nations who do not know you shall run to you (Isaiah 55:5)

There are a number of places in the Old Testament where we get glimpses of the gospel that would be preached when Jesus came. And this is one of them. Isaiah had been talking about the covenant of mercy that God had made with David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then essentially murdered her husband in an attempt to cover it up. When David came broken hearted in repentance to the Lord and was restored, he could declare “Blessed is the man who sin the Lord does not count against him” (Psalm 32:2).

And Isaiah is calling Israel, and hence us in a New Testament application, to the same type of repentance David had been called to. And what is being said here, is that the perfume of a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17) is a powerful witness to the tender mercies of God (Psalm 51:13; Isaiah 55:4).

And this is part of the upside down kingdom. We tend to think that people will be helped by our strengths. But the Lord is saying here, that a more powerful witness is the joy and gladness (Psalm 51:8, 12) of the restoration of one who has utterly failed. Part of this, is that in our strength, people are likely to say “I could never be like you!” But in our weakness, people can say. “Well if God can forgive you and restore you after what you have done, then surely God can also forgive and restore me!”

Father, I thank you that the New Covenant of Your tender mercies is available to all who turn to You in repentance. I thank You again this morning Lord for Your extravagant forgiveness when I have turned to You in repentance. It is my desire Father, that my life be a fragrance of life leading to life (2 Corinthians 2:16), so that people will run to me to figure out what it is in me (Your Spirit) that makes me different. Let it be Lord in Jesus Name Amen