57. Thursday after Epiphany.
Blessed be the Lord God,
the God of Israel;
and let the whole earth
be filled with his glory.
Isaiah 45, 22-25. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come: and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
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It is the will of God that all people shall come to him and be saved; and when he wills a thing he wills it earnestly. Our Bible text for today is another of those faith-creating and faith-strengthening passages whereof the scriptures have so many, and wherein the Lord assures us that he will reach the end at which he aims, in spite of all obstacles. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth,” says he; “for I am God, and there is none else.” When the mouth of the Lord has spoken it, shall it not come true? Most certainly, there are many in all parts of the earth who resist his call; many who turn away from him, instead of turning to him, and who are lost, instead of being saved. Whosoever refuses to accept the love of God and be saved shall, of necessity, perish. But this shall not prevent the Lord from gathering unto himself a congregation of the saved from all the ends of the earth. There is none other God than the God of Israel, none other God than this one, whom we see and know in Jesus Christ. Before him every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that in him only is there salvation. And as many as believe in him shall glory in him; for they are justified and quickened in his name, and drawn together into a holy and glorious congregation. In what manner it shall come to pass that every knee of “things under the earth,” that is, of them that are lost, shall bow unto the Lord Jesus, we do not know exactly; neither do we wish to know. God preserve us, dear readers, from ever learning it of our own knowledge and experience! But this we do know that all who are saved shall be saved in Jesus; and we do know that all believers, all true children of Israel, shall be saved, and that every nation shall form a separate branch on the olive tree of Israel. When there shall be one fold and one shepherd, all the blessed shall be knit together into a unity in the Lord, and sin shall divide them no more. And yet every person shall preserve his individuality, and every people its identity; the glorified people of God shall consist in a unity of the multitude of nations (Matthew 28, 19; Revelation 21, 24). Note that the Lord says: “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return.” The object at which our mission work aims is certain and glorious.
Quicken our faith, O God, and make us feel assured that our labor is not in vain in the Lord. Amen.*
O Spirit of the living God
In all thy plenitude of grace,
Where’er the foot of man hath trod,
Descend upon our fallen race.
Give tongues of fire and hearts of love
To preach the reconciling Word;
Give power and unction from above.
Where’er the joyful sound is heard.
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.