Isaiah 45:14-25
What the LORD will carry out in order to restore His people will make Him known to all as the "God of Israel, the Saviour" (v. 15). In contrast to the gods which cannot save (end of v. 20), He declares Himself in the strongest terms: "A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth . . ." (vv. 21, 22). This appeal reverberates in the world today. Has each one of us responded to it? We who believe recognise the voice of "God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth . . ." (1 Timothy 2:3-4). But we know what was necessary so that God might show Himself both "just and a Saviour." The punishment which was required to satisfy His righteousness with regard to sin fell on the One whom the continuation of the same passage in 1 Timothy calls the "mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all". How right it is that every knee shall bow before the Lord and every tongue shall confess God (v. 23 quoted in Romans 14:11)!