Today we wrap up our conversations in the book of Isaiah. This week we dive into Isaiah 61 and 65.
Isaiah 61 is a well known prophetic passage. We see Jesus proclaim the fulfillment of it early on in the Gospels. Right after Jesus is baptized He goes into the wilderness and is tempted by the devil. After that He goes back to his home town of Nazareth. It is there that He opens up the scriptures and reads from Isaiah 61:1-2a, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Then Jesus says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And the people in Jesus’ home time are baffled. They respond with, “You? You are the carpenter’s son. You grew up in our midst.” Unfortunately they did not receive Him.
Even though this is a prophetic passage about Jesus we can pray this for ourselves and others. This passage goes on to say, “To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes.” In the first video of our series on Isaiah 6 I spoke of how the Lord said to me that He wanted to completely undo me. And one of the pictures He gave me at that time was of a forest that had been struck by lightning and had burned to the ground. But out of those charred stumps and ashes new growth and green life begins to emerge. For several years I had a picture depicting this over my desk where I worked as a prophetic statement and reminder of this word.
A few weeks ago I spoke of the foster daughter we had from birth until she was 2-1/2 years old. When she was placed elsewhere, It was a season of mourning for us. We thought we were going to get to keep her as our daughter. We grieved. I’ve never felt a hole in my soul, a tearing like that in my entire life. Yet God promises to give the “oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” In those seasons your soul feels so heavy. Yet as we choose to praise the Lord His joy begins to bubble up and overflow.
The scripture goes on to say that God’s purpose is that we “may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.” This is depicted here at Heart of a Father through our logo. It is from Psalm 1, “a tree planted by rivers of living water.”
Going on to Isaiah 65 we find a passage that was so meaningful to me when I first came to know Jesus. It says, “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me.” You see that was me. I felt that described my life so well. At a time when I wasn’t seeking God He sought me out.
When I was in college some friends of mine, Steve, Leslie, and Eddie Gwin and Terry Glanville invited me to serve with them and oversee some teenage boys at camp. While there I thought, “What am I doing here? I’m living a life of compromise and have nothing to give these boys.” That week there was a time to receive prayer for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I thought, “I don’t even know if I believe this baptism in the Holy Spirit stuff but I know my friends have something I need. I see the joy of the Lord in their lives. And as Dennis Wallace prayed for me that day, I was born again and baptized in the Spirit. I had a vision. God changed my life at a time when I was not seeking Him. He can do the same for you!
I will wrap up this series just like I started it with Isaiah 66:2. I pray that we would be a people who are “humble and contrite of heart and who tremble at His word!
