1 Corinthians 2: 9 – 10 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

Paul, in this letter to the church at Corinth, makes reference to Isaiah 64:4. At the time Isaiah prayed out of a longing for God to show up in what was a desperate time in his society. In verses 6 and 7 Isaiah says: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.” Do these words describe the condition of our society today?

Like Isaiah, Paul took the call of God on his life seriously and resolved to preach nothing except Christ crucified. He points out that God’s secret wisdom is now revealed to us by His Spirit. So we can see that the hopelessness of Isaiah’s day has passed in that God’s face is no longer hidden from us but he has unveiled the completeness of his love by his wisdom in sending Christ. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (Ephesians 1: 7 – 8).

Those who accept this free gift of redemption experience new birth as the Holy Spirit quickens them to the reality of the presence of God in them. “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1: 3 – 14). How blessed we are!