From our Bible readings today Isaiah 64-66
When we understand who God is, we begin to understand who we are.
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
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The Message of God in Isaiah
The people of Isaiah’s time also needed to hear from God and God used Isaiah to be the channel by which those messages were sent. Isaiah recorded them in the book that bears his name.
The prophesies of Isaiah collected in the book of Isaiah can be divided into to sections, chapters 1-39 are God’s judgments upon Israel and Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. Chapters 40-66 all contain God’s comfort for his people. The chapters of judgment told Israel they would be punished for their idolatry and forsaken of God, but that punishment was not permanent, and chapters 40-66 tell them that they are not forgotten and one day will return to the promised land.
Irving Jensen in his Old Testament Survey categorizes the first half of the book as God’s Government and the second half as God’s Grace. The first half foretells the coming of the pagan kings who God would use to judge His people, but the second half foretells the coming of the Righteous King who would save his people.
The Hope of Comfort – Isaiah 40:1
The 40th chapter of Isaiah begins with this command from God, Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
The word comfort is the Hebrew word naham and it’s literal meaning is to cause to breathe again. The first half of Isaiah’s prophecies have the remnant of God’s people holding their breath wondering what terrible punishment will happen next then God commands, “Comfort them, yes, their sins will be punished but there is hope and a future under my protection and power.”
The Way Prepared – Isaiah 40:3-5
God’s comfort, His hope for Israel, was that He make a way for reconciliation, for redemption and bring them back to Himself and to the Promised Land.
Isaiah 40:3-5 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
We know that prophecy was partially fulfilled in John the Baptist and would be ultimately fulfilled by the Messiah John came to prepare the way for.
From our Bible readings today Isaiah 54-58
God is God. You can only accept the revelation He gives of Himself, never trying to understand Him according to your limited, human intellect.
Isaiah 55:8-11
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
When we are caught up in our questions, doubts and fears, God challenges us as He did Israel, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? Open your eyes, look back at what God has done. See what God has revealed and recorded in His word, and know God has not forgotten us. God was there for Israel and He is here for us. He has never failed His own. - Pastor Kris Minefee
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