Foreigner in our own country

 Nicky Gumble 254

The second-century Letter to Diognetusdescribed the Christian’s lifestyle in the following way:

They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land… It is true that they are ‘in the flesh’, but they do not live ‘according to the flesh’.

They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the established laws, but in their own lives they go far beyond what the laws require… They are poor, and yet they make many rich… Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world.

Lord, help me not to worship the idols of the culture, or take on the customs of those I spend time with outside the church. Help me to resist these temptations and experience your ‘perfect peace’.

Isaiah 24:1-26:21

Trust

Isaiah writes, ‘You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast \[‘whose mind is stayed on You’, AMP\] because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal’ (26:3–4). This is the secret of perfect peace. It comes from trust in the Lord, in spite of the trials and temptations: ‘We trusted in him, and he saved us’ (25:9).

When we think too much about tomorrow – the problems, challenges and responsibilities we are going to face – we can easily become worried and anxious. Yet, in all the trials and temptations of life, God promises to keep you in perfect peace if you turn your thoughts to God and keep your mind ‘stayed’ on him, trusting in him.

In today’s reading, Isaiah seems to be foreseeing the end of the world. There is going to be a devastating judgment (chapter 24). Yet it will also be a day of triumph (chapter 25).

He foresees a heavenly banquet: ‘On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines’ (25:6), ‘he will swallow up death for ever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth’ (v.8).

Isaiah appears to get a glimpse of the new heaven and the new earth spoken of in the book of Revelation when God ‘will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Revelation 21:4).

The prophet goes on to say, ‘Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy’ (Isaiah 26:19). Arguably, this is the first clear reference in the Bible to individual bodily resurrection. It points to the bodily resurrection of Jesus, who is ‘the firstborn from among the dead’ (Colossians 1:18).

Jesus has conquered death and thereby defeated the fear of death and with it every other fear and anxiety. Because of Jesus, your future is totally secure. You do not need to be worried or anxious about death or anything else. Trust him with your future, turn your thoughts towards him and begin to experience his constant and perfect peace.

Lord, ‘my soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you… you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us… your name alone do we honour’ (Isaiah 26:9,12–13).

Lord, I commit to you all the possible causes of anxiety at the moment… and I put my trust in you.