Isaiah 52:3 (Originally written 12-8-2010)

For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”

This begins an amazing stretch of Scripture, running from here, through “how beautiful are the feet” (Isaiah 52:7) to the incredible description of Jesus’ sufferings and ultimate glorification (Is 53) and the advance of God’s kingdom throughout the world (Is 54).

And what amazed me this morning was the control.

It was the darkest time in Israel’s history. The nation–which was the foundation of God’s promise to the people–was falling. God was going to judge. The nation of Israel would soon be a footnote in history just like the nations around them: Aram, Philistia, Edom… All gone without a trace.

And though Israel had once had a brief time of prominence under David and Solomon, that was a distant memory and didn’t really supersede the prominence of any of these other nations at their zenith, and which was nothing compared to Assyria and Babylon and the coming Media-Persian Empires.

All Israel had was a promise that God would bless the world through them. And now this. Redemption is coming, a redemption the whole world would see.

Israel wasn’t done because God wasn’t done. He was still in control. Totally. And in Isaiah 52-53 He mapped out His strategy, a strategy He followed to the letter a few centuries later. A strategy we celebrate every Christmas.

And a strategy that reminds me that no matter how difficult the mountain may be that He calls me to climb, He’s already mapped out the path to success.

Whether I can see it or not.

[Father, thank You so much for Your strategy of redemption, the glory of how you carried it out, and the example it shows of how You fulfill every promise You make. Even the ones to me.]