Renewal and Restoration!
This is most definitely the ever-present divine work of our Lord as He works within His people and creation. Since man’s fall into sin humankind and all creation have been greatly damaged and destruction has been an ongoing process in our sin infested world. Yet, God is a person of renewal and restoration for that which has been broken and in need of repair.
Numerous times throughout the history of humanity and all of creation the Lord Almighty has intervened to bring about restructuring out of what has been destroyed.
In the Garden of Eden, the Lord immediately set in place a plan to restore the broken relationship between the Creator and the created. Through the Great Flood God began a process of setting the world back on a course of restoration. Throughout the Old Testament the Lord disciplined His children, by placing them into times of exile, for the purpose of bringing them to a point of repentance whereby a renewing of their hearts and minds would take place. In love God continued to pursue and call His wandering people back to Him. The covenant maker was the true covenant keeper, and He would not give up on those He had chosen.
The ultimate measure of God’s desire to bring restoration and renewal to His Creation happened in the person of Jesus Christ. The promise long ago, made in the Garden of Eden, of the sending of a Savior was fulfilled in the sacrificial life and death of Jesus, the Messiah, and Son of God. By the saving work carried out by Christ Jesus, reconciliation and restoration came about in the long-broken relationship between God and mankind. Where there was sin there is salvation, where there was death there is now life.
In the 35th Chapter of the Book of Isaiah, the prophet talks about the amazing things that have happened and will happen as the Lord does His work of restoring what He has set in place in this world. He is the Master builder both in the work He accomplished in the beginning, but also in what He has continued to do through His prophets, people, and most importantly Jesus. And let us be confident in knowing that one day, when Christ returns, all things will be made new and that which has been imperfect will reach perfection. As the writer of James tells us, “Be patient, therefore brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand”. Pastor McCarty