Saturday after Whitsunday

Scripture: Isaiah 44:6-8 (NKJV)

44:6 “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.

7 And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them.

8 Do not fear, nor be afraid; Have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.’”

Devotion

“You are My witnesses. Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock.” What does it mean that we are God’s witnesses? A witness tells it as it happened; he does not add interpretations or guesses. A witness lets God’s Word and actions speak for themselves. If someone had asked the Israelites, “How do you know your God is real?” they could have said, “We saw Him part the Red Sea. He promised our father, Abraham, that we would inherit the land of Canaan, and here we are.” God is able to defend Himself from those doubters; we are merely His witnesses.

Martin Luther had the same attitude when he disputed with the false teacher Zwingli in 1529. When they came to the matter of the Lord’s Supper, Zwingli tried to deny the true presence of the Christ’s body by means of twisted philosophical arguments. But Luther wrote on the table the words, “This is My body,” and would not depart from their simple meaning. Zwingli was trying to outsmart God’s Word, but Luther let God’s Word speak for itself—he was its witness.

As Christians, our calling is not to manipulate others or to force them to the Truth by coercion. We are God’s witnesses; we merely set forth what God has already done and already said. The rest is up to the Holy Spirit, whose work it is to create faith.

We pray: O God, who didst teach the hearts of Thy faithful people by sending to them the light of Thy Holy Spirit, grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Amen.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.