My hope is that this series will offer my readers a chance to consider the names, characteristics and descriptions of our God in the Word.
The remaining Names of God in this series might be considered descriptors, or characteristics of the Lord. We have reviewed the three primary Names of God, along with nineteen compound Names of God in our previous posts. As we venture through these descriptors of our God, I hope we will recognize all the many characteristics of our God that we tend to take for granted.
The Word is truly rich with descriptions of the Living God, and this effort of searching in the Word was quite illuminating. He truly is the ultimate subject of the Word, and His revelation of self-descriptions, or the accolades offered Him by His priests, prophets, kings apostles and faithful truly is a blessing.
May the Name of the Lord be praised, and by thinking on His name, may you have a blessed day.
| 88 |
| COVENANT FOR THE PEOPLE |
| Isaiah 42:6 “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, |
| Many times, in our self centered viewing of the Word, we do not see the Lord Jesus when God speaks of His Servant, as we see in this passage. Many may think this passage is referring to the nation of Israel, and reconfirming their mission to the gentiles, their calling. The message was relevant for the nation at the time, for they were going into difficult times and needed to be reassured of their status before God. This is surely a blessing that Isaiah provides for the nation, yet if we consider the Christ centered message of the Word, it is obvious that the Lord is referring to Jesus in this passage. Other passages refer to Him as a light to the nations, and as a Righteous Branch, or a Righteous Servant, but this post is going to consider Him as “a covenant for the people”. To be a covenant is to be a pledge, or an alliance, even a treaty. Jesus has been given us as a treaty, a peace offering, a unilateral pledge of peace, if we will simply understand and trust Him. I would like to emphasize that the Lord gave Jesus as a peace treaty, not as a negotiation or as a threatening offering, but that He gave Jesus. A gift. Secondly, who did the Lord give Jesus, the covenant, the treaty to? The people. The people, in this verse are not active, but are the recipients of the peace treaty. A gift to the people. A treaty, or an alliance offered to the people, without stipulation or caveat. This verse is a clear expression of grace toward the people, toward those who were in covenant (the Jewish nation) and to those outside of the covenant – the Gentile nations. You may want to restrict “the people” in this verse to only those under the Mosaic covenant, and you have the freedom to do so, but as we enter the New Testament, we know that the covenant is for “the people”, for those who have blood in their veins and breath in their lungs. And with this breath, we can praise the Lord for His tremendous Gift of Grace in Jesus! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! |
I would love to hear of your favorite name, characteristic or description of the Living God. Please leave me a comment, and I will include it in the list!
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