Isaiah 58

 

The LORD shows us our sin

 

1 Cry with the throat, do not hold back, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and 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 ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God.

 

  • James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
  • James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.

 

3 They ask, why have we fasted and you do not see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you do not see? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors/do things by which you grieve others. 4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you will not fast as you do this day and make your voice heard on high. 5 Is this a fast that I have chosen: to afflict his soul for a day? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Do you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

 

  • Matthew 23:14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for pretence make long prayers: therefore you will receive the greater damnation.

 

The Lord releases us from bondage to wickedness

 

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

 

  • Many false burdens are placed on people.
  • Multitudes of high taxes are only a part of it.
  • All things apart from what God has said to us in His scriptures are false.
  • Churches also place heavy burdens on people.
  • Instead of feeding the babes and letting them grow, they enlist them in service and wear them out.
  • God’s yoke is easy. His burden is light.
  • Matthew 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
  • Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you will find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
  • John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.

 

His glory will be our rear guard

 

8 Then your light will break forth as the morning, and your health will spring forth quickly: and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard/gather you up. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and he will say, I am here. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking empty things; 10 And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then your light will rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noonday.

 

  • ‘Rear guard’ is the Hebrew ‘gather you up.’ The glory of the Lord will gather you up to Himself.
  • Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and on the throne was the likeness of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber like fire round about within it, from his loins upward, and his loins even downward, I saw the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, this was the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

 

He will guide us continually; He will satisfy our soul and make our bones fat

 

11  And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make your bones fat: and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And those that come from you will build the old waste places: you will raise up the foundations of many generations; and you will be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and will honor him, not doing your own ways or finding your own pleasure or speaking your own words: 14 Then you will delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

 

  • He will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth and lift us up to the highest height forever.
  • Deuteronomy 28:13 And the LORD will make you the head, and not the tail; and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath; if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you this day, to observe and to do them:
  • Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and have set down with my Father in his throne.
  • Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

 

 

                                               Isaiah 59

 

The Lord can always help

 

1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have made him hide his face from you, so that he will not hear.

 

  • Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.
  • 1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness. 4 No one calls for justice: no one pleads for truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies; they conceive perverseness, and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. 6 Their webs will not become garments, neither will they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 They do not know the way of peace; and there is nothing right in their goings: they have made themselves crooked paths: whoever goes there will not know peace.

 

  • ‘webs,’ refers to the spider, their works trap and poison.
  • John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world gives I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
  • Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

 

9 Therefore judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 11 We all roar like bears, and mourn sadly like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions have multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth has fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

 

  • The biggest lie is trusting something other than God.
  • Whatever we trust above God is our idol.
  • Oppression is solving problems at the expense of someone else—taking unfairly from others of their time or resources, charging too high prices or too high taxes.
  • John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth; your word is truth.


The Lord sees and repays

 

15 Yes, truth fails; and he that departs from evil is considered insane: and the LORD saw it, and it was evil in His eyes that there was no judgment. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. 17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. 18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.

 

  • Christ came to save us because there was no righteous person in 4,000 years of history who could do it.
  • Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

 

He is coming again and will be revered everywhere

 

19 They will fear the name/person of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him/put him to flight. 20 And the Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD. 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My Spirit that is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from now on and forever.

 

  • God’s Spirit lifts up a standard against the enemy showing the enemy that the Lord is the One that fights for us.
  • Infinite and eternal knowledge, power, goodness, rightness, and love are the glory of God.
  • His Spirit and words will not depart from us forever.
  • Ezekiel 1:26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like a sapphire stone: and on the throne was the appearance of a man above upon it. 27 And I saw as the color of amber, like fire round about within it, from his loins upward, and from his loins downward, I saw fire, and it had brightness round about. 28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.

 

 

                                              Isaiah 60

 

The glory of the Lord has risen on us

 

1 Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For, behold, the darkness will cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD will rise upon you, and his glory will be seen on you. 3 And the Gentiles will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be nursed at your side. 5 Then you will see, and flow together, and your heart will fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned over to you, the armies of the Gentiles will come to you. 6 The multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba will come: they will bring gold and incense; and they will show forth the praises of the LORD.

 

  • The Lord’s glory is His person—infinite and eternal power, knowledge, righteousness, and love.
  • Zechariah 2:5 For I, says the LORD, will be to her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
  • Exodus15:11 Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

 

All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to you: they will come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9 Surely the islands/coasts will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far away, their silver and their gold with them, to the name/person of the LORD your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.

 

  • God’s greatest glory for us is that He has made us His children and dwells in us.
  • 1John 3:2 Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we will be: but we know that, when he appears, we will be like him; for we will see him as he is.
  • Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

 

10 And the sons of strangers will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. 11 Therefore your gates will be open continually; they will not be shut day or night; that men may bring to you the forces/resources of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish; yes, those nations will be utterly wasted.

 

  • God stuck Israel many times throughout history for their idolatry.
  • He did it for their good, to bring them back to Him because He alone is life (Deuteronomy 30:1-3).
  • In the future, He will bless them mightily forever.

 

The Lord will make the place of His feet glorious

 

13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14 The sons of those that afflicted you will come bending to you; and all they that despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they will call you, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.

 

Our Savior and Redeemer comes to end violence and destruction

 

16 You will suck the milk of the Gentiles, and will suck the breast of kings: and you will know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. 17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will make your governors peace, and your tax collectors righteousness. 18 Violence will no more be heard in your land, wasting or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. 19 The sun will no longer be your light by day; neither for brightness will the moon give light to you: but the LORD will be unto you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. 20 Your sun will no more go down; neither will your moon withdraw itself: for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will be ended. 21 Your people also will be all righteous: they will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. 22 A little one will become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hurry it in his time.

 

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
  • 1Peter 1:18 you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver and gold, from your empty way of life received by tradition from your father: 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
  • Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is its light.


 

                                               Isaiah 61

 

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek/afflicted/poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

 

  • Jesus quoted this scripture in His hometown (Luke 4:18).
  • God placed His Holy Spirit on Christ at His baptism at the Jordan River.
  • That Spirit anointed Him to preach good tidings to the meek.
  • The meek are those who submit themselves to God by listening to God.
  • The best news is admittance into God’s eternal presence with total forgiveness through the sacrificial lamb that God would provide.
  • ‘Bind up the brokenhearted:’ the truth of God’s amazing love for each person is a healing comfort.
  • No matter who we are or what we’ve done, His love heals the most devastating breaks of our heart if we will accept it.
  • ‘Liberty to the captives: evil has much of the world tied up in its error, fearing things we should not fear and not fearing our Maker.
  • ‘Opening prisons:’ evil has many bound under false systems of thinking that bring death.
  • God’s vengeance is against evil.
  • He takes vengeance on His enemies.
  • He comforts all that mourn.
  • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
  • John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, except by way of me.
  • Nahum 1:2 God is jealous, and the LORD revenges; the LORD revenges, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies.

 

The Lord blesses double for all the shame and puts everlasting joy on us

 

To console those that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4 And they will build the old wastes, they will raise up the former desolations, and they will repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And foreigners will stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigners will be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But you will be named the Priests of the LORD: men will call you the Ministers of our God: you will eat the riches of the Gentiles, and you will boast yourselves in their glory. 7 For your shame you will have double; and for confusion they will rejoice in their portion: therefore, in their land they will possess the double portion: everlasting joy will be unto them.

 

  • Revelation 5:10 And have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we will reign on the earth.
  • Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

He loves justice and directs our work in truth

 

8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed will be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them will acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed.

 

  • Judgment is ‘mishpat’- verdict.
  • God loves it when the right things are done, wrongs corrected, and fair sentences are carried out in wisdom.
  • John 17:17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.
  • Psalm 96:13 (rejoice) before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he will judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

 

He has clothed us with garments of salvation; He has covered us with robes of righteousness

 

10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

 

 

                                               Isaiah 62

 

The Lord will make us a royal crown of glory in His hand

 

1 For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until its righteousness goes forth as brightness, and its salvation as a lamp that burns. 2 And the Gentiles will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you will be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD will name. 3 You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

 

  • The Lord will not rest until Israel’s righteousness shines brightly.
  • All the promises God has given in the Bible extend to all His people all of the time.
  • God is waiting for people to claim His promises by faith (1 Corinthians 10:11, Acts 10:34, Hebrews 13:8, Hebrews 4, 11:6).
  • Revelation 2:17 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, that no man knows except he that receives it.

 

He will delight in us and rejoice over us

 

4 You will no more be called Forsaken; neither will your land any more be called Desolate: but you will be called Hephzi-bah, and your land Beulah: for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married.

 

  • Hephzibah means ‘my delight is in her.’
  • Beulah means ‘married.’
  • Jeremiah 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take of you from a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
  • Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; He will be called The God of the whole earth.

 

5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so will your sons marry you: and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will your God rejoice over you. 6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, which will never hold their peace day or night: you that make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, 7 And give him no rest, until he establishes, until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

 

  • This means that we should keep prayers for this going up continually until God brings it to pass.
  • 1Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

 

He swears to protect our substance instead of giving it to others

 

8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your grain to be food for your enemies; and the sons of the foreigner will not drink your wine, that for which you have labored: 9 But those that have gathered it will eat it, and praise the LORD; and those that have brought it together will drink it in the courts of my holiness. 10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.

 

He is our salvation who is coming to deliver us

 

11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the world, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they will call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and you will be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

 

  • 1Peter 1:18 … you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your empty life received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

 


 

*********************************************************

 

 

SUMMARY: Isaiah 58-62

 

  • The LORD shows us our sin
  • The Lord releases us from bondage to wickedness
  • His glory will be our rear guard
  • He will guide us continually; He will satisfy our soul and make our bones fat
  • The Lord can always help
  • The Lord sees and repays
  • He is coming again and will be revered everywhere
  • The glory of the Lord has risen on us
  • The Lord will make the place of His feet glorious
  • Our Savior and Redeemer comes to end violence and destruction
  • The Lord blesses double for all the shame and puts everlasting joy on us
  • He loves justice and directs our work in truth
  • He has clothed us with garments of salvation; He has covered us with robes of righteousness
  • The Lord will make us a royal crown of glory in His hand
  • He will delight in us and rejoice over us
  • He swears to protect our substance instead of giving it to others
  • He is our salvation who is coming to deliver us