Land

Isaiah 49:8 Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.”

This verse is so powerful, as we get to capture a glimpse of the Father speaking, boldly proclaiming one of the advantages that was acquired as Jesus paid the high price, for the legal right, for full restoration of the earth. There is so much more to this, but we are just going to focus on the healing of the land for the purpose of this post. Although this is really for all the lands on this earth, I claim it for our beautiful state of Alaska. I really like how this is the 49th verse of Isaiah and that Alaska just happens to be the 49th U.S. state. There is something amazing about my lifelong state, a powerful destiny on this land, that both residents and visitors can sense in the very atmosphere. 

There is so much in this verse about restoration that we cannot possibly understand all at once. Let’s break this verse down to help us understand what it is really saying to us.

“I will preserve You…” Preserve here is to watch over, protect, maintain, keep, and guard from danger. “And give you as a covenant…” Covenant is in the sense of cutting, a compact made by passing between pieces of flesh, an alliance (relation or union between families) , pledge, treaty or ordinance. What was the reason that He did this for us mentioned here in this verse? It says here to RESTORE THE EARTH. Wow. Restore is to establish, become powerful, come on the scene. abide, accomplish, confirm, continue, decree, ordain, set up and to build! Earth is land, ground, territory, region, tribal territory, inhabitants and people of the land.