CHAPTER ONE

Contents: Charge against Israel for their ingratitude and degeneration. Call to repentance and reformation.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: The backslidings of those who have professed relations to God are very provoking to Him and all departures from Him and opposition to Him are aggravated by the constant manifestation of His goodness and mercy toward the backslider. Those who will break off their allegiance with sin are always welcome to come back to fellowship with Him.

Key Word: Sinsick, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   18.

Striking Facts: v. 11. The costly devotions of those who have not apprehended Christ, He of whom the sacrifices were but a faint shadowing, are an abomination to God. The ceremonial observances were all done away by the death of Christ.

CHAPTER TWO

Contents: The coming glory of Jerusalem and Israel. The humbling of the haughty and the shame of sinners in that day.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: In view of the terribleness of that day when Christ shall come to shake the earth and to judge among men, we should shun the ways of sin. In view of the privilege the righteous have of sharing in His universal Kingdom, we should seek to walk in the light of the Lord all our days.

Key Word: Last days, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   11, 22.

Striking Facts: vv. 19-21. Rev. 6:12-17 shows that the reference here is to the time of Christ's return to judge in terrible majesty. Those who do not flee to Christ before that day will flee from Him then. The prophecy of this chapter relates entirely to Christ's kingdom, still future, when once more the laws of God shall go forth out of Zion.

CHAPTER THREE

Contents: The coming desolations of Jerusalem because of sin and the judgment of sinners.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Whatever evil befalls sinners, it is of their own procuring. Those who provoke God make Him their enemy and bring sure misery upon themselves. The greatest of men cannot secure themselves from the sentence of the judgment day.

Key Word: Judgment, v. 13.

Strong Verses:   10, 11.

Striking Facts: v. 10. Whatever becomes of an unrighteous nation, those who are "in Christ" will be "safe by the blood of the Crucified One."

CHAPTER FOUR

Contents: The coming restoration of Jerusalem's peace and purity.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: The issue of all the troubles of this present dispensation is to be in happy days for the righteous, when Christ's kingdom will be set up universally, and He will be exalted as its beauty, glory and joy in the esteem of all the living.

Key Word: That day, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   2.

Striking Facts: v. 2. "Branch" is a name used of Christ, because He was planted by God's power and nourishes to His praise.

CHAPTER FIVE

Contents: Parable of Jehovah's vineyard and the six woes upon Israel.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: God expects vineyard fruit from those who enjoy vineyard privileges, not the mere leaves of profession, or the wild grapes of hypocritical performances in religion. God will deny His grace to those who have long received it in vain. The curse of barrenness is the punishment of the sin of barrenness.

Key Word: Woe, v. 8.

Strong Verses:   20,21.

Striking Facts: v. 4. Some believe Christ thought these words when He beheld Jerusalem and wept over it (Luke 19:41), and had reference to it in the parable of the vineyard. Matt. 21:33.

CHAPTER SIX

Contents: Isaiah's transforming vision and his new commission.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Those who are to teach others the knowledge of God must themselves have the vision of God. Those are fittest to be employed for Him who, having heard His voice, have been humbled before Him in the sense of their own vileness and are made deeply sensible of their own weakness.

Key Word: Vision, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   8.

Striking Facts: vv. 9-10. These verses are referred to six times in the N. T. It pictures the attitude of the Jews especially toward Christ, a condition which still remains with them, and with all who wilfully reject Him.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Contents: Evil confederacy of Rezin and Jekah. The sign of the Virgin's Son. Prediction of impending invasion of Judah.

Characters: God, Christ, Ahaz, Rezin, Pekah, Isaiah, Shear-jashub.

Conclusion: The sin of a land is sure to bring foreign invasion and all kinds of trouble, but to those who will trust Him, God sends seasonable comforts, and the strongest consolations in times of trouble are those which come from expectation of and from Christ.

Key Word: Sign, v. 11.

Strong Verses:   14.

Striking Facts: v. 14. The Virgin's Son, Immanuel, God with us, was fulfilled in Jesus. Matt. 1:21-25. If He had not been Immanuel, God with us, He could not have been Jesus (A Savior).

CHAPTER EIGHT

Contents: Predictions of the Syrian invasion and of the desolations of Judah and Israel.

Characters: God, Israel, Uriah, Zechariah, Maher, Shalal-hash-baz, Rezin, sons of Remaliah.

Conclusion: If a nation insists on rejecting God's counsels, it is just with God
to apply the scourge. However in the deluge of trouble that may come to a nation, God will keep the heads of His trusting people above water, if they will make His statutes, rather than those having familiar spirits, their counsellors.

Key Word: Trouble and darkness, v. 22.

Strong Verses:   9, 10, 19, 20.

Striking Facts: v. 14. When Israel rejected Christ, He became to them a stone of stumbling. This passage is quoted in application to all those who persist in their unbelief of the Gospel (1 Pet. 2:8). Being disobedient to God's Word, men stumble at it.

CHAPTER NINE

Contents: A divine child, the only hope of Israel. Vision of the outstretched hand. The unavailing chastisement.

Characters: God, Christ, Isaiah, Rezin.

Conclusion: In the worst of times, God's people have a "nevertheless" to comfort them (v. 1) and balance their troubles. As the saints then comforted themselves with the hope of Christ's first coming, so now His second coming is the great hope of every dark day.

Key Word: Great light, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   6, 7.

Striking Facts: vv. 6-7. Christ was Wonderful in His earthly ministry (Luke 24:19); is Counsellor in His priestly service (1 John 2:1); will be Mighty God in His coming manifestation (Psa. 45:36); Everlasting Father in His ultimate relation (Prov. 8:23); Prince of Peace in His kingdom (Acts 10:36).

CHAPTER TEN

Contents: The commission to invade Judah and its execution. Threatening of the invaders ruin after serving God's purpose. New encouragement given to God's people.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: God sometimes makes an idolatrous nation that serves Him not at all, a scourge to a hypocritical nation that serves Him not in sincerity and truth. Yet when God has done His work through the idolatrous nation, He will certainly do His work upon them and their day will come to fall because they have not had God in all their thoughts.

Key Word: Indignation, v. 25.

Strong Verses:   33.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Contents: Prophecy of the Davidic Kingdom and restoration of Israel.

Characters: Christ, Holy Spirit.

Conclusion: The great comfort in days of distress is the hope of the coming universal kingdom of righteousness and peace, when Christ, who is in every way qualified to be King of earth, shall take the throne. Then God's people shall be delivered, not only from evil, but from the fear of it forever.

Key Word: Kingdom.

Strong Verses:   4, 5, 9.

Striking Facts: Nothing of this chapter occurred at Christ's first coming. Israel was then dispersed and Christ was killed. The Messiah-King was then rejected, but His earth-kingdom will be set up when He returns in glory. Luke 1:31-32; Acts 13:15-16.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Contents: The worship of the coming Kingdom.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: When Jesus comes to set up His Kingdom, God's regathered people Israel and all the redeemed, shall as one man, with one mind and mouth, praise Him, who is One and His name one.

Key Word: Joy, v. 3.

Strong Verses:   2, 3.

Striking Facts: The Christian does not have to wait until the Kingdom is set up to joy in His praises, for by Jesus Christ, the root of Jesse, God's anger has been turned away, and the believer can say "He is my peace."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Contents: Prophecy concerning last days, when punishment will be visited  upon the nations, and Israel shall pass through the Great Tribulation.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Men have their day now, and many think to carry the day, but God's day is coming, and His day of reckoning will be cruel with wrath and fierce anger.

Key Word: Day of the Lord (vv. 6, 9) (fierce anger, v. 13).

Strong Verses:   9, 11.

Striking Facts: The chapter looks forward to the apocalyptic judgments. (Rev. 6 to 13) Babylon has never yet been destroyed in the way here foretold, and many believe Babylon will in the last day be rebuilt, and the everlasting destruction here predicted will then fall upon it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Contents: Christ's Kingdom set up on earth with Israel restored, the Beast of hell. Satan's fall and doom. Babylon's final judgment.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: It is the comfort of God's people that God has purposed through the exaltation of His Son to set up a righteous and eternal Kingdom on earth, when Israel shall have rest from their wanderings and the days of affliction of all His people shall have an end forever. The rod of the wicked shall be broken, and Satan and all his followers shall be cast into hell.

Key Word: Rest, v. 7.

Strong Verses:   7, 27.

Striking Facts: vv. 12-14. This is a reference to Satan, the real, though unseen ruler of successive world powers. This tells the story of the beginning of sin in the universe. The universal catastrophe here predicted has never occurred and has to do with the close of the times of the Gentiles and the setting up of Christ's Kingdom.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Contents: The burden of Moab. Prophecy of great desolations upon the earth.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Great and dismal changes may in the providence of God be made within a very short time. Let us therefore live as those who know not what an hour may bring forth.

Key Word: Desolation, v. 6.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Contents: Women of Moab anticipate the Davidic Kingdom and lament the pride of Moab.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Those who will not yield to the fear of God, will be made to yield to the fear of everything else.

Key Word: Stricken, v. 7.

Strong Verses:   5.

Striking Facts: v. 5. Though the thrones of earth be overturned, the throne of David will surely be established in mercy and Christ will sit upon it and will be a protector to all who have been a shelter to the people of God. (Especially Israel.)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Contents: The burden of Damascus, foretelling destruction of cities of Syria and Israel.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The God of our salvation is the rock of our strength. It is our forgetfulness of Him that is at the bottom of all sin, and brings great calamities upon us.

Key Word: Woe, v. 12.

Strong Verses:   7, 8, 12, 13.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Contents: Woe of the land beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, in the day of Israel's regathering.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Though God's covenant people are trampled on as a nation, scattered and abused, no nation, however formidable, will be able to swallow them up. Though they are cast down, they are not utterly forgotten of God.

Key Word: Woe, v. 1.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Contents: Burden of Egypt, looking forward, through desolations, to Kingdom blessing with Israel.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The barbarous usage which the enemies of God have given His people, even of long ago, will be remembered against them and they will be paid in their own coin. Let not the bold be secure, for God can easily cut off their spirit and bring their land to nothing.

Key Word: Egypt, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   20.

Striking Facts: v. 20. Jesus Christ is the Savior and the Great One here spoken of, who will eventually bring about the conversion of such perverse nations as Egypt. At His coming, they will receive the light and submit themselves to His rule.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Contents: Prophecy of the wasting of Egypt and Ethiopia by Assyria.

Characters: God, Isaiah, Tartan, Sargon.

Conclusion: Those who make the creature their expectation and glory and so put it in the place of God, will sooner or later be brought to shame for it and will be utterly disappointed in creature confidences.

Key Word: Shame, v. 5.

Striking Facts: v. 2. This would be a great hardship upon God's servant, exposing him to ridicule and endangering his health. When we are doing as God commands, however foolish it may seem, we may trust Him with our credit and safety.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Contents: Four burdens anticipating Sennacherib's invasion.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Neither the skill of archers nor the courage of mighty men can protect a people from the judgments of God.

Key Word: Grievous vision, v. 2.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Contents: The burden of the valley of vision, telling of coming grievous distress.

Characters: God, Isaiah, Elam, Kir, Shebna, Eliakim.

Conclusion: When God threatens His people with judgment, He expects and requires that they will humble themselves under His mighty hand, and if they do not do so, His judgments will follow them to the grave.

Key Word: Treading down, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   22.

Striking Facts: vv. 22-23. Jesus Christ describes His own power as Mediator by allusion to this. (Rev. 3:7) He has the key of David. He opens and no man shuts. He shuts and no man opens. He is also a nail in a sure place. His Kingdom cannot be shaken, and He Himself is "the same yesterday, today and forever."

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Contents: Burden of Tyre. Desolations preceding the final deliverance of Israel.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The proud boasts of worldly nations, who bid defiance to their neighbors, will surely be silenced by the judgments of God in due time. Pomp and splendor are no guarantee against Him judgments.

Key Word: Contempt, v. 9.

Strong Verses:   9.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Contents: Looking through national troubles to the Kingdom age. The coming tribulation for the Jews, destruction of Gentile powers and opening of the Kingdom.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Earth, polluted by the sins of men, will at last be made utterly desolate and empty by the judgments of God. Satanic hosts and anti-Christian world powers will be cast into the pit. Then it shall appear that Jehovah is King above all and He shall reign gloriously in the earth.

Key Word: Dissolved, v. 19.

Strong Verses:   4,21,23.

Striking Facts: v. 23. The Lord Jesus Christ will appear as King and Judge in that day and the earth shall shine forth in His glory. Rev. 21:2, 3.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Contents: Triumphs of the coming Kingdom age.

Characters: God, Isaiah.

Conclusion: God should be exalted by His people for the wonderful things He has done, and is to do, according to His promises, for these are proofs of His power beyond what any creature could perform, and of His* goodness, beyond what such sinful creatures could expect.

Key Word: Wonderful things, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   1, 4, 8.

Striking Facts: This chapter looks forward to the coming glorious Kingdom of Christ when all evil shall be put down, death shall be swallowed up in victory and all tears wiped away. Then indeed, His- saints will exalt Him for His wonderful works and for fulfilling all His counsels.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Contents: Worship and testimony of restored and converted Israel in the Kingdom age.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: God's people Israel, banished and driven out by the iniquity of the former times will yet be restored as a nation to God's favor. When the Deliverer comes out of Zion, they will join in the song of all the redeemed, rejoicing that the days of distress are over and that God has ordained peace on earth forever.

Strong Verses:   3, 4, 12, 21.

Striking Facts: v. 21. The Father has given to Jesus Christ authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. John 5:27. At His coming, at the close of the Great Tribulation, the blood of thousands of martyrs will be brought to light and to account.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Contents: Punishment of the proud enemy of God's people. Israel restored and fruitful.

Characters: God, serpent, dragon.

Conclusion: When the Lord comes to punish the inhabitants of the earth, He will first of all punish the serpent, and his proud oppressing tyrants. In that day the sins of Israel will be purged and they will again bring forth fruit to God. Jerusalem will again be a great center of worship, when out of all countries Israel shall be led forth by God's hand.

Key Word: Gathered, v. 12.

Strong Verses:   6.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Contents: Woe of Ephriam due to drunkenness. Prediction of Assyrian captivity of Ephriam. Ephriam's fate a warning to Judah.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The glorious beauty and the plenty of the land is but a fading flower to those who indulge themselves in sensuality and drunkenness. God will throw it to the ground to be broken in pieces with a hand they are powerless to oppose and will not suffer either His providences or His ordinances to be brought into utter contempt.

Key Word: Woe, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   5, 16.

Striking Facts: v. 16. This is expressly applied to Christ in the N. T., 1 Pet. 2:6-8. He is that stone which has become the head of the corner.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Contents: Warnings to Judah and Jerusalem of impending discipline. The blessing after the final deliverance.

Characters: God, David, Abraham.

Conclusion: Those who are formal and hypocritical in their exercises of devotion, without spiritual vision, thinking to hide their counsels from the Lord, do but invite His judgments upon themselves.

Key Word: Woe, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   15, 18, 19, 24.

Striking Facts: vv. 18, 19. This portion of the chapter looks forward to the happy settlement of the affairs of Jerusalem and Judah after the second coming of Christ. Then those who understood not the prophecies shall see God's hand in all events, and will rejoice in Him.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Contents: Warnings against alliance with Egypt against Sennacherib and exhortation to turn to the Lord for help.

Characters: God, Pharoah.

Conclusion: When sin has brought men into distress, it is their wisdom, in repentance, to turn to God for deliverance, but those who think to prosper in their sin, by the help of man, add sin to sin and invite worse disaster upon themselves. If we would be saved from the evil of every calamity and secured from the curse of it, we should turn to Jehovah and repose in Him.

Key Word: Shame and confusion, v. 3.

Strong Verses:   15, 18.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Contents: Judah again warned against the Egyptian alliance. Jehovah's defense of Jerusalem.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: It is gross absurdity to forsake the Rock of Ages for broken reeds. If men will not court God's wisdom and power to act for them in the time of danger, they will find it to act against them, though they have the strongest of men to aid them. Make not man your confidence, for man can do nothing without God.

Key Word: Trust in man, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 1 .

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Contents: Promise of coming Kingdom. Warning of great tribulation. The King Deliverer.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Wasting and desolating judgment upon the land and people of Israel was pronounced because they lived in pleasure and wanton, ignoring God's commands, and all who set their hearts upon the world will meet like wretched disappointment. It is the comfort of the faithful few that blessed times of righteousness and eternal rest are promised when the Prince of Peace shall come forth to reign.

Key Word: Tribulation and kingdom, vv. 10-15.

Strong Verses:   1, 17, 18.

Striking Facts: v. 1. This Scripture certainly looks forward to the Day of the Lord (2:10-22; Rev. 19:11-21) and the Kingdom blessing to follow when Christ shall return to reign.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Contents: The distress of Judah and Jerusalem because of coming woes.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The righteous God pays sinners in their own coin. When they have filled up the measure of their iniquity, God will begin, for the sinner's day is sure to come. The godly man's comfort is that he shall, in any event, have communion with God in this life, and afterward look upon the King in His beauty.

Key Word: Judgment, v. 5

Strong Verses:   6, 15, 16, 17, 22.

Striking Facts: v. 17. Those who walk uprightly shall not only be preserved through the judgments that visit mankind upon the earth, but shall with the eye of faith, ever see the King in His beauty, and shall at last stand in His presence, when His beauty shall be upon them. 1 John 3:2.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Contents: Prophecy of the Day of the Lord and Armaggedon.

Characters: God .

Conclusion: There is a day fixed in the divine counsels for the deliverance of God's people and cause in the earth and the destruction of all enemies a year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. Those who make the Book of the Lord their meditation and rule of life, will have complete deliverance from the coming judgment of nations (v. 16).

Key Word: Day of vengeance, v. 8.

Strong Verses:   16, 17.

Striking Facts: v. 5. It is Christ who will come in the clouds of heaven to execute judgment, and out of whose mouth goes a sharp sword, as He judges and makes war upon the nations. Rev. 19:11, 15.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Contents: The coming Kingdom blessing and regathering of Israel.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The precious promises of peace in the Gospel will shortly culminate in the endless joys and rest of the coming Kingdom when the saints shall reign with Christ. Vengeance will then be taken on the powers of darkness and recompense will be made to the saints for all injuries and losses. All the earth shall break forth in beauty and great wonders will be wrought among men.

Key Word: Everlasting joy, vv. 1, 10.

Strong Verses:   1, 4, 5, 6, 10.

Striking Facts: It is Christ who is coming in the fullness of time in flaming fire, to spoil and make an open show of all evil powers and to set up the millennial Kingdom, to which all the prophets bear witness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Contents: Sennacherib's invasion and Jehovah's deliverance. The threatsof Rabshakeh.

Characters: God, Sennacherib, Rabskakeh, Hezekiah, Eliakim, Shebnab, Joab, Pharaoh.

Conclusion: The enemies of God's people are ever trying to frighten them from their confidence in God. That we may keep our ground against the enemies of our souls, it concerns us to keep a firm hope in God that we may not lose spirit in the day of trial.

Key Word: Confidence unshaken, vv. 4, 21.

Strong Verses:   21.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Contents: Jehovah's message to the people by Isaiah. Sennacherib's message to Hezekiah. Hezekiah's prayer and Jehovah's answer. Destruction of Assyrians.

Characters: God, Hezekiah, Eliakim, Shebna, Isaiah, Rabshakeh, Tirhakah, Abrammelech, Sharezer.

Conclusion: The best way to baffle the malicious designs of the enemy of our souls, is to be driven by them to God in prayer. When dangers are most pressing, it is fitting that prayer should be most lively, for God will be a defense to those who truly look to Him.

Key Word: Jehovah a defense, v. 35.

Strong Verses:   31, 35.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Contents: Hezekiah's sickness and recovery in answer to prayer.

Characters: God, Isaiah, Hezekiah.

Conclusion: Neither men's greatness nor goodness will exempt them from the arrests of sickness. If one is sick, let him pray (Jas. 5:13) for God's love is sufficient to bring one from the very pit of corruption, if it be His will. Those whose life is as from the dead are in a special manner obliged to praise God all their days.

Key Word: Healing, v. 9.

Strong Verses:   17, 19.

Striking Facts: Some think that in turning his face toward the wall, he was turning, as was customary, toward the temple, which was a type of Christ. To Him we must look, by faith, in every prayer.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Contents: Hezekiah's folly. Babylonian captivity of Judah foretold.

Characters: Isaiah, Merodach-baladan, Hezekiah.

Conclusion: It is folly for one whom God has dignified to be overproud of the respect paid him by unbelieving princes. We have need to watch our own spirits when showing another what we have done and what we have gotten, as if our own merit had secured it. God will take that from us on which we build a carnal confidence.

Key Word: Impending captivity v. 6.

Strong Verses:   8.

CHAPTER FORTY

Contents: Joyful prospect given to the people of God of the happiness of coming redemption. Reproof for their despondencies.

Characters: God, Holy Spirit, Isaiah.

Conclusion: Nothing can be spoken more comforting to those who realize themselves undone, than the coming of the Redeemer as the Lamb of God and as the Good Shepherd. Those who are ready to acknowledge they have no might, may wait upon Him, for He will be their help if they will humbly depend on Him.

Key Word: Comfort, v. 1.

Strong Verses:   5, 8, 11, 26, 28, 29, 31.

Striking Facts: v. 11. Christ is the Good Shepherd. John 10:11. He has a special care for the lambs that are weak and cannot help themselves, gathering them into the arms of His power and carrying them in the bosom of His love.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Contents: Greatness of God and weakness of man. Admonition to shun idols and encouragement to trust in God.

Characters: God, Christ, Jacob.

Conclusion: Jehovah is infinite, eternal and unchangeable. He has governed the world from the beginning and will until the end of time. Let the believer therefore depend upon Him as the God sufficient for him in the worst of times. He would not have His people to be a timorous people, for His grace can silence fears, even when there is the greatest cause for them.

Key Word: Fear not, vv. 10, 13, 14.

Strong Verses:   10, 13, 17.

Striking Facts: v. 14. Christ is the Redeemer and the Holy One of Israel, engaged by promise of God's people. In Him is help found, therefore let Him be worshiped in the beauty of holiness.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Contents: Christ, servant of Jehovah. Chastening of Israel and the final restoration.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: A day is coming when all who have contradicted and blasphemed the Gospel of Christ shall be put to silence and shame, and when all the oppositions of the powers of darkness shall be thrown down. Let the believer therefore delight in Christ, rely upon Him and rejoice in Him, for all who are "in Him" will be well-pleasing to God.

Key Word: Judgment, vv. 1, 4.

Strong Verses:   1, 4.

Page One Hundred Sixty-Two ISAIAH

Striking Facts: vv. 1-7. Fulfilled in Christ (Matt. 12:17-21). Note the twofold account of the coming servant. 1. As weak, despised, rejected and slain. 2. As mighty conqueror taking vengeance. The former class of passages were fulfilled in the first advent. The second await His return for fulfillment.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Contents: The chosen nation redeemed and restored.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Israel is God's peculiar people, distinguished from all others, and having the promise that they shall never be absorbed and that nations shall be sacrificed to their welfare. They will be finally gathered from all the earth to their own land, and when Christ shall appear as King of Kings, their sins will be blotted out, and they shall be restored to full favor.

Key Word: Gathered, v. 5.

Strong Verses:   2, 10, 11, 25.

Striking Facts: Christ, the Great Redeemer, will appear for Israel (Rom. 11:25). At His coming, the spiritual seed of Israel (through the Gospel of grace) will be gathered to heaven as their home and given glorified bodies. Believers under the Gospel are the Bride of Christ who will "reign with Him" in His coming Kingdom on earth.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Contents: The promise of the Spirit and the coming restoration. The follyof idolatry.

Characters: God, Holy Spirit, Cyrus.

Conclusion: There is no God besides Jehovah. He is infinite and therefore there can be no other. He is sufficient, and therefore no other is needed.It is foolishness to expect any good from gods of man's own making andonly the blind and ignorant can look to graven images.

Key Word: Ashamed, restored (vv. 11, 22, 26).

Strong Verses:   6, 8, 22.

Striking Facts: vv. 23-27. When Christ returns and is received by Israel, their idolatry and sin will be remembered no more, and recognizing Him whom they pierced, they will be restored to a place of great fruitfulness. (Rom. 11:25.)

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Contents: Promises to Cyrus for Israel's sake. Proof of God's eternal power and sovereignty. Encouragement to believing Jews. Doom of idol worshippers.

Characters: God, Christ, Cyrus.

Conclusion: Beside Jehovah there is no God. He alone is self-existent, selfsufficient, being infinite and eternal. Those are in woeful condition who strive with their Maker and give honor to images which cannot give good. Those who trust in God will never be made ashamed of their confidence in Him.

Key Word: Jehovah omnipotent.

Strong Verses:   9, 18, 22, 24.

Striking Facts: v. 22. This verse has a further reference to the conversion of the Gentiles that live in the ends of the earth through the lifting up of Christ on Calvary's Cross. As the stung Israelites looked to the brazen serpent, so all were invited to look to Christ and be saved.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Contents: Israel exhorted to remember the power of God and powerlessness of idols.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: False gods will certainly fail the worshippers when they have most need of them. It is absurd to think of making any creature equal with the Creator, who is infinitely above all He has created. Let all remember that they have been the constant care of His kind providence and are absolutely dependent upon Him.

Key Word: Remember, vv. 8-9.

Strong Verses:   8, 9, 10.

Striking Facts: vv. 12-13. This may be applied to the Jews in their rejection of Christ, for they thought to establish their own righteousness, and would not accept the righteousness of God in Christ, by faith.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Contents: Judgment pronounced upon Babylon.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: Those who abuse their honor or power provoke God to deprive them of it utterly and to make them sit in dust. While God often makes use of evil men for the correction of His people, He always breaks the rod of His wrath because of their boastfulness and cruelty.

Key Word: Vengeance, v. 3.

Strong Verses:   4.

Striking Facts: v. 4. Christ is the Great Redeemer, who as the Holy One of Israel saves His people, and as Lord of Hosts will take vengeance upon the wicked.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Contents: The dullness of Israel. Restoration under the Servant of Jehovah. Israel reminded of the promises.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit.

Conclusion: God often finds His people obstinate and perverse, but for all that He makes it redound to the honor of His mercy to spare and reprieve them, refining them in the furnace of affliction, rather than cutting them off. O, that men would own Him as the true and only God, receiving His promises and looking to His Redeemer.

Key Word: Anger deferred, v. 9.

Strong Verses:   12, 17, 22.

Striking Facts: vv. 16-17. The Spirit of God is here spoken of as a person distinct from Father and Son, as that which is said to the same 'purpose with this (61:1) is applied to Christ (Luke 4:21), so may this be. Christ the Redeemer was sent by the Father and He had the Spirit without measure.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Contents: Israel's coming Redeemer. Preservation and restoration of Israel and judgment on oppressors.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: God, of old, promised a Redeemer to His people who would also become a Light to the Gentiles. Through Him, the souls of those looking to Him were to be set free from the bondage of guilt and corruption; His own should be wonderfully provided for, and through Him, at length, Israel would be restored and the earth established in righteousness, peace and joy.

Key Word: Redeemer, v. 7.

Strong Verses:   6.

Striking Facts: v. 7. Christ was the Redeemer .who was despised and rejected of men, and abhorred by nations, who cried "crucify Him." But God promised Him exaltation in the depths of His humiliation, and at His return He will be acknowledged King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

CHAPTER FIFTY

Contents: The humiliation of the Holy One of Israel.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: The Lord Jesus, our Redeemer, was to be wise above all men, able to speak the word of comfort to every heart; He was to have the ear of the learned to receive instruction in all things from His Father. In spite of this, He was to be smitten and insulted by men, yet unshaken in constancy and resolution, suffering all patiently and voluntarily for the salvation of the world. Let all who fear God, build their hopes upon Christ who has proven Himself the Savior of mankind.

Key Word: Smitten Redeemer, v. 6.

Strong Verses:   7., 10.

Striking Facts: v. 3. Here we see Jesus in Creative power; v. 4 as the dependent teacher; v. 5 as the faithful servant; v. 6 as the patient sufferer; v. 8 as the justified Redeemer.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

Contents: Final redemption of Israel and punishment of oppressors.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Although God's people are called upon to suffer much upon earth, they have an eternal cause to rejoice, in that all who trust in His salvation have the approbation of the living God and may therefore despise the censures of dying men who will shortly be punished.

Key Word: Zion's comfort, vv. 3, 11.

Strong Verses:   5, 7, 12, 13.

Striking Facts: v. 5. Christ brought an everlasting righteousness and salvation. Those whose happiness is bound up in His righteousness, will have the comfort of it eternally.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Contents: Vision of Jerusalem in the Kingdom age. Jehovah's servant marred and afterward exalted.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Let God's people prepare for eternal joy, for His Word shall without tail have its accomplishment in due season. Jerusalem shall be made a praise and all the earth shall break forth in joy when He who was rejected and despised of men shall come forth 'as Lord and King.

Key Word: Jerusalem redeemed, v. 9.

Strong Verses:   7, 11, 14.

Striking Facts: vv. 7, 14. v. 7 has an application to the preaching of the Gospel, a message indeed of good news and victory over spiritual enemies (Rom. 10:15). v. 14 points plainly at Jesus (Acts 8:34-35). Never was man so barbarously treated as was the Son of God. When He returns in glory the kings of the earth shall shut their mouths at Him, and the Jews will look with mourning upon Him whom they pierced.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Contents: The vicarious sacrifice of Christ, the servant of Jehovah.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: .The whole race of mankind lies under the stain of original corruption, all gone astray from God. God, in love sent His only begotten Son into the world, who voluntarily made Himself an offering for sin. He submitted Himself to the disgraces and afflictions due to the worst of men, that those who should believe on Him, might have the joy and glory due to Him as the one perfect man.

Key Word: Man of sorrows, v. 3.

Strong Verses:   3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11.

Striking Facts: Christ rose in the world as a tender plant. The greater part of those among whom He lived saw none of His beauty. Because He announced Himself as the Savior of the world, He was abandoned and abhorred. Nevertheless God highly exalted Him, and He appears in heaven to make intercession for all who accept His sacrifice.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Contents: Israel as the restored wife of Jehovah in the Kingdom age.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: We may with greatest assurance depend upon God for the keeping of His covenant with His people (especially Israel) for He will not keep His anger against them forever, but will gather them out of their dispersions that they may return in a body to their land, where He will again be a husband to them.

Key Word: Restored Israel, v. 7.

Strong Verses:   4, 17.

Striking Facts: As Israel is spoken of as the wife of Jehovah, so the church of the present dispensation is called "the bride of Christ" (the Lamb). However this chapter has wholly to do with the fulfillment of God's covenant with Israel.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Contents: Jehovah's everlasting salvation.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: All are invited to partake of God's salvation provided through Christ. All the world's wealth and pleasure cannot satisfy the soul, but God's eternal salvation brings true life and peace. It is man's wisdom, therefore, to seek Christ while He may be found, forsaking sin and dislodging all preconceived notions contrary to God's truth, for God will then abundantly pardon.

Key Word: Come, vv. 1, 3, 6.

Strong Verses:   1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11.

Striking Facts: vv. 4, 5. Christ was given to the world for a witness of God's love and mercy (John 3:16). He is the true leader and commander to show man what to do and enable him to do it. Through Him the door was opened to the Gentile nations to enter into God's eternal salvation.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Contents: Solemn instruction given to all to make conscience of duty. Charge against the careless and unfaithful.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: The more assurance God gives us of the performance of His promises, the stronger obligations He lays us under to obedience to His commands. Righteousness and justice on our part, are required to evidence the security of our faith and repentance, and to open the way of mercy.

Key Word: Justice and righteousness, vv. 1, 2.

Strong Verses: 7

Striking Facts: v. 1. The great salvation announced and wrought out by Christ was preceded by the call to repentance and faith. In Christ, the righteousness of God was revealed (Rom. 1:17) and he is "made righteousness" unto all who receive Him.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Contents: Further ethical instructions. Sins of the people denounced.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: God is justly displeased when the voice of His rod is not heard, much more, when sin and idolatry are knowingly rejoiced in. Sinners shall find no quietness or satisfaction in their own hearts and will be made to feel the full force of His anger if sin is not repented of and forsaken.

Key Word: Wicked, v. 21.

Strong Verses:   15, 21.

CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

Contents: Hypocritical professions of religion. Instructions how to keep fasts aright.

Characters: God.

Conclusion: It is common for unhumbled hearts, while they perform the external services of religion, to promise themselves acceptance with God, which He has promised only to the sincere. God will not be cheated by hypocritical fasts and ceremonies. Those who fast and pray, yet go on in sin, mock God and cheat themselves.

Key Word: Hypocritical fasts, v. 4.

Strong Verses:   6, 7, 10, 11.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Contents: Sins which prevented the bestowal of God's blessing and caused chastisements to fall upon Israel.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit

Conclusion: If prayers are not answered and the salvation we wait for is not wrought for us, it is not evidence that God is weary of hearing prayer, but that, for some reason, He cannot answer. Sin hides His face from us, provokes Him to withdraw His gracious presence and suspend the tokens of His favor.

Key Word: Iniquities, v. 2.

Strong Verses:   1, 2.

Striking Facts: v. 20. Christ was the kinsman Redeemer who came to His own and was rejected. (John 1:11-12.) He is coming a second time to receive His own and to give full deliverance to Israel. (Rom. 11:25-26.)

CHAPTER SIXTY

Contents: The Deliverer out of Zion and the peace and joy of His coming.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: When the Redeemer shall appear in glory to be received as the Light of Israel, the knowledge of Him shall fill the whole earth and all the Gentile nations will honor them and flock to them. Wasting and destruction shall be no more and all will be filled with praise to God.

Key Word: Israel's light, vv. 1, 3, 19.

Strong Verses:   19.

Striking Facts: v. 1. This had a near fulfillment in the first advent of Christ, who came as the Light of the world. However, He was rejected and the Church came in as a parenthesis. Christ is coming again, first for His Church as "the bright and morning star," and then to Israel and all the world, as the "sun of righteousness."

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

Contents: Two advents of Christ in one view. Kingdom blessing after the day of vengeance. Israel's restoration.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit.

Conclusion: After the day of Christ's vengeance, comfort will be given to restored Israel. The setting up of the Kingdom in the earth will mean the repairing of all the waste places and all the ends of the earth shall see God's great salvation.

Key Word: Universal righteousness, v. 11.

Strong Verses:   10, 11.

Striking Facts: v. 2. See Luke 4:16-21 and note that Jesus suspended the reading of this passage at the comma, after the word "Lord." The first advent opened the day of grace "the acceptable year of Jehovah," but does not fulfill the day of vengeance. When He returns this will be fulfilled being followed by the Kingdom of righteousness (4, 11).

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

Contents: Restoration of Israel to God's favor, and honor with the nations.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Israel's full salvation is sure to come when they are regathered and their Redeemer recognized. In that day their land will no longer be called "desolate" but "Beulah land," and Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth. All the ends of the earth will know that God has pleaded Israel's cause and fulfilled His prophecies concerning them.

Key Word: Israel's salvation, v. 11.

Strong Verses:   11.

Striking Facts: This prophecy was not fulfilled in the first advent and the preaching of the Gospel of grace. God has made definite promises to Israel, before whom Christ will yet appear again, to be recognized. We have no right to put the church in Israel's place in the promises.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Contents: Day of vengeance, and the fear and hope of the remnant of Israel.

Characters: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, Moses, Abraham.

Conclusion: Christ is coming to tread the winepress of the wrath of God (Rev. 19:14-15) to take fierce vengeance on all sinners. In that day the remnant of Israel will remember their days of rebellion and will see how God has nourished them through the ages.

Key Word: Day of vengeance, v. 4.

Strong Verses:   1.

Striking Facts: v. 1. Rev. 19:11-21 describes this same day of vengeance, when Christ shall come forth in power, wearing vesture dipped in blood, crowned with many crowns and revealing Himself as King of Kings.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Contents: Fear and hope of remnant of Israel in day of vengeance.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: The remnant of Israel in the day of Christ's vengeance will bewail their sins, thereby justifying God in all their afflictions, owning themselves unworthy of His mercy and thereby preparing for the deliverance He has promised them.

Key Word: Mercy implored, vv. 9, 12.

Strong Verses:   4, 6.

Striking Facts: v. 4. This is likewise true of those saved under the Gospel of grace (1 Cor. 2:9) to whom is revealed by the Spirit the deep things of God as the result of their acceptance of the crucified and risen Savior.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

Contents: Answer of Jehovah to remnant of Israel. Eternal blessing in the renovated earth.

Characters: God .

Conclusion: Although Jehovah has long stretched forth His hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people, Israel, yet He will spare the remnant at Christ's return, purging them from their sins, establishing them in a purified earth.

Key Word: Israel's hope, v. 8.

Strong Verses:   17, 24.

Striking Facts: Chap. 21 and 22 of Rev. look also to this same time of restoration of all things. The church appears then with Christ, as His Bride, to rule with Him, not as subjects of the earthly kingdom. Israel's glory in the prophecies is always an earthly glory.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

Contents: Blessings of the coming universal Kingdom.

Characters: God, Christ.

Conclusion: Following the day of Christ's vengeance the sorrows of Israel will be turned into abundant joys. All the Gentiles spared shall rejoice in her salvation. All nations will look upon the glory of God as it shines in the face of Christ, the King, and worship will be carefully and constantly attended upon by all the peoples of the earth.

Key Word: Universal kingdom, v. 23.

Strong Verses:   15, 16, 23.

Striking Facts: The Christian watches with great interest the providences of God towards the Jews, knowing that their return to their land is a preparation for the fulfillment of much prophecy, a sign of the approach of the close of the age and Christ's coming. "Come, Lord Jesus."