Nettles to Myrtles

GOD is able to turn your thorny world into a Paradise of the Heart.

At the end of this post, a PDF and Word document for the Substack Beautiful Bible is available for Istoria subscribers to download and share in PDF and Word format.

A myrtle tree amid a briar patch.

Do you need Good News in your dark, troubled, and confusing world?

Isaiah the prophet gives us some:

“Instead of the thorn, the cypress will come up,
And instead of nettles, myrtles will come up;
And this will be a memorial to the LORD,
An everlasting sign of His covenant with you.”

- Isaiah 55:13

That verse may make little sense to you, so let me give you the context.

GOD’S people, the Jews, had been captured by the wicked Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 586 BC. Nebuchadnezzar separated children from their parents, razed the Temple of YHWH, and burned Jerusalem to the ground.

It was a dark time for God’s people.

But Isaiah the prophet gave a message of hope to the captives in Babylon. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah describes a Sufferi…