July 18–Isaiah 48-50

“It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light to the nations so that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth”(49:6).

In the future, Isaiah prophesied a glorious EXPANSION of God’s focus and activity. He predicted a day when, through the Messiah (Spirit-anointed Servant), the Father would effectively bless all nations. Rescuing Israel, as significant as this is, is “too small” a task for the Messiah. Working through a redeemed Israel, Christ would be the light of the WORLD. In this beautiful verse, Isaiah heard and reported the Father giving this HUGE assignment to His much-loved Son.

Remember the amazing story in John 12? Holy Week. Days before the cross. Greeks (secular people, not necessarily from Greece, but people whose culture and assumptions were more Hellenized) came seeking Jesus. They wanted to speak with Him, ask questions.

Earlier in the gospels, Jesus restricted His ministry to the JEWISH NATION ONLY. Aware of this, Philip hesitated to give access to these Greeks. Hearing the news, Jesus declared it a sign. The time for the prophesied shift had come! “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”(John 12:23). On the cross, Jesus would open the door of salvation to the WHOLE WORLD. See Pentecost. See the book of Acts.

As we read Isaiah today, will you consider the Son’s large assignment must also be ours? How easy, how common, for us to concentrate on small and near projects, leaving the prayer and the planning for the LARGE ENTERPRISE almost entirely ignored. Go to a prayer meeting (if there even is a prayer meeting in your church) and listen to what believers ask. Is the focus narrow and near? Prayers for our families, our church, our needs? Little else, usually.

Have we not fallen short of God’s true vision? Go make disciples of all nations! Anything else is a job too small!

“If a commission by an earthly king is considered an honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?”(David Livingstone).

“Not failure, but low aim, is crime” (James Russel Lowell).

July 17–Isaiah 45-47

“Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker–an earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ “(45:9).

Trust is the center of our relationship with God. “Abraham believed God (yielded to His plans, received His direction, rested in His character as good and true). God “counted it as righteousness.” See Genesis 15:6.

Faith is how our relationship with the Eternal One begins. It is also how it proceeds forward.

The opposite of faith is self-sufficiency. Pride and stubbornness and self. Rather than trust God’s plan, I trust me, my emotions, my perceptions. Eve did the same in the garden. To choose SELF over GOD is the sad story of our race. Independence is our sin.

In 45:9, Isaiah described a common scene. Rather than trust God, rather than accept His path, we resist and question Him. We “quarrel” with our Maker. Entertaining the slander from Satan (that God is not sufficient or kind), we act on the false idea that safety and success can only be achieved through self-assertion. Is clay smarter than the potter? Isn’t God worthy of our trust?

Friend, are you presently resisting or resting ? If we believe that salvation is by grace through faith, must we not daily teach ourselves that every step after salvation is blessed by the same principle? If we trust Him, shouldn’t we trust Him?

“Do not let your heart be troubled, believe (trust) in God, believe (trust) also in Me” (John 14:1).

“In repentance and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).

“Does the Father truly love us? He does. Does the Spirit move among us? He does. And does Jesus, our Messiah, hold forever those He loves? He does. Is anyone worthy? Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll? Is He worthy? Is He worthy? Is He worthy of this? He is!”(Andrew Peterson/Ben Shive).

July 16–Isaiah 42-44

“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or raise His voice. . .a bruised reed He will not break. . .Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you”(42:1-2,9).

Isaiah 42 is the first of what scholars call the “Servant songs”. As Isaiah peers into a God-shaped future, his eyes focus on ONE whom God calls “My Servant”. See 42:1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, 52:13-53:12.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah could see the coming Messiah in EXACTING detail.

Notice Isaiah’s description of the gentleness of Christ. No need for noise or pressure tactics. His success will be accomplished by the Spirit, the invisible and real work of God in the world!

Will you consider the implications of this amazingly accurate picture of Jesus? God sees the future. Before it happens. Prophecy is proof. God foreknows the story in specific and accurate detail! Will you stop for a moment and open your mind to this amazing idea? The direction of this world is not a product of chance. The deep mind and large heart of God shapes history.

Maybe God’s foreknowledge creates questions in your mind. Are all outcomes predetermined? Does prayer matter? Are we free in any sense? For now, we will allow these unanswered (not fully answerable) questions. What cannot be debated, however, is that God’s full knowledge of the future is part of His praise-worthy character.

Friend, would you fear the future less (not at all) if you knew that God already knows where things are going? To those who draw near, He gives assurance and confidence. “Before they spring forth, I declare them to you.” We are moving toward a future He knows.

July 15–Isaiah 40-41

“Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily. . .say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ “(40:9).

Isaiah 40 is a turning point. It is the beginning of what some scholars call the “second” book. Different in mood and outlook, these chapters reflect a maturing, deepening in Isaiah’s own heart and outlook. Holy people grow and change. We must. It is God’s way. The miracle of sanctification.

Chapter 40 begins with mysterious voices. “Other prophesies begin with symbolic visions, but here the ear takes the place of the eye” (Maclaren).

God is the first speaker (v 1). He calls the prophet to comfort His people. Jerusalem’s failure was not final! Sin brings discipline, but it does not separate those who belong to the Father from His enduring love. “The captivity is over,” He instructs Isaiah to announce. Captivity in Babylon. Captivity to sin. God’s kindness creates a new space and calls His people to enter in.

The second speaker is unnamed (v. 3). Reading these words seven hundred years later, we recognize John the Baptist. Out in the wilderness, alone with God, he heard God, knew what needed to be said. He called the people to moral preparation as predicate for Christ’s coming. Apart from inner conviction of sin and hunger for righteousness, no person is ready to receive Christ.

In v. 6, still another voice calls out. What message does this unidentified speaker bring? The frailty of men and the permanence of God’s word! A great correction of human pride. We are not big deals. God is a big deal!

In v. 9, the prophet speaks. He calls Jerusalem to “get yourself up on a high mountain”. A prophecy of the church. Like the exiles of old, we who have been rescued are called to tell the good news. We are to find the highest platform and shout the message with the loudest voice.

Believers have a high privilege. We are to declare God to the nations. As rescued Zion told the cities of Judea, “Behold your God,” Christians are to shout to the nations, “Behold the Lamb!”

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)

July 14–Isaiah 36-39

“Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria. . .I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake”(37:21,35).

I can’t explain it, but I KNOW it to be true. There is great power in prayer.

Hezekiah was a flawed person. (OK, who isn’t?) At times fickle, self-centered, insecure, he craved the approval of men. For all his imperfections, however, when Hezekiah prayed, God answered him. Glory! A reminder to every believer.

Having destroyed Samaria, the Assyrian army came south to Jerusalem. A siege was imminent. Defeat almost certain. At a particularly discouraging moment, Hezekiah took the written demands for unconditional surrender and “spread them out before the Lord. Maclaren described it as an, “eloquent symbol of humility and honesty in prayer.”

It was an act of faith, a rejection of the wisdom of politicians and military leaders. To spread something out before the Lord is to take your own hands off the solution. It is to humbly request and to humbly receive God’s answer. “Wait on the Lord,” is how Isaiah described this task; have confidence in His will and power rather than your own agency.

Will you read the words of Hezekiah’s prayer? Notice how God-focused his words are. How singularly concerned with the glory of God. Prayer (at least at this moment) was not a way to get what Hezekiah wanted. It was a sincere and self-less effort to grasp the invisible realities of God’s will.

Soon after, Isaiah sent a message of assurance to the king. Note 37:26, 35. God hears prayer. God answers prayer.

For all the cost of it, (think of Jacob wrestling at Jabbok, or Jesus surrendering in Gethsemane), believers have no greater privilege than the invitation from God to seek Him in prayer. In a day of fear and confusion, the people of God are well reminded that this potent power is still ours.

“There are parts of our calling, works of the Holy Spirit, and defeats of the darkness that will come no other way than furious, fervent, faith-filled, unceasing prayer”(Beth Moore).

“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day” (Abraham Lincoln).

July 13–Isaiah 32-35

“A highway will be there, a roadway. And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it. . .and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away”(35:8,10).

The ancient world had few roads. Beaten paths only, and not many of them. The expense and political authority required for a true road was prohibitive. Only Rome, years later, could accomplish the marvel of nation-connecting roads.

Imagine, then, the grace communicated by Isaiah’s vision. A road! A holy highway. A walkable path and the possibility of progress! Do you ever feel stuck? God has a holy highway for you, friend. He will provide a way forward, a path of progress.

“I am the way,” said Jesus in John 14:6. The thought and promise of His words are very close to the ancient text in Isaiah. Even after we are saved, there are steps to be taken. Those who are justified also have a journey. Jesus is our Redeemer. He is also our Road.

Isaiah predicted the highway the exiles would travel to return to Jerusalem. A path of hope!

In a deeper sense (all prophecy is only a pre-echo of an ultimate fulfillment in Christ) Isaiah saw saved people walking in the Spirit. Redeemed people (v. 9). Ransomed people (v. 10). Joyful singing as they (we) travel. Friend, are you walking with the Lord, learning holiness? Are you making progress on His highway?

“Then let our songs abound and every tear be dry; we’re marching through Immanuel’s ground to fairer worlds on high”(Isaac Watts).

“Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15).

There is a road for redeemed people to walk. Those who do so will eventually get home! Sweet privilege. Put on your shoes, dear friend! Don’t stop or resist or delay! Even today, the Good Guide calls us to get forward on His Highway of Holiness.

July 12–Isaiah 29-31

“For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, ‘In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.’ But you were not willing” (30:15).

Assyria was a problem. BIG problem. The people of Jerusalem (like all others in the ancient Middle East) lived in daily anxiety of their aggressive northern neighbor.

The threat of an Assyrian invasion was the subject of every newscast, the topic of every anxious conversation. Talk show hosts and political leaders recommended an alliance with Egypt as the prudent path. See 30:2.

Isaiah (and the other prophets) disagreed. The solution, they said, was not political, but Spiritual. Rest (safety) could only be found in repentance. The Hebrew word is shubah (shoo baw), “to return, to repent.” A return to the historic relationship of Israel with God. A rediscovery of the power in Jehovah through faith and obedience. Doing so, the nation would experience the protection and provision of God.

Secular thinkers ridicule Spiritual solutions as unrealistic or irresponsible approaches to “real” issues. History and eternity prove the opposite. The only safety available to man is in God.

Turn back, friends! His mercy bids you come back to the original design for human life. Let the disappointments suffered in this broken world soften your heart and speed your feet! Consider what has happened since we broke rank from the Father. Why did we ever listen to the world and leave the Reliable One?

Whatever the problem. However present the danger. Turn back to the God who made you. Take steps required to be right with Him. You will find safety there.

“How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling”(Matthew 23:37).

July 11–Isaiah 26-28

“Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity”(26:20-21).

There is no special shame for America in our drift from God. Significant shame, but not special.

Sadly, we have gone the way humans always do. We have proven God’s judgement. Men are sinners. Sexually immoral. Greedy. Lawless. Ungrateful. Violent. None righteous. Not one. “Man produces evil as a bee produces honey”(William Golding).

There is, however, a special grace for the people of God who live in America (and every other sinful nation). God’s people are mixed into the culture as wheat among tares. The Lord knows who are His. He also, “knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgement”(2 Peter 2:9).

As judgement fell on Israel, the prophet gave counsel to the people of God. They were to enter their rooms and close their doors and hide until the indignation ran its course. They were to seek His face. His help. To find safety in Him.

The words are strangely reminiscent of Jesus. “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father in secret,” says Matthew 6:6. In prayer, the Father allows us to confess our own sins. In prayer, He allows us to see His face and His purpose in discipline. In prayer, we find His grace and guidance and hope, even as harsh discipline falls.

God will not turn back from His holiness, but neither will He turn away from His people. When wrath comes, those who wait on Him will find special grace. In mercy, God is calling us to do so.

“I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me. ‘Come let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us’ “(Hosea 5:15-16:1).

July 10–Isaiah 23-25

“The Lord will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth. . .the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed. . .The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the people. . .the Lord will wipe tears away from their faces”(24:21,23; 25:6,8).

With great steadiness, the prophets reported the approach the Day of the Lord. Two very different aspects of it. A Day of Wrath (destruction of the present earth for its sin) AND a Day of Reward (lavish Banquet for people of God). Looking into the future, Isaiah saw judgement and joy coming. Both.

Jesus believed and taught the same. In Matthew 24, our Lord spoke plainly of a coming day in which the “Sun will be darkened, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.” The glorious return of Christ will be anticipated by COSMIC DISTURBANCE. Please compare His words to Isaiah’s in 24:23. Jesus had great respect for the prophets. They saw the future with the same eyes.

God is no defender of the world in its present state of rebellion and corruption. The world is passing away. Sin will ultimately bring a day of final and irrevocable destruction.

Side by side with this dark prediction, however, is a picture of a BRIGHT BANQUET on the mountain of God. Food. Wine. Friendships. Tears wiped away from every face. When Jesus met with the disciples for the Last Supper, he talked openly about this coming celebration.

Does your mind conceive, and your heart receive, both pictures? Judgement and joy. These two outcomes are the plan and promise of a good and holy God.

“God’s justice and mercy are two parts in one holy symphony” (Marshall Segal).

“A god who is all love, all mercy, no sovereignty, no justice, no holiness, and no wrath is an idol” (R. C. Sproul).

“Behold the kindness and the severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness”(Romans 11:22).

July 9–Isaiah 18-22

” ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off,’ for the Lord has spoken”(22:23).

Part prophet, part poet, Isaiah used vivid picture-words to communicate Spiritual truth. In today’s reading, he refers to, “a peg in a firm place” (22:23, 25).

Can you imagine it? Will you? In your kitchen or garage, a nail firmly anchored in a wall, a peg on which you hang tools or bags of supplies?

It is a metaphor for trust. The picture refers to people in whom (on whom) we hang our hopes. Institutions we trust. Leaders we believe will hold the weight of our confidence.

It was a prediction of disappointment. After unworthy Shebna was replaced (22:15), Eliakim became a new advisor to Hezekiah, a “peg” for Judah. Good man. Stable. Wise. In the coming day of judgment, however, even the wisest, most trusted leaders would be confounded. “For the Lord has spoken”(22:25).

Ultimately, only God can carry the weight of our needs. He only is the peg that doesn’t give way, the peg on which we can hang our hopes.

For years, Isaiah declared this truth. Don’t trust Egypt! Don’t trust Damascus! Don’t trust yourselves or your leaders or the Temple! None will give you safety against the threat of Assyria. Turn to God! Trust God! Even the best leaders will disappoint. The worst even more so. Only God is stable. Only God is safe.

Have you been disappointed, dear one? Have you trusted people or organizations, only to have them fail you? Christ calls us to put our confidence in Him. With loving heart and indestructible life, He alone is worthy of our trust.

“And not only this, but we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance brings about proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:3-5, italics mine).