Rejoice

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES AND FULFILLMENTS CONCERNING CHRIST

REJOICE

Isa 29:18-19

18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. 19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

NIV

It has been the plan of God from before the beginning of time that in that day will happen. This “in that day” refers to the day Jesus will visit the earth in the form of a man. In that day things are going to happen. The deaf will hear and the blind will see. It is also certain the proud will not rejoice in him nor will those who live in plenty. But let’s see how the fulfillment is explained.

Matt 11:4-6

 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 6 Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me." 

NIV

This is the reply of Jesus to one of the disciples of John the Baptist, who was in prison, having been sent by John to verify Jesus was the one. At least that is the general consensus of some scholars. But as Jesus uses this question and speaks to the crowd about John the Baptist who preached in the wilderness, it may well have been a way for John to get his disciples thinking more about Jesus then himself. Hmmm, that was a sidebar, but interesting to ponder on. We will have to investigate that further at a later time. Nevertheless, we see Jesus saying the words which describe what he has been doing which Isaiah spoke about. Although in the physical realm the lame actually did walk, the deaf did hear and the blind were able to see, there is far more to that in the realm of God, or the spiritual realm. This about what Jesus said. Once I was blind, but now I see. We were blinded from the things of God because of living for self, living in sin. But the Spirit came by one day and opened our eyes and we saw the truth about Jesus. We now can say those wonderful words which were used in the movie Avatar, “I see you”. That was to mean not simply looking at someone, but seeing who they are.  We now see Jesus. We were living a crippled life, lame as lame could be. We did not walk with God, so in essence we had no walk. We were crippled because of sin. But he healed us and we now walk with the Lord, we have a path that is lite by the light of the world. We could not see it when we were blind, but now we see the light which shows us the way. We were once deaf to the words of God, we did not hear them, they made no sense to us, and it was if they were spoken in some strange language. But he opened our ears and we now can hear the voice of God in the scriptures and well as that still small voice he speaks personally into our hearts. We were also dead even though we were breathing with a beating heart. Because of living in sin, without the benefit of the salvation Jesus offers, in every sense of the word in the realm of God, we were dead. We had no life, no eternal life, being dead and having death be our eternal state. But praise be to God, we were raised from the dead, we were raised from the grave and giving a new life in Jesus. When Jesus used the term poor, it may not have meant only those with little money, but as he spoke early about the poor in spirit, this may well have been the poor he was speaking about here. The prideful, the proud, those who think they do not need Jesus are the ones who need him the most. But their arrogance keeps them from seeing or hearing or being healed and raised from the dead. They live in the framework of their own minds, blind to the truth of God. We are so blessed to have been given all this for free. We did nothing but believe. We did not earn all he has done for us, in fact we were pitiful in our state, but Jesus came to rescue us. How could we ever fall away from such a great gift God has bestowed upon us? But not just us, but on all mankind. Yet we know some will never believe, but we do and will forever. We now have our sight, hearing, healing and a new life in Jesus. What more could we ask for? We will rejoice in the Holy one of Israel. We will rejoice in Jesus. Again we say, rejoice!