Today Isaiah says that the Lord’s people will one day go from Babylon and He will reestablish His covenant with them which will even reach the Gentiles – “I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” “In an acceptable time I have heard You, and in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth.” This new covenant will be established through the faithful Servant, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8).
Although the people say, “The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me”, the Lord assures them that this isn’t true. He says that His love for them is greater than a mom’s love for her nursing child. He says, “Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.” The hands of our Savior will be nailed to a cross for our sins. And after Jesus’ death and resurrection, He will show His nail-scarred hands to His disciple Thomas so that he may believe that Jesus is Lord. Then Jesus will say to Him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
God tells the righteous, the ones seeking the Lord, to look to the past in order to remember that He can be trusted – “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.” And look to the heavens and the earth beneath. “The earth will grow old like a garment. And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.”
The Lord says, “And you forget the Lord your Maker, Who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; you have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he has prepared to destroy. And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, that he should not die in the pit, and that his bread should not fail. But I am the Lord your God, Who divided the sea whose waves roared— The Lord of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”
We live in fear when we forget the Lord and His mighty power and strength. The righteous do not have to fear this world or the wicked who lie and throw insults, for the wicked will be destroyed but the righteous, those who trust in Christ, will ultimately be delivered from all evil. The Lord is sovereign over all things and the enemy can not do anything more to us than the Lord allows. God’s plans and purposes will always prevail. Therefore, Isaiah says that after the Lord disciplines His people through captivity, He will pour out His wrath on their enemies – “For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
Keep reading to see the Lord’s plans for His people unfold.
(Isaiah 48:12-52:12)
#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching
Chronological Bible in Layman's Terms 