January 30 | Bible in a Year: Exodus 23–24; Matthew 20:1–16

Jesus Our King

See, a king will reign in righteousness . . . like streams of water in the desert. Isaiah 32:1–2

READ Isaiah 32:1–8

While drilling for oil in one of the sunniest and driest countries in the world, teams were shocked to uncover a huge underground system of water. So, in 1983 the “great man-made river” project was begun, placing a system of pipes to carry the high-quality fresh water to cities where it was sorely needed. A plaque near the project’s inception states, “From here flows the artery of life.”

The prophet Isaiah used the image of water in a desert to describe a future righteous king (Isaiah 32). As kings and rulers reigned with justice and righteousness, they would be like “streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land” (v. 2). Some rulers choose to take instead of give. The mark of a God-honouring leader, however, is someone who brings shelter, refuge, refreshment and protection. Isaiah said that “the fruit of [God’s] righteousness will be peace” for His people, and “its effect will be quietness and confidence forever” (v. 17).

Isaiah’s words of hope would later find fullness of meaning in Jesus, who “himself will come down from heaven . . . . And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). “The great man-made river” is just that—made by human hands. Someday that water reservoir will be depleted. But our righteous King brings refreshment and the water of life that will never run dry.

By Karen Pimpo

Where do you need Jesus to bring the water of life? How can you follow His example of bringing refreshment to others?

Dear Jesus, thank You for bringing peace through Your perfectly righteous rule.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Isaiah’s prophecies often condemn Israel as having “closed eyes and ears” (see 6:10; 29:10, 18; 33:15; 35:5; 37:17; 42:7; 43:8; 44:18). The prophet uses this phrase over and over to point out that God’s people refuse to look to or listen to Him. They’re interested only in their own agendas (31:1).

In the Gospels, Jesus’ disciples were waiting for Him to be Isaiah’s promised king (Matthew 11:5). But, like the people in Isaiah’s day, their eyes and ears were closed to what God was really doing through His Son—overthrowing the reign of sin in the world.

But Christ’s resurrection after His “defeat” by the Romans finally opened the eyes of the disciples. They saw, perhaps for the first time, that Jesus was there to change the world not through military conquest but through forgiveness of sins. And it was a message they were to take to the rest of the world (28:18-20).