Isaiah 42:8
I am the Lord; that is my name!
I will not yield my glory to another
or my praise to idols. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9 and John 17:1-26
Today I’d like to just stand in awe of our God and praise him for our Savior. Isaiah writes us a message from God:
“I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not yield my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
Just like at Mount Horeb through the burning bush, God reveals His name to us – Yahweh. He is Jehovah and He is the Almighty God. He is worthy of our praise and demands our praise. He has told us about new things that are going to happen so that we can know that He is God.
He shares His glory with no one. Yet Jesus shares in the glory of Yahweh. Jesus prayed, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (John 17:5). God was full of glory before the world began and Jesus was there sharing that glory. Jesus is Yahweh – the great I AM.
The Great I AM came to earth to open the eyes of the blind both physically and spiritually. The Messiah would perform miracles to prove he is God. His message and his sacrifice would bring freedom from sin to the world. “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
Read John chapter 17 today with a fresh perspective. Jesus is praying for us before he goes to the cross. And this is his prayer: “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:18). Jesus fulfilled the promises of God. He has given us eternal life because we now know Yahweh – the Great I AM. Now he sends us on mission to take those same promises to the world around us.
And God’s glory – yes the glory He yields to no one – Jesus has given to us. “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:22). He did this so that “the world may believe that you [God] have sent me” (John 17:21). We are lavished with the same measure of love that the Father has for Jesus. And Jesus wants the world to see the Father’s love by the way we live. That is worthy of our praise!
Christ in the Old Testament 
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