‘“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.’
~ Isaiah 66:2
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you like a book to end? You probably would like a book to have a happy ending. Do you like to have your ma and dad read books to you? Do you like to have your ma and dad read the Bible to you? The books that your ma and dad read to you – and which your grandmaa really liked reading to you, are easy to understand. The Bible often is not easy to understand – even for old people like your grandmaa and grandpaa who have read it a lot. The Bible is a different kind of book than other books. The Bible was written by a good number of different guys over about 1500 years. The first part of the Bible were written for God’s specially chosen people – the Israelites, so that they would always have a history of what led to God choosing them to be His specially chosen people and what God expected from them as His specially chosen people regarding having an obedient relationship that He required from them. Remember how the Bible has been divided into two parts – the Old Testament and New Testament. The first part is the Old Testament. The New Testament is the second part. The New Testament was written more for us. There are many places in the Old Testament where God said that He would send someone special to this earth. The New Testament talks about that someone special who came to this earth. Do you know who that someone special was? Jesus was that someone special. We can learn a lot from the Old Testament – even though at times it is hard to read and hard to understand. We are going to today look at the very last chapter of Isaiah – Isaiah 66. Isaiah wrote a very long book. Isaiah in his book tells us a lot about who Jesus would be when He came. Isaiah also tells us more about who God is, what God has done and what God wants from those who are His chosen people. Depending on your relationship with God, Isaiah’s book for some ends with a good ending while for others it is a bad ending. Your grandpaa has been telling you that the Bible is different than any other book. One of the most special things about the Bible is that it is a book that is actually alive. You probably think grandpaa is being silly again. Your grandpaa does like to tease but he is not teasing you now. The words in the Bible are God’s words. The words in the Bible are always speaking to us. The words in the Bible are always telling us what it is like if we are disobedient to God. The words in the Bible give us hope when we believe in God and are obedient to Him. Isaiah ends his long book with what is going to happen with those who believe and with those who do not believe. Those who do not believe think that the ending of this book is bad. Those who do not believe are going to a place where there is always fire and worms and . . . this place is called hell. Those who believe know that the ending of the book is for them and that it is a good ending. Those who believe are very happy because they know God’s loves. These people are us.
Do you remember your grandpaa telling you where he and your grandmaa always like to sit in a church? It was always on the back bench. Do you remember when your grandpaa told you about a special deeper life speaker who pointed directly at your grandpaa one night in church and said ‘if you say that you are a Christian, why are you not acting like one’? It happened in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota. After your dad’s Uncle Hal and Aunt Jean suggested to your grandmaa and grandpaa that they visit this church, your grandpaa did. Your grandpaa really did not like the church. Your grandmaa had stayed home with your Aunt Lynn. Your Aunt Lynn had just been born. Your dad’s Uncle Hal and Aunt Jean lived four years in Aberdeen. Your dad’s Uncle Hal had been in the navy. When your dad’s Uncle Hal got out of the navy, he decided to go to college. It just so happened that your dad’s Uncle Hal decided to study at Northern State College – which is in Aberdeen. It just so happened that your dad’s Uncle Hal and Aunt Jean were living in Aberdeen when your grandmaa and grandpaa relocated from Agawan, Massachusetts to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It just so happened that your grandpaa worked for Beneficial Finance. It just so happened that Beneficial Finance had an office in Aberdeen which needed a new manager and . . . this is how your dad ended up in Aberdeen. Someday your grandpaa will tell you what led your grandmaa and grandpaa to start to go to the C&MA Church in Aberdeen. When your grandpaa went to church at this time, he would put his arms on the back of a church’s bench and say in his mind to the preacher ‘here I am; now tell me all about it’. When your grandpa had Mr. McKaughn point his finger at him, your grandpaa knew that God was speaking to him. Your grandpaa did not doubt that he was a Christian; your grandpaa just knew that he could do a lot better job of acting like a Christian. It was not like getting hit by lighting and having his life changed; it was more like finding his life changed after your grandpaa told God that he wanted to act like a Christian should act. Your grandpaa had always wanted to teach a Sunday school class. Your grandpaa had just never been given that chance until . . . your grandpaa will someday tell you all the other things that your grandmaa and your grandpaa were privileged to do in the Aberdeen C&MA Church the two years that they lived in Aberdeen.
If you believe in God, you will believe what the Bible says. Isaiah tells us in verse 2 what God has done for us and then what we are to do to live our lives for Him ‘“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word’. Esteem is to know that we important to God. Humble is to realize that God chose you and me. Contrite is to admit that we do things at times that do not please God. God’s word gives us hope as it tells us God is in control.
Isaiah 66 (14)