In this morning’s service, we’ll celebrate the wonderful works that God has done for His people: forgiving their sins, healing their wounds, and bringing them into His house, even when they were far off. We’ll read several times from Isaiah, in which the prophet declares that “All flesh shall know that [He is] the Lord” (Isaiah 49:26) and that “[His] salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6). We’ll sing psalms and hymns like O Sing A New Song To The Lord—Psalm 98, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go, and All Nations Clap Your Hands—Psalm 47, which speak of His wondrous rule over the nations, His Joy that seeks out His people even in darkness, and His promise that gentiles would one day gather together as the people of the God of Abraham. But we’ll also be sobered by the deeds of the unbelieving Jews in Acts 13, who were “filled with jealousy” and stirred up mobs to persecute Paul and Barnabas—knowing that we might fall into such unbelief apart from the grace of God. Romans 1 warns us of “men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,” and Blessed Are All They—Psalm 1 gives us a picture of the wicked who are “driven by the winds,” eventually falling and perishing under God’s wrath. Therefore, we confess our obstinacy and rebelliousness (Isaiah 48:4-8), and we look to the faithfulness of a God who promises “pardon for sin and a peace that endureth.”
—Henry C. Haffner