Wednesday, December 2 2020 Devotional
"Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Isaiah 53:1
This glorious chapter, that describes the Savior in such detail 700 years before He was born, begins with what sounds like a lament. But in the lament there is a secret revealed.
The verse contains a Hebrew parallelism, a restatement of the same truth in two different ways. It’s a way of seeing the same truth from two slightly different angles, in order to understand it better.
The first question, “Who has believed our report?” points out the sad fact that many, even most, people don’t come to faith in God’s Word.
The second question, “To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” sees the same reality from a different point of view, and reminds us that those to whom God reveals Himself will believe His Word and come to Him in repentance and faith.
The Lord Jesus said it this way, 700 years later: “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws him,” and “All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.“
Pray for those who hear your “report” about Jesus. Ask God to open their hearts and reveal Himself to them, to draw them to Jesus.
Lord, I pray for those whom You have given me, in the inner circle of friends and family, who hear me bear witness to Your saving power in my life. Reveal Yourself to these loved ones. Draw them to Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles