Advent - Praying with Isaiah

Praying with Isaiah during Advent

The messages from the book of the prophet Isaiah are our guide for the first part of Advent. This page is meant to be a help for our letting these words console us and offer us hope. Though they were first meant to be God's word to a people who "walked in darkness," they are for us today quite alive with meaning. We can hear them personally. 

We can hear their prophetic hope in a future redemption that was fulfilled in Jesus. 

We can let these words challenge us to open our hearts. We can hear them helping us know and trust our God's love for us today. When we let them into our hearts - a phrase at a time - and chew them and let them nourish us, we can let these words feed an Advent hope and longing within us. 

Read them one at a time, or scan several. It is better to enjoy small bits of this message and to savor it, than to run through it, too quickly. Return to this page regularly during Advent. It is a wonderful practice to ask for a grace before we let these words touch our hearts. For example, we might ask something like this:

"Lord, open my heart to hear your word for me today. I ask that you console me, comfort me, strengthen my trust in your faithful love, and that you give me hope in the renewal of your coming in my life this Advent." Or, we might pray: "Lord, show me the desert, the wasteland, within me, and let me trust that you will bring new life and build a path to you, within me."

The quotations are taken from the readings of the first part of Advent. The links are to the full reading for that day.

The First Week of Advent 

The Prophet Isaiah

Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways, and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?

Isaiah 63

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.

Isaiah 63

Would that you might meet us doing right, that we were mindful of you in our ways!

Isaiah 63

"Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths."

Isaiah 2

They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Isaiah 2

Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

Isaiah 2

On that day, A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him. ...

Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.

Isaiah 11

Trust in the LORD forever! For the LORD is an eternal Rock. He humbles those in high places, and the lofty city he brings down; He tumbles it to the ground, levels it with the dust. It is trampled underfoot by the needy, by the footsteps of the poor.

Isaiah 26

On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ...

Those who err in spirit shall acquire understanding, and those who find fault shall receive instruction.

Isaiah 29

He will be gracious to you when you cry out, as soon as he hears he will answer you. The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right or to the left.

The Second Week of Advent

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.

Isaiah 40

In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.

Isaiah 40

Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

Isaiah 40

The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 35

Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you.

Isaiah 35

Then the blind shall see...

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; The abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus. A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.

Isaiah 35

It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk. Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee.

Isaiah 35

Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.

Isaiah 40

Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.

Isaiah 40

I, the LORD, your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.

Isaiah 48

The Third Week of Advent

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me...

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.

Isaiah 61

Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.

Isaiah 45

Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other!

Isaiah 45

Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear, Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor, For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife than the children of her who has a husband, says the LORD. Enlarge the space for your tent, spread out your tent cloths unsparingly; lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes. For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the desolate cities.

Isaiah 54

Fear not, you shall not be put to shame; you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced. The shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember. For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the LORD of hosts; Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth.

Isaiah 54

The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer.

Isaiah 54

This is for me like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should never again deluge the earth; So I have sworn not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you. Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

Isaiah 54

The Fourth Week of Advent

Isaiah the Prophet

Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice, about to be revealed.

Isaiah 56

No more shall people call you "Forsaken," or your land "Desolate," but you shall be called "My Delight," and your land "Espoused." For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you.

Isaiah 62

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils.

Isaiah 9

For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames.

Isaiah 9

For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David's throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

Isaiah 9

See, the LORD proclaims to the ends of the earth: say to daughter Zion, your savior comes! Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. They shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD, and you shall be called "Frequented," a city that is not forsaken.

Isaiah 62

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, "Your God is King!"

Isaiah 52

Taken from  http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Advent/Praying-with-Isaiah.html

Old Testament Prophecies Proclaiming Christ's Birth and Death

Prophesies & Prophets

of the Old Testament

 

In my search for a more profound faith in God, I have read the entire Bible a few times over the years of my life, and discovered that there were many prophecies in the Old Testament telling of the future Birth and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

With us being in the Season of Advent, the word Advent meaning  "Coming" of the Lord,  I thought I would share them with you...if you do not know them or if it's been a while since you read them.. you can discover the awesomeness of God as we await His Coming both His Birth and His promised Return!!!

God is so good to us, as St. Augustine said--that He gave us His promises through prophesies through his faithful prophets through the ages before Christ, to ready the people for His Redeeming Sacrifice and His coming into the world. (St. Augustine's writing on subject is found on this blog... )

Let us start with the Book of Wisdom written by King Solomon, son of David and see what it says about Christ...the defiance of the High Priests and others who refused to believe Jesus was the Messiah promised by God. 

King Solomon

Wisdom 2: 12-20: 

"Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training.  He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange.  We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father.  Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God's son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."

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The Prophet Isaiah has much to say about the Coming of Jesus to the world...and His Death--- it's so miraculous that he's prophecies were so accurate.. but should it be miraculous? As he was given this knowledge from the Almighty God Himself!!!

Isaiah 7:14: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 50: 5-7: The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.  I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.  For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

Isaiah 53: 1-12: Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have

turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand; he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

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Isaiah 60:6:  A multitude of camels shall cover you,the young camels of Mid'ian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come.  They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.

Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh the very gifts that the Three Wise Men presented to the Infant Jesus.  Gold for a Royal King (Jesus the King of Kings); Frankincense for worship to God (Jesus the Son of God), and Myrrh---used for burial Jesus died for our sins... was buried and rose from the dead!!!

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Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,  because  he has anointed me to  preach  good  news  to  the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of  sight  to the blind, to set  at  liberty  those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."  

This passage of Isaiah, Christ Himself reads to the people listening in Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21.

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There are other places in the Old Testament--Daniel's prophecy, as well as in Micah--we hear of the place where Christ will be born...

Prophet Daniel

Daniel 7:13-14: I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Micah  5:2  And  thou  Bethlehem  Ephrata,  art  a  little  one  among  the thousands of Judah,  out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and  his  going  forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity.

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King & Prophet David

King David, a prophet and one love much by God wrote the Psalms (in particular Psalm 22), in it proclaimed the agony that Jesus would have to endure.. even the Romans casting lots for his clothes...

Psalm 22: 2:  O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

Psalm 22:7-9: But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.  All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.  He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him.

Psalm 22:12-19 : Depart not from me. For tribulation is very near: for there is none to help me.  Many calves have surrounded me: fat bulls have besieged me.  They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring.  

 
 I am poured out like water; and all my bones are scattered. My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my bowels.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue hath cleaved to my jaws: and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.  For many dogs have encompassed me: the council of the malignant hath besieged me. They have dug my hands and feet.  They have numbered all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me.  They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.

The Prophet Samuel was the one who announced to David that his heir will be raised up and His kingdom will last forever...

Prophet Samuel as a Boy "Here I am"..1 Samuel 3

 2 Samuel 4-5a, 12-14a, 16:  The Lord spoke to Nathan and said: "Go, tell my servant David, 'When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,  I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.  It is he who shall build a house for my name.  And I will make his royal throne firm forever.  I will be a father to him,  and he shall be a son to me.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever."

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Other prophets through the history of the Old Testament were also given the knowledge of He Who is to Come... 

Zechariah 11:12-13: Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." And they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.  Then the LORD said to me, "Cast it into the treasury" -- the lordly price at which I was paid off by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and cast them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

Here the prophet Zechariah predicts that the Lord would be sold for 30 pieces of silver---Judas fulfilled this when he betrayed Jesus to the Pharisees.

Prophet Ezekiel

Ezekiel 34:11-16:"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel,

Jesus the Good Shepherd

by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country.] I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.

The scripture above from Ezekiel were fulfilled by Jesus, when he said in Luke 19:10:  "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."

Prophet Samuel anointing David

2 Samuel 4-5a, 12-14a, 16:  The Lord spoke to Nathan and said: "Go, tell my servant David, 'When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,  I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm.  It is he who shall build a house for my name.  And I will make his royal throne firm forever.  I will be a father to him,  and he shall be a son to me.  Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever."

Zechariah 9:9: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass,on a colt the foal of an ass.

Here Zechariah's prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus on Palm Sunday, when he rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey.

Have a thoughtful time of preparation in Advent awaiting His Coming...and a Wondrous Christmas Day...  

HIS Birthday!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS MY KING!

Rose