Overnight on 15 October 1987, one hundred mile-per-hour winds ravaged the south of England. Around 15 million trees were uprooted or blown down, including six of the seven oaks that gave Sevenoaks its name. But later the magnificent trees were replanted to honour the name of the town.
“Oak trees” was one way that Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, described the Israelites. God’s people were called to uphold His name among neighbouring nations by yielding to His ways. But they rebelled, becoming instead like a fading oak (Isaiah 1:30) and were uprooted by the Babylonian invasion.
How tender Isaiah’s words must have seemed in their exile, as he promised they would once again “be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord” (61:3). God would heal their broken hearts (v. 1) and bring them comfort (vv. 2–3). He would replant them “for the display of his splendour” (v. 3). They received this promise when God restored them to Israel; we can receive the gift of this prophecy as fulfilled through Jesus.
When we feel displaced from secure circumstances or robbed of treasured relationships, we can know restoration and reassurance through Christ. He gives us “joy instead of mourning” and “praise instead of . . . despair” (Isaiah 1:3). And He plants us where we live and work as spiritual oaks of righteousness, to influence others with His goodness, love and truth.
By Anne Le Tissier
REFLECT & PRAY
How does it encourage you that God has planted you to display His splendour and truth? How can you influence your environment with God’s goodness?
Dear God, help me deepen my roots in Your word through Your Spirit within me, so that I may help others to know You and to flourish in the goodness of Your presence.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Jesus read from Isaiah 61 not long after He began His public ministry (Luke 4:18–19). Then He proclaimed to an astonished synagogue audience in Nazareth, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). Interestingly, as He read Isaiah, Christ stopped before the last part of Isaiah 61:2 , which reads, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” This omission was surely intentional. Jesus was likely signalling two things: He was declaring Himself to be the long-awaited One, and He was informing the people this wasn’t a time for judgment. It was the time for proclaiming good news, setting captives free, and comforting the broken-hearted. Salvation had arrived.
Tim Gustafson
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