| February 9 Tuesday
The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw… In the year of the death of king Ahaz was this burden: Rejoice not thou, Philistia…The burden of Moab…The burden of Da-mascus…The burden of Egypt…The burden of the desert of the sea…The burden of Dumah…The burden against Ara-bia…The burden of the valley of vision…The burden of Tyre. (Isaiah 13:1; 14:28; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1,11,13; 22:1; 23:1)
PROPHETS AND THEIR PROPHECIES—ISAIAH (11) When reading these headings of some of the prophecies Isaiah had to pronounce, is there any question that a prophet’s task often was neither easy nor pleasant? Again and again we read the word “burden,” a word that can also be translated “oracle,” and that is used in the writings of the prophets to indicate a divine message of judgment. A prophet had the solemn responsibility to bring God’s message, and he generally had to bring it to people who had no desire either to hear it or to heed it. Were we to have such a mission to such people, we would probably often feel very burdened and perhaps even think of ourselves as failures. But how different is our ministry really from that of these old prophets? We too have a solemn, yet wonderful responsibility before God. “We are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as it were beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ, Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). God speaks to mankind through us today. We are still living in the day of His grace and our message is first of all a message of grace. He reaches out, He invites, He pleads through us. Do we take this task seriously or do we lightly shrug it off? Do we care? Is our responsibility a burden to us, or are we just going through the motions as we preach? Grace rejected inevitably brings judgment. “The love of the Christ constrains us,” but also, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men,” the apostle said (2 Cor. 5:14,11). E. P. Vedder, Jr. |