You know how last week I told you how much people love the book of Isaiah? How much people love to read the promises and the beautiful language? Well, here we are!
Here’s a selection of the best of the best of Isaiah. These are the verses that lift our spirits, encourage us, and remind us that God...is. When we lose sight of all else, the fact that GOD IS keeps us steady.
Isaiah 40:1 “ ‘Comfort, O comfort My people,’ says your God.” (See? I feel better already.)
From 40:2-5: "Speak kindly to Jerusalem...Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low...Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
And my life verse from high school, Isaiah 40:30-31: “Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
43:1 “But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, ‘Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!’ ”
49:16 “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.”
The words in Isaiah 53 are not pretty. They speak of Christ’s messy, painful, redeeming work on the cross. Because of what they describe, these words make up one of the most beautiful chapters in the book. “He was despised and forsaken of men...a man of sorrows...acquainted with grief. He bore my griefs and sorrows. Pierced. Crushed. Chastened. Scourged. He has taken on himself the iniquity of us all. Led like a lamb to the slaughter. Poured out, even to death.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 58:6-8: “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” Notice the “If...then” condition of this verse: The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard, if you choose to obey.
Isaiah 59:17: “He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.” This verse is a precursor to the Armor of God that we find in Ephesians.
Isaiah 61:1-2 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God;” (Jesus himself read these next verses when he spoke in the Temple;)
Isaiah 65:17: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”
Isaiah ends with beautiful words of the New Jerusalem, which is echoed in Revelation. The new heaven and the new earth will endure, says the LORD.
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