#DailyDevotion Jesus is Israel
December 25th
Read Is 49:1–18
Isa 49:1-9 Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. (2) He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. (3) And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” (4) But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.” (5) And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him– for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength– (6) he says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (7) Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (8) Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, (9) saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
What insight has the Lord given to Isaiah that he should see into the mind of Christ Jesus. It is Jesus who is called by God the Father from the womb of his mother Mary. Even before he was conceived, the angel spoke and he was named.
This Jesus is pictured with a sharp sword for a tongue just as he is pictured in Revelation for his tongue is his Word. His tongue, His Word, divides soul and spirit and judges the hearts of men. He shows what is on our hearts. He kills us with his law and gives us life with the forgiveness of sins. He was a polished arrow in which as death tried to swallow him he pierced death through and was raised from the dead to give eternal life to all who would believe in him.
Jesus is Israel. In Jesus all the judgments against Israel are punished on the cross. In Jesus, all the promises of God to Israel are fulfilled. As such the Father sends him to redeem not only the physical descendants of Abraham but call out to the world, to the nations, every language, tribe and tongue. He joins them, both Jews and Gentile into Christ in baptism (Rom. 6:3ff) and calls them by his name, Israel.
Jesus is the Redeemer of Israel. Jesus is the Holy One. Jesus is the one who is despised yet every knee shall bow and every tongue confess Jesus is the Lord, he is the Holy One. Jesus and his blood is the covenant which brings peace to the nations and joy to the world. Jesus is the One who is the light of the world which calls us out of darkness by the peace won by his humiliation.
Heavenly Father, ever grant us your Holy Spirit that we may recognize your Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer, our Light, our Strength that we may be one with him in baptism and be your Israel in him. In Jesus’ name. Amen.