Isaiah 55 has for over forty years been one of my favorite passages of the Bible. Its literary beauty is one reason. The promise at its conclusion that through the Messiah's redeeming work the effects of the curse will be reversed and ultimately removed is another: For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; … [Read more...]