Many who are versed in the scriptures who keep up with world events and take note of “signs in the heavens” are aware of a radical shift occurring away from past norms that held the nation together. As troubling as that trend may be—as in no time under those conditions society could go into freefall—I take comfort in knowing that God foresaw the chaos men and devils would create and prepared ahead of time a “way of escape” for those who loved him. He even laid out a blueprint of how events would develop and guidelines for our repentance that could qualify us for divine protection under the terms of his covenants.
This perfect blueprint of an endtime scenario we find in the prophecies of Isaiah. They not only spell out the political division that occurs in the nation of God’s people at the end but also their spiritual division and separation. Isaiah’s putting his people’s ecclesiastical institution on a par with the political institution informs us that what is happening in the one is or will also happen in the other. Against both these eventualities, therefore, God’s people must fortify themselves. It thus gives me a lot of comfort to be able to look beyond present troubles occurring “on the ground,” so to speak, to the joyful outcome God has planned.
Because “knowledge is power,” applying the knowledge God gives us in our lives and attaining his definition of righteousness gives us the best chance not only of passing through the minefield lying ahead but also of bringing others with us. That is my hope and prayer and all my preparation. Bomb shelters or hiding “away from it all” aren’t for me, which would instantly disqualify me for the promised divine intervention. How we win God’s intervention under the terms of the Davidic Covenant appears in the account of God’s people’s deliverance from Assyria’s invasion of the Promised Land in the days of King Hezekiah.
No political, moral, spiritual, societal, or ecclesiastical shift or spiral downward need shake us from our knowledge of the terms of God’s covenants and how they operate to bless and preserve our lives. Isaiah’s covenant theology that teaches us such knowledge lies at the heart of his message to us today. It takes faith to believe that a prophet living twenty-seven hundred years ago could so perfectly describe our day that we can exercise implicit faith in God’s word given through him. But isn’t that a part of our test? As I sought a witness of these things, heaven confirmed them to me many times over as it can to anyone who asks.
