Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Calling
- Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.
There is
a really neat dynamic occurring in Isaiah 49.
God reveals his plan for Israel.
We’ve come through God’s realistic look at humanity. We’ve read through the judgment. We’ve heard the promise of redemption. Now we get to glimpse what that redemption
looks like. That redemption comes in the
form of Israel.
What can
we say about this Israel that God has called?
God has formed him. God has given
Him a mouth like a sharp sword. God has
promised that in him He would be glorified.
But in all of this equipping there is a calling. God has equipped this Israel to bring the
redeemed of the world back home. God has
called this Israel to be the conduit through whom God’s message is proclaimed
to the nations.
Of
course, we can make a case for this Israel to be Cyrus, who lets the Hebrew
people come back to the Promised Land.
We could make a case for this Israel to be the remnant that comes back
and is given another chance to proclaim God’s message to the world. Regardless of the interpretation, we
definitely get a sense that this Israel is called to do the work of God by
bringing His message to the world. In
that sense, we are all Israel.
Of
course, I think there is a greater interpretation than all of this. I believe that Jesus is the greatest
interpretation of this passage. After
all, has anyone had a mouth whose words cut through life with truth more than
we saw in Christ? Has anyone done a
greater job in redeeming the lost and bringing them to their true home? Has anyone opened up the message of God’s
grace to the world more than Jesus?
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