Message One

The Vision, the Word, and the Burden
That Isaiah Saw concerning Christ
as the Centrality and Universality
of God¡¯s Eternal Economy

Scripture Reading: Isa. 1:1; 2:1; 13:1;
9:6-7; 40:28-31; 42:1-4; 53:5; 55:6-13; 57:15; 66:1-2

Isa. 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah:

Isa. 2:1  The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa. 13:1  The burden concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

Isa. 40:28-31  Do you not know, / Or have you not heard, / That the eternal God, Jehovah, / The Creator of the ends of the earth, / Does not faint and does not become weary? / There is no searching out of His understanding. 29He gives power to the faint, / And to those who have no vigor He multiplies strength. 30Although youths will faint and become weary, / And young men will collapse exhausted; 31Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; / They will mount up with wings like eagles; / They will run and will not faint; / They will walk and will not become weary.

Isa. 42:1-4  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth. 4He will not faint, nor will He be discouraged, / Until He has established justice in the earth; / And the coastlands will wait for His instruction.

Isa. 53:5  But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed.

Isa. 55:6-13  Seek Jehovah while He may be found; / Call upon Him while He is near. 7Let the wicked forsake his way, / And the evildoer, his thoughts; / And let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion on him; / And to our God, for He will pardon abundantly. 8For My thoughts are not your thoughts, / And your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / So My ways are higher than your ways, / And My thoughts higher than your thoughts. 10For just as the rain comes down / And the snow from heaven, / And does not return there, / Until it waters the earth / And makes it bear and sprout forth, / That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; / It will not return to Me vainly, / But it will accomplish what I delight in, / And it will prosper in the matter to which I have sent it. 12For you will go out with rejoicing, / And you will be led forth in peace; / The mountains and the hills / Will break forth before you with a ringing shout, / And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13In place of the thornbush, the fir tree will come up; / In place of the brier, the myrtle will come up; / And it will be to Jehovah as a name, / As an eternal sign that will not be cut off.

Isa. 57:15  For thus says the high and exalted One, / Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: / I will dwell in the high and holy place, / And with the contrite and lowly of spirit, / To revive the spirit of the lowly / And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isa. 66:1-2  Thus says Jehovah, / Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / Where then is the house that you will build for Me, / And where is the place of My rest? 2For all these things My hand has made, / And so all these things have come into being, declares Jehovah. / But to this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor / And of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.

                  I.    Isaiah (meaning ¡°the salvation of Jah¡±) is the leading book among all the books of the prophets, and its subject is the salvation of Jehovah through the incarnated, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and coming Christ; this book is the vision that Isaiah saw (1:1), the word that Isaiah saw (2:1), and the burden that Isaiah saw (13:1; 15:1) concerning Christ as the centrality and universality of God¡¯s eternal economy (9:6-7; 53:1-12; 40:10):

Isa. 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah:

Isa. 2:1  The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

Isa. 13:1  The burden concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

Isa. 15:1  The burden concerning Moab: Indeed in a night it is devastated¡ª / Ar of Moab is cut off. / Indeed in a night it is devastated¡ª / Kir of Moab is cut off.

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

Isa. 53:1-12  Who has believed our report? / And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed? 2For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him. 4Surely He has borne our sicknesses, / And carried our sorrows; / Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, / Smitten of God and afflicted. 5But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray; / Each of us has turned to his own way, / And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him. 7He was oppressed, and it was He who was afflicted, / Yet He did not open His mouth; / Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, / So He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and by judgment He was taken away; / And as for His generation, who among them had the thought / That He was cut off out of the land of the living / For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? 9And they assigned His grave with the wicked, / But with a rich man in His death, / Although He had done no violence, / Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / When He makes Himself an offering for sin, / He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong; / Because He poured out His life unto death / And was numbered with the transgressors, / Yet He alone bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors.

Isa. 40:10  Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty One, / And His arm will rule for Him. / Behold, His reward is with Him, / And His recompense before Him.

                           A.    Isaiah reveals the history of the universe¡ªfrom God¡¯s original creation through Satan¡¯s rebellion and Christ¡¯s processes to accomplish God¡¯s judicial redemption and His organic salvation for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ, to usher in the kingdom of God unto the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth¡ªv. 22a; 45:18; 14:12-14; 53:5; 12:2-3; 65:17.

Isa. 40:22a  It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

Isa. 45:18  For thus says Jehovah, / Who created the heavens¡ª / He is the God / Who formed the earth and made it; / He established it; / He did not create it waste, / But He formed it to be inhabited: / I am Jehovah and there is no one else;

Isa. 14:12-14  How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! 13But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High.

Isa. 53:5  But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed.

Isa. 12:2-3  God is now my salvation; / I will trust and not dread; / For Jah Jehovah is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation. 3Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation,

Isa. 65:17  For I am now creating new heavens / And a new earth, / And the former things will not be remembered, / Nor will they come up in the heart.

                           B.    Isaiah¡¯s prophecy has a spiritual essence¡ªthe Christ who was processed for the divine purposes is the centrality and universality of the great wheel of the move of the Divine Trinity for the accomplishing of His economy in the divine dispensing of Himself into His elect¡ªcf. Ezek. 1:15.

Ezek. 1:15  And as I watched the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of their four faces.

                II.    In the book of Isaiah, God¡¯s love toward Israel is exercised in a threefold way: as a Father (1:2-3; 63:16; 64:8), as a nursing Mother (66:12-13), and as a Husband (54:5):

Ezek. 1:2-3  On the fifth of the month (it was the fifth year of King Jehoiachin¡¯s captivity) 3The word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of Jehovah was upon him there.

Isa. 63:16  For You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.

Isa. 64:8  But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Isa. 66:12-13  For thus says Jehovah, / I now am extending to her / Peace like a river, / And the glory of the nations / Like an overflowing stream; / And you will nurse, you will be carried on the hip, / And you will be bounced on the knees. 13As one whom his mother comforts, / So will I comfort you; / And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

Isa. 54:5  For your Maker is your Husband; / Jehovah of hosts is His name. / And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; / He is called the God of all the earth.

                           A.    God deals with people according to what He is; as the Holy One (1:4), He chastises His people that they may be holy (Heb. 12:10), and as the righteous One (Isa. 24:16a), He judges the nations because they are not just and righteous (26:13).

Isa. 1:4  Alas, sinful nation, / A people heavy with iniquity, / Seed of evildoers, / Children acting corruptly! / They have forsaken Jehovah; / They have despised the Holy One of Israel; / They have become estranged and have gone backward.

Heb. 12:10  For they disciplined for a few days as it seemed good to them; but He, for what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness.

Isa. 24:16a  From the ends of the earth we hear songs: / Glory to the righteous One!

Isa. 26:13  O Jehovah our God, other lords besides You have been master to us, / But through You alone do we mention Your name.

                           B.    God¡¯s dealing in love with His beloved Israel and His righteous judgment upon the nations bring in Christ, the Savior¡ª43:3-4; 49:26.

Isa. 43:3-4  Because I am Jehovah your God, / The Holy One of Israel, your Savior, / I have given Egypt as your ransom, / Cush and Seba instead of you. 4Since you were precious in My eyes, / Since you have been honorable and I have loved you, / I will give up men in your place, / And peoples in exchange for your life.

Isa. 49:26  And I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; / And they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; / Then all flesh will know / That I am Jehovah your Savior / And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

                           C.    There is a divine, spiritual, and heavenly philosophy that dominates the book of Isaiah:

                                      1.    God¡¯s chastising of Israel and His judgment on the nations who exercise excessive action upon Israel issue in three things:

                                                a.    Israel is brought back to God.

                                                b.    The created things are restored.

                                                c.    The all-inclusive Christ is ushered in.

                                      2.    When Israel turns to God, there will be the restoration of all things, and then the all-inclusive Christ will be ushered in; this is the divine, spiritual, and heavenly philosophy that dominates the book of Isaiah, especially in the first thirty-nine chapters.

              III.    The book of Isaiah, which has sixty-six chapters, is a representative of the entire Bible, which has sixty-six books:

                           A.    The first section (chs. 1¡ª39) concerns God¡¯s governmental dealing with His beloved Israel and His punishing judgment on the nations so that Israel may be brought back to God and the all-inclusive Christ may be ushered in with the expected restoration of all things (11:6-9; 35:5-6; cf. Matt. 19:28).

Isa. 11:6-9  And the wolf will dwell with the lamb; / And the leopard will lie down with the kid, / And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; / And a young boy will lead them about. 7The cow and the bear will graze; / Their young will lie down together; / And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8The nursing child will play by the cobra¡¯s hole, / And upon the viper¡¯s den / The weaned child will stretch his hand. 9They will not harm nor destroy / In all My holy mountain, / For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, / As water covers the sea.

Isa. 35:5-6  Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, / And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped; 6Then the lame will leap like a hart, / And the tongue of the dumb will give a ringing shout; / For water will break forth in the wilderness, / And streams in the desert.

Matt. 19:28  And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the restoration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

                           B.    The last section (Isa. 40¡ª66) is the kind word of Jehovah spoken to the heart of Israel, His beloved people; this word unveils the prophet¡¯s vision concerning the redeeming and saving Christ as the Servant of Jehovah and reveals the all-inclusive salvation brought in by Christ to Israel and the nations, with the full restoration of all things, consummating in the new heaven and new earth.

              IV.    The book of Isaiah reveals the Triune God coming out of eternity into time and with His divinity into humanity to pass through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension for the accomplishment of God¡¯s economy to produce and build up the church as the Body of Christ and to usher in the kingdom age, consummating in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth:

                           A.    Isaiah reveals the forerunner of Christ, preparing the way for Christ¡ª40:1-5.

Isa. 40:1-5  Comfort, oh, comfort My people, / Says your God. 2Speak unto the heart of Jerusalem, / And cry out to her, / That her warfare has finished, / That the penalty for her iniquity has been accepted; / For she has received from the hand of Jehovah double / For all her sins. 3The voice of one who cries / In the wilderness: Make clear / The way of Jehovah; / Make straight in the desert / A highway for our God. 4Every valley will be lifted up, / And every mountain and hill will be made low, / And the crooked places will become straight, / And the rough places, a broad plain. 5Then the glory of Jehovah will be revealed, / And all flesh will see it together, / Because the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.

                           B.    Isaiah reveals the conception and birth of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God¡ª7:14; 9:6-7.

Isa. 7:14  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

                           C.    Isaiah reveals the human living of Christ¡ª7:14-15; 40:9b; 53:2-3; 61:1-2a; 9:2; 49:5a; 42:1-4; 11:1-2.

Isa. 7:14-15  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. 15He will eat curds and honey until he knows how to refuse evil and choose good.

Isa. 40:9b  O Jerusalem, who brings glad tidings; / Lift it up, Do not be afraid. / Say to the cities of Judah, / Behold your God!

Isa. 53:2-3  For He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him.

Isa. 61:1-2a  The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, / Because Jehovah has anointed Me / To bring good news to the afflicted; / He has sent Me to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted, / To proclaim liberty to the captives, / And the opening of the eyes to those who are bound; 2aTo proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah

Isa. 9:2  The people who walked in the darkness / Have seen a great light; / Upon those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death / Light has shined.

Isa. 49:5a  And now says Jehovah, / Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, / To bring Jacob back to Him, / So that Israel would be gathered to Him;

Isa. 42:1-4  Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, / My chosen One in whom My soul delights; / I have put My Spirit upon Him, / And He will bring forth justice to the nations. 2He will not cry out, nor lift up His voice, / Nor make His voice heard in the street. 3A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth. 4He will not faint, nor will He be discouraged, / Until He has established justice in the earth; / And the coastlands will wait for His instruction.

Isa. 11:1-2  Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah.

                           D.    Isaiah reveals the crucifixion of Christ¡ª53:4-10a, 12b.

Isa. 53:4-10a  Surely He has borne our sicknesses, / And carried our sorrows; / Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, / Smitten of God and afflicted. 5But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray; / Each of us has turned to his own way, / And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all / To fall on Him. 7He was oppressed, and it was He who was afflicted, / Yet He did not open His mouth; / Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter / And like a sheep that is dumb before its shearers, / So He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and by judgment He was taken away; / And as for His generation, who among them had the thought / That He was cut off out of the land of the living / For the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? 9And they assigned His grave with the wicked, / But with a rich man in His death, / Although He had done no violence, / Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. 10aBut Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / When He makes Himself an offering for sin,

Isa. 53:12b  Because He poured out His life unto death / And was numbered with the transgressors, / Yet He alone bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors.

                           E.    Isaiah reveals the resurrection of Christ¡ªvv. 10b-11.

Isa. 53:10b-11  But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / When He makes Himself an offering for sin, / He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities.

                           F.    Isaiah reveals the ascension of Christ¡ª52:13; 53:12a.

Isa. 52:13  Indeed, My Servant will act wisely and will prosper; / He will be exalted and lifted up and very high.

Isa. 53:12a  Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong;

                          G.    Isaiah reveals the second coming of Christ¡ª40:10; 64:1.

Isa. 40:10  Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty One, / And His arm will rule for Him. / Behold, His reward is with Him, / And His recompense before Him.

Isa. 64:1  Oh that You would rend the heavens, that You would come down¡ª / That the mountains would shake at Your presence¡ª

                          H.    Isaiah reveals the coming kingdom of Christ¡ª2:2-5; 11:6-9; 35:1-10; 30:26.

Isa. 2:2-5  But in the last days / The mountain of the house of Jehovah will be established / On the top of the mountains; / And it will be lifted up above the hills; / And all the nations will stream to it, 3And many peoples will come and say, / Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, / To the house of the God of Jacob, / That He may instruct us in His ways, / And that we may walk in His paths. / For from Zion will go forth instruction, / And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem; 4And He will judge between the nations, / And will decide matters for many peoples. / And they will beat their swords into plowshares, / And their spears into pruning knives; / Nation will not lift up sword against nation, / Nor will they learn war anymore. 5House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

Isa. 11:6-9  And the wolf will dwell with the lamb; / And the leopard will lie down with the kid, / And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; / And a young boy will lead them about. 7The cow and the bear will graze; / Their young will lie down together; / And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8The nursing child will play by the cobra¡¯s hole, / And upon the viper¡¯s den / The weaned child will stretch his hand. 9They will not harm nor destroy / In all My holy mountain, / For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, / As water covers the sea.

Isa. 35:1-10  The wilderness and the desert will be glad; / And the desert will exult and blossom / Like the rose. 2It will blossom and blossom, / And even exult with exultation and a ringing shout. / The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, / The splendor of Carmel and Sharon; / They will see the glory of Jehovah, / The splendor of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands, / And confirm the shaking knees. 4Say to those who are of anxious heart, / Be strong; fear not; / Indeed your God / Will come with vengeance, / With the recompense of God; / He will come and save you. 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, / And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped; 6Then the lame will leap like a hart, / And the tongue of the dumb will give a ringing shout; / For water will break forth in the wilderness, / And streams in the desert. 7And the desert mirage will become a pool, / And the thirsty ground, springs of water; / In the habitation of jackals, their resting place, / There will be grass with reeds and rushes. 8And a highway will be there, and a way, / And it will be called, The Way of Holiness. / The unclean will not pass on it, / But it will be for him who walks on the way; / No fools will err in it. 9There will be no lion there, / Nor will any ravenous animal go up on it; / They will not be found there; / But the redeemed will walk on it. 10And the ransomed of Jehovah will return / And will come to Zion with a ringing shout, / And eternal joy will be upon their heads. / They will lay hold on gladness and joy, / And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isa. 30:26  And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, / And the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, / On the day when Jehovah binds up the breach of His people / And heals the wound left from His stroke.

                             I.    Isaiah reveals the eternal new creation of Christ¡ª65:17.

Isa. 65:17  For I am now creating new heavens / And a new earth, / And the former things will not be remembered, / Nor will they come up in the heart.

                V.    Isaiah reveals the wonderful person of Christ:

                           A.    Christ is the incarnated Savior, the crucified Redeemer, the resurrected Life-giver, the ascended Victor, and the coming King¡ª9:6; 53:5, 10b-12; 40:10.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

Isa. 53:5  But He was wounded because of our transgressions; / He was crushed because of our iniquities; / The chastening for our peace was upon Him, / And by His stripes we have been healed.

Isa. 53:10b-12  He will see a seed, He will extend His days, / And the pleasure of Jehovah will prosper in His hand. 11He will see the fruit of the travail of His soul, / And He will be satisfied; / By the knowledge of Him, the righteous One, My Servant, will make the / many righteous, / And He will bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will divide to Him a portion with the Great, / And He will divide the spoil with the Strong; / Because He poured out His life unto death / And was numbered with the transgressors, / Yet He alone bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors.

Isa. 40:10  Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty One, / And His arm will rule for Him. / Behold, His reward is with Him, / And His recompense before Him.

                           B.    Christ is the light of Jehovah¡ª2:5; 9:1-2; 49:6b.

Isa. 2:5  House of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

Isa. 9:1-2  But gloom does not remain in the place where there was anguish: formerly He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali contemptibly, but afterward He treats the way of the sea, across the Jordan, with glory, Galilee of the nations. 2The people who walked in the darkness / Have seen a great light; / Upon those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death / Light has shined.

Isa. 49:6b  I will also set You as a light of the nations / That You may be My salvation unto the ends of the earth.

                           C.    Christ is the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth¡ª4:2.

Isa. 4:2  In that day the Shoot of Jehovah will be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth, excellence and splendor, to those of Israel who have escaped.

                           D.    Christ is the King, Jehovah of hosts¡ª6:1-8.

Isa. 6:1-8  In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2Seraphim hovered over Him, each having six wings: With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to the other, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts; / The whole earth is filled with His glory. 4And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell; / Yet my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with an ember in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7And he touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, / Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? And I said, Here am I; send me.

                           E.    Christ is God with us¡ª7:14; 8:8, 10; 40:9b.

Isa. 7:14  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.

Isa. 8:8  It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

Isa. 8:10  Take counsel, yet it will be frustrated; / Speak the word, yet it will not stand; / For God is with us.

Isa. 40:9b  O Jerusalem, who brings glad tidings; / Lift it up, Do not be afraid. / Say to the cities of Judah, / Behold your God!

                           F.    Christ is Wonderful¡ª9:6.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                          G.    Christ is our Counselor¡ªv. 6.

                          H.    Christ is the Mighty God and the Eternal Father¡ªv. 6.

                             I.    Christ is the Prince of Peace¡ªv. 6.

                            J.    Christ is our sanctuary, our dwelling place¡ª8:14a.

Isa. 8:14a  Then He will become a sanctuary,

                          K.    Christ is the branch from the roots of Jesse, the father of David¡ª11:1-9.

Isa. 11:1-9  Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah. 3He will delight in the fear of Jehovah: / He will neither judge by what His eyes see, / Nor decide by what His ears hear. 4But He will judge the poor in righteousness, / And decide with equity for the afflicted of the land. / And He will strike the land with the rod of His mouth, / And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5Righteousness will be that which girds His loins, / And faithfulness will be that which girds His hips. 6And the wolf will dwell with the lamb; / And the leopard will lie down with the kid, / And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; / And a young boy will lead them about. 7The cow and the bear will graze; / Their young will lie down together; / And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8The nursing child will play by the cobra¡¯s hole, / And upon the viper¡¯s den / The weaned child will stretch his hand. 9They will not harm nor destroy / In all My holy mountain, / For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah, / As water covers the sea.

                           L.    Christ is a banner to the peoples and a standard to the nations¡ªvv. 10-16.

Isa. 11:10-16  And in that day the root of Jesse, / Who stands as a banner to the peoples¡ª / Him will the nations seek, / And His resting place will be the glory. 11And in that day the Lord, / By His hand for the second time again, / Will recover the remnant of His people / Who remain, from Assyria and from Egypt, / From Pathros, Cush, and Elam, / From Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea. 12He will lift up a standard to the nations, / And will gather the outcasts of Israel; / And the dispersed of Judah He will assemble / From the four corners of the earth. 13And Ephraim¡¯s jealousy will depart, / And the adversaries in Judah will be cut off; / Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, / Nor will Judah be hostile to Ephraim. 14And they will fly down upon the shoulders of the Philistines on the west; / Together they will plunder the children of the east. / Edom and Moab will come into the grasp of their hand, / And the children of Ammon will submit to them. 15And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt; / And will wave His hand over the River with the scorching of His wind, / And He will strike it into seven streams, / And march men through it dryshod. 16And there will be a highway from Assyria / For the remnant of His people which remain, / As there was for Israel / In the day that they came up from the land of Egypt.

                         M.    Christ is the springs of salvation, the salvation of Jehovah¡ª12:2-6.

Isa. 12:2-6  God is now my salvation; / I will trust and not dread; / For Jah Jehovah is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation. 3Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation, 4And you will say in that day, / Give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name! / Make His deeds known among the peoples; / Remind them that His name is exalted. 5Sing psalms to Jehovah, for He has done something majestic! / Let it be made known in all the earth! 6Cry out and give a ringing shout, O inhabitant of Zion, / For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

                           N.    Christ as our King is our eternal rock, our Savior, Defender, and Teacher¡ª16:5; 24:23; 26:3-4; 17:10; 30:29; 19:20; 30:20-21.

Isa. 16:5  Then will a throne be established in lovingkindness, / And upon it One will sit in truth / In the tent of David, / Judging and pursuing justice / And hastening righteousness.

Isa. 24:23  Then the moon will be abashed, and the sun will be ashamed; / For Jehovah of hosts will reign / In Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, / And His glory will be before His elders.

Isa. 26:3-4  You will keep the steadfast of mind / In perfect peace / Because he trusts in You. 4Trust in Jehovah forever and ever, / For in Jah Jehovah we have an eternal rock.

Isa. 17:10  For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, / And the Rock of your stronghold you have not remembered. / Therefore you plant plants of delight / And set them with plant cuttings to a strange god.

Isa. 30:29  You will have a song / As in the night when the feast is sanctified, / And gladness of heart as when one marches to the flute / To go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.

Isa. 19:20  And it will become a sign and a testimony to Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry unto Jehovah because of their oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and Mighty One; and He will deliver them.

Isa. 30:20-21  And though the Lord has given you / The bread of adversity and the water of oppression, / Your Teacher will no longer hide Himself in a corner, / But your eyes will see your Teacher. 21And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, / This is the way, walk in it, / When you turn to the right or turn to the left.

                          O.    Christ is the Steward in the house of God, the One who has the key of the house of David¡ª22:15, 20-24; Rev. 3:7.

Isa. 22:15  Thus says the Lord Jehovah of hosts: / Get up, go to this steward, / To Shebna, who is over the king¡¯s house, saying,

Isa. 22:20-24  And in that day / I will call to My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21And I will clothe him with your tunic, / And I will strengthen him with your girding sash, / And I will put your dominion into his hand; / And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem / And to the house of Judah. 22And I will set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder¡ª / When he opens, no one will shut; / When he shuts, no one will open. 23And I will drive him as a peg into a sure place, / And he will become a throne of glory for his father¡¯s house. 24And they will hang upon him all the glory of his father¡¯s house, the offspring and the issue, all the smallest vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.

Rev. 3:7  And to the messenger of the church in Philadelphia write: These things says the Holy One, the true One, the One who has the key of David, the One who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens:

                           P.    Christ is a peg, a nail, driven into a sure place¡ªIsa. 22:23.

Isa. 22:23  And I will drive him as a peg into a sure place, / And he will become a throne of glory for his father¡¯s house.

                          Q.    Christ is our crown of glory and our diadem of beauty¡ª28:5.

Isa. 28:5  In that day Jehovah of hosts / Will become a crown of beauty and a diadem of glory to the remnant of His people,

                           R.    Christ is the foundation and cornerstone of God¡¯s building¡ªv. 16.

Isa. 28:16  Therefore thus says / The Lord Jehovah: / Indeed I lay a stone in Zion as a foundation, / A tested stone, / A precious cornerstone as a foundation firmly established; / He who believes will not hasten away.

                            S.    Christ is a refuge from the wind, a covering from the tempest, streams of water in a dry place, and the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land¡ª32:2.

Isa. 32:2  And a man will be like a refuge from the wind / And a covering from the tempest, / Like streams of water in a dry place, / Like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land.

                           T.    Christ is the arm of Jehovah¡ª53:1.

Isa. 53:1  Who has believed our report? / And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed?

                           U.    Christ is our Husband¡ª54:5-7.

Isa. 54:5-7  For your Maker is your Husband; / Jehovah of hosts is His name. / And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; / He is called the God of all the earth. 6For Jehovah has called you, / Like a wife who has been forsaken and is grieved in spirit, / Even like a wife of one¡¯s youth when she has been rejected, / Says your God. 7For a short moment I forsook you, / But with great compassion I will gather you.

                           V.    Christ is a man of sorrows in His humanity to be our Redeemer¡ª53:3.

Isa. 53:3  He was despised and forsaken of men, / A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; / And like one from whom men hide their faces, / He was despised; and we did not esteem Him.

                         W.    Christ is the sure mercies shown to David¡ª55:3.

Isa. 55:3  Incline your ear and come to Me; / Hear, so that your soul may live; / And I will make an eternal covenant with you, / Even the sure mercies shown to David.

                           X.    Christ is a Witness, a Leader, and a Commander to the peoples¡ªv. 4.

Isa. 55:4  Indeed, I have given Him as a Witness to the peoples, / A Leader and a Commander to the peoples.

                           Y.    Christ is our refuge, our land, and our holy mountain¡ª57:13b.

Isa. 57:13b  But he who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land / And possess My holy mountain.

                           Z.    Christ is the Angel of Jehovah, the Angel of His presence¡ª63:9.

Isa. 63:9  In all their affliction He was afflicted, / And the Angel of His presence saved them; / In His love and in His mercy / He redeemed them, / And He bore them up and carried them / All the days of old.

              VI.    Isaiah speaks of God¡¯s building as the goal of God; the church with its ultimate manifestation, the New Jerusalem, is the house of Jehovah¡¯s beauty¡ª1 Cor. 3:9, 12a; Rev. 21:3, 18-22; Psa. 27:4:

1 Cor. 3:9  For we are God¡¯s fellow workers; you are God¡¯s cultivated land, God¡¯s building.

1 Cor. 3:12a  But if anyone builds upon the foundation

Rev. 21:3  And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Rev. 21:18-22  And the building work of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

Psa. 27:4  One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.

                           A.    The house of Jehovah as His dwelling place is the mingling and the mutual abode of God and man¡ªIsa. 57:15; 66:1-2; John 14:2, 20, 23; 15:4; 1 John 4:13.

Isa. 57:15  For thus says the high and exalted One, / Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: / I will dwell in the high and holy place, / And with the contrite and lowly of spirit, / To revive the spirit of the lowly / And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isa. 66:1-2  Thus says Jehovah, / Heaven is My throne, / And the earth the footstool for My feet. / Where then is the house that you will build for Me, / And where is the place of My rest? 2For all these things My hand has made, / And so all these things have come into being, declares Jehovah. / But to this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor / And of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.

John 14:2  In My Father¡¯s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:20  In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.

John 15:4  Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

1 John 4:13  In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.

                           B.     ¡°I will beautify the house of My beauty¡±¡ªGod beautifies us by dispensing Himself into us¡ªIsa. 60:7b.

Isa. 60:7b  And I will beautify the house of My beauty.

                           C.     ¡°Jehovah your God / ¡­The Holy One of Israel¡­He has beautified you¡±¡ªv. 9c.

Isa. 60:9c  Unto the name of Jehovah your God / And unto the Holy One of Israel; for He has beautified you.

                           D.     ¡°To beautify the place of My sanctuary; / And I will make the place for My feet glorious¡±¡ªv. 13b.

Isa. 60:13b  To beautify the place of My sanctuary; / And I will make the place for My feet glorious.

                           E.     ¡°Jehovah will be an eternal light to you, / And your God your beauty¡±¡ªv. 19b:

Isa. 60:19b  But Jehovah will be an eternal light to you, / And your God your beauty.

                                      1.    As the New Jerusalem we will enjoy Jehovah in Christ, the Servant of Jehovah, as the eternal light¡ªvv. 19-20; Rev. 21:23; 22:5.

Isa. 60:19-20  You will no longer have the sun for your light by day, / Nor for brightness will the moon give you light; / But Jehovah will be an eternal light to you, / And your God your beauty. 20Your sun will no longer go down, / Nor will your moon withdraw; / For Jehovah will be an eternal light to you, / And the days of your mourning will be ended.

Rev. 21:23  And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Rev. 22:5  And night will be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and of the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine upon them; and they will reign forever and ever.

                                      2.    In the restoration God in Christ will be our glory and beauty, and we will be Christ¡¯s glory and beauty; thus, God and His chosen people will be glorified and beautified in mutuality¡ªIsa. 60:21; 61:3b; Eph. 3:21; cf. Exo. 28:2.

Isa. 60:21  Then all your people will be righteous; / They will possess the land forever, / The branch of My planting, / The works of My hands, / That I may be beautified.

Isa. 61:3b  To give to them a headdress instead of ashes, / The oil of gladness instead of mourning, / The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness; / That they may be called the terebinths of righteousness, / The planting of Jehovah, that He may be glorified.

Eph. 3:21  To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever. Amen.

Exo. 28:2  And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.

                                      3.    This will be accomplished by the divine dispensing through Christ as the Redeemer and the Savior putting Himself, as the life-giving Spirit and the word, into God¡¯s people¡ªIsa. 59:21; Eph. 5:26-27; S. S. 1:10-11.

Isa. 59:21  And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Jehovah: My Spirit which is upon you and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed¡¯s seed, says Jehovah, from now and forever.

Eph. 5:26-27  That He might sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, 27That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.

S. S. 1:10-11  Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments, / Your neck with strings of jewels. 11We will make you plaits of gold / With studs of silver.

            VII.    Isaiah speaks of the enjoyment of Christ for God¡¯s building:

                           A.    We need to see a revelation of our fallen condition and the revelation of Christ in glory¡ªIsa. 1:18; 57:20-21; 64:6-8; 6:1-8.

Isa. 1:18  Come now and let us reason together, / Says Jehovah. / Though your sins are like scarlet, / They will be as white as snow; / Though they are as red as crimson, / They will be like wool.

Isa. 57:20-21  But the wicked are like the tossed sea, / For it cannot be calm, / And its waters toss up mire and mud. 21There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

Isa. 64:6-8  For all of us became like him who is unclean, / And all our righteousnesses are like a soiled garment; / And we all wither like a leaf, / And our iniquities, like the wind, carry us away. 7And there is no one who calls upon Your name, / Who stirs himself up to lay hold of You; / For You have hidden Your face from us / And have consumed us by our iniquities. 8But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Isa. 6:1-8  In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2Seraphim hovered over Him, each having six wings: With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to the other, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Jehovah of hosts; / The whole earth is filled with His glory. 4And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5Then I said, Woe is me, for I am finished! / For I am a man of unclean lips, / And in the midst of a people of unclean lips I dwell; / Yet my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with an ember in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7And he touched my mouth with it and said, Now that this has touched your lips, / Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged. 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us? And I said, Here am I; send me.

                           B.    We need to keep our hearts turned to the Lord to be saved from hypocrisy¡ª29:13; 45:22.

Isa. 29:13  And the Lord said, / Because this people draws near with their mouth, / And with their lips they honor Me, / Yet they remove their heart far from Me, / And their fear for Me / Is a commandment of men merely learned;

Isa. 45:22  Turn to Me and be saved, / All the ends of the earth, / For I am God and there is no one else.

                           C.    We need to be infused with the Lord as our life power and multiplied strength¡ª40:28-31; 12:2-4.

Isa. 40:28-31  Do you not know, / Or have you not heard, / That the eternal God, Jehovah, / The Creator of the ends of the earth, / Does not faint and does not become weary? / There is no searching out of His understanding. 29He gives power to the faint, / And to those who have no vigor He multiplies strength. 30Although youths will faint and become weary, / And young men will collapse exhausted; 31Yet those who wait on Jehovah will renew their strength; / They will mount up with wings like eagles; / They will run and will not faint; / They will walk and will not become weary.

Isa. 12:2-4  God is now my salvation; / I will trust and not dread; / For Jah Jehovah is my strength and song, / And He has become my salvation. 3Therefore you will draw water with rejoicing / From the springs of salvation, 4And you will say in that day, / Give thanks to Jehovah; call upon His name! / Make His deeds known among the peoples; / Remind them that His name is exalted.

                           D.    We need to seek Jehovah and return to Him and His word as the rain and snow for the renewing of our mind with His thoughts and ways¡ª55:6-13.

Isa. 55:6-13  Seek Jehovah while He may be found; / Call upon Him while He is near. 7Let the wicked forsake his way, / And the evildoer, his thoughts; / And let him return to Jehovah, and He will have compassion on him; / And to our God, for He will pardon abundantly. 8For My thoughts are not your thoughts, / And your ways are not My ways, declares Jehovah. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / So My ways are higher than your ways, / And My thoughts higher than your thoughts. 10For just as the rain comes down / And the snow from heaven, / And does not return there, / Until it waters the earth / And makes it bear and sprout forth, / That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; / It will not return to Me vainly, / But it will accomplish what I delight in, / And it will prosper in the matter to which I have sent it. 12For you will go out with rejoicing, / And you will be led forth in peace; / The mountains and the hills / Will break forth before you with a ringing shout, / And all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13In place of the thornbush, the fir tree will come up; / In place of the brier, the myrtle will come up; / And it will be to Jehovah as a name, / As an eternal sign that will not be cut off.

                           E.    We need to have a contrite and lowly spirit¡ª57:15; 66:2.

Isa. 57:15  For thus says the high and exalted One, / Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: / I will dwell in the high and holy place, / And with the contrite and lowly of spirit, / To revive the spirit of the lowly / And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Isa. 66:2  For all these things My hand has made, / And so all these things have come into being, declares Jehovah. / But to this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor / And of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.

                           F.    We need to trust in the name of Jehovah and rely on our God¡ª50:10-11.

Isa. 50:10-11  Who among you fears Jehovah; / Who hears the voice of His servant; / Who walks in darkness / And has no light? / Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, / And rely on his God. 11Indeed, all of you who kindle a fire, / Who surround yourselves with firebrands, / Walk into the light of your fire / And into the firebrands which you have lit. / You will have this from My hand: / You will lie down in torment.

                          G.    We need to enjoy the Lord as the depths of God by loving Him with Him as our love¡ª49:15-16; 64:3-4; 1 Cor. 2:9.

Isa. 49:15-16  Can a woman forget her nursing child, / That she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? / Even though they may forget, / Yet I will not forget you. 16Indeed, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; / Your walls are continually before Me.

Isa. 64:3-4  When You did awesome things that we did not expect, / You came down, the mountains shook at Your presence. 4For from of old, men have not heard, / Nor perceived with the ear, / Neither has eye seen a God besides You, / Who acts for him who waits for Him.

1 Cor. 2:9  But as it is written, ¡°Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not come up in man¡¯s heart; things which God has prepared for those who love Him.¡±

         VIII.    Isaiah speaks of our service in Christ for God¡¯s building:

                           A.    We need to be watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem, making the church a house of prayer¡ªIsa. 62:6-7; 56:7.

Isa. 62:6-7  Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, / I have appointed watchmen; / All day and all night / They will never keep silent. / You who remind Jehovah, / Do not be dumb; 7And do not give Him quiet / Until He establishes / And until He makes Jerusalem / A praise in the earth.

Isa. 56:7  Even these will I cause to come to My holy mountain / And to rejoice in My house of prayer; / Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable upon My altar; / For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

                           B.    We need to be one with Christ as His disciples to speak and hear as instructed ones¡ª50:4-5.

Isa. 50:4-5  The Lord Jehovah has given me / The tongue of the instructed, / That I should know how to sustain the weary with a word. / He awakens me morning by morning; / He awakens my ear / To hear as an instructed one. 5The Lord Jehovah has opened my ear; / And I was not rebellious, / Nor did I turn back.

                           C.    We need to be one with Christ to proclaim the jubilee of grace¡ª61:1-2; 49:6.

Isa. 61:1-2  The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, / Because Jehovah has anointed Me / To bring good news to the afflicted; / He has sent Me to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted, / To proclaim liberty to the captives, / And the opening of the eyes to those who are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah / And the day of vengeance of our God; / To comfort all who mourn;

Isa. 49:6  He says, It is too small a thing that You would be My Servant / To raise up the tribes of Jacob / And bring back the preserved of Israel; / I will also set You as a light of the nations / That You may be My salvation unto the ends of the earth.

                           D.    We need to be one with Christ as nursing mothers to shepherd God¡¯s people¡ªvv. 14-16; 66:12-13; 42:3; 1 Thes. 2:7-8.

Isa. 49:14-16  But Zion has said, Jehovah has forsaken me, / And the Lord has forgotten me. 15Can a woman forget her nursing child, / That she would not have compassion on the son of her womb? / Even though they may forget, / Yet I will not forget you. 16Indeed, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; / Your walls are continually before Me.

Isa. 66:12-13  For thus says Jehovah, / I now am extending to her / Peace like a river, / And the glory of the nations / Like an overflowing stream; / And you will nurse, you will be carried on the hip, / And you will be bounced on the knees. 13As one whom his mother comforts, / So will I comfort you; / And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.

Isa. 42:3  A bruised reed He will not break; / And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish; / He will bring forth justice in truth.

1 Thes. 2:7-8  But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children. 8Yearning in this way over you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own souls, because you became beloved to us.