Isaiah

1: 2-4. A tenfold accusation: —

1. Children have rebelled against God. V. 2.

2. Israel doth not know. V. 3.

3. My people doth not consider. V. 3.

4. A sinful nation. V. 4.

5. A people laden with iniquity. V. 4.

6. A seed of evil-doers. V. 4.

7. Children that are corrupters. V. 4.

8. They have forsaken the Lord. V. 4.

9. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. V. 4.

10. They are gone away backward. V. 4.

6. ’ From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness.” Most people would do like the African princess who broke the looking-glass because she was so ugly. Civilization is a poor varnish. You have only to scratch it to turn up the same old egotism that has prevailed six thousand years.

16, 17. An eight-fold instruction: —

1. Wash you, make you clean. V. 16.

2. Put away the evil of your doings. V. 16.

3. Cease to do evil. V. 16.

4. Lean to do well. V. 17.

5. Seek judgment. V. 17.

6. Relieve the oppressed. V. 17.

7. Judge the fatherless. V. 17.

8. Plead for the widow. V. 17.

18. No matter how fast the color is, the blood of Jesus Christ can wash it out.

6: 1. Uzziah’s reign was a kind of Victorian era in Jewish history. It was when this passed away into shame and disgrace that Isaiah saw the Eternal King on his throne.

22: 22. The Spanish Jews have a silver key of David, bearing the inscription, “God shall open, the King shall enter.”

26: 3. P. P. Bliss used to say, “I love this verse more than any other verse in the Bible, ‘Thou wilt keep him in perfect ixpace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.’” The tree of peace strikes its roots into the crevices of the Rock of Ages.

33: This chapter is true literally of Sennacherib’s invasion.

21. Jerusalem lacked a river, and nearly all large cities are built on seas or rivers. The Lord promised to be a river without the drawback that enemies vessels could come up against the city. So there is no drawback, no temptation in any blessing the Lord gives.

40: Nine aspects of man’s insufficiency: — V. t>. Grass, flower of field. V. 15. Drop, small dust, a very little thing. V. 17. Nothing, less than nothing, vanity. V. 22. Grasshoppers.

6-8. The frailty of human life. Ps. 103: 15, 16; Matt. 6: 30; Luke 12: 28; 1 Peter 1: 24.

In its short life. Ps. 90: 6; Jumes 1:11. In its full-blown glory. V. 6. In its sure decay. V. 7; 1 Peter 1: 24. The permanence of God’s Word. Mark 13:31; 1 Peter 1: 25; Ps. 119: 89.

Proclaimed among men. Col. 1: 23.
Centered in the gospel. 1 Peter 1: 25.

31. I never could understand the order — mount up, run, walk, — until I saw a man riding a bicycle.

It is easy to mount, but to walk or go slowly takes a clever rider. So with a convert.

41: 10. Fear and despair are high points of atheism.

42: 6. Called — held — kept — used.

One day Miss F. R. Havergal asked her attendant to rend this verse: “I the Lord have called Ihee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee.” “Well,” she said, “I will just go home on that” — and she died that day.

43: 2. “Where is Jesus of Nazareth, my old and faithful friend?” asked Jonathan Edwards, dying, “I know He will be with me.” And he died triumphant.

45: 7. “I create evil”- — not sin, but the punishment thereof.

53: Notice the paradoxes: —

Despised, yet accepted and adored.
Poor, yet rich.
To die, yet to live.

The Rabbis said there must be a double Messiah to fulfil this chapter.

2. In the sight of God, a tender plant; in the sight of man, a root out of a dry ground.

55: 7. God is angry with the wicked. Isa. 63: 9, 10; Eze.

22:21, 22. God is unwilling to punish. 2 Peter 3:9; Eze.

33: 11; Jonah 4:11.

God is glad to forgive. Isa. 1:18; 1 John 2: 1, 2.

God rejoices over the forgiven. Luke 15: 6, 7,

22, 24; Isa. 62: 3, 5.

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59: 1. If our water-supply runs short, I do not conclude that the river or lake has run dry, but that our pipes are out of order.

62: 2. “By a new name “: —

Saints, because of their holiness.
Believers, because of their faith.
Brethren, because of their love.
Disciples, because of their knowledge.
Christians, because of their head.

•6: 24. “And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer.” God sometimes answers before we ask!