- 37. Rejoice in Salvation
Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord,; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
In the prophets, the term “in that day” always refers to the Messianic Age, the time after Jesus has come to the earth and He did what He did. When Jesus came, we said, “This is our God…this is the Lord.” This was the message of the New Testament: the God we were waiting for has come, and He is Jesus of Nazareth. The OT believers said about the Messiah, “He will save us.” The NT believers said about the Messiah, “He is God, and He saved us.
The believers before Christ waited for Him. In the Bible “wait” means to wait in faith, to know with certainty that the wait will be worth it, and to know for sure that the hope will be fulfilled. God said it, and I believe it. Now I just wait in confidence. For the NT believers the wait is for the Second Coming of the Messiah. He said He was coming again, and just as surely as He came the first time, so surely will He come the second time. We wait in faith. Waiting is eager anticipation of something we know is coming. We wait in faith and patience. The longer it takes the more certainly we believe it. We do not become weary, but faith grows stronger as time goes by.
In that day (this day, today) we are glad and rejoice in His salvation. When we hear the Good News of Jesus and understand the meaning of God’s Word we are glad and rejoice. Joy fills our hearts and we are lifted up. The Messiah has given us His salvation. It is His because He did all the work and all the earning; we did nothing but receive the gracious gift. And there is no greater joy. We are blessed to live “in that day” when the joy of salvation is always present and available. When we sin and fail the Lord comes to restore the joy of salvation. Joy replaces the sadness of guilt. Hope replaces despair. Love replaces boredom. Life replaces death. Therefore, we rejoice in His salvation. And we wait in faith.