Isaiah 66:24

The last chapter of Isaiah! And what a chapter. Not the most ‘uplifting’ or ‘encouraging’ chapter in the Bible, or even in Isaiah. But definitely very applicable to us. It is really a summary of the main themes of the whole book: it starts with the reasons for God’s imminent judgment of Israel (hypocrisy and idolatry), and then goes on to promise future restoration and glorification.

Much of the book has been about hypocrisy. That is, Israelites who worshipped God in their words but not with their thoughts or deeds. They offered sacrifices with being obedient. They said ‘Let the LORD be glorified’ but they didn’t mean it. The first four verse of this chapter are an excellent summary: God does not need a temple to live in on Earth – because He made everything on Earth anyway. What He wants is a heart, broken and contrite, poor in spirit. And that is what He is not getting in Israel. He goes on to list ways they are sacrificing which make Him angry rather than pleasing Him.

The question is asked of us: what is our worship of God like? Is it dry and dead, with no meaning, with no life? Is it based on a proud heart that takes pleasure in the ‘blessing’ that it can offer God? For both of these do not please the LORD – the act of worship He requires is merely a broken and contrite heart, ready to be obedient to Him at all times. Someone who ‘trembles at His Word’ (vs. 2). This implies a deep and genuine respect and fear for who God is – that we should tremble at His very words.

But for those whose worship is from the heart, true and obedient, they are the faithful, and to them God promises that they shall be restored, in much more glory than they can imagine. And they will rejoice when God comes with fire to destroy evil (vs. 14 and 15), because it will mean justice and a new start for them. And they will be set up as the dominant nation, and their name will remain forever (vs. 22). You might think that the book would close on this triumphant, joyous note. But the last verse is:

‘And they shall go forth and look
Upon the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm does not die,
And their fire is not quenched.
They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.’ (Isaiah 66:24)

Whoever said the Bible was a soft feel-good book?! Isaiah finishes the book with a final reminder of the utter seriousness and graveness of his message. This is not a joke or a game. This is not some political manoeuvring or motivational speech. This goes beyond even life and death. This is absolutely serious, and completely true: those who are not cleansed by the blood of Jesus when they die are an abhorrence to all flesh. There is a penalty for sin, a grave one. We all take sin too lightly. Much too lightly. But it’s sin that started this whole mess, it’s sin that Jesus died to pay for, it’s sin that separates us from God, it’s sin that separates us from people, it’s sin that causes wars and the manifold problems we have in our world. No, sin is not to be taken lightly. No sin. We can only thank the Lord that He came to cleanse us from the sin we commit, and from the sinful nature that burdens us.

Isaiah 65:17-18a

During exams, which many of us are in the middle of at the moment, sometimes things look pretty bleak. There’s no time to do anything but study, no time for socializing, no time for fun. Sometimes you can be so much thinking of examy type thoughts that you neglect thinking about other people. Overall it’s just a pretty bleak time. And at these times it pays to have something to look forward to – the end of exams, Christmas holidays, going to the beach, whatever. A time when you won’t ever have to think about the exam-period you just went through. But this is not limited to exam periods. There are many times in life of diverse nature that are just not the best. And those times we all have to have something to look forward to. Indeed, life itself is one giant period where we need something to look forward to, and if we are Christian, we have that!

‘For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth;
And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create…’ (Isaiah 65:17-18a)

As we live this life, let’s look ahead to a time when the pains of this life will be no more, but all we will need is the light of Jesus’ face, and that we will have in abundance!

Isaiah 64:1,6,7,8,12

Isaiah is pleading for Israel. When you think about it, this is slightly unexpected. Because Israel is the nation that is sinning, the nation that doesn’t hear or believe Isaiah’s words, and yet here is Isaiah, pleading wholeheartedly for that very nation. Indeed, the very first verse shows us his heart (by the way, the first verse of the chapter is not the first verse of the prayer):

‘Oh, that You would rend the heavens!
That You would come down!
That the mountains might shake at Your presence’ (Isaiah 64:1)

Isaiah is firstly pleading for God to come down and make Himself known to Israel’s enemies. To come down and relieve them of their oppression. To do a mighty work. Isaiah’s reasoning is simple: since the beginning of the world there has been no other god that could ever do such works, there is none who blesses righteousness. Therefore God is the only One able to do such things. But Isaiah concludes that God is indeed angry (vs. 5), for Israel has sinned, and in these ways continue, and they need to be saved. So his second plea is for salvation of a moral or inward kind (as opposed to relief from physical oppression).

Then we have the famous verse:

‘But we are all like an unclean thing,
And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away.’ (Isaiah 64:6)

Notice the word ‘all’ in here – referring to all Israelites (and indeed all humanity). ‘All’ of us are like an unclean thing, and ‘all’ the right things we do are merely filthy rags in God’s eyes. This statement shows God’s incredible standard of righteousness, and our own incredible poverty. This is one reason to never get proud about all the good things you do! But still, Isaiah pleads for salvation, He calls for mercy for Israel. The next verse carries on with some reasons:

‘And there is no one who calls on Your name,
Who stirs himself up to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us,
And have consumed us because of our iniquities’ (Isaiah 64:7)

In all of Israel, there was no one who stirred himself up to take hold of Him. No one was filled with passion so much for God, that he defied the situation around him and took hold of God and God only. No one would wrestle with God (like Jacob in Genesis), no one would take hold of the prize. No one grasped with all their might on the Truth. A sad sad state for a nation, but look at our own. How many people can you truly say have taken hold of God, grasped the Truth? Who can be stirred up from the deep slumber that is over the West and rely on God?

‘But now, O Lord,
You are our Father;
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all we are the work of our hand’ (Isaiah 64:8)

This is the contra positive of the verse before. Instead of us taking hold of God, God takes hold of us, shapes us and molds us, like we are clay and He is the potter. As clay, we do not have any say over what the Potter shapes us as – but surely the Potter knows the clay, what consistency it is and what it best will form. We do not have to worry about figuring out the best thing for us, the best career path, the best ministry, what we are best at. We don’t have to tell God what we want to do with our lives. Let Him form you. Let Him do with you as He pleases. But surely He will not waste His clay. And surely He is a good potter, one who knows the best way to form the clay He is working with.

So on the one hand we have the exhortation to ‘hold on to God!’, and on the other we have the knowledge that it is God that holds us, and forms us, and that we are merely bits of clay in His hands. Both are equally and simultaneously true. One seems to deal with our direct relation to God – that indeed we merely let Him shape us, and we don’t presume to tell Him what to do. The other seems to refer to the relationship with God we have in society – that we hold fast to God, and let nothing else shape us, that we stir ourselves up from the dead sleep we have in the world and hold fast with all our might to the Truth of God.

And so Isaiah continues his prayer of penitence, pleading for the sake of Israel, until the final verse, after mentioning the tragedies that had occurred to special things in Israel (such as the temple):

‘Will You restrain Yourself because of these things, O LORD?
Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?’ (Isaiah 64:12)

Isaiah’s final plea is for God to intervene because His special things are being destroyed and laid waste. Isaiah asks how God can restrain Himself. He implies that if God does not intervene, it would be a severe affliction for Israel. That God would hold His peace (which we often think of as a good thing), would be a severe affliction for the Israelites.

Thus Isaiah finishes his pleading, and God answers in the next chapter!

Isaiah 63:3,5b,7

Who is our God? That is an impossible question to answer, but there are many attributes that we can at least start to understand or appreciate. However, usually we find ourselves focusing on one or two attributes or characteristics, which gives a poor description of God. However Isaiah 63 looks at two very different sides of God, and meshes them into one.

The first six verses are almost scary in how angry and punishing God is. For instance verse 3:

‘I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My fury;
Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes’ (Isaiah 63:3)

He is talking here about Edom and Bozrah (vs. 1), the enemies of Israel who are His redeemed (vs. 4). But why is God so angry?

‘…Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;
And My own fury, it sustained Me.’ (Isaiah 63:5b)

This is salvation for His redeemed that He is bringing about, by the destruction of the evil that surrounds them. So although this is an angry scene, it is for the salvation of His redeemed. Verse 7 is a complete (and surprising) change of tone:

‘I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD
And the praises of the LORD,
According to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.’ (Isaiah 63:7)

This is straight after the mention of God treading down the peoples in His anger, spilling their blood and making them drunk in His fury (vs. 6).

You see, God is a merciful God all the time. That is who He is. But God is also a God that hates sin, and is completely just. Losing either one of those attributes loses the other. For in effect, the first 6 verses of this chapter are a complete act of mercy towards Israel, as expressed so lovingly in verse 7. And thus, without justice, there is no mercy.

There is no point in focusing only on the ‘lovingkindnesses’ of our LORD. Because without the severe punishment and application of justice, these lovingkindnesses have no meaning. Neither is there point in dwelling upon the judgment of the LORD, for we have been saved from it! No, it is best that both are remembered and praised, for God is glorious as a whole, in all His attributes, not just those that we find comfortable.

Isaiah 62:1

‘For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
And her salvation as a lamp that burns.’ (Isaiah 62:1)

Let’s have righteousness that goes forth as brightness! That is, not just a passive righteousness, as such. Not just, ‘I do what’s right when it comes around’. It’s an active choice of getting out there and doing righteousness – caring for the sick, poor, needy, hungry, lost, homeless. Turning away from evil, doing justice, working hard at everything. All these things that we hear a lot of from different sectors of the community, we need to do them all, so that we can shine forth our righteousness as brightness! But what’s more, this is proof of our salvation – ‘her salvation as a lamp that burns’. The world needs to know that we are saved. That we are different, because we practice righteousness. We need to shine! But who is it that shines? Certainly not us, but Jesus through us!

Isaiah 61:3

‘To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.’ (Isaiah 61:3)

These are beautiful words in and of themselves. But it reminds me of what I have to offer to God, and what He has given me through Jesus Christ. All I have to offer is ashes, sadness and a spirit of heaviness. I have nothing, nothing that I can do myself. Nothing that I can call my own. And yet Jesus has given me beauty, garments of praise, the oil of joy! It is His gift to us, so that we can be steadfast (like trees) in righteousness, so that He can be glorified. So that He can be glorified! What a gift! This is why the Gospel is the Good News. Or at least part of the reason.

Let us not take this gift for granted. Because He has given it to us so that we may be called trees of righteousness, so that we may be pillars of goodness in the world.

Isaiah 60:22

Isaiah 60 is a chapter of great hope for Israel. It is undoubtedly about their final restoration in the land promised to them millennia ago. This has been alluded to a few times in Isaiah so far, but not so directly and comprehensively as this chapter. It tells of how the gentiles, in that time, shall come from all over the world to Jerusalem because of its beauty and the fact that Jesus rules there (the ‘glory of the LORD’). They shall bring all manner of gifts and wealth with them. They will help build the city up. The gates will always be open, because there will be no fear of attack, because everyone will love the city of Jerusalem. They will be politically very important (‘…and milk the breast of kings…’ (Isaiah 60:16). They will be rich, with gold, silver, bronze and iron. And above all this, they will be peaceful and righteous (vs. 17).

This must have been great, great hope for the Israelites, who were at the time in captivity in Babylon (I think). To think! Despised and hated by all the nations around them, so much so that people traveling wouldn’t even pass through their land (vs. 15), and yet with the hope of future glory beyond comparison! I guess that it is almost the same with us. Hated by this world, passed off as weirdos, well-meaning but misled, or people who have viruses in their minds (thanks Dawkins!), and yet we have the hope (and by hope I mean assurance!) of eternal glory, eternal life, the promise of living with our God for ever. Just remember that the next time someone demeans you for being Christian.

However, the verse that stuck out to me is verse 22:

‘A little one shall become a thousand,
And a small one a strong nation.
I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.’ (Isaiah 60:22)

God is here referring to Israel of course. Such a small nation, but in the end the most powerful nation on earth. All because of the LORD. It is the LORD’s choice to strengthen it, ‘in its time’.

And it is the same for us. Though we can’t be a thousand, God can make us strong. Sometimes we feel like the smallest person, the least likely to make any real difference. In fact, on our own, we are. How can we make any real impact on the world? Who are we to stand up to the world and change it? How can we be strong? Well, God has us marked. If we follow Him, and trust Him, then ‘in our time’, God will make us strong. He will make us as strong as we need to be for any situation. If we trust Him.

Isaiah 59:1-2

‘Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.
But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.’ (Isaiah 59:1-2)

As Christians, God has saved us. And nothing we can do will shorten His hand or render Him unable to hear our plea. But our continuance in sin separates us from Him as regards our ‘walk with the Lord’. It is not that He cannot hear us, or help us, it is that He will not while we are turned away from Him. Let us seek the Lord in all we do, and turn to Him, repent, when we know we are sinning.

Isaiah 58:2-4a,7-9a,11a

Over 2500 years ago, Isaiah spoke and wrote important, vital messages to the nation of Israel. Over 2500 years later (a.k.a. today), we read them, and the Holy Spirit can apply to the messages to our hearts with just as much vitality as ever. Isn’t that amazing?!

One of the major issues within Christianity today, and all down through the centuries is that of ‘false religion’. That is, people making a show of ‘obeying’ God, or doing ‘good things’, without any internal change of heart. Initially it was the Pharisees, whom Jesus rebuked sharply. In Paul’s letters, he refers to the Judaizer’s, who claimed that all Christians must be circumcised.

The strange thing is, most of the time when God rebukes such behaviour, He tells the accused that they should be doing something else. For instance, in Isaiah 58. I don’t want to write the whole chapter down here, so if you want to know exactly what it says, I suggest you read it.

The chapter reads in four parts:

1) What the Israelites are physically doing (vs. 1-3a)

2) What their spiritual intent or backing is. (vs 3b-5)

3) What God wants them to be doing and their attitudes in this regard (vs 6-7)

4) The result of this (the blessing of the LORD) (vs 8-14)

Although the last two parts are sort of intermingled a bit.

Now there is a line of thought which possibly makes us think that God would say to the Israelites: ‘this is what you are doing, but your spiritual intent behind it is wrong, so I will make it clear to you that it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s all dependant upon your spiritual belief, which is why you’re wrong.’

Now, this would be correct. And God does say this to the Israelites in a way, but He also makes it very clear that it does matter what they do, because this represents what the heart believes.

So let us expand on the four points:

1) ‘Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways’ ‘…Did not forsake the ordinances of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God.’ ‘Why have we fasted…and You have not seen?’ (Isaiah 58:2,3a)

2) ‘In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness.’ (Isaiah 58:3b-4a)

3) ‘Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him’ (Isaiah 58: 6-7)

4) ‘Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rearguard. Then you shall call and the LORD will answer…The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones’ (Isaiah 58:8-9a, 11a)

So, primarily, God’s anger was directed towards the attitudes of the Israelites, not their actions. But He uses their actions as evidence of their heart. They were fasting, but they were fasting for others to see, and they were exploiting their laborers in doing so. They were causing strife and debates with their fasting and ‘approaching’ the LORD. And that wasn’t what God instructed them to do. That wasn’t the primary reason for fasting in the first place! God wants them to fast in order to bring freedom to the oppressed, and hope to the down-trodden. To forego food in order to feed those who are hungry. To forego sleep to help those who are weary. Not just as a show! And so, we have the situation where God is saying to them ‘It’s not about what you do, it’s about the internal change!’ but also is saying simultaneously ‘You shouldn’t be doing that, but you should be doing this’. This is not a contradiction. It merely expresses that an internal change will re-order the inner workings of the heart, and therefore bring about changes in the external dealings as well!

Likewise, today for us, we need to be focused on doing these things that God has instructed. Doing them with a right attitude and from a genuine heart for the LORD, rather than from tradition or a want for attention. This is what God wants from us. And there are so many blessings associated with doing these things! This is the way to satisfaction in the LORD, and the way that we will shine in the darkness so that all may see God’s glory. So let us always be ready to help those that are poor, hungry, homeless and lost. Of course, the best way is to lead those that are spiritually poor, spiritually hungry, without a spiritual home, and spiritually lost, to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Isaiah 57:11

Isaiah 57 seems very heartfelt from God. It is primarily about Israel’s idolatry once more. However, whereas usually it focuses on humiliating Israel for their ways, and pronouncing judgment because of it, this chapter is more like God saying ‘I’m so sorry that you do this. Why do you do this? Return to me!’ At least, that’s the impression I got.

‘And of whom have you been afraid, or feared,
That you have lied
And not remembered Me,
Nor taken it to your heart?
Is it not because I have held My peace from of old
That you do not fear Me?’ (Isaiah 57:11)

God is ‘reasoning’ with the Israelites as to their present condition. He asks them why they no longer fear Him, and rather fear gods that have no life. He asks them why they no longer remember Him, the God who brought them out of Egypt and has loved them throughout their troubled history. Of course, He knows the answer, and the answer lays more guilt on the Israelites than the question. It is because God has held His peace, Has dealt with Israel mercifully, that they do not fear Him. Because God is ‘nice’ to them, they don’t fear Him and therefore forget Him! Now, you would think they would be the other way – the ‘nicer’ God is, the more you would want to remember Him, given that He gives you a better life!

This passage makes clear the necessity of God’s judgment. Of God’s righteousness. For if He were always merciful, then no-one would fear Him, and collectively, we would forget Him. But we know His grace so well because of the knowledge of His righteous judgment. However, He always deal mercifully with us (as Christians). So let us not make the same mistake as Israel, and take Him for granted. Neglect His demands and commandments because of His grace. Let us remember our God of infinite mercy, in the light of His infinite judgment!

Isaiah 56:1-2

We often think that the Gospel gets rid of the need of doing good things. And in a way it makes good works ‘unnecessary’. However, of course, we all know God’s will is that we follow after Him in the way of righteousness. And we see the necessity of this in verse 1 of chapter 56:

‘Thus says the LORD:
“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.”’ (Isaiah 56:1)

God instructs the Israelites (and indeed anyone who would listen – as is made clear in the rest of the chapter) to ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness’ even though His own salvation was about to come (in Jesus). In fact, He specifically says to keep justice and do righteousness because His salvation is about to come. Why? There is a strain of logic that says that it should be the other way around. That since we have the gift of the LORD’s righteousness, then it has become unnecessary to have our ‘own righteousness’ so to speak. But this rightly rejected by this passage. Why?

‘Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.’ (Isaiah 56:2)

Blessed…I think that is the message. Yes, God’s righteousness and salvation is a gift, one that we cannot work for. But if we want to experience the goodness of that gift in this life, then much depends on how we live out our lives (which is done through God’s strength as well!). So the exhortation, or command, is to ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness’! This is most imperative because we have already received God’s righteousness! When God speaks here, he speaks in terms of the future, and His words are emphatic. How much more so now! Let us live in God’s righteousness, striving to become more and more like Him as we grow in Him.

Isaiah 55:8-9

‘“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts’. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

A gentle reminder that we will never know what God is thinking. We will never fully understand His plans, and to think we can work them out or know them is arrogant and silly on our part. Let’s leave the planning to Him, and just be obedient to what we know He has told us to do.

Isaiah 54:9-10

Life is a hierarchy. Some things are more important or fundamental than others, and this affects how we treat things further down the hierarchical ‘list’. For instance, we might brush our teeth every morning. That is a rule we keep. But if a day comes when you need to be somewhere else and you don’t get time, then if whatever you need to get to is more important or fundamental than brushing your teeth, you will do it. Another example would be that we obey the law set down by the Government (as the Bible instructs), but if that comes to disobeying God’s law, then we obviously follow God’s way and disobey the national law (since God’s way is more important and fundamental). Most of these hierarchical things in our life are chosen logically or by necessity. But some are rather arbitrary. We will come back to that later. I was surprised (I don’t really know why!) to read this in Isaiah 54:9

‘For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So I have sworn
That I would never again be angry with you, nor rebuke you.’ (Isaiah 54:9)

This is an unconditional promise! God is saying that His promise of peace with Israel is more fundamental than whatever evils they could contrive. Now, this won’t fully come into effect until the Millennial kingdom, when Israel will be the spiritual and social centre of the world, and the world will enjoy peace.

But I just love the way God is saying ‘It’s not about what you do, because this is not about that. This is like the waters of Noah. It’s an unconditional promise that I made. This is more important than trivial evils and goods that you can come up with.’

‘For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,
Says the LORD, who has mercy on you.’ (Isaiah 54:10)

This is fundamental! It doesn’t matter if mountains move or deteriorate away – God won’t change His promise, He won’t change His mind about Israel. They are His people, and that is that.

Now that applies to us twofold. Initially, we see almost instantaneously that it is this type of promise, this type of unconditional grace that God has bestowed on us through the Lord Jesus. And this mesmerizes us. God looks at us and says ‘It doesn’t matter what you’ve done! This is like the waters of Noah to me, for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no longer cover the earth, so I have sworn that I will never be angry with you, nor rebuke you!’ He looks at us and doesn’t see our sin and filth. He only sees His promise, He only knows that which is more important. What an encouragement!

Secondly however, this type of unconditional love must be seen in our own lives! If Jesus is our example, who is the very essence of God’s love for us, which is this promise, this fundamental choice of grace, then we ought to show this type of love in our own lives. This is the type of love where the person is more important than the deeds. Forgiveness is more important than revenge or regret. Where appreciation is more important than social implications. Where encouragement is more important than safety. Where kind words are more important than the time spent. Where grace is more important than justice. Where their life is more important than your reputation. Where they are more important than you.

This is an arbitrary choice. This is a choice, a designation of the will, to say ‘I am for that person, no matter what they do or what they have done.’ Parents do it all the time. Husbands and wives should always be doing it all the time. We will never be at Jesus’ standard, nevertheless, shall we not try, in His strength?

Isaiah 53:10a

As Christians, there are some things that make perfect sense. There are some things, like the Gospel, which make perfect sense (especially through Romans!). There are some things which are hard to understand, but make sense (even if we can’t fully understand it), like Jesus being both fully man and fully God. Then there are things which we can’t comprehend, and for all our knowing they are true and good, seem to be even counter-reasonable. We can’t grasp them because they defy our logic. Such is the mystery of Isaiah 53:10.

‘Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.’ (Isaiah 53:10a)

Why? We can ask ourselves this question a million times and never come up with an adequate answer. That should have been us there upon that cross. No questions asked. It should have been us. And yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him? Instead of us? Instead of us, who, far from loving Him and being semi-faithful servants, had on the whole rejected, slandered, mocked, ridiculed, made war against, hated, ignored or cursed Him? And yet it pleased the LORD to bruise His one and only Son, whom He knew before the foundations of the world.

This type of love is not only beyond our understanding, but it defies our understanding. It is counter-intuitive. It is the love of God. Let us never despise it!

Isaiah 52:7,8a,10,12,14

I think Isaiah 52 is probably the most poetic chapter I have read so far in Isaiah. If you’re in the right mood and read it in the right way (like I must have been), it just takes your breath away. Verses such as

‘How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion
“Your God reigns!”’ (Isaiah 52:7)

Are truly beautiful of themselves. Again, the theme of the chapter is Israel’s redemption. The comfort of Israel. The restoration of Israel. It is a big theme in Isaiah currently. But this chapter is more about rejoicing because the LORD will bring them back! In previous chapters there has been a lot of argument on God’s behalf as to the certainty of their redemption, and its imminence. He was trying to make sure they believed it, trying to make them confident in it. Now the obvious outflow of that is joy! Strike up your voices! The LORD has saved us! Indeed:

‘Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together…’ (Isaiah 52:8a)

Now this of course refers primarily to the imminent restoration of Israel under Cyrus (as has been made clear in previous chapters), but as is usual in Isaiah, it makes some secondary claims (of much greater importance). The chapter ends with another of the Servant passages – about the coming Messiah. And thus it hints at the future restoration of Israel, indeed, the future restoration of the entire world (vs. 15), which is a much greater restoration (and much more important for us!).

But what struck me was the ease with which God can do this restoration. In two senses, as we will see. Now, think about it. In one sense He is restoring a whole massive nation from captivity in another land, from a nation much stronger than themselves. In the second sense, He is saving us from our sin. Which one sounds harder? Which sounds like it takes more exertion, or pain or strength of will on God’s part? To save a sinner like me (I’m not that bad am I?), or to physically bring a whole nation from one land to another? Let’s see:

‘The LORD has made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.’ (Isaiah 52:10)

When I read this, I get the picture of God just flexing His muscles (yes I know He doesn’t have any…) in front of all the nations…challenging them to even dare to take Him on. It’s a one sided battle don’t you think? God has made bare His holy arm. His arm of power and infinite strength. And all the ends of the earth shall see. That’s one big arm!

‘For you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
For the LORD will go before you,
And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.’ (Isaiah 52:12)

Well it really does sound like a ‘walk in the park’ for God! Such a mighty task, moving a nation. But God accomplishes it with ease. And I guess that applies to us in many senses. What are you captive to? What fears hem you in? What sins tie you down? God can, and will, lead you out from them. But only if you rely on Him. The Israelites couldn’t remove themselves and restore themselves to their own land. Neither can you restore yourself, or save yourself from anything. Only God can do that. And oh how easily! Not only will He bring us out - but we shall not go out ‘with haste’ or ‘by flight’. He will bring us out comfortably, triumphantly, walking before and behind us. We will walk out stronger than when we went in. What more reason to give joy for current persecutions or trials?

And now let us see what we have been saved from. For God not only saves us from the power of sin and trials in our lives, but of course He has saved us from our sin, once and for all. He has redeemed us without money (vs. 3) from the clutches of Satan and this world.

‘Just as many were astonished at you,
So His visage was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;’ (Isaiah 52:14)

This is what Jesus went through to save us form our sins. In no way was it an easy task. It cost Him His life, which He gave freely as a ransom for many. His form was marred more than any man. That is what it cost Him to save us. For we have been saved from a much greater captivity than physical captivity in another land, or even a psychological or emotional captivity in our own lives. We have been saved from the ancient serpent, the ruler of this world. And yet, even so, Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave, and sits at the right hand of God now, interceding for us. Just like when God leads Israel out of captivity, and walks in front of and behind them, our LORD leads us and guards us from behind.

Let us never be unconfident in our God. For He both loves us deeply, and is powerful enough to move nations. Indeed, He is powerful enough to defeat death. If we trust in Him He has already delivered us from sin, and He will lead us out of every trial this world will set for us. Trust. It’s all about trust.

Isaiah 51:1,4:6b,7a,8

Isaiah 51 is a big chapter, and I felt heavy as I read it. It’s just full of really heavy themes, that have meaning in many aspects of Christianity. They affect a lot. The overall theme is God comforting Zion, or Israel, and ends with a beautiful image of Israel drinking the cup of God’s fury, but God taking it away in His mercy.

However, the LORD addresses Israel in two (main) ways:

1. As those who are righteous (eg. Vs 1 – “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, You who seek the LORD…”)
2. In terms of the actual nation (eg. Vs 4 – “Listen to Me, My people; And give ear to Me, O My nation…”)

And I think the intimation is that they are one and the same. I don’t think God switches between talking to two different groups. I think the inference is that those truly of God’s nation, Israel, are those who practice righteousness, or ‘follow after’ righteousness, as it says. This reminds me of the distinction in Romans 9 (which Alan preached on Sunday) which says

‘For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham…That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.’ (Romans 9:6b, 7a,8)

Thus, God is talking to the Israelites, but such that it is those that are ‘of the promise’ who are receiving this blessing. This comfort. It is a literal comfort of the literal Israel, made obvious by reference to ‘waste places’, and the reference to the ‘nation’. It is a promise to the nation that the wilderness will grow like Eden, that the desert would become like the garden of the LORD. But who of the nation receives these benefits? Certainly not those who are not children of the promise. Certainly not those who do not follow righteousness. This comfort is both external and internal. The external blessing of the nation is only felt and appreciated by those who are in a true sense ‘children of Israel’.

And so verse 7 and 8 have special significance for us, for although not a physical part of Israel, of whom the passage speaks, we are indeed children of Abraham (like the song!), and we ‘know righteousness’.

“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people in whose heart is My law:
Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.” (Isaiah 51:7-8)

Strong words! That apply to us as much as to any of the Israelites. Do you fear the reproach of men (or women – who can be much more scornful!)? Are you afraid of their insults? Has there ever been a time when you were too afraid to share the gospel at school or work or with anyone at any time because you were afraid of what they might say? Are you scared to put your hand up in evolution classes because you might be ridiculed? Do people make fun of you for being a ‘dumb Christian’?

I am sure that for every one of us there would be a ‘yes’ answer to at least one of those questions. And the next question we must ask is why? It doesn’t make any sense!

Have you ever embarrassed yourself in front of people by doing one thing or another and then realized its not so bad since you will never see them again? Or similarly, have you ever felt really really bad about something, or really scared of doing something, for instance bungy jumping, but known that once done it would be alright? Because it doesn’t last forever.

That is the point God makes here: people who insult you are going to fade away! Those who reproach you are going to die. They have no power. They don’t last forever.

But God does last forever. God’s righteousness lasts forever. And is that not what we are being reproached for? So then, what is more important? To be bold in the truth of something eternal, or to cower before temporary lies? You see, it just doesn’t make sense to fear criticism from the unsaved.

What’s more, God’s salvation is eternal as well. So it matters not whether in this life we are criticized and reproached, because our salvation is sure, and so the majority (indeed, mathematically the entirety) of our lives will be spent with God, away from all criticism and condemnation! Fear not then these mortal insults. Be bold!

Isaiah 50:4a,11

Isaiah 50 is another ‘Servant Song’ about the Messiah. It focuses on the relationship between the Servant and God, how the Servant is ever-reliant on God for help and wisdom. It tells of how the Servant’s obedience to God led Him to forgive those who hurt Him, but also how His trust in God ensured that He would not be disgraced (vs. 7), and that His adversaries could do nothing to Him. He also tells of His redeeming power, for those who rely on God like He does (vs. 10), and verse 11:

‘Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled –
This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down in torment.’ (Isaiah 50:11)

He makes it clear that man’s own efforts are never going to get him there. The Servant doesn’t redeem those who think they can ‘light their own fire’ as it were.

But the words that struck me most (and these weren’t the main message of the passage, just one example of the overall message – that the Servant was fully reliant on God) were in verse 4:

‘The Lord GOD has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.’ (Isaiah 50:4a)

I don’t know how many of you have experienced the warmth a ‘word in season’ brings when from a friend. Probably all of you. There are always times in life when we are down and out. Even the happiest people have these times. They are an inherent part of life, an essential flavour if you like. Often the difference between an extremely bad time and a passable time is how others treat us during that time. I am fortunate to have many awesome, caring friends and family. And it shows in times like that.

A ‘word in season’. The right thing said at the right time. Notice that it doesn’t say ‘That I should know how to speak a word to him who is weary’. It says ‘a word in season’. That word needn’t be overly kind on face value. It could be harsh, to the point, blunt, or kind, encouraging, gentle and sympathetic. But in either case it is loving. It is the right word. At the right time. To the right person.

I think we should all be people who seek to be able to give ‘a word in season’ to our friends and loved ones, to help them out when they are weary. Likewise, we should seek friends who are able to give that to us.

But notice the source of the Servant’s gift of ‘the tongue of the learned.’ He says unequivocally that the Lord GOD gave it to Him. And so let us seek it from the Lord, that we also should have the tongue of the learned that we may speak a word in season to those who are weary. But let us also praise God for the beauty of Jesus’ words to us in the Bible, and the encouragement we gain when we ourselves are weary.

Isaiah 49:6

‘Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’’ (Isaiah 49:6)

This made me very happy. We are the gentiles, of course. Here it is saying that Jesus, the Messiah, the Servant, was considered too great to just be salvation to the Jews. It was too small a thing just to save the Jews. It wouldn’t befit the glory of the Son to only save one nation. His glory demanded that He be a light to the Gentiles, that is us, as well. How wonderfully we have benefited from the glory of God!

Isaiah 48:6

‘You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.’ (Isaiah 48:6)

God is here talking about the end of times, where He is now revealing to the Israelites what should happen right at the end, when they will be ultimately restored, and the millennial kingdom set up. Just previous to this God has reminded them of ‘the former things’ which He declared ‘from the beginning’ so that when they happened the Israelites would know it was Him that caused them, and not attribute the events to their idols. In effect He is saying, ‘since I told you the former things would happen, and they did, then what I tell you now is equally true’.

But reading this verse as a Christian applies in a slightly different way. Or it can. We have heard, we have read, we know! We know about Jesus’ love, His death, His resurrection, God’s saving grace, His plan for us. And will we not declare it? Will we not give God the glory by telling everyone we know about these marvelous things?

We are God’s witnesses, as the Israelites were in those days. How will the nations know if not by us?

Isaiah 47:8a,9a

Isaiah 47 is a proclamation against Babylon, who captured Israel according to God’s will, but had no mercy upon them. God remarks on their arrogance and self-assurance, thinking there was ‘no one else besides’ themselves. Again it was a nation who was used of God for a specific purpose but thought themselves worthy of the praise for their actions. Plus they used magicians and sorcerers and astrologers and stargazers and everything in between.

‘Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,
Who dwell securely,
Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;
…
But these things shall come to you
In a moment, in one day…’ (Isaiah 47:8a,9a)

Does this remind you of anyone today? Maybe we’re not all into sorcery (though a fair few people are still into astrology somehow), but I think all of us at least in some way can relate to this. We dwell securely, given to pleasures, and so many of us (humans in general) say in our heart that there is no one else besides ourselves. We are proud, arrogant, self-centred. But don’t be fooled by the comforts of this life, especially in such a place like Australia where we do have such great comfort and security. Life was never meant for comfort. It merely has the potential of dimming our passion for God. Or blinding us to God altogether. So don’t be fooled, comfort in this life, or security in and of yourself only will not save you on that last day. Only a relationship with Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, will save you on that last day.