Saturday after Quasimodogeniti

Scripture: Isaiah 42:10-17 (NKJV)

10 Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you coastlands and you inhabitants of them!

11 Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

12 Let them give glory to the Lord, and declare His praise in the coastlands.

13 The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.

14 “I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and dry up all their vegetation; I will make the rivers coastlands, and I will dry up the pools.

16 I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.

17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, ‘You are our gods.'”

Devotion

The time of restrained joy in the observance of Lent has given way to unbridled bliss in the celebration of Easter. The Old Testament believers had the promises of a Savior, but they didn’t know all of the details which we know about the fulfillment. We know the suffering, death and resurrection of the God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Prophet Isaiah records our heavenly Father’s patience during the Old Testament as He waits for just the right time to send His Son. “I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself” (Is. 42:14). In chapter 42, the Prophet Isaiah foretells the arrival of the victory of Jesus Christ, saying that the time has come.

Our Savior has done a two-fold work of judgment and mercy. With the picture language of “lay waste” and “dry up,” we have Jesus bringing law and judgment to those unbelievers who have rejected God. Those who trusted in other gods “shall be greatly ashamed.” Our Lord will also bring mercy and deliverance to his believers who have been oppressed by their enemies. Isaiah declares that God “will not forsake them.” We know this two-fold work as the preaching of the Law, which reveals sin, and the Gospel, which promises the free gift of eternal through faith in God’s Son.

In response to this new work of Jesus Christ, as a mighty man prevailing over sin, death and the devil, all the people throughout the earth are directed to “Sing to the LORD a new song.”

We pray: Heavenly Father, we praise You for sending Your Son to prevail against our enemies. Amen.