Everyone at some point has felt pressed down, pushed away, unconnected, and under pressure. They have felt small, insignificant, unimportant, separated, challenged, frustrated, and even discouraged. Most have felt like a failure. Even more right now, in this time period, many have felt they can’t go beyond where they are.
There are people who have felt the injustice from so many; including governments, authorities, and religion. These have been pressed down, judged, and victims. There are so many who have been hurt, who have been treated unfairly, who have been misjudged, hated, and torn apart. There are widows and orphans. There are hungry people, and there are people who are defined as successful and many even think themselves satisfied.
When I wrote the script for ‘Wings of the Wind’, and when I directed and produced this movie, it was my desire to show a character. This character was Rose, who was lifted above everything and everyone that was pressing her down. She came to a point as her faith connected with the Lord and His word to rise on the wings of God and to be carried by the wind of His Spirit. It’s in Malachi where it says that Jesus came with healing in His wings.
As we have faced the challenges before us, we have found ourselves in tough times. As there are many feeling small by comparison to what seems to be pressing them down, it reminds me when the twelve spies went into the promised land and how they came back with the report saying they saw themselves as grasshoppers. They saw themselves this way because they saw the giant bigger than themselves. They were so small in comparison because they measured themselves by what was standing before them. They looked at themselves in perspective of what was in their way of receiving the promise and what they thought was in their way of receiving the fullness of the blessing the Lord had given them.
Isaiah 60:22, says something so unique about this. Let’s break it down and take a look at it.
“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.”
First, taking a look at this scripture, what does ‘little one’ mean? This word in Hebrew means, least, lessor, small, insignificant, and unimportant. It is the same word that is used in Gen 1:16, where it says,
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the ‘lesser’ light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
Here we can see an interesting thing. This lesser light ‘rules’. The sun ruled the day and the lesser light rules the night. Let’s be reminded that this is the moon which reflects the sun. The creativity of creation is expressing the love of God for us, the gift of God to us, and the victory of God for us. This lesser light may seem insignificant, little, or small, but on the contrary, it ‘rules’.
In Isaiah 60:22, it also says that ‘I the Lord will hasten it in ‘his’ time’. Look at this again at how that reads, ‘I the Lord’ will hasten it in HIS time.”
Who is the ‘his’ here? First, look at the word hasten. To hasten means the Lord will hurry it and He will quickly make it happen in this moment of time. This word also means, He will enjoy and be excited about doing it. So many people look at this and say, He will do it in His time, meaning to say, “Don’t lose hope. God‘s gonna do something”. Yet, the Hebrew is actually expressing it in a very specific way.
The word for the phrase, ‘in His time’, is defined as an “event”. It means a specific moment in time, a specific season, a specific purpose in time, and defines it as His event. This verse is saying that God is excited to make us a thousand in ‘HIS EVENT’. What was this event?
This word goes on in Hebrew to say this event is the occurrence and occasion of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is the event of the cross and resurrection and what He completed for us to bring us the blessing. He is taking the insignificant and small and making them a thousand by the event of the cross and resurrection. What does it mean that we are made to be a thousand?
The Hebrew word for the phrase, ‘become a thousand’, means, as a company of men under one leader, and troops. Who is that leader? His name is Jesus, who’s company or troop is the body of Christ.
Gen 17:6 states,
“And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.”
This fits with Isaiah 60:22 where it says, He will make “a small one a strong nation”. This again is in, through, and by this event which is the fulfillment of the covenant blessing in Jesus.
This word small is the description of those who have lost their dignity; those who have been put under and dominated, kept in bondage. He is saying He will make them “a strong nation”. In Hebrew the word for “a strong nation” is defined as the nation of Abraham. This was the promise, that the blessing of Abraham was given to those who received the fullness of HIS EVENT. We have been given His blessing and again, in Isaiah 60:21-22, He says,
“Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.”
We have inherited the land, the blessing, the promise. This blessing is found in Genesis 12:2-3,
“I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
The word tells us we are no longer cursed, we are blessed. We are no longer under the law and the regulations of religion. These things make you small, they put you under, and they make you feel insignificant because you can never measure up.
In the event of Jesus Christ, that moment in time of salvation, the word of God was fulfilled by a covenant that was freely given by faith. Abraham believed before the resurrection took place by faith. We believe after the resurrection has taken place by faith.
As we believe by faith, we can see the fulfillment of the promise of Abraham in our lives too. This is where He said in Exodus 32:13,
“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.”
We are the seed of Abraham and God clearly made good on His promise.
He grafted all mankind in as they accept Jesus as the way into this blessing. He said in John 3:17 that He didn’t come to condemn the world because it was condemned already. In John 10:10 He says He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. As all mankind were placed under the law of sin and death, in that moment of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection, is the event the blessing fulfilled for us. It is ours by faith in Jesus and His word. It is through Him we have been brought into the blessing. Galatians 3:9-14 says,
“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Outside of faith is religion, the law, striving, and works. All these get you nowhere. Galatians 3:10-11 says,
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: (these are made small and insignificant press down and have lost their dignity) for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.”
Jesus justified us and took us out from under the law because He fulfilled it. He did what we could not do and by faith we are receiving the fulfilled covenant in Jesus. Galatians 3:12-14 goes onto say,
“And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.”
This means if you are trying to receive the blessing by doing works, rather than believing, you fall and live under the curse of the law.
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on,” ALL MANKIND, “through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
We are blessed. We are grafted into the blessing. He has made us righteous. He has made the ‘little one’, the ‘small one’, a strong nation, a thousand.
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” Galatians 3:6-9
We are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ! He is the author and finisher of our faith! Galatians 2:17,
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law.”
When we look at the faith of Jesus Christ, we can now see Mark 11 clearly as it says, have the faith of God and do as He does. We can see the depth of faith that we’ve been given when He says, speak as He speaks, and love as He loves. We can see the depth of faith we live by.
Faith energizes. Faith lives. Faith breaths. Faith speaks. Faith loves.
Faith has been given and faith is yours… Now,
“Arise and shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” Isaiah 60:1
He has restored dignity. He has made His people in His victory, arise in the blessing. It is yours!
Pastor Kim
Check out ‘Arise in the Blessing’ with Pastor Kim Robinson’s Refresh Podcast on Anchor,https://anchor.fm/kim-robinson
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