Saturday 10 Feb 2018

February 10: Isaiah 43:2-4

Key Verse: Isaiah 43:2
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.

Devotion:
It is difficult for us to understand how God could be in heaven and on earth, away from us and yet still with us. Christ's words in the New Testament show He is still God, He had always been God and He was able to descend from heaven and then ascend to heaven at the time He chose. This must have been a bit of a brain strain on the disciples until they learned why Jesus died and then remembered the words He had spoken to them previously. They had remembrance of the scriptures such as these from Isaiah which told them of how God was always going to look after them and how much he loved them.

We now have the written word from the past showing us the image the prophets had foreseen from God and the image the disciples saw as Jesus walked amongst them. They make a pretty convincing image of a God who really does care for Israel, but not just them, for us gentiles too! We now have the choice as to whether we believe these words from the prophets and the words which followed from the disciples and from Christ Himself. Christ has been lifted up onto the cross to die for us. The price has been paid. God may have shown His love by allowing whole nations to be used as sacrifice before, but He sent His Son to be the final sacrifice for all!

God has done what has been done out of His love for us. He has showed us that He loved us so much that He was willing to allow His Son to die for us, to take on our sentence so we would be allowed to be set free from our sins. His love was shown to all people of the world, no matter how good or evil. It was not just shown to the angels who were expected to follow Him no matter what. We, on the other hand do have the choice that we can turn back from our evil ways and turn to Him once more. Once we have made that simple choice, we will be safe forever. Once we have accepted God back into our lives, we are with Him forever more. What a wonderful, wonderful gift!

Points to Ponder:
Do you like getting presents?

Why do so many people refuse to open His free gift to us all?