Coffee With The Lord

This morning I read one of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture… Isaiah 65:17-25…  God’s prophetic message through Isaiah of the wonderful future ahead for God’s people!  A new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells!  A new Jerusalem!  Millennial blessing and God’s eternal kingdom all blended into one incredible scene! 

So here’s what I did… I “Googled” the phrase “new heaven and new earth” into “images” and looked at the pictures there… all someone’s mental images – their imagination of what “heaven” must be like – imagination run wild!  And all of them taken together don’t begin to touch the splendor, the beauty, the grandeur of what lies ahead for the people of God!  (I’ve included one sample just to tease your imagination.)

Here’s Isaiah’s prophetic vision of it all…  (Enjoy!  Savor it!  Relish the thought!)  I’ve included a “taste” of it below from the New Living Translation” … Enjoy!!

“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! … The sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more. No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young! … For my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed. I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! … I, THE LORD, HAVE SPOKEN!” (from Isaiah 65:17-25 NLT)

Hey, a time like this is coming for the people of God!! It’s going to happen… “THE LORD HAS SPOKEN!“

And if that isn’t enough to blow your mind, check out Revelation 21-22 in the New Testament!  Wow!  What a wonderful future for the people of God!  I’d say it’s a great way to prepare for the upcoming Easter season wouldn’t you?!

I can tell you, there are some things I love to remember and recall… beautiful things, pleasant thoughts, enjoyable experiences!  There are other things I’d like to forget… but it’s not as easy as that … they’re persistent unpleasantnesses – painful memories!

I’m so glad God’s not like that… He remembers what is really important – He recalls what is eminently helpful.  On the other hand, He has the incredible ability to forget some things – things I find it difficult to forget – things that I’m ashamed of, but are wound up in my memory.  In fact, I read this wonderful passage in the Bible this morning…

“REMEMBER your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

“REMEMBER NOT the sins of my youth or my transgressions;

“ACCORDING TO YOUR STEADFAST LOVE REMEMBER ME, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!” (From Psalm 25:6-7 ESV)

This brought another wonderful passage to my mind… “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth [and believe me, that’s incredibly high!], so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west [and that’s infinitely far!], so far does he remove our transgressions from us!” (Psalm 103:10–12 ESV)

Gotta tell you, I’m incredibly relieved… and grateful!  Aren’t you?!  Thank you!  Thank you!!  Thank you, Lord!!!

Ingratitude makes physically attractive people ugly!  I’ve met people who, at first glance, seemed to have everything going for them… good looks, great family, enviable job, bright mind, and the list could go on…  But after being around them for awhile one blemish colors everything else about them with an ugly color … they are ungrateful!!

This morning, my Bible reading included Isaiah 63.7 – 64.12.  It tells the sad story of an ungrateful people… people that had so much going for them, people who had experienced God’s rich blessing and power on their behalf, people that God had provided for in such wonderful ways… But they were ungrateful!!

Here’s how the prophet Isaiah describes the situation…

“I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord, the deeds for which He is be praised, according to all the Lord has done for us – Yes, the many good things he has done for us, according to His compassion and many kindnesses!  He said, ‘surely they are My people, children who will be true to Me;’ and so He became their Savior.  In all their distress He too was distressed, and the angel of His presence saved them.  In His love and mercy He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old…

Then Isaiah goes on to say this… “YET they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit!” and later, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags… no one calls on Your Name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden Your face from us and have given us over to our sins.” (Isaiah 63.7-10, 64:6-7 NIV)

Oh, I never want to be guilty of ingratitude to God!  The personal ugliness it produces is revolting… AND deadly!!  Romans 1 tells the sad story… over and over again in it you read this sad refrain, “God gave them over… to the sinful desires of their hearts… to shameful lusts… and to a depraved mind…” And it all goes back to “Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him (i.e. they were ungrateful!)” (from Romans 1.18-32 NIV)

Here’s the point: Ingratitude not only makes physically attractive people ugly… It is spiritually toxic – it is a hideous blemish within!  Oh, Lord, I never want to be guilty!!