Isaiah 14: 1For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. 3And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve…32What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
What shall the answer be? That’s the question. We learn the answer, among other things, in this chapter. We learn of the judgments of God with his people. We learn about Lucifer—who he was, what he did when he rebelled against God. A third part of the angels followed Lucifer and all were cast down. This is the origin of evil, and he’s been against God and his people ever since. He’s behind every enemy using people who will let him. His goal is to keep people from believing in God and that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Those who choose not to trust in the Lord will end up in the lake of fire with Satan.
God’s people have always been referred to as Zion. We have the answer to all the questions when we have the Lord. The unsaved, regardless of their background or temperament, have questions. When we got saved, we found the answer to our soul’s question concerning sin. We realized we were lost and needed to repent and be saved. We turned to the Lord of Calvary. He was the answer for our sin. As time goes on, we realize just how much “got fixed” when we got saved. Jesus provides answers because the same Savior that saved us provides answers we need for every messenger sent our way. The lost who wonders about God, the messengers Satan sends to get on our case to try to get us to explain ourselves—whatever and whoever it is—the answer to all these messengers is Zion.
That’s what verse 32 tells us. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.” It’s simple. I’m thankful God has given us a sure answer. The world wants us to regress, but we can progress in the road for the Lord. God worked in the past. He will work now. He will work tomorrow. Keep trusting him! We’ve had bad times. We’ve had our ups and downs, but there has never been a time when God failed. He comes through. He may not have done exactly what we wanted, but he came through in the best way. Because we have the surety of God, we have the answer.
Mercy and grace make the way. Look at verse 1. “For the Lord will have mercy.” When it rains, it may pour, but God gives us an umbrella. We stumble and may not get things just right, but the Lord doesn’t kick us when we’re down. We can all do a better job, but God doesn’t give up on us.
Verse 1 also says that “strangers shall be joined with them.” Before we were saved, we were spiritual aliens to the Lord. We were separated from him. Somebody showed us by their testimony that they trusted in Jesus. We believed. Now we’re not only part of the family of God, we are the family of God.
The answer we got when we got saved is still the same. We didn’t do anything for ourselves. We didn’t make ourselves right with God. We didn’t evolve into Christianity. We were born again. The Lord founded Zion. That’s the answer to give the devil when he sends his messengers. Tell him “the Lord saved me!” It keeps us established. It helps us pass the test and answer any question. Zion consists of those whom the Lord has saved. We may feel weak and very limited. We may not get it right all the time, but if we trust the Lord and serve him by faith, we have the answer.
Verse 3 tells us what it gives us. We have “rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage.” We have rest and deliverance. We are saved, and the Lord wants to take us to heaven. Keeping him as the foundation of our life, keeping the name of being his Zion, provides us with everything we need.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 