Classic Isaiah!

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah 57: 15

Don’t you love God’s Self-Chosen names here?

“The High and Lofty One!”

“The Inhabiter of Eternity!”

“The Holy One!”

Wow!

Then God tells us where He lives … “I dwell in the high and holy place.” In Heaven? Or is He saying that he is omnipresent, everywhere? (“Dwell,” the verb here, translates “shakan” in Hebrew. Which means “to abide, to tabernacle, to reside.” But it also gives us the adjective “Shekinah,” as in God’s ineffable “Shekinah Glory!”)

Then … and this is astounding … God invites a certain type individual to dwell with Him!

“I (the Almighty) dwell … with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.” Not a proud men, or a vain woman!

“Contrite” literally means “crushed to dust!”

And “humble” is the “lowest of all.”

No doubt those whom Jesus termed “poor in spirit” in the Beatitudes! Or Paul the Apostle called “lowly.”

But if a Christian is THAT contrite or humble … will not he be “abused” by this old world-system in which we live? Stomped into the ground?

No, God will take care of him or her!

God will be his Defender, Protector!

God will “revive his spirit.”

God will “revive his heart.”

(Look at our Text verse again.)

Where “revive” means “to save, to quicken, to recover!”

Oh, what a Promise!

What an encouragement, what an insistence, that we be “contrite and humble!”

James 4:10 now comes to mind. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Wow!

I feel like Isaiah 57:15 has today preached quite a sermon today … to me, if to no one else!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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