Isaiah 25:9 (NIV) In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

In Isaiah 25, Isaiah records a prophesy about a future time when the Lord will wipe the tears from all faces and remove the people's disgrace from the earth. Then the verse above follows, prophesying that the people will rejoice and be glad that God is their God. But as we pause to remember that Jesus had not come to the earth yet and that God's salvation plan had not yet unfolded, we can see why Isaiah prophesied that the day when the people would say, "Surely this is our God," was coming but had not yet come.

I believe that even though God's salvation plan is still unfolding, in another sense it has already been accomplished. What I mean is that Jesus has already come. He came and took on flesh so that He would be able to die as a sacrifice for our sins. From the cross and with His last breath He declared, "It is finished" and then He put an exclamation point on it when He rose from the dead on the third day as He foretold. Although a lot more is going to happen leading to the point in history where every knee will bow to Jesus, the Word of God says that all things have already been put under the feet of Jesus (Ephesians 1:22). Although we are still working things out in our salvation story, we are holy in God's sight through the blood of Jesus right now at this very moment. He has already saved us and has done marvelous things on our behalf. We can already be joyful about the awesome rescue plan that God provided by sending Jesus to save all who would receive Him.

With every other religion that I can think of, the happy day for the people that serve other gods is yet to come and is not guaranteed. At the end of their lives, their deeds will be weighed in the balance and they will learn what their ultimate fate is. If they have more good deeds than bad, then perhaps they will make it. If they don't, then torture and hell await them. The reality is, however, that their ultimate fate is already a destination to hell if they don't turn to Jesus because the gods that they serve are not God at all. Sadly, they have put their trust in the wrong god. But for us who have tasted the salvation of Jesus, the one true God, our future is already secure because it is by His grace that we are saved. That means that today, right now, we can say and we should shout and say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” No one else but the followers of Jesus can say that. Let's be truly thankful and grateful for this awesome and compassionate God that we love and serve!

Pastor Joey Vazquez