A New Purpose

A New Purpose

This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.

Isaiah 55:13

IN WORD God is on your side. Nice words for a greeting card, but are they biblical? After all, this is the God who cast us from His garden, gave us a bunch of laws that go against our nature, and disciplines us when we break them. Life can be brutally hard and painfully frustrating. Sometimes it doesn’t seem that God is on our side, does it?

But consider what God says through Isaiah: Our deliverance is for His renown. It’s an everlasting sign that will point to His glory. He delivers us because He loves us, but He also delivers us for the sake of His name. God has a lot at stake in how well we live. We are evidence of His kingdom; He wants us to display it accurately.

God has sworn to us that His Word will not return to Him empty (v. 11). Like a refreshing rain, it makes things flourish. His promises will be fulfilled, His plans will be accomplished, and His character will be proven to all humanity. He will zealously pursue His own passions until His Word is completely satisfied at end of the age. And since the redeemed are at the center of His plan for our world, we can be absolutely sure: He is on our side.

IN DEED Our tendency is to interpret everything in God’s Word through the lens of what it means to us. We see ourselves as individuals in a relationship with our Creator. We focus on His love and His wonderful plan for our life, and we are exactly right on all counts. God is on our side because of His love.

But God is also on our side because of His glory. He created this world to praise Him, and His reputation matters. When the world sees His wonders in the people He has redeemed, many turn to praise. When His wonders aren’t evident in us, praise wanes. The worship of His name directly correlates to the witness of those who bear it. You can live as though God is on your side. He always is.

The great end of God’s work . . . is most properly and comprehensively called, the glory of God.

—JONATHAN EDWARDS