11/10 Life

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Peace Like a River
1.[v.12-16] The Presence of Peace: “Listen to me… I am the first, and I am the last… The LORD loves him; He shall perform His purpose… now the LORD God has sent me, and His Spirit”
2.[v.17-19] The Potential for Peace: “Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea”
3.[v.20-22] The Promise in Peace: “They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts”

 
Peace Like a River
(ISAIAH 48:12-22)
 
Pause & Reflect

1. What has God been teaching you through last week’s message? Read the texts once more and discern what the holy Spirit is desiring to say through it.

 
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; I am the first,
    and I am the last.
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them,
    they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
    Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him;
    he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
    from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

1. [v.12-16] *Biblical principle – THE PRESENCE OF PEACE: We can have continuous peace like a flowing river because God’s presence is continuously flowing over us, around us, and within us. He is the first and the last over all eternity – His right hand spread out the heavens above us. He loves us – His love surrounds us – just as He did for a foreign king like Cyrus, to accomplish His purposes. His presence is within us because He has sent Jesus Christ and His Spirit to indwell us. Be at peace. His presence is here – He is the God with us! The LORD had just announced that for His name’s sake, He will refine His stubborn and hard-hearted people in the furnace of affliction, removing their impurity and transforming them to live for His glory instead of their own. This refining fire of God would soon come as His discipline for His people through 70 years of captivity at the hands of the Babylonian empire. Upon hearing this, fear, hopelessness, discouragement, and anxiety would have overwhelmed the people of God. Yet how does the LORD give them peace by His character? Peace (shalom) is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of Your Creator – shalom means wholeness, completeness in your God – not lacking nor wanting anything else – as PSALM 23 begins, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” What do you lack when your God laid the foundation of the earth, and His right hand spread out the heavens? What do you lack when the Lord says that He loves you, as He did for a foreign king (v.14)? What do you lack when He says before it came to be, “I have been there” (v.16)? What do you lack when He has sent Himself in Jesus Christ, and His Spirit (v.16)? How do you need to listen and draw near to the presence of this peace?

 
17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18 Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.”

1. [v.17-19] *Biblical principle – THE POTENTIAL FOR PEACE: Although the presence of God’s peace is before us, we can miss it and forfeit it by not paying attention to the LORD’s commandments. Obedience motivated by the embrace of God’s love is the key to grasping the opportunity for possessing His peace. Pay attention! Be alert! Be awake to obey what He says. Then, your peace will flow like a never-ending river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea. All those hidden in Christ Jesus, trusting and obeying what He says, will experience maximum potential to enjoy and glorify Him. Although the LORD God taught His people to grow and led them in the way they should go (v.17), they did not pay attention and therefore lost the opportunity to experience His peace like a river. They had potential, but it was unfulfilled potential. How is God also calling you to pay attention to Him today? How are we so prone to falling into unfulfilled potential for Jesus? Do you obey God’s commands out of duty or out of delight? PSALM 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the man [and woman] who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his [her] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he [she] meditates day and night. He [She] is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.” When we obey the LORD out of delight, His peace within us becomes like a river and righteousness like waves of the sea. Why is His peace like river – what is so peculiar about a river, even if an obstacle is thrown in its path? How can the river of His peace, the waves of His righteousness, flow into and flow out of you to one another? How can we heed the warning of unfulfilled spiritual potential, and live into maximum potential for the LORD through godly obedience today?

20 Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

1. [v.20-22] *Biblical principle – THE PROMISE IN PEACE: God’s peace that transcends all understanding is a guaranteed promise. It isn’t a fantasy or unreachable tranquility, but a tangible promise proven by redemptive history. The LORD brought peace to His people from captivity through the promise of king Cyrus. The LORD provided water for His people as they made their way back to the homeland, just as He provided water from the rock in the desert when the people complained to Moses of their thirst (Exodus 17:1-7). That rock was Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). He is the promised provision of peace we can drink from and never be thirsty again. For God’s ancient people, His peace would come tangibly, visibly, and concretely through their return from 70 years of exile and abduction by the Babylonians, as they declare the LORD has redeemed them. How is God’s peace a tangible, visible, concrete, promised reality in your life, even in times of trial? As Moses gave God’s people water out of the rock, that water was peace for an anxious people and that rock was Christ. What water is Jesus flowing forth for you to drink today? For the wicked, there is no peace, although they might have temporal peace now, because their end is destruction and eternal suffering. How is the opposite true for those hidden in Christ’s righteousness, although full peace on earth is yet to come? *Read together these scriptures:

 
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (ISAIAH 26:3)
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (ROMANS 8:6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (ROMANS 15:13)
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (COLOSSIANS 3:15)
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (JAMES 3:18)
 

 
The central truth of this word was –
“There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.” Although it may appear the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer, God’s shalom (peace) rests only with those hidden in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have peace with God through the reconciling work of Christ. We have peace in God through the trials and storms of life, like a continuous flow of river water that goes around the obstacles in its way. We can have peace with one another, as we extend the flowing waters from our rock, Jesus Christ, to those around us as peacemakers. All this is anchored in the presence, potential, and promise of His peace through His Spirit that indwells us. Let peace like a river flow!
– *How has the LORD spoken to you today through this?
 
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Holy Spirit Moment
Take a moment to invite the Holy Spirit to fill you, and pray.
 
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18)
 
…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (PHILIPPIANS 4:6-7)