14 And the sons of those who were cruel to you will come before you with bent heads;

and those who made sport of you will go down on their faces at your feet; and you will be named, The Town of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 And though you were turned away from, and hated, and had no helper, I will make you a pride for ever, a joy from generation to generation. 16 And you will take the milk of the nations, flowing from the breast of kings; and you will see that I, the Lord, am your saviour, and he who takes up your cause, the Strong One of Jacob. The end of Isaiah is focused on the rise of Gods chosen people. It is a prophecy which most Israelites at the time would never see. Most could only hang on to the hope they would experience freedom once again. What does redeemer really mean? If you read the book of Ruth you find the idea of redeemer as the person who gives value to those without value. Ruth and Naomi had a need to have a person of authority to give them access to the benefits of Israel. Christ as our Redeemer gives us access to the blessings of God. In these verses we find that there is a character of God that takes up the cause of those who are His.(16) When we read this chapter it is almost like the end of revelation when all the pain and suffering is gone. It is so beautiful. When we read this we discover what happens when we experience God on our side and when we look up and not down. There is a thread here I think we often forget about when we read scripture. It is the idea that we should follow the path, not look down at it. Several years ago a friend told me that you should look down and you can find money. My father used to tell me to look down so I wouldnt trip. These are all good advice. But in our life we look down so we dont stumble. We are so busy worrying about the things that may hurt us we miss the blessings that God has for us. In these verses we find that god says to look up to see what God is doing for you. This is the missing part of our prayer life and worship. We often focus on our needs and our problems. We praise! We say a lot of words but do we see God shining on us. Do we see what God is doing for us? If you were to ask people what God was blessing them with today, they may answer with simple; good health; nice job; good family. But we need to see God as much more than that.

Page 50