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Isaiah 61:8-9 – Restoration

God loves fairness. God loves justice. God hates hypocrisy. In fact, He hates sin of any sort. And that’s very, very bad news for anyone and everyone who thinks that somehow he on his own can stand before God in judgment, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rm 3:23), and the payoff for sin is death (Rm 6:23) — any sin. But if you are justified, God says you are not guilty of your sin. Why? Because you never did it? No, you were justified because Christ did do what was righteous in your place, and He paid off the penalty you would have to take. A covenant was made, a path of redemption, where Jesus was sent by His Father to live in the place of sinners, to die in the place of sinners, to be raised victoriously on the third day, from there to ascend to heaven, where he would remain the Mediator for His people, and Who would continue to reign over all things for the sake of his church (Eph 1:21-23). Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, have their sin forgiven, be adopted as a child of God, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. This constitutes our personal restoration. For we personally were wrecked. We couldn’t work for God. We were horrible, broken down, rusted, nasty. God in kindness has restored us.

In verse nine, then, we see a further restoration, not on an individual level, but corporately together as the people of God. And here we see again Jewish believers and Gentile believers restored one to another. No longer shall the broken off branches of the olive tree lie upon the ground as Paul speaks of in Romans 11. No, they shall be honourably restored to being part of the people of God, as God opens their eyes and allows them to see Who the Messiah is. The Gentiles have already been grafted in, by grace. And, contrary to nature, as we see in Romans 11, the Jews, the natural branches are being grafted back in. The nations, even those outside, not incorporated into the people of God, shall be forced to say that they have been blessed by the Lord. There shall be honour and joy!

Question

  1. How can we be justified?

Prayer Points

  1. Give thanks for the way Christ is building His Church.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.