Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 48-51.

It has taken me a bit to get my thoughts together on today’s passage.  As a main thread, Isaiah writes that God has offered new prophecies about the future such that we cannot say that we already knew what was going to happen before He revealed it.  In particular he addresses this to those who invoke God, who present themselves as worshipers of the Lord, but do not do so honestly.  They have missed one of the most important aspects of why God reveals these things to us.  He does so in order to teach us what is best for us.  God revealed things that had not yet happened through His prophets in order that we might listen to what He tells us about what is best for us.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 48-51.

Many Bible scholars believe that this portion of Isaiah, starting with chapter 34, was written by someone other than Isaiah at a later time (usually, they believe after the fall of Babylon to Cyrus).  As someone who believes in the supernatural and miracles I have no problem believing that Isaiah wrote about the fall of Babylon before Babylon defeated Assyria.  However, there is merit to the idea that the writing style is different in this later portion of the book from the earlier portion.  I can also believe that a writer during the Exile might append their own thoughts to those of the prophet Isaiah.  Nevertheless, I am convinced that this portion was written before the fall of Babylon (although perhaps after the fall of Jerusalem).  The prophet predicted the fall of Babylon to Cyrus before it happened as evidence to those he was writing that God had more knowledge and power than any of the idols which some of them worshiped during the Exile.

Further down in today’s passage the prophet makes an interesting metaphor concerning light.  Usually, the writers of the Bible (Old and New Testament) refer to light as coming from God, but here the writer does something different.  He writes the following:

Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God.
 But now, all you who light fires
    and provide yourselves with flaming torches,
go, walk in the light of your fires
    and of the torches you have set ablaze.
This is what you shall receive from my hand:
    You will lie down in torment.

Here, the ones who obey God have no light.  They are walking in the darkness.  Actually, I think he means that everyone walks in darkness, but those who do not rely on God attempt to make a light for themselves.  The writer tells us not to attempt to provide our own light.  He tells us that if we attempt to provide our own light we will lie down in torment.  Instead, we should rely on God and trust Him.   If we pursue righteousness and seek the Lord, He will instruct us and He will provide light to us by way of His justice.  So, the prophet is warning us against trying to make our own light, our own justice.  Instead, let us trust God and walk by the light He will provide us, walk in His definition of justice.  The prophet goes on to tell us not to be terrified by the insults of mere mortals.  Let us take God’s instruction to heart, even when others attempt to intimidate us into following what they call justice.

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

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Isaiah 48-51.

Since I am going to be on vacation from July 31-August 9 I have already written my blog posts for these days and scheduled them to be posted.  However, I may not be able to post a link to them on FaceBook, Gab.com, or MeWe.com during every day (or any day) during this time period.  So, please continue to visit my site to read my daily devotional.

Once again, I am not sure how the points I want to make from this passage fit together. So, I will start writing about them and see where the Spirit leads me (and if it makes no sense whatsoever I suspect that means I did not truly listen to the Spirit of God as I wrote).

An important theme which appears throughout the Book of Isaiah (and the entire Bible, for that matter) is that God does not speak in secret. So, if someone claims to have secret knowledge of God, or of His will, they are lying.  God has not communicated secret messages to anyone (the only exceptions are the visions which a few prophets have seen and been told not to describe to anyone).  God speaks openly with mankind because He seeks to teach us what is best for us.  God is not like those who lie to us in order to get us to do what they believe is in our best interest.  God does not attempt to deceive us in to doing what He knows in our best interests, which gives us a hint as to whether those claiming to act in our best interests are actually doing so: those who are genuinely acting in our best interests have no reason to deceive us.

Isaiah’s prophecies concerning God speaking openly lead up to him prophesying about the coming Messiah.   God told Isaiah that He did this so that no one could claim that the Messiah was predicted by man made gods (although, as I pointed out the other day, they try to do anyway).  In his prophecy of the coming Messiah Isaiah “quotes” Him as saying, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand,  and my reward is with my God.”  And if we look at Jesus’ life from a human perspective and only look at what He accomplished in His lifetime, it certainly looks like He had not accomplished much.  At the time of His death, Jesus had, at most, a few hundred followers in a backwater province of the Roman Empire.  And yet, what Isaiah wrote a few verses later is true of Him, “Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down,…”  Look at the history of the world since Jesus’ death and you will see how true that is of Him.

Before I was born the Lord called me;
    from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.

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

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 48-51.

Today’s passage contains a Messianic prophecy, much of it can be seen as applying to Jesus.  However, elements of it may apply to Cyrus the Persian and other elements could apply to Isaiah himself.  And in some ways this prophecy contains directions for those who choose to follow the Messiah.  The place I want to start at in this is chapter 49 verse 4:

But my work seems so useless!
I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose.
Yet I leave it all in the Lord’s hand;
I will trust God for my reward.

My first thought on that is that it seems so accurately to sum up Jesus’ ministry on earth.  He spent three years teaching, never traveled more than 100 miles from where He grew up, and left behind a few hundred followers, at most.  Yet, 100 years later His name was spoken and His teachings followed as far away as India, Ethiopia, and Spain by large numbers of people.  In a similar way, we should not view our success or failure by how rich or influential we become in our lifetime.  Let us do as God teaches us and follow the paths to which He leads us, then leave the results to God.

Later, Isaiah tells us that God’s Law will be proclaimed and His Justice will become a light to all nations.  If we have allowed God to teach us right from wrong we need not fear the scorn of others.  If we determine to do His will we will not be disgraced.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I am going to be on vacation through August 10th.  I have prepared my daily Bible Studies for each day throughout that time in advance since I will have limited access to the Internet during this time.  The timing on when I publish these blogs may be erratic during this time. 

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 48-51.

Usually I am skeptical that God provides prophecies like that recorded here, where Isaiah calls out by name as the conqueror of Babylon a man who was not yet born when Isaiah died.  However, this passage explicitly states that God is making a prophecy so that those who heard it could not doubt His power.  No image or other god could have done what God did through Isaiah.  God does not usually make such prophecies, but He is not bound to not do so.  God does not usually give such specific information about the future, but that does not mean that He is unable to do so.  Nor does it mean that He did not do so this time.

Chapter 49 contains another portion of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, but in some ways that portion applies to everyone who serves God.  God called Jesus while He was still in the womb, but He has also called each and every one of us.  First let us look at how more of this applies to Jesus.  As an adult, He never traveled more than 100 miles from where He grew up.  The movers and shakers of the world never heard of Him before His death.  At the time He was crucified, it would seem as if His life amounted to nothing.  Yet, His ministry brought God’s salvation to the ends of the Earth.  Our work may seem useless. but God sees it differently.