Today's Readings: Isaiah 26:1–6; Psalm 118; Matthew 7:21–27
I love the way that Isaiah 26 opens—full of confident, bold, unwavering faith—“we have a strong city.” He doesn’t say “we long for a strong city” or “we hope for a strong city” but indicates that this is something the Israelites could count on and as believers today it is something we can count on. What is this strong city? This is the Kingdom of God, Christ himself. It is the sure foundation; it is the house built on the rock (Matthew 7).
Isaiah proclaims that we have a city that provides rescue and protection, a city with open gates for those who love and follow the Lord. As the Psalmist cries “Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord,” (118:19) we enter through the gates of an everlasting Kingdom as well and overflow with gratefulness.
Isaiah reminds us that the “Lord is an everlasting rock” (26:4). So what is our response? It is to trust in the Lord forever and fully rely on him.
When we are in a very unsettling season full of disease and unrest, we have a strong city.
When we are not able to see family at this time and this Christmas season does not look like it has in the past, we have a strong city.
While we long for a perfect city void of sin and disease, the New Jerusalem that has been promised, this “strong city” goes beyond a geographical place. Since the Kingdom of God lives in each believer, the city is a state of mind. We cannot be shaken because our faith and our hope is a solid foundation built on Christ and is not moved by any outward circumstance. Whether we feel overwhelmed or content, uncertain or confident, we have a strong foundation.
As Isaiah proclaims at a time when Assyria threatened to defeat the Northern kingdom of Israel, “we have a strong city,” let us do the same. As we live day to day trusting in the Lord through a pandemic that causes unrest in the world, let’s be the voice that cries out “we have a strong city” – “we have a strong God” – we will not be shaken.
Let’s encourage one another, reminding each other of God’s promises, of his presence, and of his power to give strength to the weak. We have a very firm foundation and, because of that, an everlasting hope.
