Isaiah Ephesians
Isaiah 51:9-52:6 and the epistle of Ephesians.
9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Master; awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of old. Surely it was you who decreed a severe sentence that slew the dragon.
10It was you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass.
11Therefore the redeemed of the Master will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads; they will obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 51:9-1112I, even I, am he that comforts you, says the Master. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that will die and of the son of man that dries up like grass;
13and you have forgotten the Master your maker, who stretched forth the skies and laid the foundations of the land; and have been afraid continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, who was ready to destroy? Now where is the fury of the oppressor?
14The oppressor hurried to destroy the mighty ones, but they will not die nor be destroyed, nor will their bread fail.
15For I am the Master your god who rebukes the sea, and its waves are calm; the Master of hosts is his name.
16I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, because I stretched forth the skies and laid the foundations of the land and said to Zion, You are my people.
Isaiah 51:12-1617Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, because you have drunk at the hand of the Master the cup of his fury; you have drunk to the dregs of the cup of trembling, and drained it.
18There is no one to comfort her among all the sons whom she has borne; nor is there any of all the sons that she has brought up that takes her by the hand.
19These 2 things are come to you; who will be sorry for you? You will have plunder, destruction, famine, and sword; who will comfort you?
20Your sons have fainted, they lie at every street corner, they are faded like a wilted beet; they are full of the fury of the Master, the rebuke of your god.
Isaiah 51:17-2021Hear this, afflicted and drunk, but not with wine.
22Thus says the Master of masters and your god who pleads the cause of his people, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, and you will not drink from the cup of my fury any longer;
23but I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, Bow down that we may pass you; and you have made your people like the ground and like the street to those who passed. Isaiah 51:21-23
FE 1Awake, awake, Zion; put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city; from now on there will not come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean any longer.
2Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, Jerusalem; loose the bands from your neck, captive daughter of Zion,
Isaiah 52:1-23For, thus says the Master: you were sold for nothing and you will be redeemed without silver.
Isaiah 52:34For, thus says the Master God: my people went down at the 1st into Mizraim to stay there; and the Assyrian carried them away with violence.
Isaiah 52:45Now, what have I here, says the Master: that my people have been carried away for nothing? Their rulers make them to wail, says the Master, and my name continually, all the day, is blasphemed. Q Romans 2:24
6Therefore my people will know my name in that day, for it is I who spoke; it is I. Isaiah 52:5-6 (Isaiah 51:9-52:6 BRB)
Isaiah says for the arm of Yahvah to awake. This matches Paul's description of Jesus' resurrection and ascension to the right hand of god.
15Therefore, I also, since I heard of your belief in our master Joshua the anointed, and your love toward all the holy,
16never cease to give thanks for your sakes and to mention you in my prayers,
17so that the god of our master Joshua the anointed, the father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,
18and so that the eyes of your understanding may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the glorious riches of his inheritance in the holy,
19and what is the exceeding greatness of his power in us as the result of the things we believe, according to the skill of his mighty power,
20which he worked through the anointed when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the skies,
21higher than all 1|5 principalities, 2|5 and rulers, 3|5 and powers, 4|5 and masterships, 5|5 and higher than every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world which is to come,
22and has put all things under his feet, and made him who is above all things the head of the assembly,
23which is his body, and confirmation of him who fulfills all things and everything. Ephesians 1:15-23 (Ephesians 1:15-23 BRB)
Isaiah talks about drinking from the cup of Yahvah's fury. This matches Paul's discussion about sons of wrath.
FA 1Also, you were dead because of your sins and trespasses
2in which you previously walked according to the course of this world and according to the will of the head authority of the air, the spirit which is active in the children of disobedience.
3In those works we were also corrupted from the beginning through the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the mind. Thereby we became the children of wrath completely even as others.
4But god who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5even when we were dead in our sins made us live together with the anointed by whose grace we are saved.
6He has raised us up with him and seated us with him in the skies through Joshua the anointed
7to show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Joshua the anointed.
8For it is by grace that you are saved through belief, not of your doing, it is the gift of god,
9not of works, lest any man should boast.
10For we are his creation, created through Joshua the anointed ultimately for good works, and god has before prepared that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:1-10 (Ephesians 2:1-10 BRB)
Isaiah says the uncircumcised will no longer enter Jerusalem. This matches Paul's understanding of the circumcised and uncircumcised made into one house.
11Therefore remember that you were peoples from the 1st in the flesh and you were called, Uncircumcision, differing from what is called, Circumcision, and is a work of the hands in the flesh.
12At that time 1|4 you were without the anointed 2|4 and you were aliens to the customs of Israel 3|4 and were strangers to the contracts of the promise 4|4 and you were without hope and without god in the world.
13But now in Joshua the anointed you who were far off at 1st are brought near by the blood of the anointed.
Ephesians 2:11-1314For he is our peace who has made 2 1 and has broken down the wall of separation between them.
15He has abolished by his precious body the enmity between them and he has abolished by his commandments the command of the law that from the 2 he may create in his person 1 new man, thus making peace.
16He reconciled 2 in 1 body with god and with his cross he destroyed the enmity.
17He came and preached peace to you far away and to those near.
18Through him we are able to draw near to the father, 2 in 1 spirit.
Ephesians 2:14-1819Thus, from now on you are not strangers nor foreigners, but children from the city of the holy and children in the house of god.
20You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and he is the head of the corner of the building, Joshua the anointed.
21Through him the whole building is fashioned and grows into a holy temple in the master.
22You are also built by him for a habitation of god through the spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22 (Ephesians 2:11-22 BRB)
Isaiah describes a time when the uncircumcised will never enter Jerusalem again, but Paul describes a process where the circumcised and uncircumcised are made into one new man, one new house. The house in question is the temple, in Jerusalem, so the passages make sense at that level, but if the uncircumcised are not going to enter Jerusalem again how can Paul say that they do?
I think the whole thing hinges on understanding true circumcision is circumcision of the heart, not of the body. That's why Paul says in Ephesians that the circumcision he's talking about is circumcision of the body. Isaiah is not. Isaiah is talking about circumcision of the heart. Isaiah is describing the same thing as Paul. The redeemed who will inhabit Jerusalem, the redeemed who make up that new man, that new house, are from both the physically circumcised camp and physically uncircumcised camp, but spiritually circumcised.
The house, too, or Jerusalem, is not down here. The first correlation between Isaiah and Ephesians links Jesus' ascension to somewhere off this planet with crossing the sea, which always precedes arriving at the house of god in scripture. So the house or building he will make from the two is not even here, ultimately.