Translations: 简体中文 繁體中文

For Your Own Good

Isaiah 48:17-19
This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.  If only you had paid attention to my commands:
your peace would have been like a river,
your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Your descendants would have been like the sand,
your children like its numberless grains;
their name would never be cut off nor destroyed from before me."

Comment

If people won't obey God because it's the right thing to do, then at least they should obey God because it's best for them. The Lord God graciously offers personal benefits as rewards for obedience. While in accepting the Lord we have peace with God, there is also a peace of mind which surpasses understanding, which guards our hearts and minds. So also "He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." Psalms 37:6  And the metaphors of a river and waves of the sea magnify these effects in degree and endurance.

So also with respect to your effect on future generations, "your children" will be numberless. Such was God's promise under the Abrahamic covenant: "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Gen 22:17,18 This principle applies in the Christian life. Even if you have no children of your own, yet if you obey God you will have countless "children", future generations you have influenced who inevitably will have their impact not only in the present age but also who will inherit the kingdom to come. Previous generations of the Christians all the way from the apostles have produce generations of Christians to the present time. But do you feel that your are the least of the Christian community? To you Isaiah writes:

"The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation.
I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly." Isaiah 60:22
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources