We’ve come to the end of this part of Isaiah - Isaiah 12 marks the close of this section of the book, and shows us a beautiful vision of what it would look like if God’s people fully enjoyed God as things were designed. Isaiah gives us a glimpse of what it would look like for us to live fully content, fully satisfied, with overflowing joy, delighting in God our perfect king and with Him delighting in us, his redeemed children.
And this is especially timely. We have no lack of evidence and reminders that we live in a world where things are not what they should be. There’s a pandemic, work is futile, relationships fracture, our insecurities and desires are overwhelming and literally not a day goes by without us struggling with sin.
Isaiah paints for us a picture of how things should be. For all of us, Isaiah gives us a picture of what we should be doing as a people saved and redeemed to be God’s. This picture would give us hope too - hope that one day things would be made right, that one day we would be able to experience. But perhaps for some of us tonight, this word would give us comfort. Comfort that we are God’s people, and that we are saved. Comfort that our sins are paid for, that our burdens are His to bear, and that we are in every aspect, every sense, His.
This study will show us how God's people have a reason to sing and praise Him as they drink from salvation. Thus, it will also pose a few questions: How do we drink this water? How do we experience God so fully now that we are driven to sing and praise Him and proclaim His name? Isaiah shows us a model here - and this is in the headers - that before we proclaim his name, we remember his grace.
(A) Grace remembered: Drinking from wells of salvation with joy (Isa 12:1-3)
Isa 12:1 begins with “You will say in that day”. The “you” refers to God’s people, and “that day” links to what was said previously in Isa 11:10-11, which spoke powerfully of the reign of the Messiah as king over all the earth. God’s people have responded to Him and obeyed Him when He comes again to reign perfectly. In Isa 11, we also see the peace and perfection of a creation restored and as it was designed to be under this King.
Isa 12:1b also shows us what the worshipper does. The worshipper gives thanks to God and we are told why too. It was because God was angry with Him but now His anger is turned away and instead, also turns to comfort him! Notice how he uses the covenantal name of God, “LORD” here. As the prophet writes, he brings to mind the God who, from the very beginning, all the way in Genesis and Exodus, promised to rescue His people. Isaiah calls on God’s covenantal name and gives thanks to Him, because He has rescued his people.
Isaiah also recognises that God has a right to be angry, because of our sin. Sin is offensive to God and it’s not just about doing wrong things, or bad things. It’s about a fundamental rejection of God and who He is as our God and creator. Sin is the rejection of God and thus God was rightfully angry with him, and us.
The wonderful thing here is that His anger was turn away. Where was it turned to? Whom was it turned towards? We know that as we read this together with the rest of the Bible, we’re talking about Jesus here. How fitting as we approach Christmas - this is the story of Christmas, that God’s rightful anger at our sin was directed at Jesus instead.
We’re only in the opening verse here, but we’re already presented with the very clear message of the gospel - that our God was rightfully angry with us for our sin, yet he directed his anger away towards Jesus that we may live. This is exactly what we believe as Christians, and this is the starting point as Isaiah shows us how exactly we can and are to give thanks - He starts by remembering the grace that was shown him. As we look back at our life, we can also say these words of the worshipper. At one point, we experienced nothing but the anger and wrath of God, but now, He has turned His anger from us and comforted us.
Isaiah has a God-centred way of thinking about life. He is processing his life not in an atheistic way, but recognised that God had a reason to be angry with him and in His grace, also comforted him. What about us? How do we think about our sin and salvation?
Perhaps some of us hear these words yet continue to struggle to see how you are worthy of grace, salvation and mercy? Perhaps we feel like we are stuck in persistent sin constantly failing? Read this word in Isa 12:1. Anger and punishment are warranted for us as sinners but His anger was turned away from us, through Christ! It was our sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished. God turned His face away from Jesus so that we will never experience that. And instead of receiving anger and judgment, we can even receive comfort! What grace of God it is that we can receive this from Jesus!
The worshipper also invites people to come and see (“Behold”, Isa 12:2). There is a sense of excitement and he invited people to observe and look and see what God has done. What does He invite them to see? Firstly, that God is his salvation. This simple recognition that God alone is my salvation — not my works, efforts — is the focus here. There is a fulness of worship and also recognising who God is, and in contrast, who the worshipper is. God is my salvation and I cannot save myself!
He also goes on to declare that “I will trust and not be afraid”. Is that how you feel when you face a day full of trouble and challenges? How can He say it with such confidence? It is because God is his salvation, therefore, he will trust and not be afraid. He also makes an active choice to trust and not be afraid! And, when we trust in anything else apart from God, we are insecure and afraid.
Lastly, he goes on to say that the LORD God is his strength and song. He speaks of God’s covenantal name and promises. What does it mean for God to be our strength and song? God is our support, pillar and refuge. He is the source of all that we do and have energy for. What inspires song? Joy! He is therefore our joy, happiness, what fills our hearts, mind, conversations, basically every aspect of life!
This is how the speaker responds to God’s grace! He first draws attention to salvation but doesn’t just have a passive response to God. Notice how involved and active this praise is! And, if you took God out of this worshipper’s life, we see that he loses his salvation, song, anchor, strength. He becomes weak, anxious, hopeless, songless.
What would it look like if this were true for us? How would we face each new day, no matter the circumstance? Would we be confident like the worshipper, full of joy and praise and song, with full confidence in God as our salvation? As we are called to remember grace, we are likewise called to respond this way - in confidence, in knowledge of who God is as our salvation, fully trusting, unafraid, and fully dependent on God as our strength and our song.
In Isa 12:3, he calls the people to “draw water from the wells of salvation (with joy)”. This is a beautiful verse, and is so critical. Pastor Ray Ortlund writes in his commentary: “What empowers the testimony of verses 1, 2 and the mission of verses 4-6 is the rich enjoyment in verse 3. Verse 3 is the key to a spirit of praise flooding our hearts. It is out of our delight in God that we find our prophetic voices. True Christianity isn’t primarily a matter of control; primarily it’s overflowing fullness. That is the triumph of grace.”
As Isaiah speaks of drawing water from the wells of salvation, we see likewise in John’s gospel that Jesus invites his people to drink of the water that He gives (Jn 4:13-14). And this water becomes a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 7:37-38). This is not some mystical water to hunt for - no. This is salvation that Jesus invites us to partake in - that as we trust him and have faith in him as our saviour, as we drink from this well of salvation, we are saved. And not just that, these pictures are of such deep wells and overflowing abundance - whoever believes in me, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
Do we see how this all comes together? God, who is our salvation, calls us to draw from Him with joy. In Ps 63:1, the Psalmist also speaks of a deep soul-thirst that is addressed by looking at God (Ps 63:2). Isaiah also picks up this idea and also shows that He will draw water from the wells of salvation! This is what the pattern of remembering grace culminates in, that as we remember the grace shown to us, we drink from wells of salvation with joy.
What do you draw from? What are you consuming? What are you watching? What are you reading? What are you drinking? If our diet consists of news headlines and tv shows and movies and articles and memes, it’s no wonder we find this picture in Isaiah 12 so foreign! It’s funny but sad how we are so much more ready and content and even trained to draw from the wells of hopelessness. If all we consume, if all we drink from is what the world offers us, surely we will have nothing but grief.
Isaiah shows us a picture of something much better. Draw from the everlasting well of salvation for until we get God, we will always be thirsty. What does that look like practically? It looks like remembering grace. It looks like pondering how God’s anger toward us was turned away and onto Jesus. It looks like remembering Jesus and who he is and what he did for us by dying on the cross. It looks like knowing Him more and more through His word everyday. It looks like repenting daily of our sin, turning away from our sinful desires, and seeking Him. It looks like being with His people in His church, loving each other, encouraging each other, growing and maturing with each other. It looks like discipling one another, spurring one another on in the faith, calling out the sin in each others’ lives, being open with each other enough that a brother or sister may see the sin and call you to repent. It looks like simple steps of obedience like these, a simple but faithful cadence of a christian life. Remember grace, and drink deeply from the wells of salvation with joy.
(B) Grace proclaimed: An overflowing joy that drives mission and praise (Isa 12:4-6)
From Isa 12:4, the “you” is used to refer to a group of people, i.e. it speaks of a corporate witness. This is different from the preceding verses, which speaks of a personal testimony. Pastor Ray Ortlund again is helpful in helping us understand this: “Here Isaiah is saying, “All of you together, as God’s remnant people, will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day, out of that ever-fresh fullness, you will all say . . .” Then we see corporate worship and mission in verses 4-6.2 So the difference between “you will say” in verses 1, 2 and verses 4-6 is the difference between personal testimony and corporate witness. Each of us will have a story to tell, and together we will fill the world with the praises of God.”
So, what will it look like corporately? Firstly, the people are called to give thanks to the LORD. This thanksgiving is to be done in community, together with other people. Salvation is not seen at a corporate level! They are to remember the covenantal promises too!
Next, they are to call upon his name. In Exo 3, we know that God revealed His name to His people. His name reveals everything about Himself, thus when we call upon His name, we are calling upon His character, words, deeds etc. In doing so, we are trusting God for who He is.
Lastly, they are to make known his deeds among the peoples and to proclaim that his name is exalted. Just like in Isa 12:2, they are to call others to behold too. Drinking from deep wells of salvation causes us to overflow! We cannot help but tell the world that Jesus has saved us! We cannot stop talking about what God has done in our lives, in the lives of others and in this world.
Does this make us uncomfortable? If we are called to ponder and respond to His grace in this way, why doesn’t our lives look like that? We try to contain this good news to certain times of the year, like at Christmas or Good Friday. What would it look like if we responded like this? That we make known his deeds among the peoples and proclaim that his name is exalted, we’re just overflowing? What if such language of praise and exhortation and proclamation filled our lives - our news feeds, our texts, our dinner conversations, instead of small talk or gossip or idle talk? What would that look like? Would it be so weird for us to actually respond appropriately to God’s goodness to us?
Isa 12 is painting for us is a picture of one overflowing with a joy that comes from drawing from the deep wells of salvation. Isaiah presents to us a clear model for us to follow - as we ponder and remember grace, we are called not just to respond in praise but also in mission. We are called to make known his deeds among the peoples. How different would our evangelism and missions look like if we responded as we should?
Isaiah’s final exhortation is clear - sing, shout, praise, rejoice (Isa 2:5-6). Who God is, what he has done, and where He is what fuels this response. They sing of God’s glorious deeds and also sing of God Himself dwelling among His people. The wrath that has turned away and the comfort that has come is now visible in the form of the God who is with us, right here. And again, it’s not just a personal experience but it is done with His people!
This is a picture of drawing from a well that overflows, and as we drink deeply, we too overflow with joy. Our joy fuels our mission, and it fuels our praise. And our King will delight. And an overflowing joy fuels our mission and praise. Isaiah shows us from these verses. grace remembered and grace proclaimed. How will this change how we worship him, and how will this fuel our mission? What does this look like in our everyday Singaporean lives? How would this change our lives online and offline?