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.  As I feared might happen, I was unable to get this published as soon as I would have liked.  My apologies to anyone whose Bible study schedule was disrupted.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 60-63.

When I was growing up, from time to time my Dad would say that many of the Old Testament prophecies referred to more than one future event.  That has always stuck with me and influenced my understanding of these prophecies because I believe that he was correct.  For example the description in today’s passage about the ways in which the people of Israel will return to Jerusalem reminds me of modern Israel.  The way in which Isaiah describes the Jewish people returning from all over the world,  followed by his description of the economic success of the restored nation, strikes me as being fulfilled by the establishment of the modern state of Israel.  But then Isaiah goes on to speak of them living in the land in peace and the parallels fall apart.

Then I get to the end of today’s passage where Isaiah refers to God bemoaning how the people of Israel betrayed Him time and again.  This made me think of something one of my brothers says about Israel: since they returned from the Babylonian Exile the descendants of Jacob have never been sovereign over the Land of Israel for more than 100 consecutive years at a time.  This leads me to believe that these prophecies of their return have been fulfilled more than once.  Each time, the final fulfillment has been delayed because they have, like every other people, turned away from God to sin.  However, the day will come when God’s people will not turn away from Him and He will finally bring them peace.

Today’s passage also contains the passage which Jesus used to announce the beginning of His ministry.   Jesus declared that the Spirit of God was on Him to declare good news that the time of the Lord’s favor had come.  Jesus stopped reading there, but the passage continued one more key line: the time of God’s favor was also the time of His vengeance.  The Good News which Jesus gave us includes both God’s favor on the faithful and His vengeance against the wicked.  

And speaking of God’s vengeance, Isaiah 63 verses 3 and following inspired the song “Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory”.  That writer of that song saw fulfillment of God trampling His foes in the horrors of the Civil War.  I believe that there use of those themes was more apt than the writer realized.  Certainly, the Civil war can be aptly viewed as God trampling His foes and avenging the oppressed.  The writer in my view inaccurately believed the Union Army to be doing the trampling for God, when in fact the Union Army was as much the subject of God’s trampling as the Confederate Army.   The blood, death, and suffering of the Civil War was God’s punishment upon the people of the Untied States for allowing the injustice and oppression of the institution of slavery to go on as long as it did.  This passage and that song remind us that while there is great joy when God takes His vengeance, it is also a time of great suffering.  Let us pray that the day of God’s vengeance is delayed and that those whose actions bring it ever closer will repent and turn to God before that day arrives.