Isaiah 40-44, 55-61

The opening verses of Isaiah 40 are also the opening texts of Handel's Messiah, with the opening recitative "Comfort Ye",aria "Every Valley", and choruses "And the Glory of the Lord," "O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings," and "He Shall Feed His Flock." They are quite often the verses with which we open the season of Advent. Matthew sees in Isaiah the ministry of John the Baptist. The image at the beginning of Deutero-Isaiah is the clearing of the way for royalty to arrive, and the royalty is none other than God Himself. Verse 22 is interesting, "It is he who sits above the circle of the earth." Do you think Galileo may have had some folks before him who thought the earth was spherical?
Some of you with some astronomy background may want to add your knowledge!

Isaiah 42, along with Isaiah 9, 11 and 52-53 are strong Messianic passages. As Christians, we read them and we see Christ there. But if you were talking to Jews, they would give you another viewpoint - the prediction of a special monarch to reign over Israel or, in the case of Isaiah 52 ("the suffering servant"), a symbol of Israel herself. This passage is exultant and 42:9 is a reminder to me that God is always doing "a new thing," and prayer (listening as well as talking), reading God's Word, and paying attention to what is happening around us, we can be perceptive. The people in Isaiah's day were not able to perceive because they were not viewing their life from a perspective of a growing faith in God. Faith really is a way of seeing life. The 24th and 25th verses of chapter 42 raise an important question for teaching purposes. Isaiah cries out,

"Who gave up Jacob (the symbol of Israel) to the spoiler and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the LORD (notice the caps), against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?"

With Peter, Jesus said, "I have given you over to Satan to sift you like wheat" (Luke 22:31). Does God punish us in this way or do we punish ourselves? By not allowing for punishment, are we trying to make God into a spoiling indulgent relative?

Isaiah 43-44 closes with great hope. For me that is the main shift from Isaiah to Deutero-Isaiah. These are exilic prophecies, meant to give people hope during their time of exile in Babylon (586-534 BCE). Notice the language of restoration of relationship with God. The concern even amidst the hope is that the people in exile will fall into idol worship. The story in the book of Daniel of the great statue and the fiery furnace give the real challenge of idolatry in Babylonian religion.

III Isaiah prepares the people for the return from exile. Isaiah 55 is another classic from this book. Verses 1 and 2 describe a consumption era to a tee, with all our material goods and yet left unsatisfied. This one blesses me for its devotional value. I should read it about once a week as it moves me from my need to focus on God to joy that joins with all creation.

Chapter 56 highlights the need for obedience. We separate listening from obedience but the bible does not for the prophets or for Jesus. Chapter 57 visits themes seen before, but chapter 58 takes on some important issues. Fasting has long been a spiritual discipline encouraged (I did not say universally practiced!) by most religions. Motivation is important. Some fast to show how dedicated they are or to get an answer to prayer that we want or to lose weight. But fasting is not be for any of those reasons. Fasting is an act of self-denial so that we are not governed so much by our desires, hunger being the least of them! We begin to examine what we say and do and why. We begin to open our spiritual ears and hearts so that God is better able to guide and empower us. The people in Isaiah 58 were fasting but their lives were in contradiction to the intentions of a fast. They were still selfish, violent, power-hungry, and wicked. Our spiritual walk with God is supposed to make a real difference in our day to day arenas of life: work, neighborhood, family, school, community. Isaiah cries out

,"Is not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?"

We could ask the same thing of the rest of things we do in religious devotion - worship, prayer meetings, bible study, holiday mission efforts and celebrations, etc. I don't like this passage. It is simply too convicting. Chapter 59 calls further for the justice work of the people of God. How would you teach this part of Isaiah? How do you get this past feeling guilty and talking about what we "should" do?

Chapter 60 gets us back to hope and we are relieved. More Messiah material in verses 1-3. Notice the repeat of the cedars of Lebanon and the ships of Tarshish, images of ideal strength and prosperity. The message is clear, "Yes, it has been horrible, but the greatness to come will be so much better than what was bad." For teaching purposes, you may want to address the whole idea of "positive thinking". Is the prophet just wishful thinking out load or can people hope for something dramatically better? What evidence is there of that?

When Jesus announced the opening of his ministry at the temple, he quoted Isaiah 61:1-2. The chapter is another high point of praise and joy in Isaiah. From your reading of Isaiah, you get a good overall view of what the prophetic message was: don't worship idols, practice true faith, get your life right, and God will get you through the tough times (and woe to those who come against God's people!)?. Now it's on to Ezekiel and Hosea. Things are going to get strange!