Originally posted: 3/11/2021
In that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel, (17:7).
Another nation called out by its chief city, Damascus, now faces God’s fury and indignation. And what I found most fascinating was the effect this was to have on the people’s perspective; what would they come away with from God’s retributive justice; what would be their big takeaway?
“Big takeaway” is an intentional phrase in my small group; it is our focus when we come together to share from our time in the Word. We call ourselves “Girls of Grace,” and we meet to hear from one another of our past week in God’s Word with two objectives in mind: 1) what is our big takeaway: what is the standout revelation of God that He has graciously allowed us to see; and 2) by His grace, what does He want us to do with what He has revealed?
And I don’t know; but I think that often when we read about His wrath, our big takeaway is wrapped around His power, His might, His sovereignty, and His authority. And while there is no denying those attributes, there is something else.
God, tells us plainly in today’s prophecy against Damascus exactly what our big takeaway should be: as a result of His enacted judgment, He Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel.
In that day man will have regard for his Maker
And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel, (17:7).
Regard: “The worth or estimation in which something or someone is held.”
Consider Him Who Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel
Damascus was the capital of the Aram kingdom; and God’s people had attached themselves to the Arameans and had adopted their idolatrous practices, in spite of the fact that the Arameans had been their frequent enemies. And neither would escape His judgment.
“The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
And sovereignty from Damascus
And the remnant of Aram;
They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,”
Declares the Lord of hosts.
4 Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
And the fatness of his flesh will become lean, (17:3-4).
And in that day, the day God’s judgment comes, He will demonstrate to all the nations, as well as to His own people, that the gods of our own making are feckless and futile. He will clearly demonstrate His Worth to be held in the highest esteem; for He alone is God and He Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel.
And in that day, three attributes about Himself, that He has already made known by His Word and His Works, will be made manifest; undeniably proving to all the world, the reality of Who He Is. And in that day, all the world will know and see these same attributes in Jesus.
- He Will Be Regarded as Our Maker. He is the Creator Who has existed for all of eternity; He alone gives life to His creation; and He alone is worthy of worship.
- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, (Genesis 1:1).
- “You alone are the Lord.
You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down before You,” (Nehemiah 9:6). - For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
But the Lord made the heavens, (Psalm 96:5). - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being, (John 1:1-3).
- For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him, (Colossians 1:16).
- “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created,” (Revelation 4:11).
- He Will Be Regarded as the Holy One. He is completely set apart from all His creation; all that He Is and all that He does is perfect in Holiness; there is none like Him.
- “There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God,” (1 Samuel 2:2). - Your way, O God, is holy;
What god is great like our God? (Psalm 77:13). - “To whom then will you liken Me
That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One, (Isaiah 40:25). - “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,” (Acts 3:14).
- For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens, (Hebrews 7:26).
- And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed,” (Revelation 15:3-4).
- “There is no one holy like the Lord,
- He Will Be Regarded as the Holy One of Israel. He is the God Who called a nation unto Himself; He has chosen and set apart a people for His purpose and His glory.
- “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth,” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
- But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine! …
3 “For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43:1, 3). - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations,” (Jeremiah 1:5). - “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain…” (John 15:16).
- just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, (Ephesians 1:4-5).
- who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, (2 Timothy 1:1).
How do we respond to Him Who Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel?
We are a people so prone to forget; and when we do, we too can easily slip into disregarding God, and treating Him as less than He Is.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange god, (17:10).
God has clearly revealed our big takeaway from today’s reading; He Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel. And what would God have us to do with what He has revealed? We must be intentional to remember by daily seeking Him in His Word, that His Truth would change our life.
Let us Regard Him as Our Maker, that we would lay down any tendencies towards disputing or arguing; that we would take our place in humble worship as we trust the ways and works of Him, Our Maker.
Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand, (Psalm 95:6-7).
“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?” (Isaiah 45:9).
Let us Regard Him as the Holy One, that we would never forget He is Holy, Holy, Holy. With all that we are, let us pursue holiness in all humility as we cleanse ourselves of anything that defiles us; that in everything, we would honor Him as the Holy One.
For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
“I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite,” (Isaiah 57:15).
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, (2 Corinthians 7:1).
And let us Regard Him as the Holy One of Israel, Who in His Sovereignty has called us unto Himself and set us apart as His own possession through Jesus Christ. Oh, that we would devote all that we are to proclaim His Worth that must be held in the highest esteem, and the marvellous excellencies of Him Who Will Be Regarded as Our Maker, the Holy One of Israel.
…that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, (Ephesians 3:6).
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, (1 Peter 2:9).