I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 52-56.

    Starting in chapter 52 verse 13 through the end of chapter 53 is the passage that is often referred to as the “Suffering Servant” passage. It is one of those clearly messianic passages which as a Christian I see as a reference to Jesus. However, there is a lesson not directly related to the Messiah for us in this passage. It tells us that God’s Servant had nothing about him to attract us to him, that he was despised and rejected. No one cared that he died. Yet, it was because of Him that we are counted as righteous. How many other people do we treat as the prophet tells us that the Messiah was treated? How many of them are, also, God’s servants? Truly understanding this passage should cause us to seek to be friends with the outcasts, with those whom society says are “untouchable”.

    Isaiah 55 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. I absolutely love the way it reads in the NIV. The first couple of verses are a foreshadowing of what Jesus said in Matthew 5:6. Actually, I suspect that what Jesus said there is partially derived from the beginning of Isaiah 55. However, the key part of Isaiah 55 begins with verse six. Each one of us has a window of opportunity to turn to the Lord. I will not pretend to understand how it works, but if we choose to turn away from God when He makes His present felt by us, we may never get another chance to turn to Him. Never pass up an opportunity to do God’s will, you may not get another one.

    I am hoping my thought processes here make sense to you. There is a connection between what I wrote in the first paragraph of yesterday’s blog and chapter 55 here. We often think that we know better than Scripture how to do God’s will.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.

The idea is continued and expanded on through the rest of the chapter. God promises that if we stay true to His word, listen to His word, and preach His word, as He has given it to us in Scripture, it will accomplish the purpose for which He gave it. It is important to remember that this means actually reading and teaching what is actually written, not what we think what was actually written means. It is OK to do the latter, but only as long as we start by recounting what it actually says. I cannot emphasize that enough, we need to make sure that when we teach God’s word we refer to the written word and not rely on what we think it says.