Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter 41 verse 9, “You whom I, the Lord, have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are My servant, – I have chosen you and not cast you off, even though you are exiled,” (Amplified Bible). The prophet Isaiah retells the words that he received from the Lord, reminding the people of Israel that God called the patriarch, Father Abraham, from a far off land, the land Ur. God promised him that God will make him a great nation, the chosen nation of the Lord. God revealed himself to Abraham as the God of Covenant, the God who chose Abraham to father this great nation. God promised that this nation will worship him and will do great things for the Lord God. Isaac was born to Abraham; and Esau and Jacob were born to Isaac. Through Jacob, who was later called Israel, the twelve tribes of the Jewish nation came into being. During the long history of God’s dwelling with the Israelites and the periods of faith in and rejection of the God of Israel, God kept on reminding the people whom he called of his special purpose that He assigned them. They had to be light to the nations, a nation devoted to God; through Israel the nations would be blessed. The long journey in the desert under the leadership of Moses shaped the nation of Israel’s worship. They were grounded in the teaching of the Torah, the Ten Commandments and the faith and trust in the One God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were schooled in the writings of the prophets and the Psalmists and wisdom literature regarding God’s creation, purposes and ordinances. Through the prophet Isaiah, God reassures the people of Israel that they were called by him to fulfil their purpose. God will never reject those he called, and he will never take the commission that he has given them away. Not even the traumatic event in the history of Israel, the Babylonian Captivity, which lasted for seventy years, changed the plans and purposes that God made for Israel. The captives returned and rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple. Through the lineage of Judah, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World was born, more than three centuries later. Through the servants of the Lord, who faithfully spoke God’s Word through the ages, the birth of Christ, the Light, was proclaimed centuries before it happened. Many Jews and Gentiles recognized the Messiah and believed for they saw in Jesus, the Light of the World, the Son of God.
The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans in Chapter 11 verse 1 states, “I ask then: Has God totally rejected and disowned His people? Of course not,” (Amplified Bible). We are told by the Apostle Paul, who was himself a Jew, a learned scholar of scripture, and a bond servant of Christ, that God’s wisdom is a mystery to humans. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has understood his thoughts,” (Romans 11 verse 34). The temporary disbelief of the Jews in Christ as the Messiah is a time of grace for the Gentile nations of the world. This time is used to bring in the harvest of those who were not brothers and sisters and heirs to the promises that God made to the Jewish nation. But through Jesus Christ, born the King of the Jews, all those who are not entitled through birth right to the blessings, have been adopted as children and heirs, for they believed what the prophets and apostles told. They trusted in the work of Christ on the Cross for them and the grace bestowed by God the Father. In Luke 13 verse 29 Jesus said that from the East and the West, the North and the South, people will come to celebrate at the Table of the Lord. God’s plans and purposes are for the good of all, for all are from God; and through Him and to Him are all things.
Father, you gave every person and nation purpose through your salvation plan, Amen.