Blogging Bible Study: Digging in the Desert - Isaiah:Restoration

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The last group of  'Desert' verses in Isaiah is also the largest...six verses/passages that encourage the people that, even though there is exile, restoration is coming.

The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted;  citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks, till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest.  Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.  My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.  -- Is. 32: 14 - 18

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.  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. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution  he will come to save you."  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer; and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.   Is. 35:1 - 6

"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst.  But I the LORD will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.  I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys.  I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs.  I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.  I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it."  -- Is. 41:17 - 20

Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.  Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them shout from the mountaintops.  Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.  The LORD will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies. -- Is. 42:11 - 13

"See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.  The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland,  to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."  -  Is. 43: 18 - 21

This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inherintances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!'  They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill.  They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them.  He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water."  -- Is. 49:8 - 10

Oh, there is so much more about restoration in those chapters that I really had a hard time limiting the selections to the context around the 'desert' verses.  You can go read them yourself, if you choose.  

And, of course, it's possible to assign these verses to different timelines...anything from the return of the captives from Babylon, to the coming of Messiah, to the return of the Jews and recreation of the nation after the diaspora to the final triumph of God over all evil. And they can also be applied to the literal desert or a spiritual desert. But the immediate audience was the Jews in exile in Babylon, so whatever other applications these verses have, that one is the first and foremost for them: God had not forgotten his people and he would bring them back.  Indeed, he was still with them even when they went through the judgment and the exile.  

It is no different now; his ultimate design is always restoration, and the ultimate destiny of the desert is to blossom into fertile green fruitfulness.