Mon.’s Devo - The Secrets of Darkness

Read: Is. 44-48
These are some of the richest chapters in the Bible for showing us the secrets of God. I love how God starts out talking to Jacob his servant and Israel, whom I have chosen. I think that Jacob would refer to the Jews as a nation and Israel would include all who know him and are called by his name. In the next verse he speaks of Jacob and Jesurun which is a symbolic name for Israel. He is referring to the Gentile church and all believers. Jacob’s name was Jacob until God revealed himself to him and called him Israel. We are Jacob, the supplanter, trickster, sinner before we are saved. Once we are saved we become Israel. Israel means “he will rule as God.” One day the body of Christ is going to get that revelation and we will rule as God. In the third verse it tells us how this will be possible….by his spirit that he will place in us.
One of my favorite verses is Isaiah 45:3, “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.” Another shocker is verse 7: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” When I tell people that God created evil they don’t believe me till I show them this verse. How can the creator of all, that is in control of all, not be the creator of evil? “Evil” in the Hebrew means “adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, displeasure, distress, grief, harm, heavy, hurtful, mischief, naughtiness, sorrow, trouble, wrong.” Meditate on those words and it will give you a new perspective of God. “Darkness” in that verse means “misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness, obscurity”. It all makes sense if you realize that the purpose for forming this earth is to find a bride for his son and a kingdom of people who will serve Him. She has to come forth out of all the evil and darkness as a righteous, pure, holy bride who has chosen Him. His servants will build his city on the foundation of God’s righteousness (vs. 13).
In 46:10 and in 48:3, 5 we see that God declares the end from the beginning. We need to do that also. We need to declare what we want to see, not what we do see. That is faith. God is the one who teaches us to profit and leads us by the way we should go (48:17). If we would just do what God says then we would have peace, be prosperous and our offspring would be also. There is no peace to the wicked.
Lord, show us the secret things that You have hidden. Let us chose to turn from the wickedness and allurement of the world and pick You!