Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.


Covenant of Peace
"This is like the days of Noah to Me: when I swore that the waters of Noah would never flood the earth again, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

Though the mountains move and the hills shake,
My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken," says your compassionate LORD.
"Poor [Jerusalem], storm-tossed, and not comforted, I will set your stones in black mortar, and lay your foundations in sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies,your gates of sparkling stones, and all your walls of precious stones.
Then all your children will be taught by the LORD, their prosperity will be great, and you will be established on [a foundation of] righteousness.
Y ou will be far from oppression, you will certainly not be afraid; you will be far from tenor, it will certainly not come near you." - Isaiah 54:9—14 IICSB

When a judge offers a criminal mercy, his victim may feel that justice has not been served. God promised that he would never send a flood again to destroy the world. He did this despite the fact that the world's behavior didn't change; it remained just as wicked as before. Through the prophet Isaiah, God promised that he wouldn't be angry with Israel ever again. What he did to them that time, he'd never do to them again. He wouldn't ever repeat the punishment required by the covenant, their exile to Babylon. "Though the mountains move" and "the hills shake" he said, God's covenant of peace would not be shaken. It didn't matter how they acted now; they were his, and so everything would be fine.

God compared the captivity of Israel to the destruction of the world in the time of Noah. God destroyed Noah's world for its sins. Likewise, God destroyed Israel for its sins. In both cases, a remnant was preserved. And in both instances, God promised never to do it again. Israel's captivity in Babylon would not be repeated any more than there could be a rerun of Noah's Flood.

This was an illustration of God's grace. We are now at peace with God. Nothing is left of God's wrath, punishment, and anger to pour out on us. Whatever bad thing we do, however we act, God already punished us for it when Jesus accepted punishment for us. The covenant of peace stands because the punishment has already fallen. The fine has been paid, the sentence served.