Isaiah 35:4-7
New International Version
4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
Thursday - September 9
This prophecy is about the new age that God’s Messiah would bring about. It was written over 500 years before the birth of Jesus. Notice several important words and phrases: the “ears of the deaf unstopped,” and the “tongue of the mute sing for joy.” When Jesus healed the deaf and mute man from the Decapolis he was doing more than showing mercy to an Gentile outsider, though he did that, too! Jesus was announcing the beginning or the “inauguration” of the new, Messianic Kingdom! In Christ, we have the “foretaste of the feast to come.” He is the “firstfruits” of the resurrection. For now, we live by faith in the promise that we are forgiven, washed clean of our sins, and have been given the gift of eternal life. Like an inheritance that is received at a future date, eternal life is already ours. For now we live by faith and hope in Jesus, the Messiah.