People of Light
A Light to All Nations – Part I
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 42:6-17
Key Verse: Isaiah 42:6
“I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles.”
Isaiah, the prophet, introduces what is coming, what we know to be the New Testament. Another word for “testament” is “covenant”. Isaiah is letting the people of God know that He is going to establish a new covenant. This covenant brings a new relationship between God and the Jewish people, as well as bringing “light for the Gentiles”.
In Isaiah 42:8 of today’s Scripture Reading, God introduces Himself through the Prophets words:
“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols”.
The message is clear: God’s very name speaks of the position He demands in our lives. He must be Lord of all or not Lord at all. We must choose. This verse reminds us that God does not yield His glory to anyone or anything.
Today in our culture, we do not make idols of wood or stone, like people did in Isaiah’s time. But we do make idols. An idol is anything that we make more important than God. Power, fame, and wealth are common idols in our day and age.
God is very patient with us, but He slowly points out any idols that we allow to exist. The Bible describes the process of God’s Spirit pointing out and dealing with things in our lives as “walking in the light”. When the Spirit points things out, we must be quick to obey.
Isaiah 42:10 speaks to us who are living in the new covenant of grace:
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
It is easy to take for granted the grace of God that gives us this song. Our faith in Jesus brings salvation to our souls along with a life of freedom. The Prophet described this Day of Grace when he wrote:
See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. (Isaiah 42:9)
The people of Isaiah’s day did not have the joy of living in the new covenant. They could only imagine it, as the Prophet explained.
We can relate to all this because most of us have heard or read about the second coming of Jesus. We can only imagine what that day will be like when the redeemed of all the ages gather around God’s throne, and sing eternal praises to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can only imagine a day when time is no more, and we live forever in the place that Jesus has prepared for us… a paradise beyond our ability to grasp.
Father, I am so grateful for the love You have lavished on me and that I can be Your child. Help me to live today with the expectation of Jesus’s return and my eternal life with you. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.