Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, Isaiah 6:11
Doing something will often take some time. People want to know how much time it will take. Often they will ask about the time before they will begin a task. They want to know when they will be done or free to do something else.
The real challenge is that often the amount of time to do something may not always be known. It usually has to be done until the project is completed, whatever that takes.
Without having a knowledge of how long that will take, people will often give up early, especially when it can take a extra long time.
God had called Isaiah to go before the people to bring a message. Isaiah was willing to go, but wanted to know for how long. God tells him until the cities lie empty and ruined.
Believers today are called to go and bring a message to the people. It is the gospel message to every person on this earth. The purpose of this message is to get people to follow Jesus and be saved from condemnation to hell for eternity.
Some may ask for how long are they to be a witness telling people about Jesus. It is the same as with Isaiah–until the cities are empty and lying in ruins.
As long as there are people to tell about Jesus, one must keep on telling. The only time one can stop is when there is absolutely no one else to tell, which will only happen when Jesus returns and everyone is removed to either heaven or hell.
This is an ongoing task that no believer should stop doing.
In the same way that someone was a witness to you, you must also be a witness to others. It took some time before you believed in Jesus, so others had to keep going until you hear the message.
You, now, have the same commission that God had sent Isaiah–go and tell the people the news. Jesus repeated that commission several thousand years later and still repeats it today.
There are billions of people on this earth who still need to hear about Jesus. Cities are still inhabited. Do not stop spreading the gospel message. Keep going forward until all have heard.
I pray today that God will help you be His witness in this world; that God will give you strength to keep moving forward with His message; that God will touch the heart of people through you; and that many will come to know Jesus through your message.
Photo by Mark König on Unsplash
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