e martë, 6 nëntor 2007

Isaiah 12:1-6

Passage: Isaiah 12:1-6
1 You will say in that day:"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.
2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 "Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Cross references:
Isaiah 12:1 : Isaiah 11:11
Isaiah 12:1 : Isaiah 10:4
Isaiah 12:2 : Exodus 15:2; Psalm 118:14
Isaiah 12:3 : John 4:13, 14; 7:37, 38
Isaiah 12:4 : Isaiah 11:11
Isaiah 12:4 : Psalm 105:1
Isaiah 12:4 : Psalm 145:4-6
Isaiah 12:4 : Psalm 148:13
Isaiah 12:5 : Exodus 15:1; Psalm 98:1
Isaiah 12:6 : Psalm 46:5; Hos 11:9
Isaiah 12:6 : Isaiah 5:24; 41:14, 16

Journal:
The first song of praise (v.1-3) recognizes the true need of man; that is, salvation. Throughout his writing, Isaiah uses water as a symbol (41:17-18; 55:1; 55:10). Here, it is the joyful retrieval of life sustaining refreshment from the wells of salvation. ("With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.") Jesus Himself later uses the imagery of water ("living water") when discussing the greatest need in life to the Samaritan woman at the well. The world searches for happiness, and is discontented. God reveals joy, and within that joy is eternal contentment. The source of discontentment is the pursuit of self and pride. This road is easily and well traveled, and culminates in God's wrath. The less traveled road, the narrow road, ends in appeasement from God's wrath for the humble and contrite traveler. It is here that the water of salvation is abundantly supplied for God's child all along the way. How can this be? It is what Christ said it is -- He is our living water and our sole mean to evoke God's appeasement from His righteous wrath.

There is a fork in the road for each man, and the path less traveled, the path with joyful contentment, requires trust. ("Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.") This is man's part in this great salvation. Man must trust God for relief from man's past, from man's present, and from man's future. Many disdain God completely, and follow the well traveled road to certain wrath and destruction. This is total blindness. Others try to live out the old joke - if you see a fork in the road, take it. They claim God and the narrow way, and yet they live their life with the masses on the broad way. This is Satan's greatest deception; this is man living a lie. This is total blindness as well, though the man slips on his spiritual glasses over blind eyes. The genuine trust of a child of God is the result of the great gift of faith from God. It is here that the wrath is calmed, and it is here that fear subsides. For the man that places his past, present and future in the hope of God, places his fear on the lamb of God. There is no longer fear of God's wrath. There is only fear of disappointing our Father that so lovingly adopted us. ("You will say in that day:"I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me.") This is a man that has been given the gift of sight. This is the song of salvation.

We will look at the second "song" in Chapter 12 tomorrow.