365 Reflections

Isaiah 62:1 (ESV) For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. I love the beginning of Isaiah 62. The chapter is full of good news for God's captive people. They were lost in exile but they will be brought back and restored to wholeness with the Lord. You get the idea that Isaiah's message has been dark for a reason, to bring those dwelling in darkness to the light.  Earlier in Isaiah, the prophet also could not keep silent. But then it was about the terrible sins of the nation. Remember Isaiah 58? Isaiah 58:1 (ESV) “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. One thing God is never going to do. He's never not going to speak to us. He will lead us with His voice until we are freed from sin and in right relationship with Him.  This time in Isaiah 62, th...

Christians who know scripture should be the most positive people on the planet. Why? Because we know how the story began - with God. And we also know how the story turned around - through God, the Son becoming sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. And we know we have the Spirit of God and that God the Son will come back and bring us home to God the Father.  Isaiah's positive message in chapter 61 spells out those realities in ancient prophetic language that contains stunning accuracy to New Testament realities.  Isaiah 61:5–7 (ESV) Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; 6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. 7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot; therefore in their land they shall posses...

Isaiah 61:1 (ESV)  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; Ultimately God's prophets are people of HOPE. They are people of good news. But we avoid their message because their message first must address the bad news about us! We do not want to hear that we are sinful and wrong. Modern society has jettisoned those ancient ideas of "original sin" and "condemnation." Modern society believes man is basically born good and needs a better society to improve. God's best men beg to differ with those concepts. Humanity must be confronted over the evil inside so that it might enjoy the hope of God's goodness in the end.  Now Isaiah 61 is the verse that Jesus will read and pronounce fulfilled in Nazareth. After doing so, the people are fixed on him.  Luke 4:20 (ESV) A...

Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of some of Judah's worst kings. Ahaz and Manasseh to name a couple. These are men who denied the Lord, worshipped false gods, sacrificed their children in the fire to Molech, and encouraged the nation to do the same.  Yet time and again, as Isaiah weaves throughout his book the troubling warnings of utter devastation for this people, there are also several moments where he clearly enunciates a soon-coming redemption for them in spite of their sin.  Isaiah 60:1–3 (ESV) Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. The pronouns in this chapter are feminine singular. What is God talking about? The city of Jerusalem. For all she has been through, God will cause her to shine amon...

The back and forth between judgment and hope in Isaiah begins on page one and continues throughout. The two go hand in hand. God is a perfect judge who will not dwell in the presence of sin. But God is also the justifying God who makes it possible for wayward sinners to come back. However, we need to remember the great cavern between us if we are going to live gratefully forgiven.  Isaiah 59:1 (ESV) Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; Hope in verse 1 of Isaiah 59. God can save. He can hear us. But there's some troubling news as well.  Isaiah 59:2 (ESV) but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. Which is it? Can God save or have our sins pushed us far from Him? The answer is both. From verse 3 on, Isaiah describes the waywardness of Israel. This is a nation eager to sin. Isaiah 59:7–8 (ESV) Their feet run to evil, and...

Hard truth: It's possible to be in active service toward God and selfish about it at the same time. This is why prophets in the Old Testament were often hated in their generation. They saw it and called it out in the hearts of God's people. So Isaiah does in Isaiah 58.  Isaiah 58:1–2 (ESV) “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. The first verse is a call to "SHOUT" the sins of Israel. Why? Because its hard to know your sinning when you're actively participating in the sacred for selfish reasons. It's hard for the "good people" to realize they are being "good" on their own terms. I truly believe more people will end up in hell ...

Isaiah 57:14 (ESV) And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way.” Isaiah shifts back and forth in these chapters from grim judgments on Israel's failures to the blessed hope of their God who promises to save them. You get the feeling he's both enraged by the cultural rot around him and utterly positive in God's faithful grace.  Here in verse 14, we have hope again. Instead of the people's failure, God's provision is highlighted. He will make the way possible for them to return. He will remove every obstacle in their path. He will be with them in spite of their lowly estate. He illustrates this reality with one of the Bible's most compelling descriptions of the Lord.  Isaiah 57:15 (ESV) For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowl...

Have you ever thought of death as a sweet mercy of God? The world is fallen. It is broken and seemingly spinning out of control in new ways every day. Sin torments our bodies, our minds, our relationships. It causes our brains to hold on to the past and dread the future. Despair fills our cities and natural disasters strike in unexpected places in unexpected ways in a multiplicity of moments.  Biblical scholars know it cannot continue like this. We know the world must be judged. There will be a reckoning. In Isaiah's day, there was a moment of reckoning coming upon the nation. The people had exhausted the patience of God. The Babylonians would come and devour all the good things God had given to this ungrateful, rebellious people.  Before all of this, righteous men would die. You'd think that was a bad thing. But if judgment is coming, death is an escape for the righteous. For theirs are the unspeakable glories of heaven in the presence of God.  So Isaiah writes: Isaiah 5...