Rejoice and Blossom

 

"The wilderness and the desert will be glad, 

And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom;" 

Isaiah 35:1

In Isaiah 34, the prophet tells of God's judgment against the nations. Afterward, in Isaiah 35, the Lord restores everything to a beautiful state. "This was true in the immediate term, when Judah was restored after the invasion of the Assyrians was turned back. It is true in the longer term, when modern day Israel has turned the wilderness and the wasteland into productive farms, and truly has made the desert . . . blossom as the rose. It will be true in the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy, when God restores the ecology of the world after the end of the great tribulation and the battle of Armageddon (Isaiah 11:6-9)." -- Dave Gruzik. It's true in our individual lives, too. Until we receive Christ, we are barren under God's holy judgment. But after we accept  Christ as Savior, trusting in His work on the cross to save us, we are no longer condemned, and God restores us to the beauty He always intended. In this we rejoice and blossom!