Used with permission
by Pastor Will Fehr
Grace and Light Baptist Church
Nipawin, SK
Certainly, as we live in a morally corrupt society and the continuing movement away from the Lord our God and His Word of truth, we recognize that there is a great need for truth. Ungodliness and unrighteousness abound on every side. Resistance and rebellion against the truth of God’s Word are central characteristics of the day and age in which we live. Society professes itself to be wise, while it is determined to pursue the foolishness of ungodliness and unrighteousness. The hardness of the heart is increasing more and more against the Lord God, His Word, and the church, and ever hastens after the vanity of its own wicked imaginations. It has set its hatred against the ways of Biblical light. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:18.
This very spiritual and moral corruption has invaded and overtaken the hearts and lives of the Lord’s own people as well. Many draw nigh unto the Lord with their mouth and do not honour the Lord with their lips, but they have removed their hearts far from Him (Isaiah 29:13; James 1:22). Many among the Lord’s own people have no interest in the sound doctrine of God’s Word. The Lord’s people have become “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy3:4).
Is there any assurance that we might claim true Biblical victory for our lives, our marriages, our homes, our churches, and our communities? Is there any assurance upon which we might establish the confidence of our faith? Truth must come from the Word and the working power of the Holy Spirit of God. The power of any promise is directly related to the nature of the one who has made the promise. The Lord Himself made the promise of Isaiah 57:15, and the power of this promise is founded upon His nature.
In the opening comments of this verse, our Lord presents three elements of His nature as a substantial foundation for this promise. First of all, The High and Lofty One–He Reveals the Authority of His Promise. The Lord first presents Himself as “the high and lofty One.” In Isaiah 6:1 the prophet Isaiah gave a description of Him. He is the Lord God, supreme above all and sovereign. He sits upon His throne in heaven as the great King over all the earth. In Psalm 113:4-6, the psalmist exclaimed, He is the true and living God, and there is none else beside Him. Yet this only resulted in Lucifer’s great downfall out of his high, angelic place in heaven, (Isaiah 14:12-15). The Lord God alone is “the high and lofty One.” He is the all-supreme and all-sovereign Creator God of all creation (Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3; Hebrews 1:3).
Secondly, The Eternal One–He Reveals the Faithfulness of His Promise. The Lord presents Himself as the Eternal One (Psalm 92:7; Psalm 93:2; Romans 1:20; I Timothy 1:17). Additionally, being the eternal God, He is also the unchanging God (James 1:17). The eternal perfection of His nature is unchanging and unchangeable. Through the absolute perfection of His eternal nature, He will never allow His faithfulness to fail (Psalm 90:1-2). Because He is the eternal God, His faithful servants may always have full assurance of faith that He is their dwelling place. Thus Deuteronomy 33:27 specifically declares that “the eternal God” is the refuge of His own and that underneath them are His “everlasting arms” (Isaiah 40:28). It is upon this eternal perfectness and this eternal faithfulness that our Lord has founded His promise (Hebrews 10:23).
Thirdly, The Holy One–He Reveals the Righteousness of His Promise. The Lord our God presents Himself as the one “whose name is Holy.” His very name is Holy. Just as we may know Him as the Eternal God, the Sovereign Lord, the Almighty Creator, and the Most High, even so, we may know Him as the Holy One. We may know Him as the Holy One because He is indeed One who is holy (Psalm 145:17-21). Now, every promise of the Lord is certain; for our Lord cannot and will not ever be unfaithful to Himself or to His Word. On the foundation of God’s Word, we can experience Biblical victory in our lives, homes and churches, if we have humble and contrite spirits before Him (James 4:6).