“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult. (Isaiah 45:22–25, NIV 1984).
My Musings – “Turn to [Him to] be saved,” because we have all turned away. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, NIV 1984). Because “[He] is God…there is no other” and because it was us who turned away from Him (He did not turn away from us), there is no other way to turn back to Him than through the One (Jesus) that He laid our iniquity upon.
The majority, however, refuse to turn. They refuse to bow. Their tongues refuse to swear. Instead, they rage against Him. But there is a minority, “a remnant chosen by grace.” (Romans 11:5, NIV 1984). True “descendants of Israel [who] will be found righteous.” True because they believe and “stand by faith.” Just as there are Gentiles who “will be found righteous.” How did this come to be? “Branches [of Israel] were broken off so that [Gentiles] could be grafted in….[T]hey were broken off because of unbelief, and [those grafted in] stand by faith.” (Romans 11:19–20, NIV 1984).
My Advice – “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so, all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-26, NIV 1984). “All Israel,” as the context makes clear, are those who “do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.” (Romans 11:23, NIV 1984). That is, those who “stand by faith.” Those who like Abraham, the first to receive the promise, “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Galatians 3:6, NIV 1984).
Whether a “[natural] olive branch (descendants of Israel), or a “wild olive shoot, [of the Gentiles]” there is only one way to “share in the nourishing sap from the olive root.” (Romans 11:17, NIV 1984). Kneel and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
“For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:10–12, NIV 1984).
Kneel and confess now – “be found righteous and will exult.“
Kneel and confess then – “be put to shame.“
“For in Scripture it says: ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.'” (1 Peter 2:5–6, NIV 1984).
Don’t be “put to shame.” “Exult.“
The Brew Is A Musing 