What is the great objective of the Christian life?
‘’The great objective—fight, too—of the Christian life is to be what we are. Not seeking or striving after some future blessing but exploring and experiencing every more fully the complete salvation given to us in Jesus. Does not the Bible call Him our ‘righteousness, sanctification, and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30)? What more is there? Does not the Bible say that the Father has blessed us (past tense) with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3)? So what more is there to give? Salvation is like a great hamper filled full of every possible blessing of God, and our task is to discover—personally, progressively, ceaselessly—what has thus been given to us once for all. Suppose someone is pronounced ‘cured’ after a long, weakening illness. Convalescence lies ahead with the constant choice between acquiescing in the body’s experienced feebleness, or acting resolutely, maybe even painfully, certainly progressively on the expert diagnosis, and slowly entering into new-found health. That is where we meet Isaiah today. In effect he is saying wrath is over (v.17), holiness is yours (v.1), new life awaits (v.11), so wake up to what you are and have, and gird your loins for a new Exodus. Believe that His wrath is a thing of the past, dress yourself in your new robe of righteousness, start walking the separated pathway. Yahweh has Himself taken away His wrath (v22), Himself accomplished the total work of salvation (v.10), and Himself will accompany you protectively on your journey (v.12). Let us ask ourselves why Romans 8:30 says that the Lord ‘glorified’ us, using the same past tense as when it says He ‘justified’ us? Or why does Ephesians 2:6 speak of us already seated in the heavenly places? Or Colossians 3:1 that we ‘were raised with Christ’? This is a divine expert diagnosis like the doctor’s pronouncement ‘you are cured’. We feel our weakness; we are summoned to lay hold on our strength.”
-Alec Motyer
“The great design of a Christian preacher…is to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men.” – Cotton Mather
“It is not the LORD who needs to awake, but His people! It is not inactivity on His part which is blocking the fulfillment of what He has promised to them, but their own spiritual torpor….[Isaiah’s] eagerness for God to act is admirable; it is the lack of such eagerness in others that is the problem.”
-Barry Webb
“Security…does not justify passivity. Quite the reverse. It calls for decisive action. The first call to action…is to awake and rise up. Isaiah 51:17” – Alec Motyer
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