Read: Isaiah 49:8-26

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. (Isaiah 49:15-16)

Here Jehovah reminds Israel, Though you may feel neglected and forgotten, I cannot cast you off. I will never forget you, Can a mother forget the baby at her breast? Proverbially, of course, a mother’s love is the strongest love of all. Many mothers continue to love their children no matter what they do. But it is unfortunately true that mothers can forget their children. Mothers can forget their children, but God cannot: See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. We are reminded of that scene in the gospels when Jesus, after his resurrection, appeared to his frightened disciples, huddled together in the upper room, and said to them, Behold, my hands and my feet and see that it is I (Luke 24:39). Those wounds in his hands were marks of love and their very names were engraved in his hands.

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Read: Isaiah 45:9-25

Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, What are you making? Does your work say, The potter has no hands? (Isaiah 45:9)

It would be ridiculous if clay were to say to the potter, I don’t like the way you’re doing this. This design does not appeal to me at all. Listen to the irony of this passage: Woe to him who says to a father, What are you begetting? or to a woman, With what are you in travail? (Isaiah 45:10 RSV). This is the God with whom we have to deal. How incredibly arrogant of man to criticize the workings of a God like that! This passage is designed to humble man in his proud confidence and to show him how dependent he is upon the God whom he dares to criticize. C.S. Lewis once argued that to contend with God is to contend with the very One who makes it possible for us to contend in the first place, and how foolish we are to attempt that!

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Read: Isaiah 44:1-5

For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:3)

Chapter 44 opens with a beautiful promise, spoken by God through the prophet: Here is pictured the refreshment of spirit that God gives to those who are thirsty, those who recognize the dryness of their lives and who come to him for supply. Notice that the promise extends even to their offspring. Here is a great word for families: God will bless them as they take the place of a suppliant and bring their need before him.

As is true many times in Isaiah, all this is to be ultimately true of the nation of Israel. We must never steal these promises away from the Jewish people. God will fulfill them literally one of these days. But this is also applicable to those who, by faith in Jesus Christ, have become sons and daughters of Abraham. These promises, that God will pour water on the thirsty, and streams on the dry ground, are made to us, as well. This is one of the most remarkable paradoxes in the Scripture. What man could ever devise a plan that if you fail, you win, if you lose, you will succeed, if you are broken, you will be lifted up? But that is God’s plan. He always deals realistically with us. He will not force us to be humiliated, but he wants us to face the whole picture. He is totally honest. He knows exactly who we are and what our problem is. The folly of man is that he seeks to smooth that over and to pretend to be something he is not. All this is remarkable proof that the Bible is a divine Book, for no man would ever come up with a program for success that starts with an admission of failure.

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Read: Isaiah 36:1-37:20

Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? (Isaiah 37:10-11)

This communication came in the form of a letter to Hezekiah. Clearly, it was intended to keep his heart fearful and anxious. It was a threat for the future, saying that although the king of Assyria was leaving for the moment, he would return again to wreak a terrible vengeance on Judah. Had Hezekiah taken the Assyrian message in that way, he would have lived in constant fear.

It is very important for Christians to understand that God does not want his people to live in fear. Fear is one of the great perils of our day. Anxieties beset us on every hand. We need to hear again the words of Jesus that we should not be anxious about tomorrow. Again and again our Lord told his disciples, Fear not. Paul told us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and a sound mind. It is not within our power to remove these threats to us, but we can meet them with faith. This is what Hezekiah does. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.

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Read: Isaiah 28:1-15

Whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast? For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. (Isaiah 28:9-10 RSV)

That is a beautiful description of how the Bible is written. Unlike theological books, there is not a chapter on sin, another on heaven, another on angels, etc. The Bible mixes it all together, interspersing one truth with another, so that a balanced approach to life is given, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

This verse sets forth the way to avoid being trapped by the seductive lure of the good life, characterized by Ephraim in verses 1-3. Study your Bible! Read what God says. Look at life as he sees it. See through the allurement of the television commercials! Do you sometimes catch yourself wanting more of the luxuries of life, thinking constantly of a new car, a new house, of climbing the corporate ladder?

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Read: Isaiah 23:1-18

Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are renowned in the earth? The Lord Almighty planned it, to bring down her pride in all her splendor and to humble all who are renowned on the earth. (Isaiah 23:8-9)

Why do the nations rage? That question is answered many times in the Scriptures, but notably in this section of Isaiah, beginning with chapter 13 and ending in chapter 23. In these chapters the prophet is given a vision concerning the great world powers that surrounded Israel in that day. The prophecy begins with a word concerning Babylon; then focuses on Assyria, Moab, Egypt, Edom and other nations; and ends in Chapter 23 with the burden of the city-nation of Tyre.

These messages were wholly predictive when they were uttered. They point out things that are going to happen from Isaiah’s time onward. As we look back on history we can see that much of this prophecy has already been fulfilled. These nations are not only historic but are symbols of forces at work in every age and every generation. What makes this passage so real and valuable to us is that through the experience of these nations we begin to understand our own personal struggles.

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Read: Isaiah 11:1-5

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:1-2)

It is not difficult for us to see that this is a clear prediction of the Lord Jesus. Here in these opening verses is a hint that the Messiah will appear in history in a very obscure way. That is suggested by this word, A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. Like a great tree that has been cut down, the ancestry of Jesus represented in David and his father Jesse has been reduced to obscurity and insignificance. But out of that lowly stump will arise a shoot, a single sprout, a man who will, as the prophet goes on to say, be filled with the Spirit of God and who will do a great work in the land. When our Lord is referred to as the son of David in the gospels, it is always in terms of royal glory, but when he is called the stump of Jesse, it is a reference to his humble beginnings.

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Read: Isaiah 9:1-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

What a remarkable picture! It hardly needs any exposition. Suddenly, after a great time of trouble, the nation will realize that this glorious King, their Messiah, once came as a little child: to us a child is born. He who was for eternity the Son of God was given to them as a little Baby in Bethlehem. They recognize at last, after centuries of rejection, that this One rightly deserves divine titles. This is Immanuel, God with us.

The four titles Isaiah lists represent that: Wonderful Counselor. Did anyone ever fulfill that more fully than Jesus? He unveils to us secrets about ourselves, counsels us how to avoid the heartaches and problems that otherwise would beset us, showing the way of deliverance from the taint and pollution of sin.

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Read: Isaiah 7:1-14

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Say to him, Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. (Isaiah 7:3-4)

We are told the precise spot on which God directed the prophet to stand when he made this announcement to the king. You probably read this thinking that it was nothing more than a casual direction God gave to him. But it is very significant. Isaiah was told to go to the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool on the road to the Launderer’s Field; to stand at that very spot and give this announcement to King Ahaz. What is the meaning of that? There at that spot, and only there, the prophet was to inform King Ahaz that he had nothing to fear from these two armies that were threatening the city of Jerusalem. They were only smoldering stubs and were no real threat at all. The account declares that within sixty-five years this deliverance would happen. All this came true, as predicted.

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Read: Isaiah 6:8-13

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me! He said, Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. (Isaiah 6:8-9)

When Isaiah hears the call of God his heart is instantly responsive. By now he has believed what God said. He no longer feels undone and defiled. He believed that when God said he was forgiven he really was forgiven. No longer does he feel unworthy or unable to serve. He is eager to go, Here am I, send me.

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Read: John 11:55-12:11

Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. (John 12:3)

I believe John chose to include this account in order that we might understand something of what real worship is. Worship is the center of Christian life. Mary took a pound of costly ointment and poured it on Jesus. Later, Judas complains about the extravagance of using what, in effect, was a year’s pay for a laborer, to anoint the feet of Jesus. This account makes clear that she understood the work of Jesus and the change he had made in her heart. She was also deeply appreciative not only of the restoration of her brother Lazarus, but in the magnificent teaching she heard from him as she sat at his feet. This is what accounts for her extravagance here. She spared no expense, she cared nothing for the customs of the day, entering into a supper where women were usually not welcome, letting down her hair in public, an unthinkable act in that culture, and openly expressing her love for Jesus. But that’s how love and worship act. They are uncaring of expense.

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Read: John 11:1-54

Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this? (John 11:21-26)

Martha greets Jesus with a phrase that must have been frequently on all of their lips when Lazarus was sick: Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. I do not believe this is a word of reproach. Martha is not saying, Lord, why didn’t you come sooner? We sent for you. If you had responded we wouldn’t be in this pickle. It is clear that she realizes the message did not reach him until Lazarus was dead. There was no way he could have responded and gotten there before Lazarus died. Martha’s word is not one of reproach, but rather one of regret: Lord, I wish you could have been here, because if you had, my brother would not have died.

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Read: John 8:31-59

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:31-32)

What a wonderful word! It constitutes a short course in discipleship. But it is more than that. It is a declaration that discipleship is the only true path to freedom, to being all that you were meant to be. If you want that, then Jesus says the way is to become his disciple. This is the path to freedom. It is the only way to be all that you want to be.

Here Jesus tells us in precise detail how to be free. It begins with belief: Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him. They had not yet trusted him, but they had believed him. They had been intellectually grasped by his arguments and his words, but they had not yet committed themselves to him. Discipleship begins with belief; even intellectual belief; they were there at the door, at the first step.

Then, he says, if you continue in my word. Listen to Jesus. Compare what he says with your own experience. Does what he says agree with what you have found to be true in living life? The test of any religion is not whether it is pleasing, or whether you enjoy it. The test is: Is it true? Does it accord with life? Does it fit what is happening? Does it explain what is going on? That is the test, and that you can only establish as you continue in his word, as you think long and deeply, read fully and frequently. Jesus suggests here that when you do that something will happen to you: If you continue in my word, you will truly be my disciple. If you read his word and you continue in it, somewhere along the line a crisis will occur. You will find that his words have grabbed you, and you will commit yourself to him, and then you are really a disciple.

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