Isaiah 1
Today's Passage: Isaiah 1
Isaiah is a book filled with the broken realities of sin and darkness, while also looking ahead to the hope and light of the gospel.
This is how the ESV Study Bible describes the theme of the book:
A microcosm of the book’s message appears in 1:2–2:5. The Lord announces his basic charge against the people: they have received so much privilege from God and ought to be grateful children, but “they have despised the Holy One of Israel” (1:2–4). He describes the purpose of the various judgments they face, namely, to bring them to repentance, or at least to preserve a remnant who will repent (1:5–9). Judah is very diligent to observe the divinely appointed sacrifices, but the people’s hearts are far from God, as their unwillingness to protect their own weakest members exhibits (1:10–20). The Lord called his people to be the embodiment of faithfulness in this world, and yet they are now filled with rampant unfaithfulness at every level (personal, religious, and social); but God intends to purge Zion of its sinful members and set her up as a beacon of light for the whole world. In view of this glorious future, Isaiah’s contemporaries should commit themselves afresh to walking “in the light of the LORD” (1:21–2:5).
The book of Isaiah often gets a bad rap as a tough book to read. There’s no doubt that it’s long and some people and events we aren’t necessarily familiar with.
But my encouragement as you read this book is to look ahead. Look ahead to how you see Jesus and the hope of the gospel in this book.
Look at the gospel hope in today's verses:
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Written By: Graham Withers
Isaiah is a book filled with the broken realities of sin and darkness, while also looking ahead to the hope and light of the gospel.
This is how the ESV Study Bible describes the theme of the book:
A microcosm of the book’s message appears in 1:2–2:5. The Lord announces his basic charge against the people: they have received so much privilege from God and ought to be grateful children, but “they have despised the Holy One of Israel” (1:2–4). He describes the purpose of the various judgments they face, namely, to bring them to repentance, or at least to preserve a remnant who will repent (1:5–9). Judah is very diligent to observe the divinely appointed sacrifices, but the people’s hearts are far from God, as their unwillingness to protect their own weakest members exhibits (1:10–20). The Lord called his people to be the embodiment of faithfulness in this world, and yet they are now filled with rampant unfaithfulness at every level (personal, religious, and social); but God intends to purge Zion of its sinful members and set her up as a beacon of light for the whole world. In view of this glorious future, Isaiah’s contemporaries should commit themselves afresh to walking “in the light of the LORD” (1:21–2:5).
The book of Isaiah often gets a bad rap as a tough book to read. There’s no doubt that it’s long and some people and events we aren’t necessarily familiar with.
But my encouragement as you read this book is to look ahead. Look ahead to how you see Jesus and the hope of the gospel in this book.
Look at the gospel hope in today's verses:
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Written By: Graham Withers
1 Comment
I am excited to dive into Isaiah and get some new insights! Thank you to all the staff for taking the time to write Jumpstart and help us grow further in the Word!