Steadfast

"Here is a faithful saying: If we died with Him, then we shall also live with Him...if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself." II Timothy 2:11, 14

A couple evenings ago I read a lengthy portion out of the middle of Isaiah. I didn't mean to when I started; I'm actually reading through the book of Acts, and I was only in Isaiah to look at the context of a passage I'd quoted earlier - Isaiah 55, where the "Your ways are not My ways" verses are. I got distracted by a passage chapters earlier - in fact, by a familiar one in chapter 40 - and from there began reading/skimming up to chapter 55.

I have read through Isaiah before, but at the time it didn't really click with me. It seemed a rather dark and dismal book; after all, it deals with Judah's unfaithfulness and idolatry and God's response to her. On the surface that doesn't seem to make for a very cheery book. I knew, of course, about the beautiful prophesies of the Messiah in the book, especially in chapter 53, but subconsciously I still thought of Isaiah as sad and a little depressing as a whole. But several verses in chapter 40 caught my eye, and my subsequent reading gave me a better look at Isaiah and the promises of God's faithfulness and undying love.

"'Comfort, comfort my people,' says your God. 'Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.'"

Those are the first two verses of chapter 40, and they jumped out at me with their encouragement and strength. Despite Judah's apostasy (which God clearly addresses throughout the book), God commands Isaiah here to speak comfort to His people. He speaks and says that her sins have been paid for, and that she has received double for all her sins; later on in the chapter there is the reminder of the power of God and His steadfastness to those who put their hope in Him:

"...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

God continues in the next chapter to voice that He is the LORD and talks of His power and how He rules the elements of the earth as well as the lives of all men, and in the midst of it He speaks of how He watches over and guards His people Judah. "'Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you,' declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Though He reminds us that we are no more than worms, no better than the dust of the earth, He also reiterates His promise to help us; the double statement of "I Myself" makes the promise even stronger, as if God were swearing by Himself that He will help His people. Again in the next chapter He says that He has "called us in righteousness and will take hold of our hand."

From the middle to the end of chapter 42 Isaiah talks again of how Israel and Judah have sinned against the LORD, but immediately in the next chapter God demonstrates again His faithfulness, though they were faithless. "'Fear not,'" He says, "'for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.'"

In verse 4 of that chapter, He states that Judah and Israel are precious in His sight. He has redeemed them and because they are His, they are precious to Him. And we, as redeemed children of God, are precious in His sight as well. "'I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.'"

Again, mixed in with these promises are verses and whole passages that speak of Israel's persistent unfaithfulness, but they make the punctuations that declare God's mercy all the clearer in the text. He does not forget His justice; He says that He will bring disgrace upon Israel because of her sin, and yet, because all of God's attributes work in harmony with each other at all times, He tempers that justice with mercy.

It's passages like these that lead up to what I posted earlier in chapter 55 of Isaiah, the wonderful promise of forgiveness to sinners. God is steadfast; when we are faithless, He is faithful, and ever ready to forgive our sins.

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live."