Isaiah 62
COMMENTARY:
: 4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. (2657 “Hephzibah” [Chephtaiy bah] means my delight is in her, for Yahweh delights in thee, Zion, Jerusalem, or name of Hezekiah’s wife.)
DEVOTION: Jerusalem is now in a time period of judgment. Isaiah is a book that tells of judgment, comfort and hope.
This chapter is one of hope. It is a time in the future when the Messiah will be reigning on this earth. It is a change from Jerusalem being divorced from the LORD to being married (Beulah).
Also Jerusalem shall not be forsaken but a place that the LORD delights in. The chapter ends with the LORD seek out Jerusalem to bless her. It is a future time period when Jerusalem will not be forsaken again.
How does this affect us? One thing we can learn from this is that God does not give up on HIS people. HE has made future promises to Israel and HE has made future promises to us.
HE will keep HIS promises. HE is a God of HOPE!!! We also are promised a new name. We will also sing a new song. The heaven and earth will be NEW in the future.
Our God continues to work HIS plan for our universe. We need to praise HIM continually. HE does delight in those who are followers of HIM. HE delights in us.
With this message of hope the children of Israel could look forward to a day when the LORD would again give them a time of joy and blessing. They lived much of their life after the destruction of Jerusalem in other lands. They are beginning to return to Israel today but it is a much smaller Israel. Jerusalem is not their own city but belongs to other nations and religions. That will end in the future.
Our nation has been blessed of the LORD for over two hundred years but we can see that we are moving further and further away from HIS teachings. Our courts are challenging our way of life. However, just as Israel has a promise we have a promise as well. God is still with us through the good times and through the not so good time.
We don’t know what the future holds for many nations in our world who are trying to honor the LORD but we know who holds the future in HIS hands. We are to work for HIM until we hear the sound of the trumpet.
CHALLENGE: Looking at the new on television or in the written press can get us discouraged but we need to read the Word of God first and foremost and belief and hope and encourage others.
: 6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). 8104 shamar (shaw-mar’); a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to.
DEVOTION: Out of His concern for His people the Lord has appointed watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. These individuals actually are not there to protect the city as the Lord (Yahweh) is the one that makes His people secure. The watchman is to be prayer warriors and to pray day and night for the full restoration of the people of God. This intercession by the watchmen were to be day and night and they were not to be silent.
The church today needs watchmen that will man the walls of the sanctuary and continually intercede for the people and the workers of the Lord. In too many ways the church is divided and separated and this is causing cracks in the security of God’s people.
Perhaps the Lord is calling you to assume the position of a watchman to pray without ceasing for the people and work of God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is still consistent with that command as Paul entreats the believers to, “Pray without ceasing!
CHALLENGE: The church needs watchmen who will continually, day and night, not be silent but intercede for the work of God. Pray for your Pastors, workers, missionaries, evangelists and people who are faithfully proclaiming God’s word today. Man the walls and may the earth hear the praise of secure believers! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member
: 11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the world, Say you to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes, behold HIS reward is with HIM, and HIS work before HIM. (3468 “salvation” [yesha] means safety, deliverance, rescue, welfare, prosperity, victory, a means of preserving from harm or unpleasantness, or liberation.)
DEVOTION: Here is a promise from the LORD that HE is not done with Jerusalem or the children of Israel. It is a future promise but a promise that will come true in the LORD’s timing.
There is a coming end of the world. We don’t know the day or time but we know that the LORD has promised the children of Israel in our present passage and Christians in the New Testament that judgment is coming to our world some time in the future.
We are not to pick the day or the hour that this will happen but we are to know that it is going to happen when the LORD has prepared it to happen. Too often some people think that the Bible is not telling the truth regarding the future but the LORD has a plan and is working HIS plan whether the rest of world agrees or not.
Israel is HIS chosen people. In spite of the fact that right now they are not the power that they were in the past, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be restored to power in the future.
Christ came to provide salvation to all those in the world who chose to become a follower of HIM whether they are Jew or Gentile.
However, the nation of Israel will have a special place in the future that the Bible tells us is true. We might not understand completely but the Bible states it as FACT.
CHALLENGE: Today the LORD is working through the CHURCH and those who are believers are promised eternal life in heaven with HIM. Our understanding of the relationship between God and Israel in the future will come to light at that time.
: 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. (5800 “forsaken” [azab] means leave, loose, be abandoned, be neglected, be left in the lurch, divorced or deserted.)
DEVOTION: Extremes are used in the Word of God to make a point. Here we find that the present state of Israel is one of divorced or abandoned from the perspective of the children of Israel. The LORD never leaves HIS people. However, HIS people seem to leave HIM behind and go their own way.
Presently, Isaiah is stating that Israel is in such a state. They are not following the LORD. Their leaders are not following the LORD. Their religious leaders are not following the LORD. They want to eat, drink because they believe tomorrow they will die. They live without hope because they have abandoned their God.
Isaiah brings a message of future hope to Israel. He informs them that they will be restored to a place of honor again with the return of the Messiah. Why should this happen? It is because they are still God’s holy people. HE is planning to redeem them from their present state and give them a new name and a renewed city. They will no longer be deserted or neglected but will be a city that people seek to go to and worship the LORD of LORD’S and King of Kings.
Sometimes we might feel that the LORD has abandoned the church but that is not true. The church is God’s called out body of believers that will always experience HIS blessing. There are many building that are called church but they are not preaching and teaching the Word of God. They might open the Bible but that is as far as it goes. What comes out of the mouth of those behind the pulpit is not found in the Word of God, it is their own personal beliefs that disagree with the Bible. The LORD will not honor their teachings. One day they will stand before HIM and give an answer for harming those who think they are receiving the TRUTH of the Bible but are not.
Leaders will be held accountable to the LORD for their teachings. If they are teaching things other than what is written in the Bible – God will judge them. The Pharisees did this in Jesus’ day and HE told them that they made their disciples twofold children of hell.
CHALLENGE: True believers are a holy and redeemed people – act like it. Only teach the Bible and practice it.
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