Isaiah 43-44:5

 As we have seen, Israel was a poor witness for the glory of the Lord. She was rebellious, disobedient and idolatrous and had been so throughout most of her history from the time she was in Egypt. Nevertheless, the Lord used her and worked through her so that He was able to proclaim and demonstrate His greatness. He performed mighty acts for His chosen ones. Isaiah describes these in terms that remind us of the exodus from Egypt. The descriptions of walking through the fire and wading through he deep waters refer also to the future obstacles the Jews will face when they will be sent off to exile in Babylon and when they will return. The Lord will always care for those He loves.

Like Israel, we believers are far from perfect. We are often rebellious, self-centered and unjust but the Lord loves us and still chooses to call us His redeemed. As Isaiah says in verses 1 and 25, He has redeemed us for His own sake, for His own glory. We benefit from His acts and favor and this too magnifies that glory for it shows how loving and kind He is.  He forgives us our sins and forgets them. None of the gods of the world are this kind nor are human beings most of whom seldom forget any sin or wrong suffered and who usually seek vengeance and restitution. People and false gods hold so much to wrongs that they require those who wrong them to work to atone for them. The Lord knows that in His case, it is impossible for any human being to atone for sin. Therefore He has made it possible for Him to forgive all those who turn to Him for mercy: through Jesus. No other religion can make such a claim. If God forgives us so, how can we withhold forgiveness from those who have wronged us? 

Isaiah 42

 Although Israel is specifically called the Servant of the Lord in the preceding chapter, here the Servant is a specific person who will come to fulfill the mission Israel had been called to. This chapter contains one of what scholars call “The Servant Songs” which develop the theme of servanthood. The servant of the Lord is totally committed to do God’s will, to perform His mission completely with gentleness, meekness, humility and patience. He will preach the word of the Lord that will enlighten those living in darkness and free those trapped in the bondage of Satan, idolatry and sin. He will uphold and fulfill God’s law. 

The mission of the servant was the one that the Lord chose Israel to perform, but which she failed to carry out. Israel failed to give praise to Yahweh for all the blessings He had showered upon them and became deaf to His words and commands. We who are believers are called to the same mission because we are the servants of the Lord. Too often, especially here in the USA we get mixed up with political discussions and causes and pay more attention and honor to the constitution than to the word of God. We neglect to preach the good news that Christ came to heal and save those who are weak, powerless,  poor and in the darkness of sin. It is our mission to preach to the lost as well as love the poor and oppressed. Salvation is a gift meant to be shared with everyone. 

Isaiah 41

 Isaiah continues to encourage the future exiles of Judah so that they will hold fast to their faith in the Lord even in the midst of dire circumstances. Then the Lord presents His case for His greatness as if He were in court in order to build up that faith. The first testimony is provided by a future deliverer. He will send some 150 years later. He will testify to the Lord’s greatness as well as His omniscience. The second witness is that of the gods of the pagans themselves. These are the works of human minds and hands. The gods of all religions are fabrications. They are imaginary, fake, fraudulent and so utterly useless.

For these reasons, we who worship the one true God, Yahweh, have nothing to fear from other religions or nations. We have nothing to fear from pagan gods or even Satan and his demonic hordes and the billions of humans he holds enslaved. The Lord God is Almighty. We who worship Him worship the only God who exists, and thus is the only God who can bring real peace and comfort.

In our world there are billions of people who seek this same comfort in other religions, in material goods, in relationships and in the pleasures of the flesh. How any one can maintain that all religions are equal is ridiculous since God Himself tells us that it is He who lives and it is He we should worship and adore. Though it may seem for a time that those who oppose Yahweh have the upper hand, this does not reflect reality. He will surely vindicate His loved ones and enforce true justice on all the earth. 

Isaiah 40

 This chapter celebrates the coming of our King, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a great comfort to know that our God is in control of all things. Isaiah wrote this for the Jews who would go into exile 100 years later. He wanted to comfort them in the midst of their afflictions and pain, to let them know that their trials would only be temporary. Deliverance was a sure and certain event that would take place when the Lord came. The Lord God is almighty, the one who created all things and sustains them by His word. No nation can stand in His way for He controls the flow of history.

And we too should remember that the Lord cares for each one of us. He is a mighty warrior but also a tender shepherd who cares for each lowly member of His flock. We might, like many in our world today, tend to forget that in the light of all the terrorism and violence we see all about us. Many people think that based on what they experience or see with their eyes that God is powerless or unfeeling or even cruel. The words of Isaiah assure us that He is not. The words of the gospel bring comfort to those in turmoil. You can just feel the comfort and peace flooding your being as you read these wonderful words. That is the peace and love of the Holy Spirit that fills you and testifies to the reality of the good news of peace and salvation in Jesus Christ. We cannot restrain ourselves from sharing such words of comfort with the people in the world. 

Isaiah 38-39

 These chapters tell of events that took place some years prior to the attack by Assyria. Isaiah placed them here to highlight the fact that the destruction of Judah may have been delayed but not halted. Hezekiah’s terminal illness caused him to utter a weak but effective prayer of repentance and sorrow over his sin. The Lord gave him a reprieve and he was healed. Sometime later, the King received ambassadors from Babylon, at that time a small kingdom trying to throw off the yoke of the Assyrians. They came seeking to stir up Judah to resist as well. The mistake Hezekiah made was to take pride in the treasures of the Temple and palace as if they were his own. He did not consult the Lord or Isaiah when he displayed them to the Babylonians. The Lord then revealed to the king that though Judah would not fall to Assyria, she would fall a century later to Babylon. 

The lesson here is that the Lord often withholds judgment to spare the righteous but for other reasons as well, reasons which He is not obligated to disclose to us. The Lord keeps His own counsel. We know that His justice and His decisions will surely be carried out according to His plan. Therefore in every situation, in every crisis or dilemma we are to trust Him and seek His guidance so we can make godly choices.

Many people even believers fail to trust God. They choose people or idols or things that will prove false and lead then away from God. Many people (yes believers too!) put great faith and trust in the words of psychics, mediums, fortunetellers and media marketing gurus who tell people what they want to hear. In the long run such advice will lead them away from God into the arms of Satan. 

Isaiah 37

 Hezekiah prayed for deliverance in the face of the Assyrian threat. In this prayer he placed all of his faith, though somewhat belatedly, in the Lord. He acknowledged that the Lord alone is the only true God. He realized that Yahweh reigns over all the nations of the earth. The Lord is touched by his prayer even though it was late because it was marked by repentance and humble faith. Yahweh indeed rules over all the nations, but Sennacherib and his followers did not fully understand how complete His rule is. They  failed to realize that the victories and triumphs they have experienced have been given them by God. Instead, they think that these were all their own doing, their own achievements. 

The prideful attitude of Sennacherib was his downfall for pride always insults the Lord. Many people in our world today are guilty of such pride. Those who are rich and powerful do not usually thank the Lord for His gifts. If they do so verbally, they often act as if their own efforts and wisdom brought them to where they are today. Such people usurp the place of God, taking personal credit for His work and favor. They will find, like Sennacherib, that the Lord does not share His glory with any other. He will repay those who have exalted themselves by bringing them down. Therefore the believer should acknowledge that everything he has accomplished and that he has taken pride in has always been the work of the Lord.

Isaiah 36

 Isaiah shifts our attention away to the events that took place during the reign of Hezekiah, events we have already encountered in 2 Kings 18ff. His purpose is to once again emphasize the importance of trusting God and the dire consequences that result when we fail to do so. These are dramatically illustrated by Hezekiah’s life. Isaiah describes the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians marked by the villainous boasting of Sennacherib’s general. He was proud and arrogant and declared that no gods could stand up to the gods of the Assyrians, not even Yahweh. In fact, according to him, Yahweh had deserted His people and had allowed them to fall because Hezekiah had insulted Him by looking to Egypt for help and by taking down the Lord’s idols and altars.

The Assyrian’s boast was designed to shake the faith of the Jews for it is based in part on truth. The Lord had indeed allowed the Assyrians to lay waste to Judah but not because they insulted Him. He wanted to bring His people to repentance not to destroy them. The boast is similar to the way in which the devil and his minions often assail us. They often tell us that God hates us or has left us because our sins are so gross that they are unforgivable or require that we make so great sacrifice of atonement to make us right with him again. The enemy presents us with half-truths designed to produce fear and doubt in order to shake our faith and turn us from the Lord. The devil is right only so far as His assertion that the Lord has allowed this illness, trouble or reversal to befall us. But these things happen not because the Lord hates us or is disgusted with our sinfulness. The Lord works through adverse circumstances in order to bring us to Himself. He has not deserted us. The devil’s taunts should cause us to turn to the Lord.

Isaiah 34

 Here we encounter a further portion of God’s judgment on the wicked, represented symbolically by the nation of Edom. The Edomites were kin to the Israelites as they descended from Jacob’s brother Esau. The Edomites symbolize rebellion against God because they treated God’s chosen people with contempt and violence. The judgment on all those who rebel against God appears quite ugly for it is filled with bloodshed, the stench of rotting corpses and tremendous upheaval as the land is laid waste and people slaughtered on a massive scale much as we see today in parts of Africa  and the Middle East. All this precedes the establishment of God’s kingdom. All this is what we pray for when we pray as Jesus taught us: “Thy kingdom come.” 

The Kingdom of God will bring doom and judgment on billions of people, including perhaps some we know and love. We may well wonder how God could do that to people who really are not all that cruel and evil. After all, we are all sinners. The difference between believers and those doomed to destruction is that believers admit we are sinners and that we have no control over sin. We do not hide it, nor do we try to say it is not so bad or that it is really good. We also acknowledge our need for God for mercy to forgive us and strength to overcome temptation. We know we can’t live or even enter His kingdom without Him. Those who do not admit their need for God stand in rebellion against Him because they do not want to do things His way. They want to get into the Kingdom but on their terms not His. Nothing but unconditional surrender will satisfy God and most people, sadly, refuse to do this.

Isaiah 33

 Isaiah prophesies the siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians under Sennacherib. The Assyrians acted treacherously in that they accepted Judah’s tribute of loyalty but attacked anyway. God promised to turn the treachery back upon Sennacherib for though they Assyrians would leave Judah in ruins they would not take Jerusalem. They would return to Assyria where the king would be treacherously murdered in a palace coup by his own sons. The Lord often judges the wicked by bringing upon them the wicked they devised for others.

Isaiah’s prophecy was that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem because King Hezekiah and the people would repent of their sin and idolatry. This shows us that only those who acknowledge they are sinners and turn to God for mercy will enter into God’s rest. People can fool other people about their sinfulness, but they can’t fool the Lord. People can abuse and afflict others with violence and pain but the Lord will turn their devices back upon themselves. Many will ignore their sinfulness, or redefine it as a personal lifestyle choice and reap the sickness and spiritual malaise that result from poor choices. Others will think that God doesn’t care what they do and live as they please. Many too will despair at their sinfulness but think there is no God who loves or cares about them or that there is no God at all. Their despair will lead them to suicide. Salvation though is the free gift God is waiting to give all those who will repent and turn from sin to His mercy and love.