Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: The Lord promises to redeem His people and bless them forever through a Messiah.
The Lord tells the barren woman Israel to sing. "For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman." He tells them to enlarge their tents, lengthen their chords, strengthen their stakes, and "not spare," because they will "expand to the right and to the left, and [their] descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited." He says, "Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed. Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame. For you will forget the shame of your youth and not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your Husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, 'like a youthful wife when you were refused,' says your God. For a mere moment, I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you." The Lord says He hid his face for a moment, but with everlasting kindness, He will have mercy on His people. As the Lord swore that the waters of Noah would never cover the earth, He has also sworn He would not be angry with them or rebuke them. "'For the mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness will not depart from you, nor will My covenant of peace be removed,'" says the Lord Who has mercy. Oh you afflicted one, tossed with tempest and not comforted, Behold! I will lay your stones with colorful gems... your foundations with sapphires... all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be the peace of your children. In righteousness you will be established. You will be far from oppression for you will not fear, and from terror for it will not come near you." The Lord created the blacksmith and the "spoiler to destroy." He says, "No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me."
The Lord says, "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters! And you who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price! Why do you spend money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul will live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David." He says His people will call a nation they do not know and nations that don't know them will run to them because of the Lord, and because He has glorified them. "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon," says Isaiah. The Lord says, "For your thoughts are not My thoughts, nor are your ways My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return... but water the earth... that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
The Lord tells his people to keep justice and do righteousness, for His salvation is near and His righteousness is about to be revealed. He says blessed is the one who does this and lays hold of it, who doesn't defile the Sabbath or do any evil. The foreigners and the eunuchs are included in these promises, as long as they keep His covenant. He says the eunuchs will even have a name better than sons and daughters, an "everlasting name that will not be cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants- everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast [His] covenant," the Lord will "bring to [His] holy mountain and make them joyful in [His] house of prayer." The Lord will receive their offerings and sacrifices, "For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations," says the Lord. The Lord gathers the outcasts of Israel and will gather others as well. He says their watchman are like "dumb dogs," loving to slumber, "greedy dogs" and unable to bark, shepherds that can't understand. They are all out for themselves, for their own gain.
"The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart. Merciful men are taken away while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. He will enter into peace. They will rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." But as for the sorcerers and idolaters who sacrifice children, they have been unfaithful to their God. God's people, Israel, were wearied, yet they persisted in their evil way. They have not remembered the Lord or taken these things to heart. The Lord asks if it is because He held His peace that they do not fear Him. He tells them to cry out to their idols for help but that the wind will take them away. However, "He who puts his trust in Me will possess the land and will inherit My holy mountain." The Lord says to take the stumbling block out of the way of His people. "For thus says the high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is holy, 'I dwell in a high and holy place, but also with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." He says He will not always be angry with men or contend with them, lest their spirits and souls fail. The Lord says He has seen the backslider's ways and will heal him and lead him and restore comforts to him and his mourners. He says, "Peace, peace to him who is far off, and peace to him who is near!" But the wicked are like the troubled sea, unable to rest, casting up mire and dirt. The Lord says there is no peace for the wicked.
The Lord tells Isaiah to "cry aloud and spare not" and to lift up his voice like a trumpet and tell Israel and Jacob their sins and transgressions. Yet the Lord says they seek him daily and act as if they delight in knowing Him, as if they were righteous and had not forsaken Him. They "take delight in approaching God," and they wonder why their fasts are not effective. The Lord says that they actually exploit their laborers in their fasts and fast for "strife and debate and to strike with the fist of wickedness," not to actually hear from heaven. The Lord asks, "Is this the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul?... Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked, that you cover him and do not hide yourself from you own flesh? Then your light will break forth like the morning. Your healing will spring forth speedily, and your righteousness will go before you. The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry and He will say, 'Here I am!' If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness. If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul. Then your light will dawn in the darkness, and your darkness will be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you will rebuild the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations, and you will be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In." The Lord tells them if they turn away from doing their own pleasure on the Sabbath and call it a delight, not even speaking their own words, then they will delight in the Lord, and He will cause them to "ride on the high hills of the earth" and "feed them with the heritage of Jacob."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
The Lord always wanted His people to pray for all nations.
If we seek God's will in this life- since He has offered us a true and final Sabbath rest in Christ (ceasing from our labors and entering into His finished work)- God will cause us to "ride on the high hills of the earth." I don't know what that is, but it sounds amazing!
The Lord makes His home with the humble.