Isaiah 50:8-9

Isaiah 50:8-9

He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.

In October 1987, at the age of 15, I was baptised as a Christian believer, alongside 6 of my friends. Each of us chose a short Bible passage to read, as we explained how we had come to put our faith in Jesus. My reading was from Romans 8: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one.”

Thirty-three years later, I’m every bit as grateful now as I was then that this is true. I was, and still am, a sinner who deserved nothing but condemnation from God. Yet he has acted graciously to justify me because of Jesus’ death in my place. Therefore, all charges against me are dismissed. If God says I’m acceptable to him, who can possibly argue? No one. If the one who I have wronged declares me forgiven, what right does anyone else have to disagree? Absolutely none.

What I’ve only just discovered is that the Apostle Paul wasn’t the first Bible-writer to use this argument. Centuries earlier, the Servant says pretty much the same thing …. “Who will bring charges against me? ... It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me … Who will condemn me?” He’s expecting the same answer. No one. No one can condemn the one who God has chosen. No one can accuse the one whom God declares innocent. The Servant doesn’t fear anyone else’s verdict. Not even the verdict of those who condemned him to death. God’s decision is the only one that matters.

And because of this Servant’s sacrificial life and death, all of us who trust in him can confidently say along with him “Who will bring charges against me? No one.”  As my reading from Romans 8 concluded …. “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Let’s thank and praise him for that today.