The following verses are from Isaiah 49:13-26, English Standard Version.
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
Throughout Scripture we see a tension between verses or passages, like verse 13 above with verse 14 below. I remember my professors at Bible college tell me years ago that the Kingdom of God was “already, but not yet.” This is true. The Kingdom of God is within us if we have believed upon Jesus and followed him in his ways. Yet, we remain subject to death and do not see the Kingdom or its power manifested in the physical world. I believe that God is alive and well and works on planet earth, but almost every manifestation of spiritual power I have witnessed (and I always went to “charismatic” churches when I went to church) were manifestations of demonic power by charlatans or by Christians without discernment of the Spirit. Now, after 37 years of walking with God, the last thirteen of which have been in the wilderness away from organized Christianity, I say with Zion,
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
And the LORD still replies,
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;[d]
your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
As I live, declares the Lord,
you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
and raise my signal to the peoples;
and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[e]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[f] be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that I am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 49:13-26, ESV)
But, how long can we remain barren, destitute, and on the verge of destruction and still hold on to faith? Hope deferred makes the heart sick and our hope has been deferred two thousand years now! Come, LORD Jesus and fulfill your words!
