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• Isa. 60:1-64:12

Devotional

GOD continues providing His children a message of hope despite their coming destruction.

¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, ³ To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
(Isa. 61:1-3 NKJV)

Jesus was the fulfillment of these verses. GOD also revealed His plan for a new relationship which would come out of Zion:

¹ For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning. ² The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate. ³ You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. ⁴ It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be married. ⁵ For as a young man marries a virgin, So your sons will marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God will rejoice over you.
(Isa. 62:1-5 NASB)

These verses are referring to Jesus’ relationship to His bride, the church.

¹¹ Indeed the LORD has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’” ¹² And they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD; And you shall be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
(Isa. 62:11-12 NKJV)

Isaiah then lamented Israel’s current situation:

⁵ You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? ⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. ⁷ No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to our sins.

⁸ Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. ⁹ Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. ¹⁰ Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹ Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. ¹² After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
(Isa. 64:5-12 NIV)