For me, Isaiah 61:1-11, and Revelation 21:1-27 are
some of the most beautiful, most hopeful and encouraging, and most touching
messages to us from God. Isaiah 61 is the proclamation of the promise of God
that He is coming to set His people free. Revelation 21 proclaims, “It is
done.” In Jesus, we see the fulfillment of both of these chapters of Scripture.
As promised, He came to heal the brokenhearted, to set the captives free, and
to give sight to the “blind” – meaning opening our eyes to truth. As promised,
now the dwelling place of God is with(in) His people, and He Himself is with
us. He brings the Kingdom of God down to us to reside within our hearts. We are
His bride, made brilliantly beautiful and precious by His hand. He (and He
alone) sets us free.
I believe prophesy speaks to every level of our experience. Isaiah prophesied to those who lived in his time about their circumstances, but his words of promise also proclaimed simultaneously the promise of God of the coming Messiah, and the promise of God for our personal experience of His presence in our hearts and the change within us individually that comes from that presence. Although Revelation is often interpreted solely as a predictor of a future event or hope, I believe it also reveals to us truth about our experiences now (explaining why multiple generations have believed they were in the end times – in terms of application, the prophesy matches any time frame, such that no one knows the day or hour, and He comes as a thief in the night) and reveals to us truth about our personal salvation, redemption and restoration through the presence of God in our hearts. Therefore, I believe it is a mistake to read Revelation only as a future event, risking missing what is available to us right now.
Let me emphasize: available to us right now are the promises given in both of these beautiful chapters.
What are the promises? Beginning with Isaiah, we see the promises of healing for our broken hearts, freedom from our captivity to sin, and release from darkness. Our inner devastation will be restored and renewed. Our shame will be removed and we will rejoice in our inheritance (which is the Kingdom of God, as heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ). From Revelation, we see the promises of being made new (the old order of things has passed away), the end of death (no longer any sea), and God Himself wiping away our every tear. All of this is given to us freely, without cost to us (because God Himself paid for us). His presence within us removes the need for any other, external source of “light.” We are made into His beautiful bride, a gleaming city in which He resides.
Isaiah 61 tells us to anticipate a crown of beauty, oil of joy and a garment of praise. Revelation 21 describes in exquisite detail the beauty that is our hearts once inhabited by Jesus. Notice in both Scriptures the analogy of the bride and bridegroom is used to express our joining with Jesus into a partnership of love. What is produced by that joining is beauty beyond beauty, splendor expanding and flowing out into the world – in other words, the Kingdom of God is now, and the Kingdom of God is within us. But we can miss it.
I believe prophesy speaks to every level of our experience. Isaiah prophesied to those who lived in his time about their circumstances, but his words of promise also proclaimed simultaneously the promise of God of the coming Messiah, and the promise of God for our personal experience of His presence in our hearts and the change within us individually that comes from that presence. Although Revelation is often interpreted solely as a predictor of a future event or hope, I believe it also reveals to us truth about our experiences now (explaining why multiple generations have believed they were in the end times – in terms of application, the prophesy matches any time frame, such that no one knows the day or hour, and He comes as a thief in the night) and reveals to us truth about our personal salvation, redemption and restoration through the presence of God in our hearts. Therefore, I believe it is a mistake to read Revelation only as a future event, risking missing what is available to us right now.
Let me emphasize: available to us right now are the promises given in both of these beautiful chapters.
What are the promises? Beginning with Isaiah, we see the promises of healing for our broken hearts, freedom from our captivity to sin, and release from darkness. Our inner devastation will be restored and renewed. Our shame will be removed and we will rejoice in our inheritance (which is the Kingdom of God, as heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ). From Revelation, we see the promises of being made new (the old order of things has passed away), the end of death (no longer any sea), and God Himself wiping away our every tear. All of this is given to us freely, without cost to us (because God Himself paid for us). His presence within us removes the need for any other, external source of “light.” We are made into His beautiful bride, a gleaming city in which He resides.
Isaiah 61 tells us to anticipate a crown of beauty, oil of joy and a garment of praise. Revelation 21 describes in exquisite detail the beauty that is our hearts once inhabited by Jesus. Notice in both Scriptures the analogy of the bride and bridegroom is used to express our joining with Jesus into a partnership of love. What is produced by that joining is beauty beyond beauty, splendor expanding and flowing out into the world – in other words, the Kingdom of God is now, and the Kingdom of God is within us. But we can miss it.
The
most usual ways the "Kingdom Now" is missed are:
1) not getting to know Jesus intimately and personally (not listening)
2) looking to my own self for my salvation (I am the center of my universe, god of my life)
3) relying on my strength to handle things on my own (it is all up to me to do it)
4) looking ahead into the future with a wish for what is to come (when I get to heaven…)
5) accepting less than what Jesus truly offers so I don’t look for more (settling)
6) keeping distance in my partnership with Jesus (God is “up there” instead of in my heart)
7) letting the lies of the enemy carry weight in my heart (fear and shame)
8) giving up or giving in (resignation)
9) not having love as my primary motivation (self-focus instead of other-focus)
10) allowing circumstances to determine how I feel (an external instead of internal focus)
Each of these ten items (and I am sure there are more that can be added to the list) deserves an entire chapter, or perhaps a whole book, of its own. However, for the purposes of this writing, I am going to center in on #10. When I think about the struggles of individuals, I usually see a common thread: externalization. What I mean by this term is the empowering of circumstances to determine how we feel, what we think, how we respond or react, what we do, and what we believe.
We give great weight to the perceptions of our senses – even though, as Scrooge so eloquently observes, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.” We act as if what is tangible to our five senses is the end-all, be-all of reality. In Isaiah 61, however, we see that darkness and blindness are our state of being without Jesus, so although we perceive that we see, we do not truly see – not without Him bringing sight to our blindness. His presence allows us to see an internal and a “heavenly” reality, a spiritual realm that once you can see it carries much more weight than the physical world. Thus, the impact of the world pales in comparison to the incomparable presence of Jesus and His life within us. Paul describes this truth in Romans 8:9 – “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.” Jesus in our hearts gives us new eyes and new ears, a new sense of smell and taste and touch. Those who do not know Jesus may not be able to “see” Him with their physical eyes, but I have seen the deep, indescribable love in His eyes as He looks at me; I have felt His touch on my heart, and experienced His comforting, holding me in His arms. Those experiences are more real, and much more powerful, than anything of this world.
In addition, we give great weight to the perceptions of others. What we hear them saying about us becomes how we perceive ourselves. We look to others for affirmation, for validation, and for our identity. Instead of listening within our hearts for who Jesus says we are, we listen to and seek outside sources. Revelation 21 lets us know that we need no outside source. He is our Light and our Lamp. Whatever we need to know about ourselves, as our Creator, He knows, certainly more expertly than anyone else could ever know. Thus, Jesus Himself, “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3), knew Who He was and stood in that truth, free from the weight of the perceptions of others. If not, when facing death on the cross, He would have listened to the advice of the disciples and never entered Jerusalem. He knew (just as we can know) that the perceptions and actions of others toward us do not determine who we are. His resurrection is absolute proof that nothing of this world has power over Him, including death. Now, He has given that gift to us as well.
Finally, we give great weight to events in our lives. Someone doing something “to” us that we deem is “unfair” can send us into a tailspin. A loss, a hurt, a disappointment, or sometimes even change, can discombobulate us. We get into a mode of thinking as victims or victimizers, both of which, of course, have to do with power and control and have nothing to do with love. None of these concepts are present in Isaiah 61 and Revelation 21; in fact, freedom from those very concepts is what these chapters describe. In truth, no outside circumstance has the power to impact in any way the presence of Jesus in our hearts. As Paul states in Romans 8, beginning here in verse 31: “If God is for us, who can be against us? …34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?.... 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is in this way that the promises of Isaiah 61 and Revelation 21 are fulfilled in our hearts – the loving presence of Christ: making all things new, setting us free, opening our eyes to see, and being our source of all. Through His presence and His love, we are enabled to focus our eyes internally, on the Kingdom of God within us.
1) not getting to know Jesus intimately and personally (not listening)
2) looking to my own self for my salvation (I am the center of my universe, god of my life)
3) relying on my strength to handle things on my own (it is all up to me to do it)
4) looking ahead into the future with a wish for what is to come (when I get to heaven…)
5) accepting less than what Jesus truly offers so I don’t look for more (settling)
6) keeping distance in my partnership with Jesus (God is “up there” instead of in my heart)
7) letting the lies of the enemy carry weight in my heart (fear and shame)
8) giving up or giving in (resignation)
9) not having love as my primary motivation (self-focus instead of other-focus)
10) allowing circumstances to determine how I feel (an external instead of internal focus)
Each of these ten items (and I am sure there are more that can be added to the list) deserves an entire chapter, or perhaps a whole book, of its own. However, for the purposes of this writing, I am going to center in on #10. When I think about the struggles of individuals, I usually see a common thread: externalization. What I mean by this term is the empowering of circumstances to determine how we feel, what we think, how we respond or react, what we do, and what we believe.
We give great weight to the perceptions of our senses – even though, as Scrooge so eloquently observes, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats.” We act as if what is tangible to our five senses is the end-all, be-all of reality. In Isaiah 61, however, we see that darkness and blindness are our state of being without Jesus, so although we perceive that we see, we do not truly see – not without Him bringing sight to our blindness. His presence allows us to see an internal and a “heavenly” reality, a spiritual realm that once you can see it carries much more weight than the physical world. Thus, the impact of the world pales in comparison to the incomparable presence of Jesus and His life within us. Paul describes this truth in Romans 8:9 – “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.” Jesus in our hearts gives us new eyes and new ears, a new sense of smell and taste and touch. Those who do not know Jesus may not be able to “see” Him with their physical eyes, but I have seen the deep, indescribable love in His eyes as He looks at me; I have felt His touch on my heart, and experienced His comforting, holding me in His arms. Those experiences are more real, and much more powerful, than anything of this world.
In addition, we give great weight to the perceptions of others. What we hear them saying about us becomes how we perceive ourselves. We look to others for affirmation, for validation, and for our identity. Instead of listening within our hearts for who Jesus says we are, we listen to and seek outside sources. Revelation 21 lets us know that we need no outside source. He is our Light and our Lamp. Whatever we need to know about ourselves, as our Creator, He knows, certainly more expertly than anyone else could ever know. Thus, Jesus Himself, “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3), knew Who He was and stood in that truth, free from the weight of the perceptions of others. If not, when facing death on the cross, He would have listened to the advice of the disciples and never entered Jerusalem. He knew (just as we can know) that the perceptions and actions of others toward us do not determine who we are. His resurrection is absolute proof that nothing of this world has power over Him, including death. Now, He has given that gift to us as well.
Finally, we give great weight to events in our lives. Someone doing something “to” us that we deem is “unfair” can send us into a tailspin. A loss, a hurt, a disappointment, or sometimes even change, can discombobulate us. We get into a mode of thinking as victims or victimizers, both of which, of course, have to do with power and control and have nothing to do with love. None of these concepts are present in Isaiah 61 and Revelation 21; in fact, freedom from those very concepts is what these chapters describe. In truth, no outside circumstance has the power to impact in any way the presence of Jesus in our hearts. As Paul states in Romans 8, beginning here in verse 31: “If God is for us, who can be against us? …34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?.... 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is in this way that the promises of Isaiah 61 and Revelation 21 are fulfilled in our hearts – the loving presence of Christ: making all things new, setting us free, opening our eyes to see, and being our source of all. Through His presence and His love, we are enabled to focus our eyes internally, on the Kingdom of God within us.
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