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Read Isaiah 51
 
Isaiah 51:1-3 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; 2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many. 3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
 
AS we consider Isaiah to be a view of the entire Bible, this chapter can easily be set alongside Revelation. Here is first the affirmation God has formed a nation. He “cut” Abraham from the world to form Israel. As a result, Abraham and Sarah are the spiritual parents of all who call Jesus, “My Lord and Savior.”
    Second, out of the barren desert of sin’s exile will rise the new Jerusalem. This is the new re-created Eden for all who are righteous in the LORD’s salvation. What hope and joy is yours in Christ! Live in gladness and thanksgiving. Savor the sound of singing forever.
    Third, there is a warning. As in Revelation, amid the final promise the LORD God admonishes us to trust his power and authority to save you and to triumph over evil: Isaiah 51:12 “I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, 13 that you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, that you live in constant terror every day because of the wrath of the oppressor, who is bent on destruction? For where is the wrath of the oppressor?
    Be secure in the LORD. No one can oppress his own to keep you from heaven’s glory.
    One final point. You may be wondering about the verse 9 reference: you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through? This is not the faithful Rahab of Jericho in Joshua 2. This Rahab is a Canaanite mythological creature that had great power in the pagans’ stories. God is mocking the myth and the idea of any force greater than he.
    God’s warnings and promises must continually turn our minds from some idea there is a greater force than God at work in the world. Think about this. Are you prone to speak of luck, coincidence, happenstance, etc. as if they have any power in your life? You must cleanse these faithless myths from your mind. How can one be true to God and believe he has no authority over events?
    Consider Judah at the time of this prophecy. It was a country troubled in many ways. God’s prophets proclaimed destruction and exile. The prophets also preached renewal and salvation. Do you wonder if the Jews looked past the trouble to see the triumph? How
 
Isaiah 51:11 The ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.