The Book Of Isaiah. Day 151, Judgment Against Wicked Religious Leaders

The remainder of Chapter 56 is an indictment against those who should be leading the people in a godly manner but who are too wicked to guide anyone.

The Lord calls to the animal kingdom to devour the soon-to-be slain sinful leaders. "Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!" (Isaiah 56:9) I believe this has to do with the invasion of the northern and southern kingdoms by Assyria and Babylon in the Old Testament. Many of those nations' nobles and priests and other high officials perished. But a similar event happens in the end times in Revelation 19:17 when one of the Lord's angels calls to the birds of the air to come and feast on the bodies of the slain who had rebelled against the Lord and who did not want His kingdom to come.

Why is the Lord inviting animals to feast on the fallen leaders? Because the leaders had a responsibility to remain faithful to Him and to be a godly example to their subjects. He explains that in this next portion. "Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep." (Isaiah 56:10)

In the analogies above, the Lord is comparing the nations' leaders to watchmen and to guard dogs. In ancient times there were watchmen posted on the city walls so they could alert the occupants of the city if they saw an enemy army approaching. But the leaders are so spiritually and morally bankrupt that they are about as useful as blind watchmen. They are also compared to a mute and lazy guard dog. A dog like that wouldn't be able to give a warning to the occupants of the house. In this same way the wicked leaders are useless in warning people that the Lord's judgment is coming if they do not repent.

The remaining verses compare the reprobate leaders to dogs who think only of satisfying their hunger, to shepherds who don't watch over the flock, and to people who live only for today. "They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, they seek their own gain. 'Come,' each one cries, 'let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better.'" (Isaiah 56:11-12)

The verses above paint the picture of people whose minds are focused on carnal pleasures rather than on the kingdom of God. They are materialistic. They are excessive in everything they do. They are living by the motto, "You only live once!" They don't believe the Lord's judgment is coming but instead believe that everything will keep going on just as it is today. They are complacent, not worried about ever having to answer for their idolatry and immorality. 

But judgment did come and things did not continue going on as they always had. The same will be true in the end times, according to the Lord Jesus Christ, who said that many would be like the people in the days of Noah. While Noah was building the ark, people thought he was crazy. They thought everything would continue to go on as it always had. They didn't believe that the Lord was going to judge them. They were "partying hearty", as the saying goes, "until the flood came and took them all away". (Matthew 24:39)

Let us not be like the people of Noah's day or of Isaiah's day. Today is the day for anyone who doesn't already know the Lord Jesus Christ to accept Him as their Savior. We don't know what may happen tomorrow. We live in a fallen, ever-changing world where things will not always go on just as they have been. The time is now.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 150, Salvation For Those Outside Of Israel

We begin Chapter 56 today. This first segment deals with people who would normally be excluded from the temple but to whom the Lord plans to offer salvation. I apologize for no Bible study posts on Monday and Tuesday. I had to leave home early both days to take care of some things at my mother-in-law's new house before work.

"This is what the Lord says: 'Maintain justice and do what is right, for My salvation is close at hand and My righteousness will soon be revealed.'" (Isaiah 56:1) The Lord has made promises to the people regarding their captivity in foreign lands: they will be restored to their own land in time. But they aren't to wait until then to begin praising the Lord and doing what is right in His eyes. You may be familiar with the expression, "Until the Lord opens a door, praise Him in the hallway." What He is saying here seems to be something similar. They aren't to say, "Until the Lord punishes our enemies and restores us to our land, we cannot properly serve Him." Instead they are to say, "I will serve Him every day of my life." 

The prophecy regarding their captors being punished and the people being set free is not too far off in the future in Old Testament times. This will come true just as the Lord said it would. Another prophecy is going to come true in the more far off future when His righteousness (His faithfulness, His trustworthiness, His promise-keeping power) is revealed by the advent of the Messiah. I believe both of these promises are in view in verse 1. He will keep His word to restore the people and He will keep His word to provide the Redeemer.

Keeping in mind that the Lord is faithful, the people are to be faithful to Him. "Blessed is the one who does this---the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil." (Isaiah 56:2) They are to honor the Lord with the way they live their lives. They cannot live perfect lives but, whenever they become aware that they have made a mistake, they are to sincerely repent of it, trusting that the Lord will absolve them of it.

The Lord will absolve not only the citizens of Israel, but foreigners who place their faith in Him. He will turn no one away. "Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, 'The Lord will surely exclude me from His people.'" (Isaiah 56:3a) Those who were not descended from Abraham may have thought that the Lord's promises didn't include them. But the Lord imputed righteousness to Abraham based on Abraham's faith (Genesis 15:6) and that is the way the Lord imputes righteousness to anyone---by faith. He doesn't consider the faith of the Gentile less important than the faith of the Jew.

In Biblical times there were rules about who could enter certain areas of the temple complex. Gentile believers had to remain in the outer court. But when Christ gave His life for all, the veil in the temple was torn in two by the hands of God, and everyone has access to Him now. Also in Biblical times there were rules (Deuteronomy 23:1) about persons who were maimed, such as eunuchs (men who had been castrated), and this next portion deals with them.

"And let no eunuch complain, 'I am only a dry tree.' For this is what the Lord says: 'To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant---to them I will give within My temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.'" (Isaiah 56:3b-5) Some of the men who were taken captive were castrated by their oppressors. Some men became eunuchs due to illnesses or injuries. Some were born with deformations in their sexual organs. Some may even have caused the injury to themselves on purpose. Some were not physically castrated but had chosen a life of celibacy. Jesus said none of that mattered (Matthew 19:12) when it came to the kingdom of God. A person did not have to have offspring and generations of descendants to be valuable to the Lord. They could be remembered by their faith and by their good works rather than for having raised children in the faith.

Foreigners also, who once were treated as "less than" by the people of Israel, will be as accepted by God for their faith as anyone who is of Israel. "And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to My covenant---these I will bring to My holy mountain and give them joy in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. The Sovereign Lord declares---He who gathers the exiles of Israel: I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered." (Isaiah 56:6-8)

The references to the Sabbath, the covenant, and the offerings and sacrifices have to do with Old Testament times and Old Testament laws. He is speaking of those foreigners who became believers in Him before the advent of Christ. But when Christ comes He makes a new covenant with mankind and His offer of redemption will appeal to people of many nations: the Lord will "gather still others to them". These "others" are people from all over the world. 

No matter who you are, where you come from, or what you've done, the Lord calls to you just as much as He calls to anyone else. You are not "less than" anyone. Christ died for you just as much as He died for anyone and He loves you just as much as He loves anyone and He wants to save you just as much as He wants to save anyone. He is an equal opportunity Savior who says, "Whoever comes to Me I will never drive away". (John 6:37)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 149, His Word Accomplishes His Will

We conclude Chapter 55 today with the Lord reminding Isaiah's people that His word can be trusted and that His word changes hearts and lives. 

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10-11) 

The Lord is speaking to an agricultural society. They understand the cycle of planting, growing, and reaping. They know that the ground must be watered to feed all the plant life. Water falling from the heavens is a blessing not only for plant life but for all life on earth, for nothing can live without water. Just as the Lord sends water on the earth for a purpose, He sends His word to mankind for a purpose. And just as water causes things to bear fruit, God's word causes mankind to bear fruit.

In Deuteronomy 8 and in Matthew 4 the Lord said that man wasn't intended to live on bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Our souls should thirst for the word of God the same way our bodies thirst for water. We should yearn for and be changed for the better by the word of God, just as our bodies yearn for water and are helped by it. The Lord's word is never unfruitful. Although some people reject it, they do so willingly, not because there is any fault on the Lord's part. There are always people in every generation who take His word to heart and allow it to minister to their souls. Then, having been changed by His word, they teach His word to others and many of those others are changed by His word too.

The Lord continues to use an agricultural example to get His point across. "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever." (Isaiah 55:12-13) 

When people allow God's word to minister to them, their hearts are changed from a parched landscape of barren unfruitfulness into a vibrant and blooming field. They begin to prosper in the spirit. They begin to relate to their fellow man differently. They begin wanting to talk about the changes the Lord has made in them, thus helping others to come to the Lord. Just as rain causes seeds to sprout and grow, the Lord's word causes people to grow in faith and to lead others to faith.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 148, His Ways Are Higher

We will begin looking at the second half of Chapter 55 today. Yesterday's passage ended with the Lord urging everyone to come to Him for mercy and for pardon from their sins. This next segment is related to that.

He says: "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8) When we ended yesterday's study He said for everyone to turn to Him and forsake their wicked ways. We don't always realize that our ways are wicked. Our brains work 24/7 and many of our thoughts don't line up with who we are in the Lord, but we are so busy and our thoughts are so many that we are often unaware of just how many times in the day we think something in a wrong attitude. What man considers righteousness is far below what the Lord considers righteousness. As King Solomon famously said, "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." (Proverbs 14:12) When we compare ourselves to our fellow man, we may come off looking fairly good if we are living a basically moral life. But when we compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see just how far we fall short. Because we cannot live a perfectly righteous life---in word or in thought or in deed---we need to receive His righteousness in order to have our sins pardoned.

The Lord continues in the same theme. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9) The Lord created us with enough intelligence to communicate with Him and to have fellowship with Him, but we do not possess an intelligence like His. I am going to use a simple little example to describe the way I picture what the Lord is saying. Any of you who know much about me know that I love dogs and have always had dogs. Dogs are intelligent enough to communicate with me and to have fellowship with me, but dogs do not possess as much intelligence as I do. My current dog, Beau, can't understand everything I say and do. My thoughts are not his thoughts, my ways are not his ways, and my level of intelligence is higher than his level of intelligence. He sometimes has a difference in opinion than I do in regard to the best way to handle situations. My dog doesn't always want to do what I tell him to do. He can't really understand why I do things that I do, such as giving him haircuts and baths or taking him to the vet for his vaccines. In a similar way, we don't always understand why the Lord does what He does. We don't always want to do what He tells us to do. 

Continuing with this example, how are we to handle things we don't understand? Well, my dog knows I love him. Although he doesn't always understand why I do the things I do, he knows I love him and he senses that whatever I do is for his benefit. He trusts me to take care of him even when that means he doesn't always enjoy some of the things I have to do to take care of him. He trusts that when I tell him he can't do this or that, it's for his safety. In this same way we know that the Lord loves us. We may not know why He does the things He does and we may not enjoy every situation He puts us in, but we can trust that He is taking care of us. When He doesn't allow a particular thing, it is for our safety. When He puts us in situations we don't especially like, it is for our betterment. Everything He says to us and everything He does for us is coming from a loving heart. 

The Lord has taught me a lot of things through my pets. I've often thought that my dogs do a better job of obeying their master than I do in obeying my Master. I believe the Lord uses all sorts of things to teach us how to follow Him, especially things He knows we enjoy and love. He knows I enjoy and love my dogs and He has used them as examples for how to trust and obey. If we keep in mind that the Lord always relates to us in love and that He always wants the best for us, we can begin to view everything in life as a way to grow in our faith and as a way to continually develop a closer relationship with Him. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 147, Seek The Lord While There Is Time

Chapter 55 is an invitation for people to come to the Lord before it is too late.

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost." (Isaiah 55:1) Salvation is the free gift of God. (Romans 6:23) To obtain salvation and a relationship that satisfies the deepest needs of our souls costs us nothing; it cost the Lord everything. He has done the work for us and all we have to do is trust in what Christ did for us on the cross. The Lord isn't speaking of physical hunger in verse 1 but in spiritual hunger, for the Lord Jesus said: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Idolatry has profited Isaiah's people nothing. They have spent time and effort serving false gods. They have called out to false gods in vain. Therefore the Lord says: "Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare." (Isaiah 55:2) The Lord does promise to provide the necessities of those who are His (Philippians 4:19) but here He is speaking of the necessities of the soul. He's talking about soul-hunger and soul-thirst. Nothing except a relationship with Him can satisfy our souls. We were created for a relationship with Him and there is an empty space within us that cannot be filled by anything or anyone except Him.

"Give ear and come to Me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, My faithful love promised to David." (Isaiah 55:3) Verse 3 is a specific promise to the tribes of Israel in that the Lord promised never to cut off the royal line of David. The Lord's covenant with David (and with all the tribes of Israel) is everlasting. But verse 3 is also a promise to everyone who believes on a particular descendant of the royal line of David: the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him the Lord fulfilled the promise to David that he would "never fail to have a descendant sitting on the throne of the house of Israel". (Jeremiah 33:17) The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal King, will sit on the throne of the house of Israel forever when He comes to reign eternally. Not only will He reign over the house of Israel, but He will reign over the entire earth, and all of us who have placed our faith in Him will live under His loving and faithful kingship forever.

"See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor." (Isaiah 55:4-5) I could not decide whether to capitalize the words "him" and "you" in these two verses, for I believe the Lord is speaking both of King David and of King Jesus. The Lord did indeed make David a witness, a ruler and a commander. David said in Psalm 18 that because of what the Lord had done for him, people he did not previously know now served him, that foreigners bowed before him and obeyed him. But Jesus also witnessed to the people and will someday be a ruler and commander of people from all nations. People who were not of Israel will hear of Him and serve Him; they will bow to Him and obey Him. 

Because the Lord has paid a heavy price in order to make us the free offer of salvation, we must not turn Him away. There is no better day than today to make Christ the Lord of our lives if we haven't already done so. We aren't promised tomorrow. We don't know how much longer this old world will continue as usual. I don't know when the end times will commence, but we are closer to that era than we've ever been before. We are closer to the day of judgment when the Lord will judge all who have rejected Him. "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will freely pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 146, The Future Glory Of The Nation, Part Three

The Lord has been promising Isaiah's people that although they will be conquered and taken captive to foreign lands, they will return. He has been likening His relationship with the nation to the relationship between a faithful husband and an unfaithful wife. The people have been unfaithful to Him by worshiping other gods and He will be "separated" from them in a sense by allowing them to be separated from their land. This discipline will cause the people to repent and turn back to Him. In return He will forgive them and take them back like a loving husband reconciling with a wife who recommits her heart to him.

Today's passage begins with the Lord comparing His promise to never destroy these people to His promise to never flood the earth again. "To Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn never to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:9-10)

The Lord made a promise---a covenant---in Genesis 9 never to flood the earth again. He has kept that covenant and will continue to keep it. The Lord also made a covenant with Abraham in the book of Genesis, promising to make a great nation of his descendants, vowing that his family line would never be cut off. He has kept that covenant and will continue to keep it. In today's passage He is assuring the people that His covenant with Abraham is just as binding upon Him as the covenant with Noah. His word can always be trusted. 

Now He speaks to the city and the people of Jerusalem, the capitol city, and by extension He is speaking to the whole nation and to all of the descendants of Abraham. "Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be My doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you." (Isaiah 54:11-15) 

The splendor of the nation and the bounty poured out on it are both metaphorical and literal. Metaphorically speaking, the precious gems mentioned above stand for the national prosperity that will be the blessing for spiritual prosperity. Literally speaking, in the eternal kingdom we find the "new Jerusalem" of Revelation actually built with precious gems. This glorious capitol city of the earth is described (as well as the Apostle John could describe it in human words) in Revelation 21:9-27)

Until the time of the eternal kingdom, Israel will have some earthly enemies who hate her, but it won't be because the Lord told people to hate them. It won't be because the Lord has turned His back on Israel, has disowned Israel, has taken His protective hand off of Israel, or is going to break His promise to Israel. In verse 15 above He clearly states that no enemy will ever be able to destroy that nation. Israel will never be wiped from the earth. The family line of Abraham will never come to an end. There always have been and still are people who would love to see every descendant of Abraham destroyed. They long to have the name of Israel wiped from the map. But this will never happen because the Lord won't allow it to happen.

The Lord is always in control. There are times when this world looks like it's out of control. There are times when the descendants of Abraham feel as if they are hated on every side. But no one can lift a finger against them unless the Lord allows it. And anytime the Lord allows a finger to be lifted against one of His children, it is for a divine purpose, not to destroy them. Just as the Assyrian captivity and the Babylonian captivity were intended to correct the people's waywardness, the Lord can use any hardship to prosper them spiritually. "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from Me,' declares the Lord." (Isaiah 54:16-17)

Weapons are forged by mere human beings. They can't do anything the Lord doesn't allow them to do. Many times the Lord has turned weapons away from us, more times than we realize. Other times He has allowed hardship to come into our lives but not for the purpose of destroying us. We have an enemy in Satan and we sometimes have enemies in our fellow man, but none of them can lift a finger against us unless the Lord allows it. If a weapon strikes us, it will not prosper in the manner in which our enemy intended. Instead it has another purpose, perhaps for correction or to draw us closer to the Lord or to strengthen us for a future battle or to prepare us for a great blessing. When a weapon comes our way, as long as we submit ourselves to the Lord, the weapon doesn't prosper---we do. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 145, The Future Glory Of The Nation, Part Two

Yesterday we began Chapter 53 in which the Lord reveals to Isaiah that there is a glorious future for his people. In today's text the Lord says: "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities." (Isaiah 54:2-3) 

Yesterday we talked about how the people had become spiritually unfruitful, which is why the Lord allowed Assyria and Babylon to conquer them and take them captive. The majority had fallen into idolatrous practices and into immoral living. But their defeat and captivity was intended to correct their behavior, not to destroy them as a nation. Following their defeat and captivity and eventual return to the land, we don't find them bowing to idols anymore. They will be physically fruitful (will bear many descendants) and they will be spiritually fruitful (due to worshiping only the Lord). This is why the Lord uses the analogy above of setting up enormous tents and stretching them far and wide. 

In the Old Testament we often find the Lord referring to Himself as the "husband" of the descendants of Jacob. He refers to the nation as His "wife"---usually His unfaithful wife. Just as a human husband has the right to separate from an unfaithful wife or to divorce her, the Lord had the right to do the same. In that sense He and His wife were separated during the era of captivity. But the captivity will make them repent of their unfaithfulness and He will forgive them and take them back, just as many a human husband has forgiven a sincerely repentant wife and has taken her back. This is the situation the Lord speaks of next. "Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood." (Isaiah 54:4) 

An unfaithful wife could be shamed publicly, with the wronged husband announcing her sins and declaring himself separated from or divorced from her. Under Old Testament law, the husband could even have her stoned to death along with the man who committed adultery with her if the two of them had been caught in the act by two or three witnesses. I assume that rarely happened since adulterers take great care not to get caught, but because the Lord Himself witnesses everything that humans do, He would have been within His rights to destroy the nation for unfaithfulness because as the Holy Trinity there are always three witnesses who see everything done on the earth. But He did not want to destroy them. So He says a time is coming when His wife will not feel disgraced and shamed for her sins. He is going to forgive and forget. He will never bring the subject up again, which is how a human who has truly forgiven their spouse will behave. True forgiveness means not bringing up the person's wrongdoing to them again. It means leaving the subject behind and moving forward.

The Lord makes it very clear in this next passage that He will extend true forgiveness to the nation. He will put the people's past mistakes in the past, as though the mistakes never happened, and He will move forward toward a better future. He promises: "For your Maker is your husband---the Lord Almighty is His name---the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit---a wife who married young only to be rejected,' says your God. 'For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,' says the Lord your Redeemer.'" (Isaiah 54:5-8)

Why does He call her back? Because He loves her! Because He loves her with an everlasting love! (Jeremiah 31:3) He doesn't separate from her forever. He doesn't divorce her. He doesn't destroy her. He loves her so much that He doesn't want to be without her. This is also how He feels about you and me! He wants us to be with Him forever, so He made a way of redemption for us. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 144, The Future Glory Of The Nation, Part One

In the previous chapter the Lord talked about the suffering and the glory of the Messiah. As we move on into Chapter 54 the Lord talks about the future glory of Israel. There was suffering in store for Isaiah's people coming first though. Due to the idolatry of the northern kingdom of Israel, it would be conquered by Assyria during the days of Isaiah. Later, due to the idolatry of the southern kingdom of Judah, it would be conquered by Babylon. But, just as the death of the "Servant" in Chapter 53 was a beginning and not an ending, the "death" (the defeat and captivity of Israel and Judah) was a beginning and not an ending. 

The same is true in our own lives. How many times have our situations appeared hopeless only for God to completely turn them around? How many times have our goals and dreams seemed impossible only for the Lord to make them come true? Though for a time Isaiah's people were disciplined for turning from the Lord, after the captivity we never again find them bowing to pagan idols on the pages of the Bible. The prophecy of the people returning to the land had a partial fulfillment when they were released from captivity, then another partial fulfillment when Israel once again became a sovereign nation in the world in 1948, then more fulfillment as the gospel message went out to the world from Israel, but there is a permanent fulfillment yet to come when the King of kings reigns over the world forever from that nation.

We will now begin our text from Chapter 54. The Lord says: "'Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,' says the Lord." (Isaiah 54:1) 

In ancient times it was considered a disgrace for a woman to be barren. People assumed those women had sin in their lives and that the Lord was displeased with her and had closed her womb. This was sometimes the case with some of the women in the Bible but not always. There are incidents in the Bible where the Lord delayed giving a woman a child for other reasons, such as to perform a miracle no one could deny like when He enabled the ninety-year-old Sarah to conceive. But while Isaiah's people are captive in foreign lands, they will feel as ashamed and disgraced as a woman whose womb had been closed. They would feel like a woman whose neighbors talked about her behind her back, like a woman whose neighbors believed the Lord was displeased with her. Their captivity was due to the Lord being displeased and their captors and the other nations knew it. But just as the Lord miraculously opened the wombs of women in the Bible who desperately wanted to be mothers, He will miraculously bring the people out of foreign lands and resettle them in their own land.

Once the captivity is over, the people will be more spiritually fruitful than they were before. They won't build altars to false gods. They won't bring offerings and sacrifices to false gods. They won't waste their time and energy calling upon false gods to help them. They had become spiritually barren before the captivity, producing no worthwhile fruit of godliness, but when their hearts return to the Lord they will bear spiritual fruit and will be able to lead others to repentance. This is even more true under the New Covenant, after Christ has died and has risen from the dead, for those in Israel who put their faith in Him will spread out to preach the gospel to heathen nations, making converts to Christianity and to the one true God. There will be more children born to God in this way than in any other time before. Children are still being born to Him through the gospel message in our own day and children will continue to be born to Him right up until the end.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 143, The Suffering And The Glory Of The Servant, Part Five

We conclude Chapter 53 which predicts the way Christ would suffer for our sins, die, and be raised from the dead.

"He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death, though He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth." (Isaiah 53:9) In the gospel accounts we find Jesus being crucified between two criminals, thus fulfilling Isaiah's prediction that He would die with "the wicked". (Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27, Luke 23:32, John 19:18) Isaiah's prediction that He would be "with the rich in His death" was fulfilled when the wealthy member of the Sanhedrin who had become a believer in Jesus, Joseph of Arimathea, gave his own new tomb for Jesus to be buried in. (Matthew 27:57-60, Mark 15:43-46, John 19:38-40)

Jesus lived a completely sinless life. When He was sentenced to death, it was not because anything had been proven against Him. As we studied yesterday, Pilate announced to Jesus' accusers that he found no fault in Him. When Jesus was illegally put on trial in the middle of the night at the home of the high priest, witnesses came forward to say various things against Him, but the Bible states that they attempted to bear false witness against Him but their testimonies did not agree with each other. (Mark 14:59) 

These witnesses were breaking one of the Ten Commandments (bearing false witness) and everyone assembled together at the high priest's house, who voted to condemn Jesus to death, were breaking a law the Lord gave to them through Moses. This law stated that one could be sentenced to death without eyewitness testimony of at least two witnesses and their testimonies had to agree with each other. (Deuteronomy 19:15) I assume the witnesses were to be questioned separately, just like the practice we have today when police will separate witnesses to question them in different rooms. This helps to prevent innocent persons from being convicted of crimes they didn't commit. But Jesus' enemies voted to convict Him anyway and in this they were the ones who committed a grievous capital crime.

Why was such a miscarriage of justice allowed to happen? Why did God the Father allow His sinless, perfect Son to be accused of crimes He did not commit? Why did the Father allow His sinless, perfect Son to be struck in the face, mocked, spit upon, beaten within an inch of His life, put to death on a cross, and buried in a tomb? He allowed it for you and me! He allowed it because this was His plan of salvation. He allowed it because the Son was willing to pay the ultimate price to offer us forgiveness and to offer us an eternity spent with Him, as the passage below explains.

"Yet it was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and though the Lord makes His life an offering for sin, He will see His offspring and prolong His days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in His hand." (Isaiah 53:10) Jesus' death wasn't the end; it was only the beginning. In this verse Isaiah begins to predict the resurrection of Christ. Though Christ has given His life, afterwards He will "see". He will rise from the dead, never to die again, and because He will rise from the dead many will believe on Him as their Savior. These believers are His "offspring". 

Death and the grave will not be the end of the one Isaiah refers to as the "Servant" of the Lord. The Lord says to Isaiah: "After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied; by His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities." (Isaiah 53:11) After Christ has given His life as an offering for our sins, He will rise from the dead. This is the proof that He is who He said He was and it is the proof that the Father accepted His sacrifice on our behalf. This is why Christ will "be satisfied" with what has been accomplished. The sacrifice was enough---enough for all the sins of everyone who will place their faith in Him. Their faith in Him is what will justify them in the eyes of God the Father, for God the Son has borne their iniquities (paid their sin debt), and for the sake of Christ the Father will declare them not guilty.

Because God the Son willingly gave His life to carry out the Father's plan of salvation for mankind, He will be given the greatest honors of anyone who has ever lived on this earth. The Father says: "Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53:12) 

Like the mightiest warrior of all, Christ went to battle for our souls and won the victory. Like a king under whose authority a warrior serves, God the Father bestows on Him "the spoils" of war, promoting Him to the highest place of honor, giving Him the name that is above every name. (Philippians 2:9) There is no other name by which we can be saved. If we reject Him, there is no means by which we can be justified. If we reject the one who paid the penalty for our sins, we will have to pay for our sins ourselves. 

Consider how much He loves us! He didn't consider any price too high to pay for us! If you don't already know Jesus Christ as your Savior, there is no better time than today to give your heart and life to Him. We aren't promised tomorrow. Today is the day to accept His love, His sacrifice, and His sovereignty over your life. Through faith in Him you can stand before God someday and be declared forgiven and justified. You can be told that your every sin has been paid for and that, in the eyes of God, it is as if you never sinned at all.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 142, The Suffering And The Glory Of The Servant, Part Four

As we study Chapter 53 we see how Isaiah's prophecy regarding the one known as the Lord's "Servant" corresponds with what happened to Jesus Christ.

"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth." (Isaiah 53:7) Jesus was arrested after dark in the garden of Gethsemane and taken to the high priest's house where an unlawful trial was held in the middle of the night. As morning was breaking He was taken to the residence of Pontius Pilate where He was accused before the Roman governor. These things were done during the night and very early in the morning to avoid the majority of the people learning about it, for many believed He was the Messiah and even a lot of those who didn't consider Him the Messiah thought He was a prophet. A riot of protest could have occurred if these people realized what was happening; Jesus' enemies didn't want anything to interfere with their plans. 

Jesus Himself didn't protest His unlawful trial. He didn't want anything to interfere with His enemies' plans either because it was His intention to go to the cross to carry out God the Father's plan of salvation. He didn't say or do anything that could have prevented His death, thus foregoing putting on a defense before the Roman governor who was the only one who could have set Him free. (Mark 15:2-5) In addition, He didn't call upon the hosts of heaven to supernaturally rescue Him. He stated that the Father would have heard His prayers to be rescued, sending Him twelve legions of angels if He prayed to be rescued. (Matthew 26:53) This clearly demonstrates that Jesus went to the cross of His own free will and that He was in control of the situation the whole time. Nobody could have nailed Him to the cross if He didn't want to go to the cross. 

"By oppression and judgment He was taken away. Yet who of His generation protested? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was punished." (Isaiah 53:8) Judgment was passed against Him, though Pilate stated that Jesus had done nothing wrong. (Luke 23:4, John 19:4) The word translated as "taken" means "seized, taken hold of, captured", which depicts the way the Lord Jesus was arrested in the garden and taken by force first to the high priest and then to the governor. He was sentenced to death by Pilate, though Pilate declared Him innocent by wrongdoing, and He was taken by force to the cross where He was put to death: "cut off from the land of the living". Why was an innocent man put to death? Why did Jesus allow Himself to be treated this way? It was for the transgressions of human beings, as Isaiah states in our text above. He did it for you and for me! He was punished not for His own transgressions (He didn't commit any) but for our transgressions!

Who else has loved us like this? Even though there might be fellow human beings who would be willing to die in our place, their death couldn't save us from our sins. Their death couldn't pay for our transgressions because all of our fellow human beings are transgressors themselves. Jesus endured the insults and the false charges against Him even though He never did anything wrong in His life. Most human beings cannot endure such things; we want to clear our names. Most human beings cannot endure the physical abuse He endured before being nailed to the cross and after He was nailed to the cross; many a person has turned on their loved ones under pressure less intense than this---that is why torture is such an effective interrogation method. But Jesus never denied us! He never will! If we have made Him the Lord of our lives, He is our defender forever!

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 141, The Suffering And The Glory Of The Servant, Part Three

We are in Chapter 53 which deals with the suffering and the glory of the "Servant": the Lord Jesus Christ. Until the advent of Christ I am sure it was difficult to understand this passage, but in the church age we can clearly see that it describes the things Jesus endured in the gospel records.

Yesterday we looked at verses 1-3 and now we pick up at verse 4. "Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered Him punished by God, stricken by Him, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) It is my opinion that when Isaiah uses the word "we" he is speaking primarily of the people of his own nation, many of whom (though not all) reviled Jesus and believed He was a liar and a blasphemer. Those who wanted Him crucified viewed His death as the proper punishment for stating He was the Son of God, the Messiah. They believed He was being punished by God for making what they considered untrue statements and for pronouncing what they considered false prophecies. According to the law of Moses, this made Jesus worthy of death, for blaspheming the name of the Lord was a capital offense (Leviticus 24:16) and proclaiming false prophecies in the name of the Lord was a capital offense (Deuteronomy 18:20).

If Jesus had not been who He said He was, the people would have been correct in declaring Him guilty of capital offenses. These would have been very grievous sins. But, since Jesus is who He says He is, and since He is incapable of sin, He was nailed to the cross for some other reason. He was nailed to the cross because He is who He says He is and because He is sinless: only the sinless Lamb of God could make a sacrifice capable of saving our eternal souls. He suffered for our sins, not His, as we see below.

"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6) I don't know what Isaiah made of this information. I don't know how he reconciled the idea of a suffering Messiah with the idea of a victorious Messiah. What I do know is that he believed all of this. He may not have understood how God would put all these pieces together and fulfill the plan of salvation through a Servant who would die for our sins and yet be an eternal King, but he trusted that God could and would do it.

The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed forward toward the blood sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Those had to be made year after year after year. But when Christ came, He made a far more perfect and enduring sacrifice---the sacrifice of Himself---the sacrifice of "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". (John 1:29) Now that this perfect and eternal sacrifice has been made, there is no other way to obtain forgiveness from our sins except to accept in faith what Christ did for us on the cross. Therefore, "How shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?" (Hebrews 2:3) Christ is our hope, our only hope, "For there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 140, The Suffering And The Glory Of The Servant, Part Two

On Monday we began a segment of the book of Isaiah that contains a prophecy regarding the death and resurrection of Christ. As we ended our study yesterday we found the Lord saying that people all over the world would learn about things they had never heard of and that even kings would have nothing to say against this message. I believe these words foretell the way the gospel message would spread all over the earth, converting people from all walks of life. People of pagan nations who had never heard of the God of Abraham would learn of Him and renounce their idols.

Now we move on into Chapter 53 with these words: "Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (Isaiah 53:1) The Message Bible translates verse 1 like this, and I believe it's a perfect way to describe what Isaiah is saying: "Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?" Who could have foreseen the suffering of the Servant of God? Who would have expected God's power (His "arm") to be depicted as human weakness? Who would have dreamed eternal life would come through death? But the Redeemer had to come in the form of a man so He could make Himself an offering for all people. The reason so many of His own people rejected Him was because they were offended by the idea of a suffering Messiah; they were expecting (and they preferred) a conquering Messiah who would extract them from under the iron boot of Rome.

But there was more at stake than freedom from the Roman oppressors. Souls were at stake. Freedom from the penalty of sin is far more important than freedom from any human oppressor. The entire human race was beset with sin and needed a perfect and eternal means of redemption. That perfect and eternal means of redemption could only come through the perfect Lamb of God who would come in the form of a human---who was fully man and fully God at the same time---who could make a sacrifice so great that it was capable of paying for their sins past, present, and future.

"He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces He was despised, and we held Him in low esteem." (Isaiah 53:2-3) These verses depict the birth of Christ as a baby, who grew up in the sight of God the Father, who grew both in physical size and in the wisdom of God and in the favor of God. (Luke 2:52) In these verses we see both His humanity and His deity. 

The advent of Christ occurred during a time when it must have seemed to many in the world that the nation of Israel could never rise again. The human mind was not able to figure out how the nation could ever again be a sovereign power. The descendants of Jacob knew what the prophets had said---that a king would come from the direct line of David and that His kingdom would endure forever---but exactly how such a thing would be accomplished had never been spelled out for them. The advent of Christ occurred during an era of discouragement: He appeared like a "root out of dry ground". 

Jesus was not a man of taller stature than everyone else in the nation or more handsome than anyone in the nation, like King Saul was. Saul was elected king by the people because he was such an imposing and impressive figure. King David was also a very handsome man, along with being the mightiest warrior the people had ever seen, and he was elected because he successfully fought against his people's enemies. But Jesus did not come with a sword in His hand to lead a successful rebellion against the nation's enemies. Therefore Isaiah says that He had no "beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him". In the gospel accounts we often find Jesus blending into the crowd, not standing out in the crowd, for He was average in looks and in height. He looked pretty much like any Jewish man in the first century AD who was of lower economic status. 

No one would have pointed to Jesus and said, "This man looks like a king." From the outside He didn't make much of an impression but it was what He said and did that proved He was who He said He was. Those were the things that attracted people to Him. As Peter once declared to Jesus, "You have the words of eternal life." As we continue on through Chapter 53 this week we will see how accurately Isaiah describes what Jesus did in order to offer us eternal life.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 139, The Suffering And The Glory Of The Servant, Part One

We are beginning a portion of the book of Isaiah in which he foresaw the way the Lord's plan of salvation would unfold. He predicted the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Earlier in the book of Isaiah we found him speaking of the one called "the Servant". This is not just any servant but is the Servant: the one who will perfectly keep all the commandments and laws and statutes of God---the one who will completely fulfill the will of God.

It is God Himself who speaks these words: "See, My Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted." (Isaiah 52:13) 

Although mere human beings who love the Lord can be called the servants of the Lord, and although those who love the Lord generally act more wisely than those who reject Him, this Servant will be more than a mere human. This Servant will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted in a manner different from someone who is only a human. This Servant is going to be rewarded above all. As the Apostle Paul worded the glorification of this Servant: "God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name." (Philippians 2:9)

But before this faithful Servant is exalted, He will suffer. He will suffer because He is fully obedient to the will of God in carrying out the plan of salvation. He did this by "Taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8) This next segment begins to describe the suffering the Servant endured as He obediently did what was necessary to carry out the Lord's will and to offer us redemption.

"Just as there were many who were appalled at Him---His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and His form beyond any human likeness---so He will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand." (Isaiah 52:14-15) 

In the gospel accounts we learn that Jesus was viciously abused during His trial by the high priest's soldiers and by the soldiers of Pontius Pilate. They mocked Him and struck Him repeatedly in the face, causing bleeding and bruising and swelling. They grabbed His beard in their hands and pulled the hair out by the roots. They whipped Him many times across the back with the Roman flagrum, a whip made of multiple leather cords in which were tied sharp pieces of bone; this type of whip literally shredded the skin. A crown of thorns was pressed down roughly upon His head, making puncture wounds from which blood ran in streaks. I'm not saying these things to be graphic but to point out how accurate Isaiah was when he stated that the Servant was rendered unrecognizable by what He endured.

We also talk about this horrific suffering to remind ourselves that He endured these things for our sake. By the sacrifice He made for us, He has "sprinkled many nations" as Isaiah said: He has made the blood offering that cleanses us of all unrighteousness by our faith in what He did for us. People from all over the world have placed their faith in Christ, which is why Isaiah said "man nations" would be sprinkled by the blood of this holy sacrifice. The Lord promised Abraham many centuries earlier that through one of his offspring (one of his descendants) all nations would be blessed. (Genesis 22:18) The suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ was the fulfillment of this promise, for by these things the Lord offered salvation to every nation and every race upon the earth.

Some years back I did one of those ancestry DNA tests. Nothing was especially surprising about the results because I knew my family tree pretty far back. I am mainly of English, Irish, and Scottish heritage, with small amounts of Norwegian and Swedish heritage. This ancestry means that my forefathers and foremothers were heathen idolaters in ancient times. If the Lord's plan of salvation had not been a plan for "many nations", I would have been without hope. But the Lord, thanks be to His name, didn't make the offer of redemption only to the descendants of Abraham. He wanted to bless all nations. He wanted to save people from every country under the sun. That is why you and I can be the children of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ---in the Servant who paid the ultimate price in order to offer us eternal life with Him.

We will be talking about this subject for the next several days as we conclude Chapter 52 and move on into Chapter 53. We will clearly see that the words spoken in this passage of Scripture describe no one other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Vacation Week

We will pause the Bible study this week while I take vacation time. My husband will take the remainder of his time off. A few projects need to be done at home and my dog and I both have doctor appointments and we may take a day trip or two. 

When we pick back up with the study we will look at a passage of Isaiah that predicts the crucifixion.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 138, Good Tidings

We have been studying a section in which the Lord promises to bring back the descendants of Jacob and resettle them in their land. Today's passage begins with the Lord reminding them that He brought them out of Egypt and can rescue them from the Assyrians, from the Babylonians, and from any other enemy.

"For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'At first My people went down to Egypt to live; lately, Assyria has oppressed them. And now what do I have here?' declares the Lord. 'For My people have been taken away for nothing, and those who rule them mock,' declares the Lord. 'And all day long My name is constantly blasphemed. Therefore My people will know My name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.'" (Isaiah 52:4-6) 

In Isaiah's day the Assyrians were the major threat to everyone in the region. But Babylon would rise from the ashes and defeat Assyria and also Judah, among other nations. The people will have the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophets; when they are released from captivity they will know that the Lord foretold it long before it happened. They will give glory to His name.

When the people begin returning to the land, they will proclaim the news far and wide to those in exile and to those who fled the incoming enemy army and are living as fugitives in other lands. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!' Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes." (Isaiah 52:7-8)

The generation that returns to the land will see with their own eyes the Lord's promises coming true. They will shout for joy and praise His name. They will speak of the power of the Lord. "Burst into song of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God." (Isaiah 52:9-10) The imagery in verse 10 is the imagery of one who rolls up his sleeves to perform manual labor or to engage someone in a fight. The people will proclaim that the Lord has performed great works on their behalf and that He has fought their enemies for them.

When the captives leave the land of their captivity, it won't be as refugees. It won't be like people making a run for it. It will be by permission of the government that defeats their oppressors. It will be with that government's blessing. "Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the articles of the Lord's house. But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard." (Isaiah 52:11-12) 

The people they have lived among during their captivity were idolatrous people. The government that sets them free is made up of idolatrous people. The descendants of Jacob are not to carry with them any of those practices when they leave. They aren't to bring any religious objects of the foreigners with them. They must forsake any changes they may have made to assimilate into foreign cultures. Now that they will be free to practice their own religion in the ways prescribed by God, they are to fully assimilate back into the culture of their forefathers.

This should be good news to all the people descended from the sons of Jacob. But another type of good news is in view here. A good news will come in a farther-off time to the descendants of Jacob and to the whole world. This will be the good news of the gospel and as we conclude Chapter 52 and move on into Chapter 53 we find Isaiah prophesying about the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the "good news that will cause great joy for all the people". (Luke 2:10) 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 137, Redeemed Without Money

Today we talk about redemption. In Biblical times a person could end up as an indentured servant or as an actual slave if they had debts they couldn't pay. But their closest relative could choose, if they could afford it, to "redeem" them. This relative, known as the "kinsman redeemer" could pay their debts off for them and set them free. If the closest relative couldn't afford to do this or didn't want to do this, the opportunity would go to the next closest, and so on. In today's text the Lord speaks of how He will redeem His people but without money. He will be their "kinsman redeemer" with His grace and mercy and love, rescuing them from their oppressors and setting them free.

"Awake, awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength! Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again." (Isaiah 52:1) This prophecy had a short term and a long term meaning. In ancient times it meant that the people would be able to return to their land and rebuild. In the future, in the eternal kingdom of the Messiah, the descendants of Jacob will never have any enemies on the earth. The only people inhabiting the world will be the people of God.

During Isaiah's lifetime the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian Empire. Later the southern kingdom of Judah would fall to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Both of these enemy nations took the majority of the people captive and forcibly resettled them. The captivity is mainly what is in view in this next portion. "Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now a captive." (Isaiah 52:2) It was a common practice in ancient times for a conquering army to chain captives together in a long line. This prevented escape, for it was pretty much impossible for a large group of captives chained together to run together in sync well enough and fast enough to get away. Plus there would be those too frightened to make a run for it or those with illnesses or physical disabilities that would prevent them from running with the others.

"For this is what the Lord says: 'You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.'" (Isaiah 52:3) Both the northern and the southern kingdoms were conquered because a majority of the citizens began practicing idolatry. In that sense they sold themselves to sin because they willingly gave in to idolatry. Anytime we sin we are "selling" ourselves. As the Apostle Paul said, when we offer ourselves to serve someone or something, we are allowing ourselves to be enslaved. (Romans 6:16) When we give in to sin, we are making sin our master, which means we are slaves to sin. Paul was repeating a statement made by Jesus who said that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. (John 8:34)

We have all sinned and that means we have been the slaves of sin. As long as we live in these mortal bodies in a fallen world, we will fall prey to sin at times. So what are we to do since we cannot be perfect? What are we to do to get out of slavery? We must trust in the One who can set us free from slavery. The Lord Jesus Christ---our Kinsman Redeemer---can set us free. He will do it without money. He will do it by His mercy and grace and love, which are what compelled Him to go to the cross for us to pay our penalty for us. By His blood He paid the price for our freedom. By His resurrection we know that the Father accepted this payment on our behalf. Through our faith in what Christ did for us we obtain forgiveness, salvation, freedom from the penalty of our sin, and eternal life with our Kinsman Redeemer.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 136, A Cup Of Wrath For The People's Tormentors

In yesterday's study we found the Lord promising Isaiah's people that a time was coming when their oppressors would be no more. In today's segment He reminds them that the reason they themselves had been oppressed was because they had fallen away from Him. But after their period of correction has passed, He will turn the "cup of wrath" on their tormentors.

The southern kingdom of Judah lasted for about 130 years after the northern kingdom of Israel fell. This is because there were several revivals in Judah before a great multitude fell into sin and idolatry and immorality. The date of Judah's fall is still quite far off in Isaiah's day, though some had already drifted from the Lord by mixing pagan practices into their worship of Him and some had already abandoned Him altogether. If a majority of the people had heeded the words of the prophets and had never become idolaters, the fall wouldn't have taken place at all. They will be conquered by Babylon and taken captive to that foreign land. But while they are captive in Babylon they will have the words the Lord gave the prophets and they can read His promise of a return to the land and His promise to judge their enemies.

The Lord says to them: "Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the cup that makes people stagger." (Isaiah 51:17) They must respond to correction in the right way, by repenting and turning back to Him. There is a right way and a wrong way for us to respond to the discipline of the Lord. We can recognize that our calamity is the result of our sin, repent of our sin, and get back on the godly path. Or we can become bitter and angry and even more rebellious, refusing to admit our sin and to submit to the leading hand of the Lord.

Our sin affects not only ourselves but those around us as well, bringing hardships on our loved ones. In the following passage we see that the sins of the nation's leaders and the sins of parents and grandparents have affected several generations---from the highest of society to the lowest of society, from the oldest to the youngest.

"Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you---who can comfort you?---ruin and destruction, famine and sword---who can console you? Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of Your God." (Isaiah 51:18-20) In yesterday's passage the Lord promised to comfort His people. Here He is asking who will comfort them; this should lead them to the realization that only He is their comforter. They must turn back to Him.

When they do, this will come true: "Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends His people: 'See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of My wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Fall prostrate that we may walk on you'. And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on." (Isaiah 51:21-23)

It's important to note that although the people sinned against Him, the Lord still refers to them as "His people". He will never break His covenant with them. Like a good parent, He must discipline those who are His, but He does not disown them. In the same way, the Lord does not disown any of us who have placed our trust in Him, even though we make mistakes. If we do not repent of our sins and turn away from them, He will have to take corrective action, but He will not cast us aside and stop being our Father. 

Discipline is painful and much of it can be avoided by not willfully making the decision to sin. Much of it can be avoided even when we accidentally make a mistake; as soon as we realize we've made a mistake we should repent and not keep on doing the same thing. But being frail mortals who are prone to giving in to temptation, there are still going to be times when we miss the mark. I've missed it quite horribly at times. But I'm thankful that the Lord doesn't cast us away from Him. First He will deal with us through the Holy Spirit who will make our consciences bother us. If we don't heed the pleading of the Holy Spirit to acknowledge our sin and repent of it, the Lord will have to take stronger action to correct our wrong behavior. But He is not saying, "That's it. I'm done with you." Instead He deals with us as a loving Father, correcting us for our own good so we don't keep hurting ourselves and those around us.

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 135, The Oppressor Will Be No More

The Lord promises the people that He will deal with their enemies and will restore them to the land He gave them. 

"Hear Me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken My instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation throughout all generations." (Isaiah 51:7-8) 

The wicked will be "devoured" (judged and sentenced and taken out of the way) like moths and worms devour fabrics. But those who fear (reverence) the Lord need not fear anyone else. Jesus said not to fear mankind, because humans have no power over our eternal souls, but to fear the Lord. (Matthew 10:28) Likewise, the Apostle Paul affirmed that if we belong to the Lord, the Lord is with us and we need not fear anything man can do to us. (Romans 8:31) You may have heard the saying, "They who kneel before God can stand before anyone," and that is the sentiment expressed by verses 7 and 8.

Can the Lord rid the people of their oppressors and bring them home? Of course He can. He is still the same God that He always was and can still judge their enemies the same way He always has and can still provide for them the same way He always has. This next segment below appears to be spoken either by the prophet Isaiah or by the people of Isaiah's nation who have remained faithful to the Lord.

"Awake, awake, arm of the Lord, clothe Yourself with strength! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over? Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 51:9-11) 

The Lord never sleeps but whoever is speaking these words is using the term "awake" poetically to mean something like "stir Yourself up and come to battle for us". The word "Rahab" means "pride" and the Lord may be using this word to indicate His victory over that prideful serpent, Satan, or it could be He is using this word for the enemies of the people, for it is evident in the Bible that Israel's enemies were prideful in their belief that they could wipe the Israelites from the earth. 

In response to the cry for help in verses 9-11, the Lord restates His intention to rescue the people from captivity and to preserve the descendants of Jacob as a people. "I, even I, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass, that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretches out the heavens and who lays the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction?" (Isaiah 51:12-13a) 

In some translations of the Bible we find an earlier passage of Isaiah worded like this: "Do not anxiously look about you," (Isaiah 41:10) because when we anxiously look around at our circumstances it can be easy to fall into a panic. That's because we have taken our eyes off the Lord and have begun to be discouraged about our hardships and obstacles. The more we focus on our problems, the bigger they seem to us. In this same way, if we keep our attention fixed on the Lord, He will appear bigger to us. Our faith that He can handle our problems will increase and our anxiety and discouragement will decrease.

Soon the oppressor will be no more. The Neo-Babylonian Empire will cause the fall of Isaiah's nation because so many will have turned to idolatry by the time that enemy is powerful enough to defeat them, but the Lord will allow the enemy to be defeated by the Medo-Persian Empire and the captives will be set free, as we see below.

"For where is the wrath of the oppressor? The cowering prisoners will soon be set free; they will not die in their dungeon, nor will they lack bread. For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar---the Lord Almighty is His name. I have put My words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of My hand---I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who says to Zion, 'You are My people.'" (Isaiah 51:13b-16) These are words the people can cling to and trust in when they are in Babylon. The Lord is not making an end of them as a nation or as a distinct people in the world. 

The Book Of Isaiah. Day 134, His Salvation Lasts Forever

***A note to explain why the Bible study hasn't been posted since last week: I live in an area of Tennessee that was devastated by Hurricane Helene and have had connectivity issues since Friday. On Friday morning I had most of the Bible study written when our power went off for 40 minutes. When it came back on, it kept blinking on and off for a while, interrupting my internet connection. Then it went off completely and didn't come back on until after 8pm. We were without home internet for several days and are still without cell service unless we drive nearly to the city limits of the next city. I apologize for being absent but didn't have a way to update anyone about why I was absent. All of our family members are safe and all of our property is safe but there are still some missing people in our county and some confirmed dead. There is a lot of personal and commercial property damage as well. Please remember Northeast Tennessee in your prayers.***

In today's study we see that the Lord will not only offer salvation to the descendants of Jacob but also to the Gentile nations.

"Listen to Me, My people; hear Me, My nation: Instruction will go out from Me; My justice will become a light to the nations." (Isaiah 51:4) When the Lord says "My nation" we know He means Israel. But people from other nations will be drawn to His light; whenever the Lord says "the nations" He means the Gentiles. Earlier in Isaiah 42 we found the statement that the Gentiles would place their hope in Him and in Matthew 12:21 we find this statement applied to the Lord Jesus---in Him will the Gentiles hope---and we know that the gospel message has enlightened the spirits of untold numbers of people throughout the world and it will continue to do so.

In Romans 11 the Apostle Paul compares the nation of Israel to an olive tree and he says that the Gentiles were "grafted" onto this tree. We who are of Gentile heritage were not the Lord's nation but we are His people now because of our faith in God the Son. The Lord lets Isaiah know that people from all over the earth will place their hope in Him. "My righteousness draws near speedily, My salvation is on the way, and My arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to Me and wait in hope for My arm." (Isaiah 51:5) References in the Scriptures to the "arm" are references to power and authority. You've probably heard the expression, "The long arm of the law," as a reference to the power and authority of police officers and to their ability to track down criminals and foster justice for those who were the victims of criminals. The Lord is powerful on behalf of those who are His and He avenges wrongs done to them. 

This next segment has the end times in mind, when all wrongs will be avenged and when all the Lord's people will enjoy eternity with Him. "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But My salvation will last forever, My righteousness will never fail." (Isaiah 51:6)

The Lord Jesus made a similar statement in Matthew 24:35 when He said that heaven and earth will pass away but His word will never pass away. The Apostle Peter states that the heavens would pass away and that the earth and its works would be burned up. (2 Peter 3:7-10) What does this mean? It means there is a day of wrath coming, which is referenced by the Apostle John in 6:12-17 when he was given a vision of the sky receding and the mountains and islands moving from their places. He said this was because, "The great day of His wrath has come."

We who have placed our faith in the Lord do not need to fear the day of wrath. The day of wrath is not for the children of the Lord but for the children of darkness. It is for those who renounce Him to their dying breath and who will receive in eternity what they always wanted in life: to have nothing to do with Him. But for those who love the Lord, they will live in the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords on a remade earth---on an earth that has been restored to an Eden-like state. The entire atmosphere of the universe we inhabit will be completely different, for the Apostle John was shown "a new heaven and a new earth". (Revelation 21:1) This will be an atmosphere never polluted by sin. This will be a world where our enemy, that old serpent, has never walked up and down looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) He will have been thrown into the lake of fire for all eternity, never to accuse or tempt mankind again. (Revelation 20:10) We will live forever on a perfect earth, in the light and love of our perfect Savior and, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4)