Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
-Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)
After Israel has declined due to the rise of the Assyrians, Isaiah was sent by God to correct Israel of her stubborn heart. After chapters of correction, this passage finds Isaiah comforting Israel. He is contrasting where the Jewish people were at that moment to a story that was bigger than they could imagine. It was a story of hope, because much of what was happening to them at that time was confusing. With their national identity gone, Isaiah was reminding them that there was an unfailing love that would uphold them. A covenant of peace was eternally theirs. 800 years later, these words stood true as Jesus was born in a Jewish nation that should never have survived. The mountains were shaken, the hills removed, but God's covenant stood true.
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Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org
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Isaiah 54:10 - My unfailing love for you will not be shaken
Malachi 3:17-18 - "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty
"They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not." - Malachi 3:17-18 (NIV)
Malachi spoke as a prophet to God's people during a time when their national identity was being restored. The Jewish exiles had returned from Babylon to Israel, Ezra saw temple worship restored, and Nehemiah had rebuilt Jerusalem. Malachi is telling the people of God that the knowledge of God was again being restored. Even when the people of God seemed to be vanquished, God showed himself faithful again. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will last forever.
Discussion at: http://facebook.com/DailyBibleVerse
Today's commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org