When was the last time you read Isaiah 32? I read it this morning and it leapt off the page at me. Have a read and then hear some of my thoughts…and maybe bring your thoughts too! I’ve put some text in bold for your consideration as you read.
Look, a righteous king is coming!
And honest princes will rule under him.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.
3 Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth,
and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.
4 Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
Those who stammer will speak out plainly.
5 In that day ungodly fools will not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be respected.
6 For fools speak foolishness
and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness
and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food
and give no water to the thirsty.
7 The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor,
even when the cause of the poor is just.
8 But generous people plan to do what is generous,
and they stand firm in their generosity.
9 Listen, you women who lie around in ease.
Listen to me, you who are so smug.
10 In a short time—just a little more than a year—
you careless ones will suddenly begin to care.
For your fruit crops will fail,
and the harvest will never take place.
11 Tremble, you women of ease;
throw off your complacency.
Strip off your pretty clothes,
and put on burlap to show your grief.
12 Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms
and your fruitful grapevines.
13 For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers.
Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
14 The palace and the city will be deserted,
and busy towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze
in the empty forts[a] and watchtowers
15 until at last the Spirit is poured out
on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
16 Justice will rule in the wilderness
and righteousness in the fertile field.
17 And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
19 Even if the forest should be destroyed
and the city torn down,
20 the Lord will greatly bless his people.
Wherever they plant seed, bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
A great word from the Prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel, to whom he spoke. But also a prophetic word about the coming King who will right wrongs, bring justice to this land, productivity to the barren places, and peace to those who love that King.
We live in a world where might rules, where the insulant raise their perverted voices and we seem powerless to silence them. The rich prosper while the honest people bear the cost of their greed. But not forever.
Note that Justice will rule in the wilderness…the wilderness where Israel failed, where they compromised! Where did John the Baptist live? Where did he go to call people to repentance? The wilderness! All of us have a wilderness. But then….
There is a season coming, to quote Ecclesiastes, when this will no longer be true; God will bring justice to this world, and creation will no longer groan but will provide! But note that a time fo reckoning, of destruction would come first. Justice requires a response to those who use their position or power to undo the lives of those around us.
Ultimately, one day – in that day – the Messiah has promised to return to make things right.
Hybrid Thoughts 