The Sovereign Lord Comes With Power

The Sovereign Lord Comes With Power

Isaiah 40:10 “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm.  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”

In the previous episode I talked about the verse right before this one. That episode was all about how we don’t have to be afraid to speak God’s work or spread God’s love because God will protect us.  This is the very next two.  Isaiah 10:10 says that the Lord comes with power and He rules with a mighty arm.  I think this is something that we both like about God and maybe don’t like.  I think we can all agree that we like the part that says God comes with power.  I bet we have all seen God’s power in one or another in our lives.  If we haven’t then we are not looking because I guarantee that God is showing up with power in our lives.  

The part that we may not like is the part that says He rules with a mighty arm.  If you have read the old testament you probably have many examples of this.  One example can be found in Numbers 21:2-9.  The Israelites made a vow to the Lord that if He handed the Canaanites over to them then they would destroy the city.  The Lord did as they asked.  Then the Israelites got tired of being in the wilderness and started complaining and they spoke against God and Moses.  Then in Numbers 21:7-9 it says, “Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you; intercede with the Lord, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.”   So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole; and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.  God did everything for His people and sometimes that meant he needed to rule with a mighty arm.  

Another example of God ruling with a mighty hand is when the scouts went out to check out the promised land.  This can be found in Numbers 13 and 14.  God’s Spirit dwelled with he Israelites the whole time they were in the desert.  He performed many miracles for them and He kept forgiving them every time the messed up, which was often.  Reading the old testament sometimes it seems like God’s people couldn’t go a day without disobeying God, although we probably aren’t much different.

In Numbers 13 God asked Moses to send some men out to spy on the promised land.  This was the land that the Lord had promised to them.  Yet when the men went out to scout the land they saw the inhabitants of the land and they were afraid.  They decided that even though the Lord had promised them this land, they couldn’t possibly go and take it because the people were too big, and the city had a giant wall around it.  They didn’t think, even with God on their side, that they could defeat them.  Their God, the same God that parted the red sea, provided them manna every day, and made it rain quail so that they would have enough meat for an entire month.  After the scouts reported what they had seen, the Israelites starting complaining to Moses and Aaron and talked about choosing a leader and going back to Egypt, back to where they were slaves. They even talked about stoning Moses and Aaron.  God was so upset and wanted to destroy them.  Again Moses interceded and God decided instead of destroying them He decided that no one over the age of 20 at that time would enter into the promised land.  He had the Israelites wander in the desert 40 more years, until all those over 20 had died, before they could go into the promised land.

God is just and He tells us the way He expects us to live.  Then He lovingly gives us the choice if we want to follow His laws or not.  If we choose not to follow His laws then He will enforce the consequences.  He is our loving Father.  He doesn’t want to give us consequences any more than we want to give our children consequences when they mess up.  However, that is how children learn.  They do something, see what happens, and then decide if they want to do it again based on the outcome.  If God just let us get away with everything, and no matter what happened we all went to Heaven, then that wouldn’t really be giving us free will.  We wouldn’t be choosing what we want, He would be choosing if for us.  

What makes the next part of the verse so great is that it compliments that first part but leaves us in a better place.  The next line is, “See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”  Jesus has His reward and His recompense with Him.  So even though God rules with a mighty arm and has to come down on us when we are not living by his law, there is also the flip side to that.  God rewards us when we are living by His law.  1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “ But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”  

The verse also says God’s recompense accompanies Him.  In case you are like me and you’re not sure exactly what recompense means, let me explain.  Recompense means to make amends to (someone) for loss or harm suffered; compensate.  I love the thought of this.  I love the thought of God making amends for all we have lost or harm that we suffered.  Not making amends as if he owes us anything, but more rewarding us for all that we suffered in this world for His sake.  A verse that confirms that we will be rewarded if we suffer with Jesus is  Romans 8:17, “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him.”  We suffer with Him so that we may be glorified with Him.  I don’t know about you, but that is something that I am looking forward too.  I can’t wait to be glorified with Jesus.  I know that means that I will have to suffer here on this earth, but wouldn’t you rather suffer here on this earth for how ever long you are here for, the spend your eternal life suffering?  Trust in the Lord. He comes with power and He will reward you for your suffering. 

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.    Lord, we thank you for being a just God.  We thank you for giving us such clear directions on what you want us to do, and what you don’t want us to do.  Lord, help us follow these directions. Help us live the life you want for us.  Help us to see when we are about to make  a mistake and give us the strength to stop it.  Lord you are truly amazing and we thank you for all you do for us.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I will be sending out another email on Sunday with next week’s character trait for our “10 Weeks to Be Like Jesus” Challenge.  If you want to get an email and you have not signed up yet, no worries, there is a link in the show notes. (Click Here)  You don’t have to commit to anything when you sign up.  It’s just giving me your email address so I can send you the information in and email.  I will only send one email a week for the next 10 weeks.  I look forward to spending time with you again on Monday.  Have a Blessed weekend.