Trust In God: Isaiah 12
How
should we respond the to passing of a year? There are many events that transpire during the year, some
good, some bad. How would the
Bible urge us to respond? What about
next year? What should our
confession be going into the new year?

Isaiah
12 is a song of response to the Salvation that God has accomplished. Chapters 1-5 of Isaiah really form a
large introduction informing Israel how they have walked away from God. They forsook the law, pursued their own
desires, and trusted in their possession, other nations, and themselves instead
of God. In Isaiah 6-9 we get
Isaiah’s vision of the thrown room of God where Isaiah is healed of his sins
and commissioned as God’s prophet.
Isaiah in these chapters prophesies of the coming child, Immanuel, and
urges king Ahaz to stop trusting in other nations and trust in God
instead. Isaiah 10-11 speak of
God’s plan to pour out judgment on the nations and Israel for their sins as well
as salvation yet to come. In
Isaiah 12 we get a song of response from those that God has saved. It is interesting to note that this is
a prophecy of the response God’s people will make when God ushers in
salvation.
If
we had to summarize Isaiah’s message throughout the whole book it is to trust
God above all else. And that is
what we need to say as we look back at the year behind us and to the year
ahead, “God, I trust you.” Trust
for Isaiah looks like trusting God instead of man (Isaiah 2:33), trusting God
instead of idols (Isaiah 44:15-17), and trusting God instead of ourselves
(Isaiah 10:12-14). Isaiah wants
his readers to have a radical trust in the one true God that is able to save.
In Isaiah
12:1 we see God is trustworthy because God has accomplished our salvation while
we were his enemies. Paul picks up
on this idea in Romans 5:6-11. If
God loved us enough to save us while we were living in sin as his enemies, He
can be trusted to carry us through this life and complete our salvation. The confession in Isaiah 12:2 becomes
the pattern of confession we need to make. In fact, if you have trusted Christ as your savior you have
probably made a similar confession.
We make this confession when we are first saved and every time God does
a work in our life until we finally make this confession as the glorified
people of God living in the new heavens and new earth.
When
we come to understand the Gospel through the work of the Holy Spirit in our
heart and mind and confess our trust in Christ a funny thing happens. We respond with praise and thanksgiving
as well as proclaiming what God has done to the rest of the world (Isaiah
12:3-6).
As
we head into the New Year lets confess our trust in God similar to Isaiah 12:2.
I
hope you enjoy my sermon from the last Sunday of 2014. There are many more details in my
sermon than I have written above so I encourage you to listen. As always, I love to hear your feedback.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SERMON
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