NOTES for Isa 65:8-16
Lent is coming to an end, and the readings from the prophet Isaiah help draw some conclusions. In today's prophecy the Lord speaks about the fruits a person's choice brings: the one who chooses the Lord will rejoice, while the one who chooses himself will be put to shame. Yet the emphasis in these words somehow shifts very quickly to the great and glorious works of God. The source of the heart's gladness is not the many efforts we have made, but the "new thing" that the Lord Himself does. The goal of all the fasting that preceded these days is to see the salvation which the Son of God accomplished on the Cross, and to rejoice.