The blessing of a double portion: Is 61:7-9

“Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs… Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed.” (Isaiah 61:7, 9 NKJV)

God wants to bless His people. He wants to demonstrate His love and kindness through His blessings bestowed upon His people. Jesus came that He might open up the blessing of God to those who believe. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10 NKJV) God wants us to have not life, but life abundantly. Jesus came that we might have a life that is superabundant and more than enough; a double portion of life. God is not stingy with His blessings, but He gives more than what is needed. Anyone who lives in want is not living in the abundant life of the Lord.

This does not mean that our every lustful desire will be met, but it does mean that God will give us double of what we need to live in “everlasting joy.” The secret to living in this superabundant life is to learn to see it and to rejoice in our portion. This scripture says that when we fail to embrace our portion with a thankful heart, we yield confusion, dishonor, and disgrace in our lives. Many Christians today are living substandard lives because they have rejected the provision of the Lord. God has given us life, yet we have wanted something else. We lust for money, power, relationships, and other worldly things, and have turned up our noses to the bountiful blessing of God. King David understood what it meant to receive with thanksgiving the provision of the Lord. “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.” (Psalms 16:6) When we are consumed with other desires, nothing satisfies, but when we delight ourselves in the Lord, then we find a life full of beauty and pleasant places. If we will turn our lives from our own desires then we will find in the Lord all we truly want and need.

This scripture goes on to say that the people of the Lord will be recognized by the nations because of the blessings God has poured out upon them. God wants to bless us not only for our own sake, but also to demonstrate to the world that He is God. “Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:16) God wants to show His kindness and love to the world by poring it out upon us. We are like a canvas upon which God wants to paint a picture of His love and care for mankind. The life that Jesus came to give us is not solely for our own benefit, but it is also meant to provide evidence to the world of who Jesus was. “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:9-11) This life we have is the evidence that Jesus was the Son of God. We need to live this life not unto ourselves, but that the world might see the superabundance of the blessings of God. We need to let our light shine that the world may know and that all may believe.

David Robison