You Can Read the Bible

I concluded yesterday’s Daily Reader by pointing out that the prophet’s eye seems to be fixed on something beyond the immediate. “From this time forth,” the LORD declares in chapter 48, “I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known.” The prophet foresees a day when “My salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.” This day, and the Servant who will inaugurate it, are the subjects of today’s reading.

The passage is bookended by a rebuke of Israel’s leaders, who despise the name of the LORD “continually all the day,” and act as shepherds but “who have no understanding,” for “they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain...” But in between these reprimands the LORD introduces the Servant, one who “will act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted…”

However, chapter 53 sets a key contrast between this servant and those who turn to their own gain. His lot will be to suffer: “despised and rejected by men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief… wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities…” This the servant will give willingly, for “it was the will of the LORD to crush him… by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous…”

And the recipients of this salvation will not simply be of Israel, for the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares: “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.” Therefore, “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from His people…”

As you listen today, pay attention to words and ideas that would have caused comfort to the oppressed in Jerusalem, to the exiled in Assyria and Babylon. Listen also for those which strain credulity, about the promised servant, about how he would reign, and about what that reign would represent.

Our verse for this week is Acts 1:8: But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Isaiah 52 through 56. Now let’s read it!

Isaiah 52 - 56

Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you. Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion! For Jehovah says, "You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money." For the Lord Jehovah says: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. "Now therefore, what do I do here," says Jehovah, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock," says Jehovah, "and my name is blasphemed continually all day long. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I." How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when Jehovah returns to Zion. Break out into joy! Sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for Jehovah has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. Jehovah has made his holy arm bare in the eyes of all the nations. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Depart! Depart! Go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from among her! Cleanse yourselves, you who carry Jehovah's vessels. For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight; for Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. Behold, my servant will deal wisely. He will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high. Just as many were astonished at you-- his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men-- so he will cleanse many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for they will see that which had not been told them, and they will understand that which they had not heard. Who has believed our message? To whom has Jehovah's arm been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn't respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn't open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn't open his mouth. He was taken away by oppression and judgment. As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people? They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and Jehovah's pleasure will prosper in his hand. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion with the great. He will divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was counted with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors. "Sing, barren, you who didn't give birth! Break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn't travail with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife," says Jehovah. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don't spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities. "Don't be afraid, for you will not be ashamed. Don't be confounded, for you will not be disappointed. For you will forget the shame of your youth. You will remember the reproach of your widowhood no more. For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth. For Jehovah has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off," says your God. "For a small moment I have forsaken you, but I will gather you with great mercies. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on you," says Jehovah your Redeemer. "For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not be removed," says Jehovah who has mercy on you. "You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by Jehovah, and your children's peace will be great. You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, for you will not be afraid, and far from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you. "Behold, I have created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame, and forges a weapon for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Jehovah's servants, and their righteousness is of me," says Jehovah. "Hey! Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn't satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness. Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you don't know; and a nation that didn't know you shall run to you, because of Jehovah your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you." Seek Jehovah while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to Jehovah, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways," says Jehovah. "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 the sky, and doesn't return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills will break out before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields will clap their hands. Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up. It will make a name for Jehovah, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off." Jehovah says: "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil." Let no foreigner who has joined himself to Jehovah speak, saying, "Jehovah will surely separate me from his people." Do not let the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For Jehovah says, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. Also the foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah to serve him, and to love Jehovah's name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "I will yet gather others to him, in addition to his own who are gathered." All you animals of the field, come to devour, all you animals in the forest. His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can't bark-- dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who can't understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. "Come," they say, "I will get wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be as today, great beyond measure."

You Can Read the Bible

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