“15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. 16 Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. 18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; 19 When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. 20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.” – Isaiah 32:15-20

Read Isaiah 32. The text points to a day coming that is Messianic, but the current state is one of sin against God being careless about Him and all He commands. Judgment is nigh, the people are having their blessings (comfort, ease, food) removed, and hard times are coming. But, when they repent, turning back to God, He will pour out His Spirit from on high upon them. But, very importantly, that’s not the end, nor are God’s blessings fully reinstituted. First, they must do the works of God.

The Christian life is this; stop sinning, call upon God, and do His works ordained for you to walk in. This is not a cycle that you go back to the beginning and repeat; it’s ongoing as you go forward, removing yet another sin, calling upon His holy name, and doing further what is right in His sight. What is the book of Chronicles but the cycle of wickedness and curses that follow, repentance, service, and subsequent blessings? This cycle will be broken if we cut out the wickedness part.

Verse 11 shows the repentance of a contrite heart. “Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.” – Isaiah 32:11

America has left the God of her fathers. Hard times are coming, but Isaiah 32 provides explicit instruction on what to do.

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:31

Having trembled before the living God in verse 11, Isaiah 32 points to a day God will pour out His Spirit in verse 15. That day has arrived, and two thousand years past, we are without excuse for failing to work the works of God. Secondly, something is striking in verse 17, the effect of righteousness. Verse 17 shows us what to do. Verses 18 and 19 show us how the blessings of God almighty shall return to the land and the people for doing the ongoing works of God as instructed by Christ in His word. Verse 20 indicates how to maintain those blessings.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14

The New Religion loves this verse. They talk about it often. They desire an abiding change for America; they know something is desperately wrong with their religion. But they won’t do it. They won’t abandon their lifestyle Christianity, roll up their sleeves and work righteousness being salt and light. Christianity is not a feeling; it’s not an experience; it is doing what Jesus Christ said to do. The answer is not only kindness, love, and light, but salt and righteousness rebuking sin.

The American Church loves to talk about praying for revival and having a spirit of repentance, asking God to pour out His Spirit and blessings, but they seldom mention the work of God’s men needed to bring about that change. Over and over, the Bible portrays repentance by doing that which was right in the eyes of the Almighty.

Verse 17 says that “the work of righteousness shall be peace.” It’s nonsensical to the human mind because it’s not of this world. It’s a heavenly kingdom. When God’s people do righteousness before the sons of men in the name of Christ, it brings peace. We’re not talking about the new religion; we’re talking about salt and light, demanding sin cease, telling the wicked that, no, we don’t do that, we’re Christian, and neither do we tolerate it! This is the work of righteousness. We think; I don’t’ want to cause trouble, or I don’t want to be ‘that guy,’ but you would be shocked at how many are immediately reproved of their sin when you point it out and tell them to stop. You would also be amazed by the number of people that thank you or chime in with agreement. Righteous salt and light into a situation further bring peace; it’s counterintuitive.

“By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted: but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.” – Proverbs 11:11

7 “When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” – Proverbs 16:7

God has given us the greatest gifts of any epoch in history, the completed canon showing His purposes in judgment, grace, and for instruction in righteousness. He’s given the power of the knowledge of good and evil from His word, and the Holy Spirit poured out from on high that we might effect righteousness unto peace on earth. These were the tidings of the angles to the shepherds at Christ’s birth. Undoubtedly great upheaval occurred, and sometimes it will when God’s people publicly stand for Christ, but the providential long-term results, when the upright reprove sin and require that all Christ teaches be observed, the whole of society will change.

Verse 17 continues, “and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” It’s contrary to man’s understanding. Christians must stop relying on their own understanding and turn to live in the Kingdom of God, not as a part-time enterprise or a hyper-personalized experiential feeling, but by bringing the Kingdom to fruition by praying down the power of God, sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, making competent Christian men and women, and reproving the world of sin within the scriptural authority given us that it will be like heaven on earth. Quietness and assurance forever are the result, causing even the enemies of the Kingdom of God to stop making war on Him so that just men would be at peace.

Not only is the Kingdom of God counterintuitive when interacting with the world personally and through the church at large, but what Jesus tried to teach, and we perhaps have forgotten, is that the entire Kingdom is not of this world, even how to lead and work within it.

“25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:25-28

“10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” – Matthew 23:10-11

And the foremost example of your fallen human understanding being dull to the contrary nature of the Kingdom of God is that persecution causes the church to grow. This is why we have endeavored to give you the tools you need so that when people start looking for answers as hard times arrive, you will be able to tell them, clearly and from Scripture, of our King and a better Kingdom to come. You must start now bringing needed experience. You have to be ready, not to whine and lament with the lost but to tell them of salvation in Christ Jesus. A Christian civilization is only attainable through Christians making more Christians by salvation in Christ under the work of the Holy Spirit of God and teaching and training believers to make them competent soldiers for Jesus Christ.

The American seminaries have made CEOs of pastors, so they teach timidity through self-help by new age pop-psychology within a top-down hierarchy. That’s not the church of Jesus Christ! The American Church is broken at its core, dysfunctional, and unable to do the works of God because it has become just another enterprise co-equal with, and even submitted to, government, business, leisure, economics, entertainment, etc. Christ has no equal on earth and is made head of all things; you are to bring to fruition that outcome which will bring peace, quietness, and assurance to the land, on earth as it is in heaven.

Judgment is arriving; your blood is upon your heads. America deserves everything that’s coming, and it is Christian’s fault!

Verse 20, “Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass.”

Jesus used agricultural parables, we suppose, for at least two reasons, the promise given to Abram of a land that would flow with milk and honey and because it was somewhat of an agricultural society. The people could easily relate to those. In verse 20, they were to sow beside all waters, sending forth their beasts of labor to bring in the harvests of blessings given by Holy God. Jesus has told us, in parables and plainly, to sow the gospel, be salt, light, and righteousness, and to teach all nations to observe what He has commanded. That’s how you could have kept your civilization.

In the Garden, Adam blamed the woman, the woman blamed the serpent, and they all pointed fingers at each other. God cursed them all. God will hold you to account for losing your civilization.

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” – 1 Corinthians 1:27

Yes, you are chosen by God to work the works of righteousness. The mighty cannot stand before the seemingly weak when you go in the Spirit and power of God. Within this post are the tools for rebuilding after the judgment.

If we read our Holy Bible right, deserved judgment looms upon America but teach the sons of God, if for no other reason, as the prophets did, they might know how to return to God and rebuild their civilization in His holy name. Never give up; God’s word does not return to Him void. Christ’s men must go forward with His works but barring a national revival and subsequent reformation from the new religion, by the hard work of service to Christ, planting, watering, and preparing for a rebuild seems wise. Many of the prophets of old taught that judgment was upon the people for their sin, but when they knocked it off by forsaking their iniquity and did the works of God, peace, quietness, and assurance forever would come. Though we hold out hope, this message seems fitting today.

There is no more peaceable habitation, sure dwelling, and quiet resting place than in Christ Jesus. Lastly, but foremost, here is the counterintuitive nature of the Kingdom of God fully realized: peace and quietness and assurance forever through the violence, torture, and blood of the cross of Christ.