This chapter is packed full of great stuff!  It begins with a beautiful picture of how God sees His future people.  He said, "I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring" (44:3) and the people would write on their hand, "Belonging to the LORD" (44:5).  There would be blessings in abundance and they would have a prominent, outward mark of Who owned them.  Do you and I have that mark today?  Is it written on our hands, "Belonging to the Lord"?

 

Sometimes a cartoon can zero in on some very serious matters.  A cartoon exaggerates issues to show their fatal flaws, inconsistencies, and mostly their ridiculous nature.  Isaiah 44:9-20 reminds me of a cartoon.&nb ...

At least Isaiah 42:1-4 is messianic, and maybe more of the following verses.  It's about Jesus the Servant who would be gentle when He came.  He would not even bruise a reed. 

 

Chapter 42 is all about Israel's sin of idolatry.  They are BLIND and DEAF.  Isaiah 43:3-4 gives us the idea of substitutionary redemption.  God would "sacrifice" Egypt in place of Israel.  Even though Israel deserved to go, God would take some of these other nations instead.

 

Isaiah 43:11-13 - This is my favorite part of today's reading:

 

 11 "I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no sav ...

God had a grand picture for Israel.  They had been trusting in their idols, but they would trust in Him one day - in the Holy One of Israel.  Isaiah 41:14 is a key verse: "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you," declares the LORD, "and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel."  Why did he call Israel a worm?  Psalm 22:6 says of Christ: "But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people."  The term "worm" even described our King at one point.  This is not a term describing the nations WORTH in the eyes of the Lord but its LOWLINESS.  We used to sing, "Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die?  Would He devote that sacred head for su ...

Isaiah 39 is interesting to me.  Were the Babylonian men spies?  Did they go back to Babylon and log all the riches they saw in Hezekiah's kingdom for later perusal?  Should Hezekiah not have shown them all his riches?  The prophecy Isaiah brings against Hezekiah concerns the future - not Hezekiah's time - and Hezekiah is happy with that.  Should he have wept for future generations?  Was he selfish in this?  So many questions...probably not as many answers.

 

Isaiah 40:8 - "The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever."  This verse is quoted in 1 Peter 1:24-25.  Peter goes on to say, "And this is the word which was preached to you."  The word of God ext ...

The ways of Satan can be clearly seen in chapters 36 and 37.  Senacharib sent Rabshakeh to throw doubt and despair into the minds of the Israelites - but this is really Satan's work.  We can learn much about the deceiver's methods in these two chapters.

 

36:4 - Rabshakeh asked - what's this confidence you have?

36:5 - On whom are you relying?

     36:6 - Egypt?  Ha!  They're nothing but a broken reed

     36:7 - Your God?  Ha!  Hezekiah has torn down His high places...He's not happy with you right now

36:8-9 - Let's make a deal.  We'll be nice to you if you surrender.

Look at the qualities for which God looks in your life from 33:15-16:

 

 15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, He who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
 16 He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure.

 

Do I WALK RIGHTEOUSLY?  Am I continually trying to walk in the footsteps of my Savior?

 

Do I SPEAK WITH SINCERITY?  Do I think about my words - what effect they ...

Chapter 31 is a further plea by God to the Israelites - please don't depend on the Egyptians!  God reminded them simply, "the Egyptians are men and not God" (31:3 ).  How often do we need these little reminders?  It's so easy to have our focus shifted from God to something useless.  We depend on doctors - to the exclusion of God.  We depend on psychiatrists - to the exclusion of God.  We depend on government.  I'm sad to say it, but we sometimes depend on "church" as a group of people who will get us to heaven.  Remember, these are all men and not God!

 

God's simple plea to those of us who depend on men is in 31:6 - "Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected."

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I LOVE Isaiah 30!  There is so much application and encouragement in this one chapter.

 

To begin, Judah was trying to ally itself with Egypt, what they considered to be a great world power at the time.  They needed help against the big dog of Assyria, and who better to call than another big dog?  Except they should have called on God.  God said they "execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit" (v. 1).  Ultimately, they would be ashamed they had leaned on Egypt because Egypt would turn out to be no help at all ( v. 5). 

 

But my favorite part is the end.  Verses 18-26 is a beautiful picture of what God had planned for His people.  He ...

Hi guys,

 

I had some trouble connecting to the Internet this morning, so I'm a little later than normal today...

 

Chapter 28 is against Ephraim.  In the period of the divided kingdom, Ephraim refers to Israel in the north.  This is a prophecy about Assyria taking them into captivity, I believe.  In verse 7 the priest and prophet are both drunk - they are in no condition to lead properly.  In 28:15 God accused them of making a pact with Sheol (death).  It's almost as if they don't believe they are going to die.  "Surely death won't come to me right now," they thought.  But God said in verse 18 He would cancel that covenant!  Let's not deceive ourselves into thinking, "Judgem ...

Chapter 25 talked about a day of great bounty and joy...a day in which "the LORD GOD will wipe tears away from all faces" (25:8).  It was also a day in which Moab would be like someone swimming in manure (25:10-11).  What we have is a period of time when God's people would enjoy great peace and prosperity.

 

So when 26:1 begins, "in that day," we understand the context to be this time of God's great care.  My favorite part is 26:7-10: