Isaiah 59-63

Chapter 59.  What separates us from God?  This chapter is talking about the people in year 700 BC as much as He is talking to us.

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.

Each of our daily sins is like a brick.  Every time we ignore God’s ways in our thoughts and actions is a brick.  Sometimes it is a sin that we “do”.  Sometimes ignoring what we should do is the sin.  Make sense?   So at the end of the day…how many bricks do you have piled up?  Do you have enough to build a wall like me??  Reread it:

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.

Sin is the wall.

BUT God makes Promises that he does not break.  Through repentance…He removes the bricks for us.  We don’t remove them, He does..so we can hear Him and see Him daily.  Maybe we need to start examining our bricks! (sorry, I am not sure why I am preachy today…I think I just have a lot of bricks to look at).  Because we should not doubt that He is on the other side of that wall!!

21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

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Chapter 60- As Isaiah writes to the people in Captivity that feel hopeless, God gives them a Word of hope for their future.  The WILL be redeemed. Not just the remnant people that Cyrus will set free to return to Jerusalem, but foreigners will be includes.  We are the foreigners…the Gentiles.  We are part of His remnant people.

As we read this and we see that there will be ANOTHER redemption of His people in the 2nd coming. The Lord will come back and set us free.  The enemy is clearly reeking havoc on the world BUT we don’t need to fret about it.  Verse 15-22 give us a glimpse of what is to come!

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Chapter 61/62  Read this again like you are watching cast with split screen.  Pick the “speaker” that is talking to you.  Our quiet time in the Bible is personal-

• Do you see Him talking to the Israelites that will return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple for the Messiah to come?
• Do you see Jesus coming to save Believers?
• So you see the 2nd coming and the creation of the New Heaven and Earth?
• Do you see your own Salvation and how He redeems us personally?

Depending on your relationship with this read, you will hone in on one of them.

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Isaiah 63- When the Final Battle happens…there will be only ONE that can save us.  The Lord can scan the whole earth and NONE of us will be good enough…no matter what your “good deeds” are.  Jesus is the ONLY one that fits the description.

4 It was for me the day of vengeance;
    the year for me to redeem had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
    I was appalled that no one gave support;
so my own arm achieved salvation for me,
    and my own wrath sustained me.
6 I trampled the nations in my anger;
    in my wrath I made them drunk
    and poured their blood on the ground.”

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I end with this:  Since Genesis the Hebrews have been Misfits!  When they cried out He saved them!  ALWAYS!  God does allow for natural consequences to their actions happen BUT His arm always comes down and tramples the enemies around them.  He paves a way for them to always return to the Temple where He lives.  Even when He has been ignored for a VERY LONG TIME. (like when I couldn’t find my Bible in December to do this read through because I ignored him for so long).

7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
    the deeds for which he is to be praised,
    according to all the Lord has done for us—
yes, the many good things
    he has done for Israel,
    according to his compassion and many kindnesses.

I will probably start Mid chapter 63 today…I need to study it more.

Day 213- Sorry…I had to go back…

Sorry, I need to go back.  Yesterday we read chapter 58 and I just checked it off my list and moved on.  I had to go back to it and this is crazy…that is what the scripture was about and I didn’t even SEE IT!! (Maybe because my priorities were not on God when I was reading).

Can I just lift you up for 1 minute.  Today is day 213.  

Can you imagine 2020 without your Bible.  Many churches are still closed.  Think about it…if you attend church (even just sometimes)- that is where we normally hear the Word of God.  That is the only time of the week we read a scripture unless we have Hobby Lobby wall art in our house.   Is that working for the World?  Let me ask you…how many of you feel closer to God now than ever before BECAUSE you spend time with your Bible now more than ever before (and I know you get behind and then jump in or catch up…IT IS OK!!) .  213 days in the Bible is 4 YEARS of SUNDAY’S at church.

Now let me ask you…Are you different?  When I say that I mean: are you able to contain your words this year? Do you serve the people around you a little different? Do you feel more humble?  I am different, on the inside and I hope that it spills out into my actions.

So here is the question: Is what the World doing working?  Is outward “fasting” enough. What we do in Public?

God wants True Fasting=True Worship- what does it mean to be a Christian? 

Isaiah 58 (yesterday)-Hang on every word….

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness^[a] will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

Isaiah 54-58

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Isaiah 54.  So after the read of Isaiah 53 (feel free to read it again), you then roll into 54 and 55.   This is a song of Praise,  but to me I felt like God was saying, after Isaiah 53 happens…let me introduce myself to you.  The reality is, before Jesus died on the cross for me, I really didn’t know Him. (So be patient with other believers, some have not known Him long).

⁴ “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.
⁵ 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.

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Isaiah 55- A call for all to come to Him!  What a beautiful chapter….He begins with Salvation is Free for All!  It costs you nothing…He paid for it.   I am reminded of the woman at the well.  He said he had a GIFT, she just needed to ask for it.  You don’t buy yourself a gift , someone buys it for you.  When Jesus approached her and said in John 4:10

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

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I am always reminded that Jesus came for the sick, not the healthy.  We are so quick to throw stones at the world rather than pray for them.  God loves them as much as He loves us.  He begs for them to be found.

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
⁷ 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.

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

(Thank Heavens His thoughts are not my thoughts…I have terrible thoughts about people…especially as we reopen schools.  I have lived in a Covid Bible reading cave and I forgot how ugly it is out there!!)

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Chapter 56-

If salvation depends on God’s grace, do God’s servants have any responsibility other than receiving that grace?  You know I try to stay away from “application” since I am not your Holy Spirit (just my husband’s), BUT if you are a Christian, do you have a responsibility?

James 2:26 says: ^“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

So if you are jumping in and missed some chapters…

• Isaiah 1-39 we saw it was impossible for them to demonstrate any righteousness
• Isaiah 40-48 God redeemed them from captivity and redeemed from sin
• Isaiah 49-55- how to be a servant now to God
• Isaiah 56- how to live morally now

Chapter 56 is the most assuring chapter for anyone feeling unworthy.  Let me explain: someone who was a “past”- and I am sure I am not talking to anyone who is reading this: is this free gift given equally to the person who lived their life without a “past”?

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant—
⁵ 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….

 

The Sovereign Lord declares—
    he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them
    besides those already gathered.”

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BUT those who ignore the Gospel- “you made that bed, you l lie in it” (verse 7)

¹³ When you cry out for help,
    let your collection of idols save you!
The wind will carry all of them off,
    a mere breath will blow them away.
But whoever takes refuge in me
    will inherit the land
    and possess my holy mountain.”

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Chapter 58- I will tell you I have these amazing “debates” with one of the readers on the blog.  This week the topic was “should churches open or close the doors due to state mandates from Covid”.  I am not going to tell you what side of the debate I am on- one scripture stood out to me:

¹³ “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
¹⁴ then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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2 more days of Isaiah (There are about 5 books I find crazy hard and this is one of them…I can see the finish line!!)

Isaiah 53

Chapter 52:13 through 53. (I copied the whole chapter below so you could read it several times throughout the day) This Prophecy to me is like no other.  Each Scripture written of the coming Messiah.  Click here if you are a visual learner.  It is very hard for me to watch, but if it wasn’t-it wasn’t worth it.

The Suffering and Glory of the Servant

See, my servant will act wisely
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

¹⁴ Just as there were many who were appalled at him
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness—

¹⁵ so will he 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.

¹ Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

² 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.

³ He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
       he was crushed for our iniquities;
       the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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 her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
       for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes  his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After the suffering of his soul,
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.

¹² 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.

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Isaiah in chapter 6 saw God and said he was not worthy.  We are not worthy.  That unconditional love suffered as our substitute.  I don’t even think the movie clip could capture all that Jesus went through on that Passover as OUR substitute on the cross.  Hours before Jesus was crucified they brought our Barabbas:

Do you know who this represents in the Gospel?  Me!  That is me- with all my sin and transgressions-deserving death.  And without opening his mouth and saying a word, He sets Barabbas free and takes his place on the Cross.

Oppressed and Afflicted in Hebrew means He was tormented, humiliated, belittled, mocked and shamed!  He was stripped down naked like a sheep being led to the slaughter, and He did not say a word!  Why??  He was giving Himself…they were not taking him.  Repeat that, He was GIVING himself to us.  Three men on the day of His sacrifice asked him to give words to defend himself:

1. Caiaphas
2. Pilate
3. Herod

Jesus knew he was fulfilling scriptures and the plan of Salvation.  In verse 8 it was over.  Finished.  Cut off from the living, for the sins of his people.

Jesus in verse 9 was assigned a grave with the wicked (the two criminals with Him) but was given the tomb of the Rich?  What?  Yes! Matthew 27:57

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

Finally in verse 10 we read about how this was all the Lord’s will and He makes His offering on the altar And I have to stop and think…How much does he Love us??  How much??

Isaiah 49-53

• Click here to read

I am going to try to save all my words for chapter 53.  It will rock your world.

 

Isaiah 49- You know by now this is a split screen prophecy but it would be hard to see the foreshadow of Christ in these passages:

Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

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⁵ And now the Lord says—
    he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
    and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord
    and my God has been my strength—

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I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

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⁷ This is what the Lord says—
    the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—
to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
    to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up,
    princes will see and bow down,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

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¹³ Shout for joy, you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;
    burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

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The near sighted prophecy can been seen within these scriptures too as he speaks to the ones in captivity that feel forgot by God.  (I can relate at times).  They are in Babylon, alone.  Through the words of Isaiah God promises to restore them:

“Yes, captives will be taken from warriors,
    and plunder retrieved from the fierce;
I will contend with those who contend with you,
    and your children I will save.
²⁶ I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh;
    they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine.
Then all mankind will know
    that I, the Lord, am your Savior,
    your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

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Isaiah 50- This is pretty cool- Has God divorced Himself from His people? (Has he today?) NO!  The Lord asked two more questions.   Why had they not responded to His calls for repentance and faith (which came through the prophets)? Had they done so, He implied, He would not have sold them into captivity. Was His lack of deliverance when they called to Him for help the result of His inability to save them? No, He could reach them, and He was strong enough to save them.  He then describes His might through his control over nature.  Surely if he can control the waters, He has the power to save you.

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Isaiah 51- So picture the people in captivity, a small, tired, hungry, hopeless group.  God says, out of Abraham (old) and Sarah(barren) I can make a nation!!

look to Abraham, your father,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
    and I blessed him and made him many.

What is there to fear?  If God is for you, who can he against you??  Or how about…There is noting to fear but fear itself!

¹² “I, even I, am he who comforts you.
    Who are you that you fear mere mortals,
    human beings who are but grass,
¹³ 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?

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2 King 18:9-19:37, Psalms 46,80,35

• Click here to read
• Click here to listen

FEEL FREE TO SKIP STRAIGHT TO THE PSALMS!!

We start with a flash back.  It took me a minute of flipping around the Bible thinking I messed up because “we just read this”.  It was trippy for a minute).  So this will be a cool recap:

• The king of Assyria: Sennacherib attacked and deported the Northern tribes.
• The king of Judah: Hezekiah feared Assyria- and paid them tribute so they didn’t get attacked
• The Assyrian’s in a speech basically said “You might as well surrender, you can’t put your confidence in your God”
• Hezekiah goes to the Temple to pray to the Lord about the situation (about time someone did)
• Much is said about Jerusalem will be attacked BUT will be delivered
• Isaiah prophesies about Sennacherib’s fall

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Psalms!!!!  Oh I need a Psalm!!

When I read “familiar” Scriptures in context, it always freaks me out! (In a good way)  When we read “Be Still” it is not when you are at a “thinking point” it is when you are under attack from Assyria and you run to the Temple to put it before the Lord.  You can’t hear him if you are not still!  ( trust me, I try it all the time)

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

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¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

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I just need this

https://youtu.be/gUH_NzfRmbs?t=45

Isaiah 44-48

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• Click here to listen

Chapter 44

The Lord promised to pour out His Spirit on the Israelites in the future. This is compared to pouring water on dry ground landscape. It would bring refreshment and new life. Blessing would come to the descendants of Isaiah’s audience in 150 years.

Since this is a promise specifically to the Israelites, they would be the special recipients of this outpouring. This will happen in the future. The giving of the Spirit will first be on the day of Pentecost however we must not miss that the Israelites are His chosen people, and even thought we the Gentiles are grafted in to the plan, God will have a plan for the Jewish nation in End Times.

But if you love these scriptures as much as I do today read verse 5,  grab a sharpie and write:

:OR we can meet at “Second Skins” and get a tattoo!  I was just  there last week 😉

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Idols in our life:

I’m not saying we should rid ourselves of the things on this list. Rather we need to evaluate our lives and make sure they are in the right order. That none of these things have become more important than God to us.

1. Our identity-For some their identity has become an idol. They have placed more value on who they are rather than in God.
2. Entertainment- how do you spend your time? We are obsessed with being entertained. From Netflix to vacations to scrolling through social media.. We love entertainment in all forms.
3. Comfort-There is an endless list of products promising to simplify and add comfort to your life.
4. Phones- The problem isn’t our phones or social media or any form of technology. It’s the value and TIME we place on it that makes it a problem.
5. –
6. –
7. –
8. –
9. –
10. –

In comments list what might be 5-10.  Can you think of any?

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and I will dry up your streams,’
²⁸ who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

Cyrus WILL BE the Persian King who will put Israel back on the map.  Babylon will wipe out the last of the Israelites from the nation and deport the last remnant people there.  They will demolish the Temple.  Persia will defeat Babylon and will give the Jewish captives permission to return to Jerusalem

• will they go back?
• will the go somewhere else?
• BOTH.  and Both is a great answer for God’s ultimate purpose (keep reading this year!!)

For my artifact people….the story of Cyrus is REAL!  How do I know?  It is in the Bible!!  Ha!  We also can prove it historically.  This is a cylinder that dates 500 BC that proves it.

BUT no glory to Cyrus…it is ALL the Lord’s.  Chapter 45

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you
and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
and cut through bars of iron.

OH MY STARS!!! do you know how hard it is for me to NOT post or Comment on 3-12.    It might be my NEW FAVORITE little section!!!! My pen would not stop underlining…

• so that you may know that I am the Lord…. I am the Lord, and there is no other…..apart from me there is no God……  I bring prosperity and create disaster.……. I, the Lord, do all these things……It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it.

So can I just say THIS is the God that LOVES you.  Do we stop to think about that??? I know we can’t really comprehend or even find words to describe Him.  BUT He knows you by NAME!!!

(sorry, I try not to preach But I just feel overwhelmed with the scriptures today)

Back to Cyrus (verse 13)

I will raise up Cyrus  in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
    says the Lord Almighty.”

Szymanski…you have to move on..I keep rereading the rest of this chapter over and over to find one thing to talk about BUT the whole thing has me spinning.  So that’s right…I am pulling the DO YOU LOVE ME CARD AGAIN??

If you LOVE ME (or the Lord..ha!  gotcha) put a scripture in the comment section that knocked your socks off.  I dare you to just find one!  Mercy.

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Chapter 46- I am going to skip this section (yes I read it) because why talk about the false gods of Babylon when we can talk about The God of the Universe.

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I need GRACE.

I am running late for work (I work from 7:30am to 8 pm today), the warfare is intense, my anxiety is off the chart, I just broke my NEW work issued computer…. I PROMISE I will read the last 2 chapters.

I will add to this tonight.  BUT you don’t need me or this Blog.  You will love the last 2 chapters (I skimmed them)

 

 

Isaiah 40-43

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When we turn from the thirty-ninth to the fortieth chapter it is as though we step out of the darkness of judgment into the light of salvation. The first portion of the book (chaps. 1—39) is filled with messages of judgment, this portion emphasizes restoration and deliverance.

Isaiah 1—39

• The focus is on Assyria.
• The primary theme is judgment.
• Historical details are present.
• Messiah is the “shoot from Jesse.”
• The life of Isaiah is prominent.

Isaiah 40—66

• The focus is on Babylon.
• The primary theme is deliverance.
• Historical details are absent.
• The life of Isaiah is prominent.
• Messiah is the “Servant of the Lord.”
• The life of Isaiah is absent.

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Chapter 40:

We start with the theme of 40-66 “Comfort”.  We are going to keep with our “split screen newscast”.  Isaiah will have a near prophecy and a far prophecy.  He is writing these scriptures to the exiles in Babylon.  They have been captured and taken out of the Promise Land and taken into Captivity (Exile)  Keep in mind, the intended reader of these writings are not even born yet…this is written to give comfort to people 150 years in the future.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord^[;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

This scripture might be familiar but it will have 3 views:

1.  He is giving the people HOPE in Babylon.  He will prepare a way for them straight back to Jerusalem (900 miles away).
2. A Messianic Prophecy: ALL 4 Gospels quote this scripture.  John the Baptist brings a message of HOPE that the Messiah will come.  Let’s look at Matthew 3:3

   3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³ This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

   “A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
   ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
       make straight paths for him.’”

3.  We now have Hope that Jesus will come again and be victorious.

He gives them/us HOPE that He wants to deliver us from our captivity but CAN He??    If you are reading this and have a major situation in your life,  know He WANTS to deliver you…but that He CAN too!

12-26 is the message that he CAN.  12-26 is awesome BUT I am going to share my favorite part…

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.

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Chapter 41 reads like a court case: The case is called “The Helper of Israel”.  He silences the court.  Then he shows his Sovereignty.   He wants to deliver them.  He can deliver them.  Now he tells us HOW He will deliver them.  He is God…He knows everything!

“Who has stirred up one from the east,
    calling him in righteousness to his service?

He is going to raise up someone from the East…so let me ask you, if God knows every star by name, do you think he know who this person is by name?  YES!  (You will find out tomorrow)

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When God delivered the Israelites from Egypt through Moses, God provided for the whole journey.  He met their every need.  He tells them He will do it again.  When they are set free from Babylon they will journey through the dessert of “now” Saudi Arabia…900 miles.  (That is walking from Nashville to Miami)

¹⁷ “The poor and needy search for water,
    but there is none;
    their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the Lord will answer them;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them you.

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Chapter 42: How in the world do we not cut and paste the whole chapter here???

Here we are watching TV again I am not going to call this a split screen but rather a picture in picture.  The small picture in the corner is the person that the Lord will brings forth as His servant,  to let his people out of captivity…However the big picture is no doubt the Messiah.

The Servant of the Lord

42 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
    my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
    and he will bring justice to the nations.
² He will not shout or cry out,
    or raise his voice in the streets.
³ A bruised reed he will not break,
    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
⁴     he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

………….

We know the Lord is talking to the Israelites but look closely who was ALWAYS grafted in to the plan of salvation.  Read this next part: He is talking to YOU.

⁶ “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
    I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
    to be a covenant for the people
    and a light for the Gentiles,
⁷ to open eyes that are blind,
    to free captives from prison
    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

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HOWEVER,  there will be a time where God will still bring justice to those who continue to worship idols…and many will.  They are deaf and blind to repenting. (I know many people in this category)

“For a long time I have kept silent,
    I have been quiet and held myself back.

But now, like a woman in childbirth,

(I stopped right there and thought….Oh my…this isn’t going to be light)

²⁰ You have seen many things, but you pay no attention;
    your ears are open, but you do not listen.”
²¹ It pleased the Lord
    for the sake of his righteousness
    to make his law great and glorious.

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Chapter 43

¹¹ I, even I, am the Lord,
    and apart from me there is no savior.
¹² I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god among you.
You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³     Yes, and from ancient days I am he.
No one can deliver out of my hand.
    When I act, who can reverse it?”

…………..

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!

………….

²⁵ “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions, for my own sake,
    and remembers your sins no more.

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Now put on a worship song that you love.  (I would love for you to put it in comments or text it to me and I will put it in for you.

PLEASE READ THIS!

If you are not reading BUT you attempted or started or fell behind- Can we talk for a minute?  Even if you are still reading we need to look at this from God’s perspective not ours.  As the Summer ends I reflect back on what was a very hard read.  First, I didn’t understand half of it and second making the time to do it.  The summary of the summer read was “God was begging the Hebrews to follow the scriptures”.  There was NEVER a point a point where He said “you are so far behind or you can’t jump in”.  But they never did…so as they lived their life they putting everything else first (yet had no problem having a scripture on their wall from Hobby Lobby).   We do that.  I do that.  2020 is an epic year, no doubt about that. News flash…the second half of 2020 is going to be worse than the first.  It is SO hard for me not to talk “current events” in our daily read (I text people about it, but I don’t weave it in here).  It would be very easy for me to read this summer and think “That’s why we are in this position…look at the scriptures…all the crazy people around us”.  Can I offend you for a minute??  A very small part of the prophecy books were about the surrounding nations (yes, he will deal with them) but MOST of the prophecy was directed at HIS PEOPLE-Israel and Judah (the church).  These prophecies are begging HIS PEOPLE to follow the scriptures.

In Genesis 3 God sacrificed an innocent animal as a substitute for Adam and Eve.  He offered a replacement for their death.  The innocent animal in short “took one for the team”.  In return He said “Know Me”.  Well as we kept reading not one person in the Bible was flawless-actually MANY of them were a hot mess!  But He was with them.  Just like a good parent, God said “I will be here for you ALWAYS, but if you break the rules I have to let natural consequences happen.  So here we are at Isaiah 40.  Natural Consequences…BUT He is still with them.

So now what?  God still gave us a substitute for our death.  Jesus.   I don’t way lightly He took one for the team, but he did.  We are on the heals of reading Isaiah 53 where you will see just how awful the moment of the Cross was for Jesus.  I pray when we read it together you are a mess all day over it.

We are ending the summer with a King named Hezekiah.  He was a rare king because he actually read the scriptures which caused a revival!!  He jumped in and said “hey…this applies to His People, not the people surrounding him”.

So tomorrow we begin the turning point for Isaiah-it is the equivalence of turning the page from the OT to the NT.  So be Hezekiah.  Below are some visual so that you don’t feel lost as Cooter Brown (I know southern people know what I am talking about when I say that)

Take a moment and review this timeline below:  Click here if you want to print it.  Find HEZEKIAH 726…😃  I think if anyone looks at this and is confused it is in the 3rd line.  So we know God made a promise to bless all the nations through Him.  Well, in 980 the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob’s sons) are in a dispute over taxes.  Regardless of whose side I would have taken (Jeroboam-because I have being over taxed) the Covenant ran through David’s line. (Crap, I totally would have been on the wrong team…well if I knew the scriptures I would have picked Rehoboam.. so I would have tossed a coin).

God sends Prophets that warn them to get back on track or I have to let natural consequences happen (because I love you).    God is so patient and slow to anger he gave them about 260 years to mull it over.  Well, they never did so He orchestrated a horrible county called Assyria to take them out of the Promised Land.  (heartbreaking after all the work they did to get there!).  Gone!  Done!  Well, Judah is watching and probably thinks “Well, we have the Cross, that won’t happen to us”.  “Well, we have the Davidic Covenant, that won’t happen to us.  (Ummm God doesn’t need anyone to fulfill His promises.   On the contrary!!  It will Happen!  But God never breaks his Promise and some will “survive” called the Remnant people…to fulfill what he told Abraham back in Genesis 12- All nations will be Blessed through you”.

We ended chapter 1-39 with the PURPLE lines already happening.  Assyria captured Israel. The last line of chapter 39 was the prediction of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon…The Green Lines.

 

Here is a view that might make more sense now than when I first posted it.

 

 

 

Isaiah 37-39 and Psalm 76

Click here to read

Click here to listen

• Isaiah
• Psalm

Continuation from yesterday….

So when Hezekiah (The king of Judah) received the message…what did he do??  Prayed to the Lord!

Hezekiah’s Prayer

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.¹⁸ “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. ¹⁹ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. ²⁰ Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

It’s been a long time since God received the glory!

The Lord states that Sennacherib would fall and gives Hezekiah a sign to assure him that God would indeed do what he had said. The Lord would preserve a people for Himself from among Jerusalem. This would include the Davidic line of kings, as He had promised (2 Sam. 7:16)  The Lord promised Hezekiah that Sennacherib would not conquer Jerusalem, let alone attack it.

The Lord will defend Jerusalem and preserve it.  Hezekiah was rewarded for his Faith.  However, you have to remember the BIG picture:  The Lord promised an everlasting dynasty to bring a Messiah.

³⁵ “I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

So there was definitely no confusion about “whose” victory it was…

³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 

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Chapter 38 -I hope you don’t mind me sticking with all the TV analogies and it’s not confusing.  But when we get to chapter 38 think of it like this:  We just finished the above and you realize that you must have missed something 30 minutes ago (I am assuming you were looking in the kitchen for a snack)  So even though you know how the show ends you rewind the show ‘just in case” you missed something good.

And thank heavens you did rewind it or you would have missed that Hezekiah almost died earlier in the show,  but God gave him another 15 years.  The sign that this would occur was setting the shadow back 10 steps from the sun (The Sun didn’t move, just the shadow).   The shadow on the steps was used to determine the “time of day” (like a sun dial)…he was setting it back.

Don’t miss the song Hezekiah wrote following this.  It’s amazing.  I had cut and pasted my favorite part BUT I deleted it…I would rather you do that in comments.

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CHAPTER 39—YOU MADE IT!!  In the overview I talked about how this book is set up JUST LIKE THE BIBLE.  So today is the equivalency of finishing the Old Testament.

NEW KEY WORD:  BABYLON!!  This is a  short chapter BUT HUGE!!! The 3 world powers were Assyria, Egypt and Babylon.  Sooooo the son of the Babylonian king comes over to check out what is going on with the little city called Jerusalem because they were probably in shock that Assyria fell to them.  I like to think Hezekiah was not bragging on His riches BUT what the Lord has provided:

⁵ Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: ⁶ The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. ⁷ And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

⁸ “The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,” Hezekiah replied. For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

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To Be Continued….In the meantime read Psalm 76

In this psalm of declarative praise, Asaph praised God for His power. He had destroyed the wicked and delivered the godly. Therefore the leaders of His people should follow Him faithfully.