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The Book of Isaiah Like You_ve Never Seen It Before · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: It all began in the land of Judah, during the
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  Speaker 1: reigns of Osiah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, a man named Isaiah,
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  Speaker 1: son of Amos, received visions from God that would forever
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  Speaker 1: change the destiny of his people. It was a time
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  Speaker 1: of great rebellion, when the people had strayed from the
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  Speaker 1: ways of the Lord. Isaiah's words thundered like a clear
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  Speaker 1: day storm, warning of the judgment to come, but also
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  Speaker 1: offering hope to those who would repent. His prophecies have
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  Speaker 1: echoed through the centuries and still speak to us to day.
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  Speaker 1: Let's explore how God used this man to reveal both
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  Speaker 1: judgment and promises of restoration for Judah, Jerusalem, and the
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  Speaker 1: surrounding nations. Isiah begins his message with harsh words, like
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  Speaker 1: a father rebuking a child he deeply loves. Hear me, you, Heavens,
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  Speaker 1: listen Earth, for the Lord has spoken. I reared children
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  Speaker 1: and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
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  Speaker 1: The prophet doesn't soften his message. Judah is sick from
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  Speaker 1: the top of the head to the soles of the feet.
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  Speaker 1: There is no healthy part left. God's people had become
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  Speaker 1: like Sodom, and Gomorrah, cities destroyed for their sins. Woe
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  Speaker 1: to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great,
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  Speaker 1: a brood of evil doers, children given to corruption. They
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  Speaker 1: have forsaken the Lord. They have spurned the Holy One
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  Speaker 1: of Israel and turned their backs on him. The state
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  Speaker 1: of Judah was so dire that the prophet describes, your
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  Speaker 1: country is desolate, your cities burned with fire. Your fields
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  Speaker 1: are being stripped by foreigners right before you. It's all desolate,
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  Speaker 1: as if overthrown by strangers. Only a small remnant had survived.
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  Speaker 1: And even then, if the Lord Almighty had not left
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  Speaker 1: us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we
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  Speaker 1: would have been like Gomorrah. But what grieved God the
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  Speaker 1: most was not just the sin, but the hypocrisy of
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  Speaker 1: a people who kept offering sacris while continuing in rebellion.
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  Speaker 1: What are your many sacrifices to me, says the Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I have more than enough of burnt offerings of rams
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  Speaker 1: and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure
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  Speaker 1: in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. The
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  Speaker 1: religious leaders kept up their festivals and celebrations, but their
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  Speaker 1: hands were full of blood. Then comes the call to repentance,
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  Speaker 1: a path to reconciliation. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take
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  Speaker 1: your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong,
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  Speaker 1: learn to do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take
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  Speaker 1: up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of
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  Speaker 1: the widow. And then God extends a staggering invitation, showing
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  Speaker 1: his desire to forgive. Come now, let us settle the matter,
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  Speaker 1: says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they
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  Speaker 1: shall be as white as snow. Though they are red crimson,
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  Speaker 1: they shall be like wool. God is ready to completely
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  Speaker 1: cleanse the sins of his people if only they repent.
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  Speaker 1: But the invitation comes with a clear choice. If you
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  Speaker 1: are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things
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  Speaker 1: of the land. But if you resist and rebel, you
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  Speaker 1: will be devoured by the sword. The mouth of the
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  Speaker 1: Lord has spoken. There is no middle ground, no space
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  Speaker 1: for indecision. Despite the people's unfaithfulness, God promises to restore Jerusalem. Afterward,
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  Speaker 1: you will be called the city of Righteousness, the faithful city.
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  Speaker 1: Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: Sinners and rebels will be broken, and those who forsake
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  Speaker 1: the Lord will be consumed. Judgment will come, but its
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  Speaker 1: ultimate purpose is to purify and restore. Isaiah then lifts
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  Speaker 1: his eyes beyond the immediate judgeudgment and seize a future
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  Speaker 1: where the mountain of the Lord will be established as
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  Speaker 1: the highest of all. In the last days, the mountain
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest
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  Speaker 1: of the mountains. It will be exalted above the hills,
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  Speaker 1: and all nations will stream to it. People from every
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  Speaker 1: nation will say, come, let us go up to the
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  Speaker 1: mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God
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  Speaker 1: of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that
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  Speaker 1: we may walk in his paths. It's a vision of
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  Speaker 1: universal peace, where they will beat their swords into plowshares
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  Speaker 1: and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take
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  Speaker 1: up sword against nation, nor will they train for war
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  Speaker 1: any more. But before that glorious future comes the day
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  Speaker 1: of reckoning. You Lord, have abandoned your people, the descendants
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  Speaker 1: of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East.
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  Speaker 1: They practice divination like the Philistines and make alliances with Pagans.
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  Speaker 1: The land was filled with silver, gold, horses, and idols
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  Speaker 1: trust placed in wealth rather than in God. So the
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  Speaker 1: arrogance of man will be brought low and human pride humbled.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. It
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  Speaker 1: will be a dreadful day when the eyes of the
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  Speaker 1: arrogant will be humbled and human pride brought low. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord alone will be exalted. So terrible will that day
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  Speaker 1: be that people will flee to caves in the rocks
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  Speaker 1: and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty. When
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  Speaker 1: he rises to shake the earth, the idols of silver
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  Speaker 1: and gold, once made for worship will be tossed to
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  Speaker 1: the rodents and bats as people flee to the cracks
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  Speaker 1: of the cliffs. Isiah warns, stop trusting in mere humans
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  Speaker 1: who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold
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  Speaker 1: them in esteem. It's a call to recognize human frigidgility
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  Speaker 1: and to trust in God alone. The judgment extends especially
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  Speaker 1: to corrupt leaders. The Lord, the Lord Almighty, is about
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  Speaker 1: to take from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support
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  Speaker 1: all food and all water. The hero and the warrior,
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  Speaker 1: the judge and the prophet, the diviner, and the elder
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  Speaker 1: things will become so desperate that I will make mere
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  Speaker 1: youths their officials. Children will rule over them. Society will
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  Speaker 1: unravel to the point where a man will seize one
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  Speaker 1: of his brothers in his father's house and say, you
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  Speaker 1: have a cloak. You be our leader, take charge of
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  Speaker 1: this heap of ruins. But in that day he will
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  Speaker 1: cry out, I have no remedy, I have no food
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  Speaker 1: or clothing in my house. Do not make me the
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  Speaker 1: leader of the people. Isaiah clearly identifies the cause of
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  Speaker 1: the collapse. Their words and deeds are against the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: defying his glorious presence. The leaders mislead this people, and
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  Speaker 1: those who are guided by them are led astray. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord rises to judge his people, starting with their leaders.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord takes his place in court. He rises to
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  Speaker 1: judge the people. The Lord enters into judgment against the
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  Speaker 1: elders and leaders of his people. It is you who
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  Speaker 1: have ruined the vineyard. The plunder from the poor is
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  Speaker 1: in your houses. What you mean by crushing my people
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  Speaker 1: and grinding the faces of the poor, declares the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: The Lord Almighty. After judgment comes purification and protection. On
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  Speaker 1: that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful
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  Speaker 1: and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be
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  Speaker 1: the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Those
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  Speaker 1: who remain in Jerusalem will be called holy, all who
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  Speaker 1: are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. God promises that
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  Speaker 1: the Lord will wash away the filth of the women
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  Speaker 1: of Zion. He will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by
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  Speaker 1: a spirit of judge and a spirit of fire. And
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  Speaker 1: then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion
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  Speaker 1: and over those who assemble there, a cloud of smoke
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  Speaker 1: by day and a glow of flaming fire by night.
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  Speaker 1: Over everything. The glory will be a canopy. This cloud
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  Speaker 1: and fire will serve as protection, a shelter and shade
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  Speaker 1: from the heat of the day, and a refuge and
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  Speaker 1: hiding place from the storm and rain. Isaiah then sings
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  Speaker 1: a song about his beloved and his vineyard, a powerful
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  Speaker 1: parable of God's relationship with his people. I will sing
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  Speaker 1: for the one I love a song about his vineyard.
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  Speaker 1: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
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  Speaker 1: He dug it up, cleared it of stones, and planted
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  Speaker 1: it with the choicest vines. He built a watch tower
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  Speaker 1: in it and cut out a wine press as well.
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  Speaker 1: Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but
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  Speaker 1: it yielded only wild grapes. God's disappointment is tangible when
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  Speaker 1: he asks you, who dwell in jeru Usalem and people
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  Speaker 1: of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more
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  Speaker 1: could have been done for my vineyard than I have
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  Speaker 1: done for it? When I looked for good grapes, Why
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  Speaker 1: did it yield only bad? The identity of the vineyard
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  Speaker 1: is revealed. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the
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  Speaker 1: nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the
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  Speaker 1: vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but
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  Speaker 1: saw bloodshed for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Asiah
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  Speaker 1: then pronounces six woes against specific sins. The first is
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  Speaker 1: against greed, Woe to those who add house to house
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  Speaker 1: and join field to field till no space is left
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  Speaker 1: and you live alone in the land. The second is
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  Speaker 1: against pleasure seeking, Woe to those who rise early in
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  Speaker 1: the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up
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  Speaker 1: late at night till they are inflamed with wine. The
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  Speaker 1: third woe is against those who mock God Woe to
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  Speaker 1: those who draw sin along with cords of deceit and wickedness,
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  Speaker 1: as with cart ropes, who say, let God hurry, let
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  Speaker 1: him hasten his work so we may see it the
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  Speaker 1: plan of the Holy One of Israel. Let it approach,
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  Speaker 1: let it come into view, so we may know it.
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  Speaker 1: The fourth is against moral inversion. Woe to those who
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  Speaker 1: call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for
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  Speaker 1: light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet
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  Speaker 1: and sweet for bitter. The fifth attacks arrogance. Woe to
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  Speaker 1: those who are wise in their own eyes and clever
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  Speaker 1: in their own sight. The sixth woe is against judicial corruption.
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  Speaker 1: Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and
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  Speaker 1: champions at mixing drinks, who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
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  Speaker 1: but deny justice to the innocent. Because of these sins,
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  Speaker 1: judgment is coming. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw,
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  Speaker 1: and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so
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  Speaker 1: their roots will decay and their blossoms blow away like dust.
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  Speaker 1: For they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty
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  Speaker 1: and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord will summon distant nations to punish his people.
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  Speaker 1: He lifts up a banner for the distant nations. He
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  Speaker 1: whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Here
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  Speaker 1: they come swiftly and speedily. After these judgments, Isiah receives
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  Speaker 1: his calling through a powerful vision in the year that
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  Speaker 1: King Oziah died. I saw the Lord High and Exalted,
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  Speaker 1: seated on a throne, and the train of his robe
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  Speaker 1: filled the temple. The prophet sees celestial beings called seraphim,
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  Speaker 1: each with six wings, crying out Holy, Holy, Holy, as
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  Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory.
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  Speaker 1: Faced with this vision, Isaiah recognizes his unworthiness. Woe to me,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, I am ruined, for I am a man
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  Speaker 1: of unclean lips, and I live among a people of
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  Speaker 1: unclean lips. And my eyes have seen the King, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord Almighty. But a seraph flies to him with a
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  Speaker 1: live coal taken from the altar, touches his lips and says,
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  Speaker 1: see this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken
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  Speaker 1: away and your sin atoned for. Then Isaiah hears the
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  Speaker 1: voice of the Lord, asking whom shall I send and
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  Speaker 1: who will go for us? And he responds, here am
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  Speaker 1: I send me, But the mission is a difficult one.
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  Speaker 1: He is to announce a hardening of hearts. Go and
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  Speaker 1: tell this people, be ever hearing but never understanding, be
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  Speaker 1: ever seeing but never perceiving. This hardening would last until
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  Speaker 1: the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses
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  Speaker 1: are left deserted, and the fields ruined and ravaged. Yet
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  Speaker 1: there is hope in a faith full remnant. And though
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  Speaker 1: a tenth remains in the land, it will again be
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  Speaker 1: laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps
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  Speaker 1: when they are cut down, so the Holy seed will
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  Speaker 1: be the stump in the land. The narrative then shifts
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  Speaker 1: to a time of national crisis when AHA's son of Jotham,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Usiah was King of Judah, King Resin
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  Speaker 1: of Aram, and Pecca, son of Riemaliah, king of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not
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  Speaker 1: overpower it. King Ahaz and his people were shaking with fear,
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  Speaker 1: like trees of the forest shaken by the wind. But
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  Speaker 1: God sends Isiah with a message of reassurance. Be careful,
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  Speaker 1: keep calm, and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart
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  Speaker 1: because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood, because of
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  Speaker 1: the fierce anger of Resin and Aram, and of the
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  Speaker 1: son of Riemalia, God assures that the enemy's plan will fail.
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  Speaker 1: This is what the sovereign Lord says. It will not happen.
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  Speaker 1: It will not take place, for the head of Aram
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  Speaker 1: is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Resin.
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  Speaker 1: Within sixty five years, Ephraim will be too shattered to
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  Speaker 1: be a people. But Isaiah warns, if you do not
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  Speaker 1: stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.
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  Speaker 1: Then the Lord offers an extraordinary sign to King Ahaz.
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  Speaker 1: Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in
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  Speaker 1: the deepest depths or in the highest heights. But Ahaz,
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  Speaker 1: feigning humility, refuses, I will not ask. I will not
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  Speaker 1: put the Lord to the test. Isaiah responds with the
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  Speaker 1: famous prophecy of Immanuel. Therefore, the Lord himself will give
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  Speaker 1: you a sign. The Virgin will conceive and give birth
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  Speaker 1: to a son, and will call him Immanuel. This child
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  Speaker 1: would mark the times before the boy knows enough to
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  Speaker 1: reject the wrong and choose the right. The land of
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  Speaker 1: the two kings you dread will be laid waste the prophet.
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  Speaker 1: He continues, pointing to the consequences of Ahasis unbelief. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord will bring upon you, your people and your father's house,
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  Speaker 1: a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah.
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  Speaker 1: As Syria, the very nation in which Ahaz had placed
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  Speaker 1: his hope for deliverance, would become God's instrument of judgment.
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  Speaker 1: Years later, as Assyria became an even greater threat, Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: prophesied the birth of another special child. For to us,
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  Speaker 1: a child is born, to us, a son is given,
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  Speaker 1: and the government will be on his shoulders, and he
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  Speaker 1: will be called wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Peace. This would be a perfect ruler whose government
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  Speaker 1: and peace will never end. He will reign on David's
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  Speaker 1: throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with
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  Speaker 1: justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. Even
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  Speaker 1: as God used Assyria to judge his people, he also
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  Speaker 1: announced judgment against Assyria for its arrogance. Woe to Assyria.
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  Speaker 1: The rod of my anger, in whose hand is the
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  Speaker 1: club of my wrath, I send it against a godless nation,
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  Speaker 1: against a people who anger me. To seize lout and
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  Speaker 1: snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in
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  Speaker 1: the streets. But Assyria exceeded its limits. But this is
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  Speaker 1: not what it intends. This is not what it has
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  Speaker 1: in mind. Its purpose is to destroy, to put an
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  Speaker 1: end to many nations. Is not Kalno like Carchamish, is
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  Speaker 1: not Hamath like Arpad. Is not Samaria like Damascus. As
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  Speaker 1: my hand seized the kingdoms of idols, kingdoms whose images
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  Speaker 1: excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not deal
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  Speaker 1: with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria
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  Speaker 1: and her idols. Therefore, when the Lord has finished all
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  Speaker 1: his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say,
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  Speaker 1: I will punish the king of Assyria for the wilful
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  Speaker 1: pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.
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  Speaker 1: Assyria was merely an instrument in God's hand, but boasted
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  Speaker 1: as if the power were its own. Does the axe
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  Speaker 1: raise itself above the one who swings it, or the
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  Speaker 1: soar boast against the one who uses it, as if
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  Speaker 1: a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up,
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  Speaker 1: or a club to brandish the one who is not wood.
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  Speaker 1: After all these judgments Isiah sees a shoot coming forth
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  Speaker 1: from the stump of Jesse. A shoot will come up
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  Speaker 1: from the stump of Jesse. From his roots, a branch
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  Speaker 1: will bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest
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  Speaker 1: on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of counsel and might, the spirit of the knowledge and
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  Speaker 1: fear of the Lord. This ruler would be perfectly just.
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  Speaker 1: He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
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  Speaker 1: or decide by what he hears with his ears, But
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  Speaker 1: with righteousness. He will judge the needy with justice. He
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  Speaker 1: will give decisions for the poor of the earth. His
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  Speaker 1: kingdom would be marked by extraordinary peace. The wolf will
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  Speaker 1: live with the lamb, The leopard will lie down with
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  Speaker 1: the goat. The calf, the lion and the yearling together,
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  Speaker 1: and a little child will lead them in this perfect kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
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  Speaker 1: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. This perfect
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  Speaker 1: ruler would unite not only the divided tribes of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: but also the gentiles. In that day, the root of
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  Speaker 1: Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The
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  Speaker 1: nations will rally to him, and his resting place will
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  Speaker 1: be glorious. Isaiah's message then extends beyond Judah, encompassing prophecies
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  Speaker 1: about surrounding nations. He begins with Babylon, which at the
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  Speaker 1: time was an emerging power, a prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah,
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  Speaker 1: son of Amos saw in a vision. God summons an
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  Speaker 1: army to carry out his judgment. Raise a banner on
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  Speaker 1: a bare hilltop, shout to them, beckon to them to
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  Speaker 1: enter the gates of the nobles. This army is described
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  Speaker 1: as consecrated for war instruments of divine wrath. The day
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  Speaker 1: of the Lord against Babylon would be dreadful wail, For
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  Speaker 1: the day of the Lord is near. It will come
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  Speaker 1: like destruction from the Almighty. Because of this, all hands
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  Speaker 1: will go limp, every heart will melt with fear. The
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  Speaker 1: destruction would be so severe that I will make people
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  Speaker 1: scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Babylon,
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  Speaker 1: once known for its splendor, would be utterly ruined. Babylon,
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  Speaker 1: the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians,
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  Speaker 1: will be overthrown by God like sodom and Gomorrah. She
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  Speaker 1: will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations.
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah looks even further ahead, prophesying the downfall of Babylon's king.
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  Speaker 1: The whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They
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  Speaker 1: break forth into singing. Even the pine trees and the
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  Speaker 1: cedars of Lebanon exult over you, saying, since you were
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  Speaker 1: laid low, no woodcutter comes against us. The spiritual world
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: would also react to his fall. The realm of the
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: They all respond and say to you, you also have
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: become weak as we are. You have become like us.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Anyone who saw the fallen king would ask in astonishment,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: is this the man who shook the earth and made
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: kingdoms tremble, who turned the world into a desert, destroyed
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: its cities, and refused to let his captives go home.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: After Babylon, Isaiah prophesies against Assyria. I will crush them
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: on my mountains. I will trample them down. Their yoak
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: will be taken from my people, and their burden removed
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: from their shoulders. This prophecy would come to pass when
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the Assyrian army under Senacarib was miraculously defeated while besieging Jerusalem.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: The Philistines would also face judgment. Do not rejoice, all
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: even though there may appear to be momentary relief. From
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the root of that snake will spring up a viper.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent. While the
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Philistines would be completely destroyed, God would preserve his people.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: people will find refuge. Moab, too would meet a dreadful
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: fate a prophecy against Moab. R In Moab is ruined,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: destroyed in a knight. Kir In Moab is ruined, destroy
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: in a night. The judgment would be so intense that
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: my heart laments for Moab. Her fugitives flee as far
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: as Zoa, So I weep for Moab. My heart laments
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: like a harp for Moab. Even Isaiah feels compassion for
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: the suffering that will fall upon this nation. Damascus and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: the Northern Kingdom of Israel would also face judgment. See
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Damascus will no longer be a city, but will become
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: a heap of ruins. The fortress will disappear from Ephraim.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Yet even in judgment, some would turn back to God.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: In that day, people will look to their maker and
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. Ethiopia
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: receives a message about the power of God. Woe to
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: the land of whirring wings along the rivers of Kush,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the waters.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: They are called to witness what God will do. All
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you people of the world, you who live on the earth,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. Egypt,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: the superpower of the time, would also face divine judgment
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: a prophecy against Egypt. See the Lord rides on a
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: melt with fear. A civil war would break out in
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the country. I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians. Brother
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: will fight against brother, neighbour against neighbour, city against city,
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: Kingdom against kingdom. Egypt's renowned wise men would be helpless.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: The officials of Zoan have become fools. The leaders of
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her peoples have led
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Egypt astray. But surprisingly, after judgment would come salvation for Egypt.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: In me that day there will be an altar to
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: the Lord in the heart of Egypt. God would send help.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: He will send them a savior and defender, and he
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: will rescue them even more astonishing. In that day, Israel
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: my inheritance. Isaiah also prophesies about the desert by the sea,
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: lightly referring to Babylon. Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: An invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: He foresees its downfall. Fallen. Fallen is Babylon. All the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: images of its gods lie shattered on the ground, and
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: duma Edom receives a cryptic prophecy. Some one calls to
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: me from sayr watchman, what is left of the night? Watchman?
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: What is left of the night. The reply is just
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: as mysterious. The watchman replies, morning is coming, but also
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: the night if you would ask, then ask, and come
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: back yet again. Arabia too would face judgment within a year,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: as a servant bound by contract would count it all.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: The splendor of Kidah will come to an end. The
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: nomadic tribes would be reduced to just a few survivors.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: The Valley of Vision, referring to Jerusalem, receives a prophecy
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: of judgment for its festive attitude in the face of danger.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: What troubles you now that you have all gone up
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: on the roofs you town so full of commotion, a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: city of tumult and revelry. Instead of repenting, they were partying.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: But see there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and killing of sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Let us eat and drink, you say, for tomorrow we die.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Isaiah also denounces corrupt of visials like Shebna the palace administrator.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: What are you doing here? And who gave you permission
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: to cut out a grave for yourself? Here? Hewing your
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: grave on the height and chiseling your resting places the rock.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: He would be replaced by Iliakim, who would be like
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: the people of Judah. Iliachim would receive the key to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the house of David. I will place on his shoulder
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the key to the House of David. What he opens,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: can open. Finally, Isaiah prophesies against Tire, the great merchant city.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: A prophecy against Tire whale use ships of Tarshish. For
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Tire is destroyed and left without house or harbor, this
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: wealthy and proud city would be humbled. The Lord Almighty
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: planned it to bring down her pride in all her splendor,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and to humble all who are renowned on the earth.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: After seventy years of obscurity, Tire would return to trade,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: but with a twist, her prophet and her earnings will
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: be set apart for the Lord. They will not be
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: stored up or hoarded. Her prophets will go to those
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: who live before the Lord for abundant food and find clothes.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Through these prophecies about the nations, Isaiah shows that God
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: is not only the Lord of Israel and Judah, but
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of the entire earth. All peoples are subject to His justice,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and yet his mercy reaches even the historical enemies of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: his people. Isaiah now lifts his eyes beyond Judah and
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: its neighboring nations. He sees something much greater, the judgment
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: of the whole earth. See, the Lord is going to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: lay waste the earth and devastate it. He will ruin
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: its face and scatter its inhabitants. He declares in chapter
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: twenty four, the land will be utterly emptied and plundered.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: It won't matter who you are priest or lay persons,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: servant or master, buyer or seller, lender or borrower. Every
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: one will be equally affected. Why will this judgment come?
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Isaiah makes it plain. The earth is defiled by its people.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: They have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: the everlasting covenant. The consequences are inevitable. Therefore a curse
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: consumes the earth. Its people must bear their guilt. The
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: devastation will be immense, cities will be desolate, homes broken down,
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: and all joy will vanish. So it will be on
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the earth among the nations as when an olive tree
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: grape harvest. Picture a field after the harvest, just a
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: few forgotten fruits scattered around. That's what the population of
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: the earth will look like. Yet, amid this overwhelming destruction,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: a distant sound of joy begins to rise. They raise
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: their voices, They shout for joy from the west. They
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: acclaim the Lord's majesty. Isaiah says in verse fourteen. Who
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: are they? They are the remnant, the few faithful ones
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: who survive the judgment, Even scattered across the ends of
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: the earth, they will sing praise to God from the
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: ends of the earth. We here singing glory to the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Righteous One. But Isaiah himself is not yet able to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: join in that joy. I waste away, I waste away.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Woe to me, the treacherous betray with treachery, the treacherous betray.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: The weight of the coming judgment is too heavy. The
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: inhabitants of the earth will face terrors, traps, and snares.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: a pit. Whoever climbs out of the pit will be
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: caught in a snare. Escape will be impossible. For the
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: earth shake. The earth will stagger like a drunkard, mighty
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: rulers will be arrested and punished. But then comes the
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: surprising twist. In that day, the Lord will punish the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: powers in the heavens above and the kings on the
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: in a dungeon. They will be shut up in prison
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and be punished. After many days, the moon will be
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: dismayed and the sun ashamed. For the Lord Almighty will
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before its
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: elders with great glory. After declaring judgment, Isaiah bursts into praise.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: In chapter twenty five, Lord, you are my God. I
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: He sees how God has turned fortified cities into ruins,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: and how once powerful nations now revere him. Then the
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: vision becomes even more beautiful. On Mount Zion, where God
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: will reign, he will prepare an incredible feast. On this mountain.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: The Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine, the best
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: of meats, and the finest of wines. This is not
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: a banquet just for the Jews, but for all peoples,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: a universal celebration. Even more importantly, on this mountain, he
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: will destroy the shroud that infolds all peoples, the sheet
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: that covers all nations. He will swallow up death forever. Death,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the most feared enemy of humanity, will be gone. Forever.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: He will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: On that day, God's people will say, surely, this is
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: our God. We trusted in him and he saved us.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: This is the Lord we trusted in him. Let us
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: rejoice and be glad in his salvation. The weight will
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: have been worth it. Meanwhile, Moab, representing all of God's enemies,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: will be trampled like straw in manure. In chapter twenty
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: six we find a beautiful song that will be sung
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: in Judah. We have a strong city. God makes salvation
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: its walls and ramparts. The gates of this city are
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: open to the righteous nation that keeps faith. True peace
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: belongs to those whose minds are steadfast because they trust
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: in God. Isaiah exhorts the people trust in the Lord
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: forever for the Lord. The Lord himself is the rock eternal.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: He brings down the proud and levels the lofty city.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: The path of the righteous is level. You, the upright one,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: make the way of the righteous smooth. The prophet shares
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: his own longing. My soul yearns for you in the night.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: In the morning, my spirit longs for you. He understands
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: that when God's judgments are upon the earth, its people
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: learn righteousness. Chapter twenty seven introduces another vineyard song, very
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: different from the one in chapter five. This time God says, sing,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: but a fruitful vineyard. I the Lord watch over it.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: I water it continually. I guard it day and night,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: so that no one may harm it. Unlike befit, this
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: vineyard is no longer producing sour grapes. It is thriving
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: and well cared for. God is no longer angry. I
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: am not angry. If only there were briars and thorns
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: confronting me, I would march against them in battle. I
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: would burn them all up. Instead, he invites, or else,
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: let them come to me for refuge. Let them make
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: peace with me. Yes, let them make peace with me.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: In the future, Jacob will take root, Israel will bud
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: and blossom and fill all the world with fruit. Israel's
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: punishment was restrained, not like that of other nations, and
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: its purpose was to purge sin, especially idolatry. Finally, in
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: turn of that day, the Lord will thresh from the
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: will be gathered one by one, And in that day
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: and worship the Lord on the Holy Mountain in Jerusalem.
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Isaiah now turns to a persistent issue in Judah, the
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: tendency to trust in human alliances and empty rituals rather
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: than in God. In chapter twenty eight, he confronts the
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: drunken leaders of Ephraim, the Northern Kingdom, warning that their
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: glorious beauty is just a fading flower soon to be trampled.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Yet there's hope in that day the Lord Almighty will
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: of his people. But Judah's leaders too are stumbling from drink,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: unable to grasp God's message. They mock Isaiah, who is
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: he trying to teach to whom is he explaining his
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: message to children weaned from their milk. They think the
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: prophet is talking down to them, giving them rules like
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: do this, do that, A rule for this, a rule
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: for that. So God replies that he will speak to
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: this people through foreign lips and strange tongues, reference to
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: the foreign invaders who would come to conquer them. They
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: had rejected the simple message of rest and restoration offered
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: by God. The sides leaders of Jerusalem boasted, we have
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: made a covenant with death. We have made a lie,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: our refuge and falsehood, our hiding place. They believed they
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: were safe from disaster, but they were wrong. God responds,
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: see I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: a precious corner stone for a sure foundation. The one
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: This stone would be the standard for all judgment. Justice
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: would be the measuring line, and hale would sweep away
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: their refuge of lies. Their packed with death would be nullified,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: and the flood would overtake them. You will be beaten
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: down by it as often as it comes. It will
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: carry you away, morning after morning, by day by night,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: it will sweep through the understanding of this message will
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: bring sheer terror. Isaiah compares God to a wise farmer
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: who knows exactly how to prepare the ground and sow
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: each seed in its proper place. In the same way,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: God knows exactly how and when to judge and when
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to show mercy. All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent. In chapter
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: twenty nine, the prophet addresses Jerusalem directly, calling it Ariel,
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: meaning hearth of God. Woe to you Ariel, Ariel, the
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: city where David settled. Add year to year, and let
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: your cycle of festivals go on. Despite continuing its religious festivals,
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: the city would face hardship. Yet I will besiege Ariel.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: She will mourn and lament. God would besiege the city
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: just as David once did, building towers and siege works
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: again against it. Jerusalem would be humbled to the point
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: where her voice would sound like a ghost's whisper from
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: the ground. But then suddenly her enemies will become like
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: fine dust, the ruthless hordes like chaff blown away by
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: the wind. In an instant. The Lord of Hosts would
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: punish them with thunder, and earthquake and loud noise, with
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: storm and tempest and flames of devouring fire, Jerusalem's enemies
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: would vanish like a dream. It will be as when
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: a hungry man dreams he is eating, but awakens still hungry,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: but wakes faint and still thirsty. But Jerusalem's deeper issue
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: is spiritual. The Lord says, these people come near to
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: Me is based merely on human rules they have been taught.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Their hearts were far from God. They all so suffered
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: from spiritual blindness. The Lord has poured out upon you
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: the prophets, He has covered your heads the seers. To them,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: all of God's words had become like a sealed book.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: To the literate, it was a book they couldn't open.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: To the illiterate, a book they couldn't read. But change
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: was coming in a very short time. Will not Lebanon
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: seem like a forest. The transformation would be so great
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: that in that day the death will hear the words
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: eyes of the blind will see once more. The humble
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: will rejoice in the Lord, the needy will rejoice in
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the Holy One of Israel. The oppressors would be removed,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: and Jacob will no longer be ashamed, no longer will
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: their faces grow pale. When his children see what God
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: has done, they will sanctify my name. They will acknowledge
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: stand in awe of the God of Israel. Those who
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: were spiritually lost will gain understanding, and those who complain
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: will accept instruction. Isiah then addresses appressing political crisis. The
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: leaders of Judah, fearing the Assyrian threat, were planning an
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: alliance with Egypt. Woe to the rebellious children, declares the
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: Lord in chapter thirty. Who carry out plans that are
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: not mine, Who make an alliance, but not by my spirit,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: heaping sin upon sin. They were seeking Pharaoh's protection without
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: consulting God. They go down to Egypt without consulting Me.
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: They seek refuge in Pharaoh's strength and take shelter in
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Egypt's shadow, but Pharaoh's protection will be your shame. Egypt's
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: shelter will bring you disgrace. Had already reached Zohen and Haines,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Egyptian cities, but it would all be in vain. Egypt
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: offered only worthless promises, which is why Isaiah dubbed it Rahab.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: The do nothing for Egypt's help is utterly useless. Therefore
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: I call her Raehab, who sits still. God commands Isaiah,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: now go write it on a tablet for them, inscribe
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: it in a book, that it may be an enduring
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: witness for the future. The people of Judah were rebellious,
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: constantly telling the prophets, do not prophesy visions and to
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the seers, don't tell us what is right, speak pleasing
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: things to us, prophesy illusions. Leave this path, turn aside
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: from this way. Stop confronting us with the Holy One
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: of Israel. Because they rejected God's word. This sin will
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: become for you like a high wall cracked and bulging
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: that collapses suddenly in an instant. It would be utterly shattered,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: like a clay jar, broken ruthlessly to pieces. What God
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: really desired for his people was simple. In repentance and
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: But you would have none of it. Instead, they said, no,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: we will flee on horses, and God replied, very well, flee,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: they insisted, we will ride off on swift horses, and
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: God answered, therefore your pursuers will be swift. The defeat
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: would be devastating. A thousand will flee at the threat
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: of one, at the threat of five, you will all
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: flee away till you are left like a flag staff
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: on a mountain top, like a banner on a hill.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: Yet even then, the Lord longs to be gracious to you.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: He will rise up to show you compassion. God is
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: a god of justice. Blest are all who wait for him.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: One day, the people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: will weep no more. When they cry out, God will
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: be gracious and respond, even though He has given them
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. Their
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: teachers will hide no longer. With your own eyes, you
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: will see your teachers, and with your ears you will
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Walk in it. On that day the people will cast
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: away their silver and gold idols like menstrual rags, and
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: say to them away with you, unjig. Good will send
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: rain for the seed you sow, and the livestock will
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: graze in spacious pastures. On the day of the Great Slaughter,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: every high mountain and every lofty hill even more astonishing.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: The light of the moon will be like the light
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: of the sun, and the light of the sun will
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full day. Meanwhile,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: against Assyria, Israel's wicked enemy, the voice of the Lord
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: will shatter Assyria with his scepter. He will strike them down.
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: Every stroke of his rod of punishment will come with
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: the music of tambourines and harps. The funeral pyre for
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: the Assyrian king is already prepared, deep and wide, with
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord,
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: like a stream of burning sulfur, will set it ablaze.
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: In chapter thirty two, Isaiah presents a vision of a
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: future righteous kingdom. A king will reign in righteousness, and
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: rulers will rule with justice. In that day, each one
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: will be like a shelter from the wind, and a
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: dry land and the shadow of a great rock in
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: a thirsty land. Then the eyes of those who see
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: will no longer be closed, and the ears of those
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: who here will listen. The reckless mind mind will understand knowledge,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: and the stammering tongue will speak fluently and clearly. Values
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: will be restored. The fool will no longer be called noble,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: nor the scoundrel highly respected. Isaiah contrasts the fool who
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: speaks folly and whose heart is bent on evil, with
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: the noble, who makes noble plans and by noble deeds stands.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Isaiah now blends prophecies of judgment with concrete promises of deliverance,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: which were to be fulfilled during the prophet's lifetime. In
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: chapter thirty three, he begins with a woe against the
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: destroyer as Syria. Woe to you, destroyer, who have not
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: been destroyed. Woe to you, traitor, who have not been betrayed.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed. When you
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: cease to betray, you will be betrayed. The prophet then intercedes, Lord,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: be gracious to us. We long for you. Be our
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: strength every morning our salvation in time of distress. His
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: prayer is followed by a depiction of God's power. At
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: the thunder of your voice, the people's flee when you
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: rise up, the nations scatter. The contrast between Jerusalem's current
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: state and God's promises is stark. Look their brave men
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: cry aloud in the streets. The envoys of peace weep bitterly.
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: The highways are deserted. No travelers are on the road.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: The land mourns and languishes. But then God declares, Now
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: will I arise, says the Lord. Now will I be exalted?
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Now will I be lifted up? Judah's enemies conceived chaff
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: and gave birth to stubble. Their own plans will consume
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: them like fire. Isaiah invites all to reflect on the
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: power of divine judgment. You who are far away hear
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: what I have done, You who are near, acknowledge my power.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: The sinners in Zion are terrified. Who of us can
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: with everlasting burning? The answer follows the one who walks
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects gain from extortion,
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: whose hands refuse bribes, who stops his ears against plots
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil. This
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: person will dwell on the heights. His refuge will be
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: the mountain fortress. His bread will be supplied, and water
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: will not fail him. The vision then shifts to a
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: glorious future. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: and view a land that stretches afar. People will recall
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: the former terror and ask, where is the one who counted?
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: Where is the one who weighed? Where is the one
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: who counted the towers. They will no longer see that
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: arrogant people, people of obscure speech, whose language is strange
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: and incomprehensible. Instead, look upon Zion, the city of our festivals.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: that will not be moved. The Lord will be like
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: a place of broad rivers and streams, but also the judge,
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: law giver, and king of his people. He will save us.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: No warships will sail these divine rivers. The Lord is
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: our king. It is he who will save us. In
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty four, Isaiah describes judgment upon the nations, especially Edom,
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: a historic enemy of Israel. Come near you, nations and listen.
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Pay attention, you peoples. Let the earth hear and all
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: that is in it, the world and all that comes
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: out of it. The Lord's indignation is upon all nations.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: The judgment is graphically described. The slain will be left unburied,
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: and the stench of their corpses will rise. The mountains
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: will be soaked with their blood. Even the stars will disintegrate.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: When the heavenly judgment arrives, Edom in particular will face
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: the Lord's sword. The sword of the Lord is bathed
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: in blood, covered with fat. Edom's land will become a
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: blazing desert where the owl and the raven will dwell.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: It will be measured with the line of chaos and
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: the plumb line of desolation. No nobles will be left
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: to proclaim a kingdom. All its princes will vanish. Thorns
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: will overrun her, citadels, nettles, and brambles her strongholds. She
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: will become a haunt for jackals, a dwelling for owls.
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: This desolation will endure forever, from generation to generation. No
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: one will ever pass through it again. It will be
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: the domain of wild animals and birds of prey. On
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: the other hand, Chapter thirty five presents one of the
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: most beautiful visions of restoration. The desert and the parched
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: land will be glad. The wilderness will rejoice and blossom
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: like the roads. The desert will be adorned with divine splendor.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: They will receive the glory of Lebanon, the splendor of
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord,
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the splendor of our God. Isiah offers encouragement. Strengthen the
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: feeble hands, steady the knees that give way. Say to
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: those with fearful hearts, be strong, Do not fear. Your
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: God will come. He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: He will come to save you. Miracles will abound. Then
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: the eyes of the blind will be opened and the
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: ears of the death unstopped. Then the lame will leap
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: like a deer, and the mute tongue will shout for joy.
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: The desert will be transformed with streams and torrents of water.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: A special road will be built, and a highway will
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: be there. It will be called the Way of Holiness.
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: The unclean will not journey on it. It will be
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: for those who walk in that way. Fools will not
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: go about on it. No lions or beasts be found there.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: Only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: the Lord will return. The lords redeemed will return to
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: Zion with singing and everlasting joy will crown their heads.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: will flee away. The final chapters of Topic two thirty
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: six to thirty nine shift in tone, moving from prophetic
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: poetry to historical narrative. They describe events that took place
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: during the reign of Hezekiah when Assyria under Senakarib invaded Judah.
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: In chapter thirty six, in the fourteenth year of King
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah's reign, Senacarib, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: cities of Judah and captured them. He then sent his
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: commander with a large army from Lakish to confront King
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrian commander stationed himself by the
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: aqueduct of the Upper Pool and called for the king Eliakim,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: son of Hilkiah. The palace administrator Shebna the secretary, and Joah,
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: son of Assef, the recorder, went out to meet him.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: The commander said to them, tell Hezekiah, this is what
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: the great king, the King of Assyria, says on. What
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: are you basing this confidence of yours. You say you
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: have counsel and might for war, but they are only
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: empty words. On whom are you depending that you rebel
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: against me? He mocked Judah's reliance on Egypt. Surely you
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: are depending on Egypt that broken reed of a staff
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: which pierces the hand of any one who leans on it,
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: such as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who rely
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: on him. Surprisingly, he also challenged Judah's trust in God.
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: And if you say to me, we are relying on
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the Lord, our God, isn't he the one whose high
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: places and altars? Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: you must worship before this altar. He deliberately twisted Hezekiah's
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: religious reforms, which had removed idolatrous altars, as though they
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: were a rejection of God. Then the commander shouted in
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: Hebrew to all the people sitting on the wall, do
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let Hezekiah persuade
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: you to trust in the Lord. Has any of the
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: gods of the nations delivered their land from the hand
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: of the King of Assyria, Which of all the gods
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: of these nations has ever rescued his land from me?
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: But the people remained silent, for Hezekiah had commanded, do
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: not answer him. Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah returned to
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and reported to him what
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: the commander had said in chapter thirty seven. When King
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: and went into the temp of the Lord. He sent Eliakim,
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: Shebna and the leading priests to the prophet Isaiah, saying,
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: this is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: Pray for the remnant that still survives. Isiah replied, this
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: the words you have heard with which the servants of
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: the King of Assyria have blasphemed me. I will put
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: a spirit in him so that when he hears a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: certain report, he will return to his own land, and
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: there I will make him fall by the sword. Meanwhile,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: Senecarib had moved on to fight against Libna. When he
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: heard that Tirika, king of Kush, was marching out to
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: fight him, he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with an
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: arrogant letter challenging the God of Israel. Hezekiah took the
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: letter to the temple and spread it out before the Lord.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: Then he prayed, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: between the Cherubim, you alone are God over all the
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: kingdoms of the earth. Incline your ear, Lord and hear.
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: Open your eyes, Lord and see. Listen to all the
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: words Senacarib has sent to insult the Living God. Now, Lord,
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, alone, Lord,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: are God. Then Isaiah sent a message to Hezekiah. This
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, because
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: you have prayed to me concerning Senacarib, king of Assyria,
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: this is the word the Lord has spoken against him.
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: The Virgin daughter of Zion despises and mocks you. The
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee God
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: reminds Senecarib, whom he has truly mocked. Who is it
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: you have ridiculed and blasphemed against whom have you raised
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: Holy One of Israel. The arrogance of the Assyrian king
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: is exposed by your me messengers. You have ridiculed the Lord,
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: and you have said, with my many chariots, I have
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: its junipers. I dug wells in foreign lands and drank
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: their waters with the soles of my feet. I dried
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: up all the streams of Egypt. But God responds, have
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: you not heard long ago? I ordained it, in days
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: of old? I planned it. Now I have brought it
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: to pass. Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: put to shame. They are like plants in the field,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof,
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: scorched before it grows up. God knows everything about Senecaib.
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: I know where you stay, and when you come and go,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: and how you rage against me, Because you rage against me,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: And because your arrogance has reached my ears, I will
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: put my hook in your nose and my bit in
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: your mouth, and I will make you return by the
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: way you came. Then Isiah gave Hezekiah a sign. This
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: year you will eat what grows by itself, and the
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: second year what springs from that. But in the third
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: This was a sign that normal life would resume after
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the siege. The remnant of the House of Judah will
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: take root below and bear fruit above. For out of
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: Jerusalem will come a remnant, and from Mount Zion's survivors. Finally,
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: God declares, Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: the King of Assyria. He will not enter this city
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: it with a shield, or build a siege ramp against it.
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: By the way he came, he will return. He will
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: this city and save it for my sake and for
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: the sake of my servant David. The fulfillment came that
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: very night. Then the Angel of the Lord went out
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: and struck down a hundred and eighty five thousand in
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning,
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: there were all the dead bodies. Snacharib withdrew and returned
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: to Nineveh. Some time later, while worshiping in the temple
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: of his god Nisroch, his own sons struck him down
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: with the sword. In chapter the d eight, Isaiah records
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: another crisis in Hezekiah's life. In those days, Hezikiah became
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: son of a Mos, went to him and said, this
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: is what the Lord says. Put your house in order,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: because you are going to die. You will not recover.
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed, Remember, Lord,
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion,
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: and have done what is good in your eyes. And
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: he wept bitterly. God changed his decree. This is what
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: the Lord, the God of your father David, says, I
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: add fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: you and this city from the hand of the king
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: of Assyria. I will defend this city as a sign.
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: The shadow on the stairway of Ahaz went back ten steps.
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: Hezekiah wrote a poem about his illness and recovery. I said,
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: in the prime of my life, I must go through
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: the gates of death. I am deprived of the rest
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: of my years. Like a weaver, I rolled up my life,
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: and he cut me off from the loom like a lion.
• 58:46
  Speaker 1: He broke all my bones. My eyes grew weak, looking
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: to the heavens, I am troubled. Lord, come to my aid.
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: His gratitude is clear. What can I say? He has
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: spoken to me, and he him self has done this.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: I will walk humbly all my years because of this
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: anguish of my soul. The Lord will save me, and
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: our lives in the temple of the Lord d the
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: final chapter of this section, chapter thirty nine, we see
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: how a seemingly small decision would lead to the Babylonian exile.
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: At that time, Meredach Baladan, son of Baladan, King of Babylon,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah because he had
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: heard of his illness and recovery. Hezekiah welcomed the envoys gladly,
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: and showed them what was in his storehouses, the silver,
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his entire armory,
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: not show them. Isaiah asked the king, what did those
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: men say? Where did they come from. Hezekiah replied, they
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: came from a distant land, from Babylon. The prophet then asked,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: what did they see in your palace? And Hezekiah said,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 1: they saw everything in my palace. There is nothing among
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: my treasures that I did not show them. Then Isaiah said,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: hear the word of the Lord Almighty. The time will
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: surely come when everything in your palace and all that
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: your ancestors have stored up until this day, will be
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord,
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: and some of your own descendants, your own flesh and blood,
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 1: who will be born to you, will be taken away,
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: King of Babylon. Hezekiah responded to Isaiah, the word of
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: the Lord you have spoken is good, for he thought,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: there will be peace and security in my lifetime. After
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: the prophecies of Judgment, Isaiah's tone shafts. In chapter forty,
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: he begins with heart warming words Comfort Comfort my people, says,
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: your God, speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: that her hard service has been completed, that her sin
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: has been paid for. It's as if a new chapter
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: is being opened. The difficult years would not last forever.
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: God is preparing something new. A voice of one calling
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord. Make
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: straight in the desert, a highway for our God. Every
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: The mysterious voice continues, and the glory of the Lord
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: will be revealed, and all people will see it together.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. This is
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: a firm promise that God himself would come to dwell
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: among his people. Another voice then says, cry out, and
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: Isaiah asks, what shall I cry? The reply comes. All
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: flowers fall because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: flowers fall, But the word of our God endures forever.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: Then comes the call to Zion, You who bring good
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: news to Zion, Go up on a high mountain, you
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: who bring good news to Jerusalem. Lift up your voice
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: with a shout. Lift it up. Do not be afraid,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: say to the towns of Judah, here is your God.
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: But God would not come as a ruthless conqueror. He
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: would come like a gentle shepherd. He tends his flock
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: and carries them close to his heart. He gently leads
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: those that have young. Who is this God who comes
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: to comfort his people? Isaiah then paints a breath taking
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: picture of his greatness. Who has measured the waters in
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: his hand marked off the heavens. Who has held the
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: The answer is clear. No one compares to the Creator.
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: Who can fathom the spirit of the Lord, or instruct
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: the Lord as his Counselor whom did the Lord consult
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: to enlighten him, And who taught him the right way?
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 1: the path of understanding? The nations, in all their strength
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: and glory, are insignificant before him. Surely the nations are
• 1:03:47
  Speaker 1: like a drop in a bucket. They are regarded as
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: they were fine dust. If one were to offer sacrifices
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: to God, not even all the foregrists of Lebanon would
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: provide enough wood, nor would its animals be sufficient for
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: a burnt offering. And the idols, they're just man made statues.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: With whom, then, will you compare God? To What image?
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: Will you liken him? As for an idol, a metal
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 1: worker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: and fashioned silver chains for it. Even creation itself testifies
• 1:04:26
  Speaker 1: about God. Do you not know? Have you not heard?
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: you not understood? Since the earth was founded? He sits
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: Looking to the stars reveals even more of his power.
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens who
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: created all these, He who brings out the starry host
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: of them is missing. Sometimes the people thought God had
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 1: forgotten them, but Isiah corrects this idea. Why do you complain, Jacob,
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: the Lord, My cause is disregarded by my God. On
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: the contrary, God knows their situation perfectly. Do you not know?
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: the creator of the ends of the earth. He will
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: the power of the weak. The final part of the
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: chapter brings one of the most cherished promises in all
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: of scripture. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: like eagle. They will run and not grow weary. They
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: will walk and not be faint. In chapter forty one,
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: God calls the nations to a divine tribunal. Be silent
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: before me, you islands. Let the nations renew their strength,
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: at the place of judgment. He asks who has stirred
• 1:06:22
  Speaker 1: up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: his service. He hands nations over to him and subdues
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: kings before him. This is a reference to Cyrus, the
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: future Persian king who would liberate Israel. God is showing
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: that he rules over kings and kingdoms. Faced with this revelation,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: the islands sea and fear. The ends of the earth tremble.
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: How do people respond. They try to bolster each other.
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: They help each other and say to their companions be strong.
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: with the hammer spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: But then God shifts his focus to Israel. But you, Israel,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen you, descendants of Abraham,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: my friend. I took you from the ends of the earth,
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 1: from its farthest corners. I called you. I said, you
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 1: are my servant. I have chosen you and have not
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: rejected you. What comforting words for a people who felt abandoned.
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 1: Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: you and help you. I will uphold you with my
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: righteous right hand. Even those who oppose Israel will be disgraced.
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced.
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: God promises a striking transformation for his people. The poor
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: and needy search for water, but there is none. Their
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: tongues are parched with thirst. But I, the Lord, will
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: I will make rivers flow on barren heights and springs
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 1: within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: of water, and the parched ground into flowing springs. Why
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 1: so that people may see and know, may consider and
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: understand that the hand of the Lord has done this,
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: that the Holy One of Israel has created it. God
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: then challenges the Idols to prove their power. Present your case,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: says the Lord. Set forth your arguments, says Jacob's King,
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: tell us, you idles, what is going to happen? Tell
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: us what the former things were, so that we may
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 1: consider them and know their final outcome, or declare to
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: us the things to come. The challenge is clear, Do something,
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: anything good or bad, so we may see and be amazed.
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 1: But the idols can do nothing. But you are less
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: than nothing, and your works are utterly worthless. Whoever chooses
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: you is detestable. In contrast, God announces what he will do.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 1: I have stirred up one from the north, and he
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: comes one from the rising sun, who calls on my name.
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 1: He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 1: a potter treading the clay. The idols are silent. Who
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: told of this from the beginning so we could know,
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: or beforehand so we could say he was right? No
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 1: one told of this, No one foretold it. No one
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: heard any words from you. In chapter forty two, God
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: introduces another servant, one very different from Israel or Cyrus.
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 1: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him,
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: and he will bring justice to the nations. This servant
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: has an unusual approach. He will not shout or cry
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: will not snuff out. In faithfulness, he will bring forth justice.
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: Will not falter or be discouraged. Till he establishes justice
• 1:10:03
  Speaker 1: on earth in his law, the islands will put their hope.
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 1: God says to this servant, I the Lord have called
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: I will keep you and will make you to be
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: a covenant for the people, and a light for the gentiles,
• 1:10:19
  Speaker 1: to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison,
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: Then the Lord declares, I am the Lord, that is
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 1: my name. I will not yield my glory to another,
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 1: or my praise to idols. See the former things have
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: taken place, and new things I declare, before they spring
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: into being, I announce them to you. In chapter forty three,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: God speaks words of comfort to his people. But now
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: this is what the Lord says, he who created you, Jacob,
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 1: he who formed you, Israel, do not fear, for I
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 1: have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: are mine. God will be present even in the worst trials.
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 1: When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: And when you pass through the rivers, they will not
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 1: will not be burned. The flames will not set you ablaze.
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: Why for I am the Lord, your God, the Holy
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: One of Israel, your Savior, I give Egypt for your ransom,
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: cush and seber in your stead, since you are precious
• 1:11:27
  Speaker 1: and honored in my sight, and because I love you.
• 1:11:30
  Speaker 1: God will gather his people from everywhere. I will bring
• 1:11:34
  Speaker 1: your children from the east, and gather you from the west.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: I will say to the north, give them up, and
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: to the south, do not hold them back. Bring my
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: sons from Afar, and my daughters from the ends of
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: the earth. Israel has a special purpose. Bring out those
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 1: who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 1: are deaf. All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble,
• 1:11:59
  Speaker 1: which of their God's foretold this, and proclaim to us
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 1: the former things. Let them bring in their witnesses to
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: prove they were right, so that others may hear and
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: say it is true. God declares to his people you
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 1: are my witnesses, declares the Lord and my servant, whom
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 1: I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me,
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 1: and understand that I am he. Before me, no God
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: was formed, nor will there be one after me. I
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: even I am the Lord, and apart from me there
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: is no savior. God announces something new. Forget the former things.
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 1: Do not dwell on the past. See I am doing
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: and streams in the waste land. The reason for past
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: punishment is clear. You have not called on me, Jacob.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: You have not wearied yourselves for me, Israel. You have
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: not brought me sheep for burnt off rings, nor honored
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: me with your sacrifices. But you have burdened me with
• 1:13:04
  Speaker 1: your sins and wearied me with your offenses. But grace prevails.
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: I even I am he who blots out your transgressions
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: In chapter forty four, God promises future blessings for Israel.
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: But now listen, Jacob, my servant Israel, whom I have chosen.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says, he who made you,
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 1: who formed you in the womb, and who will help you.
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant jesheron whom I
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: have chosen for, I will pour water on the thirsty land,
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 1: The result will be striking. They will spring up like
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams.
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: One will say I belong to the Lord. Another will
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: call himself by the name of Jacob. Still another will
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: write on his hand the Lord's and will take the
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: name Israel. God reaffirms his uniqueness. This is what the
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: Lord says, Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty, I
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: am the first, and I am the last. Apart from me,
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: there is no God who then, is like me. Let
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: him proclaim it. Let him declare and lay out before
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: me what has happened since I established my ancient people,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: and what is yet to come. Yes, let them foretell
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: what will come. Here we find one of the most
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: powerful critiques of idolatry in the entire Bible. Isaiah describes
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: how a man cuts down a tree and uses part
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: of it to warm himself, part to cook his food,
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: and with the rest he makes an idol. Half of
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: the wood he burns in the fire. Over it, he
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: prepares his meal. He roasts his meat and eats his fill.
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: He also warms himself and says, ah, I am war,
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: I see the fire. From the rest, he makes a
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: god his idol. He bows down to it and worships.
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: He prays to it and says, save me, you are
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: my God. What spiritual blindness? No one stops to think.
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: No one has the knowledge or understanding to say. Half
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: of it I used for fuel. I even bake bread
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate. Shall
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: I then make a detestable thing from what is left?
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: Shall I bow down to a block of wood? In
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: the face of such foolishness, God calls his people to reason,
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 1: remember these things, Jacob, For you are my servant Israel.
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: I have made you. You are my servant, Israel. I
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: will not forget you. I have swept away your offenses
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 1: like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: to me, for I have redeemed you. And at the
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: end of the chapter, God makes a surprising announcement. I
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: am the one who says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd,
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 1: and will accomplish all that I please. He will say,
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem, let it be rebuilt, and of the Temple,
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: let its foundations be laid. In chapter forty five, God
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 1: speaks directly to Cyrus, calling him by name even before
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: he was born. This is what the Lord says to
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of,
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: to subdue nations before him, and to strip kings of
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: their armor, to open doors before him so that gates
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 1: will not be shut. God promises to go before Cyrus.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: I will go before you and will level the mountains.
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: I will break down gates of bronze and cut through
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: bars of iron. I will give you hidden treasures, riches
• 1:16:43
  Speaker 1: stored in secret places, so that you may know that
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: you by name. But why would God choose a pagan
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: king for the sake of Jacob, my servant of Israel,
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 1: My chosen I summon you by name and bestow on
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 1: you a title of honor. Though you do not acknowledge me.
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: God reaffirms his absolute power. I am the Lord and
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: there is no other apart from me. There is no God.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 1: I will strengthen you though you have not acknowledged me,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: so that from the rising of the sun to the
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: place of its setting, people may know there is none
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: His sovereignty is total. I form the light and create darkness.
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: I bring prosperity and create disaster. I the Lord, do
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: all these things. Some might question God's right to you, Cyrus,
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: but Isaiah replies, woe to those who quarrel with their maker,
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 1: those who are nothing but potsherds. Among the potsherds on
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 1: the ground, does the clay say to the potter, what
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: are you making? Does your work say? He has no hands?
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: God emphasizes again his authority over Cyrus. For the sake
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: of Jacob, my servant of Israel, I chosen I summon
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: you by name and bestow on you a title of honor,
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: though you do not acknowledge me. I am the Lord,
• 1:18:09
  Speaker 1: and there is no other apart from me. There is
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: no God. I will strengthen you though you have not
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: acknowledged me. Using Cyrus to free Israel would have even
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: wider consequences. This is what the Lord says, the products
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabians,
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: they will come over to you and will be yours.
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: They will trudge behind you, coming over in chains. They
• 1:18:35
  Speaker 1: will bow down before you and plead with you, saying,
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: surely God is with you, and there is no other.
• 1:18:41
  Speaker 1: There is no other God. The God of Israel is unique. Truly,
• 1:18:46
  Speaker 1: you are a God who has been hiding himself, the
• 1:18:49
  Speaker 1: God and Savior of Israel. But Israel will be saved
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 1: by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You will never
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: be put to shame or disgraced to ages. Everlasting. God
• 1:19:00
  Speaker 1: calls all people to turn to him. Gather together and
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: come assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Turn to Me
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 1: and be saved, all you ends of the earth. For
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: I am God, and there is no other. He makes
• 1:19:13
  Speaker 1: a solemn promise. By myself. I have sworn, my mouth
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: has uttered in all integrity, a word that will not
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 1: be revoked before me. Every knee will bow by me,
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: every tongue will swear. They will say of me, in
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: the Lord alone our deliverance and strength. In chapter forty six,
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: God contrusts himself with the idols of Babylon bell bows down,
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: Nebo stoops low. Their idols are born by beasts of burden.
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: The images that are carried about are burdensome, a burden
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: for the weary. Meanwhile, God carries his people. Listen to me,
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: and have carried since you were born, even to your
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: old age and gray hairs. I am He. I am
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: he who will sustain you. I have made you, and
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: I will carry you. I will sustain you, and I
• 1:20:09
  Speaker 1: will rescue you. The idols are powerless. Some pour out
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: gold from their bags and weigh out silver on the scales.
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: They hire a goldsmith to make it into a god,
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 1: and they bow down to it and worship it. They
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 1: lift it to their shoulders and carry it. They set
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: it in its place, and there it stands. From that spot,
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 1: it cannot move. Even though someone cries out to it,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: it cannot answer. It cannot save them from their troubles.
• 1:20:36
  Speaker 1: God once again affirms his power to declare the future.
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: Remember the former things, those of long ago. I am God,
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: and there is no other. I am God, and there
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: is none like me. I make known the end from
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: In chapter forty seven, God turns to Babylon and declares
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: his judgment. Go down and sit in the dust, virgin
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: daughter Babylon, Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter
• 1:21:05
  Speaker 1: of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 1: or delicate. Babylon will be humiliated. Take millstones and grind flower,
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 1: remove your veil, lift up your skirts, bare your legs,
• 1:21:18
  Speaker 1: and wide through the streams. Your nakedness will be exposed
• 1:21:22
  Speaker 1: and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance. I will
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: spare no one. God exposes Babylon's arrogance. You said I
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: will continue forever the eternal queen. But you did not
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 1: consider these things or reflect on what might happen now.
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: Then listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 1: and saying to yourself, I am, and there is none
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: the loss of children. Her downfall will be sudden. Both
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 1: of these will overtake you in a moment, on a
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: single day. Loss of children and widowhood. They will come
• 1:22:00
  Speaker 1: upon you in full measure, despite your many sorceries and
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 1: all your potent spells. In chapter forty eight, God confronts
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: Israel's hypocrisy. Listen to this o house of Jacob, you
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: who are called by the name of Israel and come
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: from the line of Judah, You who swear by the
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: name of the Lord, and invoke the God of Israel.
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: But not in truth or righteousness. Despite the people's stubbornness,
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: God shows patience for the sake of my name. I
• 1:22:29
  Speaker 1: delay my wrath for the sake of my praise. I
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: hold it back from you, so as not to destroy
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: you completely. See I have refined you, though not as silver.
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. God
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: reaffirms the uniqueness of his nature for my own sake.
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: For my own sake, I do this. How can I
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: let myself be defamed. I will not yield my glory
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: to another. Finally comes the call to leave Babylon. Leave
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: Babylon lee from the Chaldeans. Announced this with shouts of
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: joy and proclaim it. Send it out to the ends
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 1: of the earth, Say the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: This call comes with a promise. They did not thirst.
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: When he led them through the deserts, he made water
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: flow from the rock for them. He split the rock
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: and water gushed out. But also with a warning. There
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord. In
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 1: chapter forty nine, a mysterious servant speaks, Listen to me,
• 1:23:30
  Speaker 1: you islands. Hear this, you distant nations. Before I was born,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: the Lord called me from my mother's womb. He has
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: spoken my name. He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: In the shadow of his hand. He hid me. He
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: made me into a polished arrow, and concealed me in
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 1: his quiver. This servant was prepared for a special mission.
• 1:23:54
  Speaker 1: He said to me, you are my servant Israel, in
• 1:23:57
  Speaker 1: whom I will display my splendor. Yet he faces what
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 1: seems to be defeat. But I said, I have labored
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing, and
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: in vain. Yet what is due me is in the
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 1: Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God. His
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: mission is then expanded. And now the Lord says, he
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself.
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: It is too small a thing for you to be
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 1: my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 1: back those of Israel I have kept. I will also
• 1:24:35
  Speaker 1: make you a light for the gentiles, that you may
• 1:24:38
  Speaker 1: bring my salvation to the ends of the earth. The servant,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: though rejected by men, is chosen by God. This is
• 1:24:47
  Speaker 1: what the Lord says, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel,
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: to the servant of rulers. Kings will see you and
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: stand up. Princes will see and bow down because of
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel,
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: who has chosen you. God promises to restore his people.
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: In the time of my favor, I will answer you,
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 1: and in the day of salvation, I will help you.
• 1:25:15
  Speaker 1: I will keep you, and will make you to be
• 1:25:17
  Speaker 1: a covenant for the people, to restore the land and
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 1: to reassign its desolate inheritances to say to the captives,
• 1:25:26
  Speaker 1: come out, and to those in darkness be free. They
• 1:25:30
  Speaker 1: will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 1: barren hill. God's love for his people is unmatched. Can
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: a mother forget the baby at her breast and have
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: no compassion on the child she is born. Though she
• 1:25:43
  Speaker 1: may forget, I will not forget you. See I have
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: are ever before me. In chapter fifty the servant speaks
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: of his obedience. The Sovereign Lord has given me a
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: well instructed tongue to know the word that sect danes
• 1:26:00
  Speaker 1: the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign Lord
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: has opened my ears. I have not been rebellious. I
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 1: have not turned away despite suffering. He trusts in God.
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks,
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 1: to those who pulled out my beard. I did not
• 1:26:22
  Speaker 1: hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 1: Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore I
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: have set my face like flint, and I know I
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: will not be put to shame. In chapter fifty one,
• 1:26:35
  Speaker 1: God calls Jerusalem to awaken. Awake, Awake, clothe yourself with strength,
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: O Zion, put on your garments of splendor, Oh Jerusalem,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: the holy city, the uncircumcised and defiled will not enter
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: you again. There is a beautiful proclamation, how beautiful on
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation,
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 1: who say, to Zion, your God reigns. Then, at the
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 1: end of chapter fifty two begins one of the most
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: profound passages in the entire book, the description of the
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: suffering servant. See my servant will act wisely. He will
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 1: be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 1: there were many who were appalled at him. His appearance
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 1: was so disfigured beyond that of any human being, and
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 1: his form marred beyond human likeness. Chapter fifty three continues
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 1: this stunning portrayal. Who has believed our message and to
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 1: grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 1: a route out of dry ground. He had no beauty
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 1: or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: appearance that we should desire him. The treatment the ervent
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: would endure is described in detail. He was despised and
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 1: rejected by men, A man of suffering and familiar with pain,
• 1:28:09
  Speaker 1: like one from whom people hide their faces. He was
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: despised and we held him in low esteem. But the
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 1: purpose of his suffering is soon revealed. Surely he took
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 1: up our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 1: him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 1: he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him.
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: And by his wounds we are healed. The servant willingly
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: accepts this suffering. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he
• 1:28:44
  Speaker 1: did not open his mouth. He was led like a
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers,
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: is silent, so he did not open his mouth. The
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 1: text describes his unjust death by oppression and judgement. He
• 1:29:01
  Speaker 1: was taken away, Yet who of his generation protested? For
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 1: he was cut off from the land of the living
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: for the transgression of my people. He was punished, But
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: his suffering had a greater purpose. Yet it was the
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer.
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 1: And though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 1: he will see his offspring and prolong his days. And
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: The final result would be glorious. After the suffering of
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 1: his soul, he will see the light of life and
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 1: be satisfied by his knowledge. My righteous servant will justify many,
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 1: and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: him a portion among the great, and he will divide
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For
• 1:29:55
  Speaker 1: he bore the sin of many and made intercession for
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 1: the transgressors. In chapter fifty four, Hope bursts forth for Jerusalem.
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: Sing barren woman, you who never bore a child, burst
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: into song. Shout for joy, you who were never in labor.
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: Because more are the children of the desolate woman than
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 1: of her who has a husband, says the Lord. The
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 1: city must prepare for growth. Enlarge the place of your tent.
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 1: Stretch your tent curtains wide, Do not hold back, lengthen
• 1:30:25
  Speaker 1: your cords, strengthen your stakes, for you will spread out
• 1:30:29
  Speaker 1: to the right and to the left. Your descendants will
• 1:30:32
  Speaker 1: dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities. The temporary
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: abandonment would be replaced by permanent reconciliation. For a brief
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 1: moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 1: bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 1: my face from you for a moment, But with everlasting kindness,
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 1: I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your redeemer.
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: God makes a stunning promise. Though the mountains be shaken
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: and the hills be removed, Yet my unfailing love for
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 1: The new Jerusalem would be magnificent, afflicted city, lashed by
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: storms and not comforted. I will rebuild you with turquoise stones,
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies,
• 1:31:26
  Speaker 1: your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of
• 1:31:30
  Speaker 1: precious stones. In chapter fifty five, God issues a universal invitation.
• 1:31:35
  Speaker 1: Come all, you who are thirsty, come to the waters.
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: And you who have no money, come buy and eat.
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: Why spend money on what is not bread, and your
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: labor on what does not satisfy. Listen, listen to me,
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: and eat what is good, and your soul will delight
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: in the richest of fare. This ination comes with the
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: promise of an eternal covenant. Give ear and come to
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: me listen, that your soul may live. I will make
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love, promised to David.
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: God's ways are higher than ours. For my thoughts are
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 1: not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth,
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 1: thoughts than your thoughts. God's word is effective as the
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 1: not return to it without watering the earth and making
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: the sower and bread for the eater. So is my
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: word that goes out from my mouth. It will not
• 1:32:47
  Speaker 1: return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: and achieve the purpose for which I scent it. The
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: chapter ends with a vision of joy and peace. You
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 1: will go out in joy and be led forth in peace.
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 1: The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
• 1:33:08
  Speaker 1: Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper and
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: instead of briars, the myrtle will grow. This will be
• 1:33:14
  Speaker 1: for the Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign that will
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: not be destroyed. In Chapter fifty six, God expands the
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: scope of his salvation even further. Let no foreigner who
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: has bound himself to the Lord say, the Lord will
• 1:33:31
  Speaker 1: surely exclude me from his people. To the foreigners who
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 1: bind themselves to the Lord, to serve him, to love
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: the name of the Lord and to worship him, All
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: fast to my covenant, these I will bring to my
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 1: Even those historically excluded are now included. Let no eunuch
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: complain I am only a dry tree. For this is
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: what the Lord says to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: who choose what pleases me, and hold fast to my covenant.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 1: To them, I will give within my temple and its
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 1: walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters.
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever.
• 1:34:20
  Speaker 1: God's house has a universal purpose. My house will be
• 1:34:24
  Speaker 1: called a house of prayer for all nations, declares the
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 1: sovereign lord who gathers the exiles of Israel I will
• 1:34:31
  Speaker 1: gather still others to them, besides those already gathered. After
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 1: speaking of the inclusion of foreigners and eunuchs, Isaiah turns
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: his attention back to Israel's leaders. At the end of
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: chapter fifty six, the prophet exposes the negligence of those
• 1:34:47
  Speaker 1: responsible for watching over the people. Come all, you beasts
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: of the field, Come and devour all, you beasts of
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: the forest. Israel's watchmen are blind. They all lack knowledge.
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: They are all mute dogs. They cannot bark. They lie
• 1:35:04
  Speaker 1: around and dream. They love to sleep. These leaders, who
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: should be protecting the flock like watch dogs, are asleep
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: and worse. They are dogs with mighty appetites. They never
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding. They all
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: turn to their own way. Each seeks his own gain.
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: Instead of caring for the sheep, they care only for themselves.
• 1:35:26
  Speaker 1: They even mock and get drunk. Come, they say, let
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: me get wine, Let me let us drink our fill
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 1: of beer, and tomorrow will be like to day, or
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: even far better. They live for pleasure, with no concern
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: for the future or for their responsibilities. In chapter fifty seven,
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 1: Isiah laments that good people die, and no one understands
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: what is really happening. The righteous perish and no one
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: takes it to heart. The devout are taken away, and
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: no one understands that the righteous are taken away to
• 1:36:00
  Speaker 1: be spared from evil. God is removing the righteous from
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 1: evil's presence so they may enter peace and rest in
• 1:36:07
  Speaker 1: their graves. Meanwhile, the people are drowning in idolatry. Isaiah
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: confronts them head on. But you come here, you children
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: of a sorceress, offspring of adulterers and prostitutes. Who are
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: you mocking at whom do you sneer and stick out
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebellion, the
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: offspring of deceit? The prophet describes shameful, idolatrous practices, you
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 1: who burn with lust among the oaks and under every
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 1: spreading tree. You sacrifice your children in the valleys and
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 1: under the rocky overhangs. The people went as far as
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: to sacrifice children to false gods, an abhorrent practice that
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: God condemned. He continues, your portion is among the smooth
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 1: stones of the valley they indeed are your lot. Yes
• 1:37:01
  Speaker 1: to them. You have poured out drink offerings and presented
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 1: grain offerings. Should I relent because of these things? Instead
• 1:37:09
  Speaker 1: of worshiping in the temple, the people chose idolatry. In
• 1:37:13
  Speaker 1: the valleys, idolatry became extreme. You made your bed on
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: a high and lofty hill. There you went up to
• 1:37:22
  Speaker 1: offer your sacrifices. Behind your doors and your door posts,
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: you have set up your pagan symbols Forsaking me. You
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: uncovered your bed, climbed into it, and opened it wide.
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 1: You made a pact with those whose beds you love,
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 1: and you looked upon their nakedness. God questions why the
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 1: people turned away? Whom have you so dreaded and feared
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: that you have been false to me and have neither
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: remembered me nor taken this to heart? Is it not
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: because I have long been silent that you do not
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: fear me? Then comes a severe warning. When you cry
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 1: out for help, Let your collect action of idle save you.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 1: The wind will carry them all off, A mere breath
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 1: will blow them away. The things the people trusted in
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: would not be able to save them. But for those
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: who trust in God, there is hope. But the one
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: possess my holy mountain. God does not forget those who
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: seek him. He promises to prepare the way for his people.
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 1: Build up, build up, prepare the way. Remove the obstacles
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: out of the way of my people. And then comes
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 1: a contrast between two destinies. For this is what the
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 1: high and exalted one, says, he who lives forever, whose
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 1: name is holy. I live in a high and holy place,
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: but also with the one who is contrite and lowly
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: to renew the heart of the contrite. God will not
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: accuse forever, nor stay angry endlessly. If he did, the
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: human spirit would grow faint before him the breath of
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: life that I made. Though he was angry because of
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: the people's greed, he promises healing and restoration. I have
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: seen their ways, but I will heal them. I will
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 1: guide them and restore comfort to them. Two different paths
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: lead to two different outcomes. But the wicked are like
• 1:39:25
  Speaker 1: the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 1: mire and mud. There is no peace, says my God,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 1: for the wicked. In chapter fifty eight, Isiah receives a
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: direct command. Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 1: your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion,
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. The people
• 1:39:51
  Speaker 1: were practicing only an outward form of religion, without any
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 1: real change in their lives. They even sought God. But
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 1: in the day after day they seek me out. They
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: seem eager to know my ways, as if they were
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 1: a nation that does what is right and has not
• 1:40:10
  Speaker 1: forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for
• 1:40:14
  Speaker 1: just decisions, and seem eager for God to come near them.
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 1: They ask, why have we fasted? They say, and you
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 1: have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves? And
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: you have not noticed? God's response is clear. On the
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: day of your fasting, you do as you please and
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 1: and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: fast as you do today and expect your voice to
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 1: be heard on high. God exposes their hypocrisy. Is this
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: the kind of fast? I have chosen? Only a day
• 1:40:49
  Speaker 1: for people to humble themselves. Is it only for bowing
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: one's head like a reed, and for lying in sackcloth
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: and ashes? Is that what you call a fast? A
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: day acceptable to the Lord. After denouncing false fasting, Isaiah
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 1: lays out the true fast. Is not this the kind
• 1:41:06
  Speaker 1: of fasting? I have chosen to loose the chains of
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 1: injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: to share your food with the hungry, and to provide
• 1:41:21
  Speaker 1: the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked,
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 1: to clothe them, and not to turn away from your
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 1: own flesh and blood. For those who live out this
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 1: true fast, the promises are incredible. Then your light will
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear.
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 1: Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: of the Lord will be your rear God. Then you
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: for help, and he will say, here am I. When
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 1: the people stop oppressing others, stop pointing fingers, and stop
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: speaking wickedly, and instead help those in need, blessings will follow.
• 1:42:00
  Speaker 1: Your light will rise in the darkness, and your night
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always.
• 1:42:08
  Speaker 1: He will satisfy your needs in a sun's scorched land,
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 1: and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a
• 1:42:14
  Speaker 1: well watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: Restoration will be complete. Your people will rebuild the ancient
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 1: ruins and will raise up the age old foundations. You
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 1: will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: with dwellings. Proper observance of the Sabbath also brings blessings.
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: from doing as you please on my holy day. If
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 1: you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's Holy
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: day honorable, and if you honor it by not going
• 1:42:48
  Speaker 1: your own way and not doing as you please or
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: the Lord. The promise to those who honor the Sabbath
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 1: is extraordinary, and I will cause you to ride in
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 1: triumph on the heights of the land and to feast
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: on the inheritance of your father Jacob. This promise is
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 1: sealed the mouth of the Lord has spoken. In chapter
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 1: fifty nine, Isaiah explains why the people's prayers are not
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: being answered. Surely the arm of the Lord is not
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 1: too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 1: But your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your
• 1:43:28
  Speaker 1: sins have hidden his face from you, so that he
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: will not hear. The prophet details their sins, for your
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 1: lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 1: The justice system is corrupt. No one stands for truth.
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: The crimes are vividly described. No one calls for justice.
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 1: No one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: empty arguments. They utter lies. They conceive trouble and give
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 1: birth to evil. They hatch vipers eggs and spin a
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: spider's web. The people admit their condition. We acknowledge our iniquities,
• 1:44:08
  Speaker 1: rebellion and treachery against the Lord, turning our backs on
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 1: our God, inciting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 1: have conceived. The consequences are dire. So justice is far
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 1: from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: for light, but all is darkness. For brightness, but we
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: walk in deep shadows like the blind. We grope along
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: the wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. At midday,
• 1:44:36
  Speaker 1: we stumble as if it were twilight. Among the strong,
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: we are like the dead. There is a moving national confession.
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 1: We all growl like bears. We moan mournfully like doves.
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: We look for justice, but find none for salvation. But
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: it is far from us. For our offenses are many
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities.
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: In the face of this desolate reality, God steps in.
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: He saw that there was no one. He was appalled
• 1:45:15
  Speaker 1: that there was no one to intervene. So his own
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 1: God dresses for battle. He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 1: and the helmet of salvation on his head. He put
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 1: on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal
• 1:45:36
  Speaker 1: as in a cloak. He is ready to rise against
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 1: his enemies and bring justice. Then comes one of the
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: book's great promises. The Redeemer will come to Zion to
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 1: those in Jacob who repent of their sins, declares the Lord.
• 1:45:50
  Speaker 1: As for me, this is my covenant with them, says
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 1: the Lord, My spirit, who is on you, will not
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 1: depart from you, and my words that I have put
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: in your mouth will always be on your lips, on
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: the lips of your children and of their descendants, from
• 1:46:07
  Speaker 1: this time on and forever, says the Lord. Chapter sixty
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: begins with an uplifting call. Arise, shine, for your light
• 1:46:16
  Speaker 1: has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: See darkness covers the earth, and thick darknesses over the
• 1:46:24
  Speaker 1: people's But the Lord rises upon you, and his glory
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: appears over you. The contrast is clear. While the world
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: is covered in darkness, Jerusalem shines with God's light. Nations
• 1:46:37
  Speaker 1: will come to your light and kings to the brightness
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 1: of your dawn. Isiah invites the city to look around.
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 1: Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 1: and come to you. Your sons come from Afar, and
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 1: your daughters are carried on the hip. The transformation will
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 1: be so glorious that Jerusalem's heart will and swell with joy.
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: The wealth of the seas will be brought to you.
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: To you, the riches of the nations will come Caravans
• 1:47:08
  Speaker 1: of camels will cover the land, bringing gold and incense
• 1:47:11
  Speaker 1: from far away places like Midian, Ipha and Sheba, and
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 1: they will proclaim the praise of the Lord. Flocks will
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 1: gather for sacrifice, and ships will come like clouds, like
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: doves returning to their nests. They will bring your children
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: from Afar along with their silver and gold, for the
• 1:47:31
  Speaker 1: honor of the name of the Lord, your God, the
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 1: Holy One of Israel. For he has endowed you with splendor.
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: Nations that once where enemies will now serve Foreigners will
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Your
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 1: gates will always stand open. They will never be shut
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 1: day or night, so that people may bring you the
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: wealth of the nations. There kings led in triumphal procession.
• 1:47:55
  Speaker 1: There's a warning too. The nation or kingdom that will
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: not serve you will pay. It will be utterly ruined.
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 1: But for Jerusalem, the glory of Lebanon will come to you,
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 1: the juniper, the fur, and the cypress together to adorn
• 1:48:10
  Speaker 1: my sanctuary, and I will glorify the place for my feet.
• 1:48:14
  Speaker 1: A complete reversal will take place. The children of your
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 1: oppressors will come bowing before you. All who despised you
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: will bow down at your feet and will call you
• 1:48:24
  Speaker 1: the city of the Lord Zion, of the Holy One
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 1: of Israel. Jerusalem will be transformed. Although you have been
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 1: forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will
• 1:48:36
  Speaker 1: make you the everlasting pride and the joy of all generations.
• 1:48:41
  Speaker 1: Then you will know that I the Lord, am your Savior,
• 1:48:44
  Speaker 1: your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. Everything will be renewed.
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 1: Instead of bronze, I will bring you gold and silver
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: in place of iron, instead of wood, I will bring
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 1: you bronze and iron in place of stones. Everything elevated.
• 1:49:01
  Speaker 1: I will make peace your governor, and well being your ruler.
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 1: No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: ruin or destruction within your borders. Even the light will
• 1:49:10
  Speaker 1: be different. The sun will no more be your light
• 1:49:14
  Speaker 1: by day, nor will the brightness of the moonshine on you.
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your
• 1:49:21
  Speaker 1: God will be your glory. Your days of sorrow will end.
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 1: The people will be righteous and possess the land forever.
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 1: They are the shoot I have planted the work of
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: my hands for the display of my splendor. The least
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: of you will become a thousand, the smallest, a mighty nation.
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: I am the Lord in its time. I will do
• 1:49:42
  Speaker 1: this swiftly. In chapter sixty one, a special figure appears
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: to announce the spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
• 1:49:50
  Speaker 1: because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: to the poor. He has sent me to bind up
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: release from darkness for the prisoners. This anointed one came
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
• 1:50:14
  Speaker 1: to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
• 1:50:17
  Speaker 1: the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Those transformed
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 1: by His ministry will be called oaks of righteousness, a
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 1: a blunting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 1: They will rebuild ancient ruins and restore places long devastated.
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: Strangers will shepherd your flocks, Foreigners will work your fields
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 1: and vineyards, and you will be called priests of the Lord,
• 1:50:46
  Speaker 1: ministers of our God. Meanwhile, you will feed on the
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 1: wealth of nations and in their riches you will boast
• 1:50:54
  Speaker 1: instead of their past shame. My people will receive a
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: double portion, and so they will inherit everlasting joy. Why,
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: for I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: In my faithfulness, I will reward my people and make
• 1:51:11
  Speaker 1: an everlasting covenant with them. There descendants will be known
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 1: among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 1: who see them will acknowledge that they are a people.
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: The Lord has blessed the anointed one rejoices in his mission.
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 1: I delight greatly in the Lord. My soul rejoices in
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: my God, for he has clothed me with garments of
• 1:51:33
  Speaker 1: salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: As a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and
• 1:51:40
  Speaker 1: as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. And the
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: result will be universal. For as the soil makes the
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 1: sprout come up, and a garden causes seeds to grow,
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: so the sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: up before all nations. In chapter sixty two, Isah declares
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 1: his commitment to Jerusalem. For Zion's sake. I will not
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 1: keep silent for Jerusalem's sake, I will not remain quiet
• 1:52:09
  Speaker 1: till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation
• 1:52:14
  Speaker 1: like a blazing torch. He is determined to keep praying
• 1:52:17
  Speaker 1: until restoration comes. When that happens, the nations will see
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: called by a new name that the mouth of the
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: Lord will bestow. Jerusalem will be like a splendid crown
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: in the Lord's hand, a royal diadem in the hand
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: of your God. The city will no longer be forsaken.
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: No longer will they call you deserted or name your
• 1:52:43
  Speaker 1: land desolate. But you will be called hef Ziba. My
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: delight is in her and your land Beulah married, for
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: the Lord will take delight in you, and your land
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: will be married. The relationship will be like a marriage.
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: As a b ydegroom rejoices over his bride, so will
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: your God rejoice over you. God will delight in Jerusalem,
• 1:53:07
  Speaker 1: just as a groom delights in his bride. Isaiah appoints
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 1: watchmen on the city walls who will never be silent
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: day or night. These are people of prayer who give
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: themselves and God no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: makes her the praise of the earth. God makes a
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: solemn oath. The Lord has sworn by his right hand
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: and by his mighty arm. Never again will I give
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: your grain as food for your enemies. And never again
• 1:53:35
  Speaker 1: will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.
• 1:53:39
  Speaker 1: But those who harvest it will eat it and praise
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: the Lord. And those who gather the grapes will drink
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: it in the courts of my sanctuary. Finally, there's a
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: call to prepare the way for the redeemed people. Pass through,
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people.
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: Build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, raise
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 1: a back for the nations. Salvation is near. See the
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 1: Lord has proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Say
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 1: to Daughter Zion, See your savior comes. See his reward
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 1: is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. The people
• 1:54:15
  Speaker 1: will receive a new name. They will be called the
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord. And you will
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: be called sought after the city no longer deserted. In
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 1: chapter sixty three, Isaiah sees someone coming from Edom. Who
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 1: is this coming from Edom from Bosrah with his garments stained, crimson,
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 1: Who is this robed in splendor, striding forward in the
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: greatness of his strength? The answer comes, It is I,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: proclaiming righteousness mighty to save. Why are his garments read?
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: I have trodden the wine press alone from the nations.
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: No one was with me. I trampled them in my
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: anger and trod them down in my wrath. Their blood
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 1: spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. It
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: is the day of God's vengeance against the enemies of
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 1: his people. After this vision of judgment, Isaiah remembers the
• 1:55:10
  Speaker 1: Lord's mercies. I will tell of the kindnesses of the Lord,
• 1:55:15
  Speaker 1: the deeds for which he is to be praised, according
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: to all the Lord has done for us, Yes, the
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 1: many good things he has done for Israel, according to
• 1:55:24
  Speaker 1: his compassion and many kindnesses. God identified with his people
• 1:55:29
  Speaker 1: in all their distress. He too was distressed, and the
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 1: Angel of His presence saved them in his love and mercy.
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: He redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: all the days of old. But they rebelled. Yet they
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: became their enemy, and he himself fought against them. Now
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: the people pray sincerely, recalling the past. Where is he
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: who brought them through the sea with the shepherd of
• 1:55:58
  Speaker 1: his flock, whereas he who set his holy spirit among them,
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: who sent his glorious arm of power to be at
• 1:56:05
  Speaker 1: Moses's right hand. They plead, look down from heaven and
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: see from your lofty throne, Holy and glorious. Where are
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 1: your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are
• 1:56:17
  Speaker 1: withheld from us? But you are our father. Though Abraham
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 1: does not know us, or Israel acknowledge us. You Lord,
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 1: are our Father, our redeemer. From of old is your name.
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 1: The prayer continues in chapter sixty four. Oh that you
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 1: would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains
• 1:56:35
  Speaker 1: would tremble before you. They recognize that God acts on
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: behalf of those who wait for him. They confess their sins.
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: All of us have become like one who is unclean,
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind,
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 1: our sins sweep us away. No one calls on the
• 1:56:56
  Speaker 1: Lord's name or strives to hold fast to him. Still
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 1: they out, Yet, you, Lord, are our Father, we are
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 1: the clay, you are the potter. We are all the
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 1: work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure. Lord,
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: do not remember our sins forever. Oh look on us
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: we pray for we are all your people. In chapter
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: sixty five, God responds, I revealed myself to those who
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: did not ask for me. I was found by those
• 1:57:21
  Speaker 1: who did not seek me, to a nation that did
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: not call on my name. I said, here am I,
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: here am I. But the people were deeply rebellious all
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: day long. I have held out my hands to an
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: obstinate people who walk in ways not good, pursuing their
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: own imaginations, a people who continually provoke me to my
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 1: altars of brick. Judgment will come, see it stands written
• 1:57:52
  Speaker 1: before me. I will not keep silent, but will pay
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: back in full. I will repay into their lapse, both
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: your sins and the sins of your your ancestors, says
• 1:58:01
  Speaker 1: the Lord. Yet not all will be destroyed, as when
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and
• 1:58:08
  Speaker 1: people say, don't destroy it, there is still a blessing
• 1:58:12
  Speaker 1: in it. So will I do in behalf of my servants.
• 1:58:16
  Speaker 1: I will not destroy them all. Instead, God promises, I
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: will bring forth descendants from Jacob and from Judah, those
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: who will possess my mountains. My chosen people will inherit them,
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: and there will my servants live. Then comes a contrast
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: between those who forsake the ear Lord and those who
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 1: serve him. Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: My servants will eat, but you will go hungry. My
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 1: servants will drink, but you will go thirsty. My servants
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. My
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts,
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 1: but you will cry out from anguish of heart and
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 1: wail in brokenness of spirit. God is doing something entirely new.
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: See I will create new heavens and a new earth.
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: The former things will not be remembered, nor will they
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 1: come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in
• 1:59:12
  Speaker 1: what I will create. For I will create Jerusalem to
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 1: be her delight and its people a joy. In this
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 1: new creation, no longer will the sound of weeping or
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 1: crying be heard in it. Never again will there be
• 1:59:25
  Speaker 1: in it an infant who lives only a few days,
• 1:59:28
  Speaker 1: or an old man who does not live out his years.
• 1:59:31
  Speaker 1: The one who dies at a hundred will be thought
• 1:59:34
  Speaker 1: a mere child. Wolves and lambs will feed together, and
• 1:59:39
  Speaker 1: the lion will eat straw like the ox. In chapter
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 1: sixty six, God questions superficial worship. Heaven is my throne,
• 1:59:48
  Speaker 1: and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house
• 1:59:51
  Speaker 1: will you build for me? Where will my resting place be?
• 1:59:55
  Speaker 1: Has not my handmade all these things? And so they
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 1: came into being. The who pleases God is he who
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 1: is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 1: my word. God rejects hypocrisy. He who sacrifices a bull
• 2:00:11
  Speaker 1: is like one who kills a man. He who offers
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 1: a lamb like one who breaks a dog's neck. They
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 1: have chosen their own ways and delight in their abominations.
• 2:00:22
  Speaker 1: Then comes a striking image. Before she goes into labor,
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: she gives birth, before the pains come upon her, she
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing,
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 1: who has seen things like this? Can a country be
• 2:00:36
  Speaker 1: borne in a day? Or a nation be brought forth
• 2:00:40
  Speaker 1: in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: to the moment of birth and not give delivery, says
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: the Lord. For those who love Jerusalem, there's a promise.
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 1: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, All you
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 1: who love her, mourn with her, all you who grieve
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: over her. For this is what the Lord says. I
• 2:01:04
  Speaker 1: will extend peace to her like a river, and the
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 1: wealth of nations like a flooding stream. God's care will
• 2:01:11
  Speaker 1: be like a mother's. As a mother comforts her child,
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: so will I comfort you, and you will be comforted
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: in Jerusalem. There's also a warning of final judgment. See
• 2:01:25
  Speaker 1: the Lord is coming with fire, and his chariots are
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: like a whirlwind. He will bring down his anger with fury,
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 1: and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire
• 2:01:36
  Speaker 1: and with his sword, the Lord will execute judgment on
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: all people, and many will be those slain by the Lord.
• 2:01:44
  Speaker 1: Those who persist in pagan practices will be judged. Those
• 2:01:47
  Speaker 1: who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens
• 2:01:52
  Speaker 1: following one in the midst of those who eat the
• 2:01:55
  Speaker 1: flesh of pigs, rats, and other detestable things. They will
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: meet there and together, declares the Lord. In the final
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 1: words of the book, God unveils his universal plan. And
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: because of what they have done and planned, I am
• 2:02:12
  Speaker 1: about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and
• 2:02:16
  Speaker 1: they will come and see my glory. God will set
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 1: a sign among them and send survivors to distant nations
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 1: that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory.
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: They will proclaim my glory among the nations. Something astonishing
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 1: will happen, and they will bring all your people from
• 2:02:38
  Speaker 1: all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses,
• 2:02:42
  Speaker 1: in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels, to
• 2:02:46
  Speaker 1: my holy mountain in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Just as
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: the Israelites bring their grain offerings in ceremonially clean vessels
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: to the House of the Lord, God promises. And I
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 1: will also choose some of them to be priests and levites,
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 1: says the Lord. Not only Israelites, but people from all
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 1: nations will serve as priests. The new creation will last forever,
• 2:03:10
  Speaker 1: as the new heavens and the new Earth that I
• 2:03:13
  Speaker 1: make will endure before me, declares the Lord. So will
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: your descendants and your name endure from one new moon
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 1: to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 1: will come and bow down before me, says the Lord.
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 1: The book closes with a sobering image meant as a warning.
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 1: And they will go out and look on the dead
• 2:03:34
  Speaker 1: bodies of those who rebelled against me. The worms that
• 2:03:38
  Speaker 1: eat them will not die, the fire that burns them
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: all mankind. This final contrast between the faithful and the
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: rebellious brings the Book of Isaiah to a close, showing
• 2:03:52
  Speaker 1: that the choices we make now determine our eternal destiny.
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: The invitation to share in Jerusalem's future glory remains open,
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 1: but those who persist in rebellion will face judgment. We've
• 2:04:07
  Speaker 1: reached the end of this extraordinary journey through the Book
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 1: of Isaiah. We've seen how this prophet, called by God
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: during a crucial time in Israel's history, brought messages of
• 2:04:18
  Speaker 1: judgment and hope that have echoed through the centuries and
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: still speak to us to day. Isaiah has shown us
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 1: a God who judges sin but also restores with infinite mercy,
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: a God who grieves over injustice, but promises a glorious
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 1: future where the wolf and the lamb will graze together,
• 2:04:38
  Speaker 1: a God who sends a suffering servant to bear our
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 1: sins and bring healing through his wounds. What strikes me
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 1: most is how Isaiah's prophecies form a perfect bridge between
• 2:04:51
  Speaker 1: past and future, from his words to the kings of
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: Judah to the visions of new heavens and a new
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: Earth where righteousness will dwell forever. And you, what did
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: you discover on this journey. Was there a passage that
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: touched your heart in a special way, Perhaps the call
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 1: to true fasting that sets the oppressed free, or the
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 1: promise that those who wait on the Lord will renew
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 1: their strength like eagles. If this video opened your eyes
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: to see Isaiah in a way you never had before,
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 1: please share it with some one who also needs this message.
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: Every chapter in this book has the power to transform
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: lives and ignite hope in hard times. Click the subscribe
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: button to keep exploring the richness of Scripture with me.
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 1: Next week, we'll dive into another Biblical book, one that
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: will reveal even more treasures. Thank you for joining me
• 2:05:48
  Speaker 1: on this journey. Let me know in the comments which
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 1: part of Isaiah impacted you the most, and let's keep
• 2:05:56
  Speaker 1: this conversation going. See you in the next video. You
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: w