Many years ago while attending seminary I finally had enough money to purchase a pair of tailored suits. Money was tight and I hadn’t even done that when I got married. But I finally got the chance to spend more than I had ever spent on clothes before and went to the store to get measured and pick out a pair of suits. One thing which I really liked about the company was their guarantee. In fact, the main spokesperson said in their company ads, “You’re gonna like the way you look. I guarantee it.” But I actually didn’t care about that guarantee as much as the guaranteed lifetime repair for the suit. I wanted to know that it would last. So having that warranty meant a lot to me. And sure enough. After a few years the thread started to come off of a hem. I took it into one of their stores and they fixed it for free.
We need assurance that things will go as planned. And we need assurance for things for more important than major purchases. What about God’s plan for our lives? He tells us that he has a goal to bring us through this life, through the grave, and into eternal glory. How can we remain so sure his plan will never fail? Our lives are so filled with doubts, delays, and disappointments we might even begin to wonder about God’s plans for us. Isaiah speaks to people who were in desperate need of assurance that the Lord’s plan for them would not fail. And he explains why they can be confident in the Lord’s plan. It would not fail them, and it will never fail you.
If anyone needed extra assurance that God’s plan would not fail them it would have been the believers in Isaiah’s time. The Assyrians had recently taken over and ruined the northern kingdom of Israel. The people in Jerusalem were shaken to the core and wondered how long until they were next. Isaiah did, in fact, prophesy that Jerusalem would eventually be ruined. The Babylonians would come and destroy everything. That was just the type of assurance that the people didn’t want to hear, assurance of pending destruction.
But God still had a plan for the believers in Jerusalem. He would carry out that plan for them no matter what happened. That’s what we read about in chapter 51. He wants to assure them and assure us that even though the world itself is crumbling, God’s plan for us will never fail. Even though they might hear reports of delayed flights, security breaches, and crashing jets, his own flight plan was never going to fail them.
You might imagine how there were many voices telling of the hopelessness and doom in Isaiah’s time. But one voice called to them that offered blessed assurance and hope. It wasn’t just some voice on the news. It was the pilot speaking. “Pay attention to me, O my people. My nation, listen to me!” Despite all the dangers and destruction that surrounded them God wanted to remind them that they were still his own. And he wanted his own to listen.
God has made you to be his own. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession.”(1 Peter 2:9) We too face many voices that share a bleak message. You can’t go long today without hearing a news story of pending trouble. There are rumors of uncontrolled inflation. There are warnings of market crashes. There are forecasts of increasing loss of liberty and autocratic control in every part of the world. And there’s no lack of talk of the spread of disease and death. You hear it on the radio and in the coffee shops. You read about it on the news. Some have lost close friends or family to cancer, disease, and covid. But in the midst of all the many voices of doom and fear one voice calls out to you, “Listen to me, my people.” It is the Lord. He reminds you that you are still his own child. And he calls on you to give attention to a message that brings you assurance and hope.
Firstly, he tells his people that his Word will be shared. “For the law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice as a light to the peoples.” The Assyrians tried to crush Jerusalem. But they failed. God had other plans. The Babylonians would try to tear apart the language and culture of Jerusalem years later. They would destroy the city walls and tear down the temple of the Lord. They would even try to make worship of the Lord disappear. But that final effort would fail. God would not let his Word disappear. He would let his Word go out from his people to all people. God assures us that his plan will not fail. And that plan includes his Word going out to all the world. “My law…my justice will go out as a light to the peoples.” Still today his Word endures!
His Word assures us of his plan to rescue us. “My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth, and my arms will bring justice to the peoples.” God’s plan is for him to spread his righteousness and for him to bring his salvation to everyone. Sometimes we might be tempted to think that God’s plan depends on us and what we do. Or maybe we look to political devolvement’s to accomplish his plan. But the Lord says it is “my righteousness, my salvation.” We are assured that it all depends on him, not on us or anyone else. And he says, “my arm” will work out everything. The goodness of the Lord and the salvation of the Lord are worked out by the Lord himself. That should be more assuring to us than the word of a pilot, a governor, and even more assuring than the word of the most powerful man on earth.
His righteousness and salvation went out from Israel to reach all the world. This is just Isaiah prophesied. “The seacoasts will wait for me. They will have confidence in my arm.” Word of God’s righteousness and salvation has gone out. He sends it out to distant nations. That word has reached you today. It brings you confidence in the Lord’s working. It gives you assurance that even though the mountains might crumble, God’s promises will not fail you.
Trust can be hard because of what we now see. Right now, we don’t see the Lord’s righteousness and salvation so evident in the world. Where is the Lord’s righteousness when immorality is the popular teaching? Where is his salvation when we still taste death and decay? I’m sure ancient Jerusalem found it hard to believe God’s righteousness and salvation were going to win when they were surrounded by the enemies of God. The struggle remains the same today for every believer in every age. And it is hard to trust because so many have failed us and broken our trust. We’ve experienced broken marriages, broken families, failed promises from politicians, and those who wanted to keep their word but weren’t strong enough. Their arms were too weak.
People are in constant need of assurance that things will happen according to plan. That’s why you’ll see things like airlines working extra hard to ensure a safe flight. Before you even get to your flight they want to share exactly when your plane will be arriving. You can find screens throughout the airport indicating departure time. The screens might also reveal that your travel isn’t an exact science. You’ll see delays. Then they will go over the safety as you check in. You are assured there will be no hijackers on the plane because they scan all the luggage and passengers for weapons. But how assuring is it that they even need to cover this step? Planes get hijacked. They will go over all the safety protocols for health and work to maintain a low risk of infection. Nowadays they will even check your temperature. But once again, the risk is there. They will go over all the safety procedures at the start of each flight. You might wonder why they are telling you about floatation devices when you’re supposed to be thousands of feet in the air. Is it safe? Then you’ll often hear the pilot speaking assuring you that you’ll have a safe flight and arrive at a certain time. By the time you’ve passed security, health protocol, safety protocol, and made it through all the delays you might have a little trepidation that there’s a possibility you might not make it to your destination exactly as planned.
How does our God assure us that his plan will succeed? He says, “Listen to me my people…my arms will bring justice.” His own arms will do it! That’s our guarantee! How did God’s arms bring justice? In what way would he bring us his righteousness and his salvation? The prophet Zechariah described how the arm of the Lord came to bring righteousness and salvation. “Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zec 9:9) The people looked, and they saw what appeared to be an ordinary man. He sat upon a donkey. His arms didn’t appear to have the power to bring us salvation. But the righteous and holy Son of God came to give us the holiness which we lacked. He lived as a man to give us his righteousness. And his arms worked out our salvation as they were hung by nails to a cross. He brought justice by taking the price of our sins upon himself. And the arms of the Lord won for us salvation. That man’s arms were not too weak to save. He fulfilled the plan perfectly as the Holy Son of God in human flesh.
His righteousness and salvation were seen. But that wasn’t the last the world would see of him. He rose from death, appeared to many, then ascended into glory to sit on his throne. And his kingdom is one which will never end.
We may not see it now, but our Lord invites us to look around because we will see his plan fulfilled. Our pilot says, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look closely at the earth beneath, because the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die like gnats.” We are starting to see people light their fireplaces in Payson. You see the smoke rise from each chimney. Eventually it all just drifts away. Just as a puff of smoke dissipates, the universe will all disappear. Everything we gaze at today as a grand display of our Lord’s creation will fade into destruction. I had a favorite sweater that I got when I was about 15. I didn’t wear it every day, but I did hold onto it and keep on wearing it for years. Finally, after about 20 years I decided it was too worn out to keep. All our clothes wear out. That’s what will happen to all this world in the end. God invites us to listen and to look around at the world. All the impressive powers, all the streetlights and satellites, all the movies and malls will wear out. In the same way that a garment wears out this world will wear out. And just as you see piles of dead insects when the frost hits you will see all life perish on the earth. God is describing the great day of judgment. That is one plan which you can count on never failing. He will bring this world to its end.
But that is not the end of his plan for you. “But my salvation will remain forever, and my righteousness will never be abolished.” God’s assurance: “you will reach your planned destination.” As sure as Christ our King rose from death your body will be raised from the dust. You will be brought into his new creation where there is no more fear, no more decay, no more loss. And when you arrive safely in his eternal kingdom you will be there for all eternity.
Your ears and your eyes are invited to pay attention today to what the Lord says and has done. It is to give you assurance of what is to come. Christ will reign forever. This is not just the pilot speaking. This is your King, Jesus speaking: Pay attention to me, O my people. My nation, listen to me! For the law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice as a light to the peoples. My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth, and my arms will bring justice to the peoples. The seacoasts will wait for me. They will have confidence in my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look closely at the earth beneath, because the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die like gnats. But my salvation will remain forever, and my righteousness will never be abolished. (Is 51:4–6)
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