June 19: Isaiah 51
Deuteronomy 24; Psalms 114–115; Isaiah 51; Revelation 21
Are you discouraged by the small ground that the church takes in the world today? So was Israel. And yet God reminds them that He quarried them out (1) when they were but one man - Abraham (2).
No, their present circumstances are not the final story. He is not done yet; he will comfort them and make them again like Eden (3). If they but give God their attention, He will make His people a light to the nations (3-5). He will bring salvation that will outlast everything else (6).
But there will be resistance; the darkness does not go down without a fight. The grounding for your footing is in His law (7); only then can we resist the world’s reviling.
God will work in His power again (8-10). And the result will be a rejoicing among His people like never before (11). His people will pilgrimage through their wilderness to Jerusalem, as they do they shall be filled with joy (see Psalm 84).
Who are the “ransomed of the Lord”? They are Jew and Gentile - both God’s “chosen” people and those He has chosen from the nations (4b). Thus when the maker of all heaven and earth looks to Zion and says, “You are my people,” these are not just Jews. These are people from every tongue, tribe and nation, called by God’s grace.
Who will comfort and console God’s people? Simeon and Anna will see it (see Luke 2).