Isaiah 12:1

The Bible says in Isaiah 12:1-6, “And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” This great song of praise is a result of what was said in the last part of Isaiah chapter 11. In the end of chapter 11 God promised that He was going to restore Israel, bring the remnant back to the land, and bless both Jews and Gentiles. For example, it says in Isaiah 11:10-11, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”

God is merciful. As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 100:4, “His mercy is everlasting.” Yes, God is a holy God who must punish sin, but He is also a very merciful God who forgives sin. He sent His only Son to die for the sins of the world. The people of Israel had sinned, and God punished them. There is a time for punishment, but thank God that there is also a time for restoration and for renewal. That is why it says in Isaiah 12:1, “O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.” Anyone who is being chastised by the Lord or who is suffering consequences of bad choices can know this: the Lord is merciful. Turn to the Lord, and things can turn around in your circumstances.

As it says in Isaiah 12:2, “I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.” Human beings tend to fear, but there is a solution to the fears of human life. That solution is to trust in the Lord. You will do one of two things: you will learn to truly trust in the Lord, or you will in some negative way be subject to human fear. In other words human beings just are not capable of properly facing the difficulties and trials of life within themselves. Confidence in self is not the answer. Confidence in the Lord Jesus is what is needed. Those who trust in the Lord and in His promises will have many great benefits. Three of those benefits are listed in Isaiah chapter 12: strength, a song, and salvation. Human beings are weak, so when someone depends on the strength of the LORD JEHOVAH, that person has all the power of Almighty God at his disposal. Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” The Apostle Paul wrote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”

According to Isaiah chapter 12, for those who trust in the LORD JEHOVAH, He is their “song.” If you have a song, then that means you are happy. You have something to sing about. God wants His children to be happy. Every believer certainly has something to sing about. The Psalmist David knew that something was wrong when he lost his joy. David wrote in Psalm 51:12 “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” If we learn to truly trust in the Lord, then we will be exceedingly happy about it. There will be joy unspeakable and full of glory. Jesus told His believers that He would give them joy. He said in John 16:22, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” Of course, there will be many great blessings in heaven. One of those blessings will be the joy of everyone who is there. Did He not say in Matthew 25:23, “Enter thou into the joy of thy lord?” We will all be like children in heaven, carefree and happy. There will be no burdens or sorrows or cares to weigh us down. We will be the children of God laughing and singing all the day long. And the singing in heaven will be glorious. When we see the Savior, and we have the Spirit without measure, we will all be singing the song of the redeemed with the joy of salvation unchained as never before. We will make Handel’s Messiah sound like an ordinary chorus. The LORD JEHOVAH is our song.

If you trust in the LORD, you have strength, you have a song, and you have “salvation.” Of course, when we speak of salvation, we are talking about two different aspects to salvation, one being the salvation of the soul. The Lord certainly gives that salvation when any person trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ to be his or her Savior. Then there is the concept of salvation that refers to being saved from the afflictions and difficulties of life. It would be a terrible thing for someone to trust in the Lord as Savior, but to not trust in Him daily for the problems that come one’s way. Thankfully the Lord has promised to help each believer day by day. Jesus made many promises to His children to emphasize the fact that He will take care of us in this world. He said in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Jesus also said in John 16:33, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It says in Psalms 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”

A very important truth is stated in Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” Once you receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, you have a deep well of never-ending spiritual resources that you can draw upon for the rest of your life. Jesus used a similar analogy about a well of water when He spoke to the Samarian woman in John 4:14, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The salvation that Jesus has given to each believer is an eternal salvation. The eternal nature of salvation applies in this life as well as in the next life. Therefore, wherever a believer goes in life, and whatever happens to him or her, this unfathomable well of spiritual water is always there in the heart and in the soul, and at any time it can bubble up with joy and with blessing. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit. It says in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

In Isaiah 12:2 we are told that the Lord is our strength, our song, and our salvation. It is probably important to notice that the rest of Isaiah chapter twelve emphasizes just one of these three: “song.” We have a song when we have joy in our hearts. The rest of Isaiah chapter 12 starting in verse three speaks of “joy” and “praise,” and tells the believers to “sing.” It says to “cry out and shout,” and to “call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.”

The last phrase of Isaiah 12:6 also has an important message to it. It says, “for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” This is not only a reminder of the greatness of God and of His holiness, it is also a reminder of the ever-presence of the Lord. It tells each believer that Jesus is “in the midst of thee.” Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” To understand, to believe, and to visualize the presence of the Lord is a very important part of living by faith and of walking closely with the Lord each day. God has told us many, many times in the Bible that He is always with us. Therefore, if you are a Christian, you do not have to pray and ask that Jesus be with you because He is already with you every moment. Use your imagination to visualize what you cannot see but what is true: that Jesus Himself is right there with you. People often use the word “imagination” to refer to imaginary things, but I am using “imagination” to refer to visualizing something that is true but that cannot be seen. Turn the eyes of your spiritual insight upon Jesus, and you will “see,” that is, you will visualize that He is always right there with you. You can walk with Him and talk to Him, because He is “in the midst of thee.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 13:1-10, “The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” This passage of scripture is describing the battle of Armageddon. Isaiah chapters 11 and 12 tell us the destiny of the believers in the great kingdom of the Messiah. What about the destiny of the unbelievers? Isaiah chapter 13 tells us about that.

The Lord will return to the earth, and when He returns, He will destroy the enemies of God in one great battle. Right now there are enemies of God, and they are scattered throughout the earth. As it says in First John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” But at the return of Christ all of the enemies of Christ will be united in their opposition to God. They will all gather together, foolishly thinking that they can fight against God and win. God will use this gathering together to destroy these ungodly people because it will be time for their judgment. There is a time for mercy, and God offers His mercy in this age of grace in which we live. But a time of judgment awaits those who reject His mercy and His grace through Christ. Revelation 19:19 speaks of this same event when the people of the earth will be gathered together as a great army to fight against Jesus Christ. It says, “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”

Notice that Isaiah chapter 13 calls this time of God’s wrath “the day of the Lord.” This phrase is used in verse 6 and verse 9. It says in verse 6, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” And it says in verse 9, “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” A day of God’s wrath and judgment is coming to the earth. His judgment will be righteous and just. Repent while you have time. Jesus offers you forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Turn to Him and receive His salvation.

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