We've made it to fifty! I may eventually catch up to where I'm really supposed to be. I know I said no playing catch up, but it is not out of necessity, it is just something I may be able to do in the future. For now it really only seems feasible that I am able to do the required reading for the day. It's not that I am wasting my time, just using it wisely in all aspects of worshiping God and bringing honor to him. Sometimes it's about building others up and sometimes it's about receiving that building up. Ah community! I would be done reading the Bible if I locked myself up and just read it, but that is not what God has intended for me, for you, for any of us.
Moving forward, Isaiah... We've met him before back in Kings and Chronicles. He is Isaiah, son of Amoz, who prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah (1:1). Check back too and you'll see. So Isaiah is prophesying toward the end of the Northern kingdom as they are overtaken by the Assyrians and also toward the end of the Southern kingdom (Judah). He doesn't quite see the demise of Judah, he does of Israel (the northern kingdom), but not his own home. Still his words about that matter are pretty clear: the end is coming for both because of the unfaithfulness of the Israelites. A worse fate awaits for the nations that will enslave the Israelites, but the nation will be scattered nonetheless, with only a remnant remaining.There is a lot of hope in Isaiah. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of disaster and warning and judgment as well, but there is always hope and it is an eternal hope as well.
Chapter 1 of Isaiah, as I've been saying all along, it does not matter how you worship the LORD or if you prescribe to the letter of worship, unless your heart is in it also. That is essentially what chapter 1 says and then in chapter 2 we move to the last days and how there is hope for the future, for all nations as all will come to the "mountain of the LORD." Pretty cool. God is a God of this earth and loves all peoples. Surely, he chose the Isrealites for his people, but his desire is that all nations know Him. I love God!
Isaiah is chalk full of "Messianic passages." It's true, chapter 7 talks about the virgin birth; chapter 9 carries that famous line, "For unto us a child is born,... And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Chapter 11 speaks of the root that will come from Jesse and the Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him. Things pointing to Christ and yet unbeknownst to Isaiah or the Israelites and something they would never see or experience, but we have the benefit of full knowledge, which makes all the more wonderful. I imagine that the people in Isaiah's day, the ones who perhaps listened to him, wondered what does this mean? I imagine there was some immediate fulfillment to these prophecies, but did they have any idea of what the ultimate fulfillment of these prophesies would be? I feel sorry for them that they missed out. I am sorry for myself as well, that I take this knowledge for granted.
So throughout Isaiah, we have God being completely just and completely holy. Isaiah 6, his call to follow the LORD. Isaiah is found in awe of the holy, holy holy, LORD God and rightly responds that he is unworthy. God's response is pure grace, he makes Isaiah clean and uses this man for His will. Isaiah is open and willing. God that my heart would be as open and willing as his. "Here am I. Send me!"
God calls his people and the nations into account. He calls the Israelites into account, but assures them that he will not completely destroy them. There will be a remnant. They will return and truly follow the LORD (Is. 10). It is through this remnant that all nations will be blessed. All people will come and call on the LORD because of this (Is. 11, 14, 19, 25). There will be a lot of grief first though, and people will be called into account, the Israelites as well as the other nations, but God is faithful. The future he is forecasting is scary and bleak, but ultimately there is rejoicing; there is peace and hope.
Isaiah is beautiful and poetic and there is a lot there, just in the power of God and his broadcasting his plans for his people and the nations. I encourage you as you read Isaiah to have an open mind and be willing to allow God to speak to you. At times he is harsh, as he is here in Isaiah, but it is often wrapped in love and in hope, as it is here in Isaiah. Remain open to him and remember that He does not desire words or meaningless sacrifices. He desires our hearts, that is our firm and committed devotion to Him. It is no small thing to ask, but we can be girded up by the faith of those who have gone before us. The faith of people like Isaiah and the remnant, who faced uncertainty, far greater than our own. They had but a glimpse of Jesus and we have seen all that he was and has done. We are far better off, but at times I find that my faith is far less. O God, help my unbelief!
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