Summary…

Isaiah 8:18 and Isaiah 61:3b

          “We are signs and symbols…an oak of righteousness

            a planting of the Lord to display his splendor.”

Just as God has called Isaiah and his sons to demonstrate the reality of God through their lives, He asks us to do the same. His desire is for each of us to have a life that demonstrates strength of character and is distinguished by right standing with God, uprightness, grace and love. Verse three goes on to say that this oak tree, our lives, is a planting of the Lord, You are a work of God’s hand (Isaiah 60:21) you don’t plant yourself, - God plants you. He roots and grounds you in His love (Ephesians 3:17)

Our lives are to display his splendor. God’s desire is to plant us, to grow us so that we might display his splendor. When we display the splendor of God, our lives will radiate the beauty of God. Our lives can be a symbol and a sign to the beauty of God – his splendor, his majesty. I hope that through the study of Isaiah this year you have received a greater understanding of how this can be true.

We walked through Isaiah discovering not just the content of Isaiah’s prophecy or a piece of history, but the signs and symbols that Isaiah used to communicate God’s truths to his children. Often these signs or symbols were part of the keepsake verse that I challenged you to memorize.

In Isaiah 2:5 when Isaiah says to the people, “Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” God’s promise is that His presence would be to them like a shelter, a shade, a refuge and a hiding place no matter what the weather was like in their lives.

In Isaiah 5:1-7, God compares Judah and Israel to a vineyard that He has planted - a vineyard that He expected to produce good fruit, but he could not find it. And he showed us those things that could prevent good fruit like pride, money or idols.

Many of our lessons involved understanding the names of God revealed which gave us more understanding of who He is, like the HOLY One of Israel or Immanuel, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. WE saw Jesus as our banner - the one we rally to and find true rest and victory over our enemies. We have seen that Jesus is our salvation, our strength and our song.

As I studied, I would see these verses that would just pop out at me as truths that I can live my life by today even though they were written thousands of years ago. Like Isaiah 7: 7b, “if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” What a powerful call to each of us do be grounded in our faith so that we won’t be uprooted or feel like collapsing when the winds of change and burdens of life come our way. It led me to the understanding of the truth in Isaiah 33:6. Something unstable is easily uprooted by the winds of life or easily collapses under the weights of life. this verse teaches who is our stability – Jesus – we need to trust him!

We saw that we are shining stars holding out the word of life.

Again we saw the Lord as our rock, our fortress and our deliverer. A person in whom we can find refuge. A God Isaiah showed us that Jesus is the nail driven into a firm place on whom we can hang our life!

We took time to pull apart Isaiah 26:3...”You (God) will keep in perfect peace whose mind is steadfast because He trusts in you (God).” We saw the effect of our thinking on our emotions and thus our behavior. We considered the truths of replacement thinking as demonstrated to us in Philippians 4:8, allowing Philippians 4 to eat up the old tapes in our heads. And then the truth of II Corinthian 10:3-5 –as we identified the stronghold that lies have on our thinking and then re-wallpapering our minds with the truth…giving us victory, thus changing our actions, our very lives.

We learned the pattern God uses to teach us – line upon line, precept upon precept, a little here and a little there.

Then is Chapter 26:7 there’s a promise of God for the righteous. As we walk in his ways, wait on Him, and want more of Him we will give us a smooth way or a level path. Three essentials for each of us – walking, waiting and wanting…more of Him.

“The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.

Is it truly your desire to be bring fame to God through your life – Isaiah says – God’s name and renown is to be our desire. One of the recurrent themes of the book of Isaiah is the pitfall of pride. What God accomplishes in our lives is for our good and His glory! Not to promote us, but to display his splendor. To radiate Jesus. Have you ever been dazzled by something – a bright light, a beautiful dress, a person’s life, the presence of God? Peter and John went up to the mountain with Jesus and He was transfigured right before their eyes. Matthew 17:2 says, “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.” Talk about being dazzled. Dazzled because of the fullness of God’s presence.  Have you ever seen someone’s face shining because of the presence of God? I heard a woman testify to walking into RCBS and seeing a difference in some of our faces – the light and the love of Jesus shining through. It dazzled her and she wanted more…. The presence of God transforms our lives, allowing us to radiate Jesus. Are you dazzling others, because you’ve been in His presence?

The desire for more of Jesus is expressed in verse 9 – yearning and longing for him in the morning and the night. Both our soul, which is our mind, will and emotions, and our spirit, that part of us that is connected to God who is spirit. With all that makes you and me who we are, at all times, are you not just looking for Him, or are you longing for more of Him.

Matthew 17:5 goes on to say that “while they were still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased…” Would that be your desire? That God would look at your life which is radiating him and say, “this is my daughter in whom I am well-pleased.”

Walk in His ways, Wait on God and Want more of Him….