Meet God in Scripture

Meet God in Isaiah 51:3

“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.”

Isaiah 51:3 (KJV)

Six ways to encounter God here

A passage is not only to be understood; it is to be lived with. Choose how you want to meet God in Isaiah 51:3, and Living Bread opens it right there.

Read itSit with the words themselves in The Word.Study itContext, cross-references, and questions in Bible Study.Be still in itLet it quiet you in the Sanctuary.Pray itTurn it into a prayer of your own.Hide it in your heartMemorize it, word by word.Encounter it togetherGather a few people to walk through it.

The passage in its setting

Meeting God in a verse begins with hearing it where it lives, in the flow of Isaiah 51. Read it slowly, and let the focal verse settle into its own context.

1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

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.

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.

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 web of Scripture around it

Where this passage echoes across the Bible, from the cross-reference graph, 14 connected Scriptures. Each one is a door to meet God there too.

  • Isaiah 49:13Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
  • Isaiah 52:9Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
  • Joel 2:3A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
  • Jeremiah 31:25For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
  • Jeremiah 33:11The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for hi…
  • Jeremiah 31:12Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the…
  • Zephaniah 3:14Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.
  • Genesis 13:10And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the l…
  • 1 Peter 1:8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
  • Isaiah 35:7And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
  • 2 Corinthians 1:3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
  • Isaiah 41:18I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
  • Ezekiel 31:8The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto…
  • Isaiah 40:1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

More to meet God in Isaiah

Isaiah 41:10Isaiah 40:31Isaiah 53:5Isaiah 43:2Isaiah 26:3Isaiah 9:6Isaiah 41:13Isaiah 40:29Isaiah 61:3Isaiah 55:8Isaiah 43:19Isaiah 30:18Isaiah 57:15Isaiah 53:10

How it points to Christ

Every Scripture ultimately leads to Jesus. See how the whole Bible points to Him in Christ in all Scripture, then meet Him for yourself.