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Daily Devotion: Isaiah 45:11-13

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Isaiah 45:11-13      "Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.  (12)  I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.  (13)  I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts."

These three verses  are speaking of a specific work to come: the finished work of redemption. I sit here pondering these verses and words escape me as I think of Jesus leaving heaven to come to this earth. "He came unto His own and His own received Him not." He "endured such a contradiction against Himself." He was mocked, scourged, betrayed, and denied even by His own.  The action of leaving heaven is an action, or work, that I cannot begin to fathom. We will never understand just how large that action was until we arrive in heaven's glory. Only then will we understand the Bible speaking of the day of one's death being better than the day of birth. Only then will we understand the enthusiasm, anticipation, and joy in the words of Jesus when He spoke of going to the Father's house. But it was a necessity for Jesus to do all those things - for our sake.  Jesus is the Christ, our Redeemer, who was nailed to that old rugged cross where He shed His righteous blood to pay for our sins. He, Who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us that we would be made the righteousness of God in Him. "He shall build my city, and He shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts." It is purely by the grace of our Lord that we have a Heavenly Father and have received the gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus.  

He has built the "city of God", which is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke to Peter and the disciples, "... upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  We have been set free by the work of His hands. We no longer have to walk and act like we are bound by sin; rather, we now should be showing ourselves to be that which the Lord has declared. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2)

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