Isaiah 58:8-12 – Precious Promises
In verse 8, God says to believers that their light shall break forth like the dawn. Some of you can remember that once you were in darkness, but God in His grace brought light to shine. It may have been a gradual thing. It may have been sudden. But Jesus, the Light of the world, is the opposite of all that is darkness. God promises light and life to everyone who comes to Him through Jesus. The second promise we find here is a promise of healing. Many of you have had grave illness or injury in one sort or another, and God has delivered you or given you strength to get through. And it’s absolutely guaranteed, if not in this life, then in the life to come, that you shall be healed of all your diseases. But there’s a greater sickness and a worse death that all are subject to who have not been found in Jesus Christ. There’s the sickness and death of sin, and that’s where you and I were at one time. But if indeed Jesus has saved us from our sin, we have been raised from spiritual death. We have the guarantee of being raised from our physical death, and we are taken out of that loathsome disease of sin. We also see a promise of God’s special presence. The Lord will guide you continually. Christ, our righteousness, by His mediatorial life, by His atoning death, His victorious resurrection, has blazed the trail, and He leads us in the right way. He is guarding us. He is with us in the midst of all our trials and difficulties.
Verses 9-10 show evidence of a new heart. A new heart will turn from sin. It will give out of love for God and love for others. The believer sees what God in Christ has delivered him from, and his heart goes out to the others for Christ’s sake. In verses 10-12 we see a society that’s characteristically like this, with love to God and others, should be built up to God’s glory in King Jesus. We see thriving life in verse 11. The picture here is of God satisfying us in the drought, the dryness, the dustiness, the death of sin all around us. He satisfies our soul. He strengthens our bones. God says that He will be like a spring whose waters do not fail. He will continue to bless us and make us live and prosper. Here’s the promise, too, of building up the waste areas. This is looking not only to the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This is looking more importantly to the going forth of the gospel to the nations.
Question
- What promises do we have here?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for all these promises.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.