancient paths.  Each man reading this blog needs to ask, “Lord, am I on the right road?  Am I headed in the right direction?”  God is calling fathers back to the basics (family) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the past (ancient paths).  His clear and straight way is available to us.  Are we going to take it? 

In an article entitled, “And What About the Future?” Dr. James M. Houston reflects on “the growth of technology in a postindustrial age with its temptation to substitute rational, mechanical order for the life of the spirit and for what is personal and of God.”  He envisions a new idolatry, which we may call technolatry – or “the worship of techniques for their own sake.”  It is, he believes, “the most formidable of all contemporary idolatries because it can pervade everything, everywhere.  It is a misplaced concreteness that defines all that life is and should be, with a scientific spirit that questions neither the validity nor the necessity of all spiritual, moral and human values.” 

Houston wonders about the relevance of technology to the book of Revelation, where John testifies, “I…saw a beast rising out of the sea… ” (Rev. 13:1).   He notes, “This suggests that it arises among the nations, self-directing, unquestioned. No power on earth can resist its arrival and diffusion… There is a widespread feeling today that technology is an autonomous force, largely out of control… today, technology has become such a force that it threatens to overwhelm every realm of man’s being and activity.”

I thought of Dr. Houston’s remarks when I read Isaiah’s challenge to the leaders of his day: “‘Present the case for your idols,’ says the Lord.  ‘Let them show what they can do,’ says the King of Israel. Let them try to tell us what happened long ago so that we may consider the evidence.  Or let them tell us what the future holds so we can know what’s going to happen.” (Is. 41:21-22).  He challenges them to do anything.  “In fact, do anything – good or bad!  Do something that will amaze and frighten us.  But no!  You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all'” (v. 23).  Then Isaiah warns the leaders about being taken in by their idols, “Those who choose you pollute themselves” (v. 24).

Men, it is extremely difficult to stand against and resist the dominance of technology in our daily lives. It can have a smothering effect on our thinking and behavior.  Both religious and secular observers are actually frightened by what they see coming.  In the first chapter of Revelation,  John saw a vision of the risen Lord and fell as though dead.  Jesus placed his right hand on him and said, “Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever.  And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).  He then told John, “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (v. 19).

What can we learn from these verses in Revelation? 

First, don’t be afraid.  The idols of our age cannot give hope. But Jesus can.  At Jesus’ resurrection the angel declared, “Don’t be afraid.”  Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  The idols of our day are lifeless.  But we have resurrection power flowing through us.  Paul declares, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you” (Romans 8:11).

Second, Jesus is before and after all things.  In Rev 22:13, Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Jesus is the Lord of history.  He knows the beginning of history and what will happen at the end.  So, our focus has to be on him.  Trust Jesus to forge a way through to the end.  He holds the keys of death and Hades.