Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands. (Isaiah 42:10-12)

I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth… (Isaiah 43:

True, true, true. It is happening. It is possible to know that, because it is here: from the coastlands and the deserts, the cities and the villages, urbanites and villagers, the east and west, the north and south of the globe: they are all here at GAFCON III in Jerusalem. 

Of course, this should be no surprise - the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophesy was an inevitability from the moment he declared “Thus says the Lord”.   And yet faith does not always take God at his word.

And of course, being able to see it in Jerusalem, before our own eyes, adds nothing to the reality of what is going on around the world daily…it is only the Thomases who need to see to believe.

But, all that being said, it is still a very lovely and comforting thing to see it- the (partial) embodiment of the truth of God’s promises. That the Father condescends to confirm his promise and his activity in our experience; a lavish expression of the character of our compassionate and gracious God. 

It is a wonderful thing to feel like children indulged by our Father and yet we read, “…you are precious in my eyes, and honoured, and I love you…”. So, again, we are not surprised.