First light after rain on a wide desert plain in the Arabah: pale ground touched with first green and small scattered flowers, puddles shining, bare mountains far off.

Woe and a King

Isaiah 35

Is there a dry place in you that you think will never bloom?

10 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beautyChapter 35
36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the Servant
49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The Glory of Zion

Isaiah

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;

the desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

It will bloom profusely

and rejoice with joy and singing.

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Isaiah

Isaiah

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of the LORD,

the splendor of our God.

Isaiah

Strengthen the limp hands

and steady the feeble knees!

Isaiah

Say to those with anxious hearts:

“Be strong, do not fear!

Behold, your God will come with vengeance.

With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

Question

Quick question

Isaiah gives the weak and the frightened something to say to one another. Look at 35:4.

What are anxious hearts told (35:4)?

Isaiah

Isaiah

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer

and the mute tongue will shout for joy.

Isaiah

A desert wadi at noon with clear water running full along its stony bed, green grass, reeds and tall papyrus along the banks, old empty dens in the bank, bare hills around.

For waters will gush forth in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert.

The parched ground will become a pool,

the thirsty land springs of water.

In the haunt where jackals once lay,

there will be grass and reeds and papyrus.

Isaiah

Early morning: a raised road of packed earth and stone, built up and smooth, runs straight across a greening wilderness toward far hills, no one on it yet.

And there will be a highway

called the Way of Holiness.

The unclean will not travel it—

only those who walk in the Way—

and fools will not stray onto it.

Isaiah

Isaiah

No lion will be there,

and no vicious beast will go up on it.

Such will not be found there,

but the redeemed will walk upon it.

Isaiah

So the redeemed of the LORD will return

and enter Zion with singing,

crowned with everlasting joy.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee.

Isaiah 35:10

Pray

Lord, make the dry places in me bloom. Strengthen my weak hands and steady my knees. Bring me home on Your holy way, with joy that sorrow cannot overtake. Amen.

The same wilderness, turned around

Whiteboard

Chapter 34 is a land given to the wild. Chapter 35 is the wild given back to joy.

You’ve experienced

Isaiah 35

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A verse to carry with you

So the redeemed of the LORD will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

Isaiah 35:10

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