"Walking in Continual Righteousness"

By way of contrast, Jehovah next says:  "There is one who is walking in continual righteousness and speaking what is upright, who is rejecting the unjust gain from frauds, who is shaking his hands clear from taking hold on a bribe, who is stopping up his ear from listening to bloodshed, and who is closing his  eyes so as not to see what is bad.  He is the one that will reside on the heights themselves; his secure height will be craggy places difficult to approach.  His own bread will certainly be given him; his water supply will be unfailing." (Isaiah 33:15, 16) As the apostle Peter later expresses it, "Jehovah knows how to deliver people of godly devotion out of trial, but to reserve unrighteous people for the day of judgment to be cut off."  (2 Peter 2:9) Jeremiah experienced such deliverance.  During the Babylonian siege, people had to "eat bread by weight and in anxious care."  (Ezekiel 4:16) Some women even ate the flesh of their own children.  (Lamentations 2:20) Yet,  Jehovah saw to it that Jeremiah was kept safe.

Christians today must likewise  'walk in continual righteousness,' daily observing Jehovah's standards.  (Psalm 15:1-5) They must 'speak what is upright' and reject lying and untruth.  (Proverbs 3:32)  Fraud and bribery may be common in many lands, but they are repugnant to one "walking in continual righteousness."  Christians must also keep  "an honest conscience" in business dealings, studiously avoiding any shady or fraudulent  schemes.  (Hebrews 13:18; 1 Timothy 6:9, 10)  And one who has 'stopped up his ear from listening to bloodshed and closed his eye so as not to see what is bad' will be selective in his choice of music and entertainment.  (Psalm 119:37) During his day of judgment, Jehovah will protect and sustain his worshipers, who live by such standards. -Zephaniah 2:3.

Next time: Beholding Their King

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000