Category: The Healing Journey

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Isaiah 15-16: The Destruction of Moab

Jeremiah 48 serves as a companion reading.

Jeremiah 48:11-12 KJV — Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.

Isaiah 16:6 KJV — We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

The dregs that settle in wine will ruin it. This passage describes a necessary process of pouring oneself out and leaving behind what is impure.

It takes humility to recognize one’s flaws and to be spritually reborn.

This process can only occur in truth. Our lies are our dregs and we need to extract ourselves from them.

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Isaiah 13-14: Babylon

Revelation 17:13-14 KJV — These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Chuck Missler gave me a lot of homework for this reading (see the Blue Letter Bible app): Isaiah 13-14, Jeremiah 59-51, and Revelation 17-18.

Revelation 18:7 KJV — How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

Revelation is a challenging book to understand, but this character of Babylon speaks deeply to me.

She denies the inherent suffering of the world, lives in pride, and portends to be a monarch free of God’s command.

These temptations are ever present in widowhood. In our suffering we find great strength in ourselves. The key is to remember that all strength comes from God.

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Isaiah 11-12

Isaiah 12:2 KJV — Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.

I’ve been feeling just strong enough. That’s a precarious place to occupy. I don’t ask God for strength as often as I should, but I regularly thank Him for the power He has graced me with.

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Isaiah 11

Isaiah 11:9 KJV — They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

“For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD.”

It’s a wonderful inversion, or reverse revolution. Knowledge is what got us into trouble and kicked out of Eden. Knowledge of God will restore that state of peace.

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Isaiah 10: Unrighteous Decrees

Isaiah 10:1 KJV — Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;

I’m especially bias towards seeing libertarian concepts in Scripture. Woe will befall men who write laws that are not in accordance with God’s will.

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Isaiah 9

Isaiah 9:2 KJV — The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

This is how I feel as someone who came to discover Jesus in his heart in his late thirties.

I was saved less than a year before my wife took ill and passed away. We didn’t know it, but we were baptized in the shadow of death.

When my Mary returned to her home in Heaven, the full spectrum of Light shone down. My conversion had been calm, but this revelation filled me with a powerful Love that endures to this day.

Isaiah 9:6 KJV — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

My story is a mystery. Why Jesus found me that summer, I do not know. But He knew that I would need all of His counsel, might, and peace in the coming years.

I spent a lot of time in chapter 9 today, but don’t feel like I penetrated much into its meaning. I’m sure I will return here and be shown more.

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Isaiah 6: Seraphims

Isaiah 6:2-7 KJV — Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

The header image comes from this informative article: The Seraphim Mosaic in Hagia Sophia.

These Byzantine representations of the seraphim will influence my next tattoo.

Byzantine Icon of Seraphim
Seraph, 14th Century by Theophanes the Greek

This is the only place that the seraphims are mentioned in Scripture. However, the Hebrew word, “śārāp̄” is translated as “fiery serpent” in several other Old Testament books.

Many sources refer to the seraphims as the “burning ones.” Their inoculation against the live coal, Isaiah’s initial fear, and their ability to cleanse sin all point toward carrying out a similar function as the serpents of Scripture.

A messenger’s importance is in direct relationship to the danger it poses.

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Isaiah 5: The Vineyard

Romans 11:25 NKJV — For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

1 Corinthians 1:19

God’s people are repeatedly referred to as a vineyard in Scripture. Isaiah 5 laments over how we have wasted our spiritual gifts and grown wild with undesirable fruits.

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Isaiah 3-4: Burning Instead of Beauty

Hell is the inversion of proper order.

Isaiah 3:24 KJV — And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.

Out of the chaos of disobedience, the Lord brings forth order and peace.

Isaiah 4:2 KJV — In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

Isaiah 4:6 KJV — And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

I accept Jesus Christ as my tabernacle and refuge. Wrapping around the madness of the material world, He is order and beauty.