The Book of ISAIAH - Chapter Fifty Five

Invitation to the Thirsty 

1 

“Come, all you who are thirsty,

    come to the waters;

and you who have no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without cost.

2 

Why spend money on what is not bread,

    and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,

    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

3 

Give ear and come to me;

    listen, that you may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

    my faithful love promised to David.

4 

See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,

    a ruler and commander of the peoples.

5 

Surely you will summon nations you know not,

    and nations you do not know 

will come running to you,

because of the Lord your God,

    the Holy One of Israel,

    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 

Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call on him while he is near.

7 

Let the wicked forsake their ways

    and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the Lord, 

and he will have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 

As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower 

and bread for the eater,

11 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

12 

You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

13 

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.”

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Word by Word Meditations 

by Fred Ursell

Isaiah 55: “satisfy?” (v.2)

We’ve all heard the old saying ‘money can’t buy happiness.’ We know it’s true, but act as if it weren’t. God speaks to us through Isaiah, asking us these searching questions: “why spend money on what is not bread (i.e. things that feed neither body nor soul), and your labour on what does not satisfy?” (v.2). They leave us feeling empty, don’t they? But what’s the free alternative?  “Come, all you who are thirsty” (v.1). If I do, what’s on offer? “Waters [slaking thirst] … wine [giving joy] and milk” [feeding]. And it’s “without cost”! Satisfactory?  

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The Book of ISAIAH- Chapter 55

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-=-

ISAIAH Chapter 1 to 39

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/d0A6Uchb1F8

ISAIAH Chapter 40 - 66

 - Overview 

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/_TzdEPuqgQg 

STUDY - LINKS

-=-=-

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 1 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/XqNzGrYbFWg

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 2 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/1VLLZ_6ZjiE

SONGS 

Trees of the fields 

Trees of the fields shall clap their hands

https://youtu.be/HKa42L11pak

Go out with Joy

https://youtu.be/XrBSDlDrJt8

you shall go out with Joy

https://youtu.be/OH0XbpNY2g8

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The Book of ISAIAH - Chapter Fifty Four

The Future Glory of Zion

1 

“Sing, barren woman,

    you who never bore a child;

burst into song, shout for joy,

    you who were never in labor;

because more are the children 

of the desolate woman

    than of her who has a husband,”

says the Lord.

2 

“Enlarge the place of your tent,

    stretch your tent curtains wide,

    do not hold back;

lengthen your cords,

    strengthen your stakes.

3 

For you will spread out to the right and to the left;

    your descendants will dispossess nations

    and settle in their desolate cities.

4 

“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame.

    Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated.

You will forget the shame of your youth

    and remember no more 

the reproach of your widowhood.

5 

For your Maker is your husband—

    the Lord Almighty is his name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;

    he is called the God of all the earth.

6 

The Lord will call you back

    as if you were a wife deserted 

and distressed in spirit—

a wife who married young,

    only to be rejected,” says your God.

7 

“For a brief moment I abandoned you,

    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.

8 

In a surge of anger

    I hid my face from you for a moment,

but with everlasting kindness

    I will have compassion on you,”

    says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 

“To me this is like the days of Noah,

    when I swore that the waters of Noah 

would never again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,

    never to rebuke you again.

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.

11 

“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted,

    I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,

    your foundations with lapis lazuli.

12 

I will make your battlements of rubies,

    your gates of sparkling jewels,

    and all your walls of precious stones.

13 

All your children will be taught by the Lord,

    and great will be their peace.

14 

In righteousness you will be established:

Tyranny will be far from you;

    you will have nothing to fear.

Terror will be far removed;

    it will not come near you.

15 

If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing;

    whoever attacks you will surrender to you.

16 

“See, it is I who created the blacksmith

    who fans the coals into flame

    and forges a weapon fit for its work.

And it is I who have created the destroyer

 to wreak havoc;

17 

    no weapon forged against you will prevail,

    and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,

    and this is their vindication from me,”

declares the Lord.

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Word by Word Meditations 

by Fred Ursell

Isaiah 54: “lashed” (v.11)

Was God’s word to Jerusalem, the “afflicted city, lashed by storms” (v.11) metaphorical or literal?  It was a clear message of reassurance: ”do not fear disgrace … your Maker is your husband” (vv.4-5). Have you ever stood on the seafront in bad weather, with great waves sweeping in and battering the promenade? Or perhaps just seen such scenes on your TV screen? Has your life felt the cruel whiplash of bitter experiences? Take heart. The storm will subside. He’s ‘the Master of ocean and earth and skies’ – they will obey his word.

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The Book of ISAIAH- Chapter 54

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-

ISAIAH Chapter 1 to 39

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/d0A6Uchb1F8

ISAIAH Chapter 40 - 66

 - Overview 

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/_TzdEPuqgQg 

STUDY - LINKS

-=-=-

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 1 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/XqNzGrYbFWg

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 2 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/1VLLZ_6ZjiE

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The Book of ISAIAH - Chapter Fifty Three

1 

Who has believed our message

    and to whom has the arm 

of the Lord been revealed?

2 

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

    and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, 

and we held him in low esteem.

4 

Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

6 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

7 

He was oppressed and afflicted,

    yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

    so he did not open his mouth.

8 

By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 

He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

    and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 

Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him 

and cause him to suffer,

    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 

After he has suffered,

    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant 

will justify many,

    and he will bear their iniquities.

12 

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

    and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

    and made intercession for the transgressors.

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Word by Word Meditations 

by Fred Ursell

Isaiah 53: “punishment” (v.5) 

The Ethiopian was reading this chapter when God led Philip to speak to him (Acts 8 vv.30-33), so “he began with that very passage … and told him the good news about Jesus” (v.34). One snippet states “the punishment that brought us peace was upon him” (v.5). 

Note: 

[A] the crucifixion was a legal “punishment”; 

[B] it was “upon him”, but not deserved; 

[C] “the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all” (v.6); 

[D] his “suffering” (v.3) paid for “our iniquities” (v.5); 

[E] he won “peace” for us when “pierced” (v.5) and dying “bore the sin of many” (v.12).

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Book of ISAIAH- Chapter 53

- Read by David Suchet -

-=-=-

ISAIAH Chapter 1 to 39

 - Overview -

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/d0A6Uchb1F8

ISAIAH Chapter 40 - 66

 - Overview 

The Bible Project 

https://youtu.be/_TzdEPuqgQg 

STUDY - LINKS

-=-=-

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 1 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/XqNzGrYbFWg

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 2 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/1VLLZ_6ZjiE

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