The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 47

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The Gospel is beautiful in presentation by Isaiah. The detail is so great that we need to remind ourselves again and again that this is God presenting the atonement 700 years before it was finished. It is an amazing and blessed text.

 

And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Isaiah 53:9

No wonder the Ethiopian eunuch wanted Philip to explain this stuff (Acts 8:32-33). Outside the context we know so well it really isn't something that makes sense. We know that Christ died between two guilty men (the wicked) and was buried by Joseph of Arimathea (a rich man). We know that Christ did not have an earthly army and was not a physical threat to the rulers of His day. We also know He spoke the truth with authority and there was not one bit of deceit in His mouth. However, 700 years before His birth these words were behind the veil.

 

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:10-11

You can see why this was such an easy set of verses to use to explain the Gospel to the Ethiopian. Jesus was sacrificed by God and as a result saw offspring (the believers) and was resurrected (His days were prolonged). Out of His suffering and anguish He made many (the believers) to be accounted righteous and He bore their (the believers) iniquities. There is double imputation again. Our sins are imputed to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us.

 

Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:12-13

Think of the comfort to our Lord that these verses were. He asked if there was another way in the darkness of Gethsemane but He did not go to the Cross simply to open a door and hope that someone would walk though. He had these promises from God.

 

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

John 10:14-18

Jesus says a bunch in these few verses. As a good shepherd, He has a complete familiarity with those who are His. He lays down His life with purpose and certainty that it is being offered for the sheep that He knows as well as He knows the Father. This is why we call the atonement purposeful. It is also important to see that the Trinity was in accord over the atonement.

 

So what about the sheep that are not of this fold? Well that is all who are not Israel according to the flesh or by birth. Isaiah begins to address that in the next verse.

 

"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

Isaiah 54:1-4

This is a promised growth of the Church to possess the nations. We are blessed to be family when we were not family and it was a disgrace to not be a people of God. As Peter says, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). In our day we can trust God to bless if we trust Him and pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer.

Isaiah 54:5-8

As the book of Revelation shows we, as the Church, are the Bride of Christ. The period leading up to Pentecost in approximately 34 AD was a hard time for the people of God. But the ingathering with everlasting love was (and has been) a remarkable thing.

 

If you want to see God gather with great compassion and display everlasting love then read Church history. Start with Acts but don't stop there. God has been faithful to this day and will be faithful to gather with great compassion until the last day.

 

"This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. "O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.

Isaiah 54:9-12

Peter tells us that baptism is like Noah's flood and the water represents God's anger and judgment of sin (1 Peter 3:20-21). Peter, speaking of the atonement, says, "because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ". So, as God says here, like the days of Noah, we enjoy the peace with God of having passed through the wrath of God by the atonement of Christ and we testify with water baptism. Thinking back to the Ethiopian with Philip, I'm guessing they read at least this far in Isaiah because the Ethiopian pointed to a body of water and said, "What prevents me from being baptized?" I think the testimony of baptism is especially rich in that both Philip and the Ethiopian went down into the water. The Ethiopian didn't baptize himself and neither do we. We need assistance to give the testimony and we are passive in the testimony as we are moved through the symbol of God's judgment. We owed a debt we could not pay. We appeal to God for right standing before Him because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

God is preparing a place for us. There will be no vacancies in Heaven. He will never leave you or forsake you. We have assurance of salvation. We see the preservation of the saints here. God says, "the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed." My security is truly a blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. God is not going to need to remove one mansion in glory. Each will be occupied and they are not just tract homes. He knows you better than you know yourself and is preparing a place that is beyond all you could ask for or think of. Think of your treasure and remember where your treasure is because it centers and keeps your focus and your heart in the right place.

 

All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

Isaiah 54:13-14

This doesn't teach a form of universalism but rather that all of Abraham's children will be established and will be found in heaven. We do pray for our children with confidence but that is because of God's ability to save. Here we have promises for the Church.

 

If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD."

Isaiah 54:15-17

I think we see these verses fulfilled in the Church and Church History. Especially in the life of the Apostle Paul these verses have been fulfilled in a blessed way to establish the Church.

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 46

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We begin by continuing in Isaiah 52:4 we see Isaiah begin to expand his prophecy under the anointing of the Holy Spirit to focus on the Gospel.

 

For thus says the Lord GOD: "My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here," declares the LORD, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail," declares the LORD, "and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I."

Isaiah 52:4-6

Think of how each of us was in captivity prior to salvation and how each of us sold ourselves for nothing and simply complained about spiritual needs. We provided our own dead spiritual leadership before salvation. God now makes Himself known personally. Our rule over our lives is gone. We learn to avoid grumbling and complaining and we know God's name and acknowledge that it is He who is speaking in Scripture and we know the great "I Am" through the Gospel.

 

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.

Isaiah 52:7-8

Think of the angel who had the privilege of telling the shepherds (a picture of a faithful rulers) "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11. Think also of the feet of Christ walking over all the mountains of Israel to proclaim good news, peace, happiness, salvation, and God's sovereignty. By now in our study of Isaiah it should be clear in our minds that God is both holy and just. That means that He hates sin and loves judgment. We find it easy to praise God for mercy but He deserves our praise for His justice too. Even though we don't want to be subject to justice, and it would rightly send us to hell, we still must love that perfect holiness and justice is part of Him. So why are we talking about good news and peace when they are naturally so far from us sinners? The answer is that this happiness is foreshadowing the work that God has promised in redemption.

 

Listen to this command for the watchmen …

 

Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart, go out from there; touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD. For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Isaiah 52:9-12

When you look for the first watchmen to begin the fulfillment of the preaching of the Gospel then I think you could say Mary the Mother of Jesus was one of the first to watch and to preach the Gospel. She literally sang a prophetic song called the "Magnificat" and glorifies God for His work in someone like her who was not powerful or rich. She uses the phrase "He has shown strength with His arm" and prophecies that the mighty will be brought down and the humble exalted. She then ties the fulfillment of these promises to God's faithfulness in honoring the covenant with Abraham.

 

Other faithful watchmen were Zechariah, John the Baptist's father (Luke 1:67-79) who also praised God for His faithfulness to the covenant with Abraham in giving us Christ for "light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace". Also remember Simeon (Luke 2:29-32) who proclaimed Christ as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel" and Anna who saw Christ as a child and began speaking of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem (Luke 2:38).

 

We need to take on this heritage as watchmen. We are the ones who have left Jerusalem and departed and should keep ourselves pure as we bear God's Gospel in the world. We don't hurry and we don't run but we simply let the LORD will go before us and the God of Israel will be our rear guard. How do we get to that point? How do we become fit to share good news?

 

Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.

Isaiah 52:13-15

The servant is of course Christ who is now at the right hand of the Father and has a name at which all creation must bow. Don't let anyone ever tell you that the atonement and the cross of Christ were ideas developed by Paul or theologians during the reformation. Isaiah knew about the atonement and looked forward as a faithful watchmen for it. "Sprinkle" may also be "startle" in that verse. The revelation of the Cross shuts off argument as you see what you were not told and understand what you've not heard. When the wind of the Holy Spirit blows in revival and God's holiness affects us then we change.

 

And yet, for the early watchmen (Mary, Zachariah, John the Baptizer, Simeon, and Anna) you can hear their voices in the next verse.

 

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:1-3

So who listened to the watchmen? Pretty much nobody paid attention. But we require the arm of the Lord to be revealed to us because of our sin natures. Even Mary had a hard time with what was happening in her day and doubted for a little while (Mark 3:20-21; 31-35)

 

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53: 4-6

There is so much in these verses. The Gospel saturates these verses. If you are ever in a place where they stop teaching the atonement on the Cross where the penalty for your sin is paid and your peace and righteousness granted from Christ then leave. If I stop teaching it then you should leave and go somewhere where someone is teaching the Gospel. Your justification by the Cross of Christ is the Gospel. There is no other Gospel than this.

 

One thing that is sometimes lost on us is that our offenses against God put Christ on the Cross and the punishment was from God. For example, every once in a while someone begins to think and teach that Jesus suffered at the hands of Satan. While Satan was involved in what happened on Golgotha, the picture portrayed in a book like "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" is inaccurate in that the debt is portrayed as being owed to the enemy of our souls. When Aslan lays down his life it is shown as being taken by the enemy as a ransom for the boy. Be sure to point out to your children how that differs from the Gospel. We have sinned against the Most High God. He is perfectly holy, perfectly just, and He will tolerate no sin.

 

When David says, "Against you and you only have I sinned!" (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:4)after his affair with Bathsheba we might just laugh and say, "Right, well what about Bathsheba, Uriah, Joab, Nathan, and all the people of Israel?" And we would have a point. However, to sin against an unrighteous man or woman who is also a sinner is bad, but to commit treason against a perfectly holy and just God who is without any error or sin is infinitely worse. This was Isaiah's problem in chapter 6 verse 5. Even a slight awareness of God's holiness will make you cry uncontrollably. It just doesn't come across in "Woe is me for I am lost" but Isaiah thought he was a dead man.

 

In the atonement Christ carried your grief and sorrow. He was stricken by God, wounded for your lawless sinning, so that you can have peace and be whole. I've heard this verse used to claim healing. Well that is fine and yes we can pray and be healed in Jesus name and in fact if any is sick we are commanded to pray but … let us remember the context of this verse. The context here is sin and the destruction it brings. Think of the damage that sin does in our lives. If we could only see with spiritual eyes then we would see the wounds and loss. It is why leprosy in those days was such an effective picture of sin and was treated as such and healed by Christ (Luke 17:12-19). Prior to salvation, if you could only see, you are being eaten alive by sin. Just as ugly and in need of healing. That is the healing you need and by His strips we are healed.

 

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Isaiah 53:7-8

I'd say that under the Cross that day not one person really understood what was going on. Peter was ashamed and mourning, John and the other disciples were mourning, and Mary was mourning as if a sword had pierced her soul. This was as Simeon said she would when Jesus was only 8 days old. Do you think those who physically put Him on the Cross deserve a special place in hell? Do you remember Jesus' prayer for them in Luke 23:26? Forgive them for they know not what they do. People seem to think it amazing that Jesus would pray for the evil ones that did that to him. However, we believers each did that to Him. Why would those at the foot of the cross deserve greater punishment? But in verse 47 and 48 it seems, as we should expect, that God did hear the prayer. Luke tells us that conviction and repentance fell on the crowd. Luke says, "Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, "Certainly this man was innocent!" And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts." What will we say in heaven to these who were there at the Cross? He went to the Cross for His sheep and if He asked the Father for those souls at the foot of the Cross then the Father is going to give them to Him just as He has given you to Christ. You don't deserve salvation any more than those who physically put Him on the Cross.

 

 

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 45

Today, since we are moving from bondage and captivity into a state in which we are a particular possession of God, our study indicates some attitudes and practices that God wants to be in us today as we serve Him.

 

"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. "Give attention to me, my people, and give ear to me, my nation; for a law will go out from me, and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.

Isaiah 51:1-4

We as the redeemed of the Lord are told to consider God's work in the lives of Abraham and Sarah. The God revealed in the Old Testament is the same as the God revealed in the New Testament. There is no disharmony and in fact the Old and New testaments magnify each other. If you have been ignoring the Old Testament in your private study time then make a place for it.

 

The remnant was small after the captivity. It was not a powerful people but God was able to bless. Those who came back from Babylon and rebuilt the temple were not great in number but consider their work. The temple they built was embellished by Herod the Great but, those who returned built the final temple, the temple used by the Lord of Glory on earth. To be able to build that temple was a blessing beyond what they knew at the time or imagined. We do not weigh actions and times the way God does and often show our ignorance when we talk about great and small things.

 

In these verses God tells us that He is the source of comfort, blessing, growth, joy, gladness, thanksgiving, and song. We are told to give attention to Him because we are His people and His nation. God promises that His law and justice will be a light to the peoples. Law and justice are the foundation of God's salvation.

 

My righteousness draws near, my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples; the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner; but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. "Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations."

Isaiah 51:5-8

People sometimes argue that the imputation of Christ's righteousness (also called a judicial or forensic judgment by God) is a fiction invented by the Apostle Paul. Well here it is with God in first person speaking it though Isaiah 700 years before Paul was born. Apart from the mercy of our God, the justice of God could only cause us to weap and give up all hope. But God puts salvation and judgment together. Believers are judged to be righteous because of the work of Christ. In that sense we are saved by works. Justice has been served by every blow and cut that Christ bore on our behalf. His righteousness has drawn near. We wait for the arm of His salvation and know that His salvation is forever. Men may reject this teaching and reproach and revile those who embrace it but those who reject it will disappear like moth eaten garments. Those who embrace the salvation of the Lord will be forever because they are born again of imperishable seed. There is an eschatological or end of time link in this verse that looks forward to the Great Judgment. We need to know righteousness and have God's law in our hearts to stand in that Judgment clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

 

John Bunyan wrote, "One day as I was passing into the field … this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven. And methought, withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, he wants [=lacks] my righteousness, for that was just [in front of] him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, "The same yesterday, today, and forever." …

Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [e.g., Hebrews 12:16–17] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God." (John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, Hertfordshire: Evangelical Press, 1978, orig. 1666, pp. 90–91).

 

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago. Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Isaiah 51:9-11

Here is an Old Testament verse that is essentially the last 2 verses of the New Testament in which John says, "He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." (Revelation 22:20-21). God in His power will accomplish all that He has set out to do in redeeming a people.

 

"I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass, and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor? He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking. I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the LORD of hosts is his name.

Isaiah 51:12-15

We need to hallow God's name and not the name of men. God alone is worthy of fear and awe. We need to be diligent to keep fear out of our hearts except with regard to God. This isn't just a mental exercise it is the only rational way to live if we know who God is.

 

And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people.' " Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have happened to you— who will console you? — devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you? Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.

Isaiah 51:16-20

This is Zion in the midst of rebuke and correction from God. They are lost except for God and there is no strength in Jerusalem to fight back. They are on the bottom. Remember that this captivity by Babylon would have destroyed them as a nation except for the power of God to keep a remnant.

 

Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: "Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, Bow down, that we may pass over'; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over."

Isaiah 51:21-23

God did judge Babylon with Persia and used Persia to send His redeemed back to Jerusalem for restoration. Even in our sin and rebellion, God pleaded our cause and showed us mercy and grace. God has poured out mercy and grace to such a degree in our lives that we begin to expect grace and mercy. Anytime you find yourself expecting grace apart from the revelation of the Gospel then stop and repent. If you ever find yourself thinking you deserve grace then confess to living with an oxymoron and repent on your knees with tears in your eyes.

 

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. For thus says the LORD: "You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money."

Isaiah 52:1-3

We see the Scripture move from a few verses earlier with the command to "wake yourself" to here where we have God's command to awake. The beautiful garments are commanded along with holiness and freedom from bondage. Zion is redeemed without money as you were redeemed without money. The cost of your sin is death. You can't just pay cash and have the problem go away because the wages of sin is death. Someone must die. Either you die eternally to pay the price or you accept the free gift of life purchased for you through the sacrifice of Christ. We'll see this message repeated over and over in these last chapters of Isaiah.

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 44

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As we move on into the rest of Isaiah we'll see God continually foreshadowing how He will accomplish the final redemption of Israel including your salvation.

 

Listen to me, O coastlands, and give attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God." And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength—

Isaiah 49:1-5

God called Christ from the womb (Matthew 1:21), He taught with authority as if His mouth was a sharp sword (Mark 1:22), God was glorified in Him (Matthew 15:31), He was forsaken by everyone (Mark 14:50; Mark 15:34), and He was honored in the eyes of the Lord (Hebrews 2:9). Even today, He has gathered you, as Israel, for God's glory and purposes

 

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:11-13

How can we not glorify God when we realize that we were separated alienated strangers who had no hope and were without God. The Greek says our natural state is ἄθεος [atheos /ath·eh·os/] translated "without God" and even means one who denies God and is fundamentally ungodly. Don't flatter yourself with the idea that you were a holy seeker of God who weighed and compared the world's religions and found that Christianity was the most reasonable and right of religions. You were ἄθεος and without hope when the God of all mercy pulled you out of the pit you deserved and made your dead heart alive in Christ. God reveals this is Scripture and it isn't something you naturally understand before or even after salvation. God explains it so that you will glorify Him.

 

He says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Isaiah 49:6-7

Your salvation was not "Plan B" after a failed attempt to redeem Israel. Your salvation was prophesied 2700 years ago by Isaiah as a result of the work of the Holy One. He became a light for the nations and salvation has gone to the end of the earth. He was despised by "the nation" in His days on earth but now kings and princes bow down to the King of Kings.

 

God the Father here becomes the kinsman redeemer of the Holy One who was despised and rejected and protects the interests of the Holy One so that kings and princes then bow down. We don't see here (at least not clearly) the full nature and depth of the abhorrence expressed by the "nation".

 

Thus says the LORD: "In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of salvation I have helped you; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages, saying to the prisoners, 'Come out,' to those who are in darkness, 'Appear.' They shall feed along the ways; on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene." Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

Isaiah 49:8-13

God then keeps Christ and gives Christ, in the day of favor and salvation as a covenant to establish the blessings promised to Abraham. So God through Christ 1) establishes the Holy Nation, 2) gives a heritage where there was no heritage, 3) frees prisoners, 4) provides for and protects those He calls, 5) guides those He calls, 6) makes a way for those He calls, and 7) commands praise and worship for His work. The view is telescoped as if salvation were already accomplished and complete.

 

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:14-16

This was of great comfort to those in Isaiah's day who were seeing such a severe judgment for the sins of their nation. However, think of it in our day for us as individuals. When we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and falter and wonder if God has forgotten us we have the answer and the answer is that God can't forget us. We are written on the palms of His hands and our defense is always something He pays attention to. We may not understand the times we live through but we are "born again of imperishable seed" (1 Peter 1:23) by the Word of God. You cannot perish even if you die because the Gospel is alive in you and cannot die. The treasure is in you as in a jar of clay so that it is clear the power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

 

Your builders make haste; your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you. Lift up your eyes around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, declares the LORD, you shall put them all on as an ornament; you shall bind them on as a bride does. "Surely your waste and your desolate places and your devastated land— surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

Isaiah 49:18-19

Then we see builders begin to rush to build as the destroyers are removed and pushed back. The children of promise (as promised) begin to flood in. They become ornaments and decorations testifying to the faithfulness of God. Mourning turns into rejoicing at God's blessing.

 

The children of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: 'The place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in.' Then you will say in your heart: 'Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; from where have these come?' " Thus says the Lord GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame."

Isaiah 49:20-23

Think of Simeon, the man who quoted Isaiah while holding the infant Holy One in his arms (Luke 2:25-35). I'm sure that the mansions in glory filled with the Abraham's offspring make him rejoice at the restoration that God has accomplished. I hope he wonders as where we all came from and praises God. From pagan peoples, God will call His people. Those that wait for the Lord, like Simeon and Anna, will not be put to shame.

 

Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued? For thus says the LORD: "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken, and the prey of the tyrant be rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the LORD your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

Isaiah 49:24-26

God asks a rhetorical question and answers it. God will take captives (plunder) from the powerful and prey (lawful captives) from tyrants and no one can stop Him. Both strength and legal right fall because God is stronger and He paid the price for your sin. Eventually those who oppose God are self destructive and consume themselves with ineffectual opposition to God.

 

Thus says the LORD: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering."

Isaiah 50:1-3

God never divorced His people. He kept his remnant by His strength for His own sake. The failure was on the part of a people who would not listen to God (did not answer when called) and simply assumed they were forgotten. God had shown that He could dry up the Red Sea (Exodus 14), turn the Nile to blood and make its fish stink (Exodus 7:17-18), made Egypt dark (Exodus 10:21) and kept His people in the light (Exodus 10:23). So why do we doubt God? Our fear and sin cloud our minds and we don't think clearly about God's sovereign power. These examples of God's faithfulness in the face of unfaithfulness are given to us so that we will be encouraged to believe Him and rest in Him.

 

The following verses are prophetic songs and poetry with our Savior speaking in the first person autobiographically 700 years before He was born in Bethlehem. I'm afraid we are so accustomed to this that we don't realize the marvel and majesty of the prophetic word.

 

The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

Isaiah 50:4-6

He taught with authority and His words, even today, sustain the weary. His ears are open and wisdom and knowledge dwell in Him. The daily discipline of hearing God's word was part of His youth. Christ didn't turn back even when the call was to bear our sins and suffer our fair punishment. When His ear was opened to the Cross, He didn't turn away. He was obedient even to death on the Cross.

 

But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD helps me; who will declare me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

Isaiah 50:7-9

You, if you are a believer, have benefited from His resolve. He set his face like flint (Luke 9:51) when He turned to go to the Cross in Jerusalem knowing the end. He was not rebellious and He didn't turn back. In legal language, His innocence and purity are complete. He is not guilty. His enemy's are no more and He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

 

Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches! Walk by the light of your fire, and by the torches that you have kindled! This you have from my hand: you shall lie down in torment.

Isaiah 50:10-11

There is one light and one way of salvation and it is found in the name of the Lord. You must have no spiritual light other than Him. He is Holy and jealous and will not permit sinful reliance on any polluted spiritual illumination. If you neglect, that is refuse, so great a salvation then you will not escape (Hebrews 2:3). If you equip yourself with any other spiritual light and walk by it then you will lie down in torment.

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 43

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In Chapter 48, the prophecy turned back to Israel and Judah but God speaks about those who use the name but not truly or rightly.

 

"You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden things that you have not known. They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel.

Isaiah 48:6-8

 

In this verse God accuses Israel of a mental blindness as they hear and see but will not recognize and declare His works. God even says that He is doing a new thing so that they can't simply say that they saw it coming. They would have attributed God's judgment to "natural causes" if they had a chance.

 

"For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

Isaiah 48:9-11

 

Here is another spot in which we see that Israel has failed to keep the Sinai Covenant (which was conditional) but God is honoring His covenant with David and with Abraham. God's salvation here is not based on Israel. Israel, like each one of us, deserved nothing but the wages of sin. That debt we owed was impossible for us but it must be paid. God must act based on His sake because we clearly don't want it based on our merits. It must be clear in our hearts and minds that God's work in our lives, like His work in Israel 2700 years ago, is going to reveal His glory for His sake and not to glorify us. We glorify Him.

 

"Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together. "Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? The LORD loves him; he shall perform his purpose on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I, even I, have spoken and called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

Isaiah 48:12-15

 

The omnipotent God of the universe asks which of the idols has seen this ahead of time. God saw it ahead of time and prepared Cyrus (the one He loves) to deal with Babylon. Once again, God will use a wicked man according to his wicked nature to accomplish God's righteous purposes.

 

Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."

Isaiah 48:16-19

 

All the blessings promised at Mount Sinai would have been theirs had they done what God commanded and they had promised to do. However, they are not forsaken. God still calls Himself the "Redeemer" and the "Holy One of Israel" so they have hope and reassurance from God that they will not be left and that God will free them from the Babylonian captivity.

 

God is both the Redeemer who pulls us out of our sins and failure and the Holy One who will not tolerate sin. As a recurring theme from Isaiah we look for some way to be cleansed from our sins. We have that in Christ and we see it foreshadowed in Isaiah.

 

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it out to the end of the earth; say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!" They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock and the water gushed out. "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

Isaiah 48:20-22

 

The response, when the call came to leave Babylon, was not as strong as it should have been. So, in context, God had a purpose in redemption, He provided, and He continued to discipline the wicked because hearts hadn't uniformly become conformed to God by the captivity (that is understatement of course).

 

God doesn't redeem in order to abandon His servants. He redeems and He provides in the desert. So even where there is no natural provision God can provide and we should always recognize that provision. But God doesn't redeem and then abandon His work in your life. I'm persuaded that He who began a good work in you will complete it (Philippians 1:6).

 

Completing that work in your heart will mean that those sinful parts of your life will not be left in peace. You should rejoice that God will not leave sin in your heart but you may not feel like rejoicing.

 

I started to wonder about the "end of the earth". I was wondering where that was if you were in Jerusalem or Babylon. Turns out it puts you in the ocean but it is not too far from the Pitcairn Islands. That was where Mr. Christian landed and hid with others of his band of mutineers from the HMS Bounty. It appears they kidnapped the Polynesians they had with them so they would have women. They landed in an unoccupied paradise with food and water and lots of land. So they were treasonous mutineers who had kidnapped for sex. Then they started fighting and killing and it continued through drunkenness so bad that the women tried to build a raft and leave. After suicides, murders, and fighting, peace came when Mr. Adams became the leader and began regular Sunday services and began teaching Christianity in the settlement. One man left (Mr. Adams), 9 Tahitian women, and dozens of children. The Bible from the HMS Bounty is still in the church there, under glass.

 

Apart from the Grace of God in our lives we would end up in just the same predicament when we are given paradise. In a sense, the angel guarding Eden is protecting Eden from us. Be sure to rightly value God's Grace in your life.

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 42

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Last week focused on Babylon and their pride and ignorance of God. Babylon is a good general picture for the secular world and its influence and it has been used in that way for a long time. For example, Martin Luther wrote a book titled "The Babylonian Captivity of the Church" and we find Babylon in modern cultural references frequently.

 

This week the prophecy turns back to Israel and Judah but God speaks about those who use the name but not truly or rightly.

 

Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right.

Isaiah 48:1

So if you want to consider Babylon as the world apart from the God of the Bible then you can consider these statements as directed at the unregenerate in the visible church. Remember that we use the terms the "visible church" and the "invisible church" to reflect what Scripture teaches us about the unregenerate or unsaved who live in the church with the regenerate or saved. The visible church is what you see and the invisible church is what God sees.

 

A similar thing was happening in Israel. In the current context this was addressed to those who were identified as Israel but were not in truth part of Israel. Notice how God uses the names "Jacob" to indicate the nation, "Israel" to indicate the people of God, and "Judah" as those who are the audience right now.

 

For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. "The former things I declared of old; they went out from my mouth, and I announced them; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.'

Isaiah 48:2-5

This is a hard word to a stiff necked people who don't get the point and won't change their mind even if you thump them on the forehead. Sound like anyone you know? It is by God's mercy that we are not judged for our lack of response to the word of God.

 

God says here that He prophecies so that sinful man will not attribute the blessing to an idol. Here is a thing we can be careful to do. We can be careful to give God thanks for all things. Giving God thanks for your meal is not a trivial thing and is a good discipline to remind ourselves that, in spite of the means of His provision, it is still He who provides.

 

 

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 41

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For Babylon the news was bad. They were a rod of correction that God was going to destroy. I've mentioned before that God seems to have had the habit of making a tool of discipline and then destroying it when He was done. Babylon couldn't imagine that they were going to be conquered. They were wealthy and cultured. This prophecy did not look likely when it was given except in the context of the source.

 

I still find it striking to step back from this situation and view it as if I were able to see what was going on in the entire region. In the Babylonian captivity I would have been sure that Israel was finished for all time. I would have been able to see Persia growing in power but the idea that a man named Cyrus was going to come and conquer Babylon would seem to be wild conjecture. The idea that somehow the Babylonian captivity would be good for the nation of Israel would not have made any sense to me. It could only have been understood in the context of faith in God's providence.

 

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called tender and delicate. Take the millstones and grind flour, put off your veil, strip off your robe, uncover your legs, pass through the rivers. Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

Isaiah 47:1-3

The throne of power is gone and they sit on the ground. They must work rather than sit in leisure. They must take off robes to cross rivers and escape. All this, and yet God's hand will be against them and they will be embarrassed and disgraced.

 

Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 47:4

In this conversation with the Babylonians, the faithful know who their redeemer is and that he will bring back a purified remnant. The Apostle Paul pulls some of these prophecies together in Romans.

 

As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay." And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah."

Romans 9:25-29

We can see ourselves and our blessing in these verses as we are called His people and beloved by the Grace of God. However, we can also see the remnant returning and know that apart from God, the Lord of hosts, they would not have been saved. In our lives, we too can know from Scripture and confess that apart from His mercy and grace in our lives we would have died in our sins.

 

In every age we can say, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah". This should be a tremendous source of encouragement to prayer. If our eyes are open and if we have paid attention to Jesus' teaching, we know how we ought to pray for God to establish His kingdom. The attitude that was can rule our own lives without God and get what we need to be happy is not a Godly attitude. John says:

 

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

1 John 2:15-16

Babylon was caught up in satisfying desires, living in great beauty, and possessing everything they could possess. Apart from God's mercy each of us would be caught up in that rat race that ends with death and judgment. God has saved a remnant in every generation because He is faithful. Babylon was the rod of correction for a people who violated the Sinai Covenant.

 

Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. I was angry with my people; I profaned my heritage; I gave them into your hand; you showed them no mercy; on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. You said, "I shall be mistress forever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children": These two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.

Isaiah 47:5-9

I want to jump forward and look at the fulfillment of this prophecy. In 605 BC Jerusalem fell and a young man named Daniel was taken into captivity and carried away to Babylon. He was blessed by God and served under the King's Chief Eunuch. Many things happened and God seemed to use Daniel to work in the life of Nebuchadnezzar but after his death we find his son choosing poorly. There was writing on the wall (539 BC) and the king's wife remembered Daniel.

 

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven. And the vessels of his house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the God in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored.

"Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. And this is the writing that was inscribed: Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin. This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Tekel, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; Peres, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Daniel 5:18-31

The king's wife, who remembered Daniel, suddenly became a widow and I think it is reasonable to assume that her children, being heirs, were killed that same night. There was symmetry in the sin that brought them down. They took what God had sanctified (the temple furnishings) and used them in a sinful celebration. They were also in possession of God's sanctified remnant of people such as Daniel and they were using them inappropriately. Belshazzar had not humbled his heart in spite of God's revelation to his father. Belshazzar praised idols and forgot the God in whose hand was his breath and who owned all his ways. So while Daniel spoke to his face and gave him the bad news, Isaiah wrote the bad news down before 700BC. About 160 years before his day, Isaiah had already described Belshazzar and all who served with him.

 

You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No one sees me"; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me." But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing. Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed; perhaps you may inspire terror. You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you. Behold, they are like stubble; the fire consumes them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before! Such to you are those with whom you have labored, who have done business with you from your youth; they wander about each in his own direction; there is no one to save you.

Isaiah 47:10-15

All of the pride, the corrupt desire for spiritual power in charms and magic, the corrupt desire for wisdom and foreknowledge in astrology will be destroyed as by fire and even old friends will just turn the other way. There is a great desire for spiritual power and foreknowledge apart from the God of the Bible in our society. Make sure that you don't get drawn into religion apart from the Gospel. Mankind wants spiritual power to manipulate the present and foreknowledge to use for personal gain. Sin can go on for a long time. Daniel spent a long time in Babylon with both Babylonians and Persians. But God will put an end to both personal and corporate sin. If it were not for God's mercy and patience we would all fall quickly but don't test God's patience. If you are aware of sin then deal with it. Our relationship to sin differs from those who didn't and don't know God and the atonement of Christ. However, it means we should be careful to obey God.

 

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:14-23

God has made it possible for us to submit ourselves as slaves of righteousness. We were once obedient slaves of sin. So now we work to submit ourselves to God in everything. This makes us a slave of righteousness leading to sanctification. So the fruit leads to sanctification and eternal life. Think of the remnant that God kept during the Babylonian captivity and the cups that were taken into captivity with them. They were sanctified or set apart for a single purpose. Your life in Christ is to be set aside for God's purposes alone. Everything you do in every day you are given is to be for His glory. You don't know how many days you have. It is OK if you don't finish your last job. Don't be afraid to start a new task as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is God who is within you to will and to do what He wants done (Philippians 2:12-18).

The Prophecy of Isaiah - Lesson 40

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Prophecy is an easy thing for God. God uses it as proof of His activity and engagement with the world. We may stagger in unbelief when God names Cyrus as His anointed shepherd before Cyrus "was". However, what about your salvation? God actually begins to address the salvation of the Gentiles (us) and once again God is saying what He will do long before it happens. God doesn't do this to "show off" but rather God does this to build our faith and confidence in Him and in His ability to work in our lives.

"Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' "Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory."

Isaiah 45:20-25

We see Isaiah using the courtroom picture again. This time it is survivors of the nations that are being spoken to. God's point is that He is the only one who spoke and explained what was going to happen long before it happened. He is both righteous and a Savior and here we have the call of John 3:16 to the entire world for repentance and salvation.
God swore a covenant to Abraham "in a righteous word that shall not return" when God took Abraham outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then He said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (Genesis 15:4-5). Abraham believed that his offspring would come from the impossible bodies of himself and Sarah. God says "By myself I have sworn" and in this covenant He has literally sworn by Himself. Remember the events described in Genesis 15:7-20 when God passed in the form of fire between the carcasses of the animal sacrifices. The custom is to swear by something greater but there is nothing greater than God and Abraham had asked how he would know or what sign he would have that God would fulfill this incredible promise and the "unchangeable character of His purpose" (Hebrews 6:13-20). So our anchor holds within the veil because of Christ and not because of us.

In part we see God's blessing of Abraham's children right now, 2700 years after the prophecy, as you are the offspring of Israel but in part this also waits for the end of time when all the offspring of Israel are present and the judgment comes and every knee bows and every tongue confesses. In Him is righteousness and strength for judgment day. For those who cling to their idols and reject Christ there will be shame and judgment.
 We must have "a righteous God and a Savior" together. God's purity and holiness are without compromise and must be since His holiness is a perfect holiness and compromise would put an end to perfect holiness. That puts us in dire straits and without hope. But God, who is rich in mercy, sent a Savior. Psalm 85 says:

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.

Psalm 85:10-13

How can steadfast love ever meet up with us who are faithless? How can righteousness ever have anything but war with us who are sinful and caught up in a treasonous rebellion against a Holy God? God in His mercy makes faithfulness spring up from the earth by turning dead hearts into living hearts. He does that so righteousness can look down from the sky and not destroy the earth. So the righteousness of Christ is ours and He has become the Way. His walk and His life have made a way where there was no way.

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop; they bow down together; they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity.

Isaiah 46:1-2

Once again God points out the futility and stupidity of placing faith in idols and here foreshadows the coming destruction of Babylon. God names two of the chief Babylonian deities. In fleeing before Cyrus, the "gods" become useless burdens. Even the pack animals are tired of carrying them around. Bel is another name for Marduk and Nebo was the name given his son. You see the honor given his name as it appears in "Nebuchadnezzar" and each year Nebo was carried from Borsippa to Babylon with pomp and circumstance for a celebration. God shows the coming picture here of the useless idols taking the role of baggage for those running from Babylon.

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from before your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

Isaiah 46:3-4

The contrast with an idol is that God carries you. Most of us have probably seen the "Footprints in the Sand" poem. It has been printed on about everything you can print a poem on. The point of the poem is that during difficult times there was a single set of footprints in the sand and God answers by saying that He carried the person during those times. I don't see that this Scripture allows for a time you can claim two sets of footprints. God doesn't just carry us in bad times (though we may feel His hand in a special way in the dark times). God carries us from before birth, from the womb, even to old age and gray hairs. I think I especially value God's ability to bear me up when I, in ignorance, walk blindly through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Of course I value Him carrying me when I'm in the Valley and know it too but there is no end to the care God shows for us and our limited minds have no idea what He does on our behalf.

"To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble. "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' a calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it. "Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness: I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory."

Isaiah 46:5-13

The Babylonians will be running from Babylon and carrying idols. The blindness and madness (driven by our sin nature) in idol worship is that you bear the burden of your god. Anything you carry cannot rationally be considered a god of any sort. Even today we can place our trust in material things that may be meant to bless us and others. When we place trust in material things then they become a burden to us as we spend our lives on them. The Babylonians had a tremendous burden with all their useless idols. Cyrus is the "bird of prey from the east, the man of counsel from a far country".
 Cyrus was God's plan. Cyrus would not have acknowledged God and would worship all the Babylonians gods for political reasons. He trusted in himself and, in his experience, it must have appeared the right thing to do. In another context I mentioned the concept of a "post hoc" error. It comes from the Latin phrase "post hoc ergo propter hoc" and means essentially "after this then this". We are prone to post hoc errors and that means we reason that if something happens then the situation or our behavior caused it. I've spent hours trying to come up with a particular action that would explain a computer "glitch". I would think I knew what I did to cause the error (the first step in isolating and fixing the problem) only to find out that what I thought cause the problem had nothing to do with the problem. We see it when we fish and begin to think we need to hold our mouths right to get the fish to bite. All those who witnessed Jesus telling Peter to fish from the other side of the boat probably spent the rest of their lives only fishing from the other side of the boat. It had nothing to do with sides of the boat. It had everything to do with obedience.

The danger in post hoc errors in our life is that we forget that God is directing and blessing. We start to think that our lives are our own and our skills are the drivers in our success (with a little bit of luck). Think about how locked into this way of thinking that Cyrus was. Can you imagine trying to tell Cyrus that the God of the Jews was the reason he was in power? He thought that he was better than his opponents. His post hoc error was that he saw everything work out in his favor and he figured it was because of him. He thought he really was better than the enemy. He thought that he really was more skilled and worthy.

Even as one of the redeemed (or maybe especially as one of the redeemed) we don't want to fall into this kind of thinking. This is true when we consider our salvation and the unfathomable grace that God has given us. We can begin to think it was because of us. It would be better to think that it was in spite of us.

The Prophecy of Isaiah – Lesson 39

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Last week we ended with Scripture referring to Cyrus as a shepherd. This week Scripture calls him God's anointed. Cyrus did not become a convert although there was nothing keeping him from God but his own sin nature. The condemnation for Cyrus was that he was named by God before he rose to power and yet while Cyrus acknowledged God when he took Babylon he also acknowledged all the "gods" of the pagans one by one.

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

Isaiah 45:1-3

Cyrus is described as grasped by God, directed by God, and used by God. Cyrus was blessed by God but Cyrus did not truly acknowledge God. He worshiped all sorts of "gods" but his faith wasn't placed in any particular "god" and certainly wasn't placed in the one true God. Remember that acknowledging the facts about God (noticia) and even believing the facts to be true (assensus) does not mean that you are redeemed. Even Cyrus had knowledge of the one true God but did not place his faith in God (fiducia). Cyrus obviously didn't have a saving faith in God because he worshiped every "god". The old Evangelism Explosion question would have been diagnostic with Cyrus. If you had asked Cyrus what reason he would give as to why should he be allowed to enter heaven he would have mentioned all "gods". His "eggs" were in no particular basket and so they were in no basket at all. God is a jealous God and there is no other name in heaven or earth we can call on for salvation (Acts 4:12). Cyrus had ample opportunity to see that.

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Isaiah 45:4-7

God had a purpose for Cyrus. God was going to use Cyrus to end the Babylonian captivity and send God's remnant back to the Holy Land. So God's actions were for the sake of His chosen remnant. Once again God revisits the discussion of His sovereignty. We often have a hard time with the light and dark, well-being and calamity, all being within the control of a sovereign God. We are more like Cyrus who covers as many bases as possible and hopes for the best. Then, it things go bad, we figure we just didn't do something right. We needed to do something else to manipulate the situation to our benefit or to fit our desires. Cyrus had a huge worship service with hundreds of "gods". Things went well for him. He figured it worked. God sees it another way. That other way is the right way. God used Cyrus to show that God sent Israel into the Babylonian captivity and He brought the remnant out of the captivity. God was in control of both light and dark, well-being and calamity, accomplishing His purposes. We may not like God using a wicked man according to his wicked nature to accomplish righteous goals but God doesn't hesitate to declare His activity in the affairs of men. This verse is a clear declaration by God that He is sovereign and it is ironic that some people seem to feel more comfortable with a God who is partially out of control than a God who is in control and working out His plans on earth. Last week we spoke about the creation of an idol in our minds that doesn't accurately represent God. This is an example. If we think God is out of control when bad things happen then we have an inaccurate representation of God in our minds. If we cling to it in the face of Scripture then it becomes an idol in our minds.



I was reading two early Christian leaders and how they responded when Rome collapsed in 410 AD. Jerome was very upset and thought all was lost. He couldn't imagine that God would let Rome fall to the Visigoths (many of them our ignorant relatives I'm sure). He thought it was the end of everything and that the Church was lost. Augustine was shaken too but he told his congregation, "Do not lose heart brethren, there will be an end to every earthly kingdom. If this is now the end, God sees". God took Augustine home just before the Vandals were taking his city but Augustine seemed to know that what God was doing shouldn't be confused with what a particular nation or empire was doing. Given what they were seeing happen I think both of them would be surprised at how we value their works even today. Jerome produced the Latin Vulgate Bible that you can still purchase and is a tremendous resource translated from texts available in 400 AD. Augustine's doctrines of Grace has been treasured down through the ages and over a 1000 years after he died you can argue that he should get a significant part of the doctrines restoration in the reformation around 1600 that eventually gave birth to our denomination.



The message to us when we wonder what is happening to our nation is to trust God and pray for revival. Listen to Isaiah's description of revival as we continue with verse 8 in this chapter.

"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.

Isaiah 45:8

But rather than trust God and pray we have a natural tendency to criticize God and complain about the way things are. Remember the old song that says, "this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through" (1965; Albert E. Brumley). It isn't a bad song but one thing Augustine understood that Albert seems a little weak on was that we are not just passing through. We have work. You are born by the power of God's grace and are created to walk in the works that God has prepared beforehand for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). We are to be busy with what God calls us to until we are called home from this fallen sinful world. We are not supposed to be complaining about God's Lordship over this fallen sinful world. Listen to how Isaiah addresses that point.

"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'? Woe to him who says to a father, 'What are you begetting?' or to a woman, 'With what are you in labor?'" Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: "Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward," says the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 45:9-13

Even someone like Cyrus can't legitimately complain against the Lord. Cyrus was not a righteousness man but God raised him up in righteousness and will use him, according to his nature, to build Jerusalem and set the exiles free and it will not be for a price or reward.

Thus says the Lord: "The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: 'Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.'"

Truly, you are a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior. All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.

Isaiah 45:14-17

God provided for the reconstruction of the Temple and used these events to testify to His ability to keep His people. The nations submit to a revelation of God and what He is doing. Considering Babylon, they had many idols and these were consulted for leading the nation. But they were all in confusion in their loss to Cyrus and they never saw what God was doing. Although we may think that God is hidden in His working (God works in mysterious ways), God corrects that point of view in the next verse.

For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the Lord, and there is no other. I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.

Isaiah 45:18-19

God has called His shots. He didn't simply describe what happened or revise His prophecy after He saw who was going to take on Babylon. The prophecy regarding Cyrus is so remarkable (likely naming him before he was) that liberal Bible scholars stumble and state that the verses must have been revised.



Of course prophecy is not a hard thing for God. We think of naming a man beforehand as a hard thing. However, what about your salvation? God actually begins to address the salvation of the Gentiles (us) and we see once again that God is saying what He will do long before it happens.

"Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: 'To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.' "Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory."

Isaiah 45:20-25

We see Isaiah using the courtroom picture again. This time it is survivors of the nations that are being spoken to. God's point is that He is the only one who spoke and explained what was going to happen long before it happened. He is both righteous and a Savior and here we have the call of John 3:16 to all the world to turn and be saved. God swore a covenant to Abraham "in a righteous word that shall not return" when God took Abraham outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then He said to him, "So shall your offspring be." (Genesis 15:4-5). In part we see right now, 2700 years after the prophecy, as you are the offspring of Israel but in part this waits for the end of time when all the offspring of Israel are present and the judgment comes and every knee bows and every tongue confesses. In Him is righteousness and strength for judgment day. For those who cling to their idols, like Cyrus, there will be shame and judgment.



Today, if you are a believer then you are justified. That means all your sins are forgiven and the righteous of Christ based on His perfect life of obedience is yours. You need to glory in that. As Piper says, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."