The Prophecy of Isaiah– Lesson 8

Remember where we are in history as we study this weeks lesson. Ahaz is king of Judah but remember that the kingdom is split. Israel has broken away as a separate kingdom. In fact, they are threatening to form an alliance with Syria and attack Judah. Ahaz is not confident and the people are afraid. These verses will cover approximately 734 to 732 BC. The alliance of Israel and Syria was trying to manipulate Judah into joining them against Assyria (2 Kings 16:5-18; 2 Chronicles 28:16-21). God was willing to protect Judah but Ahaz was not someone who would seek God with all his heart. He had lots of pride but his lack of calm was creating panic.

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” thus says the Lord God:

“ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.

For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.)

“ ‘And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’ ”

Isaiah 7:1-9

The word from God here should have been an encouragement to Ahaz. God was still protecting Jerusalem. God refers to Ahaz as the “house of David” and points to the covenant God made with David. The son of Tabeel is not going to replace the son David … not as long as God is God. God is always showing His faithfulness and ability to keep His people. He told Isaiah to take his son Shear-jashub. His name means “a remnant will return” so Ahaz had God's word standing there in the flesh as well as coming from Isaiah. The name is both a promise of the remnant but also a grim reminder that there would only be a remnant.

Ahaz was at a place of fear. This upper pool was a preparation for siege. So God's word comes to Ahaz while he is worried and not in a place that would inspire others. The word to Ahaz “Be careful, be quiet” may be better translated “Be careful to do nothing”. Ahaz was considering a partnership with Assyria rather than trusting God or even seeking God's direction and word.

God even gives the time frame for these things and the time frame places the fulfillment after the death of Ahaz. However, the bottom line is as it says, “if you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all”. This is a play on words in Hebrew but the meaning is that if you only have an intellectual knowledge of God then you'll be unable to stand firm on His promises because you will not have a living faith. This is both an individual decision and a national decision. We must move into a living faith and a life of prayer built on that faith to be a good citizen in God's eyes.

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 7:10-17

God commanded Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz refused but it was not because of his faith that he refused. Instead he refused because of his lack of faith and consequently God was angry with him and specifies the sign that will be given. The Hebrew word means a young woman of marriageable age and normally a virgin. The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament, 150 B.C.) uses a word that is more specifically “virgin”. Clearly the New Testament understands this to be the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23).

Immanuel means “God with us” and is another case of God encouraging a people without courage. This prophecy probably has multiple fulfillments. I think the most reasonable view (although there are others) is that Isaiah's first wife had passed away and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty) had 2 names. That would be rare but not unheard of. Then the fulfillment waited for Christ for the eventual complete fulfillment. It would work in multiple ways since the child of Isaiah would represent God's faithfulness to the remnant as well as the coming judgment. The conception may have been natural in Isaiah's time and of course miraculous in the case of Christ. Or … maybe it only refers to Christ. We know that it applies to Christ and the rest is speculation. It does seem to be a prophecy that will, at least in part, be fulfilled rapidly.

The reference to “curds and honey” means that people will live from fallowed land. It will not be cultivated crops. You get honey from wild bees and curds or cheese from your herds. The possible understanding then is that before the child is 12 years old (the age of accountability) both Pekah and Remaliah will both be defeated with the prophecy first applying to Isaiah's son and then to Christ.

In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.

In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.

In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Isaiah 7:18-25

God uses the analogy of flies and bees as invaders A razor is a sing of mourning and/or humiliating enemies. So the king of Assyria will be used to eliminate the enemies that are threatening Jerusalem but remember that one of those is the Northern Kingdom (Israel)

Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hashbaz.’ And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz; for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

The Lord spoke to me again: “Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.

Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand,

for God is with us.

Isaiah 8:1-10

I think these Scriptures flesh out why we might think that we have a double fulfillment in both Maher-shalal-hashbaz and in Jesus. So we might think the prophetess was a second wife of Isaiah. And the child was a blessed clock protected by God that would foretell the destruction of Damascus and Samaria.

The prophecies also include the judgment that will come on Judah (the southern kingdom). The lack of satisfaction with the water source provided by God is a sign of their trust in men rather than God. Remember that Ahaz received his first prophecy while near a water source designed for a siege. Ahaz wanted to trust in an alliance with Assyria rather than trust in God. He trusted in politics and a strong military rather than in God.

We will often be challenged to trust God in our lives and we must always seek to trust in God alone even when He leads us to be prudent with the blessings he gives us.

The Prophecy of Isaiah– Lesson 7

Last week we studied the vineyard as a picture of both Israel and of us as God's own planting. The remainder of Isaiah chapter 5 details all of the various forms of judgment that are coming against Jerusalem.

Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath (6 gallons), and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah. (6 bushels yield half a bushel)”

Isaiah 5:8-10

Excess wealth in the face of need will be judged. In some places and in some times it has been a characteristic of the liberal church to stress social issues instead of the atonement. I think that has sometimes slowed our response to provide practical help to those around us both saved and unsaved. You shouldn't be able to read Isaiah without thinking of the many times in which social righteousness or lack of social righteousness is highlighted as a sin that is drawing judgment.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.

Isaiah 5:11-12

Parties and even religious celebrations have simply become excuses for a party without any regard for God or the true reason for celebration. Like Christmas in America. Think of the reputation that the “Office Christmas Party” has in our culture.

Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her. Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.

But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

Isaiah 5:13-17

Sheol is generally used in biblical poetry to mean death and the grave. God continues to call Judah “my people”. God is correcting sin and even here we see grace as He refuses to leave His people in sin.

Often in our generation we see people who mock God while they sin and reject good things. This was also a characteristic of those in Isaiah's time.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!

Isaiah 5:18-21

Individuals were joking about God's judgment while they sinned. I've heard folks day, “Oh I'm just an old sinner” to explain their sin. In essence they seem to think that if God doesn't send lightning from the sky as they sin then He missed His chance to judge them. Not a rational view of God. These people used lies to promote sin and moral failure. They were morally corrupt, and they were full of pride and self-righteousness. Their heroes and valiant men were simply known for their over indulgence and corruption.

Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

He will raise a signal for nations afar off, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken; their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah 5:22-30

As this prologue wraps up God summarizes after a couple of “therefore” statements what He intends to do to correct the sinful state of His people. I think we often thing that the winner of a battle must be more righteousness than the loser. However, in this case we see God using nations that don't know Him to discipline those who are His people. So this nation with a perfect army is not righteousness or holy. God uses this unrighteous people according to their unrighteousness to discipline and correct His people. You can't take refuge in your sin thinking that God can't judge you because others are worse than you are. You are either lost and without hope or you are God's child and He will correct and discipline you. The fact that God is faithful to discipline and keep us it tremendously comforting and frightening at the same time.

Ultimately, our sin cannot frustrate God's purposes.

Isaiah built the prologue as a summary of the current situation and begins a additional explanation of the circumstances.

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Isaiah 6:1-3

Uzziah died about 740 BC and had been King for over 50 years. Isaiah began his ministry before Uzziah's death (verse 1:1) but in the events of chapter 6 we see a particular commissioning of Isaiah for ministry.

While no person has seen God in all His glory, God will cloth Himself and manifest Himself for our instruction and comfort. God filled the temple and so we know where Isaiah was during this revelation. God was on His throne and this picture is set over against the picture of an unrighteous king who has died. Even though foreign armies threatened, Isaiah saw God ruling in power. Isaiah also saw two seraphim standing as servants by God seated on His throne. We don't know what these “burning ones” looked like exactly. They may have been too bright get described in detail. Think of the seraphim as bright and flaming. Their 3 pairs of wings are each held in a position that describes and action that you should have each time you stand to worship God. The first pair of wings covered their face in an expression of awe at the Glory of God. The ears were not covered and the second pair of wings were used for flight so they could hear and obey God's command. The third pair of wings showed humility in covering their feet that would touch earth and could into contact with unclean things (John 13:10).

From these attitudes came the worship as they called back and forth that God was perfectly and completely holy and that the whole earth is filled with His glory. They were not exaggerating and it is as true today as it was in 740 BC. We have such trouble seeing God on the throne when we have problems in the world around us. We can't see the earth filled with His glory. The deficiency is in us and the glory is still there.

As we stand to worship God I pray that we would find awe, willingness to hear and obey, and humility in our hearts as we confess the truth that God is on the throne, He is perfectly holy, and the earth is filled with His glory. If these creatures that live in the throne room show those characteristics then how much more should we show awe, obedience, and humility.

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.

Isaiah 6:4-7

The voice of God called, the foundations of the temple shook, and His glory was manifested as smoke. Isaiah's first response was awe to the degree that he knew his sinfulness by contrast and his lostness. Along with awe came a conviction of sin that went to his heart and he knew his sin as well as the peoples sin. The focus was rightly on the lips for Isaiah as a prophet and the action was by God in Grace. The altar was the place for the blood sacrifice. This burning coal is the essence of substitutionary sacrifice.

So with the seraphim's first pair of wings, Isaiah experiences a terrifying awe of God. God sent the seraphim to Isaiah to take away his guilt and sin. I guess you know God has Isaiah's attention when a creature he has never seen before can grab a burning coal from the altar and come flying at him with his face covered and Isaiah didn't flinch. I imagine the seraphim was as fast as God's command so there was no time to flinch or worry about a hot coal on his lips.

The guilt and sin had to be taken away. It had to be atoned for. Isaiah wasn't wrong in saying he was lost but God's grace atoned for his lostness just as God does for us.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:8

Like the seraphim's second pair of wings used to fly to do God's will, Isaiah's next response in worship of God is to hear and obey God's command. Isaiah does not think up something to do for God but rather responds to God's call. We likewise need to respond to God's call. If we develop a program apart from God and then ask God to bless it we are likely to experience God's blessing and grace in correction.

And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the Lord removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Isaiah 6:9-13

Here we see the last pair of seraphim wings as God addresses what will be done on earth and Isaiah in humility doesn't argue or cry out. This would be crushing news and Isaiah, like Paul hundreds of year later, could wish himself cursed and cut off for his kinsmen (Romans 9:1-3). Isaiah in humility simply offers himself as the messenger.

People do not spontaneously regenerate. It is fashionable to make fun of early scientists who thought that life came from rotting fruit and meat spontaneously because they saw flies emerge. It was called spontaneous generation. It is even fashionable in some Christian circles to make fun of Darwinists for similar reasons. But at these Scriptures, and many others, we modern Christians can stumble because God makes it clear that there is no spontaneous regeneration either. When sinners are left to themselves they hear without understanding, they see but don't recognize what they see, and they become more blind, deaf, and hard of understanding. We simply will not ever turn from sin apart from God's Holy Spirit. Many in the Church today believe in spontaneous regeneration. We need revival sent from a Holy and Sovereign God desperately.

What a message for a prophet. Unlike Jonah, this would not bring repentance. Isaiah's only question is, “How long?” and the answer isn't good. God would only save a remnant. Only a burned stump would remain and captivity would take people far away. But even in judgment on a nation, our God keeps a people for Himself. There is no such thing as spontaneous regeneration but there is such a thing as regeneration. It is God's will to keep His people and the stump is the holy seed for His act of redemption. We can pray for God's action in the life of the unsaved and not worry about the hard heart of the unsaved. We know the heart of the father in the story of the prodigal and see the sovereign hand of God in the events that brought him back to the father. We can see God do great things in the life of those we pray for and we must not be guilty of the sin of prayerlessness.

The Prophecy of Isaiah– Lesson 6

As we begin Chapter 5 we are beginning the last chapter of what is essentially a prologue to Isaiah. In all of the discussion of judgment remember that God still claims His people. The judgment is a result of God refusing to abandon His people to their sins. The chapter begins with a familiar analogy in which His people are represented by a vineyard.

Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Isaiah 5:1-7

Isaiah may have sung this on an occasion such as the Feast of Tabernacles. The song can a draw you in only to find you've condemned yourself. There are a number of things to pay attention to here as God's people in this age. First of all, who planted and cared for the vineyard? God did and He made ever provision for the productivity and security of the vineyard. There was no deficiency in the cultivation. The production of the vineyard was expected as a natural result of the planting. However, the fruit (literally stink fruit) showed that the core of the vine was wild and showed no effect of cultivation even though the primary difference would be the care in the vineyard. The primary difference between wild and cultivated is the cultivation.

The chief characteristic of the production was bloodshed and an outcry coming from unrighteousness as the oppressed cry out. This was what replaced the expected fruit of justice and righteousness. The judgment is the destruction of the vineyard as it is eaten down, trampled by foot and hoof, full of weeds, and without water. It is become a dry and dusty wasteland.

Jesus also uses this same sort of analogy when He was teaching about Israel and their position in the first century AD.

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? (from Psalm 118:22,23)

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Matthew 21:33-44 (Also found in Luke 20).

One of the first jobs I ever had was working in a plant nursery in Tucson, Arizona. We fooled around with grafting one variety on another. I was never good at it so I guess it is good I wasn't interested in surgery. However essentially all the citrus we sold were grafted. Wild root stock grew quickly so you could use the wild root stock to produce plants and then graft the fruit variety on to it and grow it for a few years to get a product you could sell. I remember on day the owner pulled out a particularly big citrus tree labeled as an orange and said it was no good. It was so pretty but he showed me that by looking very carefully at the trunk you could tell that the wild root stock had taken over and the orange was gone.

In God's vineyard it works the other way around. All the glory goes to God as wild stock is grafted to good roots. The Kingdom of God is given by grace and grace alone to us who produce its fruit by grace. Although the stone was rejected in the first century, it is the chief cornerstone. We are found by Him and blessed by Him and all heaven rejoices at the product. I want to point out two points that should produce great humility in our hearts.

First, we are utterly dependent of the grace and power of God. Jesus is the “root stock” and there is no other. He said;

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:1-5

As Martin Luther pointed out, nothing is not a little something. Our application of the means of grace (prayer, meditation, bible study, fellowship, worship, etc) indicate the degree to which we accept Christ's statement of our need and position. When we neglect the means of Grace we are stating more clearly by action that words that we do not accept the statement of our Lord that apart from Him we can do nothing. When we pursue the means of Grace then we are showing by action that our heart has accepted this verse. I'm speaking here to myself first.

Secondly, I want to stress that God's grace is far above all we could ask or think. God in His grace has done something that any rational human husbandman would not attempt. A human husbandman may graft the cultivated to the wild for some purposes. However, God has grafted the wild (you) onto the cultivated (the Son of David, Seed of Abraham).

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Romans 11:17-24

We have become the Children of Abraham by the actions of our Sovereign God. He leaves no room for us to be proud about this. While someone in our class may actually be a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh, all of us who are saved by the blood of the Lamb are Abraham's spiritual descendants. Remember the warnings here are toward us as a people and nation. As Paul makes clear only 3 chapters earlier nothing can take us out of the hand of God as saved individuals but if our nation falls away through unbelief and a failure to remain in His kindness then we'll be cut off.

In response to 1) our dependence on the vine and 2) the graciousness of our being grafted in as wild to the cultivated vine, we should display great humility as a people and nation. As Paul says, we should “stand in awe”.

The remainder of Isaiah chapter 5 details all of the various forms of judgment that are coming against Jerusalem.

Woe to those who ejoin house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath (6 gallons), and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah. (6 bushels yield half a bushel)”

Isaiah 5:8-10

Excess wealth in the face of need will be judged.

Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.

Isaiah 5:11-12

Excess consumption in the face of need will be judged along with a lack of thankfulness and focus in celebration and worship.

Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her. Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.

But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

Isaiah 5:13-17

Sheol is generally used in biblical poetry to mean death and the grave. God continues to call Judah “my people”. God is correcting sin and even here we see grace as He refuses to leave His people in sin.

Often in our generation we see people who mock God while they sin and reject good things. This was also a characteristic of those in Isaiah's time.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!” Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!

Isaiah 5:18-21

So individuals were joking about God while they sinned, they were morally corrupt, and they were full of pride and self-righteousness. Their heroes and valiant men were simply known for their over indulgence and corruption.

Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

He will raise a signal for nations afar off, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken; their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Isaiah 5:22-30

As this prologue wraps up God summarizes after a couple of “therefore” statements what He intends to do to correct the sinful state of His people. I think we often thing that the winner of a battle must be more righteousness than the loser. However, in this case we see God using nations that don't know Him to discipline those who are His people. So this nation with a perfect army is not righteousness or holy. God uses this unrighteous people according to their unrighteousness to discipline and correct His people. You can't take refuge in your sin thinking that God can't judge you because others are worse than you are. If you are God's child then He will correct and discipline. Of course on the other side of the discipline, God's people are righteous and the army of the unrighteous is destroyed. The fact that God is faithful to discipline and keep us it tremendously comforting and scary at the same time.

Ultimately, our sin cannot frustrate God's purpose.