1 Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock where ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit where ye are digged.
God requires us to pursue righteousness. No, we aren’t perfect and we do make mistakes, but mistakes are not sin. Sin is intentional rebellion. If we love God, if we are His servants, we must not sin.
2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
We need to follow Abraham’s example.
3 For the Lord shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places; and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
God gives joy and peace to those who follow Him, no matter what the circumstances are.
4 Hearken unto Me, My people; and give ear unto Me, O My nation: for a law shall proceed from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for a light of the people.
If we look to God, we are His people and He directs our way.
5 My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.
“The isles” would be the many islands of the Mediterranean Sea, most of whom belong to Greece. As Christianity spread, these very islands did turn and look to God, becoming His people.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.
Nothing lasts forever, not even governments that look strong. Not even the planet is eternal. But God's salvation to those who love Him IS forever.
7 Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
God's Law must be in our heart. Nothing changed about this at Calvary. It has always been that those who choose to love Him throughout the ages are His people. He writes His Law on the hearts of all who choose Him.
8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from generation to generation.
The moth and worm will eat the men who reproach God's servants, but He will protect His own.
9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
Now Isaiah calls for help from God. He wants the same salvation God provided for Rahab when her city was destroyed.
10 Art thou not it which has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
“Wasn’t it You, God, who divided both the Red Sea and the Jordon?”
11 Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
Though the hard days of captivity are ahead, God will bring His followers back to their homes.
12 I, even I, am he that comforts you: who art thou, that thou should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;
“Don’t be afraid of mere mortal men. I, God, will take care of you.”
13 And forgets the Lord thy maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and has feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
Men who choose to “forget” (ignore) God will not prosper in the long run.
14 The captive exile hastens that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
15 But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is His name.
“Yep, I am that God that brought your ancestors through the waters on dry ground, and I will take care of those who choose to love Me.”
16 And I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art My people.
It was God who called Isaiah and directed him to speak to Israel.
17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
Yes, God has punished Jerusalem for her rebellion.
18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that takes her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up.
The leaders and teachers are all gone.
19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? Desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
No human can save them.
20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
Everyone, even those most likely to be able to help themselves, are discouraged because of God's punishment.
21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
Judah has acted as stupidly as drunks even though they aren’t drunk.
22 Thus says thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleads the cause of His people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of My fury; thou shall no more drink it again:
“I’m done punishing you.”
23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, “Bow down, that we may go over:” and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
“Now it’s time to punish those I used to punish you, but who were too enthusiastic about it; went too far.”