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This chapter conveys a similar message to the one that Isaiah gives all the way back in Isaiah 1: Israel’s heartless actions were not accepted. The Israelites were saying one thing and doing the opposite. Isaiah speaks specifically in this chapter about the fruitless fasting that was taking place. The Israelites are complaining that they were keeping the fast in accordance with the Law, but not being properly rewarded by God for their religiousness. God exposes their shallow worship saying, “For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God”,  but then their “fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists” (v. 2, 4). God corrects them and shows them that a true faithful walk does not look like going through the motions in order to have an appearance of holiness but to be wholly consecrated to Him in the way they live. Half-hearted devotion to the Lord is really no devotion to Him at all. 

In contrast to the fruitless fasting that was taking place, God speaks of the fast that is acceptable to Him. This is a new way of life. The fast that God prefers over fruitless fasting is self-denial and service to others. It is walking with a humility rooted in the gospel and considering others as more significant. The fast that He chooses is to break the “chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke.” It is “to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter” (v. 6-7). God is telling them to stop their evil actions, stop their finger-pointing, and to stop speaking maliciously, and start serving those around them. They needed to stop their empty religious rituals and start walking in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. Only then will they shine like lights in the darkness. 

On the outside Israel wanted the perception of looking holy, righteous, and pure, but in reality, they were full of sin. Jesus gives the Pharisees a similar rebuke in Luke 11, saying “you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.” God doesn’t look at the outward appearance, He looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16). When our heart is truly seeking to honor the Lord, our actions will follow it. 

The true meaning and purpose of fasting is to show our devotion and dependence on God, by taking our eyes off the world and onto Him. This chapter is not saying that we should not fast. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that can lead us into a deeper relationship with our Father. Biblical fasting, however, should come from a humble heart of seeking God and redirecting our attention to Him. It is not about the appearance of looking holy, but an act of worship to our Creator. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18). The Lord is glorified when the motive of our actions are to please Him, and not draw attention to ourselves. Ultimately, our motive matters most for why we do what we do. 

This chapter is mainly focused on the guilt and demise of the wicked. At the beginning of the passage, we see the plight of the righteous, and how following their death, God extended them peace as a blessing. Immediately following this, you can feel the intensity of God’s wrath as the passage switches into a confrontation between the listener and the speaker. It starts with a laundry list of insults/accusations that the listener is obviously guilty of. When we view this list of accusations, we can very quickly adopt an attitude of pride by thinking “woah, these people were really bad” or “I’m not as bad as these people.”

The trouble is that this attitude is partially what got these wicked people in trouble. In Matthew 7:3-5, Jesus uses the plank analogy to reprimand people’s hypocrisy for judging others while being blind to their own sins. In this analogy, a person who has a plank in his own eye is pointing out a speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye. In Isaiah 57, this is the same point that the speaker makes in verse 4, saying “who are you mocking?” The passage is trying to humble the wicked into realizing the metaphorical planks in their own eyes. 

The scary part about some of these sins/accusations that are listed here is that they are generational and applicable to us. We are children of sinners just as they are. Although we may not be literally giving offerings to idols, what are we giving our money to? Who or what do we give our praise to? What pictures are hanging on the walls of our house? Has lust taken control of our thoughts? Upon close inspection, one can find this list of offenses unfortunately relatable. The dreadful depictions of what is in store for the wicked is a terrible warning of what can await us. Thank God that He doesn’t desire these things for us, and has offered grace through repentance. As in this passage and in life, He has provided an opportunity to avoid the “no peace” (verse 21) that we have earned. 

This chapter brings into focus that salvation belongs to all people. In the goodness of God’s grace, He extends the invitation to humanity. And for those who accept the invitation and enter His household, we walk in with joy and praise. Our new identity has been born. No longer are we foreigners; we are now His children. 

In this passage, the Lord reveals the true meaning of being redefined as God’s people. And to be given this new identity, we must respond in two ways. The first is to walk in obedience to God’s word. As verse two states, “Blessed is the one who does this–the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.” Blessings are followed by us being obedient and devoting ourselves to the Lord daily. For us to walk in obedience, we must learn how to walk in humility. It begins with denying our ways and surrendering to the one who has made the Way. 

You see, the beautiful thing about the Gospel is that it does not rely on our strength or efforts. In Christianity, the very moment that we believe in Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, we are imputed with Christ’s perfect performance. How amazing is that? The verdict has been given to us before the performance. 

This ties into the second way we are to respond as people of God: we are not to disqualify ourselves. There are no benefits to allowing others to judge you or for you to judge yourself. Scripture tells us that God will not reject us. As Romans 8:1-2 says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” The Maker of Heaven and Earth welcomes all who humble themselves and place their hope and trust in the Resurrected King, Christ Jesus our Lord. 

As we close, let us take a moment to reflect and remember all that God has done for us. We serve a Sovereign Lord whose faithfulness and love endure forever. Let us not take that for granted but respond with prayer and thanksgiving. 

Isaiah 55 is the Lord’s call to salvation and covenant blessings. This chapter is broken up into two motifs—an invitation to receive blessings (v. 1-7) and the glorious ways of the Lord (v. 8-13). 

God calls us to be delighted and filled, expecting nothing in return but to delight in His provision. His audience is the discouraged and broken who face a future hard and uncertain. If we are not thirsty for His waters, we will never come to His waters. The Lord sees this, and He desires for us to yearn for what we cannot achieve without Him. This text is our free invitation to be richly fed, richly led, and richly forgiven.

In verses 3b-4, God tells us, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.” David serves as witness to the people. He had a real relationship with God, experiencing God’s delight and requiring God’s discipline, grace, and forgiveness. David led God’s people spiritually, politically, and militarily, but he was also a human who needed to be loved and saved. God promises the same love He gave to David to those who come to Him, to those who don’t turn away from Him. God calls His people to delight in His splendor and receive true sanctification. 

In verses 8-13, the passage continues to remind us of the distance between God and man. As the heavens are higher than the earth, God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. In other words, God’s power and abilities are a humbling reminder that He will accomplish all that He promises. And He promises those who seek Him will experience peace, joy, and His glory. What is desolate, He will restore. 

The Lord’s invitation is clear, but we have to accept it. We don’t have to be afraid He will reject us or change His mind. This passage promises the wicked and unrighteous will receive mercy when they turn from sin and seek God (v. 6-7). The Lord promises goodness to those who follow Him, but He challenges those opposing Him. Too often we seek to find fulfillment in that which will not satisfy us. Our world continues to put blinders on us to fill our mind, soul, and spirit with earthly comforts which only leave us empty and longing for more. Only God can satisfy us with perfect provision, acceptance, peace, and joy. So let’s accept the Lord’s invitation to turn toward Him and follow Him alone. 

From the description of the suffering Servant as the One who made intercession for the transgressors, Isaiah now calls for a response to sing, to burst into song. He uses three figures to describe God’s relationship and grace to His redeemed people: a barren woman, a deserted wife or widow, and an afflicted city. With each description, Isaiah reminds us of God’s personal and unfailing love for His people.

These are rich pictures painted of God’s renewal, redemption, and restoration of His forgiven people. As we read this chapter, let’s highlight the powerful promises and character of the Lord. For the barren woman who represents exiled Judah, there is hope and a future through the coming suffering Servant. Her descendants will require enlarging the tents preparing for a larger family God promises to provide. God renews and offers hope. For the deserted wife who represents unfaithful Israel, God calls her back, removing the shame and disgrace of exile. Because God is her Maker, her Husband, the Lord Almighty, He calls her to a restored relationship with Him. His everlasting kindness and compassion are on display, exposing His unfailing love. Isaiah describes this as an unshakeable and permanent love. This love is further expressed as God promises to rebuild the afflicted city, Jerusalem. Isaiah’s description of a future rebuilt city was partially fulfilled when Jerusalem was rebuilt after exile, but also looks to a future day of the Lord’s return when the new Jerusalem is established. God restores, He rebuilds, He is hope eternal.

Admittedly, prophecy is sometimes difficult, even confusing, but as we read Isaiah’s prophecy today, take time to ponder the vivid descriptions of the character of our Lord. He renews. He restores. He forgives. He removes our shame, our humiliation. He is our Maker. He is Holy. He is compassionate. His kindness is everlasting. He redeems. His love is unfailing, unshakeable. He is peace. He protects. He is sovereign. The God revealed in Isaiah is the same God we love and worship in 2022. Philippians 2:8 encourages us to think about whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable – anything praiseworthy or excellent. What better place to begin than to focus on the gracious, compassionate, unfailing love of the Lord God Almighty! 

This chapter covers the penultimate prophecy of Jesus, written by Isaiah an astonishing 700 years before the person of Jesus existed on earth. Believers consider this to be the “heart of the Bible,” while many modern Jews say that this passage is not about Jesus at all but about Israel.

Throughout this passage, Jesus is described as a “servant” who “had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (v. 2). This is hard for us to conceive, as most visual references imagining what Jesus looked like come from the Renaissance period where, yes, Jesus appears pious and humble, but also certainly handsome (and often with golden hair despite His Middle Eastern roots). Even in movies, Jesus is played by an attractive movie star with great bone structure embellished with fake dirt, sweat, and a scraggly beard. But the Bible describes Jesus as plain, ordinary, and nothing much to look at. We don’t actually know what he looked like or what his voice sounded like. We are more surface driven now than ever in history, and so we pay a lot of attention to external appearances.

We prefer the visual appearance of a King Saul in our lives, someone Scripture describes as very tall, impressive, and handsome. And yet the humble and unattractive appearance of Jesus is central to His message. We cannot take credit for anything in our human nature being drawn to the person and message of Christ: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is this same, inexplicable concept of believing in what we cannot see that leads us to root for the underdog, to not judge things by appearances, to hope even in a pit of despair.

God’s consistent message throughout Scripture is that His concern for us revolves around our eternal being, not the one we can see and touch now. “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Isaiah 52 starts by telling Jerusalem to awake because their time of judgment has ended. The people have been in exile for about 70 years and they are informed that even though they have sold themselves to other gods for nothing in return (v. 3), they shall be redeemed without money. This highlights the prophetic nature of the chapter. It brings awareness of a coming king who will pay the price of redemption for His people, but not with money, but with His life.

God first affirms the glory and authority within His name, even if the nations and His own people didn’t acknowledge it at the time. He tells the people that one day they will know that He is and always has been God. Isaiah proclaims the earth will know that God is a God of salvation. The author then affirms the future servants of God, blessing the feet of those who will proclaim the good news of Jesus’s sacrifice on earth. In fact, this exact passage is revisited by Paul in Romans 10:14-15 as he exclaims the importance of sharing the gospel:

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

You may remember in Isaiah 6 the reference to the “holy seed” or remnant of Israel following the exile. Paul brings this together in Romans 11 as he looks back on God’s faithfulness through the prophets of the Old Testament. He references how Elijah thought he was the only follower of God left, but God had reserved 7,000 men as a remnant. In the same way, Isaiah 52 prophecies of a remnant of devoted followers of God who will later bring peace, joy and truth to the earth through telling about Jesus. 

As a reminder,  Isaiah was written about 700 years before Jesus was even born. This book is (and was) often referenced as proof that Jesus was the true Messiah. Today, re-read verses 13-15 and reflect on God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise to send a savior and redeemer for us. 

Sometimes it is hard to see clearly. Our vision can get blurred by a pandemic, jobs, elections, addictions, racial strife, and the grind of daily life. It is easy not to see the promises of the Lord. His unwavering goodness, never tied to circumstances or conditions, can be hard to see in the midst of difficulty. We know He is righteous (Psalm 145:17), patient (2 Peter 3:9), and faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). Yet we would all say it is way too easy to forget all these truths about the Lord. There are times when we cannot see clearly as though we’re driving in a thick fog.

 Isaiah 51 reminds us of who God is and what He promises to His followers. This chapter is like a visit to the eye doctor that allows us to see clearly again. We’re pointed back to the story of Abraham and Sarah and reminded of the Lord’s incredible work in their lives. In Genesis 12, the Lord tells Abram he will make him into a great nation and that all people on earth would be blessed through him. Yet, Abram and Sarai were just shy of a combined 190 years of age, and they still had no children together. How could God possibly fulfill His promises to Abram and Sarai?

 God’s people probably felt the same way in Isaiah 51. They were supposed to be God’s people, blessed by Him and different from the rest. Instead they sit in suffering, no different than the rest of the world. However, God says just as He called one man and blessed him and made Him many (Isaiah 51:2), so God will comfort Israel and look upon her with compassion. God will fulfill His promises.

And the same applies to you and me today. God gives us powerful reminders that He will do exactly what He said He was going to do even while our vision might be blurred. Do you feel like you are in a thick fog unable to see God’s promises? Isaiah 51 gives us hope God will do everything He says He is going to do. If He can use an old, barren couple like Abraham and Sarah (God changed their names in Genesis 17), then He can use us. If He can restore His own people in the midst of suffering, then He can bring “dead people,” like you and me, back to life. He can put us on a mission for His glory and our good.

This chapter begins with a reflection on those who have forsaken God, followed by an example of the One who will never forsake us. As Israel chose to live in sin, they ran away from God, the very One with the power to sustain and save them. 

However, the middle of the chapter gives us a picture of what it truly looks like to be a follower of God. In each instance, this person (who foreshadows Jesus) entrusted himself to his Creator. He is willing to be beaten, mocked, and condemned because he knows that the Lord will sustain Him. He “set his face like flint,” meaning he was completely resolved on being faithful to the Lord. He’d rather follow God than succumb to the fear of man.

 These verses illustrate the difference between a life that is marked by self-confidence and one that is rooted in confidence in God. Particularly in the last section of the chapter we see two distinct responses to darkness. There is one who even in the darkness chooses to rely on the Lord for strength. But there is another for whom when darkness befalls them, they do all they can to get out on their own. So they light their own fire, or go their own way, which leads to destruction.

 The key lesson for us is that we must decide in advance that our situation will not decide our faithfulness. We must choose to be faithful when we are beaten and faithful when we are celebrated. Because as followers of Jesus we want to live how he lived. From the gospels, it’s clear that Jesus was completely resolved on following His Father no matter where it led. He knew His Father would provide in the midst of His pain. Ultimately, He knew that the Father would provide ultimate vindication. Even when our life isn’t going how we’d want it to, our Father is with us and for us. Faithfulness to Him is the goal for we know He has our best interests in mind. Whether we experience our vindication on earth or in eternity we know it is coming. So harden your resolve, set your face like flint, and stay faithful to the Father!