Who, When, Where

Written by Isaiah.
Isaiah wrote his prophecies during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. So in the decades between 740BC and about 700BC Isaiah received various visions from Yahweh and wrote them down to warn his fellow Israelites.

Isaiah lived in Jerusalem and presumably wrote his prophecies there after receiving them directly from Yahweh in visions.

Summary

Various visions and prophecies showing that Yahweh will judge Jerusalem and Judah, then one day restore them, (when they repent), and finally deliver them forever by sending his Messiah to save and lead them for eternity.

There are also some incredible passages about how great and awesome Yahweh is, especially when compared to us. A reality check, about why he should be in control of our lives.

Before You Read

What would you do if you had a really weird dream about the future of your country?
What if you were awake when you saw it!

If Yahweh told you he was going to bring judgement on your nation, when would you expect that to happen?
Tomorrow? Next year? 3,000 years from now?
What if it was all 3? What if each one was a taste of what was to come, so you might repent, but each one was worse and worse?

What would you do if Yahweh suddenly summoned you to his throne. Right now.
How would you react?

If you could ask God for a sign, what sign would you ask for? And what would it signify to you?
God gives us so much free will to live how we want, but sometimes we just want to be told.

Can a prophecy be fulfilled more than once?
Is there some way it can be fulfilled locally, then globally?
So a prophecy for Israel the nation, in a particular time frame, could then be fulfilled locally for that generation, but then again at a later date for all mankind and affecting us all?

Do all the prophecies of the Old Testament now apply to Christians instead of Israel? (Now that we’re his people).

Key Verses

Isaiah 1:3

The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.”

People come up with all sorts of explanations for how we came to be on this planet. The current favourites being just plain godless evolution which leaves us totally unaccountable, or “the universe” did it, and “the universe” will look after us.
Reality is that Yahweh put us here and we are accountable to him as our owner. If we don’t know that, if we ignore that, we’re dumber than a donkey.
As Psalm 23 says, “Yahweh is our shepherd.” We’re not choosing to be his sheep any more than an actual sheep chooses its shepherd. In both cases, that’s your shepherd because he decided to own you.

Isaiah 1:18

… “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool”.

Yahweh has just been lamenting that his wicked people bring him sacrifices in the belief that those sacrifices make everything OK. They don’t. He hates them.
What he wants is obedience, not sacrifice.
But then he makes this fantastic promise.
Even though you’re like this, one day, the bright red stains of your sin will be washed totally white.
Awesome.
For us looking back we know this was through Yeshua. For them… what did they think was coming?

Isaiah 2:2

It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.

That hasn’t happened yet. But it sounds like the return and reign of Yeshua to Jerusalem which is mentioned in Revelation.
Do you think that’s what Isaiah is talking about here?
How does that change your reading of this book? If it’s about a prophecy to Israel which has come and gone, vs if it’s a prophecy to the entire world about the end times?

Isaiah 2:4

… they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…

Wow, actual world peace.
They turn their weapons into farming equipment.
Read the first half of Revelation 20. Sound the same?

Isaiah 2:11

The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the haughtiness of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.

Mankind worships so many things. Mostly things of their own creation.
But a day is coming when Yahweh will destroy them all and show the he alone is god. He alone is worthy of worship.
Just as he did with the plagues of Egypt. Each one showing his supremacy over a different Egyptian god. And in the end revealing that he is the one true god.
This will be something awesome. But something to be allowed to watch from a distance. Not something you want to be caught up in!
If the peace that’s coming is like the end of Revelation… could the 7 bowls of wrath be the fulfilment of Isaiah’s vision?

Isaiah 4:5

Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night;

Just like in the wilderness with Moshe for 40 years.
Yahweh will again be the god of Israel.
This has never happened. So it is still to come.
This is part of why we think that in the end times, Yahweh will restore his covenant with Israel, (which is currently suspended in favour of the covenant through Yeshua), and with the Christians taken away, Yahweh will again choose Israel as his people until the return of Yeshua.

Isaiah 6:5

“Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

What would you say if you saw Yahweh on his throne?
Is it different for Christians?
Does Romans 5:1 change your answer?

Isaiah 6:8

I heard the Lord’s voice, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
    Then I said, “Here I am. Send me!”

Probably the most quoted verse from Isaiah. It’s used to guilt trip people into joining mission organisations all over the world.
But that’s not how God said it in the beginning. Isaiah was free to choose. He was free to stay. But his passion for serving Yahweh led him to present himself as one who was willing to be sent.
How about you? Willing to go? Willing to stay?
The important thing is that you serve him whether you go or stay.

Isaiah 6:10

“Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”

Yeshua quoted this verse in Matthew 13. (Also in Mark, Luke, John). The context there is Israel’s unwillingness to recognise that he was the Messiah that they had been expecting. They heard but didn’t listen. Saw but didn’t perceive.
Do you know anyone like that?

Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 8:3

The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’

Yahweh had offered to give Ahab a sign, but he had refused, thinking that to do so would be to tempt God.
So God gave him one anyway.

What was it going to signify? What would happen when they saw the sign?

Is Isaiah 8:3 the fulfilment of that sign?
Or did that not happen until Matthew 1:23?
Or both?

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Who is that?
Is he part of this sign?

Isaiah 9:17

For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

This phrase comes up a few times in this part of Isaiah.
Why?

Isaiah 10:15

Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

As happened many times in the Old Testament. When Yahweh decided to punish Israel for turning away from him, he raised up the nations around them to attack and defeat them.
But then the nations around them would become proud and think that they had defeated Israel. They had no more defeated Israel than a stick could say it defeated a wolf which attacked a man who used the stick to fend it off.
Nations are just implements used by Yahweh to bring about his purposes.
No war was ever decided by the strength or ability of either army. The outcome of every war which has ever been fought was decided solely by Yahweh. In advance.

Isaiah 11:9

… the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.

What would that mean? What would that look like?
We read about it here in chapter 11. It’s real world peace. Not just between people, but even between us and all the animals. A rolling back of the curse that came from the fall in the garden of Eden. Animals will no longer be afraid of mankind, and mankind need no longer fear animals because lions and cobras will no longer harm us. They will all be tame and harmless.
How awesome will that be!

When? “It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people”

Isaiah 12:1-2

     12 In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”

Don’t we say that already?
Or is this a prophecy for Jews, not for Christians? Seems like it doesn’t it.
The idea that the church is kind of an interruption to this whole process of Yahweh dealing with Israel fits well. Eventually the church “age” will end, and Yahweh will go back to dealing with Israel as his people until he completes this prophecy revealed to Isaiah. And then?

Isaiah 13:9

Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.

Yikes. This “Day of Yahweh” doesn’t sound like something you want to be here for.
And if we read on, it’s pretty intense - can’t see the stars or the moon, even the sun is darkened, people will become more rare than gold, earthquakes, wars, even children killed, rape and pillage, and wild animals will flourish in a deserted land.
Has that happened yet?
So it’s still to come?

But in all this, God has compassion on his people and delivers them from their oppressors.

Isaiah 14:2

For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

The old King James Version says “Lucifer” instead of “morning star”. Do you think this verse is talking about Satan? How does it read in the next few verses?
If it is, how does that make you feel about the eventual outcome of things? Satan will be completely defeated, punished and humiliated.

Isaiah 14:27

For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”

Nobody.
If Yahweh makes a plan. It happens. He doesn’t need a plan B because his plan A always works exactly as he planned it.
What is Yahweh’s plan A for you?
How secure can you be in that, that it will turn out as planned?
Can anyone screw that up?
Not even you right! Not even you can mess up God’s plan for your life. No matter what you do wrong.

Isaiah 20:2

Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot.

Er… you want me to what? Is there any other sign we can give them?
Not sure this kind of message would go down too well in our politically correct century.
A lot of the prophets of the Old Testament had to live out a sign, rather than just deliver a speech.
Some of Isaiah’s were pretty extreme. They would certainly go viral on social media if someone did them these days.
Do you think we should do more of that, (with clothes on)? How much more impact would it make if we did things like this?

Isaiah 29:15-16

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?”

How dumb do you have to be to think you can hide anything from Yahweh. But this is our generation.
I hear people say things like, “I can’t believe in a God who lets bad things happen to good people.”…
God doesn’t have to behave the way you want. God is who he is. Whether he is good or bad is not up to you. He will do whatever he wants. He’s God. You’re just something he made. 
Besides which, you’re just showing your own ignorance. There are no good people. And God doesn’t want bad things to happen to anyone any more than you do. In fact, it’s him who is the one who is doing something about it.

Isaiah 30:21

When you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”

This verse was written to the Israelites, telling of the day which will come one day, when Yahweh will pour out his mercy and grace on them.
But it is for us Christians too. Our teacher is not hidden, but he has a small voice which will keep us from deviating right or left from the right path. But only if we listen.
It’s not a voice that controls us. It’s not a voice that commands us. It’s just a quiet voice which guides us, and let’s us know if we’ve gone off the path.

Isaiah 31:1, Psalm 20:7-8

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh!

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright.

Who do you turn to when things go bad? Do you fall back to relying on money? Do you work overtime to get extra cash? Do you trust doctors instead of Yahweh? Do you read self help books by non-Christians? Or do you spend time praying, reading the Bible, talking with Christian mentors?

Nobody ever won a battle because of the strength or size of their army. Yahweh chooses who wins battles. He is the only one who can make any difference to their outcome.

Isaiah 35:5-6

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

Is this what Yeshua was quoting in Matthew 11? 
And reading this chapter - is this the New Jerusalem of Revelation?

Isaiah 37:6-7

Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘Yahweh says, “Don’t be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”’”

The Assyrians had been badmouthing Yahweh and claiming that he had no ability to defeat them, as no other god in the surrounding nations had been able to defeat them.
Yahweh’s answer wasn’t to get the Israelites to attack and to support them so they would win. His answer was so much more superior. 
”I’ll get him to go home and have him killed there by his own people.”… Yahweh is so much more powerful than we can even imagine. When he does something, he does it in a way that makes it clear that it was his doing, and not just “coincidence”.

He goes on to tell Sennacherib, (the invading king), who is so full of his own self importance, that it is only because Yahweh has given him the victory that he has been able to defeat these nations around, but that Yahweh knows everything about him, and is about to put a hook in his nose and make him go home.

Isaiah 37:36-37

Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, went away, returned to Nineveh, and stayed there.

Yahweh is SO much more powerful that we can imagine. When a king who has defeated all the nations around Israel, comes to attack Yahweh’s people. He sends his angel to defend them, killing 185,000 of them in one night without a battle. And the rest turned tail and ran. 
Are you feeling “attacked”? Is there some way you need to ask Yahweh to defend you?
You’re his child. He will.

Isaiah 38:1

In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’”

So Hezekiah begs Yahweh for more time. And Yahweh, in his compassion, gives him another 15 years.

Isaiah 38:8

I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.”’

He did what? He made the sun go back in the sky? That’s a pretty full on miracle. He rewound time?
What did Hezekiah do with the extra 15 years?
What would you do if you were dying and God gave you another 15 years to live?

Isaiah 39

Hezekiah shows enemy kings all his treasures. Yahweh tells him they will return to carry away everything he has shown them.

Seems like he just wanted to show off how much cool stuff he had. And his response? Happy that it wasn’t going to happen until after he died!
God gave him 15 extra years and he would have probably been better off without them.

Isaiah 40:3

“Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God”

You’ve heard that before right? It’s how they described Yohannes the Immerser. He was the one crying this out in the wilderness, in preparation for Yeshua to come.

Isaiah 40:12-14

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor? Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

And yet, we think we know better than him. We think we should tell him how to solve our problems. We think we can tell him who should and shouldn’t suffer.

Isaiah 40:22

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in;

We really need to get a proper understanding of how awesome God is, and how tiny and insignificant we are. It’s like comparing ourselves with an ant.

This whole chapter is a reality check.

Isaiah 40:30-31

Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

Those who wait on Yahweh. Waiting is so difficult. We just want things done. We want problems solved. But Yahweh wants us to wait. For him. 
Instead of running to fix it ourselves, sit down and wait, until Yahweh steps in and solves it his way. Give him time to act.

Isaiah 41:6-7

Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!” So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

That’s how we should be. Sadly though we tend to live more like we’re on a TV reality show where we get to eliminate someone every week. Constant sniping and backstabbing, manipulating and gossiping, tearing each other down, and always scheming to make sure it’s not us who is voted off next.
God doesn’t want to vote you off. He wants you on his team. He wants us all on his team. And he wants us working as a team.

Isaiah 41:9-13

You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away’; Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish. You will seek them, and won’t find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a non-existent thing. For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’

Isaiah wrote this for Israel. Yahweh chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel). And he is telling them, don’t worry. I chose you, I’ll look after you. You can rely on it. 
Yahweh chose us too. Christians. As his children. Even earthly fathers love and protect their children. How much more should you expect your heavenly father look after you! Trust him. Rely on it. Expect it. He will not let you down.

Isaiah 42:1-4

“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights — I have put my spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout, nor raise his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice. He will not fail nor be discouraged, until he has set justice in the earth, and the islands will wait for his law.”

That’s Yeshua, right?
Isn’t it you too? Aren’t you his servant? Hasn’t he put his spirit on you?
Do you care about justice? Being meek, humble, but relentlessly pursuing the kingdom of God?
It should be.

Isaiah 42:8

I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.

When we try to solve problems ourselves, in our own strength, we are robbing Yahweh of his glory. 
When we sit down, and wait, and leave him room to act, we are giving him an opportunity to glorify himself.

Isaiah 42:9

Behold, the former things have happened, and I declare new things. I tell you about them before they come up.

Read on. What is this new thing? When will that be?

Isaiah 43:1-2

“Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, and flame will not scorch you.

This was spoken to Israel. Yahweh had told them in advance how terrible the future would be. What a trial they would have to go through. But now he is saying, “But don’t worry. Because I’ll be with you, and I’ll protect you.”
Our solution is usually to ask God to remove trials from us. But God doesn’t usually remove the trial, he just goes through it with us and protects us from it.

Isaiah 44:6-8

This is what Yahweh, the king of Israel, and his redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.”

Yahweh is not the top of the gods. He’s not more powerful than all the other gods. 
There are no other gods. Period.
Yahweh is not a god, he is the god.
All the other “so called” gods, are… fantasies.
People make “gods” out of wood or rock. They bow down to pieces of a tree which they cut down themselves!

Isaiah 52:5

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Everyone loves good news. We never “shoot the messenger” when they’re bringing news we want to hear. 
It’s quite challenging to speak only good news to people, (if possible - sometimes they need the bad news). 
Can you go the rest of the day and only speak good news? Only speak positive, encouraging things?
No criticism, no negativity, no correcting or telling off. Just for a day?

Isaiah 53:1-3

Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.

We know who that is, right?
Did you ever think of Yeshua as maybe not very handsome? The kind of person you probably wouldn’t look twice at. Nothing about him that would attract you. 

Does that say something about us? About who we would be friends with? About how shallow we are?

Isaiah 53:4-6

Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

And yet… he suffered for us. He didn’t need to suffer for his own sin because he never had any. We rejected him, but he loved us unconditionally and was punished so we might go free. 
We all rebelled against Yahweh, but he took the punishment for that. Fair? Nope, not fair. Just love.

Isaiah 53:7

He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.

That must have been so hard. At a word you can command tens of thousands of angels. Even a single angel could defeat these guys and set you free. 
You are being falsely accused. By some upstart who thinks he is a king and doesn’t recognise who you really are. He’s treating you like crap, like some scum of the earth. You! King of kings, lord of lords. His creator.
And you just quietly suck it up, because you love him so much you’re willing to die for him even when he treats you like this. 

I’m pretty sure I would have called the angels. Fortunately for me, Yeshua didn’t.

Isaiah 53:11

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.

Keep in mind, this was written 700 years before Yeshua was born as a man. 
This is what kept him going. He knew that when the suffering was over, he would be satisfied. 
So often we just want the suffering to stop, instead of focusing on what it is achieving. Our focus is on the now, instead of the long term results.

Isaiah 54:7

For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.

This chapter emphasises that our suffering is for just a moment. But Yahweh is promising to pour out his love and kindness to us forever. 10,000 years from now we will look back and realise it was no worse than the pain of an injection which cures all our diseases.

Isaiah 55:6-7

Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Have you ever regretted not taking an opportunity? Later wishing you had when you realise how much it would have benefitted you?
Today. Right now. You have an opportunity to seek Yahweh. Tomorrow it may be gone and never return. Tomorrow you might already regret not taking it, but it could be too late.

Isaiah 55:8-9

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

So… our chances of solving our problems by ourselves? Compared with our chances of solving our problems if we ask Yahweh?

Isaiah 58:3

‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’

We’re told to fast. When we do we want God to give us credit for doing it.
Yeshua said that when we’ve done things for God, we should say, “We’re useless slaves, because we’ve only done what we should’ve done.”
It’s like a child expecting huge praise and a special reward for cleaning their own room. When they’re supposed to clean their room. It was them who messed it up in the first place!

Isaiah 58:5

Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?

Fasting is more than just a day without food. Fasting needs to be done in the right attitude as well. It’s about humbling yourself and showing Yahweh that you’re serious about your request.

Isaiah 58:7-8

Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Fasting is a lifestyle, not a day.

Isaiah 58:9-11

If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly; and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday; and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail.

Have we become like Israel? Have we been so caught up with ourselves, and what we’re doing for God, that we’ve lost sight of how he wanted us to live in the first place?
Does your church do this? Are they feeding the hungry? Helping the afflicted? Is that their passion, or just something they do from time to time?
How about finger pointing? Speaking badly of people? Is that unheard of in your church?

Isaiah 59:1-2

Behold, Yahweh’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; nor his ear dull, that it can’t hear. But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

God isn’t answering, God isn’t doing anything to save you… not because he can’t, or he can’t hear you, but because of your sin.

A lot of the messages which Isaiah passed to the Israelites are very applicable for Christians.
This one isn’t.
It has nothing to do with us.
God doesn’t see our sins. They were already dealt with by Yeshua, 2,000 years ago. When God looks down on you he sees Yeshua and sinlessness. He sees you as righteous.
Your sin does not block God from hearing, or from acting on your behalf. Because he doesn’t even see it in the first place.
This is not easy to comprehend, but if you are trueing in Yeshua, then in God’s eyes you are 100% righteous. And he will treat you that way.

Isaiah 59

Paulus quotes a lot of this chapter in Romans 3.
This describes the unrepentant person. And it explains why God turns a deaf ear to them.
But it is not how we are as Christians.

Israel had to keep the Law to keep God’s blessing. We have it unconditionally through Yeshua.

Isaiah 60-64

Yahweh is promising that in the end, everything will turn out well for his children. Their suffering will come to an end. They will live in his blessing forever.

Does this section remind you of The New Jerusalem mentioned at the end of Revelation?

Isaiah 65

But only a remnant will be saved. Yahweh has been calling them, but they’ve been ignoring him. He will not endure that forever. But because of his love, and his name, he will not wipe them all out. He will save a remnant.

Isaiah 65:17

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind.

We read something similar at the end of Revelation. A new sky, and a new land…
God is going to hit “reset”… “new game”… and people won’t remember this short time when mankind rebelled against him all their lives.
A time of suffering, sickness, pain. Gone. Forgotten. Never again.

Isaiah 65:25

The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

A different world. The way it was meant to be. Peace. Paradise. Awesome.

Isaiah 66:22-24

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain. It shall happen that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh will come to worship before me,” says Yahweh. “They will go out, and look at the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me; for their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

Yahweh’s final word through Isaiah… there are two possible outcomes here. Your choice.

After You Read

What verses really stood out to you?

How would you summarize this book in a sentence or two? What is it about? What is God trying to say to us?

What if you knew, 100% for sure, that no matter what happens to you in the next year, after that Yahweh himself will come and rescue you and you’ll be safe from that day forward, for eternity?
How would that change how you live this year?

How would your reaction at being summoned to Yahweh’s throne compare with Isaiah’s?
Yahweh is calling you to be his missionary. Whereever you go. Maybe overseas. Maybe next door. Maybe where you live. But as a Christian you are his representative. Like an ambassador for a country. You’re not there on holidays, you’re there to promote your home country (heaven).
Should he fire you?

You don’t have to be a vocal, up front person. But you need to be part of the team, and working with other Christians to promote the kingdom of heaven.

How do the prophecies of Isaiah make you feel about the future? Do they give you certainty that in the end everything will be OK?

Do you think God will bring these judgements on the church? Or are they somehow only going to be brought on Israel?

So Yahweh reminds his people that he is all powerful, unstoppable, invincible. He tells them that trials are coming, but that he will be there for them all the way through and that because of that, they can be confident that they will come out the other side of it victorious.
How does that message affect them differently than it would have if Yahweh had said, “Don’t worry, I’m all powerful, I won’t let anyting bad ever happen to you.”?
How does it affect you differently?