“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations, Isaiah 42:6
A covenant is a formal alliance or agreement made by God with His people. This covenant would be for all nations, all people. But there was only one person that could fill it. Jesus. As the prophet Isaiah stood about a hundred years before the birth of Jesus he prophesized about the coming of this covenant, a coming of light for all who came after. This includes you and me. There was no other who could do this. Earlier in the book of Isaiah, God had provided Isaiah with wisdom about the coming judgment of all people, still with godliness in their minds, it wasn’t capturing their hearts. They knew what would happen, what to do, how to do it, and what to say, still, in their hearts, the true relationship with God wasn’t there.
How does that still show up today? We have been given a warning about what will happen. Just this last week we talked about it in church. We know –
- The King will sit on His throne.
- Everyone will stand before the throne.
- Those who failed to show compassion not by works but by a relationship with God on the throne
- Eternal punishment will be real. Eternally separated from God.
- Entering into the Kingdom is inherited, not earned.
Israel and all the nations (this includes us) have been given God’s words to know and to live by, still, we needed the covenant for the people, Jesus, to come and show us the Suffering Servant and sovereign Lord. Based on what our covenant for the people did, Jesus, we all can be forgiven and turn to Him in faith. Knowing that when that day comes when we stand at the throne we will too enter into the Kingdom not by anything we have done, but by our relationship with Him.
Have you had an encounter with God? A time where He grabbed a hold of your heart and shows you that it’s not about what we are doing but who He is to us? I can recall a few moments where God was tugging on my heart to let go of my earthly desires. The more we invest in an honest, open-hearted relationship with God, the more we will realize how much we need Him. There has been, and still are many times where I think, “I got this” and truthfully, I don’t. He does. What I need is a closer relationship and honestly more sincere trust that my faith can’t be on myself or anything in this earthly world. But in our covenant for the people. My trust needs to be in Jesus!
Psalm 105:8 He remembers His covenant forever, the promises He made, for a thousand generations,