Isaiah 12:1 – 6

 In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

Isaiah lived in a time of Israel’s great distress.  The Northern Kingdom had already fallen and there were foreboding signs on the horizon that Judah was getting weaker and weaker. Doom filled the air.

It was in that hopelessness that God spoke a clear word through the Prophet Isaiah.  It promised a new day. Note the repeated phrase, “In that day.”  Israel was not living “in that day.”  But “that day” will surely come when we will praise God for his salvation and we will not only worship Him but we will spread the Good Word that God loves us and saves to the uttermost those who come to him.

 That day is now! Because the Savior has come, Jesus, the Christ. He made the promised day possible. “Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid.”

Then we will join heaven’s chorus, “Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”  (I felt that I must add the bold type.) This is our song.  It is being sung in all nations this Christmas season, in unison with the heavenly choir. What can keep us from praising?  So be it.