Isaiah 48 is a reminder to Jacob and Israel that the LORD chose them, and called them to Himself. They were rebellious even before their birth, and as a result the many blessings the LORD had for them were short-circuited. In those days, the LORD’s covenant with the people was a conditional covenant. It was conditioned on their obedience. That meant they seldom received the full blessings of the covenant. While the LORD had promised David one of his descendants would sit on Israel’s throne forever, the LORD also made it clear that disobedience would be punished. The LORD brought up one of His promises, which was made to Abraham, that the descendants of Israel would be a great multitude, but it didn’t happen because of their disobedience. If we want to experience the fullness of God’s blessing in our lives, we must remember that while God’s love for us is unconditional, our obedience is required to receive the fullness of God’s blessing toward us.
Isaiah 49 offers us another servant song. Some contend the servant is all of Israel, but the prophecy speaks of the servant as being the one who delivers Israel. As we read this poem, we see once again the LORD’s great love for Israel and the lengths He was going to go to restore her. We have seen her partial restoration throughout history, most recently in 1948 when the nation of Israel was formed. But a time is coming when all of God’s people who have trusted His servant Jesus as Savior and LORD will be gathered forever as one, and in that day all the positive prophecies and blessings of the entire Bible will come to us, to those who are the citizens of heaven by virtue of our divine rebirth through the blood of Jesus.
As we return to John 8, we return to a story that exemplifies Jesus’ compassion: the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. While the earliest manuscripts of John don’t have this passage, it is fully consistent with Jesus and the way He taught and lived. When the woman was brought by the religious leaders as a “test” for Jesus, they thought that had Him for sure. Because the woman was caught in adultery, the Mosaic Law required she be put to death. But the Jews had not authority to put anyone to death. That meant if Jesus condemned the woman, the Jewish leaders would turn Him over to the Romans. If He said to release her, they would say He was breaking the Mosaic Law. It was a lose-lose for Jesus. Except it wasn’t! Jesus told them to go ahead and stone her, but to have the one among them who had never sinned cast the first stone. We’re told they walked away from the oldest to the youngest. I’ve always appreciated that detail, because as a 61 year old, I’m quite aware of my sin, and remember my zealous younger days when I could easily overlook then when I was on my latest crusade. When the woman was left alone with Jesus, He asked her where her accusers were. She said no one was left to accuse her. He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” What a perfect mixture of truth and love. I don’t condemn you–love. Go and sin no more–truth. We can only hope the woman took the mixture of truth and love and started a new life of truth and love in Jesus name.
After this Jesus spoke of Himself as the light of the world. This raised another argument between Him and the religious leaders. The end result of that was the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus, because He called Himself “I am,” which is the name for God. Every chapter for the last several, we have been faced with the question, “Do we believe Jesus is who He says He is?” We must answer the question, because Jesus leaves us no choice. Here we must come face-to-face with the question of whether Jesus is the Son of God, and if He is, then He is worthy of our worship and obedience!