Eating The Good of The Land

In Isaiah 1:14-17, God makes an impossible demand on Israel: "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes" (1:16). Why is this an impossible demand? Israel is bloody and devestated by his sin. But God desires that Israel be whole, sound, and righteous in order to have fellowship.

What then? God's response to the paradox he creates is beautiful:

"Come now, let us reason together says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Israel needed something to happen in order that his sins would be as white as snow, but Israel was too weak and devestated to do anything. And so, the Son of God, Jesus Christ came to earth. He was given up for our trespasses on the cross and raised three days later for our justification (Rom 4:25).

Now that Jesus is physically alive, Israel and all men may count themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ (Rom 6:11).

Paul gives an incredible analogy for this in Romans 7:2-4, "For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. / Likewise, my brothers you have also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead in order that we bear fruit for God."

In other words, Christ died to sin. Now we may die to sin. However, as long as we are not killing our sin by obeying the Scriptures in faith to Christ (Rom 8:13), we are legally bound to it and may not be united to Christ. But if our sin dies, we are no longer legally bound to sin and may unite ourselves to Christ. Christ will lead us into a good land, a land of eternal joy and righteousness where we have unfiltered fellowship with God. Part of the good news is we get to taste how good that land will be in our lives now.

To obey Jesus and to follow him into the good land is not easy. 30 years ago today John Piper was called into the pastoral ministry by Jesus. When he told his father this, his father wrote him a letter telling him of the joy of obeying Jesus and how he'll enter the good land but also warned him of the heartache:

"As in all of our Lord’s work there will be a thousand compensations. You’ll see that people trust Christ as Savior and Lord. You’ll see these grow in the knowledge of Christ and his Word. You’ll witness saints enabled by your preaching to face all manner of tests. You’ll see God at work in human lives, and there is no joy comparable to this. Just ask yourself, son, if you are prepared not only to preach and teach, but also to weep over men’s souls, to care for the sick and dying, and to bear the burdens carried today by the saints of God" (HT: BTW).

Ask yourself, are you prepared to count yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ that you may eat the good of the land even if it means weeping over men's souls, bearing the burden's of the saints, and enduring much heartache?