94. The Psalm of Isaiah. Part One (Isaiah 12:1)

Isaiah 12:1

 

Just to let you know that I know. In the strictest of contexts, for all the purists out there, this writer is fully aware that this song, written by Isaiah himself, is a song to be sung by the Hebrews after Messiah comes to earth and reigns, and the State of Israel becomes the host nation for when the entire planet start making pilgrimages to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of King Jesus. I know it. I see it. I believe it. Goodness knows that if one takes Isaiah 11 literally, which I do, one cannot conclude anything else when one arrives at Isaiah 12. This is exactly the context and the revealing of the meaning of, “In that day…”  After having made all the prophetic remarks of Isaiah 11 concerning the character of Messiah and the impact of His future presence on the planet, the removal of the curse and the geographical changes on the planet, “In that day…” cannot refer to anything but in the context of the scenario laid out for us in the previous chapter.

 

However …

 

Let me phrase it slightly differently in order to make it plain how this psalm of Isaiah’s is intensely relevant for Christians. The song is to be sung, according to Isaiah, in the days of the attained freedom, liberty and blessing that Christ will bring to the nation of Israel. The language and the points of reference of the Hebrew experience highlighted in the Psalm, are absolutely parallel to the Christian’s experience. God was also angry with us when we were outside of Christ, as He was angry with Israel in their diaspora because of their unbelief. Yet once the Christian repents and believes, that anger is turned because that anger was absorbed in the substitution of Christ for our sins. These are exactly the same responses by Israel immediately prior to the return of Christ to earth. God’s deliverance for Israel in the removing of fear, becoming their strength and song is exactly mirrored in the experience of the Christian. I am sure there is no need to explain that point further. This song, as well as being a bespoke lyric for Christ’s millennial reign and to be sung by the entire Hebrew race, is an equally bespoke hymn for Christian people.

 

I am stating the obvious, in as much as preachers have been using Isaiah 12 as hooks from which to hang gospel truth for two thousand years. Isaiah 12:3 is famous for the encouragement and inspiration it has brought to believing millions through the double millennia since the Holy Spirit was first poured out at Pentecost.

 

So, as a spiritual meditation and profound devotion, let’s dig into these six verses of a song that is meant to be ultimately sung by people who are living in the land of Israel in the earthly reign of Christ.

 

Today, the first verse!

 

¹ In that day you will sing: “I will praise you, O Lord! You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me.

 

• “In that day…” There are certain days for certain kinds of praise. These days – referring to the days where the reign of Christ is impacting submissive and faithful human hearts – are comprehensive in their scope of exaltation of God, and exultation in the relationship that the future redeemed Hebrew nation has with Him. This is not a military like “order” to sing. It is a song that will spontaneously and naturally burst forth from those who are resting in the total and absolute deliverance from evil that Messiah’s reign will bring.

 

• “I will praise You.” Praise needs to be specifically directed and voiced to God Himself..

 

• “I will praise you.” At this point of the song, praise is personal and in isolation. Each individual heart is bursting with the exaltation of Messiah because they have seen Him as He is.

 

• “I will praise you.” True praise that blesses God consists of those expressions that are freely, happily and wilfully given to God. It is a wilful thing to praise Him for every blessing of life. To praise Him is a choice. We love Him because He first loved us. The most important attribute of love is that it is a choice to act. Love is a choice to act selflessly towards God and/or another human being. In that future day for the Hebrew nation, and in our day for the believing Christian, the heart happily and humanly will choose to act in praise to Yahweh.

 

• “I will praise you” In the Hebrew the word “Yadah” is a primary root and means to cast, or throw one’s praises to God. Abandonment in the praise offered is clearly there in the etymology of the word used. The word self-evidently presupposes noise, singing, saying and shouting with abandonment the praise of God. But it is not abandonment that is out of control. It is abandonment that is a controlled, deliberate and wilful choice to express one’s praise to the full. “Holiness to the Lord!”

 

• “I will praise you.” Praise like this comes after the valley experience that the Hebrews will have gone through for so many centuries prior to their welcoming expressed to Messiah at His Second Advent. They praise Him with care-free hearts after so many of the “near death experiences” of the Hebrew race in the disciplining Hand of God. (Not forgetting, of course that it is also always necessary to praise Him whilst we are in the valley). Outward circumstances are irrelevant to the heart of praise, whether the song be sung within or without the darkness of the valley. However, out of the valley, the joy is uncontained.

 

 

• Note that in verse 1 it is “I will praise you.” In verse 4 it is, “In that wonderful day you will sing.” In verse 6 it is “Let all the people …” It is good to praise the Lord when we are alone with God. It is wonderful to inspire others to praise Him freely and adoringly. It is heavenly to worship with like minds and hearts and to exalt God together as a congregation of God’s people. All biblical descriptions of worship in heaven are in community.

 

• People should congregate on earth as they do in heaven to praise and give thanks.

 

• “You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me.” It is good and healthy for faith and the human spirit to understand the times and seasons of life and perceive the heart and mind of God towards us as we progress. These people, referred to in Isaiah’s psalm now know, that they had experienced centuries of discipline from God. They acknowledge their responsibility for the corporate sin of the race, that is the sin that precipitated that discipline, and now, “in that day,” that blessed day that Isaiah refers to, they rejoice in their freedom, acceptance and pleasure that they give to the Almighty. They are aware by their inward spiritual experience, as well as being confirmed by their outward circumstances that they are in a time of blessing where the Almighty is set to bless them, enrich them and keep them. They know He had been angry with them. They know they are now being comforted. Faith in God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit brings wisdom and discernment.

 

• “You were angry,” … but not anymore. Now you comfort me.” It is a facet of inner discernment that we need to pursue in the Christian’s spiritual life, that is to know God’s frame of mind towards us in any situation.

• The first verse of Isaiah 12 indicates

 

• Resolve – “I will praise you.” There is determination in the lyric when sung or spoken with emphasis on the “will.”
• Repentance – “You were angry, but…”The acknowledgement of God being angry with them in the context of the whole song of praise lets us know that the singer acknowledges the correctness of God’s anger. That shows humility and a repentant spirit that thanks God for the blessings after the correctly expressed anger.
• Revelation – “Now you comfort me.” They know exactly where and how God has changed His attitude to them. That’s revelation of the dearest sort.
• “Now you comfort me.” There is relief in their hearts. The blessing of God makes rich and adds no sorrow with it.
• Jumping slightly ahead to verse 2: There is progression in their Reception of Yahweh. “You have become my Salvation.” There is a Continueing reception and openness to God while He becomes the very salvation of the singer. This is completely a subjective experience. God does not change and become anything other than what He has always been. It is our perception of Him that receives Him into our hearts facilitating Him to become something to us that He was not previously. The “becoming” is totally our internal change, not His. To us, as we behold His face, we are changed from one degree of glory. Accordingly every degree of change within us accords us with a bigger and broader view of His glory. Something has changed. It is not He that changes, but us in our grasp of His love.

 

• This song is a song of certainties. One can know for certain that He was justly angry, and then know with equal certainty that He is not. The Council of Trent may have considered the assurance of salvation to be an “abominable lie,” but scripture makes it an abomination to deny the prospect of owning that God desired assurance of Salvation in the hearts and minds of all believers. We are justified by faith as was Abraham. Moses, Samuel and every other hero of faith in the Old Testament. It is absurd to even consider that God would justify the believer, yet desire to keep that justification as His secret so that the believer has not any assured certainty of the relationship with the Almighty that Christ died to give us. To imagine that God withholds that assurance is a monstrous and scandalous slander of His character.

 

• The whole song is filled with assurance and optimism. People that know God have a future. The path of the righteous gets ever brighter until the perfect day. The Bible gives us the hope and expectancy to the person of faith that tomorrow will always be better than today.

 

• It was Spurgeon, I think, that referred to this song as the “diapason” song of the Christian’s heart. The word diapason in this context means that it is the fullest, richest outpouring of a soul in complete harmony in all facets and aspects of life. The word can refer to the entire range of an instrument, not only in the steps of several octaves, but in its variation of tone and expression. Isaiah 12 is a complete communication of the human experience that is buried in the salvation of God.