Isaiah Lectures
Isaiah 55-66
Lecture #
I. Introduction:
These chapters (56-66) are a unit. They are also very connected with the rest of the book of Isaiah. They often refer back, and almost seem to quote from chapters 1-35 and 40-55 and repeatedly play off the key themes and words of the earlier chapters.
These chapters have been interpreted in a number of ways (historical commentary, historical predictions, allegory, etc.) but it seems that they have a strong eschatological (focused on the end-times) aspect to them. This is not to say the other approaches are invalid but rather that part of our understanding must include the eschatological aspect.
II. Common Themes in Isaiah 56-66 and 1-55.
The following themes go through out the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 56-66 continues messages of the earlier chapters.
First, there is the emphasis that God Himself will break into the created world. God will manifest His glory: 40:5; 66:18. In this light, there is a contrast between the new things and former things: 43:18-19; 65:16-17.
Knowing God will break into history and act should affect how we see the circumstances that are part of our daily lives. In Isaiah 43:5 ff and in 60:4 ff the deliverance from the Assyrians and the prophesied deliverance from Babylon were seen as interim fulfillments urging us to see what God means when He is said to be our Savior. These historical examples of God helping His people when their plight here on earth was hopeless function to give us hope in our circumstances where we need His breaking into the situations in our lives. It also gives us hope for the coming, final glory at the eschatological end-times at the coming of Christ. The interim fulfillments bring life and meaning to the promises given to those held captive now: for example in Isaiah 61:1 and 43:1-6.
We too, should expect interim fulfillments in our lives like the events recorded in Isaiah, and when we experience His grace in these concrete ways they are to serve as reminders that He will someday fully and finally bring about salvation when He comes again to earth.
Second, the theme of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a theme found in 11:1; 42:1; and in 61:1. It is an essential part of the promises. What this practically means for us today can be seen in several ways. Isaiah says in 61:1-2 that an anointed One will come, and we see that was fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry. However, the Gospels then see Jesus’ ministry as an interim fulfillment to encourage us to be filled with the Spirit and experience the work of the Spirit in our lives in work of His church. Then our experience will be an interim fulfillment giving hope to the next generation in the church for them to experience the powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in their lives as it was in our own.
The third theme is the glorification of a restored Zion: 49:14 ff and 62:1 ff. God does want to restore His people. Does Zion represent Jerusalem or does it represent the church? It could refer to both.
Fourth, the ministry of the servant spoken of 42:1-4 and 11:1-5 will extend to his “servants”: 56:6; 63:17; 65:8, 13-15. God calls and blesses the “servant” and that blessing is now pushed further towards those outside of Israel (56:6), to the nation as a group not just the servant himself (63:17) and servant was preserved so now others ask for the same preservation (65:8, 1-15).
The fifth theme is a continuation of portraying the nature of Israel’s (i.e. the church’s) worship as rebellious and sinful: 1:12 ff; 2:6; 59:9ff and 65:3 ff. It would be wise to carefully comb through the accusations found here and use these texts as guides to check our own worship in the church today.
Sixth, the messianic hope found in earlier chapters is continued: 11:6ff and 65:25.
A seventh theme that moves through out Isaiah concerns the anger of God: it will judge and destroy rebels and sinners: 2:19 ff; 29:5 ff; 59:17 ff; 63:1 ff and 66:24. Passages that report the anger of God carry with them motive clauses that report why God’s wrath or judgment was activated. Again, the church would be wise to realize that God makes the decisions about when and why He will judge, not us and it would be wise to know what animates His wrath.
The eighth and final theme shared by 56-66 with the rest of Isaiah is that a restored Israel or a restored Zion will bring joy and worship from the nations: 1:26-27; 2:1ff; 57:13 and 66:20. The nations will come out of the darkness and into the light: 9:1 and 60:1 ff. God loves the world what happened with the early church quickly going over the racial and social barriers of the Jewish people towards peoples of all languages and cultures should characterize our church. We are the bearers of joy to the world.
Finally, one other tie-in from 56-66 and 1-55 can be seen in a deliberate connection made between chapters 1 with 65-66 and 40 with 60-62.
The absolute beauty of chapter 40 in describing the promises of God to a people who have been judged is parallel to the description in chapters 60-62. Notice they are not blind promises to God’s people so they can be arrogant and despise those outside of the covenant. Rather, these promises are to a people judged.
The parallels thematically between chapters 1 and 66 are also striking. In chapter 66 we have a summary of many of Isaiah’s themes, which were first articulated in chapter 1. In 66:1-2 the nature of true religion is portrayed as not consisting of physically constructed things like idols (see also 40:12-23), but in being poor, with a contrite heart and in trembling at His Word. In 66:3-4 true religion is not in ritual but in knowing that when we do ritual we can often still be engaged in doing our own will, still be engaged in doing evil and in not answering when He calls (see also 1:10-15). In 66:5-17 there is an alteration between judgments threatened (5-6), promise of restoration (7-14) and judgment threatened (15-17). Similar threats are found in 1:21-31. What follows in 66:18-21 is a promise of a return (because they have already been judged) that will bring God glory. In 66:22-24, Isaiah ends the entire book with a promise and threat. For many finding threats of judgments and promises of blessings or restoration is uncomfortable, but that is how the book of Isaiah opens: Isaiah 1:2-9 is presentation of His wrath and 1:16-18 is the presentation of His blessing.
III. The Structure of 56-66:
Many scholars like, Westermann, see chapters 60-22 as the center of this section of Isaiah. This center is book ended by two theophanies (appearances of God): 59:15-20 and 63:1-6. Next to these are two communal laments (the whole community verbally and openly grieves) 59:1-14 and 63:7-64:12. The whole section is opened with a prologue (56) and finished with an epilogue (65-66). In chapters 56-57, there is a stress on the polarity between the righteous and the wicked and 58-59 focus on obstacles that have delayed the promised salvation. Obedience is constantly stressed but obedience does not cause salvation (God’s grace does) but justice and salvation must co-exist.
A. Prologue: wicked vs. righteous 56
B. Human responsibility 57-58
C. Communal Lament 59:1-14
D. Theophany 59:15-20
E. God becoming present among His people 60-62
D’ Theophany 63:1-6
C’ Communal Lament 63-64
A’ Epilogue: wicked vs. righteous 65-66
IV. A Short Focus on Chapters 60-62.
Since we cannot cover all of the chapters it might be help to briefly look at just a few of them and since we called 60-62 the center we shall start here.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 60:1-9.
Q What is predicted?
An = We will see something that will cause joy to spring up within our souls: the returning of the people of God to the place of God (9) and they will come with physical blessings. The church’s job is look, to arise and shine, to lift up our eyes and see that darkness that covers the earth will not stop the glory of the Lord from appearing upon them (60:1-4). We are instructed to observe not cause God’s work.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 60:10-17.
Q Who will accomplish this?
An = God will accomplish this but He will use as His agents the non-churched (non-Israelites).
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 60:18-22.
The beautiful promises all center on God’s action in the world: “I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly” (60:22 b). His presence will end violence, instability and destruction for His people because God will be their walls (18) and their light will no longer be the Sun or Moon but the very presence of God Himself and their sorrow will end (19-20). Then people will be righteous and the sign will be that they will possess the land and thus display His splendor (21). He will take that which seems so small and do great things with it (22 a). His presence is accompanied by His blessing but the blessing is to bring His splendor into prominence not our own.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 61:1-3.
Q What will the Spirit cause?
An = He will heal the brokenness of His people and comfort their sorrow and turn it (their sorrow) into joy and they will be solid, righteous people. This passage will later be used by Jesus Himself in announcing and describing the focus and goal of His ministry (Luke 4:16-30). The rest of the Gospel of Luke then shows us how this was done.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 61:4-7.
Q What new promise is added in these verses?
An = The shame brought on them by the judgment of God (by the nations) will be reversed (with the help of the nations) and they will be restored to joy and prosperity instead of disgrace.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 61:8-11.
It is God’s action that will bring about the reversal of the shame of God’s church (or Israel) but it will be characterized by righteousness (like in verse three: “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.”) Salvation and righteousness are interchangeable terms: “for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness” (61:10). As He purifies His people with salvation (and righteousness) it will spring up (because He causes it to) before all the nations (11). It is proof that the work is not of God if the salvation we claim is not characterized by righteousness.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 62:1-3
Q Why does God give them a new name? What does that mean?
An = Someday, and hopefully soon, people will call our church by a new name because our character has changed. A name usually indicated character and so since a new character was given to Peter (rock) his name was changed from Simon (reed). The name changes given to people like Abraham, Jacob, etc. all portray this truth. Notice again in 62:1 that the words righteousness and salvation are interchangeable or parallel to one another.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 62:4-9.
Q What metaphor is used in verses 4 and 5?
An = The metaphor of marriage is used. A woman who is considered deserted or is called “desolate” is now changed to one who is considered as delightful and she is called “married”. Instead of being left out, not chosen and rejected Israel (or the church) now is the opposite and rejoiced over. God’s people will no longer be despoiled and abused but will be the “praise of the earth”.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 62:10-12
All will be accomplished by God. He will be Zion’s Savior our job is merely to prepare for His coming. It will be glorious because of His presence and because of His presence Zion will be “sought after” and “the city no longer deserted”. The bride is not deserted when her husband, her groom has come and the church is not deserted when her Lord has entered her gates.
V. Isaiah 58: Removing Obstacles to Salvation.
The beautiful promises found in Isaiah 60-62 will be accomplished at the end of time. However, maybe there is an interim fulfillment that we can hope for and look expectantly for. Perhaps, our church will be redeemed by His powerful presence among us but there are obstacles that stall that from being realized now. Our responsibility is addressed chapters 57-58. Chapter 57 talks about not going into the occult or worshipping other gods. Chapter 57 centers on “loving God” by remaining loyal to Him and not worshipping any one but Him. The next chapter address the other half of the center of the Old Testament Law, how to love your neighbor (see Matthew 22: 36-40 for Jesus’ summary of the Will of God expressed in the Law). For many conservative churches the issues in chapter 57 do not apply, but maybe the block in so many churches today is found in chapter 58. Let us see what Isaiah would have us do…
Q How many of you know people who are very religious and do much work in the church, but are very far from God?
If you think about these people, often the things they do we would term as “very Christian”, but their actions do not seem to really help them walk closely with God. Perhaps, to help you understand this we need to turn this question inward and apply it to ourselves?
Q Have you ever served in the church, disciplined your body, deliberated chosen to not commit certain sins and yet you sensed you were far from God at the times in your life? Think back on these times.
Q What was going on in your life? To help you jog your memory we will what Isaiah wishes to tell us.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 58:1-2.
Q How can both 58:1 and 58:2 both be true?
An = Notice what verse 1 is doing. The prophet is commanded to shout aloud to the people of God (to the church) that they are rebellious and sinful. Verse 2 says they seek out God, eager to learn God’s teaching (study the Bible) and they do what is right and have not forsaken God’s commands. The people are condemned, and yet it does not seem right that they should be placed under condemnation. If this has been your experience, I am sure it was frustrating, and I am sure you would say what Israel said in 3a:
“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'”
It seems at times that we have done all we know we are to do and even gone beyond and fasted, but God seemed so far.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 58:3b-5
Q What is wrong with their fasting?
An = God said they fasted from food, but did what they pleased. He then expounds on their behavior, what they were doing that pleased them, but not God. They exploited their employees (cheated those who they supervised) quarreled with one another and even to the extent of violence. God says they properly bowed their heads, and put on signs of mourning or repentance (sackcloth and ashes). They did the outwards signs of religion but they mistreated their fellow believers. They tried to worship God while mistreating people. The humbled themselves before God but did not take any interest in what God is interested in, and He is interested in other people.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 58:6-7
Q What does God want?
An = He wants us to help those who are treated unjustly and help set free those who are oppressed. He wants us to share our food with the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless, clothe the naked and realize that all humans and believers are like family. God wants us to treat well what He so deeply loves: people. It is like trying to be on good terms with the pastor while you are abusing his children or expecting his favor while you harm his family.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 58:9-12.
Q What two conditions must be met according to verses 9-10?
An = First, we are to end the yoke of oppression, the malicious gossip and the accusations against others (58:9). Second, we are to expend our energy in helping those oppressed and feeding the hungry (58:10). We are to stop the bad behavior towards others in the church and exchange it for a helping, serving type of behavior. So many people will not go to church any more because of how they were treated by the church members. Some churches experience the glory and presence of God because they treat others differently.
Notice what the results will be if we will change how we treat others.
He will answer our prayers: 58:9a.
Light will arise in our darkness: 58:10b.
God will continually guide us: 58:11a.
He will satisfy our desires in the tough times: 58:11b.
He will give us strength: 58:11c.
He will make us a blessing to those who come near us: 58:11d.
He will repair our lives: 58:12a.
God will do miracles in our lives, but we must act first. God has given us His Word so we can learn what He wants and learn what will cause His blessings to flow upon us. He has decided to put our future in our own hands.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 58:13-14.
Q How does one keep the Sabbath?
An = We are to stop pleasing ourselves (13 a) and see His Sabbath as delightful and honorable and not as a day to do our will or speak idle words. If we do this, it will have positive consequences: we will find joy in the Lord and enjoy what He has given us in their life.
The key to pleasing God is not to do outward religious actions towards the Person of God while all the while proving that we despise God because we despise people (whom He loves). We will break our estrangement from Him by redirecting our focus and energy. Instead of oppressing and harming people we aggressively seek to help them, especially those in need.
The promises of Isaiah 60-62 will come to pass: the mouth of the Lord has spoken them. The promise of an interim fulfillment remains a possibility and chapter 58 could be handing us the key to such a blessing. For an illustration of how to implement this chapter so that the blessings of chapters 60-62 could be ours we can look to the “ultimate example of the Servant”. Read how Jesus treated people in Luke 4:31-6:12.