Citizen of Zion

Isaiah 5-12, Amos 1-9, Micah 1-7, 2 Kings 16-17, & 2 Chronicles 27-28

Therefore my people will go into exile
because they lack knowledge;
her dignitaries are starving,
and her masses are parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat
and opens wide its enormous jaws,
and down go Zion’s dignitaries, her masses,
her crowds, and those who celebrate in her!

Humanity is brought low, each person is humbled,
and haughty eyes are humbled.
But the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice,
and the holy God demonstrates his holiness through his righteousness.
Lambs will graze
as if in their own pastures,
and resident aliens will eat
among the ruins of the rich.

Woe to those who drag iniquity
with cords of deceit
and pull sin along with cart ropes,
to those who say,
“Let him hurry up and do his work quickly
so that we can see it!
Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take place
so that we can know it!”
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who consider themselves wise
and judge themselves clever.
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are champions at pouring beer,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected
the instruction of the Lord of Armies,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 5:13-24

Here I am with the children the Lord has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Isaiah 8:18-22

The Lord says:
I will not relent from punishing Judah
for three crimes, even four,
because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord
and have not kept his statutes.
The lies that their ancestors followed
have led them astray.
Therefore, I will send fire against Judah,
and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.
Amos 2:4-5

“Quit your preaching,” they preach.
“They should not preach these things;
shame will not overtake us.”
House of Jacob, should it be asked,
“Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Are these the things he does?”
Don’t my words bring good
to the one who walks uprightly?
Micah 2:6-7

Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from ancient times.
Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return
to the people of Israel.
He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for then his greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.
He will be their peace.
Micah5:2-5a

But I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
Do not rejoice over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will stand up;
though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
Because I have sinned against him,
I must endure the Lord’s fury
until he champions my cause
and establishes justice for me.
He will bring me into the light;
I will see his salvation.
…
Who is a God like you,
forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not hold on to his anger forever
because he delights in faithful love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will vanquish our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
You will show loyalty to Jacob
and faithful love to Abraham,
as you swore to our ancestors
from days long ago.
Micah 7:7-9 & 18-20

This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the Lord their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they worshiped other gods. They lived according to the customs of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites and according to what the kings of Israel did. The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. They built high places in all their towns from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. They burned incense there on all the high places just like the nations that the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did evil things, angering the Lord. They served idols, although the Lord had told them, “You must not do this.” Still, the Lord warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commands and statutes according to the whole law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen. Instead they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the Lord their God. They rejected his statutes and his covenant he had made with their ancestors and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the surrounding nations the Lord had commanded them not to imitate.

They abandoned all the commands of the Lord their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served Baal. They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the Lord’s sight and angered him.

Therefore, the Lord was very angry with Israel, and he removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained. Even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God but lived according to the customs Israel had practiced. So the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, punished them, and handed them over to plunderers until he had banished them from his presence.
2 Kings 17:7-20

For the Lord humbled Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah, who threw off restraint in Judah and was unfaithful to the Lord. Then King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came against Ahaz; he oppressed him and did not give him support. Although Ahaz plundered the Lord’s temple and the palace of the king and of the rulers and gave the plunder to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

At the time of his distress, King Ahaz himself became more unfaithful to the Lord. He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him; he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram are helping them, I will sacrifice to them so that they will help me.” But they were the downfall of him and of all Israel.

Then Ahaz gathered up the utensils of God’s temple, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the Lord’s temple, and made himself altars on every street corner in Jerusalem. He made high places in every city of Judah to offer incense to other gods, and he angered the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
2 Chronicles 28:19-25

On that day you will say:
“I will give thanks to you, Lord,
although you were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and you have comforted me.

Indeed, God is my salvation;
I will trust him and not be afraid,
for the Lord, the Lord himself,
is my strength and my song.
He has become my salvation.”

You will joyfully draw water
from the springs of salvation,
and on that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord; proclaim his name!
Make his works known among the peoples.
Declare that his name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things.
Let this be known throughout the earth.

Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel is among you
in his greatness.”
Isaiah 12:1-6

It’s the day after Election Day 2022. It’s been a tumultuous few weeks leading up to yesterday. I confess I’ve struggled some days to not get caught up in all the political drama, and so today, regardless of the results coming in across the nation, I find myself relieved that the elections are over. I’ve posted lots of scripture today, because, though I haven’t had the time to sit down and reflect on my scripture reading over the past month, I feel as though so much of it is connected (almost like the Bible is one big, cohesive story *wink, wink).

I’ve been reading though the accounts of some of the final kings of Judah and Israel, and the prophets who warned God’s people of His impending judgment. It’s hard not to read about the rebellious and idolatrous behavior that was happening in both kingdoms and not see the parallels that exist in our world today. Time and time again, God warned them though the prophets and seers – but the people would not listen. I was reminded today that the leaders of a nation are a vessel of God’s favor or His judgement. Though Judah and Israel had a handful of righteous kings, they were both plagued with kings who rejected the LORD, committed evil, and turned the people’s hearts from Him. These leaders were their downfall. While I do believe we have good, decent people serving in elected positions, so many of our leaders are corrupt and ministers of wickedness. Today our country celebrates evil and condemns good. We elevate things that should be kept in the darkness and hide the things that belong to the light. We look at the brokenness and chaos of our world and turn our fingers in anger at God, even though we have turned our hearts completely away from His instruction.

Yet in the midst of all God’s warnings and righteous judgments, we see Him give loving promises that one day He will restore us, His people, fully to Himself. Though we have fallen in our sin, we will stand up in His presence; though we sit in this presnt darkness, the Lord will bring us into His light. We will see His salvation! I am reminded that a day is coming when He will be exalted among the nations, we will draw joyfully from the well of salvation, and, as citizens of Zion, we will cry out and sing because the Holy One of Israel will dwell among us in His greatness!

So regardless of who leads and governs our country today, I can find hope in remembering that this world is not my home and that my Savior has overcome this world. I take encouragement from Paul’s words to the Philippians:

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things. Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.
Philippians 3:13-21

LORD, help me to see the You reign above it all, and one day we will dwell fully in Your glorious presence. Until that day comes, help me to live faithfully as a foreigner here, longing for Zion! AMEN!