#DailyDevotion In Christ Jesus, we have a Father in heaven.
January 4th
Read Is 63:15—65:2
Isaiah 63:16-17 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. (17) O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your heritage…64:4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him…6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away…8 But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. (9) Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people…65:1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here am I, here am I,” to a nation that was not called by my name.
While Christians regularly address God as Father, following the example and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is not an appellation given to God in the Old Testament often. This is one of those few passages. The people of Israel and Judah have so fallen away from the true worship of God they can say that Abraham and Israel neither know nor recognize them. They accuse God, who is rightly their Father in the faith of making them wander from His ways and hardening their hearts. Perhaps the charge is true to a point. God did make them wander and harden their hearts, but only because they wandered first and hardened their hearts first against their Father, their Redeemer from of old by casting golden calves as images of the Almighty in northern and southern Israel. They went and started worshiping the false gods of their neighbors and following their detestable worship practices which were followed by further acts of debauchery and cruelty in their daily lives. The Lord God, their Father simply confirmed them in their errors and let them reap what they have sown.
Let us not follow their path. As we look to January 6th, Epiphany, Gentile Christmas, we remember chapter 65 verse 1, we are those who did not ask for the Father. We are those who did not seek the Redeemer. We are those nations not called by His Name. But now in Christ Jesus the Father of lights has given us birth through the waters of Holy Baptism into the Son, Jesus. Now we are a holy people. Now we are called by His name, Christian. Let us remember the example of the people whom our Father rescued from the hands of the Egyptians and not follow their path but instead as 64:4 says wait for the salvation of our God, Jesus Christ with all patience and perseverance. Don’t go and run off to other gods, other things, other ideas, philosophies, religions and other debauchery because you cannot wait for God to act. You have a Father in heaven who does love you, who treats you as a son (Heb. 12) and who will save and deliver you from your truest enemies, sin, death and the power of the devil. Nothing else matters.
O Lord our God, you deign to call us your children in Christ Jesus and invite us, bid us to call you our Father. Ever give us your Holy Spirit that we may be faithful to you as much as you have been faithful to us in your only begotten son, Jesus, that we may never be confirmed in the hardness of our hearts but always be called back to repentance until the day we see your salvation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.