The words of the Lord Red
My words Blue
Isaiah for Today and Tomorrow
Chapters 61 to 66
From the New-Living Translation CHAPTER 61 Good News for the Oppressed 1 "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, because the LORD has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD's favor has come, and with it, the day of God's anger against their enemies. 3 To all who mourn in Israel (Heb.Zion) he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory." This was quoted by Christ at the beginning of His ministry (Luke 4:18) but He stopped as it is in the KJV with verse 1, for verse two begins the prophecy of the end time for this age. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations. 5 Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards. 6 You will be called priests of the LORD, ministers of our God. You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in their riches. 7 Instead of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy. 8 "For I, the LORD, love justice. I hate robbery and wrongdoing. I will faithfully reward my people for their suffering and make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 Their descendants will be known and honored among the nations. Everyone will realize that they are a people the LORD has blessed." This cannot be said about Israel/Judah/Zion/Jerusalem today. there may be a part fulfilment but it has not reached its final and forever accomplishment of reality. not being honored among the nations; they are not called priests of the Lord, and ministers of God. They are not being fed treasures of the nations and they are not boasting in their riches. They are still getting shame and dishonor. Gentiles are not feeding the Israelite flocks and plowing fields and tending the vineyard. God has not yet made an everlasting covenant with Israel [all 12 tribes] but prophecy says He will. Israel says— 10 I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. 11 The Sovereign LORD will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere. At the final end of this age and the restoration of Jerusalem and the peoples of Israel and Judah, truly these will be the words that will echo in the holy promised land. CHAPTER 62 Isaiah's Prayer for Jerusalem 1 Because I love Zion, because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. 2 The nations will see your righteousness. Kings will be blinded by your glory. And the LORD will give you a new name. 3 The LORD will hold you in his hands for all to see - a splendid crown in the hands of God. 4 Never again will you be called the God-forsaken City or the Desolate Land. Your new name will be the City of God's Delight and the Bride of God, for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his own. 5 Your children will care for you with joy, O Jerusalem, just as a young man cares for his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. This has not yet taken place, but it will when the Messiah comes in glory to claim Jerusalem and Israel-Judah to dwell with them forever more. 6 O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray to the LORD day and night for the fulfilment of this promise. Take no rest all of you who pray. 7 Give the LORD no rest until he makes Jerusalem the object of praise throughout the earth. 8 The LORD has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength: "I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and wine. 9 You raised it, and you will keep it, praising the LORD. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine that you have pressed." Once more this cannot be said to have taken place in Jerusalem and the holy land, ever in history; it is a prophecy for the future. 10 Go out! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see. 11 The LORD has sent this message to every land: "Tell the people of Israel (Heb. the daughters of Zion) 'Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.'" 12 They will be called the Holy People and the People Redeemed by the LORD. And Jerusalem will be known as the "Desirable Place" and the "City No Longer Forsaken." It is the coming of the Messiah Christ in power and glory; that is the whole context; He comes to free Jerusalem from the Beast power of Europe, and to set up the Kingdom of God on earth. CHAPTER 63 Judgment against the LORD's Enemies 1 Who is this who comes from Edom, from the city of Bozrah, with his clothing stained red? Who is this in royal robes, marching in the greatness of his strength? 2 Why are your clothes so red, as if you have been treading out grapes? 3 "I have trodden the winepress alone; no one was there to help me. In my anger I have trampled my enemies as if they were grapes. In my fury I have trampled my foes. It is their blood that has stained my clothes." This is the mighty power of Christ as He returns to earth as a warring King, to smash His enemies, to destroy those who are destroying the earth. The great battle of Armageddon from the plain about 70 miles north-west of Jerusalem to the south of that city down to the ancient land of Edom. A flowing river of blood it will be, as I have shown in other in-depth studies on my website concerning that mighty battle. 4 "For the time has come for me to avenge my people, to ransom them from their oppressors. 5 I looked, but no one came to help my people. I was amazed and appalled at what I saw. So I executed vengeance alone; unaided, I passed down judgment. 6 I crushed the nations in my anger and made them stagger and fall to the ground." Yes, with the angelic armies and the saints raised by a resurrection at the coming of Christ, Jesus will wage war on those who will fight against Him, the armies of the Europe Beast power and the armies of the kings of the East. It is the time to free the captives of Israel and Judah, to restore them to the Promised Land, to deliver them from their enemies. All I have explained in detail in other prophetic studies on my Website. Praise for Deliverance 7 I will tell of the LORD'S unfailing love. I will praise the LORD for all he has done. I will rejoice in his great goodness to Israel, which he has granted according to his mercy and love. 8 He said, "They are my very own people. Surely they will not be false again." And he became their Savior. 9 In all their suffering he also suffered, and he personally rescued them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them. He lifted them up and carried them through all the years. Yes, it will be a PERSONAL delivery He will do to restore and redeem the whole house of Israel (all 12 tribes). They will be false to Him no more. This cannot be said of the tribes of Israel today, but when this prophecy comes to pass it surely will be said of them that they will never again be false in any way to the Lord their God. The Almighty was not joyful in having to punish them, it grieved Him to do so, to allow their enemies to destroy them and take them captive, but it was needful to be done to bring them to deep and full REPENTANCE. Their God will personally come and rescue them from the lands of their enemies. 10 But they rebelled against him and grieved his Holy Spirit. That is why he became their enemy and fought against them. 11 Then they remembered those days of old when Moses led his people out of Egypt. They cried out, "Where is the one who brought Israel through the sea, with Moses as their shepherd? Where is the one who sent his Holy Spirit to be among his people? 12 Where is the one whose power divided the sea before them, when Moses lifted up his hand, establishing his reputation forever? 13 Where is the one who led them through the bottom of the sea? They were like fine stallions racing through the desert, never stumbling. 14 As with cattle going down into a peaceful valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led your people, LORD, and gained a magnificent reputation." At the time of the end of this age, when the Great Tribulation will be upon this earth, and the mighty Day of the Lord has come, Israel and Judah will be reminded of the super- natural deliverance of the Exodus under Moses. They will turn and cry out to the Lord to once more use His glorious power to deliver them from their enemies. He will hear and He will come to deliver them. Prayer for Mercy and Pardon 15 LORD, look down from heaven and see us from your holy, glorious home. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now? 16 Surely you are still our Father! Even if Abraham and Jacob (Heb. Israel) would disown us, LORD, you would still be our Father. You are our Redeemer from ages past. 17 LORD, why have you allowed us to turn from your path? Why have you given us stubborn hearts so we no longer fear you? Return and help us, for we are your servants and your special possession. 18 How briefly your holy people possessed the holy place, and now our enemies have destroyed it. 19 LORD, why do you treat us as though we never belonged to you? Why do you act as though we had never been known as your people? The people of Israel and Judah will indeed for a time wonder why their God (though they did not follow or look to Him in their latter years) turned away from them. He delivered them from TWO World Wars, BUT the third one (yet to come at the close of this age) they found they were not delivered. They will question if their God still loves them. In the thought of it all they will come to realize their sins, their terrible sins, were the reason their God had to punish them. They will begin to walk the pathway of REPENTANCE. CHAPTER 64 1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! 3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome things beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! 5 You welcome those who cheerfully do good, who follow godly ways. But we are not godly. We are constant sinners, so your anger is heavy on us. How can people like us be saved? 6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away. 7 Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. Israel and Judah will remember the might of the true God. They will remember the Lord welcomes them that do good, who are willing to follow Him. They will remember all this punishment that has come on them is because of their sins. They will feel they deserve no mercy. They will realize that any good they had and did was as filthy rags. They will realize that for a time no persons (in the majority - only a very few) called on God with a true heart of turning from sin, and so they will come to understand why it seemed that their God had turned His back on them. For those in Israel today, who will read their Bibles and who will search for the commandments of the Lord, to them, it is obvious as to the many and grievous sins of our nations. To them it is clearly seen that we have no political leaders, no religious leaders, that will lead the people out of our sins and back to the pathway of the Holy One. So, we shall in the appointed time, be turned over to the penalty of sin, which is death and destruction. It is written only ONE in TEN of our people shall remain alive by the time of Christ's coming again to earth. 8 And yet, LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand. 9 Oh, don't be so angry with us, LORD. Please don't remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people. 10 Your holy cities are destroyed; even Jerusalem is a desolate wilderness. 11 The holy, beautiful Temple where our ancestors praised you has been burned down, and all the things of beauty are destroyed. 12 After all this, LORD, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue to be silent and punish us? Yes, for a while, it will seem there will be no hope for the children of Israel. Judgment and Final Salvation 1 The LORD says, "People who never before inquired about me are now asking about me. I am being found by people who were not looking for me. To them I have said, 'I am here!' 2 I opened my arms to my own people all day long, but they have rebelled. They follow their own evil paths and thoughts. 3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshipping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on the rooftops of their homes. 4 At night they go out among the graves and secret places to worship evil spirits. They also eat pork and other forbidden foods. Yet they say to each other, 'Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!' They are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away." Sometimes it is others who are not Israelites who are more ready to accept the pathway of the God of Israel. The Almighty has always had His servants proclaiming His truths and way of life to the people of Israel and Judah, but for the most part those people would not hear, they wanted to follow their own ways, they did not want God telling them how to live, even how to eat. They wanted to serve their own passions and desires in their religious life and in their physical life. They had their own self-righteous ideas and thoughts and just wanted to do their own thing their own way, the way that seemed right to them, which was the way of sin and death at the end of the road they wanted to walk. So great the sins they chose they became a STENCH in the nostrils of God, an ACRID SMELL that never goes away. 6 "Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them 7 both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors," says the LORD. "For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full! 8 But I will not destroy them all," says the LORD. "For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, 'Don't throw them all away - there are some good grapes there!'), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there. 9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it and serve me there. 10 For my people who have searched for me, the plain of Sharon will again be filled with flocks, and the valley of Achor will be a place to pasture herds." There it is. There is a REMNANT in Israel and Judah, a called out, a chosen group, by election and grace. There will be 144,000 as mentioned in the book of Revelation, that will REPENT and TURN to serve the true God, and they will be in the first resurrection at the coming of Christ. There will be others in Israel and Judah who will see the errors of their ways and who will be spared. Utter destruction will not happen to the children Israel and Judah. A prophecy in another book of the prophets tells us ONE in TEN will be alive at the coming of the Messiah to rule the earth. Those will go into the new age to come as physical human beings to inherit the Holy Land, to re-build the towns and cities and to enjoy the blessings of the 1,000 year age of the Kingdom of God on earth under Jesus Christ and the now immortal saints of all ages. 11 "But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and his Temple and worship the gods of Fate and Destiny, 12 I will 'destine' you to the sword. All of you will bow before the executioner, for when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned - before my very eyes - and chose to do what you know I despise." The true way, the true temple of the Lord, has been proclaimed to Israel and Judah. Though few take notice. But though it is there, shouting out the righteousness of the Lord and showing the people their sins, calling out to REPENT and turn and be converted to the pathway of the most High and Holy God, it is sad to know it will ONLY BE A FEW that WILL REPENT and turn from their sins. God has His servants out there! They will be telling the people of Israel and Judah their sins and the way of salvation, but most have shut their eyes to truth, they will deliberately want to continue in the way that seems right to them, which is mainly what the Eternal God despises. 13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "You will starve, but my servants will eat. You will be thirsty, but they will drink. You will be sad and ashamed, but they will rejoice. 14 You will cry in sorrow and despair, while my servants sing for joy. 15 Your name will be a curse word among my people, for the Sovereign LORD will destroy you and call his true servants by another name. 16 All who invoke a blessing or take an oath will do so by the God of truth. For I will put aside my anger and forget the evil of earlier days." Eventually the righteous will win the day. They will be vindicated, while the willful sinners shall meet destruction. Yet in the final end all who remain alive shall KNOW the true God and His true ways of life and blessing. The Lord will put away His anger and turn the evil days into good days for all people. 17 "Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth - so wonderful that no one will even think about the old ones anymore. 18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation! And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness. Her people will be a source of joy. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people. And the sound of weeping and crying will be heard no more. 20 No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only sinners will die that young! 21 In those days, people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. 22 It will not be like the past, when invaders took the houses and confiscated the vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees and will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains. 23 They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. For they are people blessed by the LORD, and their children, too, will be blessed. 24 I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking to me about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! 25 The wolf and lamb will feed together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. Poisonous snakes will strike no more. In those days, no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I, the LORD, have spoken!" What a wonderful prophecy of the good to come on this earth and to the people of Israel. It will indeed be a new heaven and earth in that new age to come at the return of Christ the Messiah. People will live as long as trees, the nature of wild animals will be changed. We saw this already in chapter 11. There will be no more destruction in the Holy Land. The world will experience peace as never before in its history. Children in that age will not be doomed to the sorrow that many face today. The Lord will be so close to people that even before they ask He will answer them. All this has never happened before in the way it is given here. It is a prophecy for the age to come. CHAPTER 66 1 This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Could you ever build me a temple as good as that? Could you build a dwelling place for me? 2 My hands have made both heaven and earth, and they are mine. I, the LORD, have spoken! I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word." Ah, one of the key verses in the Bible to tell you how to be acceptable to God. You need to be HUMBLE (teachable, repentable, loving truth, willing to search and hunger for righteousness, correctable) and you need to FEAR the WORD of God. It is not the ways or ideas or opinions of men or women you need to fear, but it is the very word of God that you must fear. These two attitudes of the mind and heart are a MUST if you want to walk with the Eternal God, if you want to be the friend of God, if you want to be His son or daughter. 3 But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. Their offerings will not be accepted. When such people sacrifice an ox, it is no more acceptable than a human sacrifice. When they sacrifice a lamb or bring an offering of grain, it is as bad as putting a dog or the blood of a pig on the altar! When they burn incense, it is as if they had blessed an idol. 4 I will send great troubles against them - all the things they feared. For when I called, they did not answer. When I spoke, they did not listen. They deliberately sinned - before my very eyes - and chose to do what they know I despise." It is very plain. God does not delight in those who decide to choose their own ways, to do their own thing. Many, most today, do not want to listen to the call of God. They shut Him out, they will not be corrected; they will not repent of sin; they want to serve the Lord in "their way" as they see fit, how they see fit, when they see fit. All this is an abomination to the Holy One. 5 Hear this message from the LORD, and tremble at his words: "Your close relatives hate you and throw you out for being loyal to my name. 'Let the LORD be honored!' they scoff. 'Be joyful in him!' But they will be put to shame." 6 What is all the commotion in the city? What is that terrible noise from the Temple? It is the voice of the LORD taking vengeance against his enemies. 7 "Before the birth pains even begin, Jerusalem gives birth to a son. 8 Who has ever seen or heard of anything as strange as this? Has a nation ever been born in a single day? Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment? But by the time Jerusalem's (Heb. Zion's) birth pains begin, the baby will be born; the nation will come forth. 9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth and then not deliver it?" asks the LORD. "No! I would never keep this nation from being born," says your God. It will only be in a very short time frame that the good promised to Jerusalem/Zion will be accomplished, as a baby born before labor begins. 10 "Rejoice with Jerusalem! Be glad with her, all you who love her and mourn for her. 11 Delight in Jerusalem! Drink deeply of her glory even as an infant drinks at its mother's generous breasts. 12 Peace and prosperity will overflow Jerusalem like a river," says the LORD. "The wealth of the nations will flow to her. Her children will be nursed at her breasts, carried in her arms, and treated with love. 13 I will comfort you there as a child is comforted by its mother." Yes, much good and blessings are promised to come upon the city of Jerusalem in the new age to come. 14 When you see these things, your heart will rejoice. Vigorous health will be yours! Everyone will see the good hand of the LORD on his people - and his anger against his enemies. 15 See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his swift chariots of destruction roar like a whirlwind. He will bring punishment with the fury of his anger and the flaming fire of his hot rebuke. 16 The LORD will punish the world by fire and by his sword, and many will be killed by the LORD. There is promised GOOD to come on Jerusalem, but at the same time, there is promised DESTRUCTION on the enemies of the Lord. The end of this age is BITTER and SWEET. BITTER for those who desire to ignore the Lord and disregard His commandments and holy way of life, and SWEET to those who will REPENT of sin, who will humble themselves and who will fear the word of the God. 17 "Those who 'purify' themselves in a sacred garden, feasting on pork and rats and other forbidden meats, will come to a terrible end," says the LORD. 18 "I can see what they are doing, and I know what they are thinking. So I will gather all nations and peoples together, and they will see my glory." This is a prophecy clearly for the end of this age, when God shall come in His GLORY! You will notice the Lord STILL has His laws of clean and unclean foods in action. They have never been "done away with" as false prophets like to tell you. 19 "I will perform a sign among them. And I will send those who survive to be messengers to the nations - to Tarshish, to the Libyans* (Heb. Pul) and Lydians (who are famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to all the lands beyond the sea that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. There they will declare my glory to the nations. 2 They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD. They will ride on horses in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels," says the LORD. 21 "And I will appoint some of those who return to be my priests and Levites. I, the LORD, have spoken!" Not all people on earth will be destroyed by the Lord when He comes again. Here we have Spain (Tarshish); Pul (West and Central Africa); Lud (North Africa); Tubal (North Russia); Javan (Japan); and other lands of the earth where Israel and Judah have been scattered, nations that for different reasons have not heard the fame and glory of the Lord, and those people will help bring back Israelites to the Holy Land. Those nations shall come to KNOW the true God, and they shall be part of the people who shall send missionaries to other nations of the earth to inform them of the God of Israel. There will be MUCH true education going forth to those who live into the 1,000 year age to come. It will take some time to bring the world under the rulership and way of life of the Messiah and the resurrected saints now with Him. It is the will of God that the Kingdom of God take a number of years to spread around the world and rule all nations with a righteous and holy rod of iron. 22 "As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear," says the LORD. 23 "All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month. The translation is poor here, the KJV gives a better translation of the Hebrew as it is, "from new moon to his new moon, and from sabbath to his sabbath." The weekly Sabbath and New month day have never been "abolished" - they were, they are, and they will be, at least till the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21 comes into reality. 24 "And as they go out, they will see the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror. " The last verse is sobering. God will one day judge the people of the earth. Those who rebel, who will not put themselves under His laws and way of living, shall be destroyed. There will be a fire even in that age to come, to devour the rebellious sinners. The Beast man and False prophet will be cast into it at the coming of the Messiah (Revelation 19). The worms that eat the dead bodies turn into flies, the worms die not, and the fire will not be put out till all is ended with the coming of the new earth and heaven as given in Revelation 21 and 22. All the plan of God will come to pass. The prophecies of old in the book of Isaiah concerning the FIRST coming of the Messiah were fulfilled exactly and literally as given in Isaiah. So all the prophecies concerning His SECOND coming in glory and power to rule over the nations of the earth for 1,000 years, will also come to pass, just as literal. A new age is to come. All you have read about in this book and prophecy of Isaiah is as sure to take place as the rising of the sun, nay even more sure. There is WARNING and there is PUNISHMENT for many nations of this earth, including the peoples of the House of Israel (most of the Western world) and Judah (the Jews in the Holy Land). But there is also GOOD NEWS of SALVATION and RESTORATION for Israel, Judah, and for all nations. There is to be a re-newing of the earth, a transformation of the earth, a changing even of the nature of the animals, so the lion will eat straw as like the ox. We have seen the HIGHS and the LOWS of what is yet to come on this earth, but the END of the matter is GLORIOUS and WONDERFUL - BEYOND what the human mind can imagine at this time. The picture we get from Isaiah is just a shadow of the reality of what it will one day be like, on this planet we call earth. So we continue to pray, "Thy Kingdom COME, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." .................... The book of "Isaiah for Today" finished in August 2008. |
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