great grace and mercy

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,

and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

For the Lord is a God of justice;

blessed are all those who wait for him.

Isaiah 30:18

This little bit of poetic encouragement introduces a section of Isaiah’s prophecies where hope and restoration are the theme. This comes as God decrees fierce judgment against the citizens of Jerusalem in particular as they have disobeyed and broken their covenant with Him. This would occur because the nation was unwilling to return to God at His tender call to repentance (see Isaiah 30:15). But even with a certain and unstoppable judgment, God promises renewal because His judgment would lead them to sincere revival of obedience and confession of sin.

God doesn’t long to judge, He longs to be gracious. He doesn’t exalt himself in bringing ruin, but in showing mercy. He wants His justice to prevail, and ultimately, even after times where His judgment must fall (because He is perfectly just), mercy and grace still beautifully result (because He is perfectly loving and gracious). This was true of Israel’s captivity and their ultimate freedom and restoration back to their homeland.

This is also true when captive sinners are freed and restored by Christ to be fit for an eternal home with Him! Jesus takes our judgment and in the ultimate display of God’s mercy and grace, we are forgiven as we believe and confess, are made righteous in Christ, and then blessed by Him to enter into new life as God’s sons and daughters! God exalts Himself to show us mercy. We are unworthy of it, but God is great and to be praised!