The Lord Knows

The 14^th Sunday after Pentecost–August 25, 2013

Isaiah 66:18-23

“For I know their works and their thoughts…” Vs.18

     This month of August has heard the Old Testament readings set forth some categorical distinctions—that is, something belongs to a “category” or it  doesn’t.   Ecclesiastes 1 assigned “all things done under the sun” to the category of vanity.  Genesis 15 categorically assigned righteousness to faith rather than works.  Jeremiah 23 established the categories of false vs. true prophets.  Here in Isaiah 66 are found the categories of true and false worship.

These categories—true vs. false worship—occur repeatedly throughout the book of Isaiah.  They are the distinction between proper perception and distorted perception.  The idolatry displayed by the ritual charades of the Babylonians (cf. Isaiah 46) is an example of the distorted perception held by sinners. They assume God can be tricked into seeing their hearts as pure.  Sinners always overestimate the purity of their thinking, feeling, and doing.  They forget that categorical word from Ecclesiastes:  “All is vanity!”  They forget that God looks into and knows their hearts intimately:  “I know their works online casino nbso and their thoughts…”  The Lord knows the truth about you and announces:  “…the time is coming!”  This means that it’s not here yet.  The glory of the Lord still awaits its visible manifestation.  Human works—whether of thinking the right thoughts, or feeling the right emotions, or doing the right deeds—will not make it manifest.  If they did, there would be no need for faith and its being reckoned as righteousness (cf. Ge. 15:6).

While you wait in this time—the time when the promise is “already” but the glory is “not yet”—true worship is this “that the heart know no other comfort or confidence” than in the Lord and his Word. (cf. Large Catechism, 1^st Commandment).  Such knowing is proper perception; it is faith; it is your righteousness.  All else is distorted perception and assigned categorically to idolatry.

Table Talk:  Why must we discern these categorical distinctions?
Pray:  Heavenly Father, keep me steadfast in your Word; amen.