Light for the gentiles
Day 335, Saturday, July 12
Isaiah Chapters 49 – 50
Among the prophesies in Isaiah about the coming of Jesus are prophesies about the mission to the gentiles, which will be seen in Jesus and even more in the lives of the apostles. While Paul is most famous as the apostle to the gentiles, he is not the only one, or even the first.
In 49:6, God says to Isaiah, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
“I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
In the ancient world, gods were believed to be territorial, with each particular god as the resident deity for a particular region.
The Jewish faith changed that view radically with the belief that there is only one God, who is God of all creation.
As the Jews moved into new territories, though, there was a tendency to revert to the beliefs of the people who lived there and to worship the local gods in addition to or even in place of the one true God.
God, the Bible tells us, is a jealous God who will not share worship with other imagined deities or idols. But here God speaks through Isaiah to say it’s not enough for the Jews to be faithful to him; it is also their task to bring him and his worship to other peoples beyond the Jewish faith.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Saturday meditation

Job 5:8-16
“But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside.
The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.

Prayer focus
God, remind us that you are God of all.