Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35:4

Say to those with anxious heart,
"Take courage, fear not.
Behold, your God will come with vengeance;
The recompense of God will come,
But He will save you."

There will always be people who are nervous, or anxious.  They fear what is coming, or the consequences of what has occurred.  They know they cannot stand up to it alone.

However, God is on the side of the just, who trust Him.  The ultimate victory will be His.  And when He returns to judge, we will be remembered, and our commitment to Christ will be counted for us.

Isaiah 34

Isaiah 34:2

For the LORD's indignation is against all the nations.
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to slaughter.

As with many prophecies, it's not certain whether this is talking about past or future events.  I'm assume future, because I can't see where in history the past events would fit.  There's been no worldwide devastation to date, at least not one that happened simultaneously everywhere.

Assuming this is future, I'm then guessing this is talking about Armageddon, or even the end of the Millennium.  At both events, all those who rise in opposition to God will be destroyed.  They will be wiped out to a man, and remembered only for what they tried and failed to do.

Isaiah 33

Isaiah 33:15

He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;

This verse is answering a question in the previous one, about who can withstand God's judgment.  The answer is the type of person listed here, someone who has no evil to be judged for.  Someone who actively avoids evil, not just passively ignores it.

I wish I could say that I was this type of person, but I can't.  I know that I still enjoy evil in too many areas, and accept it in others.  I lack the revulsion and strength that is displayed here, and am unsure how to get it.

Isaiah 32

Isaiah 32:17

And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

You sometimes hear people asking what it means to be a believer.  As in, what do you do when you're a believer?  I think this verse gives a good example.

The goal is not peace, quietness, or confidence, however.  These are byproducts.  I forget where the verse is, "as much as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone."  We should always desire peace, but it will have to be as a result of our service to God, not an end in itself.

Isaiah 31

Isaiah 31:5

Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.

God has a special connection to Jerusalem.  It is the place He chose to have His temple built.  Some say a pre-incarnate Jesus ruled there back in Abraham's time.  Whatever the reason, He has chosen that mountain and city as His special place.

As such, He will defend it when needed.  That isn't to say He will always defend it, regardless of what the people there do.  But He will come to its aid when required, to fulfill His promises and prophecies.

Isaiah 30

Isaiah 30:22

And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold.  You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them "Be gone!"

This is what we must do with sin.  Our sins don't look like metal-plated objects, necessarily.  They may be other things, or thoughts, or people.

However, our reaction must be the same.  We must realize they are defiling us, making us ill-suited for God's use.  Then we must get rid of them, in a way that is unrecoverable.  Finally, we must rebuke them, when they try to come back into our lives.

Isaiah 29

Isaiah 29:16

You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,
That what is made would say to its maker, "He did not make me";
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?

This is the perpetual problem that mankind is running into.  We love to take credit for our own work.  We don't like to say that we are not solely responsible for thing things that we've done.  President Obama caught a lot of grief for saying "you didn't build that," but he had the wrong context.

It is true that we didn't make these things, but it was through God's help, not man's, that we are in the places we are today.  God wanted us where we are, for His purposes, and to His glory.  Any time we don't acknowledge that, we are stealing praise from Him.

Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28:13

So the word of the LORD to them will be,
"Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,"
That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

To one who is not a believer, the Bible is just a oddly-written rulebook.  It tells you how to do things, things not to do, and a lot of superfluous explanation.  You can read it and build a checklist to live your life from, without any connection or context.

However, those who believe understand it different.  They understand that it is a story, about how we came to this point.  What our ancestors did wrong, and how we are still reaping the consequences of those actions.  And we know that those rules aren't just items to check off, but an expression of our devotion to Him.

Isaiah 27

Isaish 27:13

It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

When they do not have their own land, the Jews have often been a persecuted people.  Rarely have they found a place where their separate cultural and religious identity does not make them stand out from those around them, and the "locals" normally don't appreciate that.

That's one reason that Jews have always looked to Israel, and Jerusalem specifically, as a place to long to be.  They know that it is the place where God has spoken to them from, and they want to hear him again.

Isaiah 26

Isaiah 26:18

We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

This is what life is like outside Christ.  We strive and suffer, going through all kinds of pain and labor.  However, for all our effort and cost, it is pointless, because we are trying to do something impossible.

Without God (and Christ), our work is like delivering a baby of air.  There is no point, no accomplishment.  But when we accept Christ, He takes that effort upon himself, and He can do anything He desires.  The baby of air becomes a live child.

Isaiah 25

Isaiah 25:9

And it will be said in that day,
"Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

I'm not sure if this praise is meant for a time past or present.  I'm guessing it's linked to whenever the previous prophecies of Israel's enemies' destruction occurs, but not sure on whether that's happened or still to come.

Whichever it is, this is still something we believers in Christ can understand.  They are praising God for saving them from their enemies, and enjoying his salvation.  Ours may not be the same as what's talked about here, but we should rejoice just as energetically.

Isaiah 24

Isaiah 24:1

Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

I'm not sure when this is supposed to happen.  There isn't any context in the chapter or surrounding text to say whether this has already occurred, or is  speaking of things still to come.

If it's past, then whatever calamities God brought obviously weren't permanent or irreversible.  They may have been horrible for anyone in the region affected, but not global and permanent.  If, however, they are still to come, then all the disasters we've ever known won't even compare.  Unfortunately, I can't tell which is the case from this chapter.

Isaiah 23

Isaiah 23:9

The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,
To despise all the honored of the earth.

God has just said that He will destroy a city, one of the main trading hubs of the time.  This is something on the scale of New York City or Miami or Singapore today.  Its loss will be a huge blow to the "world" economy.

Why does He do this?  Why allow all that suffering and deprivation?  Because the people have become vain, and God is showing them that all they have is fleeting and perishable.  He's knocking them down a peg, in the hopes of them realizing that He is the powerful one.

Isaiah 22

Isaiah 22:16

'What right do you have here,
And whom do you have here,
That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here,
You who hew a tomb on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

It appears a steward has forgotten his place.  He is entrusted to lead in lieu of the king, but he has taken on the king's privileges.  He thinks he is king, rather than a keeper, and has glorified himself appropriately.

So it is with us, if we're not careful.  We act like we are in charge, instead of a steward, entrusted with things from God.  We act like we own the world, when we are merely to keep ready for when the Lord returns.

Isaiah 21

Isaiah 21:10

O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor!
What I have heart from the LORD of hosts,
The God of Israel, I make known to you.

It sounds like, before this prophecy comes to pass, the Israelites are going to go through great trouble.  To call them a threshed people suggests that they will be decimated and broken, no longer a true people as others would recognize.

However, God is giving them this prophecy for a reason.  He is telling them that though they may be broken, they are not forgotten.  They may be hurting, but are not crushed.  God will remember them, and their oppressors will be brought to His justice.

Isaiah 20

Isaiah 20:2

at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying "Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet."  And he did so, going naked and barefoot.

I have to assume that being naked was a sign of disgrace, just as it is now.  So why would God intentionally humiliate His prophet?  Couldn't He have found some other way of getting His message across?

He probably could have, but it wouldn't have had the impact of this.  God doesn't always call us to live cushy lives.  At times, He calls some to do things that are degrading or uncomfortable, to further His plan and His kingdom.

Isaiah 19

Isaiah 19:24

In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,

At the time, Israel was in the middle between the two superpowers of its day.  That meant that if they wanted to fight, they had to go through Israel.  Since Israel wasn't keen on letting an army pass through, that meant they had to conquer Israel first, and then the other side would have to in order to retaliate.  It didn't matter if they had a beef with Israel itself; it was just in the way.

This verse speaks of the day for the people to look forward to.  A time when Egypt and Assyria would be at peace, with Israel between them.  They would not be a competitor with either, but instead a peaceful partner of both.