Is. 53-55
These chapters are so full of promise! They reveal God’s plan for a new covenant with us, His people.
- Chapter 53 is all about Jesus, the Passover lamb, who sacrificed Himself to atone for our sins. “By His knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities.” (Is 53:11b).
- Chapter 54 speaks of the eternal restoration of God’s people, which is possible because of Christ’s sacrifice. “’My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” (Is 54:10b).
- And chapter 55 is a call to all who will come and take part in God’s everlasting covenant of grace. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Is 55:7).
I particularly like the promise in Is 54:13. “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” Having a couple of nieces who have been drawn in by the evil ‘teaching’ of the Deceiver, this is a beautiful thought to me. No more will our children be susceptible to the lies of the powers of darkness. No more will they be taken in by that which seeks to destroy them. Instead, God Himself will teach them. Then they will know the truth and they will know real love. Amen, Lord, let it be so!
Rom. 10
Paul makes it abundantly clear throughout Romans that salvation is not just for the Jews. Though God’s old covenant was with the Jews, God’s new, everlasting covenant of peace through Jesus Christ, which we just read about in Isaiah, is available for all who will receive it. The Jews are special, as I have noted before, because God chose them both to reveal Himself and His Plan of redemption to the world and to bring forth that plan in the form of Jesus Christ. This means that all of His promises to the Jewish people, including His covenant of salvation, are equally relevant to all who believe in Him and confess Jesus Christ as Lord. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:13).