Isaiah25:1-12
Tuesday, 8 June 2021
“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” -Isaiah 25:9
The hope of the one who had put his trust in God is evident in our key verse today! As someone has put it: “when everything else leads to a hopeless end, faith in God leads us to an endless hope.” The spiritual status of the people at the time of Isaiah writing this book, was very deplorable and as a result they were continuously under oppression by various enemy kings. There was a spiritual despondency looming over the people of God and prophet Isaiah brings in hope and clarity. The future plans of God were revealed, including the suffering for Jesus Christ. Restitution of God’s people has always been God’s concern.
The assurance of God’s salvation needs to be strongly built in the mind of each believer to stand against the strides of evil in the world. When hopelessness breeds in, it erodes away the confidence in a person. Further, the kind of situation that God’s children were at the time of Isaiah, was making them feel helpless, having lost the confidence to stand against the enemy.
Does that not reflect the condition of many even today? Having lost all hope and feeling no strength to stand against the schemes of the evil one! You have hope – Jesus is the Lord who has put the enemy to defeat and given us the unique chance to share in the victory which He obtained! 1Cor.15:56, 57 says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Through Jesus Christ there is victory over the power of sin! Again in Romans 8:3 it says “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” We receive freedom from sin, when the Holy Spirit resides in us!
Similar to the physical condition of oppression brought in by enemy kings during the time of Isaiah, is the oppression brought now by the devil and his agents in the lives of those who believe in Jesus Christ. Be of good cheer, we have hope – Jesus Christ got the victory and freedom!!
In verse 4 of our reading today, the details of this hope are explained. “For you have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a rain storm against the wall.”
In the natural world animals show us sometimes wonderful facts that can be adopted in our spiritual journey. The way the eagle fights against a venomous snake is that it takes the snake to the air where the snake which is an earthly creature finds itself defenseless. Let us change our plane of action – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). Let us join with Jesus Christ and fight our battle in the spiritual plane – let us not think of fighting the enemy in his familiar ground- flesh. In the spiritual realm Jesus Christ gave us victory and freedom – He is our Lord; in Him let us put our complete trust!
Meditate on: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2[ESV]