The opening words of chapter 57 continue the Lord’s indictment on his people which began in 56:9. Having called out the leaders of Israel (watchmen and shepherds—56:10,11), the Lord summons his sinful people to “draw near” and receive His withering…
Category: Isaiah
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 56)
Chapter 56 presents a powerful, stark contrast between the Lord and Israel’s leaders. Verses 1-8 reveal the Lord’s heart of compassion and kindness for the “outcasts of Israel” (8) and the “foreigners who join themselves to the Lord” (6). By…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 55)
Promise and appeal come together in the opening verses of chapter 55. The Lord calls His people to come to Him to receive full and free provision: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has not…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 54)
Thanks to the Servant’s substitutional death for the nation of Israel and the “iniquity of us all” (53:6), Isaiah announces joyful news to the “afflicted, storm-tossed” Israelites. Because of the Servant’s vicious, victorious sacrifice, Jerusalem is called to “break forth…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 53)
Isaiah begins chapter 53—a continuation of the fourth Servant Song—with two questions. Both imply what he is about to report had been dismissed or missed by many: “Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 52)
The chapter break between 51:23 and 52:1 obscures the fact that most of chapter 52 (1-12) is a continuation and culmination of the Lord’s message to His people in chapter 51 (4-23). Having already called His downcast, defeated people to…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 51)
The theme of “comfort” for God’s people and the city of Jerusalem—first introduced in chapter 40—comes to the forefront in chapters 51 and 52. After the words of the Servant of the Lord about trusting the Lord in dark times…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 50)
In chapter 50 we hear the Lord (1-3) and His Servant (4-11) speak to a dejected, defeated, and disobedient nation of Israel. Having been “sent away” (1) into exile, the people conclude God has “divorced” them, leaving them to fend…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 49)
Chapter 49 begins with another summons to the “coastlands” to “Listen to me” (1; compare 41:1). However, this call to the peoples living on the edges (coastlands) comes not from the Lord but from the “servant” of the Lord (3,…
Tuesdays with Isaiah (Chapter 48)
Beginning in chapter 48, the Lord turns his address from the Babylonians to the “house of Jacob” (1). Where the Babylonians had linked themselves to their idols (46:1) and enchantments (47:10), the Israelites identified themselves with the “God of Israel”…
Rick and Linda Reed 