The name ISAIAH means "The Lord is salvation"
Isaiah is often called "The Gospel Prophet".

Who was Isaiah?

Isaiah lived in Jerusalem and was closely connected with the royal court.
He was married and had two sons to whom he gave symbolic names --
Shearjashub "a remnant shall return" (7:3)
and Mahershalalbashbaz "Hastening to the spoil" (8:2,3)
He lived roughly 700 years before Christ.

Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of four kings -- though it was when Uzziah died, that Isaiah received the vision noted in 6:1.
Uzziah also known as Azariah (a godly king, but who tried to sacrifice in the temple and was smitten with leprosy )
Jotham {also a good king, reigned for awhile with his father after Uzziah was smitten with leprosy, but he did not aggressively take away people's idols)
Ahaz (Did evil, according to the abominations of the heathen)
Hezekiah (Tried to rid the land of idol worship, and turn the people back to God, He trusted God)

Tradition says Isaiah was martyred when Manasseh became king, ( Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah but bent on rebellion against God) He killed God's prophets. Tradition says Isaiah hid in a tree and when he was found they sawed down the tree with him inside. (based on Heb. 11:37

What were things like during Isaiah's lifetime?

Spiritually --
The people were still going through the forms of worship as outlined in the books of Moses. However, idol worship, especially Baal worship was also being practiced with it's rituals and sacrifices, etc. even to sacrificing children. Many were basically viewing the worship to God in the same light as the heathen who worshipped many gods and thought as long as they kept the god's appeased and happy with gifts and sacrifices all would be well. Though revivals were attempted, the people were "bent on backsliding".

Politically --
The Assyrian power was reaching great heights. They had brought the Chaldeans (Babylon) in the east under their control and were now moving toward Syria and Palestine.
Locally Israel and Syria had joined forces and were causing trouble for the southern kingdom of Judah. (See 2Kings 16 and Isaiah 7) At this point King Ahaz made a serious mistake. Isaiah urged King Ahaz to trust in God, and God would deliver him and not make any alliances with other nations , but Ahaz but his trust in other nations, and actually appealed to the Assyrians and made an alliance with them to help him against Syria and Israel.
This Assyrians were happy to do this as they were eager to conquer both Israel and Syria. But their alliance with Judah was soon broken.
During Hezekiah's reign the Assyrians conquered Syria and Israel. The northern kingdom was gone. But they also conquered all the cities of Judah in the southern kingdom, EXCEPT Jerusalem.
King Hezekiah turned to God, and God wrought a miracle. (2 kings 19) for in one night an angel smote 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, braking the strength of the Assyrians and liberating Jerusalem.

Lesson for January 2,2021

CRISIS OF IDENTITY

Read all of chapter 1.

Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master's manger: but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.

God is speaking through Isaiah
You are my people, I brought you up, I gave you freedom, land, health, and hope for a glorious future, but you don't know me, you are looking in all the wrong places for help and meaning and sinking deeper and deeper into sin. As a result you are suffering terrible consequences.
The life of evil has no happy endings, only destruction and ruin.

1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Come back, God says, I will make you clean,
and further in the book we read wonderful promises of the coming Messiah, Who would bear the sins, to be bruised for our iniquities and through His stripes we are healed. And MORE -- there is a resurrection and an eternal future.

God's love is unconditional, broader, deeper, higher, wider than anything we know. The longing in His heart to save people from the ruin of sin comes through so strongly in the book of Isaiah. He wants everyone to come to repentance and enjoy LIFE everlasting, but salvation is not unconditional --- people need to TURN to the Savior, to get to KNOW Him as master, Friend, and Redeemer and follow Him in trust and obedience. He supplies all that is needed, but we must choose HIM


Choose ye this day whom you will serve.....

Repentance
brings forgiveness.

These people are on "death row" they have violated the covenant, brought disgrace upon God, and injured a lot of people. How can a just God forgive == the wages of sin is death.

Yet after pointing out the horrible mess sin has done Isaiah writes:

1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

That is the story of Redemption -- The Holy Creator of all, takes the sins of all upon Himself, and dies the death the law demands, and by His blood we are healed, cleansed, forgiven when we turn to Him.

And so God calls sin laden people to turn from their sin and turn to HIM!

Isaiah 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

Isaiah 43:25
I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.

Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Colossians 1:13-14
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Chron 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Memory Text: "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18, NKJV).[/b]

I really like this lesson, much less opinions of 'learned men" and more direct scripture.

The second lesson in our study of Isaiah
Crisis of Leadership

Uzziah was a relatively GOOD king
2 Cor. 26:4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD vs 5... as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. ,,,26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense...and, behold, leprosy arose in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; and he himself rushed out, because the LORD had smitten him.
26:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was reigning over the king's house.

An interesting note: Some link Amos 1:1 and Zachariah 14:5 with Josephus (IX.10.4) account that a serious earthquake took place when Uzziah was in the temple smitten with leprosy.

However, I'm not sure why the lesson seems to think there was a "no king" leadership crises when Uzziah died?

Jotham was the acting king both before and after Uzziah's death, so there was no major leadership CRISIS at Uzziah's death as to who was king.
We don't know for sure how many of Jotham's 16 years as king were as a co-ruler with his father, (some figure it was about 11 years) and how many of those 16 years were after Uzziah's death. (4-5 years?) We do know "he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah did... So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. (2 Chron 27) BUT "the people did yet corruptly. "

It seems much more likely that after Uzziah's presumptuous act and banishment due to leprosy, that Jotham, though himself "upright in the sight of the Lord", didn't feel he could stop the corruption of the people, as his father was obviously suffering under the displeasure of God. He didn't do anything against the idol worship that was going on.

The real leadership CRISIS came when Jotham's son Ahaz became king, about four years after Uzziah's death. Ahaz was an idolatrous 20 year old young man who seized power from his father Jotham, and followed all the abominations of the surrounding nations. At that time the Israelite king Pekah, and the Syrian king, Resin, were invading Judah. Ahaz, against divine counsel, made an alliance with the Assyrians to gain protection from Syria and Israel. He was told by Isaiah that God would take care of those kings, and to trust God. But Ahaz won't listen and allied himself with the chief enemy, Assyria, against the northern kingdom. (Even though Ahaz had taken over the kingship of the southern kingdom, Jotham was still alive for at least four years after his own16 years as king, for in his "twentieth year" see 2 Kings 15:30, he was alive when the invading Israelite king Pekah, was killed by one of his own country men who wanted to be king) Ahaz's fool-headed alliance of joining with Assyria was utterly disastrous, not only for the northern kingdom (which totally fell a few years later) but also for the southern kingdom which was nearly wiped out as well. (Only Jerusalem was spared because the next king, Hezekiah, turned to God)

Thus Uzziah's leprosy was a type of what happens when sinful desires replace God's ways.
When Isaiah told the people their sins were like open wounds he may well have pointed to Uzziah slowly dying of leprosy in isolation and telling them that's what their spiritual lives looked like to God- they were dying, heading to sure destruction.

Isaiah 6:1-4
In the year that King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

The whole earth is full of His glory!?
And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out,
and the house was filled with smoke.

God is CONTROL

"The reign of Uzziah was drawing to a close, and Jotham was already bearing many of the burdens of state, when Isaiah, of the royal line, was called, while yet a young man, to the prophetic mission." PK 303

The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel were standing on a crossroads.
During Isaiah's lifetime he would see many invasions. He would see the northern kingdom fall to the Assyrians, He would see the southern kingdom invaded till it too seemed about to fall to the Assyrians with all Jerusalem's surrounding towns and villages in ruins, only Jerusalem left and it too would have fallen except for God's divine intervention.

But the dangers from without, overwhelming though they seemed, were not so serious as the dangers from within. It was the perversity of his people that brought to the Lord's servant the greatest perplexity and the deepest depression. By their apostasy and rebellion those who should have been standing as light bearers among the nations were inviting the judgments of God. Many of the evils which were hastening the swift destruction of the northern kingdom, and which had recently been denounced in unmistakable terms by Hosea and Amos, were fast corrupting the kingdom of Judah. The outlook was particularly discouraging as regards the social conditions of the people. In their desire for gain..Justice was perverted... PK 305-6

Iniquitous practices had become so prevalent among all classes that the few who remained true to God were often tempted to lose heart and to give way to discouragement and despair. It seemed as if God's purpose for Israel were about to fail and that the rebellious nation was to suffer a fate similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah.
In the face of such conditions it is not surprising that when, during the last year of Uzziah's reign, Isaiah was called to bear to Judah God's messages of warning and reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He well knew that he would encounter obstinate resistance. As he realized his own inability to meet the situation and thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people for whom he was to labor, his task seemed hopeless.
Should he in despair relinquish his mission and leave Judah undisturbed to their idolatry?
Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth in defiance of the God of heaven?
Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah's mind as he stood under the portico of the temple.
Suddenly the gate and the inner veil of the temple seemed to be uplifted or withdrawn, and he was permitted to gaze within, upon the holy of holies, where even the prophet's feet might not enter. There rose up before him a vision of Jehovah sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, while the train of His glory filled the temple..... PK 307

Isaiah had a wonderful view of God's glory. He saw the manifestation of God's power, and after beholding His majesty, a message came to him to go and do a certain work. He felt wholly unworthy for the work.
What made him esteem himself unworthy? Did he think himself unworthy before he had a view of God's glory?--No; he imagined himself in a righteous state before God; but when the glory of the Lord of hosts was revealed to him, when he beheld the inexpressible majesty of God, he said, "I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; (RH June 4, 1889).

Holy, Holy, Holy

Isaiah 6:5-7
5 So I said: ?Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.? 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: ?Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.

Isaiah......was not burning incense..... yet he saw God.

Incense is symbolic of prayer
It is very probably that Isaiah had been offering the incense of prayer.

Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense
Revelation 8:3 And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
8:4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God



A live, or burning, coal from the altar to cleanse Isaiah?s lips? Isaiah 6.6-7.
And he touched my mouth with it, and said:
Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away,
And your sin purged.

Fire is an agent of purification, because it burns away impurity. This is much more than a washing of the lips, this is symbolic cleansing of all sin.
Simply honoring Christ with our lips does not signify purification. It's the "heart" and "mind" that needs purification; a transformation in our thoughts, desires and feelings. Then we are prepared by the Holy Spirit to share the things of God.

Isaiah's commission

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

The vision of seeing the glory and righteousness of God was the great decisive event in Isaiah's life. He had seen the God! His lips had been touched with fire from God's altar. God had consecrated him for holy service. From now on those lips would speak for God, his life fully dedicated to serve HIM.

Notice something else -- it's not just "who will go" but "who will go for us".
Some might "go" for the adventure, or for recognition, or for pay, for for any selfish reason, but the commission here is to go "for us" -- for the LORD.


6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Strange words -- or maybe not so strange. Isaiah knew this mission would not be received with popular applause. Why bother, for most would not listen.
But God does not give up people easily. Go -- and tell them......

The truth of the matter is that when people are shown the truth, they either turn to God and surrender to Him, or they harden themselves and pull away more fully.
Did God harden Pharaoh's heart? The scriptures say God hardened Pharaoh's heart. How?
By confronting Pharaoh with the truth of His existence. Pharoah had a choice. He could respond and acknowledge God as the only true God, and obey His will, or he could harden himself against God and persist in doing his own evil ways.
And so, God tells Isaiah, "go and tell this people". They need to know. Bring them to a decision. Many were "fence sitting" going through the formal national worship of the God of heaven, and also serving idols and corruption, as if worship was a matter of appeasing "all the gods" and was the pragmatic thing to do as they went about living their own sin laden life.
They were in bad condition spiritually, and it is sad but true, that conscious rejection of God's saving power, leaves the people in even worse condition than before. BUT those who do accept God's saving power receive a joy and peace that world can not understand.

6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long?
And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
6:12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

The Lord tells him to keep on till no one is left to tell!
Too often we think telling someone once is good enough. But God doesn't stop at telling us "once". He keeps on working with people till a point of decision is reached where there is no return.


6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and shall return...the holy seed

All through the book of Isaiah is the concept of the "remnant" who will respond, who will survive. "A tenth" Symbolic of the tithe that is holy to the Lord. A "holy seed" that will continue the growth of truth in the world.
Don't give up --
Just like Elijah, when thinking his work was a complete failure and no one was responding, the LORD showed him there was yet 7000 that had not bowed to Baal.

When Your World is Falling Apart
Lesson Three

Read for This Week?s Study: Isa. 7:1-9, Isa. 7:10-13, Isa. 7:14.

Memory Text: ?If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established?(Isaiah 7:9, NKJV)

What does the Memory Text mean?

Isaiah 7:9 ESV says, "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all."

Could it be that if we are not grounded in the truth, we will not be firm in the truth?

I
Could it mean:
If we depend upon our own rationalizations and not fully trusting in God and following His ways, we will end up losing the faith we thought we had.

By faith Noah built an ark -- it was completely unreasonable to build a ship in the middle of dry land, as rain was unknown. But God warned him of something that he couldn't see, that had never happened before, and Noah believed, acted accordingly and was saved....

By faith Abraham left his home not knowing where he was going -- again completely unreasonable, but God called and Abraham fully trusting HIM, followed.



Faith is believing fully in God, fully trusting His Word, and following His truth --
even when human reasoning does not seem to agree that it is the right thing to do.

.
Without that faith in God's word, all the turmoil and confusion of earthly things will mislead us.

That's what happened to Ahaz.
It seemed to him totally unreasonable to listen to Isaiah and trust that the Lord would deliver him from the two kings threatening him. Not having that faith in God, he did what seemed "reasonable" and allied himself with Assyria! The end thereof was disastrous.

Isaiah 9.2
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
9.4
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

9.5
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

9.6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

9.7
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Christ?the Light of the World

The world today is in the same (or worse) state that the two Israelite nations were in during Isaiah's time. Things are DARK, confusion, death.

BUT
THERE IS A GREAT LIGHT!!!!!
Christ has come, and He will come again.
He is our counselor, our God. He alone can bring peace.
He will dispel the great darkness and bring justice and salvation to all who worship Him.
He will establish judgment and justice.

Yes, a light is shining in the world. We have the record of His first coming!
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.
He was given UNTO US!!!
Christ became our brother, He identifies Himself with us.
Government shall be upon His shoulders. His government is just, and righteous and good.
All other governments have failed to bring true peace.
Only a government wherein the laws are written upon the heart and obeyed with the obedience of love and appreciation as to their goodness and rightness can result in the harmony inherent in heaven.

He will be called Counselor. People need to receive true counsel, not deceptive, bewildering earthly philosophy and spiritist counterfeit religion that leads only to darkness and distress.

The situation today is much like it was in Isaiah's day. The supposed people of God are looking to earthly wisdom for guidance, instead of looking to God's holy Word.
They are looking for earthly solutions, but only God has true solutions.
Christ is that light that lightens the world, and Christ is the WORD!
The Great Light reveals Himself through the Word.
Oh, if people would only look to the true source of wisdom instead of the earthly solutions that don't solve anything.

Soon Christ will come, not to Galilee this time, but as king of Kings to deliver His saints.
The wickedness, confusion, evil and those immersed in these things, will come to an end.
At the second coming the righteous will be raised up into the air to be with Him, (1 Thess. 4:16,17) and the wicked will not live again until the thousand years are finished. (Rev. 19:21; 20:5) There will be no earthly millennial rule over the present nations, Christ will not reign as an earthly king over sinful nations.
Any kingdom set up, or some global "reset" that supposedly brings happiness and peace will fail, even if it is claiming to be "Christ's" kingdom on earth over sinful nations. It is not Christ's kingdom at all -- it will be the confederacy we are warned against in chapter 8.. It will be Babylon which will deceive the whole world with her sorcery's. T
When Jesus comes the second time, the righteous are raised up together with Christ in the air and go to live in "His Father's House" (John 14:3) , while the wicked dead live not for 1000 years.


The 3 angels' message (which is earth's last warning message) is the call to the world to worship our Creator God and give Him our full allegiance for His judgment is come. (See Rev 14:6-12)
Rejoice in HIS LIGHT! Believe in His promise.

Don't join the confederacy which may seem right and good and the answer to the world's problems-
The confederacy is the great deceptive power "Babylon" of Revelation 17 and 18 but our safety is not there -- for Babylon will be cast down like a millstone into the sea.
Isaiah 8:12 Do not,say, let's unite in a confederacy, to all those people who are urgin, confederacy; neither fear their fear, nor be afraid.
8:13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear

"Fear God, and give glory to Him, Worship Him Who made the heaven's and the earth."
He is our king and Savior! His kingdom must be established in the hearts of His people -- trust not in any earthly confederacy.

This light, this message will lightened the earth and all the people shall know, in the end, the difference between the earthly confederacy, and the true kingdom of Christ.

Lesson SIX
See the full lesson here
PLAYING GOD

Read Isaiah 13


Isaiah's prophecies spoke, not only to coming events about to happen, in his relatively immediate future, but they are also prophecies for the end time.

HERE IS THE LITERAL HISTORY of Babylon's fall.

The empire of Babylon would fall to the Medes and Persians in 539 BC, but the city was NOT destroyed at that time. It remained a primary commercial city throughout the duration of the Medo-Persian empire as well as the Grecian empire of Alexander the Great, who took the city from the Persians in 331 BC. However, during the Grecian divided empire, the city of Babylon began to decline in importance and population. Yet it was still inhabited during the time of Christ.
Babylon is later absorbed into the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan (116 AD) During the reign of Hadrian there was a Jewish revolt, (130 AD) which resulted in severe persecution against the Jews. Many of them fled to Babylon which resulted in a sizable Jewish community living in Babylon. In the 5th -6th Century they produced the "Babylonian Talmud."
Even though it's glory was gone, population shrunken, and considerable decay and looting had taken place, the city of Babylon was still standing with inhabitants living there some 1o00 years after Isaiah's prophecy. The city actually died a slow prolonged death, finally being abandoned completely when the Islamic forces began their conquests in the early 600's, and was left to the elements and looters till it was a pile of ruins, and indeed only the beasts of the desert lived there.

Thus we see the prophecies of Isaiah concerning Babylon were partially fulfilled in reference to the ancient city of Babylon. The verses directly pointing to literal Babylon's fall were fulfilled, but other verses point to the future "Day of the Lord" and another Babylon.
Where do we see a the complete fulfilment of these prophecies? IN REVELATION, especially in chapters 17 and 18.

Just like Matt.24 combines the coming of the fall of Jerusalem, with the coming of the destruction of the whole world, so Isaiah 13 combines the fall of literal Babylon, with the coming destruction of end time "Babylon".

The verses in Isaiah 13:6-13
speak of sudden destruction that lays the whole land waste, and destroys the sinners of the world. It speaks of sun, moon and stars not giving their light. Of the heavens being shaken, and the earth moved out of its place.

There is much in that chapter that shows this is talking about something much greater than the fall of ancient Babylon. Something which that ancient fall is a "foreshadowing".

Let's see some of the foreshadowing ---

God has placed in our hands a banner upon which is inscribed "here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Rev.22.14

Exalt the voice unto them ? call loudly ? give the loud cry message "Come out of her my people that you will not take part in her sins." Rev. 18:4


Revelation Rev. 19.11,14 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war....And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.



Luke 21:26-27 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.



Malachi 3.17
And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.

"For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy."

But you claim that you don't need the Testimonies if it contradicts what you believe the Bible says... Right?

The Spirit of Prophecy is the Testimony of Jesus -- The Spirit of Prophecy is the Holy Spirit Whose mission is to glorify Christ, moving upon the prophets, giving them messages for our eternal salvation. The Holy Spirit does not contradict himself, all the testimonies given through Him to the prophets, Biblical prophets, and a last day prophet, are needed.

Lesson EIGHT
COMFORT MY PEOPLE

Chapter 40 in Isaiah is a wonderful chapter.
I would encourage everyone to read it and meditate on it.

40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Yes, due to sin they had suffered. But Babylon is not the end of the story. The people are depicted in human bondage, but this is magnified to depict spiritual bondage.
The comfort is brought in the announcement of salvation! They were not to stay in Babylon but were to come out and receive their Savior.
2 ...to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned:

The Savior was coming to Jerusalem -- the prince of peace, Emmanuel, God with us!
He delivers from the bondage of sin. He offers pardon and life!

Next we see the announcement of His coming:

40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
40:4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

In ancient times the road which a king is expected to travel is cleared of all obstacles.
This voice in the wilderness is announcing the coming of the King of kings! In the wilderness of sin the way is to be prepared by sincere repentance and a turning from sin. It is the people's hearts that are to be prepared.
John the Baptist shows the meaning in his cry, "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance (Matt. 3:8)

No special glory is given to the speaker -- it is the message that is important.
It's original fulfillment was in John the Baptist calling people to repentance, to put away things that were keeping them from receiving their King, and preparing them to receive the Messiah Who came from heaven to deliver them from the bondage and death sentence of sin.

Yet it has another fulfilment in our day -- for that very same King, Jesus Christ, our Savior, is coming again! This time in full glory, His reward with Him, to those who believed on His name and through the Holy Spirit repented of their sin, and put away all obstacles that stood between them and their Savior, He will give eternal life,, but to those who would not repent and did not desire deliverance from sin, there is only death.

The good news of the herald calling out for us to prepare the way of the LORD (Jehovah) and make straight the highway for our God, is that this is the gospel to go to every nation, kindred and people, that Emmanuel "God with us" came that first time, and died upon the cross, in order to open wide the door of Salvation to all, and all who believe and come into His light need not perish but have everlasting life!
The call is for us to prepare, for He is coming again -- the King of kings! It is real! He is coming again.

There is an urgency embedded in this chapter
40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD.

Notice the messenger doesn't just casually suggest a preparation was needed. He CRIETH ---
And in verse six, the urgency is spelled out more clearly.

40:6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field:
40:7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people [is] grass.
40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

This lesson must be proclaimed -- it's urgent -- proclaim it with a loud voice
Why is it so urgent?

It's urgent because people have so little time to prepare. They are like the flowers and grass in the field. Here today gives a person no assurance of being here tomorrow. Life is short.

Peter, in 1 Peter1:24 alludes to Isaiah's texts..
"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flowers by the gates.

All things earthy are transitory, they don't last very long.
A "lifetime" even in healthy situation, is very short.
But God's Word stands forever.

isaiah takes us to grand climax!

This old world and it's confusion and sorrows is NOT the final word!

Memory Text: ?For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind? (Isaiah 65:17).
65:18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in what I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
65:19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
66:23 And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.


In the visions of the prophet, those who have triumphed over sin and the grave are now seen happy in the presence of their Maker, talking freely with Him as man talked with God in the beginning. "Be ye glad," the Lord bids them, "and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." "The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity." PK 729

There is also verse 24:

Isaiah 66:24 AKJV And they shall go forth, and look on the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.

The following is written in the quarterly:

As a graphic warning to the people of his day, Isaiah encapsulates the contrast between faithful survivors of the Babylonian destruction and rebels, who would be destroyed.

This is not everlasting torment - the rebels are dead, killed by "fire," a destruction that was not quenched until it did its job so that the re-creation of Jerusalem could begin.

Isaiah's warning points forward to an ultimate fulfillment prophesied by the book of Revelation: destruction of sinners, Satan, and death in a lake of fire (Rev. 20:1-15), after which there will be "a new heaven and a new earth," a holy "new Jerusalem," and no more weeping or pain, "for the first things have passed away" (Rev. 21:1-4, NRSV; compare Isaiah 65:17-19), a new existence, with eternal life for all who are redeemed from the earth.

True, there is also verse 24.
Before the sinless new world is recreated, all sin will be burned, and the earth cleansed.

Yet, one can't help thinking that a lot of tears and anguish will take place no matter at that final which side one is on.
The redeemed standing on the wall of the New Jerusalem
and the lost outside the city.



Jesus died outside the city of Jerusalem, back in 31 A.D., carrying the sins of the whole world.
Because Jesus died outside the city, NO ONE needs to die outside the glorious New Jerusalem in that final judgment day when every person that has ever lived will be present.
But sadly millions will die. "No one shall go into the city unless they are pure in heart. Everything that is polluting, everything that defiles, is outside the city."

They are outside because they rejected Christ's offer of life and cleansing!

But what about those standing on the walls inside the city? Yes, there is great joy for them being with Jesus in that glorious city, BUT as they look down from those walls and see the lost a deep grief is bound to come to them. How will they feel when they see the face of some loved ones standing outside?
How many "if only's " will flood the minds. The question: "Could we have done more ?