GOOD MORNING SIBLINGS!
Today’s readings are Isaiah 42-44
Click here to read today’s passages on BibleGateway.
Rabbit Trails
Take a deep breath and dive on in with me…
It’s easy to see our Messiah in the verses in chapter 42 of Isaiah but when you look deeper, you see our Messiah leaping off the pages, quite literally in this book. You see, the word “Salvation” (or variants of it) is mentioned over and over in Isaiah. Each time that word is mentioned, realize that this was originally written in Hebrew and the Hebrew word of Salvation is a variant of Yeshua’s name. Just to see how neat this is and how deeper the meaning goes in these verses, let’s check out Isaiah 43:3 and put a few Hebrew words back where they originally were.
For I am YHWH, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Yeshua. Isaiah 43:3
I don’t know about y’all, but that gives me goose bumps and it is something that I would estimate 99.9% of all Believers never know about or take notice of. Each time you see a version of the word “salvation” in our readings, its a pretty safe bet that it is a form of Messiah’s name so try putting His name in there and see what you glean from it.
Isaiah 42:8 the Father declares who He is. Let us read it and restore His personal name, which is what He originally spoke when He gave this revelation to Isaiah:
“I am YHWH; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”
Isaiah 42:16 – As I was writing these notes, my husband texted me the verse below with the comment “This could be us!”. The funny thing is that I opened my Bible and showed him where I’d written beside this passage “this is us!”
“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.'” Isaiah 42:16
Isaiah 42:18-22 really hit me in the gut because for years, I read His word but did not truly see it. I heard it but did not really discern. I had preconceived notions and I put those over my eyes and my ears as filters and whenever I read something in His Word that didn’t line up with those, I dismissed it, cast it aside.
I used doctrine and interpretation of the Word as the straight edge and tried to make the Word line up to it, all that didn’t was cast aside.
Now, my goal is to use the Word as the straight edge and all else must line up to it. I had the process right but the procedure backwards.
There are many things still left for me to see, to learn, to understand, and to know, and that will always be the case.
But now, the Word of YHWH is my straight edge, that is my benchmark for Truth, and there is no better standard.
Isaiah 42:21 deserves some pondering.
The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious. Isaiah 42:21
YHWH considers His law to be glorious. The word being used for law here is, of course, torah. Click here to see that. It certainly is glorious. That the Father would take the time to carefully impart His wisdom, teachings, and commandments on how we can live and be considered holy unto Him through following the way He has place before us and having faith in our Messiah – I can’t think of a better way to describe it than glorious.
However, without a full reading of the Word, without having taken the time to begin at the beginning and read it firsthand for ourselves, many Believers commit a grievous error when they dismiss the Father’s law as being “done away with.” Taking a few verses out of context and relying on sermons fueled by doctrine can easily lead folks to that conclusion. As Paul says in Romans 3:31 “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”
I want to reiterate again, and we will see more of this as we move forward into the Gospels. We have two sets of law being spoken of in the latter part of the Bible – YHWH’s perfect law and manmade embellishments added to that law which are then held up as more important than YHWH’s teachings. These manmade laws were then taught as the way to salvation, rather than having the faith and trust in our Messiah to follow His example.
The common refrain after you break through that first argument is “There are 613 laws, we can’t possibly keep them all!”. This is pretty much always spoken by someone who has never taken the time to read Leviticus and know that no one is asking us to obey all 613 laws. Are you a Levitical priest? Are you a farmer? Are you a woman? Are you a man? Are you a judge? Do you live in Jerusalem? Is there an earthly temple right now? If you answered no to any one of these questions then a large portion of those 613 don’t even apply to you. Answer “no” to more than one? Even fewer.
Our duty can be summed up in what is known as the ten commandments. If we set our hearts to follow those and to remain in His word, seeking His guidance on our lives, all other commandments (laws) that apply to us will naturally follow suit.
In contrast, there are so many laws in the United States that they do not even have a count of them but estimates are that they exceed 25,000. Most folks I know will proudly state that they are a law abiding citizen of the United States.
How much more pride should we have in stating that we are a law abiding citizen of the Kingdom of YHWH?
Note: I don’t know about y’all but I only have secondary citizenship in the United States. My primary citizenship is in the Kingdom.
Isaiah 42:24 Was it not YHWH, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
This is a great parallel to Jeremiah 6:16. It is also a stark reminder of who we are sinning against when we decide not to walk in the way of YHWH.
This is personal for Him. It should not be a casual thing for us.
Isaiah 43 reads as a great love poem written directly to us from the Father. It will move you to tears and stir your very soul. Notice how very personal the language is. Y’all, this is about you. It is about me. It runs deep.
A few points:
•Isaiah 43:11, read that and replace “savior” with Yeshua, just as I mentioned earlier.
•Isaiah 43:19-20 Read this with today’s events in mind. Does it not feel as if we are living in a desert at this moment? But He is making a way. He has led us to His word. He has quenched our thirst by drawing us to Him. He has called us and we have answered that call and now He is feeding His sheep. I want to point out that these are promises to YHWH’s chosen people, which we are allowed to be counted among by His Grace. We are not counted as His chosen people because we pushed His initial chosen people out of the chair and took their spot. We don’t get to prune the family tree as we see fit. Rather, by His grace, He grafts us into that tree as new branches and all of the branches, old and new, rely on the foundation of His roots to feed and nourish us.
•Isaiah 43:22-28 recalls all of the times we have not answered His call, and all of those who are still not heeding His voice and yet, there is redemption yet again. Grace upon Grace. Recall that chapter numbers and divisions were added in later by man and therefore Isaiah 43 actually flows right into Isaiah 44. In YHWH’s eyes and within the writings of Isaiah, the thoughts in these two chapters were not separated as we continue to read of the restoration and continuing love of Israel.
•Isaiah 44:2 may present a term you haven’t noticed before, Jeshrun. This is actually another variation of Yeshua’s name. Jeshurun is a poetic reference to Israel that means “upright one”. It is used in this context to denote Israel at their best, which is of course when they are walking in YHWH’s will. And you know just typing that made me tear up a bit because I sure do love the Father and I sure do feel His love for me and I want to do all I can to be my best for Him. We are at our best when we are walking in obedience to the Father.
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!