Month: February 2020

184. The Work of His Hand

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

The Lord uses the image of the potter and the clay in Jeremiah and in Paul to make several points dealing with our relationship with God. The point here in Isaiah implies a promise: the promise is that we are the work of His hand. Our times are in the hands of God. 

Our God the Lord has formed us with His own hands in the manner that a potter uses His hands to shape and form us, body and soul. And the promise is continuing through our life while the Lord continues to shape and form us with His hands. 

The Lord has given to each created being the DNA that determines much about our body and life. When God formed Adam out of the dust He gave Adam the DNA makeup that made him Adam. The Lord God as Creator formed us from the dust with His hands, that is, He programmed in each of us the DNA that makes us who we are. It can be said that God wanted one of us, just like who we are and how He made us, according to His wisdom and love. We may not like parts of the DNA programming God created in us, but He likes it, for He made it just that way. “The Lord God formed the man…and breathed the breath of life. {Genesis 2:7}” In other words, God loves you just the way you are.

There is, however, a problem or two in the DNA structure of every human, but that is a result of the curse of the Fall. Something in our DNA will ultimately kill us if we live long enough. But God did not create that weakness; He made us perfect and whole in the beginning and He will restore us to that eternal perfection in Christ. The mistake in each DNA is a result of Sin, not a result of Creation. God has an ideal “me” in mind, and He will have it some day.

God formed this clay jar on the potter’s wheel once, and He continues to shape it with historical events and environmental influences through our life. Thank God, He is not finished with us yet. When He finishes His masterpiece, then it will be time to take us to Himself in heaven. It is important and very helpful for us to believe this promise that God’s hands are working for good, so that we are able to place everything into the hands of a loving God. We can trust God to shape us in a way that is good and will be a blessing. God is a good potter.

183. Come Down

Isaiah 64:1 Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at they presence.

This Messianic Prophecy is a wish, or a holy yearning, for God Himself to come down from heaven and enter the historical space and time of earth. Presumably, the hope is for God to come and bring salvation from our mortal condition. Under the curse of sin death reigns over all people everywhere. Sin and Death causes innumerable sufferings and afflictions for the inhabitants of earth.

In the midst of this miserable life every human heart has had a knowing that there must be something better. There must be a better life, a utopia of sorts where everything in the environment is in perfect harmony, a place where there is no sickness or threat of death, a loving community of blessed and uplifting relationships with everyone else around, and a life in which there is truly a wonderful eternity. Every person who ever lived in earth wants heaven, a return to Paradise. Paradise is a vague and distant memory and a very faint, but noticeable, hope for a better afterlife.

Adding to this pervasive despair is the knowledge that nothing and no one on earth is able to bring on such an Age. History is condemned to repeat the misery, unless…; unless the Lord God Himself does something there is no hope. So the human heart yearns for God to come. The Good News of great joy for all people: God did come down. The heart’s yearning has come true. God opened heaven and entered earth, but it was a surprise, for He came as a baby boy born to a peasant girl in a remote village. Few knew that this human being was God, but for all who did believe He gave the right to become the children of God.

The promise is for us for every day: God does come down. Yes, every day is Christmas. God rends the heavens and comes down into our very lives and dwells among us. All the time and money spent on celebrating Christmas and Easter does not come anywhere near matching the awesome wonder and glorious grace of the Truth of this Promise: God came down, He really did.

182. Father and Redeemer

Isaiah 63:16 Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.

God is our father and our redeemer, and He promises to be a Father for us and to redeem us. The everlasting God is our father; the inherent promise of a father is to care for and provide for the children for whom he assumes responsibility. Just like children go to their father for their needs and wants, so the children of God may go to the Father in heaven for whatever they need; they even go to Dad for what they want, even though the father retains the right to refuse. The children must trust the wisdom and love of the father, and they must submit to his authority for their good and their protection. The promise says that we may go to “Our Father in heaven” any time we need to. If our Father wills He can; He can, for He is God, and He will, for He is love. But His love fur us demands that He will only answer our prayer according to His good and gracious will; His love demands that He not answer our prayers if that would not be good for us.

The everlasting God is our redeemer; the inherent promise of a Redeemer is that He will always deliver us from evil and rescue us from the troubles caused by sin. The implication of being redeemed is that the Redeemer owns us. The truth of God as owner is both good news and bad news. It is bad news because we don’t want to be owned by anyone; we are no one’s slaves; we don’t want restrictions or limits on what we want to do and decide; we want to be free to do what we want (no commandments, please). That’s not actually bad, but Satan deceives Adam and me to believe that it is bad for me. The good news is that the owner takes responsibility for what he owns, and he is obligated to take care of it and maintain it. This is the promise: Jesus is a Good Shepherd, who tenderly cares for, provides for, and protects us from all enemies that mean to do us harm. This is the promise of a redeemer and owner. We are free to graze, and to play, and to enjoy life, while Father provides the toys.

181. Afflicted for us

Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

“In all their affliction he was afflicted.” This is said about the Messiah, and it could well be said about Jesus and us today. We are always afflicted throughout life because of our sin and because of sin all around us in the world. But the Son of God entered humanity to be afflicted for us. We see Jesus’ suffering and we think, on a purely human historical level, that He was afflicted by God; but no, He was afflicted for us and afflicted in our place as punishment for our sin. 

In reference to the Exodus Salvation Event the Lord saw the suffering of His people, and He suffered with them. And then He saved, and redeemed, and carried them. The Lord sent the angel of His presence to work out that great salvation event in the days of Moses. It can be said that the Lord suffers with us. When we suffer He suffers. When we are afflicted He is afflicted. It is for this reason that God hates Sin so much, because of what it does to destroy us. It is a strange thing to say, that God could suffer and be afflicted, but it is true: God “hurts” when we hurt. This painful love compelled the Lord God to come to earth and be born as one of us. 

So Jesus Christ endured the pain of sin and the pity of love to be afflicted as us. By doing so He could save us from bondage to Sin, subjection to Death, and the ownership of Satan. He could redeem us by paying the price of shedding innocent blood for our sakes. And He could carry us through this vale of tears, the wilderness of the world, and the valley of the shadow of death to the Promised Land. He did it in Egypt; He did it at Calvary; and He does it for us wherever we are today. He promises to carry us through the sin and death of this world unto Himself in heaven. So let Him do what He promises: to save, to redeem, and to carry.

180. Savior of His Children

Isaiah 63:8 For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.

God is the Savior of His people, who are His children. Once Christ has saved us by grace through faith we are in the family of God, and as children of the Father He assumes responsibility for us. This fact is really a wonderful promise: God is responsible for our wellbeing, our health, our life, our protection and provision. Once an adult has a child he or she takes on a new responsibility for the care of a new life. The same kind of change occurs in God the Father as soon as He makes us a son or daughter of the King. A child is free and happy when He is secure in the care and comfort of Mom and Dad. The father is responsible to work; the child is free to play. We, as children, are spiritually free to play and enjoy life free from dread.

God is our Savior. As a promise, this means that God will save us from whatever trouble we have gotten ourselves into. Let God be our Savior; let Him save. Not only has the Lord already saved us from Sin, Death, and the Devil, but also He continues to save us from the evil of the troubles and difficulties that these enemies bring upon us. The Holy Spirit has brought us to faith through the Gospel and we readily agree that we are saved. Jesus saved us. But it is harder to believe that He continues to save us from clear and present dangers, from the specific problems and present needs that Sin has presented to us. This is God’s work as Father and Savior.  Jesus saves now; Jesus never fails; Jesus is always there as Savior. He has saved us from the sins of our past; He will save us from the unknown dangers of the future; He lives in our lives to save us from the worries of the present.

We confess Jesus Christ as our Savior. We believe it. Exercise that promise and apply it by faith to every present need. God promises to save; God is a Savior.

179. Lovingkindnesses

Isaiah 63:7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

God is Love; God is good; God is kind; God is merciful; God is gracious; God is forgiving; God is benevolent; and God is many more adjectives. All these descriptors describe the character of God. Because God is these things in His character and nature, then this is way He acts and does things. 

“Lovingkindness” is the King James English word for translating the important Hebrew word “Chesed.” “Faithful love” may be the best way of translating this elusive word. “Chesed” means that God will be faithful to His covenant promises, He will keep His promises, and He will certainly do what He says according to the integrity and character of God’s very nature. God acts according to this essential character. He will be faithful to His love. The very nature of God is to be loving and kind, merciful and gracious. God will always be loving and kind.

When God revealed His name and glory to Moses He said: “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in “steadfast love” and faithfulness, keeping “chesed” for thousands. [Exodus 34:6}” The “chesed” of God was revealed to us in all His glory at the Cross and at the Empty Tomb. When we believe in Jesus Christ we know the love of God for us is absolutely faithful and sure. We have absolutely no doubt He will keep His promises to us.

The promise in this verse is contained in the plural use of this word, “lovingkindnesses.” Since God is “lovingkind (chesed)” He reveals His lovingkindness to us in Christ. The plural form of this word reveals that there are many individual acts of lovingkindness toward us. These manifold acts and fulfillments of promises are concrete and specific throughout our life. The Lord, out of love and mercy, does so many good things for us and gives so many blessings to us we could not even count them, but it is worthwhile to try to do so. Thank God!

How do we know the multitude of His lovingkindnesses? We look to Jesus and we believe the love and grace poured out for us. We hear the Gospel and we know. How many lovingkindnesses are there? That’s what we are trying to find out by studying this present series of Promises of God. Take hold of them be believIng a loving God.

178. God’s Salvation

Isaiah 63:5 And I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that their was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.

This promise pictures God shading his eyes and looking the world over for one man anywhere who could save the world for God. But there is no innocent man; there is no mediator; there is no hero; there is no helper; there is no savior; there is no one. It is like the sadness and crestfallen disappointment the Apostle John felt when he saw there was no one worthy to open the scroll; then he saw the Lamb.

In this case, the Lord God could find no human and no way to save people from sin, death and evil. The Lord has lost. Therefore, God said, “I’ll do it myself.” And He did. God became a human being; God sent His own son. God let loose His own power (arm) to bring salvation. So Jesus was born. Jesus is the power of God that brings salvation to God. God did it Himself by virtue of the virgin birth, a sinless human life, an innocent suffering and death, and a glorious bodily resurrection.

Jesus brought salvation to God. Jesus presents His own blood on the mercy seat in the presence of the living God as propitiation for the sins of mankind. God now has the salvation He was yearning for. His Son died to earn it. God died to obtain it for Himself. Now God the Father is overjoyed, for He can justly forgive His created, beloved humans and save them. It is God’s Salvation; He owns it; He controls it; He dispenses it. Thanks be to Jesus.

Note that it is the fury of God that upholds Him, that is, the righteous rage against Sin, Death and the Devil drives Him to finish the job of gaining salvation for all. God hates sin so much that He goes to the “nth” to save. He hates sin because of what it does to us. The passion of God for my soul causes me to trust in the Lord for all things.

177. Sought Out, Not Forsaken

Isaiah 62:12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shall be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

The redeemed people of the Lord are the holy people. The Lord Jesus made people holy when they believed in Christ for salvation. God promises that these people will be called “Sought out.” They are people for whom the Lord has been looking, seeking, searching, and then finding. Believers are like the lost sheep for which the Shepherd searches for everywhere until He finds him. Thank God that lost people are not just written off as a loss. The Good Shepherd cares about and cares for each individual person, and He seeks until He finds each one of us. He tenderly picks us up and softly carries us back to the safe fold under His care.

I need to regard myself as a “sought out one.” I am so special to God that He will not give up on me no matter how far I have strayed. And when the Lord has sought me out there is great rejoicing on the part of the finder and of the found. God will come for me and come to me wherever I am. I am lost; I cannot find my way; and I cannot grope my way into the Kingdom. The best thing a lost child can do is just stay put where he is until he is found. Give up and be willing to be sought out. God the Lord will do it, for His love knows no bounds. And whenever His children do not feel like they know the way out of the maze, or get mired in the swamp, or feel like the troubles are too much for them, then they can trust the Shepherd.

We should not, and we do not, ever feel forsaken or left alone. We are “a city not forsaken.” God cannot, and will not, leave us alone to flounder in uncertainty. His promise is: “I will never, no never, not ever, leave you or forsake you.” Jesus was forsaken for your sake in order that you should never be forsaken again, ever. All God’s children go through various seasons of feeling alone, trial periods, and times of difficulties, but we always have this promise: you are sought out and never forsaken.

176. Salvation Reward, Work

Isaiah 62:11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.

The prophecy of the coming Messiah contains a promise. The Messiah is Salvation, and salvation is coming to the Church (the daughter of Zion); the Messiah is bringing his reward with him, and He will give it to the Church; the work of the Messiah is coming before him.

Salvation comes with Christ. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, comes as salvation for all people. This salvation is proclaimed in the Gospel to the end of the world, both in space (to the ends of the earth) and in time (to the end of the age). The Gospel of salvation is meant for and proclaimed to all peoples of all the earth for all of the history of people living on the earth. The Lord proclaims the Gospel to all. The prophet says it to the Church. The Church preaches through the Apostolic word witnessing to salvation in Jesus to the ends of the earth. Salvation comes = Jesus brings salvation, for Jesus Himself is Salvation: He saves all people from Sin and its punishment, from Death and its finality, and from Satan and his torments. We hear the word of Christ and we are saved. And by faith the Spirit applies salvation to every aspect of our lives daily and eternally.

Christ’s reward is with Him, meaning that He grants the reward of His earned work to all people. The reward is the eternal life that Christ earned by His life, death and resurrection. It is Christ’s reward for He is the one who earned it. It is His and He is authorized to give His reward to all people, for whom He died. We who believe Christ and His proclamation have received the reward by His grace. Christ dispenses His reward freely to all believers. Christ gets the credit for our salvation and its rewards, but we get the benefits and the results for free. The promises of rewards both in this age and in the Age to Come are guaranteed by Jesus Christ.

The work of Christ goes before Him. The work of Christ includes the signs, wonders, miracles and healings He has done, and it also includes His entire life lived as a righteous and holy man, for He lived an entirely innocent human life; He lived with the temptation to sin, but He always overcame the temptation and never sinned. How did He do that? He did it because He loved you and me so deeply that the joy of your salvation drove Him to the innocent, bitter, suffering and death of the cross and to a glorious victory of bodily resurrection unto life eternal. This work earned the grace rewards He gave to us; and his work earned the reward that comes to Him, which is the salvation of the Church, which He loved and gave Himself up for. Because of His love for you and me He finished the work, earned the rewards for Himself and for us, and gives it to us richly and daily by grace.

175. God Rejoices in the Bride

Isaiah 62:5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

God continues the theme of rejoicing over us and of marriage to the bride. I am the Bride, the Church, a part of the people redeemed by Christ. The promise of God rejoicing over us is really quite remarkable. It is hard to believe that the Lord is happy over us, especially when we are not even happy with ourselves. If we could believe this promise, that God rejoices over us like a Bride, then our self-esteem would rise. We need to think about ourselves as God thinks about us.

The Lord is grieved over our sins, and at the same time, He is overjoyed over our faith and salvation. When we think like God thinks, we, too, are grieved with godly sorrow over our sins, and we rejoice greatly over the Christ who lives in us and becomes a part of us. When we see what God sees we repent; when we see what God sees we believe in Jesus and the joy of salvation is restored.

Most Christians strongly desire to be better people, to live a more holy life, and to actually be kind and loving. We are saddened when we don’t change as much or as quickly as we would like. But those very Christians also rejoice over the forgiveness of sins and the gift of righteousness. They cannot help but be overjoyed when they believe and see the life of Christ living in them. This Christ-in-us is what the Lord God in heaven sees all the time. And the Lord loves to forgive; He delights in showing mercy; and He yearns to share His life.

The metaphorical picture of a groom rejoicing over his bride is concrete enough for us to realize that that is how the Lord feels about us all the time. And by faith we see ourselves the same way. It would also be helpful if we could still rejoice over our spouses in the same way after years of marital bliss and strife. But we don’t rely on feelings, even feelings of joy and love, for emotions are fickle. We rest on the solid rock of God’s Word and promise. God says He is happy with us, and that is enough. If God grants the emotions to line up with the truth, then we thank God for the bonus. Rely on the promise: your God is rejoicing over you.