Isaiah 63:7-9 – Recounting the love and goodness of God to His people. This coming Sunday is the last Sunday of the calendar year. Another year has passed. 2020 has been a year none like we have ever expected yet through all of the changes and chances of this remarkable year the Lord has proven to be faithful.
Isaiah 63 is a lonely chapter. Salvation here is not triumphant. It is marked by loss and theological collapse. Isaiah 63:7-9 are some of the first words uttered after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (587 BC). Historical cues come in Isaiah 63:18 and Isaiah 64:10 where we learn that “our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary” and “your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.”
Yet Isaiah is bold to remind us that the LORD’s mercy and stead-fast love will always take center stage. His days are without end and His mercies cannot be counted. Aware of the shortness and the uncertainty of this human life we ask that the Holy Spirit lead us all the days of our lives until that day comes when we pass from this world to one which has no end.
During this week, review in your mind the past year. Recount the good things that come from God as you commit yourself into His care.
We have reached the last stanza of the preparatory hymn of the Advent season, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel
O Emanuel, our king and our Lord, the anointed for the nations and their Savior: Come and Save us, O Lord our God[1]
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