Beautiful Deliverer
Blessed Holy Wednesday saints. Isaiah 52:13-15 gives me, gives us reason to pause, for what the prophet shares here is no small matter particularly in light of the preceding verses. Do you remember the clarity of God’s call to Jerusalem, his holy people Zion, to awake and rise-up, to shake off the shackles of bondage, to go rejoice and sing (vss. 1-2, 7-8)? Do you recall the confidence, the blessed assurance the Lord speaks over his people; encouraging them… inspiring them with the knowledge that the Lord will be their ever-present help as they go to do the work to which they were called (vss. 9-12)? Here, however, is a subtle yet certain shift in the atmosphere. There is a weightiness in Isaiah’s words… a heaviness in the prophet’s message in the remaining verses of this chapter. I highlight this not to provoke fear, but for us to take time and see the beauty of God’s grace toward us in what the prophet now shares.
The weight, the heaviness I mentioned, is not a burden that is to be borne by the people of Zion, those the Lord has sent forth surrounded by God’s protection. This burden will be carried by God’s own self in the person of the soon coming Savior… the one who is at the same time human and divine. The one who is at the same time prophet, priest, and king. For, who but he can silence the voices and stop the mouths of kings? For, who but he can cause the unspoken to be seen and the unheard to yet be understood apart from the Lord?
Let Us Pray
Lord God, we love you. We take comfort and courage in the fact that you, O Lord, are our deliverer. You, O Lord, are our strength and peace. Thank you, O God, for bearing the weight of our sins. Thank you, O God, for being our faithful and strong deliverer.
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