Isaiah 40:1-11.  So today we start a new section of Isaiah.  Most people familiar with Isaiah recognize a difference between what is in Isaiah 1-39 and Isaiah 40-66.  Some also see a difference between Isaiah 40-55 and Isaiah 56-66.  I think it is important to remember that the book begins “the vision of Isaiah about Jerusalem and Judah which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.”  Although different scholars over the years have doubted that verse for different reasons there really is no reason not to take the authors word for that this is his (Isaiah’s) writing, all the way through.  Of course it has been arranged and contains parts that may have been earlier messages by Isaiah, but it would seem that he had one reason for putting it all together when he did, notice he calls it, “the vision”, it’s not “my visions”.  So why are the later chapters different from the earlier ones?

Sometimes when people go to a doctor, especially for the first time, they meet with him, ask him where he went to school, ask what kind of experience he has.  People also look for references from other patients.  I work on peoples houses and they do the same kind of thing with me, they want to know my experience, they want to know that I am qualified.   I think that is part of what Isaiah 1-39 was about.  Now the original messages had their specific points when they were originally given.  And the collection in chapters 1-39 may have even had a second point, to get Hezekiah to trust God in the Assyrian situation.  Maybe even a third point, to get Hezekiah to trust God in his personal life more or with more of his personal and professional life.  But when taken together with the rest of Isaiah (40-66) I think it works kind of like a diploma on a doctors wall or a list of successful patients or in my case pictures of work I have done.  I think Isaiah 1-39 gives specific examples of prophecy that was or would be fulfilled so that we can believe what we read in chapters 40-66.  Those chapters seem to be more about the distant future (though some of the stuff has already happened so now it works like the earlier chapters for us).  Remember it was about Jerusalem and Judah, in the beginning.  But as ZI said above, we can learn from it too.

Right away we see that this part of the book should give us comfort.  Why?  Because all the work has come to an end, God has taken care of sin.  Verses 3-5 were quoted by John the Baptizer as he began his ministry preparing the way for Jesus (Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 3, and John 1).  Verses 6-8 tell us what the one crying out was saying and they agree with what John said.  Mark 1:4 tells us that John’s baptism (a Greek word which means to dip or dunk.  I those days baptism was a way of identifying with someone or something) was about repentance (a word that means to turn around and go another way).  Isaiah 40:6-8 give a picture of mankind’s temporariness, we wither and fade, and of the permanence of what God says.  In verses 9-11 we see the people of Jerusalem being told to spread the good news God is coming, God is strong, and God has rewards.  There may be a hint of judgment in v. 11 but overall these verses point to a day when God will come and take care of his “little sheep”.

This part of Isaiah is going to be all about God coming and dealing with sin.  For the most part it’s good news (unless you chose to keep walking away from God).  But it is good news to all who would turn (repent) to God for help.  We will learn more about that help in the coming days.  But see here right away that God is coming, God is powerful and that God cares.  That should give hope to all of us, to Judah back then, and to us here and now.  Lord, thank you for having a plan to fix our broken relationship.  Thank you for telling us about it.  Thank you for proving that your messengers really were from you.  Help me understand your plan and be comforted by it.  Help me patiently wait while you work it all out.  And help me get up on a high hill and lodly tell others about you.

Isaiah 39:1-8.  In yesterday’s post I mentioned the two divisions of Isaiah; chapters 1-39 and chapters 40-66.  I mentioned that the first part of the book is about things that were going on in the time of Isaiah.  I also mentioned that a Prophet is a messenger from God helping people get their lives right.  Sometimes though a Prophet does make predictions.  Remember that one of the main ideas in Isaiah is that God should be honored by what we do.  That goes for Prophets too.  If they make a prediction it is not so we will go, “Oh! Daniel is so great.”   It’s so we will know that Daniel (or whoever) is speaking for a great god, the one true God.  The second part of the book, which we will start tomorrow, is more of this second kind of thing, predictions about the more distant future.  Although for us, some of it is history.

Today’s reading is pretty short.  It’s the rest of the story about Hezekiah and Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon.  In today’s story Merodach-baladan sends some guys over to visit Hezekiah, he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and then healed. so he sent him a gift and a letter.   Since he was only king again from 704-703 BC we can figure Hezekiah got sick 705-704 BC.  Five times in verse 2 it talks about all “his” stuff that Hezekiah showed to these representatives of Merodach.  Usually a king would not be this open about their stuff with another king unless they were allies.  That is probably what the letter was about.  Sennacherib was a new king in Assyria and after Merodach.  Merodach was probably looking for some help getting rid of the new king.  Right off the bat Isaiah showed up and started quizzing Hezekiah about what the Babylonian ambassadors had seen.  No use lying to a prophet of the one true God so Hezekiah tells him, “Everything.”  To this Isaiah replies that one day all Hezekiah’s wealth will one day be taken to Babylon, along with some of his children or grand-children, who will be made eunuchs in the king of Babylon’s palace (ouch, if you don’t understand ask your parents).  Hezekiah’s response is probably one of the strangest ones in the Bible.  He basically says, “Cool!”  Hmmm!  Your treasure that you were so proud of is going to be taken away some day and your descendants are going to get “fixed” (No kids) and you think it’s cool.  We are told that he was happy there would be peace in his day.  Maybe he was getting ready to make a treaty with the Babylonians and thought that his kids would be important people there.  Maybe he thought that some of his money (even though Isaiah said all of it) would be going to a good ally.  Maybe he though that the peace would be a result of Babylon dealing with the Assyrians (this was right about the time he was trying to form alliances to be rid of the Assyrians).  What ever he was thinking  Isaiah was not congratulating him for doing a good thing, this was a curse or judgment.

So here at the end of the first big section of Isaiah we see Hezekiah making big mistakes, but also we see him as willing to turn back to God.  That happened in the biggest way in the history in chapters 36-37 when the Assyrians were dealt with by God not the Babylonians or the Egyptians.  The Babylonian conquest will not be for about 100 years but it is coming.  And remember that event comes after these two big blunders, making alliances with Egypt, Babylon, or whoever.  God deals with Hezekiah’s pride, God is faithful to his promises.  But there are prices.  The Babylonian conquest is severe and basically Israel won’t be an independent nation again until the 1940’s (AD, after World War II).  But as we will see in the next part of the book, God has a plan and is working it out.  It is amazing to me how forgiving God is, he seems to always be there when we return.  But there are consequences, Hezekiah’s grand-children will pay them, the future Israeiltes sill pay them, and wost of all Jesus will pay the ultimate price for our sins.  We need to appreciate God’s mercy but never forget he is serious about rebellion and pride.  Ahaz and Hezekaih were both pretty big screw-ups.  Ahaz never looked back, Hezekiah turned around so much he probably got dizzy (maybe that explains his attitude about this last judgment) but God was right there to catch him.  Thank you god for catching me.  Thank you for calling out to me when I was lost.  Thank you for always being there.  I’m sorry for the things I do that hurt you.  It’s easy for me to poke fun at Hezekiah but how many times have I been wrong because I have been “practical”.  Help me hear you clearly and honor you dearly.  Help me LORD, help me.