Posted on July 14, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters
“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” – Isaiah 45:22 (NKJV)
“I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now, had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Church. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved….” For those of you familiar with his testimony you’ll recognize this as Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s opening from his personal testimony on how he came to salvation in Jesus Christ.
As Pastor James Peterson (Emmanuel Church in Egg Harbor City, NJ) was sharing this from the pulpit on a recent Sunday morning, I realized that for as much as I quote him, I hadn’t heard Spurgeon’s testimony until now. As Pastor James continued, “The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now it is well that preachers be instructed, but this man was really stupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was—”LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH” (Isa. 45:22) He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimmer of hope for me in that text.”
Isaiah 45:22 is found within a passage of the text that could be viewed as an invitation that sounds similar to “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28b) In both cases, people are invited to turn away from something and turn to something. For the Old Testament people, it’s the idolatry they have succumbed to that has lead to their Exile, but for those within earshot of Jesus’ voice, He’s is giving the fulfillment of what that looks like when we surrender our rebellion, turn to Him and accept His rest. You could say that this present offer of God demands an unmistakable choice.
“I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” — Isaiah 45:19
One of the ways we can look at this universal proclamation of salvation arises out of God’s uniqueness. There’s been a sorta court room motif that has been going on throughout Isaiah and we’ll see that when you look at Isaiah 45:20-21, “Assemble yourselves and come…Tell and bring forth your case.” The idolater is being invited to make his case on why he’d rather bow down to a created idol than the LORD. God has always been, and He’ll make that clear, as where that block of wood they choose to worship just got craved yesterday. The next thing this proclamation will do is aim towards God’s eternal Lordship.
Isaiah 45:23 is this direct line towards that aim, “I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.” This isn’t a maybe it’ll happen statement, it’s a going to be one, so be understanding that God has, is and will be the only just God and Savior. And lastly, this proclamation of salvation arranges all of humanity into two groups, those who will accept the invitation and are saved and the ones who will not and are rejected. There is a family made new in Christ and there are vessels of wrath doomed for destruction…that simple.
Spurgeon was a very happy young man the day it snowed so hard that the everyday minister couldn’t preach but someone he deemed stupid did. All that man had to do was stare at Spurgeon and declare “Look To Christ” to convince him it was time to turn to Him. “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me, I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me: I am sitting at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look Unto Me!” Understand that the future plan of God will display His unmatched wisdom and in that may you find rest. Amen?
Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, and a father. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.
Think About This: “From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish; but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him.” — C.H. Spurgeon
The Daily Bible Reading: Isaiah 17-21. You can download our 2023 Daily Bible Reading Plan by clicking here.
This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12
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