Reflections of Grace - Isaiah 30:18

“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” — Isaiah 30:18

If you listen to me preach, you are very likely to hear the word “context” come up more than once.

My duty when it comes to preaching the Word of God is to get at the true meaning of the text and convey that to my listeners. In order to do that, we must interpret every passage according to its context.

This applies not just to preaching but also devotional Bible reading.

In the case of the passage above, we have a wonderful promise about how the Lord waits to be gracious and show mercy “to you.”

An out of context reading would conclude that this promise applies to all people without qualification, when in reality it is directed toward Israel in Isaiah’s day.

This is why it matters to know who the original audience of each Biblical book was, even though all Scripture is profitable for all people.

By knowing the original audience we are able to appreciate the nuances of each Biblical book and better understand how all of the Scriptures apply to us.

If we take the passage above out of context, then it would imply that God is going to have mercy on all and that he is waiting in heaven longing for the opportunity to be gracious. In reality we know that he is speaking of his people Israel.

And when we take into account the full Biblical context—interpreting Scripture in light of Scripture—we know that God shows mercy in salvation to whomever he wills. “For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” (Romans 9:15)

The application to modern readers comes in light of the Gospel, which teaches that all of God’s promises find their fulfillment in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Thus, the good promises made to Israel are also promises to us today, if we are in Christ. And this is precisely why the text above says, “Blessed are all those who wait for him.”

The Lord waits to be gracious and show mercy to his people, but he also guarantees that he will pour out his mercy upon them. Ephesians 1:4 says that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

He predestined his people for salvation in Christ and determined to secure their salvation through Christ.

This promise comes throughout the Old Testament in passages like the one above. God was working those promises through his people Israel and now they have come in full in Jesus Christ.

How then can a person lay hold of these great and precious promises? By faith. Look to Christ by faith for the forgiveness of your sins and you will be saved. Amen.