Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord GOD shall come with a strong hand, And His arm shall rule for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.
Isaiah’s vision looks ahead — not only to the Arm of the LORD revealed in the Exodus or even in the cross, but to the day when that same Arm will come again in glory. This is not a picture of brute force but of purposeful arrival. The Z’roah — the Arm of the LORD — comes clothed with strength to establish His rule, and He does not come empty-handed. His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him. The promise is sure: He is coming, and He is rewarding.
“His reward is with Him” speaks to the faithfulness of God’s covenant. The Hebrew word sakar carries the sense of blessing, vindication, and fulfillment of promise. The Lord does not forget His people. When He comes, He comes with restoration, with vindication for the righteous, and with the joy of fulfilled hope. The Arm that rules does not bring only judgment; He brings blessing for those who have trusted Him.
“His work is before Him” reminds us that nothing is left unfinished. What He begins, He completes. The story of redemption is still unfolding, and the Arm of the LORD carries it forward without delay or distraction. Creation itself testifies to His completed word, and redemption will likewise be brought to perfect fulfillment. The work of salvation is not a project abandoned halfway — it is always before Him, and He will see it through until the end.
Messianically, Isaiah’s prophecy echoes into Revelation 22:12: “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” The Arm revealed in weakness on the cross will return in glory, not only to reign, but to reward. The Lamb who was slain will return as the King who repays justice for the wicked, and eternal blessing for the faithful. His coming will consummate what His Arm has already secured: salvation, restoration, and everlasting kingdom.
For us today, this shifts our perspective. We live not as those scrambling under the chaos of the world but as those awaiting the certainty of His appearing. His work is still unfolding — and we are caught up in it. His reward is already secured — and we are heirs of it. Every act of obedience, every step of faith, every burden carried in His name will be answered when the Arm comes.
The Arm that once stretched wide to save you is the very Arm that will soon split the heavens and come for you. Lift your eyes — your King is coming clothed in power, crowned with justice, and carrying blessing for His people. Stand unshaken, for His work includes you, and His reward will surely be placed in your hands.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Traditionally in Jewish spirituality, these 40 days of prayer and repentance beginning the 1st of Elul to Yom Kippur parallel the 40 days that Moses spent on the mountain [Exodus 34:28] pleading God’s forgiveness for Israel’s sin of creating and worshiping the golden calf. Interestingly, Psalm 27 is read each day of the month of Elul, along with the shofar blast in preparation for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
As we continue our study for Elul, a month set apart for repentance in preparation for the fall feasts, we find a message hidden in the four Hebrew letters spelling the name of this special month. Alef-Lamed-Vav-Lamed form an “acronym” for a well-known passage in the Song of Solomon: Ani l-dodi v-dodi li or in English, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”
I happened (on rare occasion) the other day to see a CNN headline, “Health Officials Brace for Three Major Viruses this Fall”. Immediately, I thought, “Not again!” Yet, scouring the headlines, it now appears that several colleges are instituting mask mandates even though there isn’t a case of illness yet. While the world is being prepared for an “outbreak” of disease, I’m hoping we may learn a lesson from history so that, perhaps, we’ll see an “outbreak” of revival!
As we enter this season of Teshuva (Repentance) during the month of Elul, we enter a unique season approaching the Fall Feasts. This month initiates a 40-day countdown to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and is traditionally known as the time the King would visit His people.
As we continue our study of the men who followed David, another characteristic was their ability to war.They learned how to battle with both the right hand and the left hand for hurling stones. If you have ever thrown a ball, you know that you can aim effectively with your dominant hand — but try it with the opposite hand — it’s far more difficult to throw accurately. But the men that followed David learned to throw with both arms effectively! It must have taken months of training to develop such skill.
When David was a fugitive from Saul, the men who followed him recognized his rightful place as King of Israel, and they developed a deep loyalty to him, this little band. As we read yesterday, these men were transformed from distress, debt, and discontentment [1 Sam. 22:1-2] into becoming mighty men of war. Having joined David, they quickly realized that they were joining a conflict.
Last night, Jewish people around the world will mourn Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar year. Some of you may know that a lot of bad things have happened to the Jewish people on this date, the first of which was when the spies returned with an evil report of Canaan, the Promised Land, recounted in Numbers 13 and 14. Both the first and the second Temple were destroyed on this exact date, hundreds of years apart. The Crusades began on this day in 1095. The Jews were expelled out of England on this day in 1290, and again were expelled from Spain and Portugal on Tisha B’Av in 1492. And there are many more examples of this infamous day in Jewish history!