Isaiah 2:1-22 - Here Isaiah anticipates the Lord's Day and the Final Judgment. What's particularly interesting here is that the Lord's Judgment will effect certain responses on the part of mankind. In v. 4, "The Lord will judge between the nations and shall settle disputes for many peoples;" and man responds by changing his weapons into tools for agriculture. Even more remarkable is the fact that in v. 20 - "mankind will cast away his idols . . ." only to enter "the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs" to hide from "the terror of the Lord". It is interesting that here - once God is visisbly seated on the throne of Judgment - man has only one reasonable response and that is submission. But lest we begin to admire man's submission to the Lord and take our eyes off our King and Judge - v.22 reminds of how insignificant we really are apart from Christ.
1 Peter 1:13-25 - Here Peter fleshes out the signficance of what it means to be born again to a living hope with the "Therefore . . ." transition that begins in v.13 and continues in Peter's exhortation that we would be holy as God is holy. What is the key to embracing this call to Holiness described in all your conduct? Why do we often fear God's holiness instead of loving it? Why does His holiness usually seem like a burden rather than Good News?
Verses 18-19 remind us that we were "ransomed from the futile ways inherited from (our) forefathers . . . with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." The key to our obedience is not jut a matter of effort - though we are certainly called to effort. The key is our trust in the active obedience of Christ - who was obedient to the Father, even to the point of death on the cross. Thankfully death is not the final word for Christ or for us. As Ryan alluded to yesterday, Christ's resurrection and our resurrection are inextricably linked both in the present and for the rest of eternity.
His Holiness is ours! May our lives out in the world reflect this reality - the reality of the living hope we share.
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