Isaiah 8: 17: And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
First let me emphasize that this is the LORD speaking because at this point, it is easy to get a bit confused. We understand it is the LORD speaking when we hear him say, "Sanctify the LORD of hosts and he shall be for a sanctuary." We can grasp it is the LORD of hosts speaking when we hear the command for us to, "Bind up the testimony." But then we come to this place and we hear the LORD of hosts say, "I will wait upon the LORD?" and "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me?" These sound like the words of a man!
These are the words of a man. This is the testimony of the LORD of hosts declaring why you can be certain that he shall be for a sanctuary to you who look to him alone. It is because the LORD of hosts joined himself with the humanity of the children he purposed to save. The word of his promise is sure because everything which he requires of his children, he did for his children.
Christ Jesus not only agreed to be the faithful servant of God by obeying the precepts of the law as the Representative of his people while he walked this earth, but he must also be the faithful servant of God and Representative of his people as he endured the eternal wrath of God in their place on the cross as he suffered as their Substitute.
Listen carefully and try to let this sink in until all you can do is rest and rejoice in it: In order for God to remain just, God in righteous judgment had to turn his face from our Substitute because Christ Jesus was made sin for us.Yet at the same time, in order for God to be the Justifier, Christ Jesus could never turn away his face from his God, not even in the midst of judgment.
Bind this to your heart as the most precious pearl, the rarest of all jewels, the unsearchable riches of Christ.God manifest his righteousness through the faithfulness of Christ.The Man Christ Jesus faithfully depended upon God to strengthen him and he went to Calvary's cross.There God hid his face from his elect, the house of Jacob, when he hid his face in righteous eternal judgment from his own Son, Christ Jesus our Savior.Yet, even when God turned his face from him in judgment, he cried out, “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.”
The righteousness manifest in that phrase is that God justly forsook our Substitute, but it is also, in the Faithful One who yet cried out, “MY God!”“Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me,being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69:1-4). How did he restore that which he took not away?
Isaiah 8: 17: And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Older
Top
