The Friday after Sexagesima Sunday
Posted on February 28, 2025 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.”
Yesterday’s devotion invited us to look to Old Testament people of faith, who died trusting in the promises of the Lord, even though the promises were not all fulfilled in their lifetimes. Today, our text gives us one of those promises. “Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.” It is a promise given to a people doomed to go into exile because of their faithlessness. The Lord will save them from exile, and from a whole lot more.
The Lord became true man, lived the holy life that we fail to live, and sacrificed Himself on the cross to atone for the sin of the world. He rose again on the third day, and on Pentecost the Gospel of salvation was publicly proclaimed with power and glory. Many in Israel failed to believe in Christ, and so are no longer truly God’s Israel. Yet a great many Gentiles did believe in Christ, and so were grafted into Israel. But for all who believe in Christ, we are the Israel of God and we have indeed been gifted by the Lord with an everlasting salvation.
Collect: 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.
