Yesterday, as I read in Isaiah, the gem found along what often feels to be the seer’s wandering, disorienting prophetic path, was a principle. This morning, the gem encountered is a preview.

The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness, and He will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

(Isaiah 33:5-6 ESV)

Amidst the many prophetic warnings of Isaiah (e.g. Isa. 31:1), there are frequent prophetic windows into a day when “a king will reign in righteousness” (Isa. 32:1). These verses I’m chewing on this morning I take to be such a window.

That day when “a king will reign in righteousness”, I understand to be the day when Jesus as King will reign on the earth. And in that day, Jesus, who is Jehovah incarnate, will be exalted. He will dwell on high. He will fill Zion, the seat of His throne, with justice and righteousness. He will bring abundance of salvation, fullness of wisdom, and completeness of knowledge. And the fear of the LORD, Zion’s treasure, will be known to all the earth. So that, in that day, He will be the stability of our times.

Stability. If there is anything which DOES NOT MARK our times today, would we agree that it is stability?

If for no other reason than the increasingly rapid rewiring of our world through always changing technology, we could not look back over a generation and conclude, “Well, those have been decades of stability.” Factor in the rapid rise of individualism and the just as rapid fall of what were once moral standards which prevailed for centuries, and it’s anybody’s guess as to what a day brings in terms of what will be deemed right and what will be called wrong. Stable? I don’t think so.

Thus, when I read of a time of stability, it catches my eye and ignites my imagination. And the foundation upon which stability is founded? The LORD exalted over the earth. Is it any wonder then, that as we have also rapidly removed the LORD from our cultural sensibilities over the past generation, that a sense of instability prevails? I don’t think so.

So, there is a day coming when a King will reign in righteousness. And in that day, He will be the stability of our times.

But we need not wait until that day when He visibly reigns to know stability. For the King has come and is even now establishing His rule of righteousness in the hearts of His followers. As such, even today in these tumultuous times, He can be the stability of our times.

The Rock of my salvation is the solid ground for any season. The embodiment of the abundance of wisdom and knowledge of God, indwelling His people through the Holy Spirit provides an anchor for the soul amidst all storms and through every cultural wave. The fear of the LORD — our intense love, trust, and hope in the God of our redemption — being the treasure from which we draw the unfailing, unchanging riches of a sure tomorrow. He is the stability of our times.

Praise God for the preview. How we look forward to that day.

Thank God that we can know it’s reality even this day.

By His grace. For His glory.