In this portion of Isaiah (Volume 2), God does not “hate” Gentiles. Gentiles, per se, are not the enemy God deals with. As in Ephesians 6:11-18, the enemy is spiritual. God welcomes repentant Gentiles into his Israelite family. God’s victory is not yet complete. There is eternity yet to come. This is the “already not yet” so popular in Christian writing today. But the major portion, the most difficult part, has already been achieved. John 19:30 … “It is finished” … Let us give God our “selah” and pause to celebrate with him and Isaiah in chapter 60. …
Septuagint Isaiah 59–Covenant: Devotional 2.77
The two elements of the promise God makes to all the seed (both Jew and Gentile) of the believing remnant of God’s people Israel are God’s Spirit and God’s word. The covenant states that these two will abide among believers from now and forever. The New Testament bears witness to the fulfillment of these promises. …
Septuagint Isaiah 59–Devotional 2.75
Septuagint Isaiah 59 hides quietly behind its poetic images. Yet it presents the entire Gospel message of Jesus Christ, God’s Servant. This gospel message is: 1) Every person needs deliverance from sin. 2) God himself, through his Servant, is the Deliverer. 3) Everyone is invited. 4) God sends his Spirit to those who embrace the Deliverer. The four points below expand upon this message of the Deliverer and the Spirit. …
Septuagint Isaiah 58–Devotional 2.74
Slowly, but slowly, as I read through chapters 58 and 59, I begin to perceive that what God is after is a way of life. He wants his people to follow his heart, day in and day out, in both the large and the small. The reward reveals itself as more than a piece of property (58:14). The reward is an ongoing relationship and fellowship with God (Septuagint Isaiah 59:21)… …
Condemnation Versus Blessing: Devotional 2.73
Consistently in Isaiah, “Israel” appears as a heterogenous group. God in Septuagint Isaiah does not give promises of salvation as a blanket statement to the nation of Israel as a whole. Rather, he gives his promises to his people. Sometimes he calls these people “Israel,” or “Zion.” But chapters 56-57 indicate in plain speech that God does not welcome into his assembly everyone found to be of Israelite descent. …
Strangers and Eunuchs: Devotional 2.72
The changes which the Lord announces throughout this portion of Isaiah (and specifically in 56:2-8) are not easy changes. One might say that they are “mind-boggling” groundswells on the order of all the ice in the Arctic completely melting or the entire Rock of Gibraltar dissolving into the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus, the Lord’s Servant, understood the upsetting nature of his ministry and God’s plan and purpose from his incarnation forward. …