Isaiah 48
No Peace for the Wicked!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, February 16.
As a non-Christian youth of Generation X, of course I listened to Ozzy Osborne in the late 80s and early 90s. So, later in life, when I read Isaiah 48:22, where the Lord said, “There is no peace for the wicked” (cf. 57:21), I remembered the name of Ozzy’s 1988 album, “No rest for the wicked.” As per the album title, it included “Miracle Man,” the song which offered a scathing rebuke for the hypocrisy of the fallen televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, who had been a vocal critic of the famed British music artist, but himself was currently caught up in multiple sex scandals that led to his disgrace and defrocking.
When Isaiah proclaimed, “There is no peace for the wicked,” he was declaring the need for all people’s absolute need for God’s redemption – Babylon and Israel, Jimmy and Ozzy! We love to create us-them dichotomies, but the reality is that we all need the peace of God as promised in the following verses:
- “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).
- “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
- “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
- “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Colossians 3:15).
Seize the moment and share your faith by extending God’s gift of love and forgiveness. Be at peace with everyone, not through the hypocrisy of religion, but through the rest Jesus promises in His easy yoke (Romans 12:18; Matthew 11:28-30).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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