Isaiah 54:4
"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more."
There is a real comfort in how God has ordained the salvation of His people. If salvation is in my hands, I have reason to fear every day of my life. If there is something that I have to work out to make things right, then I ought to fear—and I believe that's why many live in fear. That's why they live in doubt. That's why they run to and fro, trying to soothe a guilty conscience—because they have not been given eyes to look to Christ alone.
Don't spend your time looking at the world and wondering why so many perish. It's God's right to leave men and women to themselves to perish, and He is just in doing so. For myself, the thing that causes me to marvel over and over again is: Why me? Why should I even be thought to be among this number—this remnant?
And yet, if you are, and if I am, He is the Word of Comfort. It's not for anything in you or anything in me. Don't get cocky thinking yourself better in any way. No, it's because God has purposed another end for you and for me. That's whom He speaks to here when He says, "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed." None will be ashamed who are brought to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in His finished work as a needy sinner. It's the thirsty who are drawn to the Water of Life. It's the hungry who are drawn to the Bread of Life. "Fear not."
Our Lord did not speak these words to just anyone. He spoke them to His own. Over and over again, He told them. "Fear not, I am with you. Fear not, I am your God. Fear not, I am your Redeemer. Fear not, I am your representative before a Holy God." If we are the LORD's, when we come to that river of death, we will cross it—whether He takes us out suddenly or gives us time to reflect while lying in our beds and considering eternity, and what it is to face a Holy God. Unless you are the LORDs, you have no comfort and will have no comfort.
None will be ashamed whom Christ has redeemed. They have no need to fear. In His death the LORD has put all shame behind us. We may look back and feel shame for how we were in our ignorance and darkness, but the death of Christ is so satisfactory, so complete, that He say's: "Thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood anymore."
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