Chris Marshall Resources

Isaiah 52 starts with a promise of the LORD’s redemption of Israel.  In poetic language, we are told that while she went into slavery without a cost, she will be redeemed without cost as well.

As we move to Isaiah 52:13, we see a great example of the truth the original scrolls of Isaiah were without chapter or verse markings, because Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is a unit.  It is the clearest demonstration of the Suffering Servant being Jesus.  As we read the text, we see example after example of how what the servant was going to do reflects what Jesus did.  This model of the Messiah as a suffering servant was not at all what the people expected or hoped for in the time of Jesus.  Many had given up hope the Messiah would come.  Others anticipated the Messiah’s coming as the moment when the LORD would liberate Israel from the tyranny of Rome, and reestablish her as the focus of world power.  As we read through Isaiah 52:13-53:12, we see the LORD’s focus was much deeper, and while on the surface “weaker,” in the end much more powerful.  Jesus came to set all of us free from sin and death, and to heal us at the deepest level–spiritually, emotionally, physically, in every way.  Read these verses together and thank the LORD for fulfilling this promise through Jesus!

Isaiah 54 tells us the LORD will establish an everlasting covenant with His people.  While He was angry with them for a time, and rejected them, the time is coming when He will restore them and that restoration will never end.

As we return to John 10, Jesus uses the image of shepherding to show us who He is and what He is like.  He offers two images: 1) He is the Door of the sheepfold; and 2) He is the Good Shepherd.  Through the first image He tells us He protects us (the sheep) from harm, whether it be from natural predators or thieves.  When He tells us He is the Good Shepherd, He brings to mind Psalm 23 where King David told us the LORD is our Shepherd.  Jesus made it clear time and time again in John’s gospel He is the Messiah, and He is God.  The most powerful statement Jesus made about His work in John 10 is The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that you may have life in all its abundance! (John 10:10) Again, Jesus’ clear statement about who He is and what He came to do caused an argument between Him and the religious leaders.  They wanted to kill Him for His proclamations and for making Himself equal with God.  Jesus countered that His works demonstrated who He was, but the religious leaders wouldn’t accept Jesus’ claims.  We are left with the same choice as the religious leaders: accept who Jesus is, because of what He has done, or reject the evidence and Him.  When people tell us our faith is unreasonable, they are the ones being unreasonable.  While it does take faith to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, the evidence that He is both is overwhelming!

Isaiah 50 offers us the comparison of Israel’s sin and the suffering servant’s obedience.  We start with the stark reality of Israel’s disobedience to the LORD, and how the LORD punished her.  Then we turn to the suffering of the LORD’s servant.  We have specific mention of the servant’s willingness to suffer.  He offered his back to those who would strike him, and his beard to those who would pluck it out.  Both these offenses happened to Jesus.  While scholars have pointed to the Jewish people as a whole as the suffering servant, this chapter makes that untenable, because the people are unfaithful, while the servant is faithful.  We can’t say with absolute certainty the passage references Jesus, but we can say Jesus fits the description better than any character in Jewish history!

Isaiah 51 offers a severe mercy from the LORD to Israel.  It starts by reminding us the LORD established Israel from Abraham and Sarah, a couple who were barren until He worked in their lives.  From one person “Zion” became many, multitudes of people sprang from one.  This was the LORD’s plan, but the people of Zion rebelled.  The result?  They had to drink the wine of the LORD’s wrath.  This came in the form of pagan armies, famines and wicked leaders of their own.  Isaiah doesn’t tell us that plainly, but it is implied in the poetry of the chapter.  Nevertheless, the LORD has determined Zion will not end by drinking the LORD’s wrath, but they will be comforted, and restored.  This is always the LORD’s message: You rebelled, but I will restore.  We see that so clearly in our own lives as Jesus’ followers.  We rebelled against the LORD, and He sent Jesus to restore us.  We can choose to reject the solution, the redemption, the restoration, but the LORD’s work is to redeem and restore us.

As we return to John 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter a man who had been born blind.  The disciples asked a question we might ask, “Who sinned?  This man or his parents that he was born blind?”  After all, being born blind must have been someone’s “fault.”  But Jesus responded no one sinned.  The man’s situation was so God could be glorified.  Jesus healed the man, by spitting on the ground, making mud, and placing the mud in his eyes.  Then he told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.  When the man did so, he came back seeing!  This caused quite a stir, but not for the reason we might think.  While the man was enthusiastic about his healing, the religious leaders were less so.  Why?  Because Jesus had healed the man on the Sabbath.  They contended Jesus was a sinner, because he healed on the Sabbath.  The man pointed out God isn’t in the habit of answering sinners.  When the Pharisees debated with the man further, he gave them the most amazing and simple answer: This I know. I was blind, but now I see.  What a powerful testimony.  We who know Jesus all have the testimony. I was spiritually blind, but now I see.  I was angry, but now I am at peace.  Jesus came to restore us to health and vitality.  He does that physically, spiritually, emotionally, and in every way.  The results are not always as immediate as with the blind man, who gained his sight, but the results are always there.  Over time, we become more and more like Jesus as we live with Him as Lord and Savior.  Whatever area of life is our area of need, Jesus calls us to turn to Him to receive wholeness.

Isaiah 48 is a reminder to Jacob and Israel that the LORD chose them, and called them to Himself.  They were rebellious even before their birth, and as a result the many blessings the LORD had for them were short-circuited.  In those days, the LORD’s covenant with the people was a conditional covenant.  It was conditioned on their obedience.  That meant they seldom received the full blessings of the covenant.  While the LORD had promised David one of his descendants would sit on Israel’s throne forever, the LORD also made it clear that disobedience would be punished.  The LORD brought up one of His promises, which was made to Abraham, that the descendants of Israel would be a great multitude, but it didn’t happen because of their disobedience.  If we want to experience the fullness of God’s blessing in our lives, we must remember while God’s love for us is unconditional, our obedience is required to receive the fullness of God’s blessing toward us.

Isaiah 49 offers us another servant song. Some contend the servant is all of Israel, but the prophecy speaks of the servant as being the one who delivers Israel.  As we read this poem, we see once again the LORD’s great love for Israel and the lengths He was going to go to restore her.  We have seen her partial restoration throughout history, most recently in 1948 when the nation of Israel was formed.  But a time is coming when all of God’s people who have trusted His servant Jesus as Savior and LORD will be gathered forever as one, and in that day all the positive prophecies and blessings of the entire Bible will come to us, to those who are the citizens of heaven by virtue of our divine rebirth through the blood of Jesus.

As we return to John 8, we return to a story that exemplifies Jesus’ compassion: the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery.  While the earliest manuscripts of John don’t have this passage, it is fully consistent with Jesus and the way He taught and lived.  When the woman was brought by the religious leaders as a “test” for Jesus, they thought that had Him for sure.  Because the woman was caught in adultery, the Mosaic Law required she be put to death.  But the Jews had no authority to put anyone to death.  That meant if Jesus condemned the woman, the Jewish leaders would turn Him over to the Romans.  If He said to release her, they would say He was breaking the Mosaic Law.  It was a lose-lose for Jesus.  Except it wasn’t!  Jesus told them to go ahead and stone her, but to have the one among them who had never sinned cast the first stone.  We’re told they walked away from the oldest to the youngest.  I’ve always appreciated that detail, because as a 62 year old, I’m quite aware of my sin, and remember my zealous younger days when I could easily overlook them when I was on my latest crusade.  When the woman was left alone with Jesus, He asked her where her accusers were?  She said no one was left to accuse her.  He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”  What a perfect mixture of truth and love.  I don’t condemn you–love. Go and sin no more–truth.  We can only hope the woman took the mixture of truth and love and started a new life of truth and love in Jesus name.

After this Jesus spoke of Himself as the light of the world.  This raised another argument between Him and the religious leaders.  The result of that was the religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus, because He called Himself “I am,” which is the name for God.  Every chapter for the last several, we have been faced with the question, “Do we believe Jesus is who He says He is?”  We must answer the question, because Jesus leaves us no choice.  Here we must come face-to-face with the question of whether Jesus is the Son of God, and if He is, then He is worthy of our worship and obedience!

Isaiah 45 shows us the LORD uses the leaders of other nations and their armies to bring about His will in history.  It was King Cyrus of Persia who is mentioned by name in Isaiah 45.  God selected him and used him in judging other nations, and in sending some of the people of Israel back to their native land from exile.  They would rebuild the walls of Jerusalem as well as the Temple.  While he was reigning over them, he required them to offer sacrifices on his behalf, but the end result was the nation of Israel was restored. As we look throughout history, the same has happened.  The people of Israel have been scattered and decimated, but always the LORD brings them back.  The remainder of the chapter reminds us once again the LORD is their Savior, and He will always be with them.

Isaiah 46 reminds us the gods of Babylon, which King Nebuchadnezzar had proclaimed were the source of his might and strength, were destroyed.  (Undoubtedly by the coming of the Persians, as in that day every conquering nation destroyed the idols of those they conquered, or collected them to show they were superior.)  Once again, the LORD reminds us of the futility of worshiping gods, even gods made of gold, because they are inanimate.  They have no power, no ability to speak or act.  Only the Lord is God and we must worship and serve Him alone.

Isaiah 47 is a brief condemnation of Babylon.  The LORD reminds the Babylonians they thought their sorcery and their gods would uphold them forever, that they would never be cast down.  Yet, the LORD tells them they will be destroyed and their women will become childless widows, which they said would never happen.  The moral of this account is never trust in yourself or in your own ingenuity, but trust in the LORD and Him alone.

As we return to John 7, we find the crowds and the leaders once again debating over whether Jesus was or was not the Messiah.  Jesus was not going to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, because He knew the Jewish leaders were out to get Him, but at the same time, He needed to go and teach the people.  While He was teaching, the leaders came against Him, but they didn’t arrest Him.  When they sent the Temple Guard to arrest Him, these men came back saying no one had ever taught like Jesus!  The leaders debated among each other, but Nicodemus spoke up and asked whether they condemned people without a hearing?  The other leaders held him in contempt, but at the end they didn’t arrest Him for as the text tells us: His time had not yet come.  Jesus’ time, His time to die on the cross for all of us was coming, but not at the moment, so He lived to teach, heal, and deliver for another day!

Isaiah 43 makes it quite clear the LORD is Israel’s only Savior. Isaiah speaks eloquently of all the ways the LORD has shown Himself as Savior and deliverer of Israel.  He considers Egypt a ransom for her.  He makes a powerful statement that before Him there was no god, and after Him there shall be no other.  He alone is God, and He has chosen Israel as His people.  Despite Israel’s sin, despite their constant turning away, the LORD has not abandoned them.

Isaiah 44 offers us an interesting “sandwich.”  I call it a sandwich because the “bread” is the LORD’s explanation that He is the Savior, redeemer and creator of Israel.  The “meat” inside the sandwich is an explanation of the futility of idols.  He explains that a carpenter takes a tree, albeit a special tree of cedar or oak, and uses half of it to heat his home and cook his food.  The other half he fashions into an idol that he worships. How absurd, right? Yet, in our day, we often worship money, or success, or fame, or beauty, or ______ (you fill in the blank with people or things that are no more gods than the piece of wood used by the carpenter in Isaiah’s illustration). There is only one, true, and living God.  He created all things, He redeemed the world through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and He lives in all who call on Him through the Holy Spirit.  Let’s be certain we don’t laugh at the foolishness of those who worshipped hand carved idols, while forgetting to worship the living God ourselves!

As we return to John 6, we return to one of the most challenging passages in Jesus’ teaching.  First, Jesus feeds the five thousand (men, and many more including women and children) with only five loaves of bread and two fish.  Afterwards, the people proclaim Jesus a prophet. Jesus leaves the crowd to pray.  Meanwhile, the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee in a boat.  Jesus comes to them at night walking on the water.  The next day, the crowds find Jesus by walking around the lake.  They ask Him how He got there?  But Jesus cuts right to the point: You came not because of the miracles, but because I fed you.  They get into a long disagreement with Jesus, which ends with nearly everyone leaving Him, because He told them they had to “eat” His “body” and “drink” His “blood.”  We understand Jesus was using a figure of speech, but they did not, so they left.  Jesus made it clear once again, He was the Messiah, the Son of God, but the people weren’t receiving it.  Finally, Jesus turned to the disciples, and asked, “Are you leaving, too?”  Peter responded by saying Jesus had the words of life. Where would they go?  We must also respond in the same way.  Jesus’ teachings are sometimes hard, and it’s always hard to follow Him as a humble servant, when the world calls us to flamboyant lives of self-indulgence.  Nevertheless, Jesus’ way is the way, so we must choose whether to follow Him, to believe in Him, to do the Father’s will in that way and to receive eternal life, or to follow the world’s way, which ultimately leads to death both physically and spiritually.  Jesus never leaves us the middle road.  He doesn’t permit us to stand on the fence.  It’s either “Follow me,” or “Reject me.”  Which do we choose today?

Isaiah 41 is a proclamation to Israel not to fear, because the LORD is with them.  With many vivid images, we are told of how the LORD will restore His vanquished people.  Perhaps the most vivid of all for me, having visited Israel, where much of the land is desert, the LORD says, ¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys.  I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.  Isaiah 41:18 (ESV)  The LORD is always there to meet our needs, and His love for the people of Israel is a sign to us He will never leave us nor forsake us.  Whatever trouble we might be experiencing right now, read Isaiah 41 and remember: fear not the LORD is with you!

Isaiah 42 offers us one of several “Servant Songs,” in which we see images of Jesus being prophesied.  As we read through the entirety of Isaiah 42, and hear of the blind seeing, and the deaf hearing, we know the message was for those of Isaiah’s day, but was also for the people alive when Jesus walked the earth, and it is for us as well.  We must be aware that Jesus, the Messiah, works wonders in every arena of life: the physical, the emotional, the spiritual, and even the social.  After all, one day He will come and establish a new society, an everlasting Kingdom, where all the promises of Isaiah 42 will be yes, and amen.

As we return to John 5, we read again of Jesus healing the lame man by the pool of Bethesda. That miracle was amazing, yet the religious leaders took offense at it, because Jesus performed the miracle on the Sabbath.  We have seen in our reading of the other gospels that the Pharisees were more concerned with Jesus “breaking” the Sabbath by healing the sick on it, than they were that the sick were sick in the first place.  Here in John 5, Jesus offers a long discourse on His position in relationship to the Father, His authority to do what He does, and the reality that even Moses testified to His coming, and His work among them.  Jesus’ words made it clear to anyone who was listening He was claiming to be the Messiah, and claiming to be equal to God.  This was enough for the Pharisees to condemn Jesus, because they did not believe Him.  That is always the case when it comes to Jesus: we must affirm Him for the God He is, or we must seek to destroy Him.  No one can ignore one who claims to be the author of life, the God of creation.  He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord as has been said by many over the centuries.  Jesus can be ridiculed or lauded, but ignoring Him is not an option.

Isaiah 39 is brief.  It records a visit of envoys from Babylon.  They came to offer best wishes, because they heard Hezekiah had been sick.  While they were with Hezekiah, he showed them all his wealth.  Isaiah came to ask what the Babylonians had seen?  When Hezekiah told Isaiah they had seen everything he owned, Isaiah responded that in the future the Babylonians would come and carry all his wealth to Babylon and that some of the sons that came from Hezekiah would be carried off as eunuchs in Babylon.  Hezekiah’s response is selfish: that’s okay.  At least it won’t happen in my lifetime.  It would be easy to be hard on Hezekiah for such thinking, but most of us would have similar thoughts, at least on the inside, if we heard such news.

Isaiah 40 is one of the most beautiful passages in Isaiah’s entire prophecy.  It speaks of God’s comfort for His people Israel.  It contains so many quotable statements.   In it we are told the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the LORD stands forever.  We’re also told that even youths will grow tired and weary, but those who wait on the LORD will renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary.  They shall walk and not faint.  Each day during my daily time of pray, I tell the LORD I am waiting on Him.  I wait as a servant waits on his King, as a child waits on his daddy.  I often quote this last passage of Isaiah 40 in my prayer.  I proclaim that as I wait on the LORD He will renew my strength.  He will do that supernaturally, because it is supernatural to mount up on wings as eagles.  He will do that in providing perseverance as one who runs and does not grow weary, or who walks and does not faint.  In my time of waiting on the LORD, I listen for anything He has to say to me, and I remember that before I do anything, I need to praise the LORD and wait on Him.  After all, I serve Him, not the other way around.

As we return to John 4, we remember Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.  From a social and cultural standpoint, Jesus did everything “wrong.”  He ought not to have spoken to a woman in public, and certainly not a Samaritan woman.  Yet, Jesus not only spoke to the woman, He asked her to give Him a drink of water.  This was a practical request, and having visited Israel, I know how scarce water is in the region of Samaria.  Jesus needed a drink.  But Jesus wasn’t asking for water simply, because He was thirsty.  He asked so He could share with the woman that He was the one who provides “living water.”  Jesus could quench the woman’s thirst, and not merely her physical thirst.  He could quench the thirst in her soul.  The woman was damaged.  She had been married five times, which in that culture was considered horrendous.  She was living with a man who was not her husband.  Again, this was radically unacceptable.  Still, Jesus accepted the woman, and not only accepted her, He revealed to her that He was the Messiah!  He hadn’t told that to Nicodemus.  He didn’t offer that information when He was at the wedding in Cana.  He revealed it to a woman who was as low on the societal scale as possible.  Just like Jesus!  Jesus never cared about social conformity.  Jesus certainly never cared about what other people thought about Him or the people with whom He associated.  He only cared about showing His Father’s love to everyone He could.  The result of Jesus’ encounter with the woman, was she believed, and not only her, but eventually all the people in her town.  They believed first based on her testimony, and then based on their personal interaction with Jesus.  The good news for us is we can also believe based on the woman’s testimony and the testimony of so many others we read in the words of John, the other gospel writers, and Paul, along with so many others.  One day, we too, will get to be with Jesus.  Then our faith will be fully confirmed, but for now we rely on the evidence we see so clearly in the transformations that took place in those who knew Jesus personally from those who walked with Him, to those in our present day.

The other important event of John 4, was Jesus’ healing of the son of an official from Cana.  We don’t know whether the man was a synagogue official, or a government official, but whatever it was, putting his faith in Jesus was an act of desperation as much as an act of faith.  When Jesus healed the boy, the official and his family believed in Jesus.  John reminds us this was the second sign Jesus performed during His ministry. The first was a “nature” sign as Jesus turned water into wine.  This was a healing sign, and Jesus did it without even going near the boy.  Again, we see Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Son.  His actions speak that message clearly.

Isaiah 37 records the amazing delivery of Judah from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria.  King Hezekiah of Judah humbled himself before the LORD twice, asking for the LORD to protect the people.  Isaiah prophesied that the Assyrians, who had defeated many lands and “burned their gods in the fire,” would not do the same to Israel, because the other nations “gods” were not gods at all.  In addition to condemning the Assyrians in this prophecy, the angel of the LORD went out and killed 185,000 of the Assyrians’ troops.  They returned to their homeland, and there two of Sennacherib’s sons assassinated him.

In Isaiah 38, King Hezekiah becomes sick, and Isaiah goes to him to tell him to get his house in order, because the LORD has determined it is time for him to die.  Hezekiah turns to the LORD immediately, crying out and asking for more time.  The LORD responds and promises Hezekiah fifteen more years.  To show Hezekiah His promise is true, the LORD makes the sun goes back ten steps.  Hezekiah responds with a “psalm” of lament that ends in joy, because he was preparing for death, but the LORD delivered him from it.

As we return to John 3, we remember it as the chapter with the best-known verse in Scripture: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.  While that verse is the climax, it was John 3:3 that brought the truth to Nicodemus about eternal life, that Nicodemus was not able to fully grasp.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, wanting to speak with Him, but not wanting others to know, (thus the coming at night.).  He started buttering Jesus up with accolades about His abilities, but Jesus cut straight to the point:  Unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.  Nicodemus thought of a second physical birth, which he rightly saw as impossible.  Jesus wasn’t talking of a second physical birth, but of a spiritual birth.  When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit, and we receive the spiritual life that will live forever, the life we read about in John 3:16. John 3:17 is also powerful: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him, the world could be saved.   So many in our world today think the God of Christianity is a vindictive, even hateful God.  He is not.  He doesn’t want to condemn us.  He wants to free us.  We can say if anyone dies separated from God it is literally over Jesus’ dead body.  God did everything He could do for us.  What remains is for us to respond.  All we must do is surrender our old, sinful lives for the new life Jesus offered through the second birth.  Jesus would soon die on the cross to fulfill John 3:16.  We don’t know whether Nicodemus got the message that night.  What we do know is when Jesus died, he and another Pharisee named Joseph took Jesus’ body down from the cross and buried it in Joseph’s tomb.  That move would have been seen by the other members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of the Jews of which they were a part, as an act of betrayal and denial.  Ironic, that Jesus was betrayed and denied by those closest to Him the night before He was crucified, and on the day of His crucifixion and death, two members of the body that worked to ensure His condemnation went public with their support of Jesus.

Isaiah 34 pronounces judgment on the nations.  The LORD tells the nations He will destroy them.  Special desolation is pronounced on Edom.  We’re told the entire nation will become a “nature preserve.”  While Isaiah doesn’t put it in those terms.  He tells us of all the wild animals that will take over the land, because Edom will be no more.

Isaiah 35 announces the restoration of the land of Israel.  While the place names are cities mainly in northern Israel and include Lebanon, the promises are that all people will be restored.  The blind will receive sight, the deaf will hear, the lame will jump for joy.  The land will also be restored.  The dry land will be made fruitful once again. Having visited Israel, I can picture the places named, and also the arid nature of the land.  The promised future is one every Israeli longs to see.

In Isaiah 36, Isaiah records the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib of Assyria.  The Assyrians take the cities surrounding Jerusalem and then come against Jerusalem.  Their leader calls out to the people of Jerusalem to surrender.  He promises if they will surrender, each will be able to go to his own home with his own vineyard.  Otherwise, each will face a tortured end to their lives.  The Assyrians planned to starve the Israelites as they waited outside the city.  But the leaders of Israel did not answer the Assyrians, because they were told not to by King Hezekiah. As the chapter ends, the leaders go to Hezekiah in sackcloth telling him of their dire situation.

As we return to John 2, we find three main events.  First, Jesus and His disciples attend a wedding in Cana.  When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother asked Him to do something.  Jesus seemed unwilling at first, because “His time had not yet come.  Even so, He intervened in the situation and turned a great deal of purified water into wine.  This was His first miracle.  We’re told when His disciples saw it, they believed in Him.  Next, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and went to the Temple.  While He was there, He noticed the moneychangers who were taking advantage of the people who had come from out of town.  He upset the moneychangers’ tables and condemned them for turning the Lord’s house into a den of thieves.   The final event is the religious leaders asked Jesus why He thought He had the authority to do such a thing, and asked for a sign to show He did.  Jesus told them if they tore down the “Temple,” He would rebuild it in three days.  They thought He was speaking of the Jerusalem Temple, which had taken forty-six years to build to that point.  He was talking about His body, and He would eventually come through on that promise!

Isaiah 31 makes a brief, but clear point: Trust in the LORD not in any human being or nation.   The Israelites were relying on Egypt and their horses (and chariots) to deliver them from the Assyrians.  That was not God’s plan.  God reminded them He would take care of the Assyrians and no human sword would be necessary.  Even though we live on the resurrection side of Easter, and we rely on Jesus as Savior and Lord in every situation, this is a helpful reminder to us.  While we can make our plans, and we are supposed to do all that we can do to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, it is always God who works in us to will and to work for His good pleasure!

Isaiah 32 is another chapter with a mixed message.  It starts with a statement about a king who will rule in righteousness.  We’re told how that king will rid the nation of foolishness, and of calling foolishness anything but what it is.  But then the chapter takes a turn and the wealthy women of the nation are told they are to turn to repentance (noted by telling them to put on sackcloth and to beat their breasts.).  The chapter ends on a positive note, but as we find throughout Isaiah, the LORD has Isaiah remind the people their sin is cause for repentance, and their future is only secure in Him.

Isaiah 33 starts with the stark reality of Israel’s situation but builds to a time when the LORD will be the king, when Jerusalem will be reestablished.  In that time, even the lame will have more than enough.  We cannot know whether this time was to be in a chronological future, or at the time of the LORD’s return.  It isn’t always clear in Isaiah’s prophecies whether He was speaking of a time in the immediate future, or of the time when God will bring about the fulfillment of history through Jesus.  The one sure reality is God’s people will be vindicated in the end by God, and not by our own efforts, or because of our own goodness.

As we return to the Gospel of John for the third time, it ought to be becoming clear to us that John’s gospel is different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  As we have said the first three gospels are known as the “Synoptic” gospels, which means “seen together.” That’s because they have similar content, and many of the same accounts, sometimes with virtually the same wording.  John, on the other hand, is a more theological work.  Having been written twenty to thirty years after the other gospels, when John was an old man, the account is much more concerned with demonstrating Jesus is God, and that He is the way to salvation.  John tells us as much in John 20:30-23:  ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31 (ESV)

John 1 records who Jesus is from an overarching perspective: He is “the Word.”  The Greek work, “logos,” which John used can mean both the Word as in the Word of God, and the divine ordering principle behind everything.  Greek philosophers used logos the second way.  It could well be John was using the word with both intentions, because Jesus is the Word of God, and He is also the divine ordering principle behind everything.  In any case, John wasn’t concerned to tell us about Jesus’ physical birth, and he often left out details about when and where events took place.  In John 1, in addition to telling us Jesus was the word, he also tells us Jesus was full of grace and truth. What a vital combination. Grace or truth are easy paths to take.  I can be gracious to you, if I don’t care about holding you to the truth.  Or I can speak truth to you, if I don’t care about being gracious.  But to be full of both grace and truth means I would show you grace while holding you to the truth.  That’s what Jesus does for us.  He shows us absolute grace, while holding us to absolute truth.  That combination can only be carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus held in all His fullness.  As we work our way through John’s gospel this time, we will point out one or two aspects of Jesus divine nature and or power, because that is what John wanted us to see.