Isaiah 12: 2

Isaiah 12 is a short chapter that rings with praise for God. The context is ‘in that day’ (verse 1 and 4) which refers to the previous chapter where it is talking about the millennial kingdom where Jesus will reign (remember, His delight is in the fear of the LORD). So it is saying, ‘in the millennial kingdom, this is the song that you will sing.’

There are a few things that are praised, as you would expect, but the part that stuck out for me was verse 2.

‘Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song;
He also has become my salvation.’ (Isaiah 12:2)

Here, not only is God portrayed as our Saviour (in the person of Jesus Christ) but He is our salvation also. He is the object that we are saved to. He is the means and object of our salvation. It is hard to conceive in light of this verse of being saved for our own sake, or for our happiness or whatever other man-centred ideas have arisen over the time. We were not saved for ourselves but for God.

If we trust wholeheartedly in that salvation then we have no need to be afraid, for we are sheltered from the storm by Jesus. And when we are saved, God becomes two things (at least) to us: our strength and song.

God being our strength is different from us needing God to give us strength. Isaiah is saying that God is our strength! We are nothing without God. Secondly, God being our song portrays joy. We should have immense joy in God because he has saved us! We should be singing out not only about God, but God should be our song: that is, God should be the joy that inspires us.

This all should lead us to ceaseless praise of God. Let us remember today that God is the only one worthy of praise, and that He is our salvation!