From Abraham’s time until that of Isaiah’s, the people of Israel had often looked to Egypt when they should have been looking to God. Trusting Egypt for help is a metaphor for trusting the world and human strength. Who are you trusting? Egypt or the Lord? Isaiah counsels us to look to the Lord!
Receiving Jesus we are prompted to call God by the name His Son uses, “Abba, Father.” Abba (Aramaic for “daddy.” Two simple syllables easily spoken by the youngest child- “Ab-ba.” Found in Ab-raham’s name – “Father of Nations”). In this verse we see the Trinity revealed: God sending, the Son providing, the Spirit prompting… all so that we who are distant from God may be brought near. And so, we are able to pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name.”
Isaiah sought the Lord. As he lay his head down at night, he searched for God’s presence. When he awoke in the morning, he listened for God’s voice. Do you have this habit? Are your last words and thoughts at the end of the day for the Lord? Do you open your eyes looking for Him and listening for His voice? If you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (Jer. 29:13).
Christianity is not a self-improvement course. We are not called to come and do, but to come and die. For the new life follows not self-improvement, but self-denial. We consider our old self “crucified with Christ” and our new self risen with Him to new life. We die to sin and we also die to self-effort, no longer trying to please God by following some set of religious rules and regulations that we are unable to keep. Dying to self, we live by Christ, “trusting” in Him to live His life in us.
Paul was concerned that the Christians at Galatia, who had received salvation by faith in Christ, were exchanging their faith for a focus on law-keeping. Those saved by faith are to live by faith, not by works. Yet this tendency still befalls many believers today. We recognize our sin and total dependence on Jesus for salvation, but then try to live the Christian life in our own strength. A focus on law-keeping leads to self-righteousness, pride and an inordinate comparing of ourselves to others. Living by faith in Jesus, we work, but we do so only according to Christ’s power. We work out what God is working in us (Phil.2:12-13). Our righteousness is us in Christ. And our life is Christ in us.
When Paul encountered the living Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, it began his transformation from persecutor to preacher. The life of Paul is one of the great proofs of Christ’s resurrection and power. Paul’s life demonstrates that no one is beyond God’s salvation and calling. God calls whom He will. Therefore, pray for the salvation of everyone. The one persecuting Christians today, could be preaching for Christ tomorrow.
This beautiful benediction closed Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul’s trinitarian blessing bestowed three powerful attributes of the Godhead upon the believers at Corinth. 1) The “grace” (χάρις – charis) of Jesus. Which is Christ’s free and unmerited favor. 2) The “love” (ἀγάπη – agape) of God. Which is God’s unconditional love and chief attribute. 3) The “fellowship” (κοινωνία – koinonia) of the Spirit. Which is the abiding communion of the Spirit living in those of us who believe. May this blessing be yours today!
Isaiah prophesied God’s judgment of Israel and Judah. Yet, he also prophesied that though the tree would be chopped down, leaving only a stump, there would be a shoot that would grow from the old root. This shoot would grow into a “new Branch,” which is Christ, the Son of David, the Son of God. This “Branch” would become the “Banner of Salvation” to all the world (Isa. 11:10). He is the Branch that bears fruit. We are grafted into this tree by adoption. Believing into His Name we receive God’s salvation and receive the right to become God’s children.
Isaiah is filled with many words of judgment and destruction, yet it also overflows with future hope. Isaiah prophesies the overthrow of the Northern Kingdom, “the “land of Zebulun and Naphtali,” by the Assyrians. This prophesy concerning Israel came true during Isaiah’s lifetime. But the prophecy of the future “glory” that would fill the land of Galilee wouldn’t be fulfilled until 700 years later when Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth (Matt. 4:16). More Messianic prophecies are found in Isaiah than any other Old Testament book.
(Isaiah 7:14 NLT).
Isaiah gave King Ahaz of Judah this sign from God to show that within only a few years, the kingdoms of Israel and Syria would be gone. Yet, this prophetic sign had a double fulfillment. It’s present-day fulfillment was for Ahaz, but it’s future fulfillment was for the entire human race. For 700 years later the virgin did indeed give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Matthew quotes this verse to show its fulfillment in Christ (Matt. 1:23). Christ is the “holy seed” from “Israel’s stump” (Isa. 6:13). The Old Testament contains over 300 Messianic prophecies that are all fulfilled in Christ.