Reading… and Thinking

And now says the LORD, who formed me from the womb to be His Servant,
To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him
(For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God is my strength),
He says, “It is too small a thing that you should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make you a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

– Isaiah 49:5-6 (NASB)

When Jesus was born, Israel was looking for a savior. But what they had in mind was political salvation – breaking free from the Roman empire, and standing on their own as an independent nation, with their Messiah as their king.

They were bitterly disappointed when Jesus did not fulfill their expectations. Many didn’t know what to make of him. He clearly was sent from God – the miracles proved that! And he taught with authority. He had command of the Word, command of the Spirit, and for a time, he had the loyalty of the people, who would have gladly followed him in an uprising against Rome.

But Jesus was sent for an entirely different kind of salvation. The political salvation will come, and he will indeed reign over the restored kingdom of Israel. Many prophecies right here in Isaiah, and throughout Scripture, make that clear. But first, men and women needed to be saved from the darkness of sin.

It shouldn’t have been hard for the faithful Israelite to understand this. This passage from Isaiah 49, for example, is clearly about the coming Messiah. Yet it’s just as clearly not about a political salvation. How could it be, if it’s for all the nations? Something bigger than deliverance from Rome is in God’s mind. What He has in mind is salvation reaching to the end of the earth!

This universal salvation can only be from the universal enemies: sin and death. (Note that “universal” doesn’t mean every individual is to be saved. But it does mean that every individual can be.)

Having demonstrated that the work of Jesus Christ would be for the whole world, we can’t help but notice that Israel is singled out, even here. God has not revoked the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (See Romans 9-11, for example.) He chose to work with them and their offspring, and that will be true right to the end. Jesus was a Jew, and he was sent to Judea. But it would be too limiting for him to only be their savior – he was God’s gift to all people. That was accomplished, not by removing Israel from its status as the chosen people, but by extending the privilege to others. In Christ, we can become adopted into the family of Abraham, and God’s promises to Abraham then extend to us. (Galatians 3:27-29)

And so, God’s salvation has extended around the world and down through time, all the way to you and me! He is not only the light for all the nations, he is MY light, the beacon of truth and hope and love that will illuminate my life. If I’ll let him!