Celebrating God’s All-Conquering Grace

Isaiah 12

On that day you will say: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, although you were angry with me. Your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.” (Isa 12:1)

Main Idea: Here is a short psalm of praise for God’s saving work for us in Christ, coupled with a rousing call to energetic effort in proclaiming the gospel worldwide.

1. For the Praise of His Glorious Grace
   1. God’s ultimate goal: his glory
   2. God’s second highest goal: our joy in him
   3. What grace had to conquer
   4. Praise: the healed from insanity to healthy delight
2. Our Personal Theme: “God Is My Salvation” (12:1-2).
   1. Personal salvation, personal praise
   2. God’s wrath satisfied
3. Our Corporate Pleasure: Joyful Satisfaction in God (12:3)
   1. Something shared
   2. Deep satisfaction
   3. Ongoing refreshment for eternity in Christ
4. Our Universal Mission: Magnifying the Greatness of God (12:4-6)
   1. Evangelism: proclaiming among the nations the greatness of God
   2. Worship: immersed in the greatness of God

For the Praise of His Glorious Grace

God does all this magnificent work of salvation for the praise of his glorious grace (Eph 1:6). But what is that grace? And what will it have overcome in the end to bring all of God’s elect to a perfect state in that perfect world? Scripture reveals that God’s highest priority in our salvation is his own glory. His second highest priority is our perfect blessedness: filled with joy in eternally perfect souls and bodies. Isaiah has traced out quite clearly the foul river of wickedness that our human natures have pumped out for centuries. In chapter 1 God had to put up with the empty machinery of cold-hearted religiosity. Isaiah 2 revealed God’s hatred for the arrogance of idolatry. Chapter 3 laid open the filth of bad leadership: corrupt judges, magistrates, and kings. Isaiah 5 made plain through six woes God’s revulsion at greed, excess, mockery of God, redefining of truth, false wisdom, and a drunken, corrupt justice system. Isaiah 6 showed that even the best of us, a prophet like Isaiah, feels completely undone by an unclean life under the gaze of such a holy Lord. Chapters 7 through 10 clearly described God’s righteous devastation of Israel and Judah by invading forces. By the time we get to the magnificent vision of the messianic kingdom in Isaiah 11, we may rightly wonder how a holy God could give an unholy and wicked people such a majestic and beautiful Savior as that chapter describes. Isaiah 12 is the only appropriate reaction of the people of God to such “glorious grace.”

Our Personal Theme: “God Is My Salvation”

Isaiah 12:1-2

God speaks to us through his prophet, telling us that in the day of the Lord each of his redeemed will give personal praise to God for his amazingly gracious salvation. We will thank God for turning his holy and just wrath away from us. This passage clearly points to the propitiation Christ worked (Rom 3:25; 1 John 2:2), the turning away of God’s wrath by giving a sacrifice. On judgment day, and for eternity beyond that day, all the redeemed in Jesus will give our direct praise to the God of our salvation (Isa 12:2). Because we will in that day praise God for our salvation, we are able to put our faith in him now and not be afraid of anything. God will be our ongoing strength for the journey the rest of the way.

Our Corporate Pleasure: Joyful Satisfaction in God

Isaiah 12:3

Isaiah also speaks of the joy we will have in drawing “water from the springs of salvation” (v. 3). Isaiah is filled with images of cool, satisfying streams in the wasteland from which thirsty wanderers drink and are refreshed (32:2; 35:6; 43:19-20; 44:3-4). Jesus perfectly fulfills these images, as he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well: “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life” (John 4:14). So, as we make our toilsome way through the wilderness of this world, we are free to drink from Jesus at any moment through the Holy Spirit (John 7:38).

Our Universal Mission: Magnifying the Greatness of God

Isaiah 12:4-6

The rest of this brief chapter covers what we should be doing for the rest of our fleeting lives on earth: giving thanks to our Lord, proclaiming his name among the nations, celebrating his deeds among the peoples. This is nothing less than worldwide mission work, exalting the achievements of God the Father through the perfect work of his Son, Jesus Christ. We are to declare to all peoples that God’s triune name is exalted and that everyone who calls on that name will be saved. Each “citizen of Zion” (v. 6) will do this worship-filled mission work, and we will experience the greatness of God in our midst both for now and all eternity.

Application

This chapter is a brief but delightful interlude of rich worship and praise to God for his amazing grace in turning away his wrath and pouring out compassion on us. It is therefore a call to us to fill our mouths with praise and thanksgiving now, to worship him in spirit and in truth, to live every moment of our lives in thankful praise to the God of our salvation. It is secondly a call on us to be passionately and fruitfully engaged in evangelism and missions, declaring among the nations of the earth the greatness of Jesus’s achievements at the cross and empty tomb. Finally, it is a promise of rich future blessings when our present worship by faith and by the Spirit will be consummated in heaven.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How does this chapter give us ample reasons for praising God?
2. How does it point to our heavenly future worshiping God with people from all over the earth?
3. How should a rich meditation on this chapter conquer complaining and teach us the discipline of giving thanks in all circumstances?
4. What is the significance of the reference to God’s anger being turned away? How does it relate to the concept of propitiation in Romans 3:25 and 1 John 2:2?
5. How would a meditation on the fact that “God is my salvation” humble us completely, fulfilling the statement, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31)?
6. How does this brief chapter call on us to sing?
7. How does verse 3 point to Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:4-30)? How does it also connect with Jesus’s statement in John 7:25?
8. How do verses 4-6 strongly move us to evangelism and missions?
9. What is the connection between evangelism/missions and joyful worship? How does joyfully praising God fit well in an evangelistic encounter?
10. How does verse 6 connect with the promise that we will dwell eternally in the very presence of God in the heavenly Jerusalem (Zion)?