“Remember these things, Jacob, for you, Israel, are my servant. I have made you, you are my servant; Israel, I will not forget you.  I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist.  Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”

“Sing for joy, you heavens, for the Lord has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains,   you forests and all your trees, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob,   he displays his glory in Israel.”  Isaiah 44:21 – 23 (My bold)

As I ponder the prophecies and then the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, I am helped by these encouraging words.  I have made you.  I will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses (your sins).  And then those amazing words, I have redeemed you. 

The subject of each sentence is the Lord God. He will do it. We are the unworthy but fantastically blessed recipients.  Having noted that, even though God has made a way for repentant sinners to walk with Him, the Sons of Jacob turned to other sources of strength, disappointing sources, indeed. Even though God did all that, people could not fully realize the totally of that blessing unless they, as we read the words of Jesus Christ, are born again, from above. As the word says, “Return to me.” Without that turning – away from self and to God, all is but a dream.

I think of those confused sons of Jacob who were helpless before the mighty foreign armies of Assyria and Babylon.  They do not have a chance!  These words of prophecy did not help at all.

That was 700 or so years before Jesus came among us. He was God incarnate, the focus of this Christmas season, a baby in a manger.  Why did these prophecies not come true? God did not change. To be sure, there was some reform under Ezra and Nehemiah as the children of Israel began to return from Exile. But all that was short-lived.

For some reason distressed Israel could not fully embrace this promise of sins forgiven, total acceptance of God, and a new song in the heart.

A new day has come. The Savior is be born among us, the Son of God who will fulfil all those prophecies. Praise God for that!  Who can stop us, the redeemed of the Lord, from doing what was promised?  “Sing for joy…for the Lord has done this… Shout aloud…Burst into song.”

It is not amazing that songs of great joy filled the heavens and the earth when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And that we should mark the event ourselves two thousand years later by singing our hearts out as we exalt the God of our salvation. Sing on, blessed believers!  We are fulfilling ancient prophecies.