Not Yet

07.30.14

Isaiah 62.4 No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married.

Saint Peter wrote: But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3.8) Peter wrote to people who were scattered from their homes and living amidst a culture that suspected them of some kind of subversion because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ. (Cf. 1 Peter 1.6) Peter wrote to remind them that God wasn’t far away and He was aware of what they were going through; and His promises transcend time… a day like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day – think of the possibilities.

Saint Isaiah wrote the above about Israel’s restoration – a restoration that hasn’t come to pass just yet. Isaiah wrote that God will call them, “my delight is in her” (Hephzibah). And He will call their land Beulah (married). All this will happen but hasn’t quite happened yet. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. It hasn’t happened yet but it is coming.

Isaiah wrote to tell his people that God hadn’t forgotten them and the rockets of Hamas are futile attempts to derail His glory. Fire away boys, you’re not gonna get the desired result – you cannot kill the one whom God calls, My delight, or take over their land that He calls, Married. That’s like trying to take another man’s wife. Ain’t gonna happen. Though there are those who try.

The promises from God are faithful – To God: Beulah is already Beulah; Hephzibah is already Hephzibah. God isn’t concerned with time, His concern is for people – the people He loves and came to save. And it will happen, but not yet.

Paul, do you mean God hasn’t saved!? No, not at all; what I mean is the restoration of Israel is waiting in the wings for His people to recognize Him and accept Him as their Husband. Enter: the Gospel of John: He came to that which was his own [His land], but his own [people] did not receive him. (John 1.11) Rejected and repulsed the Groom awaits too – for the day His own will recognize Him for Who He is and Whose they are: His delight. A day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.

Paul, dude, you’ve mixed so many metaphors, I'm confused! Well, oh confused one, I am too, but the reality is this: all of what God has said and done is pointing toward that day when the wall of separation will come down (in reality) and His people, Jew and Gentile alike will be His delight and their land will be married. For some it’s already happened, for they are His and their hearts are His home; for the rest it’s, not yet.

Father God, the time is coming for us for Hephzibah and Beulah. Yet to all who did receive Jesus, to those who’ve believed in His name, You given the right [for them] to become Your children, Hephzibah. Thank You! I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Come O Lord who waits in eager expectation for the day when the rockets will be no more and the words will ring true though spoken in days of yore. Maranatha! It’ll be just like day after tomorrow…