By Natasha Dahlenburg
Read Isaiah 61
Do you look forward to your annual Apple Music replay or Spotify wrapped to see what your music trends have been for the year? This year my anthem song was City Alight’s His Glory & My Good. Its been both a challenge and encouragement to me especially as we have read through Isaiah this year. At the start of Isaiah he sees a vision of Jesus on the throne, God in all his glory and its this perspective that he then brings to the rest of the book. All that shimmers and shines in the world is nothing in comparison to the majesty of Jesus on the throne. And Isaiah really needs this perspective because Israel is a hot mess. If we jump forward to Isaiah 61 the Israelites are now in captivity in literally chains. And Isaiah wrote this song as the 5th song in a series, to encourage a group of Israelites who had remained faithful, who had kept their eyes on God.
- In 1-3 What hope does Isaiah offer about what the Messiah will do? Many years later Jesus quotes these verses in Luke 4:17-19 and applies them to himself. What is the hope for Christians now?
- In 8-11 What does the covenant that God makes with his people bring?
- What does 4-7 tells us about what will happen to God’s people?
Spend a moment thanking God that Jesus is God’s great hope and glory, planting us and making us secure, like this song did to God’s people. As you go into your day, reflect on verse 3 and how you can live to show the splendour of God’s righteousness to those around in you all you do.