Highlights from the Book of Isaiah, Part 3

This is part 3 of my highlights from the book of Isaiah. Like part 1 and part 2, this article is also filled with some of my favorite parts of Isaiah that are so relevant and valuable to us and our world today. 

Chapters 44-51 Highlights

Chapter 44 describes how people take inanimate wood and metal to create idols to worship. That seems so irrational! 

Chapter 45 reveals that a future man named Cyrus will do God’s work for him to rebuild Jerusalem. And one day every knee will bow to God—a phrase repeated in Philippians 2:10-11.

“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.” (Isaiah 45:22-23)

Chapter 48 talks about God being our teacher of what is best for us.

This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to my commands, your peace would have been like a river, your well-being like the waves of the sea. (Isaiah 48:17-18) 

If only they had paid attention to God’s commands, their peace would have been like a river, their righteousness like the waves of the sea. The same is true for us today. 

Chapter 51 reminds us to remember our identity. 

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. (Isaiah 51:1)

 Isaiah referenced Abraham and Sarah who were the physical and spiritual progenitors of the Jewish people. Basically, Isaiah was telling them to remember their origin and their purpose. It all began with Abraham and Sarah who trusted God enough to leave everything behind and follow Him only. They were a people called out of the world to be God’s representatives in the world. His favor rested on them. He loved them as His children. 

It applies to all those who have descended from Abraham and Sarah as well as those who have chosen to trust God like they did. Believers have a great heritage of the faithful all the way back to the apostles who first followed Jesus and  became pillars of the multiplying church. All of us need to feel connected to our story. How easy it is to forget our identity in Christ today as we live in this pull-apart world! 

Read the article, “Remember Your Identity in a Pull-Apart World.”

Chapters 52-55 Highlights

52:7

This chapter contains these beautiful words:

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)

Chapter 53 is all about the Messiah as the suffering servant on our behalf. It is a beautiful passage that fits the life of Jesus so well. The Messiah will take care of the problem of sin for His people (vv. 7-12). Thank you, Jesus!

55:6-11

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)

God is there for us to find Him. 2 Chronicles 15:2 confirms this, “If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” Seek Him while you are alive. There is no second chance after you die. Turn to the Lord and experience His mercy and pardon for your sins. His forgiveness of sins is based on our faith, not our works. What a promise from a relational God!

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God’s Word will accomplish what He desires and achieve the purposes He has for it—in my life and in yours. It is a messenger both calling people to Him and carrying our His plans. 

Chapters 56-66 Highlights

Chapter 56 promises to the Gentiles that they can be accepted into God’s community because of their faith in Him and obedience to Him (vv. 3-8).

Chapter 57 begins with words saying that sometimes the righteous die young to be spared from evil. They are given rest and peace through death. They will be with God in Heaven, far better than the sufferings of this world. 

59:15-17

God saw there was no one to redeem His people so He became the redeemer.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; (Isaiah 59:15-17)

Paul borrowed from this image as he wrote about the armor of the Lord in Ephesians chapter 6.

Read about the armor of God that gives us victory,” Ephesians • Stand Firm in the Treasure of Victory.”

Chapter 60 talks about the rebuilt Jerusalem. 

61:1-10

Jesus quoted from chapter 61.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives andrelease from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, (Isaiah 61:1-3)

This is God’s grace to humans. He desires to free us from the bondage of sin and decay. So He sent Jesus to provide the way. Don’t you see God’s heart in these verses? He loves us. He wants to comfort all who mourn and does this for us (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). What a good God we have!

And we should respond with delight and rejoicing because of what He does for us now. 

I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

Christians are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus. 

Chapters 65 and 66 talk about God’s future plans for a new heaven and new earth where sin will no longer be present. There is a new day coming. We will all be perfected and no longer tempted to sin against our great God. There will be no weeping, no infant mortality, long life, and work that lasts. The animal kingdom will be at peace within itself. The serpent will be harmless. That is hope for us to grasp. God’s promises will be fulfilled one day. We can count on it.

In the meantime, we should choose to stay faithful to our God regardless of what is going on in the world around us. 

Read “Highlights from the Book of Isaiah” part 1 and part 2.

Study about the time period in which Isaiah wrote in the Reboot Renew Rejoice Bible Study.