Faithfulness in the Fire

“Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.” (Isa 24:15 AV)

Spoken to captive Israel in Babylon while Media/Persia invaded.  The fires are the fires that the Persians lit to burn down the city.  Captive Israel would have been affected by the judgment coming upon their captors, yet, they were instructed to glorify God while suffering for the disobedience of their enemies.  This had to be a scary thing.  They had gotten acclimated to their new surroundings under the governance of Babylon.  Now, there is a massive army invading through the center of the city and burning everything in sight.  There is no discretion on their part.  They burned it all.  Israel did not do a thing to cause this.  God sent Persia against Babylon for their treatment of Israel.  They took their calling a bit excessively.  They did not restrain themselves.  For this, God sent them the Persians who not only ended their reign but made their land completely unihabitable to this day.  In all this, Israel had to witness, and even suffer a bit while God dealt with their enemies.  This is not anything new.  They had to do the same in Egypt.  God’s people, even if by no fault of their own, will suffer while God judges His enemies.  How we respond will reveal our attitude toward the holiness of God and the depth of faith we possess.

We live in an interesting neighborhood.  It is not such a peaceful one.  Several times over the last few years, the police have been called for different reasons.  There was a domestic dispute just up the street.  There was the throwdown of a rival prostitute or drug dealer that happened just across the street.  There was a fella that was going through cars on our street.  There was the murder of a six-year-old and the murder of a mother of four.  There is the occasional loose pitbull that attacks other dogs.  But the one that sticks in my mind happened about two years ago.  I look out my dining room window and there are cop cars all over the place.  They have our alley blocked on both ends.  They have both streets on both sides of the alley covered.  This is only two doors down.  Then I see about a half-dozen SWAT members in full gear preparing to storm a house.  They were looking for a bail jumper.  Another similar event happened the next street over.  This was the other direction and only a few houses from our own.  SWAT was all over it.  Very similar circumstances.  This time, it was a squatter who was held up in a vacant house with a minor.  In times like these, it is advisable to stay in one’s house away from windows lest a stray bullet or two come your way.  It is not fair.  It is not right.  We are not guilty of anything, yet treated like prisoners in our own homes.   It was for our safety. 

God must judge sin.  We are in the midst of it.  As much as the LORD desires to judge only the wicked, we do not live in a vacuum.  Yes, the LORD will rapture the church before the seven years of tribulation commences.  We will not have to endure such horrible circumstances as the twenty-one judgments coming.  Leading up to this event, however, may mean we have to suffer a bit.  America cannot continue down this path of complete rebellion against God without suffering circumstances for it.  As believers, we live in this cesspool.  Because we do, we have to endure all that comes with it.  This means some hard years are coming.  Perhaps harder than we can imagine.  How we react will tell the world who we love and how much we believe in Him!  The martyrs of the first century and beyond knew their suffering was for the glory of God.  They did not shy away from the stake, the lion’s den, or the hanging.  They endured it all for the glory of God.  Those days may be coming for the N.T. church.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Regardless, we need to be prepared to glorify God in the fires for it is this praise that just may turn others to the salvation so freely given in Christ.