All Saints Amersfoort Devotional for Good Friday, April 2021
Devotional: Isaiah 52:v13- end of chapter 53.
In our reading from Isaiah 52 & 53 I was comforted by that beautiful and re-assuring prophecy and by how scripture shows itself to be a perfect unity of Divine inspiration.
Isaiah is prophesying for his time, but also for a future time when what the Holy Spirit put on his heart, will manifest itself more completely. This is common in the Old Testament where we see types and shadows of Christ that are echoed in increasing clarity and effect in the New Testament.
You may find it odd, but after reading Isaiah my eye was draw to 2 Peter and the first chapter. Peter says ,v19, that he has “the prophetic message as something completely reliable and we should pay attention to it”. ‘Paying attention’ is different than just seeing – indeed, it is even different than thinking. What we are paying attention to in scripture, is “a light in a dark place”, a Light that is the beginning, middle, and end of the greatest story ever told.
It is humbling to think that we are part of the greatest story ever told.
And what we read in Isaiah “is not a cleverly devised story”. It is not something dreamt up, but the prophets “spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” This Greek word for ‘carried along’ is one also used of a storm or great wind that forces a ship in a certain direction.
Incidentally, Peter tells us that God has given us “great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) like those foreshadowed in Isaiah. It is a beautiful detail of Peter’s writings that he often uses the word: ‘precious’. This is the Greek ‘timios’ meaning precious, costly, of great price.
So, Isaiah 52 & 53 gives us a light in darkness, a great and precious promise, nothing man-made, but instead men who wrote as they were whirled along on a divine course and so “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” (2 Peter1:5-7)
It seems that this is part of our role in the greatest story ever told.
Prayer: Father, open our eyes to the unity and beauty of your Word. Bring us closer to you through reading, absorbing, and understanding the precious truth of scripture. Bless us as we grow in Christian maturity so that we can be a blessing and a light to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is in the name of Christ Jesus that we pray these things, Amen.
To download the devotional for offline:
Contemplative music to listen and reflect to:
Lyrics: https://hymnary.org/text/o_come_o_come_emmanuel_and_ransom
By Peter Gillies