The Blessed Appointment Unto Them That Mourn in Zion (Part 1 of 4)

The Appointments of God.

The appointments of the Lord are sure. If He has determined it, if He has spoken it, He will also do it. Furthermore, His appointments are revealing of His person. What He appoints teaches us about Him: His nature and His purpose and His person. Consider some of these appointments of God.

• Salvation appointed walls and bulwarks (Isa 26:1): God intends on keep that which He redeems
• Appointment of the kingdom of men (Dan 5:21): God is a Governor, The Governor among the nations
• Appointment of the Apostle and High Priest (Heb 3:1-2): God is intent on saving men to the uttermost
• Appointment of Heirship (Heb 1:2): God is a Rewarder
• Appointment of the Judgment Day (Acts 17:31): God is just and men are accountable
• Appointed unto men to die once then the judgment (Heb 9:27): God’s purpose extends beyond this world and beyond this body
• Appointment of afflictions for the saints (Ps 44:11; 1 Th 3:3)  God is compassionate and also knows the benefit of suffering for righteousness
• Appointed times and bounds for men (Acts 17:26): God is wise
• Appointment of a kingdom (Lk 22:29): God is the Lord who entrusts possessions to stewards
• Appointment not to wrath but to obtaining salvation (1 Th 5:9): God desires, primarily, to save
• Appointed the Law and established a testimony (Ps 78:5): God calls, initiates, instructs
• Appointment of the defeat of good counsel (2 Sam 17:14): God’s ways are higher than man’s
• Appointed each day for a year (Ezek 4:6): God is a revealer 

Now let us consider the blessed appointment unto them that mourn in Zion as declared through the prophet Isaiah.

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He might be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Here we learn that God is righteous. God is good. God is a comforter. God does not shelter His people from heartache and turmoil. Neither does He leave them to cope with them alone. He allows the famine then gives the food. He allows the drought and brings the rain. He allows mourning and then brings the comfort. And the latter provision is always more prominent than the former. In other words the comfort is of such delight that you can forget the days of mourning and the days of toil (Gen 41:51).