Month: November 2019

Isaiah 45:25 In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

“All the seed of Israel” = all believers in Christ = The Church. All believers in Jesus Christ shall be justified and shall glory. By faith we are grafted into the tree and by faith we are of the seed of Abraham. And by faith we are justified.

We are declared righteous; we are made right with God. We are made just, righteous, and holy and thereby are allowed and invited into the very throne room of Almighty God in heaven. We are granted eternal life, God’s very life that is holy, righteous, and never-ending. Since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God. Through Christ we have obtained access by faith into this grace. Being justified, we have everything that God has and that God gives. We lack nothing needful for life and godliness.

And we shall glory. We are justified to reflect the glory of God to the world around us, to our neighbors, to one another, and to our loved ones. In doing so we glory. We glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is there we find forgiveness and salvation. Glory = showing outwardly the inner character. The Cross shows the glory of God, which turns out to be the Love of God. The love of God is so glorious it sweeps over us and consumes everything. In this way, we glory.

The Lord promises justification and glory. It comes to us daily in repentance and faith in the Gospel. Live justified. Glory in the Cross. Let your light shine.

Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

God once again promises salvation, not only for His people, but also for all the ends of the earth. It is clear: the Lord, He is God, and there is no other God. Salvation belongs unto the Lord, and salvation can be found in no one else and in no other god. There is no other God and so there is no other Salvation. “Look unto me, and be saved.” It is utterly worthless to look to any other god, any idol, or anything else at all, to be saved. Therefore, we look unto the Lord God alone.

We need saving. Only God saves. Jesus Christ earned salvation for us. He bought salvation with His own blood, and He gives it to us for free. Jesus saves us from Satan and for God, from Sin and for righteousness, from death and for life. He saves us from everything evil and harmful and for everything good and helpful. By faith we are able to apply Saving Grace to any need. All our needs are caused by sin, self, Satan, death, and the world. Jesus is our salvation from need. All our answers, solutions, and provisions are caused by God in Christ Jesus “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer exercises our faith and applies salvation to our specific needs. The problem is Sin; the solution is forgiveness. The problem is death; the solution is life. The problem is the devil; the solution is Christ. If we are saved from everything that is against us then we are saved for everything that is for us. So we look unto Him, and we are saved.

91. Everlasting Salvation

Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

The promise is for Israel, the people of God, for the Church, for all believers in Christ, and for me. I will be saved with an everlasting salvation; I will never be disappointed or confused, ever. Thank God that He has given salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The everlasting salvation is world without end.

There is another world than the one we see and experience. Everyone knows there is another world, or at least, all want to know about it. God has revealed it to us in the Word of God, and we see it when we believe in Jesus, the incarnate Word of God. The everlasting salvation is for us to enter this other world, the one that does not end. This life is eternal, and it means what it says, without end.

For eternity, we will never be ashamed or confounded. We can never, ever, regret that we have staked it all on Jesus. We take our stand with Christ and we cannot fall. We will not lose. We put all our eggs in the Easter basket and we have it all. There will never come a day when we might say that we got it wrong, We didn’t miss it; we got it right. We are saved with an everlasting salvation.

Isaiah 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

This prophecy contains a promise: righteousness and salvation will come from heaven to earth and will be joined together. Earth and heaven are combined to bring it all together. This is nothing else than a prophecy of a God-man who will combine earth and heaven in Himself and that combination will produce righteousness and salvation for all people. This happened when Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again.

The Lord created this wonder: righteousness and salvation has come together for us. Jesus earned God’s righteousness for us and gave it to us; this gift is salvation from Sin, Death, and the Devil. We are saved by righteousness, and we are saved for righteousness. We are saved by God for God. By God becoming a man He could truly and rightly grant salvation and righteousness to those who believe. This is God’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

In me, in my very heart and soul, heaven and earth have combined for my salvation. I have both God and Sin in my heart and life. This creates War, but eventually we know who will win. Meanwhile, I can declare what God declares: “I am righteous.” Because I have God’s righteousness I have victory and salvation. This promise is present truth as well as it is future reality. Every person yearns for “heaven on earth.” In Christ, this reality has already come to us.

89. God is Glorified in Us

Isaiah 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

God has redeemed His People, the Church of all believers, and the Lord has glorified Himself in the People of God. When God redeemed and saved us at the cross and the empty tomb God was glorified. When one sinner repents there is more joy and singing in heaven, and the Father is throwing a party. The glory that goes to God praises His grace, not His power. We do praise His power exerted toward us in love, but it is still Grace that receives the Glory given to God.

God glorifies Himself in me, and in us. When the Lord converted me from sin, death and darkness unto righteousness, eternal life, and light He glorifies Himself. Our conversion is the greatest praise of the Grace of God. And praise God, we can be converted every day, not just once a lifetime. We may be baptized once, but we remember it every day. When we repent and believe God is glorified.

God’s glory is seen in me, the redeemed sinner, for the grace of God is made manifest there. The world does not see the glory for it does not see the grace. But heaven, the underworld, and nature sees it: The heavens sing; the under the earth demons shout; the mountains and trees (and all creation) on earth break forth into singing. Faith sees the singing, shouting, and rejoicing; faith in God’s Grace in Christ makes us happy; faith induces us to sing and make melody in our hearts unto the Lord. Praise His glorious grace!

88. Sins Blotted Out

Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

God makes many promises to blot out sin like a thick cloud: erase, cast behind me, cast into the sea, remove as far as east from west, forgive, send away, take away, redact, cover up, wash away, cleanse, and other verbs. As a thick cloud means there is no peeking, no haziness, no blurring, no dimness, no hint of transparency; but it means opaque, hidden and unseen. Sin are blotted out so much that even God does not see them. There can be no doubt about where our sins are: they are gone!

This is true because we have been redeemed. The price to pay for our redemption from kidnapping and slavery is the blood of Jesus Christ. Since our sins are blotted out in Jesus’ redemption, Sin, Death, and the Devil have no more legal claim to our souls. We are free indeed. If God cannot see our sins and the devil cannot see our sins then neither can we. And neither should we believe the lie that any sins are still in the books, laid to our account. Our sins are no longer in the book of our life, but our names are written in the Book of Life. This will be seen on the Judgment Day.

We still sin and we are still sinners; therefore, we repent and die to sin daily, and we believe in Jesus and arise to new life daily. I am, like Paul, the chief of sinners (since I know more about my own sins than others). I am aware of my sin, but I am more aware of the forgiveness of sins. I believe daily that sins and transgressions are blotted out. I stop looking at my sins because I can’t find them, but I look at Jesus on the cross, and I can find Him any time.

• 87. Remembered, Not Forgotten

Isaiah 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

The Lord says, “Remember Me and My promises, because I will never forget you.” God is referring to His Servant, the Messiah, and to His people, the Church, and also to each individual believer. Jesus is the Servant, who has come to serve us with forgiveness and life. The Church is one with Jesus and she also is a Servant to the people within and without the Church. And finally, I am a servant, who serves God by serving others. Jesus serves us; the Church serves us with the Gospel; we serve others with the Gospel and with our lives, when we lay down our own lives for the benefit of others, when we set aside our own interests for the needs of others, when we love our neighbors as ourselves.

When we serve others we might ask, “Who will take care of me?” The answer, of course, is God and others, as God uses others to serve our needs. We trust Him to remember us and our needs; He will not forget to take care of us. He knows what we need and He promises to meet those needs. No matter how alone and helpless we may feel we are never forgotten. He will supply all my needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.

We, in our humanness, forget things, and in our selfishness, we forget the needs of other people and so we often can’t put them first. But God does not forget us or our needs. He promises to be there and meet every need. If we can believe His promises everything will run smoothly. Everyone gets served and no one is forgotten.

Thank God He remembers me and will never forget me. He remembers only the good things, which He gives to us; and He forgets the bad things, all the sins that He remembers no more. Thank God that He remembers what we forgot, and He forgets what we remembered. We often remember the wrong things and we forget the right things. For this reason God gives the Gospel to remind us often what should be remembered and what should be forgotten. You will never be forgotten.

•  86. Water for the Thirsty

Isaiah 44:3, 4 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

The pouring out of water is equal to the pouring out of God’s Spirit. The Spirit is like water on dry ground; the water is for the thirsty. The Spirit is life for the dry, thirsty and empty. This outpouring is a fulfilled promise: it happened on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after the Resurrection. The pouring out of the Spirit continues every day during the days since. Believers in Christ are filled with the Spirit, like water for the thirsty, once and many times during their lifetime.

We, as sinners, are always dry and thirsty, and at the same time we are always being filled with the Spirit, the living water. Spiritually this occurs every time we hear the Gospel; the promise is fulfilled over and over again; we need it over and over again. We live our lives in the midst of a dry and thirsty land; our souls continue in sin and death and are always in need of an injection of water and life. The Holy Spirit, who resides in our spirit, is continually using the Word of Gospel to refresh and give newness of life to the soul.

A further aspect of this promise that we can claim is that the spirit is also promised to our seed and our offspring, This would include both our physical offspring, while we pray for our children and grandchildren regularly, and also our spiritual offspring, who come to faith through our witnessing through word and deed. We take hold of this promise in order to know that every time we support the preaching of the Gospel with our time and money, every kind deed done in Jesus’ name, every act of kindness, every word of witness will not return void but it will accomplish the purposes of God. The promise of God includes a blessing for offspring; believe you are a blessing to family and friends.

•  85. Formed People that Praise

Isaiah 43:21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

“I will build my church.” So promises Jesus, and God has done it. The Lord has formed this people, the church. Jesus builds the church, and the Holy Spirit draws believers into it and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. Human people who believe in Jesus organize church fellowships and build church buildings to house the believers whom the Spirit has gathered, but human organizations and structures are not “this people.” Only the Lord can form the invisible church of all believers.

God formed the church for Himself; it was not formed for the people although the people receive the benefit and the people are served and ministered by the church. The Lord works through the church to edify the believers with the Gospel and touch the unbelievers with the Gospel. The Lord needs the church; that is why He formed it. The Lord needed the church to show forth His praise. God will not get praise from the dead, that is, from unbelievers, so He must produce and receive praise from those who believe in Him. The stars and the sky and nature also praise God on a daily basis, but we human creatures don’t hear it very well. Everything was created to give glory to God; believers were redeemed to praise God. We are living out the purpose of creation and redemption when we praise the Lord. 

There are many ways that God’s people show forth the praise of the Lord. One way is by the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel is preached; people hear it; many believe it; God and all heaven rejoice when a sinner repents; and the Lord is praised. We find out and we live out the purpose of our lives when we receive God’s Word, believe the Gospel, trust in Jesus, and give praise and thanks to God with our words and lives. No one has to wonder what the purpose of his life is: for all of us, it is to praise the grace of God. We exhibit that praise by how we live. God uses us, His people to show forth His praise. This action is a tremendous blessing for us.

84. Waters, Rivers, Drink

Isaiah 43:20 The beast of the field shall honor me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

This promise continues the promises of water, refreshment, nourishment and life for the wilderness of the soul when the Messiah comes. When Christ was incarnated and came from heaven to earth He brought water and life to a dry and lifeless earth full of people whose souls were dry and empty. Waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert are life for a dead soul. Jesus says, “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. [John 4:14]” And, “Whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. [John 7:38]” The waters and the rivers in the desert soul are the Holy Spirit and eternal life. To drink of it is to believe in Jesus. God gives drink (faith) to His people. There is a reason why the Lord chose to use water in Holy Baptism: to signify what is spiritually happening when God give Spirit and Life. Water quenches thirst, refreshes soul and body, and gives life to the dying and dead. This is what happens to us.

The beasts, dragons and owls are symbols of nature, specifically symbols of animals who suffer and endure in the dry desert. They will honor the Lord for the water in the dry land. All creation is suffering and groaning under the curse that came upon Adam and Eve (you and I) in the Fall. Nature has been cursed along with the created humans. The creation was subjected to futility because of him who subjected it. The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay. We, and the creation, wait eagerly for the adoption of sons, the redemption (resurrection) of our bodies. It is for just this reason the beasts, dragons, and owls will honor the Lord. Nature groans waiting for the redemption. For then life, water, fertility and abundance will once again and forever thrive and live, world without end.