I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.  I am going to be on vacation through August 10th.  I have prepared my daily Bible Studies for each day throughout that time in advance since I will have limited access to the Internet during this time.  The timing on when I publish these blogs may be erratic during this time. 

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 48-51.

Usually I am skeptical that God provides prophecies like that recorded here, where Isaiah calls out by name as the conqueror of Babylon a man who was not yet born when Isaiah died.  However, this passage explicitly states that God is making a prophecy so that those who heard it could not doubt His power.  No image or other god could have done what God did through Isaiah.  God does not usually make such prophecies, but He is not bound to not do so.  God does not usually give such specific information about the future, but that does not mean that He is unable to do so.  Nor does it mean that He did not do so this time.

Chapter 49 contains another portion of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy, but in some ways that portion applies to everyone who serves God.  God called Jesus while He was still in the womb, but He has also called each and every one of us.  First let us look at how more of this applies to Jesus.  As an adult, He never traveled more than 100 miles from where He grew up.  The movers and shakers of the world never heard of Him before His death.  At the time He was crucified, it would seem as if His life amounted to nothing.  Yet, His ministry brought God’s salvation to the ends of the Earth.  Our work may seem useless. but God sees it differently.