My Salvation To All Generations

The Servant Songs continue as the Word of the LORD spoke to Isaiah face to face and inspired the hand of Isaiah to write. ‘Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek YHWH: Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.’ God wanted Israel and Judah to remember from whom they came and the promises God made to Abraham and Sarah in His covenant with him. God called him out of the kingdom of Nimrod, from Ur of the Chaldees, when he was just a young child. Then he made Abraham to know Him and they took a journey together to the land God would give him. Yes, these children of Abraham had a great heritage indeed! They would be the benefactors of that eternal covenant with Abraham and enjoy the land of promise. 

It was because of this covenant with Abraham that God would fulfill the covenant made beyond that one. Despite the sin, idolatry, and failing of Israel, God would comfort Zion, the city of Jerusalem would again be overflowing with peoples. The deserts would bloom like the Garden of Eden. Joy and gladness would be shared all around. Thanksgiving and song would fill the air. When would this happen? God answers that for us.

’Pay Attention to Me, O My people; give ear to Me, so any nation; for a law will go forth from Me, and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples. My Righteousness is near, My Salvation (Yeshua) has gone forth, and My arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands will wait for Me, and for My arm they will wait expectantly.’ The salvation God had planned for Israel was not just for the physical descendants of Abraham, it would be for the whole entire world. God had promised that all the nations would be blessed in Abraham, and He would indeed bless them as Jesus came to provide eternal Salvation. The Hebrew term used through Isaiah for salvation is Yeshua, because Jesus means ‘YHWH saves.’ Multiple times throughout Isaiah’s writings, God explicitly tells us the actual Name of the One who saves.

YHWH tells them to look to the sky and to the earth beneath, both allusions to the promise to Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars and as the dust of the earth. Earth and Heaven would vanish and wear out at the very end, at the Day of Judgment, but His Salvation shall be forever! His righteousness would not wane. His people should not fear man or be dismayed at their reviling, for they would fade away like a moth eaten garment, but God’s Righteousness and His Yeshua would last to all generations. Long ago God had defeated His enemies, piercing the dragon, drying up the sea so His people could pass through safely. His redeemed has walked that path before, the future ransomed of the LORD would return to Zion with shouting and everlasting joy! Sorrow would not be among them, because YHWH Himself would comfort them. There would be no need to be afraid of what man could do to them in the Day, because God would be with them.

YHWH spoke the world into existence and stretched out the heavens, laying the foundation of the earth. He stirs up the winds and waves, controlling the very elements. Why should anyone fear man? God said He would do this, and He will accomplish it. No man will stand in His way. He would place his words in their mouths, covering them with the shadow of His hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people!’ When would this be fulfilled? Yes, it will be fulfilled when Jesus,  the promised Salvation of God, returns to rule and reign on the earth in Jerusalem and on into eternity.  

The LORD spoke and Isaiah wrote again to encourage Jerusalem to awaken from their drunken stupor. They would drink the cup of God’s wrath for their idolatry. They would rain it to the dregs. There would be no man to guide them, no one to take her by the hand. Devastation and destruction, famine and sword would pass through the land. They would lie helpless in the streets, full of the wrath of the LORD, enduring the rebuke of their God. To those afflicted one God speaks, the LORD who contends with His people says, ‘Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of reeling; the chalice of My anger, you will never drink again. And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Lie down that we may walk over you.’ You have even made your back like the ground, and like the street for those who walk over it.’ One day God would turn His wrath from them and pour it out on the wicked nations who harmed His people. Israel would be comforted and be at rest with Jesus reigning over them. Oh what a glorious day that will be!