The Mighty One of Jacob

Isaiah chapters 48-49 are crucial. Starting from these two chapters, Isaiah progresses towards a climax, revealing God's wondrous promises. Let us title these two chapters: The Mighty One of Jacob, our Redeemer!

Today, we must recognise that our God is a God of great power. Do you know the circumstances Jacob was in? Jacob was the second born; though a twin, he was born a few minutes later, making him the younger brother who had to call the elder brother. This order cannot be reversed. Yet, Jacob was remarkable! Why the Mighty One of Jacob? Because Jacob was a man of great faith, believing that even if he was born second, he could reverse it.

What faith! The phrase the Mighty One of Jacob has profound implications. The Mighty One of Jacob is also our Redeemer, meaning nothing is too difficult for Him; everything can be turned around! This must be ingrained in your minds. Isaiah chapters 48-49 speak of the Mighty One of Jacob.

“Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.” (Isaiah 48:12-13)

Our God is the God of the Universe

Our God is the God of the universe; He created time. You must understand that time is relative. We are not studying physics today, but if you have heard of Einstein, you associate him with relativity.

We always thought time was eternal, but it is not. For example, if someone travels at near the speed of light and returns to Earth, they will find that the people on Earth have aged, but they have not. Time is related to speed.

We must know that our God is the God of the universe, and He is also the God of time. If you are very busy and have no time, you lack the Mighty One of Jacob—your Redeemer. Why do some people have time while others do not? Because they lack power in their lives.

When God's power descends upon you, you can solve the problem of time, the problem of stress, the problem of efficiency, and the problem of creativity, because our God is the God of the universe. Therefore, never tell God, God, I have no time, because God is the God who creates time. Whether you have time depends on your mindset.

Today, we must know whom we trust. If we trust the Creator of the universe, the Creator of time, you will not say, God, I have no time. If we understand that He is the first and the last, that His hand laid the foundations of the earth and His right hand spread out the heavens, and you are stingy with God, you lose out greatly!

Therefore, let us be wise. You have nothing to give Him because He created everything in heaven and on earth. What can you give Him? Even we are created by Him. The only thing we can seek is His salvation. Once our problems are in His hands, they become our redemption, our salvation!

The God Who Redeems You

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.” (Isaiah 48:17)

Today, you must know that the Lord is your Redeemer. He says, I am the Lord your God. The phrase your God carries a lot of weight. It means this is my Father; you cannot claim others as your Father. This is a crucial matter. This is your Father—a relationship; This is my God—a relationship. My God, my life, my everything—that is my God, teaching you what is best for you, guiding you in the way you should go because He is your God, leading you into abundance.

Therefore, He says: “Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.” (Isaiah 48:19)

Today, we must understand that our God is the Creator of the universe, and He is also our Redeemer, guiding our path and giving us peace like a river. God's righteousness is like the waves upon us.

We must know God's will: Your descendants will be like the sand, your children like its grains. In redemption, there is prosperity. You gradually understand that in redemption, there is abundance. There is no abundance in death. If, in our lives, we establish a relationship with the God who created the universe, a relationship where He is our God, we will have abundance in Him.

The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob! Declare this to the ends of the earth: “The Lord led them through the desert; they did not thirst; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.” (Isaiah 48:20-21)

The road and the environment are not the problem. If you do not have God, the desert is just a desert, and the wilderness is just a wilderness. But if you have God, you will live in abundance. Even in the desert, rivers will flow; even in the wilderness, paths will be made smooth. That is our God.

Our God Will Be Glorified Through Us!

“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendour.” (Isaiah 49:3)

You must know that You are my servant, Israel refers to us. Do you have the likeness of Israel or Jacob? If you do, you are God's servant Israel; if you are God's servant Israel, God will be glorified through you.

Think about it. He is our God, and He is glorified through us. What does it mean? It means that we do things that display God's glory, and our reward will be with God. You begin to understand why He can glorify God.

But I said, “I have laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due to me is in the Lord’s hands, and my reward is with my God.” (Isaiah 49:4)

What is due to me is in the Lord's hands, and my reward is with my God. If one does not recognize that life on earth is vanity of vanities, one cannot become Jacob or Israel. If you are trapped in your work every day, you cannot become Jacob or Israel because those things will become your bondage, preventing you from seeing the essence of life.

You must learn to see through things, to see through the essence of life. If you do not see the essence of life clearly, you cannot become Israel. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Jesus, and Paul all saw the world clearly and distinctly.

If you see clearly, you will not do the work of discerning good and evil, and you will become very wise; our God will be glorified through us.

God Delights in Us Sharing Glory with Him

Many like to say, I do not want to steal God's glory. This statement is hard to find in the Bible, but you can often find the statement: God is glorified through us.

Whether in the New Testament or the Old Testament, you can find this statement, and you can also find the statement that God glorifies us. God delights in us sharing glory with Him. We said earlier that there is prosperity in God's redemption, and we now say that our God will be glorified through us, and our reward is with God, while everything on earth is vanity of vanities.

People Are Extremely Honorable in God's Eyes

Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” (Isaiah 49:7)

If you are Israel, kings will see you and stand up, and princes will see and bow down. What grace! You must know that you are honorable! God is the God who makes us honorable, and you must know that you are an honorable person. If you look for a job, you do not need the job; the job needs you because you are honorable!

Why do we not bow down to the dead? Because the dead are not honorable; the living are honorable. Because people are so honorable, we cannot worship the dead; because people are so honorable, we cannot worship idols.

That is God's most wonderful creation. You and I are God's most wonderful creations. Therefore, understand that you are God's most wonderful creation, a very honorable person! God makes us honorable, causing others to bow down, and even kings will stand up.

God is a Prayer-Answering God

Thus says the Lord: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you; I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages.” (Isaiah 49:8)

You will find that our God is a prayer-answering God. He heard your prayer, answered you in an acceptable time, and helped you in the day of salvation. So today is the acceptable time, this is the day of salvation, our testimonies speak volumes.

Persist and Pray with Faith

Our God is a prayer-answering God. If you know that our God is a prayer-answering God, I ask you, what is there that cannot be solved? So in the New Testament, you can find that if you believe, you will receive.

As long as you do not doubt in your heart, what you ask for in prayer will be accomplished. This is an unprecedented and unsurpassed promise. The promise God gives us is so rich and so great! When God was speaking these words, He cursed a fig tree, and the fig tree withered. In fact, that event did not have much meaning in itself, but even such things God accomplished, let alone matters of life!

Therefore, brothers and sisters, I encourage you to begin to learn one thing: Know that our God is a prayer-answering God. He is not only the God of the universe, but He is also a prayer-answering God. What happens after God hears our prayers? Restoration throughout the land, causing people to inherit desolate heritages.

God Will Cause People to Inherit Possessions

These words contain extremely rich grace. You should know that Jack Ma bought a piece of land in the Hangzhou area and built Taobao City. I ask you, was the land he bought cheap or not? I tell you, it was very cheap! At that time, it was still very desolate, but today this place is worth a lot!

So, if you inherit desolate land, that prayer-answering God will cause that desolate and cheap place to be restored throughout the land. Everyone in the real estate business knows this logic, so they are all looking for desolate places, called low-lying areas. If you don't know it, if you go to the city center and buy one where land prices are high, you'll be finished when the market collapses.

So who is capable? This kind of person is capable: they arrive at a desolate place, and because you bought it and developed it, the government gives you good policies and builds facilities around it, and then this piece of land becomes valuable, and the value of that land will increase fifty or even a hundred times. Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must know that our God is a prayer-answering God.

God Always Remembers Us

Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15)

Our God will never forget us. Noah entered the ark and floated above the flood for many days, day after day, week after week, but God did not forget. God remembered Noah in the ark. God did not forget this event.

God is a Faithful God, He Will Not Forget Us

Our God is such a God: God remembered Noah, and allowed them to come out of the ark and continue to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Added to the previous things, you must believe that God is a prayer-answering God, God will never forget you, God is the God who created the universe, and God is also the God who makes you prosper and makes you honorable. Think about it, this Christian identity is so precious.

Many people have a Christian identity, but they don't know that this is a very precious thing, and when they pray, they seem to pray to God without much faith. You must know that when you pray, you are full of faith, and God will surely accomplish it. God is such a God.

God Will Accomplish Great Glory for Us

Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders; kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me.” (Isaiah 49:22)

What do you feel when you read this passage? Added to the previous things, it means those who wait for God will not be ashamed, why? Because our God is the God who makes us superior and not inferior, the head and not the tail.

When I read Genesis, I found that Joseph was quite remarkable. He was the prime minister for nine years and did not go back to see his father. How ruthless! I don't think I could do it. Why didn't he go home to see his father after being the prime minister for nine years? Because his father and his brothers had to go down to Egypt to bow down to him. That's character, that's faith.

You must know that God causes those people to bow down to us, makes us superior and not inferior, the head and not the tail. Then, we will know that He is the Lord, our God. If you ask me: How do you know that the God we believe in is the true God, the God who created the universe? You see these people bowing down to you, God makes your name great, God makes your nation a great nation, and you will know that He is the Lord, the God who created the universe.

You can know that He is the Lord, definitely not by living in poverty and building a church that is failing, with everyone feeling conflicted. Can this know that is the Lord? It cannot be known. So how can building a glorious church not know that He is the Lord God? The master who created the universe, you certainly know. If you say, how didn't I know before? Because you must seek by faith.

If a person wants to get worldly benefits, they can worship idols. If you are completely desperate for the world and have no hope, and you don't know what the meaning of living like this is, you seek God, and God is there waiting for you, and you will definitely find Him. When He makes you live superior and not inferior, the head and not the tail, you will know that He is the Lord God.

Because what God promised to Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, He said this: I will make your name great, I will make you superior and not inferior, the head and not the tail, and you will know that He is the Lord, and then those who wait for God will not be ashamed.

God Who Saves Us

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered? But thus says the Lord: “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children. I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” (Isaiah 49:24-26)

Isaiah chapters 48 and 49 speak of our God as our Savior, our Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, and nothing is impossible to turn around. If we live in such faith, we can turn around many things. Will this generation be turned around because of us in the future? Do you believe it? I believe it. Because I often receive some very strong impressions.

God has chosen me to enter into His Mingding Destiny. In fact, God has chosen many people, but some people are unwilling to take on such a destiny. But, I am willing. Because I have no hope in living in this world. My hope is only in my God. He is my hope, He is everything to me. So I live to serve my God.

Brothers and sisters, if you have always obeyed God's commands, you will have peace, your righteousness will be like the waves of the sea, your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, and you will surely prosper. Therefore, brothers and sisters, rise up today and become the Israel, Jacob, of this generation. God is your Redeemer. May God bless brothers and sisters!