Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 10:5.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2.

And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that He lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us. 1 John 3:23-24.

All of the above Scripture verses show us how to draw near to Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit, and in drawing near to Him to live in our hope. How we need God when we read this chapter, Isaiah 3, and realize we are living these same times throughout this world – the old – sin. See now, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: all supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter. “I will make mere youths their officials; children will rule over them.” v. 1-4. Why? Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling; their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying His glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves. v. 8-9. If we can’t see the harm we bring in turning away from God and embracing evil, how can we see to have hope in anything that is good? Does God not care that we suffer by our own actions? We need a God who saves and loves us enough to open our eyes…as He does here and throughout Scripture. The Lord takes His place in court; He rises to judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment against the elders and leaders of His people: “It is you who have ruined My vineyard; the plunder from the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the Almighty. v. 13-15. Are God’s warnings in Isaiah difficult to read? Yes. Is it needed? Yes. The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.” v. 16-17.

Unless the Lord intervenes, we continue in the very sins that are destroying us. And the wonderful thing is, we can be changed now with His help. Can you imagine at just the right time, the Word came to live as one of us amidst all of the sins we bear. After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14-15. Where the King is, the Kingdom is, and He was near and living among the people, calling to Himself those He would send out to continue proclaiming the good news that the Savior God had come. Emanuel…God with us. He is with us still. He has always been with us. Isaiah shows how far we fall when we turn away from God. Our good news is that we are loved by God and He is our help as we turn to Him. Whatever pain, whatever fear, whatever doubt…turn to God and give them all to Him. And you will begin a journey with Him of healing and knowing everything and all of us are in His hands. He is our hope. He is the One who saves us. There is no other. Turn back to God and let Him be your hope because nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of our God. We can turn away – but He never will.