Isaiah

Isaiah Chapter 41

• Isaiah 41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
• 2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
• 3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
• 4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
• 5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
• 6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
• 7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

The people of the isle and other nations will not prevent the restoration of Israel back into her land. God renews His peace with Israel and restores His covenant with them. God will bless all nations who recognize His chosen people and help them and will punish all those who come against them. He does not forget His covenant nor His promise to Abraham or to the children of Abraham.

God used Cyrus of Persia who is called a righteous man to allow Israel to return to their own land. The enemies of Israel were defeated. Verse 6 and 7 seems to indicate that some even made idols that caused judgment to fall but, God still remembers Israel and they have their place in the latter days. Through faith in Jesus Christ non-Israeli people can also inherit these promises but this does not replace the original. Israel still has a future part in bible prophecy and the plan of God. This does not mean that God will not judge anyone or any nation that refuses to repent of sin but it does show that God doesn't break His covenants and promises. 

• Isaiah 41:8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
• 9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

Here is God's promise that cannot change or be broken. He calls His people from all parts of the earth. These prophecies seem to have both an immediate fulfillment in part with the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian captivity but also a latter day fulfillment after the tribulation and the coming of Jesus Christ the second time. God used men like Harry Truman to usher in the existence of Israel again in 1948 after many years of not being a nation. This was the beginning of the latter day prophecy of Israel in which the complete fulfillment is yet in the future. Closer than we thing, it is now 2025.

• Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

All of us take comfort in this scripture but the verse is mainly for the nation of Israel and God's promise to them. It can be a promise to all believers who trust in the Lord and become part of God's family by adoption. This adoption is through faith in Jesus Christ which is available now. We don't have to wait for the literal second coming of Christ to be partakers of the Kingdom of God that comes within a person the moment they believe. Later we shall see the literal Kingdom of God set up but for now it is available to all who believe and receive Christ into their lives.

We then are not to fear for He is with us to strengthen us to deliver us and make us partaker of His righteousness. This is one of the reasons, Jesus came to the earth as a man. Through Him and only through Him can we be partakers of the righteousness of God. God is righteous, we are not. Jesus is righteous and lived righteous as a man. Therefore He bridges that gap and is the way for us mortal men and women to be partaker of the righteousness of God. Unrighteousness cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We must be made righteousness and free from sin to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ made that way possible when before it was impossible for human beings to be righteous in themselves.

• Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

This verse should be a warning against all who come against the nation of Israel. If any lift one hand against the children of Abraham who are God's chosen nation, they are asking for the wrath of God. Israel as a nation is not perfect but they will be perfect one day when they come to the knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ. All Israel shall be saved as the bible teaches. They may face great trouble in the future from other nations gathering against them but woe to them who are part of those that gather against them. God Himself shall fight for that tiny nation. How do I know that? From the bible read in context and without substituting another nation or the church, for Israel. We are not to do that. When God says Israel, He means Israel. When He says, the church, He means the church. We must not confuse the two.

On the other hand I hear in the news every day of Christians being killed for their faith in other countries. The bible speaks clearly of the wrath of God that will be poured out against those that persecute His people that have become His people through their faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is He to  whom God sent to save from sin and usher in a plan of salvation. He gives eternal life to those that believe. God sees every whip, prison and chain. They will not go unpunished. To think that in this day and age people are actually killed or imprisoned because they believe in Jesus Christ, it disturbing but it is going on as I write this study. Leave the innocent alone.

The unborn babies are also being slaughtered in great numbers. They are innocent indeed. These are human beings alive in the womb of their mothers. They are no longer protected under the great constitution of the United States of America. Just like the slaves and the Indians were at one time in the history of the United States; not under the same protection as those that first formed the nation of the United States, we now see the unborn without the protection of our constitution. Maybe in the future the elderly, the disabled, the terminally ill also will not be protected under the constitution of the United States. This should not be. Who are we to decide who is worthy of protection and who is not? Who are we to decide who lives and who dies? Who do we think we are to decree unrighteous decrees and declare one part of human life not worthy to live? We have more laws to protect endangered species than we do to protect the unborn baby. This should not be.

We've corrected our ways to include every person with every ethnic background yet, the unborn baby is still endangered. Now some states allow them to be born alive, harvest their organs or left to die on a table without taking care of them. I've read testimonies of nurses who have witnessed the cries of the babies for hours before they finally die. Evil, evil, evil. When it comes time for those who are guilty of this sin to die, I sometimes wonder if they will hear those cries. May God have mercy on their souls.

• Isaiah 41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

One day those that persecute and kill God's people will be no more. Those that take the life of innocent babies will also pass away into eternity and be gone forever, no more evil can they do. I will add here that God is a God of mercy and does not want anyone to perish eternally. All the sins I mention can be forgiven by just receiving Jesus into their lives. He gives victory over sin which is covered by His blood.

• Isaiah 41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
• 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
• 15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
• 16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
• 17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

Look at His comfort to Israel who has been scattered and forsaken, mocked and despised in all the earth. God sees everything. He will restore and redeem Israel. God has not forsaken Israel. Neither will He forsake any that trust in Him. He promises to help them if they look for Him.

• Isaiah 41:18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water .

We see this in part when Israel began to rebuild their own nation starting in 1948. Before this occurred that part of the world was very much like a wilderness. The complete fulfillment of this prophecy though is fulfilled in the future kingdom of Christ when Jerusalem is the capital of the whole world with Christ on the throne. The literal coming of Jesus Christ with the armies of heaven will literally deliver Israel from its enemies and they discover that the Jesus who was crucified is the true Messiah. They are restored back into fellowship with God and the armies that come against Israel will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming. This includes the antichrist who is the beast or man of sin, and all his armies.

• Isaiah 41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together :

At the peaceful reign of Jesus Christ begins, trees will actually grow in the wilderness.

• Isaiah 41:20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

All will recognize who is doing these great and mighty things. There will no longer be any nonsense about evolution and any alternative reasons for our existence. All lies will be put away and exposed for what they are, lies.

• Isaiah 41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
• 22 Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
• 23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
• 24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
• 25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.
• 26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
• 27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
• 28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
• 29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

These verses show the vanity of idols or trusting in others things for deliverance instead of God. God raises one from the north to come and call upon His name. Some say this speaks of Cyrus and that would have been the more immediate fulfillment of this prophecy but prophecy many times in the bible is a pattern that happens more than once until the final fulfillment in the latter days. We see in chapter 42 of Isaiah a clear picture of the Messiah which brings in the final fulfillment of all prophecy.

Verses 26-29 shows the vanity of idols or counselors who know not God. None are righteous or can show any righteousness.

I see this in the whole earth. It is all vanity and will come to nothing. All nations that forget or do not acknowledge God will not last. They will pass away. No matter how big or mighty they have become, they will pass away. Only God and those that trust in God will last forever.

So much time is wasted when we spend it without our God. If we are even outside His will for our lives, the time is wasted. We need to pray always that whatever God has purposed for our lives will be fulfilled and not wasted. We should try not to spend one moment outside of His fellowship. We can actually walk daily with God just like Enoch and Elijah. We do not have to walk afar off and not know His will. He sent Jesus to save us from sin and bring us back into fellowship with Him. He did this so that we can have eternal life and not be lost but also so that we can walk daily with Him and never be alone or without guidance again. This is a continual thing that is ongoing. It is not just for eternity but for now. We can walk with God now. We do not have to just drift along in life with no purpose. Our lives in the Lord can be full and full of meaning.

Verse 29 says that all is vanity, the works, the idolatry etc. In Jesus Christ and His righteousness all is meaningful, full of purpose and stability. A Christian living and walking daily with the Lord will  never be boring. I believe it. -DC

Isaiah 42

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