Going Before Us

“…for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 52:12

With this verse being so short in length it is so long is meaning. God’s ultimate goal for us is to be in constant fellowship with Him and accomplish the purpose for which we were created for the Kingdom. Our births were no accident and our lives are to be lived with purpose. God understood and knew in advance that man would not be able to live holy so He sent His Son to go before us and do the work for which we were unable. It is only through the sacrificial death of Christ that we are able to live.

‘Going before us’ also was demonstrated in His prayers. Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of a prayer warrior in intercessory prayer. He went before us and from the suffering on the cross He still interceded for sinners. The translation for made intercession expresses a work begun, but not yet finished. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:44. He went before us physically and now goes before us spiritually. He sits next to the Father and continuously asks for the forgiveness of all of us. Through His intercession and the Father’s love and willingness to forgive, God never leaves us. He always comes behind Christ’s petition for us and follows up with love and forgiveness.

It is through the first part of this verse that we have the guarantee of the second.