Isaiah 21
The Heavy Burden of Bad News!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, January 10.
I have had to deliver the hardest of news to people; it can be heart wrenching to carry the heavy burden of bad news. The same was true for the prophets of God who had to deliver time-sensitive oracles of judgment from God. If they failed to obey, they would incur the judgment of God upon themselves (Ezekiel 3:18-19). In Isaiah 21:2-5, the prophet contrasts his experience as the bearer of bad news, for he was to deliver an oracle of judgment against Babylon, with those for whom the oracle was given:
A harsh vision has been shown to me; the treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys. … For this reason my loins are full of anguish; pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see. My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink; …
God gives to His messengers the revelation of His Word to bring people to repentance. The gospel of Jesus Christ confronts people with the heavy burden of bad news – “For the wages of sin is death … .” As an ambassador of Christ and minister of reconciliation, you must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth – “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21).
Seize the moment and recognize your absolute need for a Savior. The gospel is only good news when it also tells the truth about the bad news of sin and death. If there is no real need for a Savior in the first place, then there would have never been a Christmas or Easter to celebrate.
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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