Isaiah 56-66 is the culmination of the prophet's message condemning humanity's sin and promising the Suffering Servant, who atones for that sin, rises in majesty, and prepares an eternal city, the new Jerusalem, for all the redeemed. Among its well-known oracles are "arise, shine, because your light is coming" (60:1); "the Spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me" (61:1); and "behold, I am about to create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). These chapters answer the questions, Do people enjoy Yahweh's grace by birthright or by faith? Who is the true Israel? And what will happen to the Suffering Servant's offspring, the church? God's restoration of Zion's glory is our future!
About the Series
The Concordia Commentary Series: A Theological Exposition of Sacred Scripture is written to enable pastors and teachers of the Word to proclaim the Gospel with greater insight, clarity, and faithfulness to the divine intent of the biblical text.
This landmark work will cover all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, interpreting Scripture as a harmonious unity centered in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every passage bears witness to the Good News that God has reconciled the world to Himself through our Lord's life, death, and resurrection.
The commentary fully affirms the divine inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of Scripture as it emphasizes "that which promotes Christ" in each pericope.
Authors are sensitive to the rich treasury of language, imagery, and themes found throughout Scripture, including such dialectics as Law and Gospel, sin and grace, death and new life, folly and wisdom, demon possession and the arrival of the kingdom of God in Christ. Careful attention is given to the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. Further light is shed on the text from archaeology, history, and extra-biblical literature. Finally, Scripture's message is applied to the ongoing life of the church in terms of ministry, worship, proclamation of the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, confession of the faith--all in joyful anticipation of the life of the world to come.
R. Reed Lessing currently serves as senior pastor at St. Michael Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Ind. He was born and raised in Denver, Colo, and received the B.A. in pre-seminary studies from St. John's College, Winfield, Kans., in 1981. He earned his M.Div. (1985), S.T.M. (1989), and Ph.D. (2001) degrees from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. He was ordained into the office of the holy ministry on June 29, 1986. From 1986 to 1999, he served pastorates in West Monroe, La., and Broken Arrow, Okla. Dr. Lessing was also a professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, from 1999 to 2013. Dr. Lessing has written Interpreting Discontinuity: Isaiah's Tyre Oracle (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2004), and along with Dr. Andrew Steinmann, he co-authored an introduction to the Old Testament titled Prepare the Way of the Lord (St. Louis: Concordia, 2014). Dr. Lessing is also the author of the volumes on Jonah, Amos, and Isaiah 40-55 as well as the forthcoming volume on Zechariah in the Concordia Commentary series. He has published articles and book reviews in Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Concordia Journal, and Concordia Theological Quarterly, as well as sermon studies in Concordia Pulpit Resources and enrichment magazine articles in the LifeLight Foundations series of Bible studies from Concordia Publishing House.
