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Isaiah’s Message: “Behold Your God!”
Satan had long tried to lead people to see their Creator as the
author of suffering and death. Those whom he had deceived in this
way regarded Him as eager to condemn, unwilling to receive the
sinner as long as there was a legal excuse for not helping him. Satan
had misrepresented Heaven’s law of love as a restriction on human
happiness, a yoke from which anyone should be glad to escape. The
archdeceiver declared that no one could obey its requirements.
The Israelites had no excuse for losing sight of God’s true charac-
ter. Often God had revealed Himself to them as “full of compassion,
and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”
Psalm
86:15
. The Lord had dealt tenderly with Israel in their deliverance
from slavery in Egypt and in their journey to the Promised Land. “In
all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence
saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them.”
Isaiah
63:9
. Moses instructed them fully concerning the character of their
invisible King. See
Exodus 34:6, 7
.
At the height of Israel’s rebellion the Lord had proposed to make
the descendants of Moses into “a nation greater and mightier than
they.”
Numbers 14:12
. But the prophet pleaded the promises of God
in behalf of the chosen nation. And then, as the strongest of all pleas,
he urged the love of God for fallen humanity. See
verses 17-19
.
Graciously the Lord responded, “I have pardoned, according to
your word.” Then He gave Moses a glimpse of His plan concerning
the final triumph of Israel: “Truly, as I live, all the earth shall be
filled with the glory of the Lord.”
Verses 20, 21
. God’s glory, His
character, His tender love, were to be revealed to people of all
nations. And He confirmed this promise by an oath. As surely
as God lives and reigns, His glory would be declared “among the
nations, His wonders among all peoples.”
Psalm 96:3
.
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