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)