God’s Promises - Isaiah 51-55

 Isaiah 54:7-10 (ESV)

For a brief moment I deserted you,

but with great compassion I will gather you.

In overflowing anger for a moment

I hid my face from you,

but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”

says the LORD, your Redeemer.

“This is like the days of Noah to me:

as I swore that the waters of Noah

should no more go over the earth,

so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,

and will not rebuke you.

For the mountains may depart

and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,

and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

When God destroyed the people of the earth in Noah’s day, He put a rainbow in the sky to remind us that He would never do that again.   It, the rainbow, was a sign of His everlasting covenant between God and mankind.   In the above passage we read about another covenant that God is making with mankind.  This is the covenant of His divine Son coming to pay the price for mankind’s sins.  In the above passage God refers to Himself as their “redeemer.”  Here is what Vine states about this Hebrew word:

(Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary) 

“ga‘al (גָּאַל, 1350), “to redeem, deliver, avenge, act as a kinsman.” This word group is used 90 times, chiefly in the Pentateuch, Psalms, Isaiah, and Ruth. The root appears to be almost exclusively Hebrew, the only cognate being an Amorite proper name.

The first occurrence of ga‘al is in Gen. 48:16: “The angel which redeemed me [Jacob] from all evil...” (KJV), means as in the NIV, “delivered me from all harm.” Its basic use had to do with the deliverance of persons or property that had been sold for debt, as in Lev. 25:25: “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.” If he prospers, the man himself may “redeem” it (Lev. 25:26).”

God has made a covenant, through the giving of His Son, to redeem mankind.   That is God’s absolute promise.  We can rejoice in the fact that God makes and keeps His covenants.   Why? Because God had compassion on us.  If it were not for His generous compassion we would all be lost.   But, God’s compassion moves Him to redeem us!!!