"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;"

Imagine life as a horizontal line.  Life begins at the beginning of the horizontal line. At points along the way, God reaches down.  It is up to the individual to reach back or not. Whenever an unsaved person reaches back and accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, they begin to ascend on a vertical line up to God and eternal life.  If the unsaved person does not reach up and accept Jesus, they continue on the horizontal line to the end of it and into eternal death.

Isa 65:12 

Therefore I will number you to the sword; and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because I called and you did not answer; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen."

“All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people…”

Another verse describing our ever patient God who offers us chance, after chance, after chance! He is not willing that any should perish.

Matt 18:14
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

God makes it perfectly clear in Isaiah 65 how He feels about those “who walk in ways not good”.

Isaiah 65 mentions offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.  Brick is symbolic of something man-made as opposed to stone, which is something God made.  We can also relate this to man-made traditions, which Jesus condemned.   

 Isaiah 65:12b

…for I called but you did not answer, I spoke that you did not listen you did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.

God has repeatedly warned about pagan practices.

Isaiah is full of prophecies concerning the Millennial Kingdom.  It is possible to live today with a "millennial mindset and lifestyle" as much as possible, even while living among pagan influences.

"As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes..."

 God continually reminds us that no matter how many people walk in ways not good in a world that is not good, there will be a remnant who walk in ways that are good.  This is the "juice still found in a cluster of grapes". 

Again in today’s reading in Isaiah 65:17-25 is another incredible description of eternity and more descriptions of life in the millennium. 

Isaiah 66 spells out the rewards for the believers and wrath of God for the unbelievers.

Isaiah 66:2
This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.
Will the Lord esteem us now if we are living a "millennial mindset and lifestyle" as much as possible?

Isaiah 66:3b-4a

They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations; so I will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring upon them what they dread.

Isaiah 66:17
"Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things - they will meet their end together", declares the Lord.
There are people who are seeking after righteousness, but find abominable things, are led astray and into false worship and pagan traditions.

We say farewell to Isaiah, a true prophet of God. Some parting thoughts by the commentator of the Chronological Bible that we would like to bring out. “God’s message will sometimes be hidden from the common people by the very ones who ought to bring understanding – the religious leaders”.

Jesus had something to say about the religious leaders of His day.
Matt 23:13
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

While we may look to religious leaders for understanding, ultimately, we need to look to God's Word and listen to the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual renewal under Manasseh as spelled out in today's reading should give us encouragement to "burn" our own "high places" instead of compromising and "sacrificing" to God on the altars of paganism.

Can there be any richer passages of Scripture that those for today? Have we said that before???

There will be only Believers in Jesus in the millennial kingdom.  Imagine that!

Isaiah 60:1-3 tells what will happen as the glory of the Lord rises. However, if we make these passages personal and applicable to today, we can be encouraged that we, as Believers, must rise and shine even though spiritual darkness covers the earth.  His glory can be seen in us.  Others will come to that light.

Isaiah 61:1

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 

The word poor doesn't mean lack of money.  It means meek, lowly, or downcast.  What better news can there possibly be for people who are downcast than the good news of salvation through Jesus! 

Jesus read this passage of Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His earthly mission. 

Luke 4:18-20

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.  He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

Jesus stopped reading right before, "the day of vengeance of our God."  This part of the Isaiah prophecy had not been fulfilled yet.  It won't be fulfilled until the Day of the Lord or the time of the wrath of God.  We are living in the mercy, patience, learning age.

Isaiah 61:7

Instead of shame my people will receive a double portion.

In the millennium God's people will receive a double portion. This refers to land masses for the tribes.  Their land allotment will be significantly larger than they had before the millennium. Also in the millennium, the Gentiles will serve the tribes of Jacob. 

Isaiah reminds the people of how God interacted with them in the past and mentions His presence with them.

Isaiah 63:9

In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.

This presence has been with them (and us) since the beginning as recorded in Genesis 3:8 and Exodus 33:14 as well as many other passages.

Isaiah 63:11-12

where is he who set his Holy Spirit among them, who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand.

What confirmation of the interaction of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Old Testament!

Isaiah 64:1

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down...

Praise God, He DID rend the heavens and come down in the form of Jesus!

Isaiah 64:4

All of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags

What we call righteous is not necessarily what God calls righteous.  What may be politically correct is not necessarily biblically correct.  Some forms of tolerance, for example.

What must the people have thought when Isaiah tells them about the burning of the temple and the ruin of the treasures there as recorded in Isaiah 64.  At that time the temple was still standing.

What a great picture in Isaiah 60 of people being gathered together and what will be happening during the Millennial Kingdom! As we put the pieces of the prophetic puzzle together for the book THESE LAST DAYS we wondered about this verse.

“Who are these that fly along like clouds, like doves to their nests?” Does this mean that there will be forms of transportation in the Millennium that we know nothing of now???

Isaiah reports that the Lord will be the light.
Isa 60:19
The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Zechariah gives us another view.
Zech 14:7
It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime-- a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

And John had this to say about the eternal heavenly kingdom. God gives the light. Jesus is the lamp.
Rev 21:23
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

Which brings us back to the beginning.
Gen 1:1-3
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

The light that God created first was not the light of the sun, but the light of the son! He was there in the beginning and will be there for eternity!

Isaiah 57:1-2
The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
Oh, what compelling verses these are! With companion verses in Mark and Matthew.

Mark 13:19-20
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.
(See also Matthew 24:21-22)

Isa 57:8a
Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols.

We may think we can hide our wicked ways, but not so.

The fate of the wicked is found in the remaining verses of Isaiah 57.

Isa 57:12
I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
What a convicting verse this is! Even though we may do good works, if we do not honor the Lord in what we do, or if we follow the ways of the wicked, seems as if the bad cancels out some of the good. It reminds us of some of the kings, especially Asa. If we are not believers in Jesus, it doesn't matter how many good works we do.

IKing 15:14
Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life.
Asa was fully committed, yet he held on to the ways of the wicked. He was righteous in many ways and in his many works, but what God was looking for in Asa and also in all of us, it that we will be fully committed to Him AND we will destroy our “high places”, whatever form those "high places" may take. 

Isa 57:15b
"I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
What an amazing thought. This Master of the universe, who lives in unapproachable light, in a high and holy place, wants to live within us!

Isaiah 58 gives some information about the Sabbath. The Sabbath day is a day of “rest”. This “rest” means so much more than stretching out on the hammock, under a shady tree in the back yard and taking a little snooze. “Rest” means to rest in God’s unfailing love, to rest in His mercy, His goodness, His faithfulness, His grace; to rest in His promises; to rest in trusting Him. Ultimately “rest” is eternal salvation, to rest forever with Him. We honor Him on a Sabbath day by not going our “own way” and “speaking idle words”. So exactly when is the Sabbath day? Using the definitions above, sounds like every day should be a Sabbath day!

The Sabbath day not only refers to the weekly Sabbath, but also to God's Holy Days, His feast and festival days.  They too are His Sabbaths.  We honor Him by observing these days.

Also in Isaiah 58 God warns about giving Him only "lip service".  God knows the heart and knows when we are only pretending to follow His commands.

There are great promises in Isaiah 58 for those who are truly following His commands.  He says your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:12
Isaiah was referring to the people of his day but we can make spiritual connections today.  Truth tellers seek to rebuild the basic foundations of the faith.

Isa 59:2
But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
This was another very convicting verse for us today. When we examined our prayers, we realized that we have been neglectful in confessing our sins, BEFORE we begin to petition Him for requests. Something easily remedied.

“For your Maker is your husband -”
This really spells out the spiritual marriage relationship between believers and Jesus or between Jesus and His church.

“For a brief moment I abandoned you..”
Wonder how long God’s moments are? 

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on  you.

What follows after this is a description of the millennium:

City with stones of turquoise, foundations with sapphires, battlements of rubies, gates of sparkling jewels, walls of precious stones.  While this is a beautiful picture, even better than that is the following:  "All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace."

Notice it says ALL your sons will be taught by the Lord and great will be their peace.  What parents wouldn't want that for their children?

Isaiah 55 paints a picture of somewhat of a bartering system that will be in place in the millennium.

Isaiah 55:2
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
This is a very applicable question for today.  How much money do we spend on wants instead of needs?  How much time do we spend on the job to make money to buy things that do not satisfy?

“Seek the Lord while he may be found”;
What does it mean “while he may be found”? Does it mean there may come a time when He can’t be found?

Isaiah 55 continues to paint a beautiful picture of mountains and hills bursting into song. “…all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” What a sound that must be!

This chapter also tells us that there will be a absence of thorns and briers.

Isaiah 56 reaffirms God's desire that we keep His Sabbaths and His Holy Days.  He promises to bring those who honor these days to His holy mountain to be close to Him.

It is quite obvious throughout Scripture how God feels about His Sabbaths and the feasts and festivals. These days will be honored during the millennium.  Why not honor them now?  There is a great reward if we do!

Isa 56:4-5
To them, I, the LORD, say: Respect the Sabbath, obey me completely, and keep our agreement. Then I will set up monuments in my temple with your names written on them. This will be much better than having children, because these monuments will stand there forever. 

Another great verse today for the "truth tellers".
Isaiah 51:7
"Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have the law in your hearts; Do not fear the reproach of men or be terrified by their insults.
Isaiah 51:12-16 tells us that we should not fear mortal men.  They are like grass, we should trust in the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth.  He says to us, "I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand."

Isaiah 51:17-23 contains a symbol of sins using the cup of wrath as an illustration of God's justice.  But, there is also an illustration of God removing the cup that made you stagger, a wonderful illustration of the forgiveness of sin.

Isa 52:11
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
What an admonition to stay pure, especially spiritual leaders. 

In reading Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53, it is so obvious this prophecy of Jesus. There is so much to write about here but we will focus on just one verse in Isaiah 53.

Isa 53:6
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Iniquity means Jesus took everything about us that wasn’t perfect, not just our big sins. That was everything short of perfection. It was everything that every person did or ever will do.  

He loves us that much!

Rom 3:23-24
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Praise God we are justified freely because of that redemption!  

He loves us that much!

In the last days there will be a tremendous earthquake that will shake the earth when the seventh angel pours out his bowl.

Rev 16:17-18
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.

 In the midst of this severe earthquake, the flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder we have this incredible promise from God.

Isaiah 54:10
Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

He loves us that much!

What a comforting verse:

Isa 48:17  

"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go."

He doesn't necessarily give us what we want but what is best for us, like any good parent would.  But, of course God is the perfect parent. 

But He reminds us in the next verse that if we had paid attention to His commands, we would have peace like a river. 

There is also a reminder in this verse about what God has done in the past.
Isaiah 48:21
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;  he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.
Whenever we may be tempted to put God's capabilities in our own little "box of understanding", let's remember this verse.  This great God can bring water from a rock!  Isaiah 50: 2 Was my arm too short to deliver you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you?  How can we ever doubt His power?

Isa 49:4  

But I said, "I have labored for no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.  Yet, what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God."

Sometimes, truth-tellers may feel as if no one is listening.  But that really shouldn't matter.  The only thing that matters is this.  Are we doing what we have been called to do?  If so, leave it in the Lord's hands.  He will bring about His purpose, in His time.

Have you ever been somewhere and been given a very important phone number? You find a pen but no paper. You frantically look around for something to write on but find nothing. Out of desperation, because the number is so important, you scribble the number on the palm of your hand. Can you imagine a number so important that you would etch the number with a sharp instrument in the palm of your hand?

Well, ponder this verse today!
Isa 49:16a
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

God engraves us on the palms of His hands. We must be pretty important!
Another point to ponder. How about all of us? Have we engraved His name on the palms of our hands?  Do we live our lives as if we are proud to be called His own?

Isaiah 49:22-23 gives us another glimpse into the millennial kingdom.  Gentiles will be serving the descendants of Jacob.

Isaiah 50:4-5
The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not drawn back.
Isaiah 50:7b
Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

These are great affirmation verses for "truth tellers" and the way to start each day.  The Lord wakens us each morning.  He wakens our ears to listen to what He wants to say to us.  Our response should be to move forward on His instructions and set our faces like flint, no matter what the rest of the world says or does. God has the final word!  Remember our beginning verse today.

Isa 48:17  

"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go."
We just need to listen and go!

Isaiah says that the enemies of Israel will acknowledge, "Surely God is will you, and there is no other; there is no other god."

Jacob’s descendants have been told they will not seek Him in vain.

Isa 45:19
I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob's descendants, 'Seek me in vain.' I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Those who seek Him, find Him.
Prov 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Jer 29:13
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Amos 5:4
This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live;

Isaiah 45 tells us the Lord says, "Before me every knee will bow; every tongue swear (or confess)."
What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Repetition seems to be a very common theme throughout God's Word.  We are consistently and repeatedly warned about our idols.  We were thinking about some of the idols we may have.  We certainly don't make a "god" out of silver or gold, carry it around, put it on a stand, bow down and worship that kind of idol.  God says through Isaiah that the idols are burdensome.  Maybe that would shed some light on what our idols are. Maybe we should evaluate how we spend our time by journaling a normal weekly routine. 

No question in Isaiah 47 of how God feels about astrology.
Isa 47:12-15
Keep using your magic powers and your charms as you have always done. Maybe--just maybe-- you will frighten somebody! You have worn yourself out, asking for advice from those who study the stars and tell the future month after month. Go ask them how to be saved from what will happen. People who trust the stars are as helpless as straw in a flaming fire. No one can even keep warm, sitting by a fire that feeds only on straw. These are the fortunetellers you have done business with all of your life. But they don't know where they are going, and they can't save you. 

Ever had a time in your life when you felt as if you were in the “furnace of affliction”? (Isa 48:10). Ever wonder why??? Isa 48:11a
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

Next time you are in the “furnace of affliction” remember it is for His sake that you are there!