Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
Isaiah 51:6
This verse is typical of many Scriptures that contrast the present decaying and dying order of things (a sinful world under God’s curse) with the things that will not perish and that will survive into the new order when the curse is removed (Rev 22:3). Even the present “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,” Jesus said (Matt 24:35).
God, the Creator, who imposed the curse because of man’s sin, is not subject to it Himself. This is as declared in the Psalms 102: “They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.”
The verse for this reading assures us, God’s salvation and righteousness will never be changed, even when Earth and heaven flee away. The same contrasts exist in the biological realm. “The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isa 40:8).
Human nature receives a similar assurance through this phenomenon. “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isa 40:30-31).
This principle and promise, in fact, applies to the entire creation during the time of the end days. “that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21).
May we continue, by the grace and help of God to walk by faith and not by sight. And truly, walking by faith can be counterintuitive and defy all logic. Let us not lean on our own understanding but commit all our ways unto the Lord who knows all things and shall guide our steps (Prov 3:5-6).
