Isaiah 12:1-6

Praising God is what all of us were created to do.  To praise someone is to speak well of them.  When we praise we usually do it in one of two ways.  The first way is to praise the person by telling them what we appreciate about them and express gratitude to them for the way that they have done for us.  The second way is to talk to other people about what another person has done for us or what we appreciate about them.  Certainly we should praise God in both of these ways and that is exactly what Isaiah says that the children of Israel will do when God saves them and brings them back to their land when Jesus reigns over them.  We too have many motives for praising God in both of these ways.

WE MUST TELL GOD OF HIS GOODNESS AND GRACE: When God transforms the heart and history of the nation of Israel, their hearts will overflow with gratitude to the Lord.  This nation has been greatly blessed by God throughout its history but instead of having gratitude in their hearts, they murmured and complained.  God had commanded them to worship Him and Him alone, but they bowed down to the idols of the nations that God conquered for them.  Because of this disobedience and ingratitude Israel has been one of the most persecuted nations of the world.  All of this will change.  God will begin by transforming their hearts because they will finally believe in Jesus and then He will transform their reality by giving the nation that ever illusive peace.  As a result of these transformations the people will lift their voices in praise to the Lord.  They will confess to Him how disobedient they had been.  They will thank Him for His grace and forgiveness.  They will have grateful hearts and the praise of God will be on their lips.  We too have experience God’s gracious forgiveness and our hearts and lips should be constantly full of gratitude to the Lord as we stand in awe of and then tell God of His goodness and grace.  


WE MUST TELL OTHERS OF GOD’S GREATNESS AND GLORY: When God called Abraham to Himself and He became the founder of the nation of Israel, God told him that Israel would be a blessing to all the nations of the world.  Certainly that promise was fulfilled through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for all the nations of the world.  However, I believe God had much more in mind and Isaiah speaks of this reality that will take place when Jesus returns to reign over Israel.  They will begin to spread the fame of Jesus and the glory of God to all the peoples of the earth.  When something wonderful happens to us, we cannot help but tell others of this thing.  Israel will stand amazed at all that God did in their lives and they will broadcast the character and works of God to every nation on the face of this earth.  Those of us who have experienced God’s forgiveness through our Lord Jesus should not be able to stop speaking of this great and glorious even in our lives.  We should be constantly pointing out the greatness and glory of God to all around us.

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