Perfectly Imperfect Together

In Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel is a priest and prophet who has been in Babylonian exile with his fellow Israelites about 5 years when he receives the vision and call of God on his life to be God's messenger for His people. God gives him a vision of His glory and it shows up in a flashing of light. He sees 4 magnificent living beings who quickly carry out all that God commands. They are covered with eye...

In Isaiah 65 & 66, God says He has been ready to respond but no one was asking for help and ready to be found but no one was looking for Him. He is crying out "Here I am, Here I am" just waiting for each and every one of us to seek Him and ask Him into all the moments of our lives. He opens His arms to us in our rebellion and He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us when we were rebelli...

In Isaiah 63 & 64, God tells us He is coming to save us. He is the only One who has the power to save. His love is unfailing and eternal. Jesus did come and He came to save us all from our selves - from our sins. He died and rose from the grave so we could choose Him as our Lord and Savior and receive His gift of salvation for all eternity. Death cannot hold life down and Jesus is life. He sen...

In Isaiah 62, we see the certainty of God and His desire for all nations - every person - to see and experience God's righteousness and glory. He wants every one of us to repent, accept Jesus as our Lord, experience freedom from the bondage and consequences of sin. He tells us to not stop praying for each other until every last one of us has "salvation that blazes like a burning torch.&qu...

In Isaiah 60 & 60, God tells us yes, we are sinful - very sinful, but God. God has us covered. God sent us Jesus. If we choose to submit ourselves and let God pick us up, and cling to Him like our life depends on it - because it does - a day is coming when our eyes will shine and our hearts will thrill with joy. We will experience God's mercy and grace, His peace and righteousness, and His...

In Isaiah 58 & 59, God lets us know what He thinks of false worship and pretend fasting. God looks at the motivation behind our actions. He looks at our hearts. He wants real and true worship just because we love Him. He is God. He deserves our worship. He is seeking submissive salvation, true hearts after God who reflect His character, His values, His heart, and His desires. We need to always...

In Isaiah 56 & 57, God's people are encouraged to get ready, watch, prepare, and worship in anticipation of Jesus. Jesus came, died, and rose again to free all of us from sin and condemnation. Condemnation and judgment is coming but if we choose to accept Jesus and His gift of salvation and let Him be Lord over our lives, we are free from it all. We are safe in the strong and mighty hands...

In Isaiah 54 & 55, God gives an offer of freedom from sin, shame, and disgrace. how we respond is up to us. He desires for every last one to choose life, choose love, and choose eternity with Him. But it is still up to us. He gives an invitation to "come" with our ears wide open and pleads with us to listen so we find everlasting life and unfailing love. He asks us to "seek&quot...

In Isaiah 52 & 53, God lets His people know freedom will come. Hope will come. Deliverance will come. Jesus does come. Jesus was crushed and took all our sin - all our stuff - so we could have life and live in eternity with Him. He died so we could be free from our past sins and run in freedom with God for all of our days. He says "rise from the dust" - don't stay there - get up...

In Isaiah 50 & 51, God shows how the promise of hope will be fulfilled. It is fulfilled on the cross. It is fulfilled when our Messiah didn't turn away from His call and purpose. It is fulfilled when our amazing God offered His back to those who beat Him and His cheeks to those who pulled out His beard. It is fulfilled when He set His face like a stone and determined that no matter what Go...

In Isaiah 49, God's faithful Servant, our Messiah - is spoken of through Isaiah. Emmanuel, God with us, is fulfilled through Jesus. He is our hope, our redeemer, our salvation, and our restoration. He is everything. God is with us every moment of every day of our lives when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He gives us the Holy Spirit and never leaves us. He cannot forget us because God...

In Isaiah 47 & 48, Isaiah prophesies about the fall of Babylon. They refuse to turn from trusting in false idols, false gods, magic, and astrology so they will endure God's judgment and wrath. Those who repent and turn to Jesus will be free from the captivity of sin and seen as righteous before God but those who do not and refuse to turn from wickedness will have no peace. God does not sha...

In Isaiah 45 & 46, God speaks of reformation and restoration after exile and speaks of Cyrus by name as the one who will free His people from exile. God has a plan - even if things aren't fully in place yet - and He will bring it forth. He knows all our tomorrows and wants us to trust Him with our lives. He wants relationship with us and wants us to know He is God. He is in control. We can...

In Isaiah 44, God calls out the ignorance and foolishness of worshiping false gods and idols in our lives. God reminds us of who He is, that He created us, cares for us, and will be there with us through every step of everything we face, and that He is the only Rock - He is our Rock. We don't have to be afraid because God has us. He is our Redeemer. He speaks about a shepherd He will send to h...

In Isaiah 43, Assyria passed through but Babylon is still coming. God reminds His people to remain faithful and trust Him when they face anything - deep waters, rivers of difficulty, fires of oppression. He lets us know that if we remain and abide in Him with all our hearts, we will not be consumed or burned up. He will take care of us and help carry us through the storms. He is our Savior, Redeem...

In Isaiah 42, God tells Isaiah to tell His people that a Savior is coming. The coming of Jesus - our Messiah - is prophesied years before He comes and everything prophesied comes forth in the exact detail that God says it will through Isaiah. God will never stop pursuing us and will never give up on us. God laid the foundation and set everything up and it all points to Jesus. He gave us a Rescuer...

In Isaiah 41, God speaks through Isaiah assuring His children, His faithful remnant, that He will help them through the exile. He will rescue His children. He challenges the false idols that His children choose to chase after as they double down on idol production in preparation for what's coming rather than looking to God for strength and protection. The world can only provide what it knows a...

In Isaiah 40, Isaiah brings a message from God of hope. The Babylonian exile is still about 100 years out and he speaks as though they have already been rescued, set free, restored, and redeemed. He gives a hope of a coming New Jerusalem. He foresees John the Baptist coming to prepare the way for our Messiah. He gives the key to hope which is trusting in the One and only God who carries us through...

In Isaiah 38 - 39, Hezekiah becomes terminally ill and he cries out to God and prays for mercy. God hears his prayer and saw his tears and answered him with 15 more years. Prayer works y'all! Hezekiah praises God and gives Him all the glory and honor in a heartfelt poem of praise. He is so excited, he ends up showing the Babylonians the back door to Jerusalem and everything Jerusalem has store...

In Isaiah 36 & 37, Hezekiah is faced with national threats and in response he humbly goes to God and cries out for help. God hears his cry and steps in by taking out the attacking Assyrians. God shows what happens when His people trust in Him. When we feel surrounded we can choose to stand firm in faith, seek God, cry out to Him and trust that He is moving on our behalf. God intervenes. He is...

In Isaiah 34 & 35, Isaiah once again ties what they are facing soon with the coming Assyrian and Babylonian battles but he also speaks of the coming worldwide judgment that involved all the nations - the whole universe. The day is coming when God is going to deal with and destroy sin and evil head-on. God brings justice and it is deserved as people continually turn their backs on God. The land...

In Isaiah 31-33, Isaiah concludes his oracles and warnings of coming woe for not repenting and turning from sin to God and for not faithfully trusting in God. God calls for His people to pay attention to Him and stop being complacent. He calls for obedient faith. He gives hope that the day will come when evil is done and over as His faithful remnant stand firm in confident and expectant prayer. Go...

In Isaiah 29 & 30, Isaiah brings another warning of what's to come for Jerusalem and Judah. He once again so eloquently ties in the now of his time with the not yet. Jerusalem doesn't repent after Assyria comes through and continues to rely on false alliances with Egypt and things they make on their own rather than God. They continue to revel in their sin rather than repent. He speaks...

In Isaiah 27 & 28, further hope is given. Sin will be destroyed. Evil will be dealt with. God is all about 2nd chances and gives an "out" for those opposed to God. He says it's not too late to turn to Him and accept the saving grace Jesus offers. Jesus is returning and when He does, He will deal with evil and gather His people to Him. When? Yes. Isaiah again speaks of woe - this...

In Isaiah 25 & 26, judgment comes and those who stand firm in their faith in God give thanks and praise to Him for it. God will bring humility to the proud. Ruthless evil may not believe God or acknowledge Him but the day is coming when God will be feared. God will provide refuge and strength to His faithful remnant and though it will not be easy, His strength will carry us through as we passi...