Isaiah 63:8,9 - Surely they are my people

63:8

“Children who will be true to me”. The “children of Israel” were anything but true to God. This verse is a declaration from the sovereign God. His plans will be fulfilled. Now some who should know better portray the sovereignty of God, or Calvinism, as if God was a puppet-master. This is a very silly and ignorant thing to do. The Bible clearly portrays God as sovereign, and Isaiah in particular presents God’s determination to save His people, and that He will be completely successful in this. However, nowhere does God present His people as mere puppets, that would be to grossly misunderstand the sovereignty of God. “and so He became their saviour”. Jesus, the Son of God, became our saviour. God Himself became our saviour.

63:9

“In all their distress He too was distressed.” God identifies with us. In coming to earth as a man, and supremely in dying on the cross, God demonstrates that He is not far removed from our suffering, but closely identified with us in it. “In love and mercy He redeemed them”. The cross is both a forensically effective act of salvation (ie our guilt is fully and truly dealt with) and a demonstration of the depths of God’s love for us.