Month of Praising - Day 8

Isaiah 42:1-12
¹My Elect One in whom My soul delights!I have put My Spirit upon Him;He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.² He will not cry out, nor raise His voice,Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street.³ A bruised reed He will not break,And smoking flax He will not quench;He will bring forth justice for truth.⁴ He will not fail nor be discouraged,Till He has established justice in the earth;And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”Who created the heavens and stretched them out,Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it,Who gives breath to the people on it,And spirit to those who walk on it:⁶ “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,And will hold Your hand;I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,As a light to the Gentiles,⁷ To open blind eyes,To bring out prisoners from the prison,Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.⁸ I am the Lord, that is My name;And My glory I will not give to another,Nor My praise to carved images.⁹ Behold, the former things have come to pass,And new things I declare;Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”And His praise from the ends of the earth,You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,You coastlands and you inhabitants of them!¹¹ Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voice,The villages that Kedar inhabits.Let the inhabitants of Sela sing,Let them shout from the top of the mountains.¹² Let them give glory to the Lord,And declare His praise in the coastlands.

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Worship is simply the right response to who God is and what he has done in our lives and across history. The greatest moment in human history and in the lives of believers occurred when the servant imagery here was fulfilled in Christ Jesus whose birth, death and resurrection brought the ultimate justice to the nations, gave the new covenant to God’s people, and spiritually delivered us from the blindness, bondage, and darkness of sin (Matt. 12:15-21).  The Messiah came in such godly righteousness and powerful miracle-working, and yet he was so tender and mild that even children and society’s most marginalized could approach him—he cared for and healed the poor and weak (bruised reeds) and ignited the faith of God’s people who had almost given up on his promises (faintly burning wick).

Christ ushered in a new era (v.9) in which just as surely as God had stretched the heavens and freed Israel from Babylon, the love of the Lord has spread out to all nations to bring liberation and peace through the Light of the world (v.6). So like Moses and Miriam who sang new songs upon seeing Yahweh’s salvation from bondage and demise, let us sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, as we remember how he saved each of us from slavery and sure death and let us rejoice in Christ’s enduring love that is calling each of his lost sheep home! 

第 8 天  賽42:1-12

1 看哪，我的僕人─我所扶持所揀選、心裡所喜悅的！我已將我的靈賜給他；他必將公理傳給外邦。

2 他不喧嚷，不揚聲，也不使街上聽見他的聲音。

3 壓傷的蘆葦，他不折斷；將殘的燈火，他不吹滅。他憑真實將公理傳開。

4 他不灰心，也不喪膽，直到他在地上設立公理；海島都等候他的訓誨。

5 創造諸天，鋪張穹蒼，將地和地所出的一併鋪開，賜氣息給地上的眾人，又賜靈性給行在其上之人的神耶和華，他如此說：

6 我─耶和華憑公義召你，必攙扶你的手，保守你，使你作眾民的中保（中保：原文是約），作外邦人的光，

7 開瞎子的眼，領被囚的出牢獄，領坐黑暗的出監牢。

8 我是耶和華，這是我的名；我必不將我的榮耀歸給假神，也不將我的稱讚歸給雕刻的偶像。

9看哪，先前的事已經成就，現在我將新事說明，這事未發以先，我就說給你們聽。

10 航海的和海中所有的，海島和其上的居民，都當向耶和華唱新歌，從地極讚美他。

11 曠野和其中的城邑，並基達人居住的村莊都當揚聲；西拉的居民當歡呼，在山頂上吶喊。

12 他們當將榮耀歸給耶和華，在海島中傳揚他的頌讚。

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敬拜是對 神本身以及祂在我們生命和整個歷史當中所行的事的自然回應。 在人類歷史和信徒的生命中最重要的時刻，就是這位為我們而生、為我們而死、也為我們復活並為萬國帶來審判，將新約帶給 神的百姓，在屬靈上把我們從瞎眼、捆綁、和罪的黑暗中拯救出來（馬太福音12：15-21）的基督耶穌使得僕人的形象得以完全。彌賽亞以如此神聖、公義、大有能力，充滿奇妙作為的形象來到我們中間，然而衪也是如此的溫柔和親和，甚至孩子和社會最邊緣的人都可以接近衪——衪體恤和醫治窮苦軟弱的人（壓傷的蘆葦）並且重燃 衪子民的信心 當他們將要放棄 神的應許。（將殘的燈火）。

基督迎來了一個新的世代（第九節）就如 神鋪張穹蒼，並且將以色列人從巴比倫解放出來一樣的確定真實。神的愛已經擴散到地上萬國，通過世界之光（第六節）將自由和平安帶給他們。 因此，像摩西和米利暗在看到耶和華將他們從奴役和滅亡中拯救出來時放聲唱新歌一樣，讓我們對 神唱新歌，對祂的讚美直到地極。我們記念 祂把我們每一個人從被奴役和必死的境地拯救出來。讓我們在基督不變的大愛中因著祂呼召迷失的羔羊回家而歡喜快樂吧！