Daily Bible Devotionals

“‘So now what have I here’ – the Lord’s declaration – ‘that My people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail’ – the Lord’s declaration – ‘and My Name is continually blasphemed all day long. Therefore, My people will know My Name; therefore they will know on that day that I am He who says: Here I am.’  How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”  Isaiah 52:5-7 (HCSB)

Chapter 52 begins with a repetition of the cry to awaken. God throws back at Israel her own cry (51:9), repeating the same words. Zion, God’s people, is in danger. She is drunk with her sins. Foreigners (the uncircumcised) are at present occupying the streets of Jerusalem. But all of this will change. (52:1)  She is to arise and sit up in a dignified royal manner. (52:2)  Zion will be redeemed; God has promised it.  They have not been sold for money. God owes no one anything in Zion’s redemption. (52:3)  He is a debtor to no one. (50:1)  God’s saving work is to glorify his own name.

“Therefore My people will know My Name; therefore they will know on that day that I am He who says: Here I am.”  Isaiah 52:6 (HCSB)

Peter uses the same analogy:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  1 Peter 1:18-19 (NIV)

Or how about the words of Paul?

“They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24 (HCSB)

Put simply, Israel did not fall into captivity because God owed some foreign god a debt. They were taken into captivity because they transgressed against the Lord. Furthermore, nobody has helped God in His act of deliverance. God does not owe any mention to the merits of men: He alone saves!

The way of salvation is being made clear, and all mankind should take note of it. It is not exclusive to any particular ethnic group; it is free to all who will believe and follow. But it comes exclusively through God’s “Servant” Messiah Jesus.

“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When I called him he was only one; I blessed him and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.” Isaiah 51:1-3 (HCSB)

The previous chapter ended by expressing concern for the spiritually depressed. Chapter 51 continues the application of a remedy. The two “servant songs” (49:1-6; 50:4-9) are undoubtedly meant to encourage true believers, captive in Babylon, to “turn their eyes upon Messiah.”

Chapter 51 elaborates by a threefold use of either “listen” or “hear,” all of which urge tired believers to continue living faithfully. Three sections of Isaiah 51 (1-3, 4-6, 7-8) advocate that believers look backward, forward, and to the present, carefully observing God’s promises surrounding each perspective. Now, on to today’s passage.

God encourages us first to remember what He has done in our past, rescuing us from sin and assuring us of His promise of love and abiding presence.

Isaiah uses the image of a “piece of rock” (shapeless and black) and the quarry from which it is taken – dirty, dark, and dismal. The sculptor has fashioned it into a work of great beauty and design. “look back at your roots,” God urges. “Think of what I have done for you.”

Taking Abraham (the father of the faithful) and his wife Sarah as examples, Isaiah reminds his hearers how God took these two people and multiplied them. God blessed Abraham and his descendants. Out of one couple (and an old one at that), God miraculously formed a great nation. No matter how small and difficult things may be, God can transform our situations beyond recognition. Nothing is too difficult for God. Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. It begins where man’s power ends.

In place of gloom and despair, God promises comfort, compassion, paradise (He will make her wilderness like Eden), and joy. The desert-like experience of Babylon will give way to restored paradise. We already saw the use of a garden (Eden) as a symbol of what God intends for His children in Isaiah 35:12

When the dying thief asked to be remembered by Jesus, he was promised to experience “paradise” that day. (Luke 23:43)  Paul momentarily experienced it (2 Corinthians 12:4), and the last book of the Bible takes up the word again, holding out the prospect of Heaven. (Revelation 2:7)  If you were to die tonight, do you know for certain that you will enter eternal life, “paradise” with Messiah Jesus?

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Isaiah 50. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“And now, says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him; for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God is my strength - He says, ‘It is not enough for you to be My Servant raising up the tribes of Jacob and restoring the protected ones of Israel. I will also make you a light for the nations, to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Isaiah 49:5-6 (HCSB)

Even before Jesus arrived, His mission had been designated: He would be a preacher. “Sword and arrows” speak of the opposition He could expect. (49:2) When Jesus came, He acted as Israel’s representative. He labored on behalf of His covenant people. His mission involved transforming sinful Israel into ideal Israel. Just as Isaiah had warned, Jesus’ message was rejected by most of the Jewish community, a rejection maintained by most of the Jewish community in our time. However, their rejection of Messiah opened up evangelism for the Gentiles, which was God’s plan all along. (Romans 11)

Isaiah continues to describe the Servant’s task in today’s passage. He will be a “light for the nations.” The gospel of the kingdom (which Jesus makes possible) is meant not simply ethnic Israel. It is to be comprised of both Jew and Gentile, by God’s promise to all who trust in Messiah. (Romans 9:6) Though Jesus restricted Himself almost entirely to the Jews during His earthly ministry, Gentiles were not excluded – something Matthew’s gospel, written primarily to Messianic Jews, underlines.

Matthew’s gospel takes up today’s passage. (Matthew 12:17-21) Gentile women, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba), and Tamar are among Jesus’ genealogy. (Matthew 1) Jesus’ ministry is primarily conducted in “Galilee of the Gentiles.” (Matthew 4:15) And so on. Of course, the “Great Commission” is worded in such a way as to emphasize the need to go “and make disciples of all nations .” (Matthew 28:19)

Paul justified his mission to the Gentiles with today’s passage. He was speaking to a mixed (Jew and Gentile) audience in Antioch but focusing on Jews who opposed him.

“Then Paul and Barnabas boldly said: ‘It was necessary that God’s message be spoken to you first. But since you reject it, and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles! For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have appointed you as a light for the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’  When many Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the message of the Lord, and all who were appointed to eternal life believed.” Acts 13:46-48 (HCSB)

The idea that “Gentiles get in” was completely revolutionary in Isaiah’s time and the apostle Paul’s generation. “What do we do with all these Gentiles?” was the greatest question debated amongst the early Church, which was primarily comprised of Jewish believers. Perhaps the obvious question for today’s Church should be, “Where did all the Jews go?” followed closely by, “How does the Lord want to use me to share the gospel with the Jewish people?”

“Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end of the earth; say ‘The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!’  And they do not thirst when He led them through the deserts: He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out. ‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked.’”  Isaiah 48:20-22 (HCSB)

After having pronounced judgment upon Babylon for their pride and idolatry, the Lord turns back toward Israel with a message of hope and redemption. He informed Israel that His rebuke (at the hand of Babylon) was not intended to destroy Israel completely, only to refine her through adversity, as silver through a fire.  

God’s intention is always to purge sin from His people. He prefers that we willingly release our sin, but He is not above letting His Name (and namesake) be tarnished temporarily to drive sin from His own children. It reminds me of the parent who is not afraid to reprimand their child in public if the situation requires it. Ultimately, questions about parenting styles will be vindicated by the testimony of kids raised rightly! The call for Israel to flee Babylon is echoed in the New Testament book of The Revelation. “Babylon,” henceforth, becomes a Biblical metaphor for spiritual adultery & worldly harlotry among God’s people.

“After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:1-4 (NKJV)

Notice how the Lord reminds Israel of His provision of water throughout desert periods. It also reminds us of how Jesus promised “living water” to the Samaritan “woman at the well.”  Also, consider Paul’s words to the church in Corinth:

“Now I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 (HCSB)

Finally, compare the Lord’s declaration of “no rest for the wicked” with King David’s exhortation in Psalm 1:

“How happy is the man who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path of sinners, or join a group of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2 (HCSB)

“I was angry with My people; I profaned My possession and placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly. You said: ‘I will be the mistress forever.’  You did not take these things to heart or think about their outcome. So now hear this, lover of luxury, who sits securely; who says to herself: ‘I, and no one else, will ever be a widow or know the loss of children.’  These two things will happen to you suddenly, in one day: loss of children and widowhood. They will appear to you in their entirety, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.” Isaiah 47:6-9 (HCSB)

Today’s passage brings to mind how salvation can only come through Messiah Jesus. We learn today that if God were to raise up another nation to replace Israel, giving them the same opportunities and favor as He gave to Israel, that newly favored nation could not fulfill God’s requirements, either. God showed favor to Babylon to judge the nations and rebuke Israel. But God-given power went to their heads. They humiliated God and elevated their man-made gods. Instead of showing grace to Israel, the Babylonians punished them. Compare Babylon’s burden and yoke to that of Jesus:

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (HCSB)

In addition, God will never be a widower or father orphans. (Hebrews 13:5) His “Bride” is His Church, all who are saved by His grace through faith in His Son, Messiah Jesus. (Ephesians 2:8-9) His children are the “sheep of His pasture.” Therefore, His “Bride” equals the sum total of His “sheep,” as it were.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. I have given them eternal life, and they will never perish – ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father – We are One.” John 10:27-30 (HCSB)

God’s warning to Babylon (when Babylon said they would be His “Mistress forever”) is curiously similar to Paul’s warning to Gentile believers who displayed arrogance towards what they considered to be “rejected” Israel. (In Biblical imagery, people are also referred to as “branches,” with Jesus being the “True Vine”)  

“Now if some of the branches (the unfaithful of Israel) were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted-in among them, and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not brag that you are better than those branches. But if you do brag – you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you.”  Romans 11:17-18 (HCSB)

The World is prone to forsaking both wedding vows and offspring. God has no mistresses, only one “Bride”. He is eternally faithful to His vows and His natural and adopted children.

“Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols are consigned to beasts and cattle. The images you carry are loaded, as a burden for the weary animal. The gods cower; they crouch together; they are not able to rescue the burden, but they themselves go into captivity. ‘Listen to me house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth. I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.’” Isaiah 46:1-4 (HCSB)

Having been reintroduced to the figure of Cyrus in chapters 46-47, we are taken a little beyond that horizon to the eventual downfall of Babylon itself. Behind Babylon’s collapse lies her idolatry. Idolatry and collapse are always intimately bound together.

The kingdoms of this world are notoriously unstable. Babylon’s power was awesome, but it disappeared in a moment. Perhaps this is also a warning to our United States. We should take heed lest we stray from the reality that Jesus is Lord and the truth that apart from God, there is no salvation, revelation of spiritual truth, or true justice. Man’s empires exist only so long as God allows.

In a sermon titled “God’s Providence,” C.H. Spurgeon said, “Napoleon once heard it said that man proposes, and God disposes. ‘Ah,’ said Napoleon, ‘but I propose and dispose, too.’  How do you think he proposed and disposed? He proposed to go and take Russia; he proposed to make all Europe his. He proposed to destroy that power, and how did he come back again? How had he disposed it? He came back solitary and alone, his mighty men perished and wasted, having well-nigh eaten and devoured one another through hunger.”  Man proposes, and God disposes. (Proverbs 16:9)

It is true that Babylon was given power over Israel for a time. God was angry with His people and wanted to teach them a lesson. But Babylon showed no mercy and failed to recognize that God must be worshipped exclusively (not worshipped alongside idols); therefore, Babylon received no mercy. Babylon’s arrogance is captured by the striking similarity of her boast to that of God Himself.  

“I am God, and there is none like me.” Isaiah 46:9 (NKJV - Compare to Isaiah 47:8, 10)

Moving to today’s passage, everything this world’s kingdoms are devoted to is unstable. This applies not just to idols in the sense that we usually think of them but also to such idolatrous things as ambition, power, fame, and materialism. The same truth is taught in the apocalyptic vision of Daniel 11. Kingdoms, void of a true foundation, are bound to crumble. Ultimate success is only guaranteed to the kingdom of God.  

It is good for us to ask the Lord to reveal those things in our lives to which we have ascribed worship and honor, attributes that belong only to the Lord. Once revealed, we must destroy those “idols” and restore proper worship to Him only. As enticing as some worldliness may seem at the outset, it has a horrible, predictably ruinous end.

“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.  Does the clay say to the Potter, ‘What are you making?’  Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?”  Isaiah 45:9 (HCSB)

Isaiah 44:28 introduced us once more to Cyrus.  It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Cyrus The Great in Israel’s ancient history.  The successive victories of Cyrus against the Medes, Lydians, and Babylonians, ratified in secular history sources, bring into focus the astonishing accuracy of Isaiah’s prophecies given 150 years earlier.  It was the Lord who called Cyrus and gave him these victories.

It has been argued that Cyrus was a believer, a convert of sorts, but Scripture indicates that was not the case.  He was a pagan who saw the favor of Israel’s God as something to add to his collection of gods.  That is not to say that Cyrus was not “used by the Lord.”  He was “anointed” and empowered to succeed because the Lord had willed it to accomplish His purposes.  

Put bluntly, it is possible to be used of the Lord and not know Him personally, just as it is possible to know Him in a saving way but not be used…shelved because of unrepentant sin.  God’s using a person is not always a clear indicator of their salvation…nor is His rebuke of believers a true indicator that He has rejected them.  Salvation is by grace through faith.  (Ephesians 2:8-9) God is about the business of accomplishing His purposes, and any tool among His creation is at His Disposal.  See also Balaam’s donkey and Jonah’s whale.

Everything that happens, even in international affairs, is according to the Lord’s plan.  There is no panic in Heaven, only planning.  No emergency sessions of the Trinity because we are messing things up!  When everything seems shaking all around, God’s sovereignty is of enormous encouragement.  This brings us to today’s passage.

The “clay-to-the-Potter” dialogue is the arrogance of unbelief.  It questions what God is doing.  The Lord who made the stars in the universe can order the course of history.  What is this foolishness that questions God’s ability to raise up a Cyrus some 150 years later?  It is nothing less than unbelief.  This type of unbelief will always be in opposition to prophecy.  It questions not only the prophet but also the core reality that the prophet is simply delivering the message of God, who can call His shots 150 years in advance.

Before Israel went into exile, Isaiah was delivering God’s invitation of Grace.

The same level of faith that Israel was commanded to display is required of followers of Jesus.  We must believe that Jesus died and was resurrected, a past event, a prophecy already fulfilled, and that He is coming again to gather His followers and judge the unrepentant.

“And now listen Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen. This is the Word of the Lord your Maker who shaped you from birth: He will help you: do not fear; Jacob is My servant; I have chosen Jeshurun. For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on your offspring. They will sprout among the grass like poplars by the streambeds. The one will say: I am the Lord’s; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand: The Lord’s, and name himself by the name of Israel.” Isaiah 44:1-5

Chapter 43 began with redemption and ended with a rebuke. Just a few verses earlier the Lord had promised, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25

Isaiah develops this idea in chapter 44. The chapter can be divided into two sections: a promise of revival to God’s true “people”, (His greater Messianic Community, both Jew and Gentile, one in Messiah) and, a contrast between the true God (Who alone can promise salvation/revival) and the dumb, worthless idols of men.

Promises like these in today’s passage, the promise of His Spirit, provision and salvation, abound in Isaiah’s prophecy. We will read later, in chapters 63-64, how Isaiah speaks about the possibility of global revival, including both Israel and the nations.

Consider the Bible’s descriptions of the experience of God’s blessings. (Isaiah 12:3; 55:1; Psalm 42:1; Jeremiah 2:13; John 4:14; 7:37; Revelation 7:17) I have experienced seasons where I felt spiritually parched, and in those times, the Lord’s blessing is truly like refreshing water. The blessing Isaiah now speaks of is the revival of God’s people from their current morbid condition.

The Lord discloses in the Bible how, throughout history, He has advanced His people of faith by intermittent revivals. That is the primary purpose of the book of Judges. Perhaps, the most recent “revival” in our time would have been the “Jesus Movement” in the late 60’-70’s. Isaiah describes such times as periods of great blessing, underlined by the use of the name: Jeshurun, to describe not only Israel but also the community of “upright” believers-at-large. That term was used by Moses when he described the blessedness that redeemed people could expect from God. Deuteronomy 33:5, 26

I believe our generation is ripe for revival, and your getting intimate with God’s Word will no doubt play a part in your ability to be a contributor to that revival. One thing to note is WHO Isaiah says will be affected by the revival. First, there are those among the Nations who reject the gospel. Then, there are those of Israel who worship God’s Servant, Messiah Jesus, who say, “I am the Lord’s”. Next, there are those of Israel who reject Messiah, who identify with “Jacob”, Isaiah’s moniker for apostate Israel. Finally, there are those from among the Nations who believe in Jesus and take determined steps to be identified with the Lord, through faith in Him. So, which group most describes you, and what part is God preparing YOU to play in the forthcoming “revival”?