“But this is a people robbed and plundered;

All of them are snared in holes,

And they are hidden in prison houses;

They are for prey, and no one delivers;

For plunder, and no one says, “Restore”

 

Who gave Jacob for plunder and Israel to the robbers?

Was it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned?

For they would not walk in His ways,

Nor were they obedient to His law”

 

The Lord says to you…

“Do not remember the former things,

Nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I will do a new thing,

Now it shall spring forth;

Shall you not know it?

I will even make a road in the wilderness

And rivers in the desert…”

(Is 42:22-24; 43:18, 19)

 

This is a sad picture. This is the result of sin. For a moment of satisfaction, Esau paid with an eternity of regret. Sin promises much pleasure but the end is sickness, sorrow, despair and death. Sinners who used to be fashionable and happy are now ‘robbed, plundered and snared in holes and prison houses’. The word ‘hole’ describes the habitation of a snake. He hides there for fear that he will be killed. It is an underground, dark, lonely and restricted space. The backslider has the devil for a landlord and companion.  A sinner lives on just survival mood. No more romance, no more dreams, no more hope for the future. His only plan for life is this: ‘let none find me…’ God said that ‘it is not good for man to be alone’… but now, God allowed him to live that which is not good, a lonely isolated and barren life…no peace, no fruits, no  more marriage ‘bliss’, no more joy…The failure of man to be happy in this life comes from sin. Look around and see… hospitals full of sick men, young and old…crime…poverty…sadness…

The word sin means ‘missing the mark’. It does not matter how close you were to the mark, you missed it…Sin means transgression, rebellion against God’s law…Sin means trespassing, going too far without God…Sin means perversion and deception, betrayal of all that is good, the rejection of God…

Who can help a sinner? Who can locate the hole of the sinner? Who is willing to pay the price for the redemption of the souls of the enemies of God? In this whole universe, is there such a Savior?

The answer is a wonderful and unexpected and surprising ‘YES!!!’

Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of the only Living God, His is the Savior of men!

 

From the eternal bowels of God’s compassion, the mercy of God is revealed, the grace of the same God, Jehovah…it is called revival…it comes as ‘a new thing’, a refreshing prayed for but still surprising in its force of blessings, in its power of life out of death…tables overturned…changes decreed…rivers in the desert…a blooming wilderness…a lifting from the holes of despair… a breaking of the prison’s gates…

 

In Christ I declare:

Revival is your portion… God’s grace and mercy your inheritance, the victory of God your latest boast…you shall know this salvation, this deliverance…you shall hear the voice of hope singing the ‘coming out’ song to you…you shall once more feel hungry for righteousness…the passion for Christ rekindled… you shall be filled with His Spirit…you shall be married and fruitful…the barren shall sing for joy at the embrace of miracle children…you shall see the King in His beauty…you shall fell His touch, His grip and His lifting…the hole shall be emptied of its contents, for Jehovah has come to redeem His people and claim back His own! Let the praise start! For the glory of God alone!

In Jesus name,

Amen!