The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
Isaiah 41:10 KJV — Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
In this chapter, Isaiah foretells the rise of king Cyrus and God’s continued guidance of Jacob’s people.
Isaiah 40:17 KJV — All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
I take comfort when I come across these reminders that God’s authority is everything and man’s authority is nothing.
There is dispute over whether Isaiah wrote this and later chapters. John Oswalt and Henry Halley believe Isaiah is the sole author. Many others seem to think there are three or more authors. I’m inclined to side with Halley.
Isaiah 39:8 KJV — Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.
These chapters cover the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, as the Assyrian army lays siege to Jerusalem. God kills 185,000 Assyrian troops, ending the siege.
Isaiah 35:5 KJV — Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isaiah 35:7 DBY — And the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of wild dogs, where they lay down, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
Translations vary, but it seems reasonable to use the word “mirage” here to describe the world before it is restored to the Eden state.
It is a fitting description of the fallen world. It winks at secular pop culture allusions to The Matrix and simulation theory. This existence seems artificial because it is. It is a fever dream. It is not reality.
In the end, our blind eyes will see and we will inhabit a healed Earth.
Isaiah 1:2 RSV — Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
Isaiah 34:16 KJV — Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
I love how there is a challenge to come back, read this prophecy, and know that it is thoroughly accurate in its depiction of destruction.
No nation will escape this wrath. All nations have rebelled and will suffer.
Isaiah 33:1 RSV — Woe to you, destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed; you treacherous one, with whom none has dealt treacherously! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of dealing treacherously, you will be dealt with treacherously.
Matthew 7:1-2 RSV — “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
This chapter details how the Assyrians will be laid low for their rampaging.
Isaiah 32:1 RSV — Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
1 Peter 2:9 RSV — But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
In this chapter, I hear God calling His people to be righteous and just leaders in difficult times.
After the Assrian invasion fails, Judah will suffer economically. God commands the complacent to rise up and prepare to receive the fruits of His Spirit.
Isaiah 31:1 RSV — Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD!
Jerusalem is besieged by Assyria and King Hezekiah is panicking. He wants to call out to Egypt for help, but Isaiah assures him that God will deliver the city to safety.
Isaiah 29:13-14 RSV — And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote; therefore, behold, I will again do marvelous things with this people, wonderful and marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid.”
Isaiah repeatedly warns against trusting in political alliances, rules and rites, and human wisdom.
It feels like a personal warning as a I read and listen to different resources.
How does one keep one’s heart close to God while (over)thinking deeply through His Word?
I try to remember that I will always hold more ignorance than knowledge.
That’s why I choose to trust in God. The unknowable is nearly infinite, but God is omniscient.
Isaiah 24:1-3 RSV — Behold, the LORD will lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for the LORD has spoken this word.
Isaiah 25:1 KJV — O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Isaiah 25:7-8 RSV — And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken.
This is a prophecy for all the world.
It’s hard to escape the clarity that everyone on Earth will suffer before God finally defeats death.
