Thursday, June 11, 2009
Isaiah 44:5 One will say, "I am the LORD's"; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, "The LORD's," And name himself by the name of Israel.
THE HOLY SPIRIT CONNECTS US TO GOD
We may take courage in the fact that the Holy Spirit connects us to God. We read in verse 5: "One will say, 'I am the LORD's'; Another will call himself by the name of Jacob; Another will write with his hand, 'The LORD's,' and name himself by the name of Israel." Such words could not be uttered except by the power of the Holy Spirit. Nobody would dare say or even want to say, "I am the LORD's," without the work of the Holy Spirit.
As Christians to say, "I belong to Allah," would be not only distasteful, but a phrase that we would not want to utter even upon the pain of death. So it is for one who is an unbeliever to consider belonging to God. Everybody enters the world in a natural state of unbelief, and so it is a genuine miracle that we could ever truthfully and joyfully say, "I am the LORD's."
We confess in Martin Luther's explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed, "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord nor come to Him, but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel . . ." Such a connection is vital because it is the difference between heaven and hell.
