"Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life." In the closing verses of Isaiah 42 God decries Israel's failure to hear and see His salvation and to
"take it to heart" (42:25). God tried everything with Israel to get their attention even allowing them to be plundered by other nations and taken into captivity (42:23-25). God pleads with Israel to return to Him and His salvation if for no other reason than He is their God and they are His chosen people. Since none of His other efforts have convinced Israel of His love for them, God implores them to do it for the sake of love. "You are precious and I love you!" God declares. God loves His people Israel so much that He will go to any length to redeem them, even to the extent of taking a ransom for the sake of their redemption. God loves us so much that He did take a ransom for our salvation--Jesus Christ, His One and Only Son. Jesus is God's big "I love you" by Whom He is beseeching us today to receive His salvation.
