Isaiah 60-66
God's Plans
For The Future

The people whom God has redeemed, freed, and delivered should joyfully praise Him in testimony and song. Those who don't joyfully sing don't have a Biblical relationship with God. Those who enthusiastically sing without profound obedience don't have one either. The touchstone of a true relationship with God is the testimony of calling to God and experiencing His deliverance. Our joy comes out of our life with God, not an amplifier.

These verses encapsulate the essence of a correct Biblical Theology. God really, really, really wants to richly bless those who listen and obey. Those who walk in His ways will be totally satisfied by the God who created our desires. He can even make the sweetness of honey come out of a hard and difficult situation. However, those who chose to follow their own way, desiring something other than God (be it security, significance, pleasure, or possessions), miss out on God's plan to bless, and lose. He allows them the freedom of their choice, as stupid, stubborn and unsatisfying as it may be. God has sovereignly decided to allow us free will, attaching consequences to our choices. He honors our decision, even though it pains Him (and us). This summary could also be that of Genesis 1-3.

Proverbs 6:10 and 24:33 warn of the consequences of being a sluggard and indulging in escapism. Instead of loving sleep, etc, working buys the bread. While on the subject of getting bread, a little lesson in haggling is given. But the major lesson is in verse 15; the most precious possession is not gold or rubies, but lips that speak knowledge, which is what Proverbs is designed to teach to those who seek it.

Pr 1:4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young man:
Pr 1:7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

God gives glory to His people. Most people don't understand that glory is power, dominion, authority, rule, energy, light, grace (2Cor 12:9), etc., the building block of the universe, and one of the rewards God gives His faithful servants (1Pt 1:7,10; 2Cor 4:17-18). This might be a new concept for some of you, but it's something you'll eventually need to get a grip on. You can discover it for yourself by looking up each word in a concordance, and then noting the synonyms, and surrounding circumstances. If you believe that only God gets glory, you're not believing the Scriptures.

Looking further into the future, God describes a time when all Israel will be righteousness, knowing Yahweh as their Savior and Redeemer. All the rulers will be righteous, and there will be righteous leaders; there will be no more destruction, and they will inherit and enjoy the land forever. With His promises fulfilled, God is glorified. God Himself will be their light in Jerusalem. See the parallel passage in Revelation 21-22.

The Messiah speaks these verses, indicating the purposes for which Yahweh anointed him. When Jesus read this passage in Nazareth, in his first message to his hometown synagogue (Luke 4:16-21), he stopped after the first phrase in verse 2 “ to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor.” His first coming fulfilled the first five tasks; his second coming will fulfill all the rest. Isaiah didn't see the gap of a couple of thousand plus years, but the day of vengeance and replanting of Israel in the land is still future. See the sermons on Truthbase.net (part 1 and part 2) for an elaboration of each of these items, and how the first five were fulfilled in Jesus' ministry.

These verses look forward to the time when the nations would serve Israel, who would be doubly blessed as a firstborn. God would make an everlasting covenant with Israel, and everyone would acknowledge that all Israel was the people chosen and blessed by God.

A little psalm of praise celebrates the work of God in clothing the nation with salvation and righteousness, in the sight of all nations (a yet future event).

God will not rest until His purposes for Israel are accomplished, which include drawing the nations to Him through her righteousness, salvation, blessing and being rejoined to the land. At which time He will totally rejoice over her. This can't be said of Israel at any time since the exile, so it's still future. Remember “name” is more than what goes on the name tag, it embodies, character, power, and glory.

In a passage evocative of Isaiah 40, in which the nation was comforted by the coming of the king of glory, these verses broaden the comfort to the end of the earth. Note that when the Messiah comes, his reward is with him, and he will payback what each deserves (2Cor 5:9-10). Everyone will recognize God's blessing on Israel and seek them out (so they can be blessed like them).

Part of God's glory is exercising His power according to His rule, which involves punishing the wicked. The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” used to be in most older hymnals, and is not only full of Scriptures, but a great commentary on them. God is the one who offers salvation, because no one else is able to do so. Bozrah was the capital of Edom, the enemies of the scary God whom He swears to destroy (Jer 49:13).

God is grieved by rebellious sin, and rejoices in loyal obedience. His hesed keeps Him loyal to His people, even as He disciplines them, so He will eventually be glorified through them. This section is a great encapsulation of Israel's history. Verse 10 doesn't fit most people's concept of God (He fights against His own chosen people, as His enemy because of their rebellion against them), because they don't get their knowledge of God from the Scriptures. Regardless of what people want to believe, God is as He reveals Himself to be (Heb 11:6).

Isaiah asks God to act on the behalf of His people. Verse 17 is subject to a number of possible translations and interpretations. Incorrectly understood, it looks like God has caused His people to sin, which would be at odds with hundreds of verses to the contrary. Correctly understood it asks God when He is going to act and remove from them the discipline for failing to follow His ways.

Isaiah on behalf of those in captivity, again asks God to intervene, and save those who wait for Him, wondering how long it will be. Two things worth noting: first in vv 4-5 is that God comes to the aid of (answers the prayers of) those who trust in Him and gladly do what is right (obey); the second is that God is angry toward those who rebel against them. He is not angry and rejecting of the "righteous/religions" deeds because of their original sin, but because of their continued "same old, same old" sins that cause them to become like filthy rags. The next verse (v6) is often applied to unbelievers, but in context it applies to believers behaving badly.

The nation in exile were all unclean and rebellious, and therefore God had rejected them. But God will not forever discipline, nor reject the people He made.

God responds to the pleas in the previous chapters that He will first pay back Israel the just recompense for their sin before He restores them. He stretches out His hands toward them, but they have refused. Even Gentiles, who didn't have the history with God that Israel did, are better than Israel in responding to God.

After paying back those who don't seek Him, God will bless those who do seek Him.

Those who have forsaken God will be forsaken and destroyed by Him, and not enjoy any of the blessings of the choice servants who serve Him.

God gives a peek at the blessedness of the new heavens and new earth He will create in the future, where the sinful nation will not be remembered, but Israel will live in peace, prosperity and intimacy with God.

The mighty God who inhabits eternity and uses earth as a footstool, looks and listens to the humble and contrite person, who trembles at His word (used twice here and in Isaiah 57:15). Those who don't do what delights God, and choose their own ways, have chosen their own punishments. The bad guys hate the good guys, but the good guys will win. The nation and land will be restored in a day, and God will give Israel an abundance of comfort and glory.

Though God will comfort and glorify His people, He will destroy His enemies, particularly those who engage in hypocritical pagan style “worship”. Israel will be regathered, and serve as a nation of priests and ministers as God originally wanted, and will remain forever before Him, as will the new heavens and the new earth. This was the hope of the captives in Babylon, and is still the hope of believers today. All flesh will worship before God, and see the never-ending just punishment of those who rejected Him.