Read Isaiah 2: Climb God’s Mountain
1-5 The Message Isaiah got regarding Judah and Jerusalem:
There’s a day coming
when the mountain of God’s House
Will be The Mountain—
solid, towering over all mountains.
All nations will river toward it,
people from all over set out for it.
They’ll say, “Come,
let’s climb God’s Mountain,
go to the House of the God of Jacob.
He’ll show us the way he works
so we can live the way we’re made.”
Zion’s the source of the revelation.
God’s Message comes from Jerusalem.
He’ll settle things fairly between nations.
He’ll make things right between many peoples.
They’ll turn their swords into shovels,
their spears into hoes.
No more will nation fight nation;
they won’t play war anymore.
Come, family of Jacob,
let’s live in the light of God.3-5.
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths..."[Isaiah 2:3B]
Several years ago I was scheduled to preach at a church in central Illinois. I had planned out my path along I-70 and left early enough to arrive a half-hour early. But after about two hours I discovered I had missed the I-70 exit sixty miles back and was driving north toward Chicago on I-55! By the time I realized my mistake and got turned around I ended up arriving at the church 30 minutes after the service was supposed to have started! Thankfully, my Christian brothers and sisters had a sense of humor!Whenever you are driving, especially on a long and unfamiliar trip, you want to be sure you are on the right path! When I was a kid we relied on maps, but again, you could end up on the wrong road for hours without realizing you were on the wrong path. But today one of the best ways to travel is to have a GPS, a Global Positioning System.
The guiding voice from this little box gives you turn-by-turn instructions and tracks your progress. If you get off the right path, it patiently tells you the best way to get back on the right path again. But that's not all a GPS can do for you. If you get tired and need a rest area or a motel along the way, a GPS can find one for you. If you get hungry, a GPS will give you a choice of restaurants and guide you to the one you want.
If we want to complete our Advent journey and reach the heavenly "house of the Lord," we need a sort of spiritual GPS. At our Baptism God washed away our sins, made us His own children, filled us with His Spirit, and set us on the right path for Jesus' sake. To keep us on that path He gave us His Word and Sacraments. Through the Law the Holy Spirit alerts us when we have wandered off the path into sin, and through the Gospel He guides us back to the right road by turning us in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ who saved us from our sins through His death on the cross.
That is why it is so important to read, hear, and study the Word of God in our home devotions and to gather together at church. For as Jesus speaks to us through His Word, and feeds us with His body and blood, He keeps us on our heavenward path. This provides us spiritual rest and nourishment along our way as we journey up to the house of the Lord!
THE PRAYER: Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your holy Word to guide us along our path. Open our ears to hear our Savior's voice and follow His ways. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
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