Abigail joined me for today’s segment. We read chapters in Isaiah about the promise of the New Creation, condemnation of Israel’s enemies, warnings of the Day of the Lord, and comfort for God’s people despite much chastening. The session is closed with a psalm of pleading with God to end his silence and save his people. It is a shorter session today. It still requires a good deal of reflection and meditation to properly interpret Isaiah’s prophecies for our context today, such that we can rightly order our lives. You are welcome to seek me out if you are needing help doing this. That’s sort of the whole reason I became a preacher!
Isaiah 11
Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,
and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and strength,
the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD.
And He will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what His eyes see,
and He will not decide by what His ears hear,
but with righteousness He will judge the poor,
and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth
and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
Righteousness will be the belt around His hips,
and faithfulness the sash around His waist.
The wolf will live with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the goat;
the calf and young lion and fatling will be together,
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will graze with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play by the cobra’s den,
and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all My holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the sea is full of water.
On that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will seek Him, and His place of rest will be glorious.
On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart,
and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off.
Ephraim will no longer envy Judah,
nor will Judah harass Ephraim.
They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west;
together they will plunder the sons of the east.
They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
The LORD will devote to destruction
the gulf of the Sea of Egypt;
with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand
over the Euphrates.
He will split it into seven streams
for men to cross with dry sandals.
There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who remain from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 12
In that day you will say:
“O LORD, I will praise You.
Although You were angry with me,
Your anger has turned away,
and You have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
and He also has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation, and on that day you will say:
“Give praise to the LORD;
proclaim His name!
Make His works known among the peoples;
declare that His name is exalted.
Sing to the LORD, for He has done glorious things.
Let this be known in all the earth.
Cry out and sing, O citizen of Zion,
for great among you is the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 13
This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received:
Raise a banner on a barren hilltop;
call aloud to them.
Wave your hand,
that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
I have commanded My sanctified ones;
I have even summoned My warriors
to execute My wrath
and exult in My triumph.
Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations gathered together!
The LORD of Hosts is mobilizing
an army for war.
They are coming from faraway lands,
from the ends of the heavens—
the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.
Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near;
it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore all hands will fall limp,
and every man’s heart will melt.
Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them;
they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look at one another,
their faces flushed with fear.
Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming—
cruel, with fury and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners within it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
will not give their light.
The rising sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light.
I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity.
I will end the haughtiness of the arrogant
and lay low the pride of the ruthless.
I will make man scarcer than pure gold,
and mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken from its place
at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts
on the day of His burning anger.
Like a hunted gazelle,
like a sheep without a shepherd,
each will return to his own people,
each will flee to his native land.
Whoever is caught will be stabbed,
and whoever is captured will die by the sword.
Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes,
their houses will be looted,
and their wives will be ravished.
Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who have no regard for silver
and no desire for gold.
Their bows will dash young men to pieces;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
they will not look with pity on the children.
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be overthrown by God
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
She will never be inhabited
or settled from generation to generation;
no nomad will pitch his tent there,
no shepherd will rest his flock there.
But desert creatures will lie down there,
and howling creatures will fill her houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.
Hyenas will howl in her fortresses
and jackals in her luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s time is at hand,
and her days will not be prolonged.
Isaiah 14
For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.
The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland.
Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has ceased,
and how his fury has ended!
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows;
it subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
All the earth is at peace and at rest;
they break out in song.
Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon
exult over you:
“Since you have been laid low,
no woodcutter comes against us.”
Sheol beneath is eager
to meet you upon your arrival.
It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you—
all the rulers of the earth.
It makes all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
They will all respond to you, saying,
“You too have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us!”
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are your bed
and worms your blanket.
How you have fallen from heaven,
O day star, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
O destroyer of nations.
You said in your heart:
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of assembly,
in the far reaches of the north.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
But you will be brought down to Sheol,
to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Those who see you will stare;
they will ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms tremble,
who turned the world into a desert
and destroyed its cities,
who refused to let the captives
return to their homes?”
All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch,
covered by those slain with the sword,
and dumped into a rocky pit
like a carcass trampled underfoot.
You will not join them in burial,
since you have destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never again be mentioned.
Prepare a place to slaughter his sons
for the iniquities of their forefathers.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or cover the earth with their cities.
“I will rise up against them,”
declares the LORD of Hosts.
“I will cut off from Babylon
her name and her remnant,
her offspring and her posterity,”
declares the LORD.
“I will make her a place
for owls and for swamplands;
I will sweep her away
with the broom of destruction,”
declares the LORD of Hosts.
The LORD of Hosts has sworn:
“Surely, as I have planned, so will it be;
as I have purposed, so will it stand.
I will break Assyria in My land;
I will trample him on My mountain.
His yoke will be taken off My people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
This is the plan devised for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
The LORD of Hosts has purposed,
and who can thwart Him?
His hand is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?
In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
For a viper will spring from the root of the snake,
and a flying serpent from its egg.
Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture,
and the needy will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root by famine,
and your remnant will be slain.
Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
For a cloud of smoke comes from the north,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
What answer will be given
to the envoys of that nation?
“The LORD has founded Zion,
where His afflicted people will find refuge.”
Isaiah 15
This is the burden against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night!
Dibon goes up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails over Nebo,
as well as over Medeba.
Every head is shaved,
every beard is cut off.
In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on the rooftops and in the public squares
they all wail, falling down weeping.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far as Jahaz.
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out;
their souls tremble within.
My heart cries out over Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.
With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith;
they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.
The waters of Nimrim are dried up,
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone,
and the greenery is no more.
So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Brook of the Willows.
For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
it is heard in Beer-elim.
The waters of Dimon are full of blood,
but I will bring more upon Dimon—
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
and upon the remnant of the land.
Psalm 143
O LORD, hear my prayer.
In Your faithfulness, give ear to my plea;
in Your righteousness, answer me.
Do not bring Your servant into judgment,
for no one alive is righteous before You.
For the enemy has pursued my soul,
crushing my life to the ground,
making me dwell in darkness
like those long since dead.
My spirit grows faint within me;
my heart is dismayed inside me.
I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I consider the work of Your hands.
I stretch out my hands to You;
my soul thirsts for You like a parched land.
Selah
Answer me quickly, O LORD;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide Your face from me,
or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning,
for I have put my trust in You.
Teach me the way I should walk,
for to You I lift up my soul.
Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD;
I flee to You for refuge.
Teach me to do Your will,
for You are my God.
May Your good Spirit lead me
on level ground.
For the sake of Your name, O LORD,
revive me.
In Your righteousness,
bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your loving devotion,
cut off my enemies.
Destroy all who afflict me,
for I am Your servant.
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