Isaiah 45:14-25 I Have Sworn
God has promised Israel an “everlasting salvation.” He swore this by nothing higher; “By Myself I have sworn.” Israel won’t be alone in that salvation. ALL have this opportunity!
When God made the universe, He made it with a purpose. It was NOT to sit idly by and watch time pass. “He established it’ He did not cerate it empty, He formed it to be inhabited!” (verse 18b). And those that inhabit it, He created them with a purpose too; to love Him. To be His people and He their God.
This isn’t a position reserved only for Israel. God created ALL men with a “God spot”, a place that longs for something greater than himself. God put this in man so he would seek his Creator. Man has tired filling it with everything he could find or create. God kept calling and reaching out to man, including removing the ones that were the farthest away in the flood. Then He focused on one man through whom He would work. Once He established this one man into a nation, He gave them His laws and commandments. Before that, men had their conscience that He worked through. Now, they knew His heart and mind.
Now, He was poised to reach beyond this man and this people to the rest of the world. At first, it was to demonstrate the difference serving Him would bring verses serving whatever else they could come up with. The other nations needed to see His power as much as His own did. Seeing Him would create a desire in them to receive from Him whatever they could, even if it meant joining with Israel. He was, after all, the God of Israel.
The statutes and laws God gave Israel were ‘training wheels’. They taught Israel about God’s heart and what was required to please Him. It showed them both sides of obedience. But more than anything else, it was to prepare them for an even better promise. It was to get them ready for the Savior; their Messiah. Israel had first ‘dibs’ on creating a life with God’s Messiah. When they rejected Him, as He KNEW they would do, He could open the promise to the rest of the world.
That promise is an even better promise! One that relies on the work Jesus did instead of the works we can do. And it extends the promise of everlasting salvation to ANY who would come to Him and receive it. This is the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation.
It doesn’t stop at the cross or even at the open grave. Jesus commands us to take this great news to ALL people. To share His desire to see ALL men come to Him. No matter how good God’s plan is, there will still be those who refuse to grab hold of it. Those who will deny His authority in this world and in their lives. WE cannot MAKE them understand or comply. But one day, God WILL.
Israel was the first to receive God’s promise. ANY who would come to Him received His second promise. BOTH promises are honored by God for eternity. He won’t take them back or pretend He didn’t make them. There are conditions and requirements for both that have to be honored on our part.
I feel for the ones who try and refuse Him on that final moment. God says of that day; “To me EVERY knee shall bow, EVERY tongue shall swear allegiance” (verse 23b). There will be NO OTHER OPTION. No other gods. No other place to turn to. NO WAY to deny He is who He says He is. He will be revealed in His splendor and NONE will miss it!
Father God, I know there are still things to come before that day. I want to watch though as EVERY knee that has refused You, finally bows down. I want to hear Your praise coming from the mouths that once cursed You. I know I’ll be busy bowing and praising too, but could You let me have a glimpse of that GLORIOUS sight?
THANK YOU for weaving into my heart a place that longs for You. THANK YOU for filling it with Your presence! Thank You for weaving into this universe YOUR plan of salvation. NO WAY I could do it on my own!!! You said it, and that’s all I need to know on the matter.
