{"id":6628,"date":"2015-06-19T00:05:07","date_gmt":"2015-06-19T07:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=6628"},"modified":"2015-06-18T14:23:42","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T21:23:42","slug":"hope-and-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2015\/06\/19\/hope-and-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope and Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAlthough you have been forsaken and hated,
\nwith no one traveling through,
\nI will make you the everlasting pride
\nand the joy of all generations.
\nYou will drink the milk of nations
\nand be nursed at royal breasts.
\nThen you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
\nyour Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
\nInstead of bronze I will bring you gold,
\nand silver in place of iron.
\nInstead of wood I will bring you bronze,
\nand iron in place of stones.
\nI will make peace your governor
\nand righteousness your ruler.
\nNo longer will violence be heard in your land,
\nnor ruin or destruction within your borders,
\nbut you will call your walls Salvation
\nand your gates Praise.
\nThe sun will no more be your light by day,
\nnor will the brightness of the moon shine on you,
\nfor the LORD will be your everlasting light,
\nand your God will be your glory.
\nYour sun will never set again,
\nand your moon will wane no more;
\nthe LORD will be your everlasting light,
\nand your days of sorrow will end.
\nThen will all your people be righteous
\nand they will possess the land forever.
\nThey are the shoot I have planted,
\nthe work of my hands,
\nfor the display of my splendor.
\nThe least of you will become a thousand,
\nthe smallest a mighty nation.
\nI am the LORD;
\nin its time I will do this swiftly.\u201d (Isaiah 60:15-22)<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God promised hope and change to those who needed it most desperately. The Israelites in foreign captivity in Assyria and Babylonia felt lost and abandoned. But God told them that what had failed them would become their hope: the city of Jerusalem, then scattered and broken, would rise against as a fortress of protection. <\/p>\n

The Sun and the Moon\u2014false gods that they had worshiped but which had failed them\u2014would fade from their consciousness. God would take the place of the Sun and Moon, and unlike the false deities, he would never set; he would never fade to a crescent sliver. No cloud would cover him, no shifting phases, no dark nights ever again. God would always be there, a steady light of joy and hope free of sorrow, because their sin would be gone, replaced by everlasting righteousness.<\/p>\n

Sin is inevitably sad. It\u2019s sweet promise always turns to bitterest ashes in our mouths. God grants us his righteousness, banishing such sorrow forever.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAlthough you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations. You will drink the milk of nations and be nursed at royal breasts. Then you … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6631,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/6631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}