BEHOLD GOD IS MY SALVATION

As I was reading from the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, my thoughts turned to you.  Welcome everyone to your 24/7, week long, online church service.   Everyone is welcome in this place.  I was reading Chapter 12 – a chapter that is calculated to have been written seven-hundred and thirteen years before the birth of Jesus Christ.  It talks about the singing of praises and worship to our Heavenly Father, the God above all gods.  Let me start with Isaiah 12:2.  I believe this Chapter 12 and the verses we are going to explore relates to you and me today just as it did to the people over seven- hundred years ago.  Isaiah 12:2 states:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid:  For the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song;  he also is become my salvation.”

You know, church, Moses sang this song as recorded in Exodus 15:2.  He sang this praise on the shores of the Red Sea after Israel’s great deliverance from Pharaoh and the Egyptian Empire.  But, just as Moses could mouth these praises and just as Isaiah did, we can also.  Why do I say that?  Because the very same God Jehovah that set the Israelites free has set us free from the bondage of sin.  He did that by sending his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, seven-hundred years after Isaiah spoke those words to pay the price for our sin.  A price that we could never in our own selves pay.  Yet, through the acceptance of Jesus Christ in our hearts, we can plainly and loudly proclaim, as did Moses and Isaiah -  Behold God is my salvation.   This promise of salvation is not only available to us but to our children and grandchildren as well.  What a great God we serve.  Isaiah 12:3 goes on to say:

“Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

That is my desire for you, my friends.  When Isaiah speaks of the wells of salvation here, he is speaking of a constant, flowing, never ending source.  An unending source of unfailing assurance that you are saved and will have eternal life with God and his son Jesus.  An unending source of consolation, hope and victory – all in this life and the hereafter.  Can you now see why I was thinking of you?

The salvation message we have been preaching to you since the beginning of the year was no mistake.  God loves you and the same desire he has for you, we do also.  If you are a nonbeliever and think this message is for believers only, you would be mistaken.  My friends, God created you and he wants the best for you.  I am talking to everyone reading or listening to this message – God Loves You!!  Once you have received Jesus into your heart there is much to proclaim about the goodness of God, isn’t there?  So let’s continue on to verse 4.  Isaiah 12:4 states:

“And in that day shall you say, praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.”

This scripture starts out “In that day,”  Well, what day is he referring to?  God has shown me that day for us is the day we got saved.  No wonder from that day forward we can and should say Praise the Lord.  Listen church, God did not save you from sin and give you eternal life just to shut you up.  No – he is telling us here to tell others to call upon the Lord.  It is very important to tell others what God has done for you.  So many people are just waiting to hear your testimony.  The reason is because it will spark something in them.  That if God has done such great things in your life, maybe, just maybe, he will do the same for them.

In other words, we will be planting seeds of hope into them.  Am I making any sense at all to you, church?  Let people know that the name of Jesus is the name above all names.  Jesus is the name above all sickness and disease.  His name is above poverty and above every other evil thing that Satan and this world can throw at you.  This is a clarion call to believers to stir yourselves up and begin to share the love of Jesus with others.

The time to sit quietly in your closet and keep the goodness of God to yourselves, never was.  So, what do you say, church?  Are you hearing me?  Time is shorter than you think.   We are not promised a long length of time on this earth, are we?  Just this past week the noted songstress, Whitney Houston, passed on at only forty-eight-years of age.  Please pray for her family, church.  Yet, know this.  She is an example of how death can come upon you in an instant.  Proclaim the Word of God loudly, church.  It is the only message on earth that must be heard by all.  Isaiah 12:5-6 sums up what I have been saying to you pretty clearly.  So let’s read them together.

“Sing unto the Lord, for he has done excellent things:  This is known in all the earth.  Cry out and shout, you inhabitants of Zion:  For great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of you.”

My friends, there will be a day when Jesus returns to this earth to rule and reign.  Israel will have fully repented of their rejection of their one true Messiah, and they will be forgiven and take their rightful place in the Kingdom of God.  The thing I take away from this scripture is this:  God is always in our midst.  He is always available to us.  The above scripture says “The Lord is known in all the earth.”  Well, guess what folks?  That means he is known in Palestine as well as Israel.  He is known in Europe and Asia as well as the United States of America.  All he wants is for us as true believers to declare his doings and do not discriminate.  Tell everyone of the Lord and Savior of your life – Jesus Christ the true Messiah and God of us all.

God Bless You,

Bro. Bob