I would suppose, yet maybe I would be wrong, but I would suppose that if a grocery store was giving away free food once a week, that people would get in line every week to get the free food. Maybe not. Perhaps some would get enough food one week, or so they would think, to last for several weeks and so would not come back for fresh food each week. And I would suppose there would be those who would refuse the free food because they would believe there were strings attached.
I have said this before and so it should not be a shock, but our life on this earth is short. And when we compare our life on this earth to our life in heaven, there really is no comparison, millions of billions of eons and years compared to sixty, seventy, eighty and maybe a hundred years. And yet, while we live on this earth, it may seem like a long time, even a lifetime. The important thing, however, is that while we live in this world we want to make sure we are prepared for the more important, even most important world to come. And since none of us knows the day or the hour that our Lord will return, or that we will pass on and go to Him, it is imperative that we are ready at all times.
One of the amazing things about God is the fact that He gives us eternal life. He also gives us faith, and forgiveness of sins, which gain eternal life for us. God supplies us with all that we need and especially He provides for all our spiritual needs which He does through His means of grace. And yet, even though all His gifts and blessings are free, with no strings attached, daily and weekly we refuse and reject the gifts He has to give. And sadly, there are those who reject to the point of death, giving up the gift of heaven.
The children of Israel were God’s chosen people, not that they were the only ones to be saved, but that through this people the Savior of the world would be born. Unfortunately, the children of Israel were not always the people God wanted them to be. They were very often like us, or we should rather admit, very often we act like them. From time to time the Lord allowed them to suffer the consequences of their actions, yet, He always reminded them that He had not forgotten them. We begin at verse one of our text, “1But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you” (v. 1-3).
Our text begins with God reminding the children of Israel that He created. He created all things out of nothing. He created the world. He created the children of Israel. In the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised to send a Savior for the world, this is indeed the beginning of Christianity. God later chose Abraham and promised that through His seed, through His offspring the Savior of the world, of all people would be born. As the generations of Abraham grew into a great nation, theirs was a nation that, from time to time, strayed.
As we walk through the Old Testament we can see time and again how God redeemed Israel, and brought them back into a right relationship with Himself. This redemption of Israel was very often a mirror and foreshadowing of how He would redeem the world.
God never gave up on Israel, no matter how much they rebelled and gave up on Him. Our text for this morning is another word of reminder of God’s promise to continually protect His people Israel.
Again, no matter how much the children of Israel strayed, God’s promise of restoration followed His disciplinary action. We pick up at verse four, “4Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. 6I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (v. 4-7).
Our text for this morning reminds us that Israel is precious in God’s eyes. Remember, God created Israel. God chose Abraham and promised that through His seed, through His offspring the world would be saved. God protected, cared for, provided for, chastened and disciplined His people, Israel. Whenever they would stray, God would send discipline, but He would always promise to never forsake them.
In our text we hear God’s word of promise that He will bring the disbursed Israelites from the four corners of the earth. As history unfolded, we know that before the Messiah was born that God’s promise had been fulfilled and there were many Israelites in Jerusalem when Jesus was born.
God’s promise was also that He would restore those who are called by His name, those who are His. God’s call and promise continually to His people, was that He was their God and they were His people and He would continue to be their God and they would be His people until such time as they continually refused and rejected Him, which is what happened to many at the time of Jesus and so those who refused and reject Jesus broke off and became what is today known as Judaism.
This morning I pray that our text is a reminder to us that God has not forgotten us. We may think God has forgotten us, but He has not. We may think God is slow in keeping His promises, after all, He took over four thousand years to keep His first promise to send a Savior, and now He has taken over two thousand years and he has not returned as He promised. But, God is not slow, rather He is patient not wanting anyone to perish.
Interestingly enough, and you have heard me say this before, we are very much like the children of Israel. We may think we are good people. We may think we are Godly and are living as God would have us to live. Yet, one look at the Commandments tell us otherwise. Yes, we tend to stray, daily, and weekly. We tend to be disobedient. We tend to refuse and reject the good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give to us.
Like the children of Israel, we may believe ourselves to be special because we have been chosen by God. And we may get to the point that we think we have chosen God and how special He is to have us. And how privileged He is to have us come to His house to worship once in a while. Yes, our attitude toward God and others very often mirrors that of the children of Israel. And as we look at the so called Christian church in America and the world, I believe the deterioration of the so called Christian church is God’s hand of discipline for not being the people He would have us to be and instead for taking on the beliefs and attitudes of the culture around us. Yes, we are very much like the Children of Israel.
This morning, again, I pray that our text is a reminder that, although we may stray, the Lord’s promise to His people, Israel, is His promise to us, the true Israel, the Israel of faith. As I continually remind you, God is the prime mover. It all begins and ends with the Lord. No matter what happens in this world, no matter how the world treats us as Christians, remember, God had you in mind before He created the world. God knew you and He called you by name.
Remember, even before He began creating the world, God knew that Adam and Eve would sin. God knew that their sin would infect and affect the world. God knew that our will would be tainted by sin so that all we can do by ourselves, apart from Him would be to refuse and reject Him. And yet, God had in mind, from the very beginning, to save us.
Remember, Jesus was born to live for us and His living for us included His being baptized like us. The fullness of the Gospel is that Jesus came to live perfectly for us in our place because we cannot. The law demands perfection and we cannot be perfect. Jesus had to be truly God so that He might be born in perfection. Jesus had to be truly human so He might be our substitute. Jesus began His earthly ministry by being baptized and through His baptism He identified with us.
In our Epistle lesson for this morning Paul reminds us that our baptism unites us with Jesus so that His life is our life, His death is our death and His resurrection is our resurrection. Thus, when God looks at us, He does not see our sins, instead He sees Jesus’ perfection. And when He looks at Jesus, He sees our sins, which is why Jesus died, suffering and paying the price for our sins which was placed on Him, or rather, which He freely took upon Himself.
Again, God is the prime mover. He created, He redeemed, He calls and gives faith. God loves us so much and He has so much He wants to give to us. He calls us to faith through Holy Baptism and His Word. As we remember our baptism, as we read and hear His Word He pours out on us all His good gifts and blessings. He gives us forgiveness of sins through confession and absolution. As we realize just how sinful we truly are, then we begin to understand what great love and forgiveness our Lord has for us. Remember, he who has been forgiven little loves little, and really only needs a Savior a little. But, he who has been forgiven much and knows how sinful he is, loves much and knows how great God’s loves is. And the Lord gives, strengthens and keeps us in faith through our remembrance of Him, that is through our partaking of His body and blood in His holy meal, the Lord’s Supper. And no matter how much or how often we refuse and reject the gifts the Lord has to give, He constantly keeps them available to us.
Finally, God stirs in us our response of faith, to live lives of faith. Brothers and sisters, I urge you, do not refuse and reject the gifts the Lord has to give. Instead, make regular and diligent use of the gifts. Invite your family and friends, especially your unchurched family and friends to come and see, to come and be given the gifts as well. God love you so much and He has so much He wants to give to you.
I do believe this world is winding down and will be coming to an end, soon. And if not during our lifetime, know this, we will die and go to the Lord. Either way, it will happen, we will stand before the Lord and that day will be sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect. Until that time, I urge you, get yourself ready, keep yourself ready, invite others to get ready. And know that the Lord loves you and has so many gifts and blessings He wants to give to you. So, how else can we respond except to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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