Grace & Truth: Before and After
Kent Landhuis
THEME – The old can (and will) be made new.
TEXT – Isaiah 9:1-5.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” (v. 2)
Before: Obadiah 10 – Because of the violence against your brother, Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
After: Obadiah 17a – But on Mount Zion will be deliverance.
Before: Amos 2:6 – This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not relent.”
After: Amos 9:11 – In that day I will restore its ruins – and will rebuild it as it used to be.
Before: Isaiah 1:4 – Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
After: Isaiah 1:16-18 – Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. “Come now, let us settle the matter, “ says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
Before: Micah 2:1 – Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!
After: Micah 7:18 – Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
Before: Isaiah 6:5 – “Woe to me!” I cried, “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
After: Isaiah 6:6-7 – Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
Before: Justice
After: Mercy
Before: Judgement
After: Hope
Before: Sin
After: Forgiveness
