Dear friends, for His own sake God has placed us in His kingdom, for He said in Ezekiel 36:22-27, “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I wiI will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
And, in Isaiah 48:9-11, “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, and for My praise I restrain it for you, in order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; for how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.” And, in Isaiah 43:25 He says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins”
In these Scriptures, and others like them, we may take hope, for the Lord will not allow His name to be profaned. Therefore, He will most assuredly accomplish all that He has purposed for us. And this is His purpose, that we be a people for His own possession, that we might proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, and that we might be to the praise of His glory.
Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 