A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on December 17, 2023.
You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
“Give thanks to the LORD,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
“Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 12).[1]
The sixth through the twelfth chapters of Isaiah contain a thematic collection of prophetic writings, likely intended to encourage a returning remnant from the Babylonian captivity. The collection spans various kings, the fall of the two kingdoms, the captivity, and the restoration. It also runs the gamut in describing the covenant faithfulness of God, from Isaiah’s call to ministry to God’s judgment upon his people, to God’s promise of a “holy seed” (Isa. 6:13), the “root of Jesse,” a virgin-born king to come. The collection concludes with our passage today, a song actually, singing of “that day,” of a new exodus for the children of God.
In the first exodus, from Egypt, Moses led the people in song, singing of individual, personal deliverance (Ex. 15:1-3). But as they were not alone in their salvation, the song transitions to a communal confession of God’s provision (Ex. 15:13). Likewise, Isaiah’s song begins with a personal declaration of an exodus, from God’s anger to his comfort:
You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O LORD,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me” (Isa. 12:1).
But as the song continues the singular “You” of the first verse becomes the plural “you” of the third verse:
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation (Isa. 12:3).
Just as the first exodus was both individual and communal so will the second. In his description in the sixth chapter of seeming apocalyptic judgment, Isaiah prophesied of a “holy seed” sovereignly preserved (Isa. 6:13). During the reign of Israel’s most dastardly duo, Ahab and Jezebel, Isaiah prophesied, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). After Israel was destroyed, and Judah judged, and only a remnant remained not in the land of Promise but among pagans, Isaiah prophesied,
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD (Isa. 11:1-3a).
Clearly, Isaiah is prophesying of an exodus to be led by a Messiah to come.
Joyful Salvation
In the twelfth chapter, Isaiah prophesies of a day, a day of thanksgiving for the abatement of God’s anger and the promise of comfort. The Lord is not like the false gods of the pagan nations whose anger is defined by the arbitrary and capricious. The one true God is angered by sin, as it violates his holiness and therefore must be punished. The problem for you and me is “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and wages of our sin is eternal death (Rom. 6:23). The greatest human problem today is the least addressed, solved not by politics, economics, or heath care, or other concerns of national or international concern. The greatest human problem today is the wrath of God. For our sin, you and I justly deserve God’s displeasure and are hopeless unless his wrath is assuaged.
But Isaiah sings of God’s “anger turned away.” A reality that requires divine satisfaction—an atoning sacrifice for your sins and mine. For example, think back to the first exodus and the first Passover in Egypt. God poured out his wrath upon man and beast, killing every firstborn son throughout the land but preserving the sons of those covered by the blood of the lamb (Ex. 12). God did not turn away his anger because of Israel’s heritage or good deeds but for the atoning sacrifice made and the blood applied.
Greater than the first exodus, the second exodus is freedom from the curse and bondage of sin, reconciliation with God, the gift and guarantee of his Spirit, and the promise of eternal life as a child of God. As Paul explains to the Galatians,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal. 4:4-7).
We, with whom God was angry, received not the wrath of God but for Christ’s sake his righteousness: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). No longer slaves awaiting exodus, through faith in Christ alone we are freed from the captivity of sin and death, but not only that, we are now the rightful children of God, joint heirs with Christ.
Therefore, all who believe on God’s gift of his Son, all redeemed by his death and resurrection, can confess,
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation” (Isa. 12:2).
Consider the wonder of this: The God who was angry with us has saved us; it is in him that we trust! The Hebrew word translated “trust” in this second verse connotes security through our trust. We will not fear, because our trust is in the Lord who is our strength and song. Here, Isaiah uses two names for God, translated “the LORD GOD,” in Hebrew Yah Yahweh, the first word an abbreviation of the second, God’s self-revealed name to his covenant people. It is used here as a term of endearment of the One who saves his children and his children only. He is not just a god but the one and only LORD GOD, our God.
And as his beloved children, though we are still weak in our sinful flesh, he is our strength. We, who “were dead in the trespasses and sins in which [we] once walked … and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Eph. 2:1, 3), now have a song to sing. It is a song of God’s rich mercy, his great love, his amazing grace,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, [he] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:5-7).
Now, that’s a song worth singing, not only to yourself but with the church to the world.
Joyful Proclamation
Isaiah continues with his prophecy of an exodus to come but shifts from the singular “you” to the plural “you”: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” That which applies to you and me individually is worthy of celebration together, in the assembly of the saints, the church. The life of a child of God is not one of isolation. You are not a redeemed island. All who are in Christ are called to Christian community, in the church. We were made for it and find joy in it. And with joy collectively, we drink the living water of God’s provision.
In biblical literature, water is often a metaphor for life. As in the first exodus, water was essential to Israel’s survival in the wilderness. Likewise, the water of God’s salvation, poured out upon us by his Spirit, is essential for eternal life. As one commentator puts it, “What water is to the parched earth, God’s delivering presence is to the one oppressed by sin and bondage.”[2]
It is then with joy that we draw from “the spring of water welling up to eternal life,” knowing that “whoever drinks of the water that [Christ gives] … will never be thirsty again” (John 4:13-14). Such was the conversation Jesus had with the woman at the well, resulting in her returning to town and proclaiming, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). As a result, the apostle John records,
Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony. … And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world’ (John 4:39-42).
The proclamation of one saved soul directed an entire town to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah says this is what we will do, we who drink salvation’s water with joy: We will “Give thanks to the LORD”; we will “call upon his name”; we will “make known his deeds among the peoples”; and, we will “proclaim that his name is exalted” (Isa. 12:4). Only the redeemed may thank God for saving them, and so we do. It is our purpose, privilege, and pleasure. Only the redeemed may “call upon his name,” that is who God has revealed himself to be for us, that we may rightly and relationally worship him. Only the redeemed may “make known his deeds among the peoples,” for we are the recipients of his saving acts and works. How else will your neighbor next door, how will your neighbor around the world, hear of the Lord’s salvation, unless we tell them?
What we often refer to as the Great Commission, to go in the authority and with the presence of Christ, making “disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [and] teaching them to observe all that [Christ] … commanded” (Matt. 28:19-20), is in essence making the deeds of God in Christ known among the peoples, an invitation to join the church in the joyful proclamation that God’s name be exalted. Christian evangelism is not dour drudgery of manipulative techniques but an invitation to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Ps. 34:8a), inviting our neighbors from every tribe, tongue, and nation to join us in praising the Lord. We need not complicate it, as the apostle Paul explains to the Corinthians, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. … But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:2, 9).
That’s good news worth sharing, a gospel-worthy of joyful praise.
Joyful Praise
The fitting response to the joyful proclamation made to all peoples is praise. Here, Isaiah mentions singing specifically:
Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth (Isa. 12:5).
Yes, we are called to sing praises to the Lord! It’s what we do as the people of God, because of what God has done for us “gloriously,” literally “in accord with his high dignity.”[3] Just as we do not assemble in worship to be entertained, we do not sing to entertain one another. This is confusing to a world who thinks to gather in a room with seats and music requires a performance. But we do not gather every Sunday for a concert but to sing together of the truth of what God has done for us in Christ. And what he has done is consistent with who he is and therefore worthy of our praise.
Yet, some consider singing optional; some even avoid it altogether. It’s not optional: “Sing praises to the LORD” is a command! It’s also integral to joyful praise, not only on Sundays but every day. Sinclair Ferguson says that we personally need to sing, “Start singing again. Don’t wait for inspiration. Sing. The singing will give you inspiration. Praising God is a command; it’s not an optional luxury in our Christian lives.”[4] I found this to be true in my own life recently, as I spent time during morning walks recently memorizing Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” While only my dog could hear me, I found it a joyful start to my day.
Even more so on the Christian Sabbath, when men, women, and children assemble to worship the Lord. For example, when Moses led Israel in song in the first exodus, what he began the congregation continued, concluding with his sister, Miriam, leading the women of Israel in chorus. Similarly, Isaiah begins his song with the masculine pronoun, transitions to the plural, and concludes with the feminine singular, “Shout,” likely recalling Miriam’s song. Such is Christ’s church, as we assemble not as men or women but saved sinners now saints, one body of Christ, singing as a bride adorned for her groom.
But it’s not just that we sing but why. Isaiah says,
Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 12:6).
We who inhabit Zion, we of Christ’s church, lift the volume of our voices in assembled praise, not of a God who was but is, not of a God confined to the pages of Scripture but who is present in our midst. The Holy Spirit who indwells every believer so also meets with us collectively. Yes, great in our midst today, in this very moment, is “the Holy One of Israel.”
So, let us sing for joy. For, he has turned his anger away from us for the sake of the cross of Christ, and he comforts us by his Spirit. Let us sing for joy, for he is our salvation and strength. Let us sing for joy, for he is the fountain of living water. Let us sing for joy that the peoples may know of his deeds and join us in worshipful exaltation. Let us sing for joy that the world may know that he who “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,” he who “upholds the universe by the word of his power,” he who after “making purification for sins … sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3) is in our midst, “the Holy One of Israel.”
Let us sing for joy:
To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!
(Rev. 5:13).
Amen.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1986), 294.
[3] J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction & Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 130.
[4] https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/things-unseen-with-sinclair-ferguson/christians-love-to-sing
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