“I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exalt in my God for, he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bride groom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts and as a garden causes, what is sewn in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.”
– Isaiah 61:10–11
Oh, isn’t Isaiah so good. The words that we read here, so rich. The imagery. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Not just rejoice, greatly rejoice. My soul shall exalt in God. That’s joy that’s found in exalting God. Exalt in God. Why? Because he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.
Can you just picture that in your life today? You are clothed, all who’ve put your trust in Jesus. You’re clothed with the garments of salvation. That’s what you’re wearing today. The garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. Picture this. This is your clothing today. The robe of the righteousness of Jesus. That’s what you’re wearing today, like a groom or a bride decked out, adorned with beauty. That’s who you are today.
Isaiah 61:10–11 Exalts Christ
And just like the earth brings forth fruit gardens, cause what is sewn in it to sprout up, so God is causing righteousness and praise to sprout up in your life, in my life, in his people all over the world before all the nations. Oh God, may it be so. Oh God, we together rejoice greatly in you right now. We rejoice greatly in the Lord and you, our God. Our souls exalt in you, our God.
Our souls exalt in you for you have clothed us. God, help us to live with this humble confidence today, that we are clothed with the garments of salvation. God, help us to live like that, like we’re covered with the robe of righteousness. Help us to live like that. Help us to live with the dignity of a bride groom or bride decked out, adorned in beauty that comes from you.
And, God, we pray that in this, your righteousness and praise would sprout up through our lives before all the nations that people around us today would see your righteousness, would hear about your salvation from our lives. God, we pray that that would be so. And God, we pray for this all around the world among your people. God, we pray for the Mahar people of India, 11.2 million of them, Buddhist men and women and children in India.
Praying for the Mahar People of India
God, we pray for this 11.2 million people who have little to no knowledge of the righteousness of Jesus and the praise of Jesus. God, we pray that the righteousness and praise of Jesus would sprout up before the Mahar people of India. Please, God, cause the righteousness and praise of Jesus, according to your word in Isaiah 61 verse 11, to sprout up before the Mahar and before all the nations.
Through our lives, God, we pray that this would be true just like the earth brings forth sprouts and gardens, cause what is sewn in it to sprout up. May your righteousness and praise sprout up before all the nations through our lives and our families and our churches, we pray, according to your word in Isaiah 61 verses 10 and 11. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
