No Rest for the Wicked; Rise and Shine; Trampled Underfoot
June 5, 2023 at 1:41 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 3 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, common expressions in the Bible, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 60, Isaiah 61, Isaiah 62, Isaiah 63, Isaiah 64, Isaiah 65, Isaiah 66, Micah 7, Psalm 84, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah
Lord, we look forward to Your coming, but let it motivate us to serve You with a new urgency. We praise You for Your greatness and Your power. You are the Almighty. We thank You for Your goodness and Your righteousness. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
After prophecies and Servant songs in Isaiah, there is preaching against sin in Chapters 57-59.
Comfort is not complacency.
3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. 4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood.
Isaiah 57:3-4
Idolatry is spiritual adultery or whoremongering.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isaiah 58:3-4
Hypocrisy is revealed in motives. Christians like to have fun, but we must not fall into the trap of being envious at all the worldly “fun” that the world is having. There is greater joy in serving the Lord. Don’t sell your true joy for a little “fun.”
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Isaiah 57:21
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Isaiah 60:1
Rise and shine is a wakeup call, but also a reminder that the Lord is light, as opposed to darkness.
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
Micah 7:8
Darkness here is a metaphor for pain and suffering and imprisonment. Micah was Isaiah’s contemporary. He described darkness like in a dungeon.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
Psalm 84:11
God is like the sun for believers. He gives us life and we can’t live without Him.
19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. 20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Isaiah 60:19-20
When the sun goes down each night we have less light, but when Christ is physically present and ruling the Earth it will be like daylight all the time.
But ye shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.
Isaiah 61:6
God’s people will get a new name, the way a bride gets a new name from her husband.
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Isaiah 62:4
Hephzibah means “My delight is in her.” Beulah means “married.” Israel was put away by the Lord for a time – separated, but not divorced – for reasons of spiritual adultery.
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
Isaiah 62:10
Why would God trample people underfoot like grapes in a winepress? Is it because He is petty and spiteful? No, He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, much less the punishment of those He loves.
But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
Isaiah 63:10
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6
If our supposed righteousness is as filthy rags, how must our SIN look to Him?
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Isaiah 65:1
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Isaiah 66:29
This is a reference to Gehenna, the infernal garbage dump outside the city which Jesus used to illustrate eternal punishment in hell. Isaiah offered comfort to the people, but not empty comfort. They needed to confront spiritual reality, not a mere show. They slaughtered animals and called it sacrifice, but is the New Testament worship we offer in our day any less hypocritical? Are we praising the Lord a couple of times a week in church while sinning gleefully the rest of the time? There is no peace for the wicked, and there shouldn’t be, but we must care enough about them to offer them the only real comfort.
Hypocritical Worship
May 11, 2023 at 1:50 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 4 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, idolatry, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 59, religious hypocrisy, Sabbath, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, syncretism
Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isaiah 56:2
Under the Old Testament law the Sabbath was a day of rest and worship. After six days of working and keeping the law, God’s people were supposed to rest and keep the law. Both the working and the resting were forms of worship, but the people had trouble setting aside a day just for God. Under the New Testament the Christian’s primary day for corporate worship is Sunday, the first day of the week, because Jesus’s Resurrection occurred on the first day of the week, and we are to show that He is more important than anything else we will be focusing on in the upcoming week. However, are we that different from the Old Testament Israelites who failed to keep the Sabbath? Do we covet Sunday as “our” day of rest?
The attitude of the heart is important. Under the Old Testament law, work came first, and then rest. Under the New Covenant, grace comes first, then work. Worship is matter of the heart, but it also has an “outwardness” to it – at least it should. Church attendance, singing, public prayer, listening to preaching, group Bible study, and holy living are all forms of worship, and they CAN all be done superficially, and thus be hypocritical and sinful, but they do not have to be done in this way. They can also be sincere.
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
Isaiah 57:5
Trying to combine the worship of God with the worship of idols is called syncretism, and it is also idolatry. Worshiping God AND anything or anyone else is sin. Modern Christians aren’t usually tempted to worship God and Baal, or God and Ashtoreth, but we we are often tempted to worship our own instincts, our own experiences, or jobs or careers, our money, our friends, or our social positions. A good test is to think about what we do when faced with a problem. Do we turn first to one of those things, or to God?
For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.
Isaiah 57:17
God hates it when I think that I can get what I want in my own power, ability, or strength. Outwardly, ambition looks commendable to the world, but God sees inward greed and pride and considers it sinful.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Isaiah 58:3
Hypocrisy is performing religious duties for the praise of men. Even doing what is considered to be a “good work,” if it is done with wrong motives, could be a type of “sinful morality.”
None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
Isaiah 59:4
In a fallen, sinful world successful people get attention, but the people they may hurt or oppress in order to achieve that success are often unnoticed and neglected.
They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.
Isaiah 59:5
John Eliot Helped People to S.W.I.M. Plainly
April 25, 2023 at 3:15 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 3 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, commentary on John, Cotton Mather, Isaiah 40, John 21, John Eliot, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, Sunday School lessons on John, swimming quotes
… [H]is way of preaching was very plain; so that the very lambs might wade into his discourses on those texts and themes, wherein elephants might swim.
Cotton Mather in his eulogy for John Eliot
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:11
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
John 21:15
Faithful to an Unfaithful Wife
April 18, 2023 at 3:26 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 2 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, Genesis 9, God's faithfulness, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 54, Israel, Noahic Covenant, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah
Babylon would invade Jerusalem, and the Jewish people would be taken captive, but God WOULD deliver His people and God WOULD rebuild His city.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
Isaiah 45:5-6
God would do this in His Own way, and He doesn’t have to justify Himself to human beings, including the people being saved and the ones He is using in doing the saving.
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:2-3
God would use (“anoint”) Cyrus “the great” to overthrow Babylon, and it would be foolish for anyone complain about the Creator using His creations however He sees fit.
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Isaiah 45:9-10
It is absurd for little know-it-all children to tell their parents that they don’t have the “right” to boss them around.
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:1
Barrenness was considered a curse in Bible times, but God can make the barren fruitful.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;
Isaiah 54:2
God can make His people so fruitful that they will need larger tents. Do not try to limit the size of God’s tent in your life. Let it stretch to cover your church, your home, your job, your acquaintances, and your finances.
For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.
Isaiah 54:3
Isaiah looked past the immediate rebuilding of Jerusalem into the future millennial kingdom.
Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Isaiah 54:4
There is divine forgiveness in God, and there is also the removal of shame.
And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Isaiah 54:13
The Lord Jesus came once to redeem and to conquer. He is building His Church today. He’s sanctifying and purifying. He’s coming back to claim what’s His – to claim His bride – and His Bride will be made faithful, even though she has not always been faithful.
5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.
Israel 54:5-6
In the relationship between God and Israel, Israel was the one that was unfaithful, not God.
For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
Isaiah 54:9
This is a reference to the Noahic Covenant.
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
Genesis 9:8-9
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Genesis 9:15
God knew His Bride’s character before He entered into a marriage covenant with her.
And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Genesis 8:21
He knew mankind very well. So, God made a covenant, but, although Israel broke the covenant time and time again through their idolatry, a form of spiritual adultery, God remained merciful.
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Isaiah 54:8
God chastened Israel again and again, and allowed them to go astray, but He never broke His oaths. And, even as He chastened them through the evil of other nations, He still held those nations accountable, and He still remained faithful to His Own people.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17
All attempts to destroy the Jewish people throughout history have failed (Pharaoh, Haman, Babylon, Rome, Hitler, their Arabic enemies in the Middle East). As Christians, we, too, want to claim this promise for us. No attacks, no lies, no slanders will ultimately stand against us, because our righteousness is not ours in the truest sense. It is the righteousness of God’s Own Son, and who shall abuse or accuse Him when He returns? His enemies did that to Him once – but no more.
He Is Worthy
March 21, 2023 at 3:48 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 2 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, Gospel prophecy, Isaiah 53, Jesus Christ, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, the Gospel, the Suffering Servant, worthy to be praised
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isaiah 53:1 (emphasis added)
God used His fingers in creation (Psalm 8:3): careful, loving, meticulous. He used His hand to deliver His people from Egypt (Exodus 13:3,9,14,16): security in grasping, strength in holding and protecting. But He reveals His mighty arm – something of His true strength – in salvation.
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Isaiah 53:2
Jesus was the “root of David” (Revelation 5:5). He did not look strong or mighty when He appeared on the scene in His earthly ministry. He looked like a lowly servant. He did not look trustworthy, but He PROVED Himself utterly trustworthy. There was nothing special about His physical appearance, but He clarified the true meaning of beauty. Do not be deceived by paintings, photographs, movies, or any man-made images of Jesus. He is far more magnificent than any artist could ever capture.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:3
No one recognized His true worth. They hid their faces, both with a prideful detesting of what was perceived as weak and lowly, and with a desire to enjoy their own darkness and not have it exposed by His holy light.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4
In His suffering He was man’s greatest servant, and He made Himself servant to masters who hated Him. Ironically, men were the ones that deserved to be smitten by God, but HE was the one that they believed had been smitten because of the shameful manner of His suffering and death. He carried a lifetime of griefs and sorrows, but He had a mission. He had come for a reason.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
He came to suffer for sins He never committed. He was wounded for transgressions: our rebellious breaking of God’s law – not just minor technical offenses, but more like assaulting God Himself across a line He had marked out. These were transgressions, not mere indiscretions. He was bruised for our iniquities – not only our acts, but our CONDITION, our inherited sin nature from Adam, our perverse, bent nature, completely beyond our ability to change. All of this was borne and carried by the perfect, righteous, loving Lamb of God, all through His life.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:6
Under the Old Testament sacrificial system animals were sacrificed for sins. Sheep died for their shepherds, and goats were sent to the wilderness to die, a the priest having confessed the sins of the people, and having placed them symbolically on the goat’s head. But now the Good Shepherd would change everything – not by destroying the old system, but by fulfilling it. The Good Shepherd would die for His sheep.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isaiah 53:7
Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy before the chief priests and elders, before Pilate, and before Herod Antipas when He remained silent under their questioning, taunts, mockery, false accusations, and false judgment. He did not appeal the most unfair trial in the history of the world, because God was fulfilling these prophecies exactly according to His plan.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Isaiah 53:8
How are men cut off from the land of the living? They die. The ones taken from prison and judgment are killed. Jesus Christ, who was God in human flesh, willingly lay down His life. This was not suicide. Suicide is stealing life from God. Jesus was God and could not steal from Himself.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:9
Jesus was buried in a tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea, who was rich. The death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus are all integral parts of the Gospel.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
53:10
Jesus was crushed under the weight of God’s wrath poured out against our sins. How could a dead man with no children have descendants? By rising again, and by making spiritual children, not physically-conceived children.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:11
God was not satisfied in the sense of taking delight in suffering, but His righteousness, law, holiness, and justice were satisfied by payment in full for the ENTIRE SIN DEBT.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12
His portion with the great means great in number, in quantity, not in earthly prestige.
Jesus is still saving souls today. He Who knew no sin BECAME sign so that we who knew no righteousness could become the righteousness of God in Him. Let us esteem Jesus Christ better today than men did when He came to die for us. Let us look at what those who crucified Jesus esteemed instead of Him, and ask ourselves if we esteem those things more than Him today. He was poor. Do we esteem wealth? He was an outcast and a reject from society. Do we esteem popularity and acceptance? People lied about Him and said vile things. Do we fight for our good reputation with plans and schemes to get even and with our own get-back-at-you gossip? What do we care about more: that we look good to men, or that God looks great to men? He came to serve and to die. Do we dare to try to get ourselves in the position of being served by someone else? He suffered hardship and discomfort and a life of hard work. Will we dare to pamper ourselves? Jesus is rejected today for so many of the same reasons He was rejected back then. He represents everything that carnal men hate. But He is worthy. That’s any easy thing to sing on Sunday mornings, surrounded by affluence in a friendly, non-threatening environment, but do our activities and attitudes and awe prove that He’s our Treasure?
The Most Important Invitation You Will Ever Receive
February 15, 2023 at 1:17 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 2 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 55, Jesus Christ, Salvation, salvation invitations, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah
Isaiah 53 shows us what God’s Suffering Servant (Jesus, the Messiah) accomplished for God, for Himself, and for us, in His life, His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection.
In Chapter 55 there is an invitation, based on these accomplishments.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah 55:1
This is an invitation for EVERYONE to receive salvation: not just Jewish people, but gentiles, too. You can see that salvation cost God dearly, but He offers it free to us. We do not have to “earn” it, or “buy” it.
God speaks through Isaiah, and He pleads with us not to let the direction of our lives be about gaining ground in this world: Do not focus on getting wealth, fame, popularity, leisure. Those things won’t “satisfy.” They are not what is truly “good.”
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Isaiah 55:2
God had made a covenant with David. We can have the same promise that he received. God promised David that his throne would be established by God forever. Believers will one day reign and rule with Jesus Christ. If we incline our ear to God and heed and obey Him today, we can reign in life now (Isaiah 55:3).
God chose the Jewish people to bring blessings to the rest of the world. Our Bible came through them. The Messiah came through them. God’s Holy Spirit was first poured out on them. They rejected Jesus when He first came to them, but they are still God’s covenant people, just as the Church is today.
Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.
Isaiah 55:5
Isaiah also gives us a reminder that today is the day of salvation. God’s people have future promises from God, but they do not have to wait until some future “right time” to draw near to Him by faith.
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isaiah 55:6
The wicked are on the “way” of destruction, and the unrighteous cannot even control their own thoughts. But God has mercy on the broken and repentant. He will not only “pardon” them – He will ABUNDANTLY pardon them: make them His Own CHILDREN.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:7
Isaiah, in Chapter 55, prophesies to people who will experience joy in returning from “exile” – a time of chastening when the Lord seems to withdraw His presence from us to let us have our own way. We suffer when this happens, but He allows it because it teaches us to value Him, to be like Jesus, and to stay close to Him. It purifies us and sanctifies us, and makes us ready for our home in Heaven.
That’s how the Jewish people felt coming back to Jerusalem from their captivity in Babylon, and there will be even greater joy when Jesus’s Kingdom is established in the Millennium.
The Servant’s Invitations
February 13, 2023 at 2:46 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 3 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, Isaiah 51, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 54, Isaiah 55, Isaiah 56, Isaiah 57, Isaiah 58, Isaiah 60, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah
Isaiah Chapters 49-52 contain prophecies of Christ. They show us the picture of Christ as a Servant. He was God’s servant to the gentiles. Israel was supposed to deliver God’s message to the gentiles, but the nation failed to do this. Christ would not fail.
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
Isaiah 49:1-2
The Words of Christ became the Sword of the Spirit. Christ was God’s servant to the Gentiles, and He was also Servant to God the Father.
The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Isaiah 50:4-6
Christ obeyed the will of God the Father completely.
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.
John 8:29
Each day during His earthly ministry He surrendered His tongue, His ears, His back, His face, His entire mind to the will of His Father. God’s servant must be willing to serve with every part of himself.
Christ was God’s Servant to the Gentiles, Servant to God the Father, and Servant to Israel.
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
Isaiah 51:23
Israel’s enemies had “walked all over them,” but God’s grace would save them.
For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Isaiah 52:3
Isaiah Chapter 53 is the Old Testament’s most explicit prophecy and explanation of Christ and His atoning work. It is quoted at least 41 times in the New Testament. It was interpreted by Jewish teachers as a Messianic prophecy until the 12th Century, when they began to instead apply it to the sufferings of the nation.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:8-9
It wouldn’t make sense for Israel to die for the sins of Israel, and certainly Israel was not innocent of violence or deceit. The Gospel message is not just that Christ died – but that He died for our sins – the innocent Servant, unjustly accused, unfairly tried, beaten, killed, taking on the SINS and the PUNISHMENT which the guilty deserved – and which He never deserved.
That’s what shuts the mouths and causes a person under conviction to be quiet: shame.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Isaiah 53:12
Isaiah Chapter 54 promises the restoration of Israel.
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17
This applies to Israel, but, as Christians, we can claim these same promises. Chapter 55 goes right into God’s promises to the gentiles. When we speak to the unsaved in a church service and call them to become children of God, we call it an invitation, and this is in agreement with Isaiah’s prophecy.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isaiah 55:1 (emphasis added)
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Isaiah 55:6 (emphasis added)
Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Isaiah 56:6-7
There are invitations to come, seek, call, and even worship. Gentile believers will worship with Jewish believers.
After the prophecies and the servant songs, the section concludes with some preaching in Chapters 57-59: preaching against sin and reminders that comfort in the Lord is not complacency.
But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood.
Isaiah 57:3-4
Idolatry is spiritual adultery or whoremongering.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isaiah 58:3-4
Hypocrisy is revealed in motives. Christians should be joyful, but we should not find the world’s sinful version of fun to be amusing. According to the Word of God, there is true joy in serving the Lord. Don’t sell your joy for a little worldly “fun.”
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Isaiah 57:1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
Isaiah 60:1
The God Who Does Not Need to be Excused
January 17, 2023 at 4:09 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 3 CommentsTags: adult Sunday School, commentary on Isaiah, Isaiah 45, public relations, Sunday School, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, Sunday School promotion, theodicy
There was a time when I would sometimes be asked during weekly church services to say a few words promoting adult Sunday School. I tried to be cautious at such times, since I felt like I was playing the role of a P.R. (public relations) man. Because I love Sunday School so much, and because I have seen the Lord use it to do great things in my life and the lives of my friends and family, I am tempted to really build it up when I talk about it. The reason for my caution was that, in building it up, I did not want to cross the line into exaggeration (which is a “nice” word for lying).
So, in the relative obscurity of this web site, let me say what I am loath to admit when I am desperately pleading with adults to come join our Sunday School classes: Adult Sunday School is not perfect. It is wonderful and spectacular and edifying and inspiring, but it is not perfect. There, I said it.
However, as I have been posting lessons from the Book of Isaiah lately, I am thankful that I serve a God Who does NOT need a P.R. man, or any apologist, to make Him seem more palatable to men. He IS, in fact, perfect: perfect in every way that we can understand, and in innumerable ways that we can not understand.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Isaiah 45:5-7
It is almost as if God is telling His people: “I am your God. You don’t get another one.”
“I create evil,” says the Lord. Will I cringe when I stand in front of twenty or so adults who have been through divorces, who have suffered through cancer, who have lost loved ones, even their own children, and tell them this unpopular fact about God? Will I try to soft-peddle the revealed nature of God, and make excuses for Him, so the following week we will have twenty students again instead of only eight or nine? By God’s grace, I will not. By God’s grace, I will read Isaiah 45:9: “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?”
Would a piece of clay fuss at the potter who is trying to make it into a cup, and say, “I don’t want to be a cup! How dare you make me a cup? I want to be a plate, and you had better have a good reason if you don’t do it!”
We might expect the potter to retort, “Look, clay, you had better not forget who’s who. You’re the clay here – I’m the potter. If you don’t want to be a cup, I might just decide to make you into a toilet seat!”
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty happy to be in an imperfect Sunday School class, especially since the reason for being there is to learn more about a mighty and perfect and loving God, Who is far too great for me to figure out. The chairs are not always arranged the way I like them; all the seats aren’t as cushiony as they could be; we don’t get to eat donuts and drink juice on the church carpet; the thermostat isn’t always set just where we want it; and I don’t always say the right things when I beseech every member of our church body to get into a Sunday School class or else. But these are very small and insignificant prices to pay to get to meet each and every week with a group of God’s beloved children, and hear this sort of promise:
But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
Isaiah 45:17
Overcoming Circumstantial Fear
January 10, 2023 at 4:53 pm | Posted in Isaiah | 4 CommentsTags: commentary on Isaiah, fear not, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 41, Isaiah 43, Isaiah 45, Isaiah 47, Isaiah 48, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah
God is greater than our circumstances. As Christians, when everything around us looks miserable, we can acknowledge that we helped make the mess, but God has been, and still is, completely in control. If Jesus is your best Friend, He will never stop being your best Friend.
In Isaiah Chapters 1-39, God used Sennacherib, a pagan ruler, as an instrument to punish His people. Sennacherib was ruler of Assyria as it invaded Judah, but he failed to destroy Judah’s capital city, Jerusalem. At this point in The Book of Isaiah we find Isaiah prophesying about events approximately 100 years in the future. Babylon would invade Jerusalem and bring the Jewish people into captivity, but, just as God had used Sennacherib and the Assyrians for His purposes, He would ultimately use Cyrus, king of Persia, to set them free from Babylon so they could return to Jerusalem.
Isaiah is almost a mini-Bible in itself. Just as the Bible is made up of 66 books, Isaiah is made up of 66 chapters. The first 39 chapters deal primarily with God’s judgment of sin, which is one view of the entire Old Testament. The last 27 chapters deal primarily with the grace of God, which could also be said of the New Testament. In Chapters 40-48, the work of the Father is shown; in Chapters 49-57, the work of the Son is prophesied; in Chapters 58-66, the work of the Holy Spirit is referenced.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Isaiah 40:7-8
It would be a mistake for us to focus on our circumstances to the neglect of God. Looking around too much is bad. Looking down (including looking down your nose) is bad if you are letting your circumstances drive you to depression. Two things that can be very deceiving are our circumstances and our feelings. When the outlook is bleak, try the “uplook.” It’s unlikely that we will ever accomplish what the Lord wants us to do if we wait until we feel like it, or if we wait until the time is right. We need to “wait upon the Lord” (Isaiah 40:31), but getting busy doing the Lord’s work is “waiting on the Lord.” When I’m waiting in a waiting room I’m expectant, although it’s not always an optimistic expectation, but when I’m waiting on the Lord it’s a good expectation. Killing time is not “waiting” – that’s “wasting.”
Grass is going to turn brown. It’ll wither and be blown away. But the Word of God will stand forever. There are no “bad days” serving the Lord. We must not get so easily discouraged. A farmer doesn’t say he had a “bad day” farming because he didn’t harvest anything when it was a planting day. God is bigger than our circumstances, and He’s bigger than our fears. The Bible is full of “fear nots.”
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10
See also Isaiah 41:13-14; 43:1-5; 44:2-8. Isaiah prophesied to people who were afraid because they didn’t know what was ahead of them. They feared the unknown, but Isaiah was right to tell them not to be afraid. God would use Cyrus to make the highway smooth for them. Why would we be afraid today? We’re not lost; we have a map. We’re not alone. The Lord will never leave us, nor forsake us. The Holy Spirit lives within us.
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
If you know what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit, it can be frustrating to see people chasing Him around all over the country at Charismatic “outpouring” events, or waiting until a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening church service. If you know Christ, the Holy Spirit is right there with you – your body is His temple. You don’t have to wait until someone tells you it’s okay to submit to the Holy Ghost. It does no good to get so excited and worked up in a worship service that you run a lap around the congregation, if you are just going to walk with the world the whole rest of the week. Maybe it’s better to take a lap than to take a nap, but I’m probably better off taking a lap around my neighborhood, ministering to my neighbors, doing the work of the Lord. That way, if I get tired of running, I’m still walking with Lord.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Isaiah 41:14-16 (emphasis added)
Is it honorable to be a called “a worm?” In modern society, if you accepted being called a worm, you would be diagnosed with having “low self-esteem,” and be told to think more highly of yourself, to keep your chin up. “God didn’t create no junk, girlfriend!”
Take a lesson from your kitchen sink and think of yourself as the garbage disposal. There is nothing wrong with being garbage at the Lord’s disposal. Doing the dirtiest task in the will of the Lord is better than being a prince of this world. We have been given authority by Christ, but we have nothing about which to boast.
Isaiah called Cyrus by name over 100 years before he was even born.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isaiah 45:1
The Lord knows the future, and the proud will humbled.
And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Isaiah 47:7-10
Babylon is compared to a proud queen. Just knowing that they would be redeemed should have been enough to assuage their fears. How much more should we fear not, knowing that we have ALREADY been redeemed.
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Isaiah 48:17
Lord, I pray that there would be circumstantial evidence in our lives to indicate that we are believers, but I also pray that the circumstances around us won’t defeat us, or even cause us to fear. In Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
The Deep End 
Investigating Isaiah
July 19, 2023 at 3:39 pm | Posted in Isaiah | Leave a commentTags: Biblical comfort, Biblical consolation, Book of Isaiah, commentary on Isaiah, Isaiah, Sunday School lessons on Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah, according to some theologians, is a sort of “Bible in miniature.” Whether by providence or coincidence, the 66 chapters of Isaiah remind us that the Bible itself has 66 books and contains both condemnations and comforts, warnings and wonder, commands and consolations, often on the same page. Far from doing a detailed verse-by-verse commentary on the entire Book of Isaiah, I have attempted to simply point out and lift up some of the blessings found in it. May they be an encouragement and a benefit to those who read the individual entries linked here:
1. Shame in the Oaks (1)
2. A Seeking and Saving Shepherd (1:4)
3. Women and Children in Charge (2-3)
4. Blowing Your Nose (2:22)
5. The Lord’s Vineyard (4-5)
6. Beware the Flattened Fence (5:5)
7. God’s Long-Term Plans (6)
8. Keep Calm and Trust God (7:3,23)
9. What Will You Do Now, and Where Will You be Then? (8-10)
10. High and Mighty (9:6)
11. His Way IS the Highway (11-23)
12. Professing Atheists Are in Denial (14:13-14)
13. Saved in the Nick of Time (24-27)
14. The Breaststroke (25:11)
15. The Fruit of the Vine (28)
16. A Marvelous Work? (29)
17. Trusting the One Who Can Actually be Trusted to Do Something (29-30)
18. When Impatience Is Sinful (30:15,18)
19. Repentance before Battle (36-38)
20. Overcoming Circumstantial Fear (36-38)
21. John Eliot Helped People to S.W.I.M. Plainly (40:11)
22. Big Words of the Christian Life: Omniscience (Part 2) (40:13-14; 46:9-10)
23. A.W. Tozer Challenged Us to S.W.I.M. in God the Father (40:28)
24. Willful Waiting (40:31)
25. Charles Spurgeon Like to S.W.I.M. Poetically (41:18)
26. The God Who Does Not Need to be Excused (45:5-7,17)
27. Faithful to an Unfaithful Wife (45:5-10; 54)
28. Timing Is Everything and Timing is Nothing (46:9-10)
29. The Servant’s Invitations (49-60)
30. Eye to Eye (52:7-8)
31. He Is Worthy (53)
32. Catechism Question 16 (53:3,5)
33. From What Were You Saved? (A and B) (53:5-10)
34. Buried Treasure (53:9-12)
35. The Most Important Invitation You Will Ever Receive (55:1-7)
36. Hypocritical Worship (56-59)
37. No Rest for the Wicked; Rise and Shine; Trampled Underfoot (57-66)
38. Your Vocation (59:4,9)
39. Light Wakes You Up (60:1)
40. The Great Trading-Post (61:1-3)
41. Marriage Should Not be Secret (62:1-4)
42. Marriage Should Not be Static (62:1-4)
43. Marriage Should Not be Spurious (62:1-4)
44. Marriage Should Not be Somber (62:1-4)
45. Marriage Should Not be Sterile (62:1-4)
46. The New Girl Arrives (66:9)*
*most-viewed post in category