Captive in this Mortal Frame

Isaiah 60:10–22

“Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession. For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for My feet. The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. “Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations. You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Instead of bronze I will bring you gold, and silver in place of iron. Instead of wood I will bring you bronze, and iron in place of stones. I will make peace your governor and well-being your ruler. No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of My hands, for the display of My splendor. The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

700 years later, the LORD lamented, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing (Matt 23:37).” He knew it was time for redemption. For centuries, it had been the ebb and flow of blessing and judgment, this time He came to seal rescue and to offer it beyond the borders of His chosen people and its epicenter, the holy city of Jerusalem. Christ had fulfilled these prophetic words from Isaiah, but fulfilled it like a seed that needs to grow and the promise continues through into the last book of the Bible, in the apocalypse of the Apostle John: “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband (Rev 12:2).” So we are to wait on God, and we know of His sovereignty, and so we can rest in His time he will fulfill His promise finally. These verses still make me wonder when has it been or when will it be fulfilled exactly, it is possible that it is yet to be fulfilled, or some of it, given the nation of Israel’s recent emergence as a modern state and resurgence as a stable country in the middle of a hostile neighbourhood. God will eventually be our light we wait as we look forward to the day when we will ultimately be back in God’s country. In the meantime like Israel after Isaiah, we are captive in this mortal frame, exiled from the perfect fellowship in God, suffering within this broken world, hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. 'Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease… (Jer 29:4–6).” May we do just that, live well, share love with others, find joy in God’s presence and with fellow believers, amidst the fallenness, Christ is here and He will guide us through His Holy Spirit, we have a hope in redemption that’s secure, let us abide in it as we journey through life.