Friday after Sexagesima Sunday
Posted on February 17, 2023 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 45:11-19 (NKJV)
45:11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
12 “I have made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.
13 “I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
“The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours; They shall walk behind you, they shall come over in chains; And they shall bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other; There is no other God.’”
15 Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior!
16 They shall be ashamed and also disgraced, all of them; They shall go in confusion together, who are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever.
18 For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the Lord, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
Devotion
“But Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; you shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever.”
The prophet promises that Israel will “be saved with an everlasting salvation.” Saved from what? The answer seems obvious enough to us: sin, death, and the devil. But there are plenty who get that wrong. They misunderstand Jesus to be the one that, if you’ll just get with whatever they’re selling as “the Jesus program,” life will turn out peachy. The truth is that Jesus saves by way of the cross, and so we embrace the theology of the cross. We are saved through His suffering, not (in this world) from suffering. The road to glory goes through the grave.
The other thing people misunderstand is who Israel is. In Christ Jesus, Israel is reduced to one. Jesus calls the Twelve. The number is no accident; He is establishing in Himself a New Israel. The Israel of God are all those who, through faith, are in Christ. Just as Isaiah promised, we have been saved with an everlasting salvation, the salvation wrought for us by the perfect life, the atoning suffering and death, and the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer: O Lord God, Who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
