These chapters of Isaiah are a mix of warning, judgment, and hope. The prophet cries out against the corrupt rulers, priests, prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Yet, the day will come when Jerusalem will be blessed: “Thus says the Lord who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: ‘Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale’” (29:22). This blessing, though, will not come through alliances with Egypt: “The protection of Pharaoh [will] turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. . . . Egypt’s help is worthless and empty” (30:3,7) but by the hand of the Lord. The people had rejected their God; yet, Isaiah declared, “The Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (30:18). Back and forth it goes: the people look in all the wrong places for help; then, God speaks of righteousness, blessing, grace, and mercy. Back and forth. But, in the end, God’s grace and mercy will prevail: “The Lord is our king; he will save us. . . . No inhabitant will say, ‘I am sick;’ people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity” (33:22-24).
Thy ceaseless, unexhausted love,
unmerited and free,
delights our evil to remove,
and help our misery.
Thou waitest to be gracious still;
thou dost with sinners bear,
that, saved, we may thy goodness feel,
and all thy grace declare. --Charles Wesley (1788)
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