Lo, This Is Our God; We Have Waited For Him, And He Will Save Us: This Is The Lord; We Have Waited For Him, We Will Be Glad And Rejoice In His Salvation - Part 1861

"O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy Name; for Thou hast done wonderful things; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. For Thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built. Therefore, shall the strong people glorify Thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee. For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." (Isaiah 25:1-9)

Herein, the Lord God through the prophet Isaiah was foretelling the time when He would become our Saviour, and the entire world would see His love displayed to us on that cross. A time in the last days when the vail that prevented people from seeing God would be removed, when people's hearts turned to Him. Apostle Paul speaks about this, to the point wherein he writes that even in the reading of the Old Testament, the vail remains on the hearts. This is because our life in our Lord God and Saviour Jesus the Christ can only be found in the New Testament, when He Himself became a propitiation for our sins.

Having found no other worthy, He Himself decided to robe Himself in flesh, personally delivering His plan of salvation toward us -- the same plan of salvation that was hid in the bosom of the Father from the very beginning.

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (I Timothy 3:16)

"After the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared ..." (Titus 3:4-7)

"To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them: and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation ..." (II Corinthians 5:19)

"Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, [I say] at this time His righteousness: that He might be just and the justifier of Him which believes in Jesus." (Romans 3:22-26)

So where then is the boasting? What makes people think that they are righteous (self-righteous?) in and of themselves? Most certainly, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, and as the scriptures clearly state, there are no exceptions. And yet, there are still those who will judge others, and focus on particular sins, without first taking the log out of their own eye. But thankfully, God is the same God of both the Jews and the Gentiles also, and it is He which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. (Romans 3:29-30)

This is why the scriptures conclude that by the "law of faith" a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28) And that, "to him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9; Joshua 24:2; Romans 4:6; Psalm 32:1-2)

Therefore, as Paul writes: "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God -- not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.

Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.

Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthians 3:1-18)

Thus, in this current dispensation of grace, we no longer wait for Him to come (for God has become our Saviour) but rather, instead, waiting on Him to give us our guidance and instruction. For He is our hope, and because of His sacrifice on the cross for you and I, we need to be glad, rejoicing in His salvation plan for His people.

Why? Because we have the promise of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ living within -- the Holy Ghost, having been justified by faith -- by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and not only so, but we should glory in tribulation also; knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience, experience, and experience, hope, and hope makes us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us ... " (Romans 5:1-6; Isaiah 32:17; Ephesians 2:14, 18; I Corinthians 15:1; Hebrews 3:6; Matthew 5:11-12; James 1:3, 12; Philippians 1:20; III Corinthians 1:22; Romans 4:25)

All because He who was delivered for our offences, was raised again for our justification. Therefore, our heart desire should be thankfulness, that the Lord God hath called us into His fold. But thankful also, that without that perfect sacrifice on the cross, we would be lost, condemned into eternal damnation forever. Think on these things that the Lord has said to us through His Word.

Stand in the offering plate.