May 31st
The defense rests. In today’s reading, the courtroom scene that began in chapter 41 concludes. God presents final evidence to show that he never abandons his people. God will raise up a ruler over Persia’s empire, King Cyrus, who will defeat the Babylonians and grant all exiled Israelites safe passage home. The Babylonians are counting on their military technology, sorcery, and astrologers. They think they’re safe. But when the Persian catastrophe comes, none of Babylon’s idol statues can lift a golden finger to stop it. Yet, this victorious return does not resolve the deeper problem of Israel’s rebellion. Like a parched field, cracking for want of rain, the people’s hearts have grown hard and brittle, either unable or unwilling to love. Yahweh longs to see them drenched with righteousness, to see their ways of right relating with one another pour down from the sky and well up from the ground until the whole land blooms with life. As you’ll learn in the video, “righteousness” in the Bible refers to right relating with others, doing right by them. Knowing what’s right requires God’s wisdom. Psalm 119 envisions a way of learning real wisdom by meditating on Yahweh’s law. Jesus and the psalmist agree: God’s instructions show us the way to love and life. At this point in the story, however, the Israelites have abandoned Yahweh’s life-giving words to follow their own way, leading to corruption and injustice as they disqualify themselves from being God’s servant to the nations. How is God going to salvage his rescue mission from this mess?
June 1st
Yesterday’s reading ended with a persistent problem. Even after all they go through in exile and learn from that experience, the Israelites continue turning away from God. Today’s reading introduces Yahweh’s surprising solution: Instead of giving up on Israel, he’s sending his servant to bring everyone home. Yahweh’s servant has a twofold mission. First, he represents the Israelites so that he can restore them. He receives the title “Israel” (Isa. 49:3) and brings the scattered people home from exile. And then, since Yahweh wants to be with his people, his servant makes the path back home easy to navigate. Notice all of the poetic metaphors here. Instead of needing to scramble up steep hills, they will stroll down a wide and level highway, shielded from the sun’s scorching heat. Whenever they grow thirsty, they can stoop to drink from springs of sweet water along the road. Even solemn mountains will burst into song, cheering the Israelites on as they dance their way back into Zion. Their once-desolate city will bloom with garden life, laughter ringing, as St. Teresa of Avila once wrote, “from every brick in the street and from every pore in the sky.” But even all this, Isaiah declares, is “too light a thing” (Isa. 49:6) for Yahweh’s anointed servant. He will not only bless Israel but will also take on Israel’s job of bringing justice and good news to the nations. Through the servant, God’s generous, life-giving love overflows to the farthest corners of the Earth.
June 2nd
The long night of Israel’s exile drags on and on and on. Back in Jerusalem’s charred remains, a few stragglers try to build a life amidst the rubble. They cling to whatever scraps of hope they can find. Hope feels frail and feeble to exhausted people passing by their temple’s blackened bones every day. Then comes the surprise. Weary watchmen on the city’s ruined walls look up to see a figure sprinting towards them. A messenger, coming with good news! Despite all the desolation, Yahweh still reigns as King. He’s sending his servant to rule and restore Jerusalem. Today’s reading offers a surprising introduction to the servant of Yahweh. Nothing about him looks impressive. In fact, suffering has disfigured his appearance almost beyond recognition. As we read on, we learn that the servant suffers because of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Even though he’s coming to rescue the Israelites from the consequences of their rebellion, they’re going to reject the servant and send him to his death. Yikes. That doesn’t sound like particularly good news! Like the story of Joseph and his brothers, God takes what was planned for evil and creates goodness out of it. The servant accomplishes his mission not in spite of his suffering, but because of it. Watch the video to learn more about Isaiah’s strange good news, and how our suffering servant King, Jesus, fulfills his prophecy.
June 3rd
Yahweh is sending his servant to rescue Israel, not by destroying others but by giving himself. This leads to the servant’s willful surrender. The book of Isaiah poetically envisions the servant’s surprising rescue mission as one that transforms Jerusalem from scorched ruins to a glittering beacon of blessing. At the heart of the city, Yahweh has the table set for a magnificent feast. God issues an open invitation: Are you thirsty? Hungry for true life? Grab a seat. No money, no status, nothing? No problem. You don’t need to show a ticket here or swipe your credit card after dessert. All are welcome, not just exiled Israelites on their way back home, but foreigners and outsiders, too. They only need to open their hands and receive what Yahweh’s servant has done for them. All who take Yahweh up on his offer of life and blessing are called his “servants.” Oddly, not everyone accepts Yahweh’s generous invitation. While the servants pull up a chair at Yahweh’s table, the wicked sneer at his offer, preferring to dine with idolatry and greed. The door to true life is open, but it always comes with a choice. Walk in and receive ongoing life, or walk away and try to sustain it on your own?
June 4th
After a wild ride featuring angel tongs, cud-chewing wolves, plastered priests, a naked prophet, and more than one earth-shattering apocalypse, you’ve reached the final section of Isaiah. The author arranged chapters 56-66 in a symmetrical pattern that brings together the book’s main themes. At the center of Isaiah’s conclusion are three beautiful poems about the Spirit-empowered servant announcing the arrival of Yahweh’s Kingdom (chs. 60-62). Such good news reaffirms all the promises of hope from earlier in the book. You’ll read the first of these poems today in Isaiah 60. Kings from every corner of the world stream toward the new Jerusalem. Behind them, loaded caravans creak under the weight of gold, their gleaming gifts bound for Yahweh’s temple. Ahead of them, the new Jerusalem glows with Yahweh’s glory, his presence brighter than the sun. Surrounding these poems about the Kingdom are two long prayers of repentance (chs. 59 and 63-64). Yahweh’s servants confess Israel’s sin and grieve over all the evil they see in the world around them. The humble prayer of the servants stands in sharp contrast to the oblivious self-righteousness of the wicked. These Israelites fast in sackcloth and ashes, but their display of humility is nothing more than a self-centered charade. Their brutal treatment of the vulnerable shows they are not interested in listening to Yahweh, no matter how piously they pray or how scrupulously they Sabbath. Yahweh pleads with them: Return to me—not with empty words, but with compassionate hearts.
June 5th
Today’s reading brings us to Isaiah 61, a moving poem about the glory of Yahweh’s future Kingdom. It’s designed as the literary center of Isaiah’s conclusion, suggesting this material is central to Isaiah’s purpose in writing. The prophecies written in this scroll focus on the glory of Yahweh’s future Kingdom. As you’ll learn in the video, the author packs this poem with hyperlinks to the rest of the Hebrew Bible. The God who turns parched deserts into lush gardens, who replaces tears and ashes with radiant crowns, who brings his people from captivity in darkness to the glorious light of freedom—he’s on a mission to restore his whole creation. The poem in Isaiah 62 continues the good news of Yahweh’s Kingdom, focused this time on Jerusalem. The ruins on Mount Zion will be rebuilt into a beacon of beauty, Yahweh’s glory spilling over the city’s walls for all the world to see. It’s a beautiful image, but it’s a far cry from where the people are now—conquered, powerless, haunted by injustice and oppression. Their glimpse of future glory forces them to confront the gap between where they are and where God wants them to be. Just like Isaiah crying “Woe!” in Yahweh’s heavenly temple, the people respond to their glorious vision with confession and repentance. The Israelites remember God’s rescue … and also their rebellion. Is there any hope? Will Yahweh’s ongoing pattern of showing mercy continue? If it does, will the people learn what God is trying to teach them?
June 6th
The final words of Moses, Joshua, David, and now the book of Isaiah all offer a distinct choice for readers to ponder. Will people walk in a new way of faith or follow the standard path of fear? Blessing or curse, life or death—which will they choose? Yahweh invites everyone to enter a new life in his new creation. Humanity will be fruitful and multiply in a land of garden abundance, as God originally intended. Lions will chew on grass and relax next to knobbly-kneed lambs. The deceptive snake will eat dust, no longer able to harm humanity with falsehood and evil, just as Yahweh promised. Today’s reading promises a reversal of the damage described in Genesis 3. It also describes a reversal of Genesis 11, where Yahweh stopped the nations from their tower of Babylon project and scattered them throughout the world. Now, those displaced nations will stream to Jerusalem, gathering to worship Yahweh rather than their own power and ingenuity. The priests staffing Yahweh’s new dwelling place will no longer be limited to descendants of Levi or even descendants of Abraham. God invites people of every tribe, tongue, and nation to join his royal priesthood. Yahweh’s invitation is just that: an invitation. God grants people the space and freedom to accept or refuse his offer, which means allowing them to experience the results of their decision. To trust in idols is to reject Yahweh, which is also a rejection of life. That rejection leads to suffering and death. They can burn incense by the gallon. They can sacrifice whole flocks of perfect sheep. They can wait up all night in a graveyard. None of it will give a wooden pole carved with images any power to rescue them. The gates of the new Jerusalem have been flung wide open. Life, peace, and delight are waiting inside. Will the people come in?