New Safe Shelter

Read Isaiah 10-11
 
Isaiah 10:34-11:5 He will cut down the forest trees with an ax. Lebanon will fall to the Mighty One. 11 1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot –  yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance nor make a decision based on hearsay. 4 He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. 5 He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.
 
IN the late 1980’s Yellowstone National Park suffered a devastating series of fires. Ancient trees and acres of grass and brush burned to a charred landscape. It seemed nothing would ever grow again in those severely burned acres.
   Then in the 1990’s, I often traveled to Yellowstone. Through the decade, I saw that, incredibly, the fire’s intense heat had given new trees the opportunity to grow. Seeds from  long ago had lay dormant in the ground until the fire. They needed the heat of a fire to cleanse the less vibrant old growth and stir the seeds to life. The hot fire was a tool of God’s marvelous creation to bring “salvation” to this land. By 2000 new life had resurrected Yellowstone’s “dead” forest into a new dwelling place for many more plants and animals than before.
   Isaiah’s imagery is similar. Judah was pictured as a forest. God cut it down to cleanse the old, unfaithful growth. Still, God was merciful. Out of his cutting God activated his salvation promise illustrated in Isaiah 11. Out of God’s purifying judgment would come God’s own Son to be the new seed that would die. The cross and the grave were necessary justice for our sins to ignite the resurrection power of Jesus Christ throughout the world. The power of the Spirit’s wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, justice, fairness and fear would form the church and establish the kingdom of God.  
   Jesus says in John 12:24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives. We thank God for his resurrection plan to grow us to be sheltered in his righteousness and give shelter to others.