Epiphany 2

Today's sermon text was Isaiah 49:1-7, the second of the Servant songs (others: 42, 50, and 53).

We Gentiles are saved by grace!--God has included us in His salvation plan. But those outside Jesus Christ are condemned. Their lives are wasted. God offers to all the gift of life, but some reject it. Yet Jesus went to the cross for each of us.

The prophecy in the text is in the past tense while being about Jesus, far in the future. It is the "prophetic perfect" tense--so certain (for God guarantees it) that it's as if it had already happened. Verse 6 makes quite clear that Jesus, the Promised One, is for all, Jews and Gentiles alike. Verse 1--see 7:14. Verse 7 foretells His crucifixion.

This Messiah gives us His word (v. 2) and is THE Word (John 1:1). Through Him we have life better than physical life. Why do we tell so few of our unsaved loved ones about Him? The Word has come from Jerusalem all the way to us--surely we can spread it a little farther. Tell others that they too are included in God's promise.