Isaiah 62:1-63:6.  As Isaiah continues this concluding section God confirms that Jerusalem (or Zion) will be his special place on earth.  He speaks through he voice of the Servant from Isaiah 61:1,10.  As we saw the Jews will not be abandon and God will fulfill his promises to them as a people now here we see his focus on the land, the promised land.  The nations will recognize that Jerusalem and Judah are blessed or abundantly cared for by God.  The land will not be desolate but productive.  And in verse 5 we see that the children of the Israelites will return and be faithful.

In verse 6 the Servant or God (but as we know the servant from Isaiah 53 is Jesus and Jesus is one and the same with God the Father (See John 10:30-33) so sometimes it’s hard try and separate them) places watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem.  In Isaiah 56:10 false prophets are compared to watchmen so here in chapter 62 it is very likely that we are considering prophets again.  In chapter 56 the prophets are blind, stupid, and don’t do their job of warning or announcing what they see (or don’t see in their case).  Here in chapter 62 God (or the servant) chooses these new servants and helps them see and talk.  What they see is evidently the fact that God is working in the lives of the Jews toward establishing his kingdom (filled with believers) in Jerusalem.  He also gives them a job of praying to God.  Their messages will result in people honoring God because he has been faithful to his promises about Jerusalem (v. 7).

Part of that faithfulness is that the Jewish people will eventually begin to enjoy the products of their own land.  When they first spied out the land back in the days of Moses (about 1000 years before) they recognized the land as very abundant (flowing with milk and honey).  Over the years the fruit of the land had gone to pay off invading nations.  In the end when God finally settles the score and gives Israel their land and it’s fruit (vv. 8-9).  This would have been very encouraging to those Israelites under attack.

It seems that verse 10 might be the proclamation by the watch men to open the gate and let all the people in.  Verse 12 tells us that the people who come in are special people (holy), ones who have been paid for by Jesus.  Verse 12 end with the fact that Jerusalem itself will be recognized as a special place, one that causes people to want to return to God.  There is hope.

But there is also a warning. Edom represents those nations opposed to Israel.  Mankind thinks they are so good (Isaiah 63:1)  but right away God gives them a reality chech when he informs them that he alone can save people.  In verse 2 God recognizes that Edom has been destroyed.  They clothing has been turned red like they had gone for a swim in a vat of grape juice.  In verse 3 we learn that God himself is actually destroying Edomites in that same vat or wine press.  And his clothing and theirs is covered in blood.  The day to settle up has come but with it the year of Salvation.  Again I think the day verses year is to give us an idea of what God likes oand doesn’t like.

Verses 5and 6 finish the reading today with God saddened that no one is interested in dealing with the sin problem, he alone is there to help.  He brings both the possibility of salvation and restoration to mankind and the reality of punishment for those who don’t want to spend eternity with him or care about what pleases him.

The reality is we all have offended God (Isaiah 53:6) and there is a price for that, physical and spiritual death (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:3,9).  The author of Hebrews tells us that each one of us must die physically then there is a judgment (Hebrews 9:27).  According to 1 John 5:11-13 God gives eternal life (a restoration of our life with him) through Jesus.  But according to Revelation 20 those who are not recognized as belonging to Jesus are sent away from God forever (the second death, spiritual death after the judgment).  There are the two sides salvation or banishment, in or out.  But it is clear from reading Isaiah that God want us saved, he wants that relationship back with us, but the rules cannot be broken. According to John 1:12 those who stay unsaved stay that way because they rejected Jesus. Those who reject Jesus must be sent away.  1 John 3:3 tells us that Jesus died for everyone, but not everyone will be saved, what a waste.  The watchmen are there are we listening?  God is looking for people to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8) will we do it?  It’s the reasonable thing to do considering what he has done for us (Romans 12:1).  God help me be a better witness for you.  Help me serve you with my whole life.  Give me hope and peace in the middle of troubling circumstances.  Let me shine for you and draw men to you.  Thank you for loving me.  Help me love others.

Isaiah 61:1-11.  In this final section of Isaiah we see that God has not abandon his people or his promises to them, nor his promise to make them a blessing to the whole world.  We saw yesterday that when the Jews turn back to God that the whole world will be drawn to Him and many will be saved.  Jerusalem will be rebuilt and receive much wealth.  The Jewish people will be a huge example to the world of how great God is.  Glory can mean shining but it’s root also means heavy.  Back in the 1960, in the hippie era, when something was very awesome or profound or serious, people would call it heavy, they would say “heavy, man, heavy.”  The solution to our sin problem was that God became a man and took the punishment for us.  He did this to “clear our slate” and make our lives a suitable place for the Holy Spirit to live and help us live.  This “plan of salvation” originally included the Jewish people, then moved to the church, but will one day return to the Jewish people.  God is very faithful, he is “heavy”, and that glory will one day return to the Jewish people.  “Heavy, man, heavy”.

In today’s reading we return to the “Servant” from the last several chapters (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12).  The Servant is filled also with God’s Spirit which would indicate to the Jewish people who originally read this that he was living and serving in a way consistent with who God is.  The rest of the description encourages us about both the Servant and the LORD (Yahweh) God.  God’s plan is to heal, set free, and proclaim a favorable year.  That word “favorable” means pleasurable acceptable, or desirable.  The result of God’s plan is an awesome existence is coming.  Specifically to those in Zion (another name for Jerusalem) but also for the rest of us too (remember yesterday’s reading.  See also Romans 11:1, 11-36).  Verse 3 continues to describe the relief they will have in eternity and at the end of verse 3 we see that God is greatly honored because of all of this.  Remember that that is one of the two big ideas Isaiah is trying to communicate to the Jewish people (and us) in this book, God needs to be honored.  The other is that we need to be humble (God will deal with human pride).  It is interesting that in those verses in Romans that I listed above that both of theses ideas come out too.  Paul’s response after he writes about God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people and how he used them to reach to the whole world with his plan of salvation in spite of their rebellion was to praise God (v. 36).  In verses 17-20 we see a warning to gentile (non-Jewish) believers to not get a big head about their part in God’s kingdom.  We all get in as a gift from God and the Jews will not be forgotten.  Romans 11:30-32 tell us everyone who spends eternity in Heaven with God got there because of mercy not because we earned or deserved it.

Verses 4-7 tell us that in their promised kingdom the Israelites will be served by those whom they led to God (the foreigners and strangers in v. 5).  Also we learn that the Jewish people will be priests to God (v. 6).  The word priest has the idea of a religious leader.  In that same verse (6)  they are also described as “ministers of God”.  That word, minister, means to serve like a waiter.  That doesn’t mean that they serve food to God but that they serve others for God by teaching others about God.  So they will be served by the people they lead to God but they will be servants in a spiritual way to those same people.  And they will love it (v. 7).  Notice that they will receive a “double portion”.  It is interesting that in the New Testament we see a very similar idea in Paul’s teaching to a young pastor named Timothy.  In 1 Timothy 5:17-18 he tells Timothy and the church he is leading to give “double honor” to the elders (religious leaders of the early church) who worked hard at teaching and preaching.  It is clear from verse 18 that the “double honor” they were to receive was first, honor or respect, and second financial support, food clothing, pay.  That is the idea behind the you shall not muzzle the ox” quote (Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9-11).

Verse 8 tells us who is behind all of this, God.  He loves it when everything in the world is fair (justice).  There is a bit of seriousness in these verses though.  Back in verse 2 we saw the servant not only proclaiming the favorable year but also the day of God’s vengeance.  In verse 8 we see that God hates false efforts to honor him.  The robbery in the burnt offering could refer to an unworthy offering by the person giving the offering (god was very specific about the quality of the animal which was sacrificed) or it could refer to the priest’s keeping parts of the animal which were to be burned.  In any case those people will get what they bargained for.  So we see both the love of God and his holiness or purity always together.  It is interesting to me though that in verse 2 that it’s a favorable year and a day of vengeance.  I wonder if even here we see a bit of God’s heart always wanting the best.  We see part of this “best” in the fact that he makes a forever promise to the “children” of the faithful Jews, these “children” will be a constant reminded of God’s goodness to them.

In the last two verses (10-11) we see the Servant also extremely happy.  Why?  Because the servant has been “clothed with salvation”.  There are certain times people take pride in what they have on.  Brides on their wedding day and kings when they receive their crowns come to mind.  But here the servant is overjoyed to be dressed in salvation.  That is especially surprising when you remember that our salvation involved him being crucified, but it was a joy to Jesus to do it (Hebrews 12:2).  That just tells us how much God and Jesus love people.  The salvation that he brings involves us living right before God, finally (with a little (lot) of help from the Holy Spirit), it also involves us honoring God with praise.  And this will be in front of all the nations and actually by people form all nations.

It is awesome how much God loves us and how much Jesus loves us and how patient God is with all of us including the Jews.  It’s nice to know that when we screw up that God will not just dump us.  God is pulling for us all the time.  Because of this we should turn our lives back to him and do our best to do the things that make him happy.  Not to get to heaven but because we get to go there, and stay there.  Of course God won’t force us to be with him but if we reject him we will feel his vengeance, it’s what is fair and right.  Thank you God for your love.  Thank you for your patience.  Thank you for taking my punishment.  Help me be a witness of your love to the world around me.  And thank you that you let all mankind have the opportunity to be a part of your forever family.