Sermon Central
Isaiah 62-65
Zion’s New Name 1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.
2The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.
3You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD ’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah,
5As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
6I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest,
7and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.
8The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain as food for your enemies, and never again will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled;
9but those who harvest it will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather the grapes will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”
10Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.
11The LORD has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.’ ” 12They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD ; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted.
God’s Day of Vengeance and Redemption 1Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, proclaiming victory, mighty to save.”
2Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?
3“I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.
4It was for me the day of vengeance; the year for me to redeem had come.
5I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm achieved salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me.
6I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground.”
Praise and Prayer 7I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us— yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses.
8He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me”; and so he became their Savior.
9In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.
10Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.
11Then his people recalled
12who sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown,
13who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble;
14like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD . This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name.
15Look down from heaven and see, from your lofty throne, holy and glorious. Where are your zeal and your might? Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.
16But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
17Why, LORD, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance.
18For a little while your people possessed your holy place, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.
19We are yours from of old; but you have not ruled over them, they have not been called
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2As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
3For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
4Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
5You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
6All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
7No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to
8Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
9Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD ; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.
10Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even Zion is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation.
11Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. 12After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?
Judgment and Salvation 1“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—
3a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick;
4who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
5who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
6“See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps—
7both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the LORD . “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”
8This is what the LORD says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.
9I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.
10Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.
11“But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.”
13Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
14My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit.
15You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign LORD will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.
16Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.
New Heavens and a New Earth 17“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.
19I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
20“Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach
21They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
23They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
24Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD .