Bible Reading Reflection from Isaiah 49-57

[Originally posted in a WhatsApp group (FG), a daily reading update (reflection) from each chapter of the Bible] 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟜𝟡:𝟙𝟜-𝟙𝟞

“But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.’ ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.’”

"I have written your name on the palms of my hands" ever heard of that song? I think I learned that song when I was in our village, Primary School. Maybe, aunt Salome was teaching us. I can't remember exactly now. That song is taken out from this passage.

God's love, God's choosing is irrevocable. You can't even jump out from His palms. You are incompetent, too stupid, too weak to escape from His love. That's why we cannot lose our salvation. That's why we will persevere. That's why we love God because He first loved us!

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟘:𝟚

"Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst."

Questioning in our conversation, prayer, and communication are a demonstration of deep reflection. However, there are those who ask of ignorance and arrogance, but even the deaf and blind will recognize those!

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟙:𝟛

"For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song."

Spoken to the people in exile (Israelites) that God will restore them, and therefore they should be comforted. V2 lays out the assurance for it that God could create a nation out of barren Abraham and Sarah. Restoring their children to a life of prosperity and joy is the sure plan of God. Not yet fulfilled but will be fulfilled in the future, the millennium.

V1 further confirms it is to those who follow God.  Hardship and Sorrows aren't final in the workings of God, it's just a short episode; there's coming a time when God will gather His people again to live with Him joyously forever.

God formed man out of the soil; He can do it again to raise up the dead ones. And if death is the most painful thing, the resurrection will be the most satisfying thing; and that with a glorious body— no sin, no imperfection, but shall be like Him who made us. That hope is what God wants His people to be comforted!

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟚:𝟚

"Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion."

This is a call, in preparation for the coming Messiah! We who have Christ need not fear but as Charles Wesley sang, we can sing his hymn "Arise, my soul, arise! Shake off your guilty fears."

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟛:𝟡

"And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth."

This was spoken of Christ Jesus before He was even born! The Bible has a theology of how one dies and is buried. Violent death is a sign of God's judgment. An honorable death is a sign of God's favor. Jezebel was eaten by dogs, and Jacob was embalmed. And God buried Moses. Jesus had a violent death, but not a bone was broken, and furthermore, he was buried in a rich man's tomb.

Well, after the times of the Bible, things take different ways. God was pleased with the Apostles and saints not only to let them have a violent death but even to be eaten by lions and lit up as lamps in Nero's palace!

So, don't read too much about how one dies and is buried in our times. But we love to have an honorable death and burial, don't we? Jesus was vindicated right after his death. The death of Jesus was the death of all things. Like a reboot! Taken down with special permission, special tomb, on and on...

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟜:𝟟-𝟠

“‘For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,’ says the LORD, your Redeemer.”

This is Yahweh. He is a consuming fire, but He is also a compassionate God. His compassion is demonstrated to us as greater than His wrath.

God is an angry God but He is a loving God as well. But for those who are in Christ, God's wrath was already upon Christ, therefore, they are the beloved of God.

The eternal consequence of any of our sins is already blotted away. We are forever forgiven. Therefore, the consequence of sin we face in this world isn't punishment but chastisement. God chastises whom He loves!

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝5:𝟙-𝟚

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food."

God's grace is a free gift; we don't need to earn, and we have no ability to earn as well. God's mercy is also a free gift; we deserve wrath, but He relents to punish us, we don't need to do anything to please Him.

Look at the imagery. Especially in ancient times, lots of poor people. They are oppressed and taken into captivity.

Freely offered! Human riches (all the wealth of billionaires) cannot buy God's grace or mercy. It's impossible to earn except given, and how great is that!? We, all, the richest, the poorest, need to come to God for this grace and mercy!

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟞:𝟛

“Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’; and let not the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’”

God makes no distinction between the ethnicity, origin, or status of a person; it's one's response to the word of God.

You may be poor, you may be not smart, you may be a great sinner, you may be whatever, the only thing that matters is, will you obey God?

 

𝕀𝕊𝔸𝕀𝔸ℍ 𝟝𝟟:𝟚𝟙

“‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”

Notice how this chapter begins and ends with: Peace

The righteous, enter into peace even under oppression and death (v1-2), and the wicked never have peace (v20-21).

The sinner, the wicked, the corrupt, the guilty, never have peace in life, both here or in the life to come! While the righteous, the redeemed, the believer, the faithful possess peace both here and in the life to come.

However, what a tragedy that Christian lives with fear, worry, and guilt! God has begotten us. We are His beloved. We are forgiven. We are pleasing to Him. We are overcomers. We have sufficiency in Him. It's like a man who is begging for food outside on a stinking street when food is served on his table. Or a man who refuses to come to the stage to be crowned as champions fearing he will be hanged!

Don't live like the wicked in fear, guilt, and without peace!