Isaiah 65-66

Greetings!  This wraps up our study of Isaiah.  I’ve learned a lot, but must say it has been one of the most challenging books I’ve studied.  The largest barrier is the many people and places I am unfamiliar with. 

Judgment and Salvation
65     “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found [...]

Isaiah 63-64

Greetings!
God has great patience, and mercifully his patience comes before his judgment.  But He will eventually judge, and the outcome is not pretty.
In chapter 64 their is a wise repentance and acknowledgement of all that God is and has done.  Confessing isn’t telling God something He doesn’t know, it is seeing things the way He [...]

Isaiah 61-62

Greetings! 

The Year of the Lord’s Favor
61     The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year [...]

Isaiah 59-60

Greetings!

Sin, Confession and Redemption
59     Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are stained with blood, [...]

Isaiah 57-58

Greetings!
57     The righteous perish,
and no one ponders it in his heart;
devout men are taken away,
and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.
2 Those who walk uprightly
enter into peace;
they find rest as they lie in death.

I don’t think this is a Heaven / [...]

Isaiah 55-56

Greetings!  This opens with a beautiful passage where God invites us to come to him - for free!  Our souls can “delight” and “live” because of what He has to offer. 
Note the many examples of God offering his grace to all - through the Israelites, but not just for the Israelites. 

Invitation to the Thirsty
55     “Come, [...]

Isaiah 53-54

Greetings!  These are some of the most important passages in the Bible.  They reveal much about Jesus, the Messiah, and how He would come.  Yet they defied what the Jews had been expecting.  Who would have thought God would come as a humble servant?  It seems to be the opposite of what one would expect. 
53     Who [...]

Isaiah 51-52

Greetings!  These chapters begin some prophecies of the Messiah and lead into chapter 53, which is full of prophecies about Jesus.

Everlasting Salvation for Zion
51     “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
and who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
2 look [...]

Isaiah 49-50

Greetings!
This section opens with another reminder that God gave his grace to the Israelites so they could be a light to all nations.  It was part of his plan from the beginning.  As a former pastor of mine would say, they were “blessed to be a blessing.”  I think the same way of us today [...]

Isaiah 47-48

Greetings! 
The fall of Babylon was predicted 150 years ahead of time.  It hadn’t even emerged as the strongest force on earth yet.  God used Babylon to punish his people, then used the Medo-Persian empire to destroy Babylon and set free his people.
Nebuchadnezzar’s ups and downs are chronicled in more detail in the Book of Daniel. 
The [...]

Isaiah 45-46

Greetings!
These chapters repeat over and over that there is one God and He is not to be ignored.  As Jonah 2:8 says, Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
Interestingly, Cyrus is the only Gentile (non-Jew) rule ever annointed in the Bible.  God used Cyrus to rebuild Jeruslaem and to set [...]

Isaiah 43-44

Greetings!
Israel’s Only Savior
43     But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass [...]

Isaiah 41-42

Greetings!

The Helper of Israel
41     “Be silent before me, you islands!
Let the nations renew their strength!
Let them come forward and speak;
let us meet together at the place of judgment.
2 “Who has stirred up one from the east,
calling him in righteousness to his service?
He hands nations over to him
and subdues [...]

Isaiah 39-40

Greetings!  Hezekiah had his life spared for 15 years, but he turns around and makes a foolish mistake.  Note his selfishness in v. 8!  Isaiah’s prophecy was amazing because Babylon was under Assyria at the time.

Envoys From Babylon
39     At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because [...]

Isaiah 37-38

Greetings!  This section occurs after King Sennacherib of Assyria threatened Judah. 

Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold
37     When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah [...]

Isaiah 35-36

Greetings!  Isaiah finished documenting the results of God’s wrath against various nations for their sins.  Now he turns to write of God’s perfect plan.  Ch. 35 reads like a Psalm to me.

Joy of the Redeemed
35     The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus,
2 it [...]

Isaiah 33-34

Greetings!
These are the last chapters where Isaiah delivers God’s message of judgment for various nations.
This section is about Assyria, a world power that repeatedly broke its promises.

Distress and Help
33     Woe to you, O destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, O traitor,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying, [...]

Isaiah 31-32

Greetings!  As God’s chosen people, Israel should not have sought help from other nations. 
Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt
31     Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
who rely on horses,
who trust in the multitude of their chariots
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to [...]

Isaiah 29-30

Greetings!  There are lots of important and familiar verses in these passages.
Ariel was a name for Jerusalem.

Woe to David’s City
29     Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;
she will mourn and lament,
she will [...]

Isaiah 27-28

Greetings!

Deliverance of Israel
27     In that day,
the Lord will punish with his sword,
his fierce, great and powerful sword,
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea.
2 In that day—
“Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
3 I, the Lord, watch over it;
I water it continually. [...]