ESOCS Devotional 11 November 2023 – The Joy of Salvation
MEMORY VERSE: “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Isaiah 12:3
TEXT: ISAIAH 12:1-END (KJV)
And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
Our text of study is a song of praise and thanksgiving for redemption and salvation. Though this prophecy is directed to the Israelites as a promise of their restoration after years of captivity in Babylon, the promise goes beyond them to as many who would receive the salvation which God has promised to mankind. This salvation will be the reason for our praise, our song and our joy.
From the preceding chapter it is clear that this prophecy relates to the latter days, the day of salvation. The day when God’s anger will be turned away and His mercy revealed, when normalcy will be restored on the earth. In those days shall the redeemed sing a song of praise to God for their deliverance from captivity of sin and Satan.
The righteous anger of God is what mankind deserved as a result of our sinfulness. God’s anger is against sin and every act of ungodliness. So, when mankind indulged in all manner and acts of ungodliness God demonstrated His righteous anger against sin by turning His back on us. Prophet Isaiah foresaw ‘that day’ when God’s anger would be turned away. The turning away of God’s anger is what brings salvation. The removing of God’s anger is what the bible calls ‘propitiation’, i.e., the act of satisfying the righteous anger of God through the offering of sufficient value. “In that day” therefore refers to the day when the righteous anger of God would be duly satisfied.
Jesus Christ is our propitiation: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:24-25).
The above scripture and many others reveal that Jesus Christ is our propitiation. God provided Jesus as the means of removing or appeasing His righteous anger against us because of our sins.
Isaiah foresaw that day when God would send His Son to bear the full fury of His wrath against sin and the joy that would follow. This prophecy was fulfilled on the cross where Jesus took upon himself the punishment, we rightly deserved so that God’s mercy can be shown to us. Through the offering of himself we have been delivered from the captivity of sin and Satan and are now reconciled to our God and our Father.
Salvation: an unfailing source of our joy. This truth of what Jesus accomplished for us is the source of our joy. It is this joy that should characterize as many who through faith have received this salvation; the joy that God’s anger has been turned away from us; the joy that we are now reconciled to God; the joy that we have been set free from the captivity of sin and Satan and can now live for our God. The Apostle Paul describes this joy as a fruit of the spirit meaning that it is possessed by those who through faith in Christ have received the Holy Spirit. This joy is the source of our strength, it is fixed, and it is not controlled by external circumstances. It is a joy that never runs out.
FURTHER READINGS: Philippians 4:4; Colossians 1:12-13
ESOCS Devotional 11 November 2023
