Isaiah 12 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence

            With this chapter, the Book of Immanuel (chs. 6-12) comes to a fitting end with a song of praise.  The entire section has provided a mixture of hope with the coming of the messiah after numerous predictions of judgment culminating in chs. 9-10 with: “For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.”  In chapter eleven we read one of the clearest prophecies concerning the messiah and his coming kingdom that would bring peace and restoration to all the earth.  Now chapter twelve is the response to that great revelation of God’s gracious dealings with His people.  In fact, in the Hebrew, this chapter begins with a connector signifying that verse one should begin with the English word “And” to show the continuation of the same theme. 

           “And you will say in that day” is making reference back to verses ten and eleven in the previous chapters when Isaiah says, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall all the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”  And “in that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.”  Verses one and four of our chapter this morning then tie in to those two previous verses.  Now Isaiah says twice in these verses, “You will say in that day.” 

           So what will they (we) say in that day?  They (we) will give thanks to God that His anger has been turned away and that He is able and willing to comfort His people in love.  They (we) will say, “Behold, God is my salvation” through Christ Jesus.  Like Moses sang in Exodus 15:2, they will sing “for the Lord God is my strength and my song, he has become my salvation.”  On that day, Isaiah says, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” meaning that for those who have been saved, they will draw continual life and refreshment from God in their salvation.  As Jesus said to the woman at the well in John 4:14 “The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Drinking from this fountain gives to the believer continual joy as he draws near to God in love and faith through Jesus Christ.

           And that joy was meant to be shared with others.  For, in v.4 Isaiah again says, “And you will say in that day,” but this time what is said is spoken to the nations.  It is a proclamation, a shouting and a singing for joy to the world of the glorious salvation that God has wrought and the marvelous deeds that He has done.  Isaiah says, “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples; proclaim that his name is exalted.”  Evangelism itself is never something utterly alien to one who has been saved by grace, for it naturally flows out of their mouths.  They can’t help but speak of God’s grace and mercy to them as sinners.  They can’t help but sing of His glorious works.  Certainly, it is commanded of them, for the sake of spreading the good news and the glory of His name, but it is not something they are incapable of doing, nor is it something that they have an aversion to.  For the Lord God is in their midst.  He dwells with them in love and rejoices over them with gladness.   They can’t help but sing.