Sermons & Notes: the Prophecy of Isaiah (1-11)
January 1, 2012
Isaiah 1:1-20
“The King Confronts his Covenant People”
God gave to his people, Israel, the covenant, describing how they were to live in relationship to him as their one, true God. The law of the covenant established for them the rules for life. As the nation of Israel developed according to the covenant, God established three offices to serve his people: the office of prophet, the office of priest, and the office of king. God designed these offices to work together, to represent his authority, presence and control in the midst of his people. The prophet’s role was to deliver the word of God in any given situation at the command of God. The covenant law strictly, under the penalty of death, prohibited the prophet from speaking any words but the words of God as he executed his office.
The nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms after Solomon. The northern kingdom took the name Israel and the southern kingdom took the name Judah. Israel from the outset practiced idolatry in every imaginable form. Judah slowly slipped into idolatry, maintaining the outward forms of worship in the temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah served as prophet in Judah during the reign of four kings and may have served in his office for as many as 64 years. Isaiah along with the other prophets who served during the divided kingdoms functioned as God’s prosecuting attorneys of his covenant law. They declared to the people their infractions of the law and the penalties deserved. God’s covenant law is punctuated with the language: If you obey my law then I will bless you but if you break my law I will curse you.” Isaiah declares the coming curses of God upon his people for breaking his law. He also proclaims God’s gracious provision of covenant blessings flowing to his undeserving people through their Messiah, the covenant keeper, coming to share the blessings with God’s people.
Isaiah was a family man. His wife may have been a prophetess in her own right and together they raised two sons. One son they named after God’s covenant blessings and the other they named after God’s covenant curses. The naming of their sons not only served as a reminder to Judah of God’s covenant demands but it also indicates how difficult it is for anyone who holds office in God’s covenant community to separate private life from public office.
Jewish rabbinic tradition maintains that Isaiah was a descendent of Judah and Tamar, his father Amoz, the brother of Judah’s King Amaziah. Indeed Isaiah’s sublime language hints at his privileged station complete with a fine education. The prophecy of Isaiah was my mother’s favorite book of the Bible. She regularly and repeatedly read this prophecy describing for me as a child its beauty in proclaiming the glory of the gospel. She also loved the book for its presentation of divine justice. She taught me to consider the whole of Isaiah’s prophecy to be a unified work of one author. O.T. Allis in the 20th century blamed the critical school of the 19th century for dividing the Prophecy of Isaiah into two books, Chapters 1-39 written by one author and Chapters 40-66 written by a second author. Recent scholarship, including the fine commentary of J. Alex Motyer, published in 1993 has begun to reverse this critical theory returning to a unified presentation of the whole. I only wish that my mother, who died in 1992, could have lived to see this positive reversal toward a unified prophecy.
Isaiah’s prophecy can be nicely divided into three sections: Chapters 1-39 with the theme of “God is the King who Reigns in Zion.” Chapters 40-55 present the theme of “God is the Servant of his People,” and Chapters 56-66 supply us the theme of “God is the Avenger and Savior of his people.” The whole is a divine indictment against the people of Judah. While other nations are warned of their pending punishment for idolatry, Isaiah focuses on warning Judah of her pending punishment for breaking God’s covenant. Isaiah, with all of the prophets can be summed up in the Apostle Peter’s words, “Let judgment begins with the house of God.” But it is difficult to read Isaiah as doom and gloom. In every section of his prophecy Isaiah proclaims the gospel of God redeeming his people from their covenant curses. While Isaiah’s theme in the first 39 chapters is, “God the King who Reigns in Zion.” God the King will execute his office for the good of his people. I have titled the first 20 verses before us today as, “The King Confronts his Covenant People.” Even in this divine confrontation God is quick to promise salvation to his people. Gregory of Nyssa of the Eastern Church in the 4th century wrote, “Isaiah, knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel.” Jerome in the Western Church, also in the 4th century wrote, “Isaiah was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events.”
The gospel is good news only as it is presented in the covenantal context of God’s infinite justice rolling down upon sinners. We can still read commentaries on the Prophets of the Old Covenant, which dismiss the warnings of judgment and comment only on the declarations of God’s mercy. But God’s mercy flows to covenant breakers who deserve his wrath. God’s love is a prophetic theme, a divine response undeserved, graciously offered to us through Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the world.
As God’s prosecuting attorney Isaiah begins in (2) calling the heavens and the earth as witnesses of God’s court case against his people. The Lord God’s case is brought against his children. Their rebellion against God their Father is not only a result of their lack of knowledge and understanding but it is also the result of their faint hearts. In (5), God describes his children as “utterly estranged.” Are you estranged from God? Many people are estranged from God believing him to have abandoned them or to have inflicted upon them cruelties undeserved. But, what if the source of our estrangement is our abandonment of God? –Our rebellion against him? In (7-8) God assesses the rebellion to be widespread. Only the “daughter of Zion” remains faithful in the midst of a ruined landscape. She is the remnant, the few who have not mixed the worship of the one true God with the worship of idols.
In (9) Isaiah writes of God preserving this remnant, these “few survivors.” He writes that if it were not for God, Judah would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah, meaning that Judah would have been utterly destroyed with fire from heaven. How bad is Judah’s rebellion? In (9-10) God addresses his people as if they are the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah! How difficult this must have been for the people of Judah to hear their prophet address them as Sodom and Gomorrah! At the beginning of the prophecy God addresses Judah as his children and then he refers to them as Sodom and Gomorrah! “Let judgment begin with the house of God.” The gospel is good for everyone, including those of us, who have been gathered into the house of God. We must keep short accounts with God through a daily repentance.
In (11) God, who commanded his people through his covenant law to worship him alone using the rituals of sacrifice and feasts, now tells them that he is sick and tired of their sacrifices and celebrations. Is God impossible to please? Is he inconsistent? One day he commands us one thing and then the next day he tells us that we are not good enough for him? Absolutely not! God is not the problem. Judah was going through the motions of sacrifice. J.A. Alexander correctly describes Judah’s corruption as “punctilious exactness in religious duties,” yet heartless. True worship requires a heart of repentance from which flows the outward rituals expressing to God our desperate need of him to fix us. Perhaps some of us have lost our heart for God and we are going through the motions of worship and devotion to him. Perhaps we do so with “punctilious exactness.” God does not desire mere ritual but a contrite heart and spirit. How sick and tired is God of his children’s heartless worship? In (15) he says that he will not look upon them in their ritualism. He will not listen to their formulaic prayers.
God calls his children to be cleansed of their evil deeds. He calls them to do good, to seek justice, to correct oppression. He calls them in (17) to care for the orphan and the widow. The church today is called to do the same. The Apostle James writes, “This is pure and undefiled religion: to care for the widow and the orphan.” May God make us a blessing to the orphans in Camichenes, Mexico. May God stir us to care for the widows in our congregation!
God cannot be misconstrued as an impossible Person who lashes out at us with commands never open to dialogue. As the Lord of the covenant he has come near to us, dwelling in our midst to converse with us, to share his heart and mission with us. He proclaims to us the gospel in (18-20). “Come, now, let us reason together.” God desires a relationship with us. He who endowed us with rational faculties invites us to consider his truth and grace. What is God’s reasonable truth for us to consider? Surprisingly it is his gospel: though we are utterly sinful, God promises to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Are you in need of God’s cleansing? Only he can purify our hearts and minds. Return to him today and ask him to do this gracious work in your life.
The gospel is soundly established in the covenant God has set with his children from the beginning. In (19-20) Isaiah reminds Judah of the covenant blessings for obedience and the covenant curses for disobedience. God has not changed. His justice and mercy are consistently and continually poured out according to his covenant. We become obedient as God graciously cleanses us of all sin. We escape his punishment as we repent of our sins. Our repentance is also a gracious gift from God. We return to living according to the covenant as we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the one, true covenant keeper. Our refusal of God is replaced by his embrace of us. Our rebellion against God is replaced by our faith in him.
Jesus has come to us through the covenant. He did not fulfill the covenant winning its blessings so that we could live independently of God outside the covenant. He gave his life on the cross so that we might be welcomed into the covenant community to love and to obey God with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind.
January 8, 2012
Isaiah 1: 21-31
“The King Promises Redemption”
Gregory of Nyssa of the Eastern Church in the 4th century wrote, “Isaiah, knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel.” Jerome in the Western Church, also in the 4th century wrote, “Isaiah was more of an Evangelist than a Prophet, because he described all of the Mysteries of the Church of Christ so vividly that you would assume he was not prophesying about the future, but rather was composing a history of past events.” As Isaiah delivers the warning of God’s judgment to his covenant people who have broken his laws, he does so as an opportunity to proclaim the gospel of freedom and reconciliation. In our text God refers to Judah as an unfaithful wife, promising to restore her to their covenant relationship.
Tim and Kathy Keller in their recent book, “The Meaning of Marriage” have included the disappointing details of the decline of marriage in our generation: “Over the past 40 years, the ‘leading marriage indicators’ have been in steady decline. The divorce rate is nearly twice the rate it was in 1960. In 1970 89% of all births were to married parents, but today only 60% are. Most tellingly, over 72% of American adults were married in 1960, but only 50% were in 2008. All this shows an increasing wariness and pessimism about marriage in our culture….Comedian Chris Rock has asked, “Do you want to be single and lonely or married and bored?” ….Pamela Haag, in her book, “Marriage Confidential: The Post-Romantic Age of Workhorse Wives, Royal Children, Undersexed Spouses, and Rebel Couples Who are Rewriting the Rules,” published by Harper in 2011, writes, “married people who have had affairs or engaged with others through chat rooms have found the experiences unsatisfying or even damaging to their marriages.”
Isaiah, delivering God’s message to Judah, describes this covenant people, the bride of God, as an unfaithful spouse. Judah is not merely bored in her covenantal marriage to God, but worse yet, she has traded the justice of God for the destruction of fellow human beings. In (21-23) Isaiah describes the capital of Judah, Jerusalem, formerly the dwelling place of the righteous as the lodging of murderers, rebels and thieves. Jerusalem is full of bribery and no one is caring for the orphans and the widows. What would God say about our community? A growing number of marriages in our community are being destroyed as spouses engage in affairs and give their hearts over to online fantasies. But spiritual infidelity is the deeper problem. A larger number of people in our community have abandoned their relationship with God, devoted mainly to the idol of selfishness. Isaiah’s message of judgment delivered to Judah in her spiritual infidelity is relevant to our community today, including the church.
Beginning in (24) we read of God’s response to this spiritual infidelity. He calls Judah his enemy! Judah, the chosen people of God, the covenant community, has left him for frivolous affairs with money and other idols. In Chapter 1:10 God addressed Judah as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now in (24) he addresses Judah as his enemy. In (25) he promises Judah punishment, but this punishment has the purpose of refining his children just like fire refines soap or better yet, gold. As the author of the New Testament book, Hebrews, promises us, God will harshly discipline those whom he loves. In (26) God promises to restore Judah’s judges and counselors so that this civic arm of rule toward justice will reform this unfaithful community. The result will be that God’s children will once again be called “the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
J. Alec Motyer divides Chapter 1 of Isaiah’s prophecy into two parts: (1-20) concern the dire religious situation of Judah concluding with God’s promise of the gospel and (21-31) concern the dire social situation of Judah along with God’s promise of the gospel. In the first 20 verses the temple has become the site of empty ritualism, the hearts of the people far from God. In the final ten verses the city has become the site of injustice. Isaiah likens the once flourishing city of God’s justice to a thriving oak tree. But now that the city has turned away from God and his justice, the oak leaves are withering and the once watered garden is so dry that it is a fire hazard. Is there any hope for the city? What will it take to reform the city dedicated to murder, thievery, and bribery so that it is once again called the “city of righteousness, the faithful city”? What will it take to transform this city, which abandons its orphans and widows into a city of righteousness and faithfulness? Isaiah supplies us with the answers.
In (27) Isaiah tells us that it will take divine justice and righteousness to reform and transform the city. Let us first consider divine justice as the change agent. This great theme of divine justice shines forth from Isaiah’s prophecy. We are accustomed to distinguishing God’s justice from his mercy, but in Isaiah’s prophecy the two work together, both part of God’s redemptive work. God’s mercy moves him to redeem us but his redemption is worked out through justice. Isaiah says in (27) “Zion shall be redeemed by justice.” God will show mercy towards idolatrous Judah and so his justice will roll down upon her. An infinitely just God shall purge Judah’s sins. In his infinite justice God shall also redeem Judah from her bondage. Redemption is a just act in that it is a legal transaction. The Hebrew words, “padah” and “gaal” both describe rescue and protection of a loved one or community through the paying of a ransom price. Yes, God is merciful to pay the ransom but he does so by following the rules of ransom – he actually pays the price and thus it is an act of justice.
Redemption is also just in its ends. The result of redemption is complete freedom of the one or of the community who was enslaved. Like a bored and lustful spouse, Judah had committed spiritual adultery, abandoning true worship of the one, true God, replacing him with the idol of Self. In Jerusalem it was every man for himself. Let the orphans and the widows fend for themselves. “Every one did what was right in his own eyes,” for the good of himself. The result of such selfish worship is injustice. Divine redemption destroys this selfish injustice and so its result is the justice of God established once again. “Zion, the city of God, shall be redeemed by justice.” On many occasions God’s justice rolls down upon the enemies of his covenant people restoring her freedom, redeeming her from slavery to wicked nations. But in this case, in our text, God’s justice rolls down upon his covenant people liberating them from their spiritual infidelity, their widespread selfishness.
Dr. James Boice wrote: “In human affairs we rightly value justice and the “wrath” of the judicial system, for they protect us. If by chance we ourselves run afoul of the law, there is always the chance that we can cop a plea, escape on a technicality or plead guilty to some lesser offense and be excused for it. But we cannot do that with God. With him we deal not with the imperfections of human justice but with the perfections of divine justice. We deal with the one to whom not only actions but also thoughts and intentions are visible. Who can escape such justice? Who can stand before such an unwielding judge? No one. Sensing this truth we therefore resent God’s justice and deny its reality in every way we can.” The other response is repentance. Isaiah writes, “Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.”
This repentance in Zion, the city of God, is a result of the second change agent: divine righteousness. The person or city who needs to repent lacks righteousness and so Isaiah speaks of a divine righteousness as the change agent. What will it take to work repentance in us? Nothing less than divine righteousness. Our repentance is a work of God in us. God’s commandments describe for us his righteousness and our living according to it. The city that lives according to God’s covenant law is a “city of righteousness, a faithful city.” Its leaders, as Isaiah says, “its judges and counselors” rule in such a way that divine righteousness informs the behavior of the entire city.
Once again we think of God’s grace and our repentance together. God’s grace moves him to work repentance in us. But the agent that works repentance in us is God’s righteousness. If we suppress the truth of God’s covenant law, then we will refuse to repent and our city will be full of unrighteousness. Our children need to know the 10 Commandments and they need to see their parents living according to them. This will lead us to a daily repentance. This in time will produce “the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
In the words of Isaiah, those of us who “rebel” against divine justice and righteousness will become spiritually dry. Are you spiritually dry? God promises in (31) that the one who is strong in his own estimation and work shall burn with no quenching. Spiritual dryness is the result of pulling away from God, the fountain of life, the springs of living water. We must drink from the springs of living water. In his Gospel, John records, “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”
Martin Lloyd Jones wrote in his book, “Spiritual Dryness,” “The tragedy is that many of us are living desperate Christian life. Sunday comes and we get some strength, and then we lose some on Monday; a good deal is gone by Tuesday and we wonder whether we have anything left. On Wednesday it has all gone and then we exist. Or perhaps refreshment comes in some other way, some meeting we attend, some friends we meet. Now that is the old order of things; that is not the new. He puts a well within us. We are not always drawing from somewhere outside. The well, the spring, goes on springing up from within into everlasting life.” The spring within is the very Spirit and Word of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual infidelity occurs when we believe the lie that we can do better with another partner, other than God…or that we can do better on our own alone. Perhaps we are bored or disappointed. We think that we can do better, that we deserve better. We suppress the reality of our selfishness and discontentment and believe the lie that we have been given a raw deal. The result of spiritual infidelity is in the end spiritual dryness. We begin to die inside as we cut off the Spirit and the word, the springs of living water that Jesus offers to us. He says, “Believe in me and from your belly shall flow springs of living water.”
Remember Jesus giving his life for us as he died upon the cross. In that climatic event, divine justice and mercy were the agents of our redemption. As John Newton wrote in his hymn, “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder,”
“Let us wonder grace and justice
Join and point to mercy’s store
When through grace in Christ our trust is
Justice smiles and asks no more
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God.
Our response is to receive Jesus, the Righteousness of God toward our daily repentance, and never-ending gratitude and praise.
January 15, 2012
Isaiah 2: 1-5
“The King Rules the World”
Isaiah calls Judah to join him in walking in the light of the Lord. This light is nothing less than the promised Messiah. The surprise in the text for many of its primary audience was that the household of God being called to walk in the Messianic light is a gathering of Jews and Gentiles. This uniting of the people groups of the world will occur in the “latter days.” For Isaiah and Judah this was a future epoch defined by the coming of the Messiah. Jesus declared himself to be the Christ, the Messiah. His apostles proclaimed the gospel, our union to Christ, regardless of ethnicity, gender or economic status through faith in him alone. As we live in these “latter days” we have seen this prophecy fulfilled and continuing to be fulfilled as the gospel is preached among the nations, some from every people group walking in the light of the Lord.
The apostle Peter describes the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in these latter days: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.” These subsequent glories begin with the resurrection of Jesus, his ascension into heaven, his exaltation to the right hand of God from where he rules over the nations. Peter continues to describe what it means for us to walk in the light of the Lord. We walk on the path of Jesus Christ, who suffered first then entered his glory. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil for he is present with us.
Isaiah describes the household of God perched upon the highest of mountains. All the nations of the world stream to it, as if a mighty river can flow uphill! The people of Judah maintaining the forms of true religion would dutifully travel to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and to celebrate the feasts. They would sing the Psalms of Ascent as they climbed Mount Zion to enter the temple of God. These good customs were designed to teach them the truth of Isaiah’s prophecy, pointing to the fullness of God gathering all people groups to himself. Isaiah describes the mountain of the house of the Lord as increasing in elevation. J. Alec Motyer writes, “Mountains were widely held to be the homes of the gods. The exaltation of the mountain of the Lord’s temple house, the mountain where he lives, typifies therefore a supernatural triumph of the Lord over all gods… The incongruity of a stream flowing upwards to the earth’s highest point is intentional; a supernatural magnetism is at work.”
At the culmination of these latter days, the fullness of this prophecy will come to pass. In John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ, he sees a vision of the nations streaming into the heavenly city, Jerusalem. No vile, impure or wicked person shall enter the city but all of its residents shall be those who walk in the light of the Lord. In the heavenly city, there is no temple, sun or moon. God is the temple and the light of his people.
The people of God, his church in these latter days, are diverse in every way except for worship. We are all unified in worship of the one, true God. In (3) we read of our unity in true worship. Together we say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.” Our common desire and intent is to go to the house of the Lord. Some of us may live in apartments or rented homes. A few of us may even live in a Volkswagen bus. Some of us may live in mansions with a view of Mt. Hood. But we all go “up” to the house of the Lord.
Together we worship one, specific God, the God of Jacob. Historically we know this God to be Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel.” God changed Jacob’s name to remind him that he had struggled with God but that God alone had saved him. Together we worship a God against whom we have fought but who has nevertheless saved us from our struggles against him.
Together we gather to worship God in his house, “that he might teach us his ways.” Some of us know a lot about language or about biology, but together we come to learn from God’s Holy Word. Some of us are wise through personal experience and some of us are above average in intelligence. Together we must learn God’s law for faith and life. Together in worship we listen to God teaching us his ways. The Lord God says, “My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts.” In worship we listen to the one, true God.
Together we worship God, “that we may walk in his paths.” Our worship is inseparably connected to everything else we do. We worship on Sunday and obey him seven days a week so that it can be said that all of our life is worship of God. Each of us has specific pursuits and endeavors, which on the surface appear to make us quite different from each other. Some of us work for Intel and others work for the government. Some of us run marathons and some of us play chess. Some of us feel called to help the orphans in Mexico while some of us feel called to help single mothers in Portland. But all of the paths we take are the paths of God set for us and we gather together in worship “that we may walk in his paths.” Our entrance into the house of the Lord should center our diverse lives on the unified enterprise of God’s kingdom, “that we might walk in his paths.”
In (3) Isaiah describes the unity of God’s people in his temple. In (4) Isaiah describes God’s law going forth from his temple to bring peace to the nations. Lao Tzu, the philosophical founder of Taoism born in 604 BC, wrote: “If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.” There is truth in his words, good for us all. The prophet Isaiah puts forth a different path toward peace. Isaiah presents the one, true God of us all as the source of peace.
In (4) God brings peace to the nations through his judging between the nations. Peace is a result of divine justice punishing the evil nations and rescuing the oppressed nations. The divine Judge settles “disputes between nations.” No nation of this world is completely honorable. Every nation is culpable for some evil inflicted. But some nations are more wicked and destructive than other ones and God, the Judge will sort them out according to his justice. The result will be peace – “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares / They shall beat their spears into pruning hooks.”
Isaiah’s sublime poetry calls us as individuals to participate in bringing peace – each of us converts our weapons into garden tools. This is where the Chinese philosopher gets it right. But Isaiah’s main point is of absolute necessity: We are instruments of the one God, the Judge of the world, who is the source and primary actor in bringing world peace. Can you imagine a world at peace, free of war? I do but I can also make a good argument for going to war if North Korea starts to marshal its nuclear arsenal. What does it take to bring about world peace? The prophet Isaiah writes, “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
The Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Corinth in his Second Epistle, chapter 4:4: “…the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Paul prays for the Church at Ephesus that the Holy Spirit might enlighten their hearts toward hope. The Holy Spirit must shine the light of Christ within us to make us those who walk in the light of the Lord. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus described the church as “a city set on a hill whose light cannot be hidden.” How do we become such a light in this world? We must walk in the light of the Lord.
Jesus entered the temple in Jerusalem during the Festival of Lights and preached these words: “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John records that many in the crowd rejected Jesus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of the blindness of God’s people. John then writes, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” Jesus for a time during the Feast hid himself from the angry crowds, but he reappeared to preach again at the end of the Feast: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” Jesus the light of the world soon after this powerful preaching founded on the text of Isaiah, would die in the utter darkness of this world, hanging on a Roman cross to save his people from their sins. On the first day of the week, God the Father raised him in glorious light to new and eternal life so that we, who put our trust in him might walk in the light of the Lord.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.” The imagery of light to describe Jesus, the Messiah is connected to these three self-descriptions of Jesus. Jesus is the way and this image of a path directing us to God is connected in Scripture to Jesus, the light guiding us into the heart of God. Jesus is the truth and this truth is described in the Scriptures as light, the enlightening of our minds and the Holy Spirit flame in our hearts. The Holy Spirit reminds us of God’s truth and applies it to our lives. Jesus is the life and this description is also connected to Jesus the light of the world. Just as light is necessary for our physical existence and enjoyment so Jesus the light is necessary for our spiritual vitality. Those apart from Jesus the light are spiritually dead. Those who are united to Jesus, are spiritually alive.
January 29, 2012
Isaiah 2: 6-22
“The King Terrorizes Idolaters”
John Ortberg, pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church has extensively interviewed Dallas Willard, formerly Professor of Philosophy at USC and now, author of helpful books and materials concerning the spiritual disciplines. Willard believes God to be fundamentally happy and pleased with his creative and redemptive work. If any of us were to isolate our morning’s text from the whole of the scriptures then we might conclude otherwise. God created everything then concluded that is was “very good.” Humanity fell into sin and God redeemed our first parents promising to them a Redeemer of the human race. As the biblical history unfolds, especially in the epoch of the prophets, God displays his judgment against all ungodliness. He does so as part of his redemptive plan to reconcile to himself the human race, to restore all creation to his glory.
There is no gospel in our isolated text of Isaiah 2: 6-22. In the whole of Isaiah there are numerous proclamations of the gospel offering mercy, grace and forgiveness to those who repent. But the Holy Scriptures are full of texts like this one before us that pour on the heat of God’s wrath so that we might soberly consider our need for the gospel. The justice of God displayed in punishment of the wicked and in this case, the wicked members of his covenant community, serves as a deterrent to any of us who claim to trust in God.
The Apostle Peter, in his First Epistle, 4:17 writes: “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” Jesus and his apostles in no way diminished the judgments of the Old Testament but rather, they have place them into the context of the gospel of repentance and restoration.
In (6) Isaiah writes, “For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob.” He then paints a portrait of the wicked house of Jacob. Firstly, they are “full of things from the east.” When Adam and Eve sinned God expelled them east of the Garden of Eden. When Cain murdered his brother, he fled further east. Cain and his progeny built cities to the glory of man in opposition to God. The east in the biblical mindset describes a life far from God and his covenant community. It becomes a symbol for running away from God or drifting apart from the covenant community. Isaiah describes wicked Judah as “full of things from the east.” Judah did not abandon Jerusalem, the holy city of God. But Judah over the course of time welcomed the ideas and practices of those who did abandon Jerusalem. The things of the east made their way into the heart of Judah, until Judah was full of them. Of this text John Calvin writes “…wicked imitation is amazingly contagious, and nothing is more natural than that corruptions should glide from one place into another more distant.”
Indeed many of us think that an idea, a religious practice from a distant land and culture to be exotic or rich with perspective unavailable to us in the covenant community. We desire something new, something foreign, something to deepen our experience. We are tempted to think that the Holy Scriptures are insufficient; the ordinary means of grace are too ordinary. We become full of the things of the east.
Isaiah continues to paint the portrait. Judah is full “of fortune-tellers like the Philistines” who lived to the west of Judah along the Mediterranean. Instead of looking to God in his temple on Mt. Zion, Judah was looking not only to the east but also to the west for truth and meaning in life. I Samuel 5-6 we can read of the Philistines stealing the Ark of the Covenant. They placed it in the temple of their god, Dagon, half man and half fish. As they entered the temple to worship Dagon and to rejoice in their plundering of Judah, they found the statue of Dagon face down before the ark. The Philistines became afflicted with tumors, more specifically, hemorrhoids. They consulted their priests and diviners, that is fortune-tellers who advised the return of the ark with gifts in it – a guilt offering so that they might be healed. They placed five golden tumors and five golden mice in the ark to represent the lords of the Philistines. Judah was ecstatic, David dancing in the streets, at the return of the ark. It is possible that some in Judah began to think that there might be something to the Philistine priests and fortune-tellers, considering them to be the source of the return of the ark rather than God, who afflicted them moving them to do the right. They became “full of fortune-tellers like the Philistines.”
Thirdly Isaiah writes of Judah: “They strike hands with the children of foreigners.” Jerome in the 4th century suggests that this is a reference to Judah participating in the trafficking of children. The Mosaic Law forbids such sexual immorality but some in Judah may have argued: “We don’t do this to our children, but we can use the children of wicked nations around us however we wish.” The striking of hands describes making a contract. Most often this idiom describes a contract to borrow money as in Proverbs 22:26 “Be not of them that strike hands, of them that are sureties for debts.” The Mosaic Law gives detailed instruction on lending within the covenant community. It may be that members of Judah did not want to follow these laws and so they contracted with foreigners. They were willing to borrow against the inheritance of their children by enriching the estates of foreign children. J. Alec Motyer reminds us that the Hebrew word “to strike hands” is not only used in a contractual context but also in the context of worship where it means “to clap hands” in praise of God. This may be a reference to syncretism in worship – Judah joining in the pagan worship of the surrounding nations. It may refer to the upcoming generations abandoning true worship looking for new forms of worship. These three suggestions to the meaning of this line are rooted in the breaking of God’s law codified by Moses. To break this law is to be wicked deserving of God’s rejection.
Isaiah, unlike other prophets, was a member of a wealthy and prominent family. Of his own people he adds to the portrait, “They are wealthy.” It is no sin to be wealthy but it is a sin to trust in wealth rather than in God. Isaiah adds a fifth description: “They are armed for war.” It is no sin to defend one’s nation but it is a sin to trust in military might rather than in God.
Getting to the heart of wickedness, Isaiah writes, “Their land is filled with idols they have made and worship.” Solomon littered Jerusalem with temples and shrines to the gods of his many political wives. Some might say: Do not dismantle these beautiful architectural treasures and cultural symbols of our history. We didn’t make them and we no longer worship them. The judge Gideon would have no part of such an argument. In his day he tore down the Asherah poles. But Isaiah makes it clear that the idols of his day in Judah were made by his fellow covenant community members and they were actively and presently worshipping them alongside their dutiful worship of the one true God in the temple of Jerusalem.
This is a list of what Judah trusts in place of God. For such wickedness God has rejected the house of Jacob. In (9) Isaiah says, “Do not forgive them!” This appears to be a non-biblical sentiment! Is not God a forgiving God? God forgives but he does not forgive everyone. God forgives the repentant. God forgives those upon whom he shows mercy. We ought never to say, “God is a forgiving God and so he must forgive every single person in every single circumstance.” God alone decides whom he will forgive and so we beg for his mercy. God is full of compassion and rich in mercy. He is a forgiving God. Let us beg for his mercy toward forgiveness.
Is it wrong for Isaiah to say, “Do not forgive them”? Isaiah is God’s prophet and here he speaks the sentiments of God, not merely his own. God is not inclined to forgive this generation of Judah who has fallen far away from his holiness. Isaiah says much of the remnant, that is, the few who are repentant. But this is a lost generation, the majority of which are unrepentant. The Apostle John writes: “If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But of course, this good news of forgiveness of sins is not found in our isolated text. We must place our text in the whole of the scriptures if we are to hear good news.
After Isaiah paints the portrait of wicked Judah deserving of God’s rejection unworthy of God’s forgiveness, he presents his next theme in the nutshell of (10): “Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty.” This is God’s command to all who refuse to repent of their sins to follow him. In (11-16) Isaiah develops this command of God. The prophet Hosea applies similar words to the northern kingdom, Israel: “And they shall say to the mountains, ‘Cover us,’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us.’” Jesus referred to these words of the prophets as he walked with Simon of Cyrene, the man carrying his cross to Golgatha. The women of Jerusalem were weeping and wailing. Jesus said to them: “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’” In John’s vision of Jesus Christ, at the end of Revelation Chapter 6, the people of the earth in rebellion against God cry out together, calling out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?”
Isaiah describes this great day of God’s wrath in our text. When this day dawns, then those in opposition to God should follow this command of God: “Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his majesty.”
Let us consider in more detail Isaiah’s description of this great day of God’s wrath: 1) It is a day of the humbling of the human race, a final end to human pride against God. The cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan had become symbols of the pride of the people who lived beneath their boughs building lucrative societies on the profits of the timber. The mountains and hills were high places of pagan worship and as the pending terror of the one true God approaches, these idolaters will beg their high places to hide them from the one, true God, but these high places will tumble and crush them. The towers and fortified walls were indicators of human strength and resilience in a war torn world. The ships of Tarshish and all vehicles of transportation will come to a halt as the terror and splendor of divine majesty sweeps over them. All human achievement and enterprise will come to a standstill on the great day of God’s wrath. The idols of humanity will be discarded by those who made them. They will throw their idols to the moles and to the bats. In other words they will carry them into the caves where they flee to hide from God. And in those dark crevasses they will discover that their idols are worthless. Isaiah writes in (22) “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath for of what account is he?” This is the day to end human pride against God.
2) It is thus a day in which God alone will be exalted. As the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Philippi, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” In Romans 10: 9 Paul writes: “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is the gospel context and the apostolic perspective on the God who rejected the house of Jacob, and who warns that on the great day of his wrath at the end of this world’s history, he shall come to judge all nations and cultures. There is one way to escape God’s rejection and wrath. That way is the Lord Jesus, whom God has raised from the dead. There is one way to receive God’s forgiveness even when his prophet has said, “O God, do not forgive them!” That one way is Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Colossae: “God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Let us give him thanks.
Notes on Isaiah 3-4
(3:1-4) God’s judgment of his covenant people includes his removal of provision of basic needs: bread and water. His judgment also leaves them exposed as he takes away their military defense. God also strips his community of all leaders, both those who hold legitimate offices and illegitimate offices. Some of Judah’s judges, prophets, and elders were as corrupt as the diviners and skillful magicians offering guidance and direction. God will replace these leaders with boys and infants - in other words with leaders lacking experience/wisdom.
(3:5-6) The result is a complete breakdown of order and peace. Is it God’s fault or Judah’s fault? God strips his covenant people of his blessings so that they might live according to their wickedness and so they can no longer blame him for the consequences. These consequences include oppression and lack of respect for seniors. In (6) Isaiah gives an example of people operating apart from God’s law, choosing their leaders for the wrong reasons. The one reason he cites is economic. A leader is chosen because he has a cloak - that is, because he is wealthier than his brother. Also in (6) we read of an example of Isaiah’s irony: these unqualified leaders are chosen to rule over a heap of ruins.
(3:7-8) Isaiah delivers God’s words concerning his relationship to his covenant people under judgment. He will not “bind their wounds.” He will not provide basic necessities (bread) or lavish luxuries (cloak) upon them. Emphatically, he will not lead his people. God the King and any human king enthroned to represent God cares for the people, providing for their well-being. He will assure that the community is healthy free of injury and disease. He will assure that the community is fruitful, even enjoying luxuries. The reason for such harsh judgment is the sin of Judah/Jerusalem. “Stumbled” and “fallen” are described in (8) as opposition/defiance against God. We are not to think that these terms “stumbled” and “fallen” refer to followers of God who have sinned, experiencing guilt and shame and thus exhibiting true repentance seeking God’s mercy and restoration. God does not say to his penitent children, “You blew it! There’s no hope for you!” But he does punish sustained defiance.
(3:9) This is the second time in Isaiah’s prophecy where Judah is likened to Sodom. Judah is as unabashed as Sodom, publicly sinning against God with no remorse. The “Woe!” is accompanied by the clear statement oft repeated in Scriptures landing the culpability for sin upon humanity. Whose fault is this dire state of Judah? Is it God’s fault for punishing them? No. It is Judah’s fault.
(3:10-12) God assures the righteous among Judah that he will watch over them. The righteous are those who honor God, who follow his law, repenting of their breaking of it. It will go well with them. They will be rewarded for their faith and obedience. But the wicked will receive his due. Here we find again a restating of God’s covenant blessings for obeying the law and his covenant curses for disobeying the law. In (12) the vacuum of godly men who lead is replaced with infants and women filling the gap. The result is the misleading and thus confusion of the whole community. This is not a statement devaluing infants or women. But it is a statement of God’s ordering of a community. No matter how innocent a child may be, his leadership exposes the lack of godly men who will stand to lead. No matter how capable a woman may be, her leadership exposes that there are no men who will protect the community from the common curse, specifically the fight between men and women to master over the other.
(3:13-17) Isaiah structures this section as a covenant court case. The divine party of the covenant calls for a hearing and he stands in the court to make his case. Also present in the court are the leaders of the human party of the covenant. His first case charges the covenant community for failing to be good stewards of the vineyard/garden, the creation he has placed under its care (See the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:28-31.) He accuses his people of robbing the poor, whom he calls, “my people.” This must have been difficult for Judah to hear for Judah, as a whole, was known as “my people.” But now God refers to the poor people whom Judah has mistreated as “my people.” J. Alec Motyer explains the choice of words in (15) “crushing” and “grinding.” He writes, “The former is a picture of the bare fact of hostility. The latter of the motive of gain, milling a crop from the poor. “Grinding the faces of the poor” is a metaphorical description of illegal profiteering from tenant farming. (16-17) provide us with the divine party delivering his sentence upon the guilty human party. (16) describes Judah as proud of her ill gotten gain, lusting for even more wealth. Her pride is metaphorically described as her fashion parade - she struts, her eyes betraying her greed and her speech trivially economic, bangles, most likely made of coins, tinkling along the paved streets of Jerusalem. In (17) God delivers Judah’s sentence maintaining the metaphor. His punishment will be the marring of her prideful beauty, not of her fashion but of her skin! He will strip her of her fashionable garments exposing her to be as poor in spirit as her physical nakedness.
(3:18-26) As if the metaphor has not been presented in sufficient clarity, God’s word develops it in more detail in seven additional verses! The reason for this additional description is that the opulent dress of the women of Judah is not simply a metaphor concocted by God. It is an actual expression in the covenant community of its greed and pride. In I Timothy 2:9-11, Paul most likely is referring to a text like this one in Isaiah, as he instructs the church: “…likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. How we dress does communicate something about ourselves. A certain fashion expresses pride and another fashion expresses submissiveness. God does not look at the outward appearance but rather he looks at the heart. Nevertheless, most of us, a few socially unaware people excepted, express our hearts in various outward displays including our dress.
In a good many cultures women tend to pay more attention to fashion than do the men and so in Isaiah and in Paul this cultural phenomenon is used to address the issue of pride. In their culture, men are more prone to express pride in the pursuits of war and so in (25-26) the same human pride described by fashion is now described pursuits of war. God’s punishment of Judah’s prideful heart will take the form of humility on the battlefield.
(4:1) This is a truly sad verse. Instead of repenting of her pride, Judah will try to maintain it as she suffers divine punishment! So many men have died on the battlefield that there are not enough to provide the opulent lifestyle of Judah. And so, rather than repenting, women are willing to enter into a polygamous relationship to keep up appearance. They are willing to provide for themselves but they also desire to retain their cultural and covenantal value of maintaining the tribal name/reputation. They desire legal and physical protection so that they can return to their level of luxurious living.
(4:2-6) In sharp contrast to the pride of wicked Judah, Isaiah delivers this prophecy of a future and eternal pride in the Messiah. “The Branch of the Lord,” is a commonly used name for the Messiah among the prophetic writings. In contrast to the false beauty and glory of greedy women, the Messiah shall display true beauty and glory. God promises a remnant, holy citizens of Jerusalem. In (4) God describes his judgment upon Judah as a purging of wickedness. After his judgment has cleansed his holy city, then God will create a new assembly of holy followers assembled in his guiding presence. He describes his presence with his holy people in terms of the theophanies guiding Israel through the wilderness in the days of Moses: the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. God will protect his people. He will maintain and govern his covenant community. Nothing less than the coming of the Messiah will produce this restoration of the covenant community. Jesus “Christ,” that is, the Messiah and his apostles supply us with a thorough presentation of this restoration of the covenant community comprised of Jews and Gentiles, of those who have the faith of Abraham - those whose faith rests in Jesus, the promised seed.
February 19
Isaiah 5: 1-7
“The King Sings of Unrequited Love”
A few weeks past I preached from Isaiah 2: 6-22, a portrait of wicked Judah and God’s declaration of not only pending judgment but the final and great day of God’s wrath upon all ungodliness. In Isaiah 3-4 this portrait and judgment are developed and I have supplied notes for you online. Dick Lucas, preaching on this section of Isaiah has said, “When we push God out of the picture, we find that we have not only got rid of God but also the dignity of man.” This certainly describes what occurred in Isaiah’s day among God’s covenant people. But as Dick Lucas says, “28 centuries ago Isaiah wrote and yet it is still relevant today. God is the same and man is the same. When God is forgotten the result is the dehumanization of man.”
This is the context for our text this morning: In Isaiah 3 God has hauled Judah into court. God had established his covenant comprised of two parties: the divine party and the human party. These two were to live in holiness according to God’s law. But the human party had broken God’s law. God in his infinite justice delivers his sentence upon Judah but not without hope. In Isaiah 4 he promises “The Branch of the Lord,” that is, the Messiah, who will restore the covenant community. He will come to Jerusalem as the representative of the human party of the covenant to fulfill the demands of the law taking upon himself the curse of the covenant and winning the blessings of the covenant.
Now that God has made known his legal position against his people along with the promise of redemption, God reveals his heart. Isaiah 5:1-7 is a song. It is a song of unrequited love. It is a sad love song. In (1) Isaiah writes, “Let me sing for my beloved.” The question arises, who is singing this song and to whom is the song sung? Robert Hawker, who lived from 1753 to 1827, the most prominent vicar of Charles Church, Plymouth, Devon, supplies us with the best answer: The singer is God the Father and his “beloved” is none other than his one and only Son. Hear God the Father say, “Let me sing for my beloved, my love song concerning his vineyard.” As the heavenly Father sings to his divine Son, we hear the heart of God expressed.
The song is four couplets. The first couplet: “My beloved had a vineyard/On a very fertile hill,” describes God’s loving ownership and careful and expert locating of his people. God had given Judah everything she needed to be fruitful in life. The second couplet: “He dug it and cleared it of stones/And planted it with choice vines,” describes God’s ongoing cultivation of his people removing all obstacles to their spiritual growth and assuring that their spiritual rootstock was the best. The third couplet, “he built a watchtower in the midst of it/ And hewed out a wine vat in it,” speaks of God’s protection of his people and his assurance of their spiritual prosperity.
The fourth couplet is different from the first three couplets. The fourth couplet, “And he looked for it to yield grapes/But it yielded wild grapes,” reports what God discovered at the end of all of his loving and careful work on behalf of his people. Instead of finding cultivated grapes good for the making of wine, he found wild grapes unfit for consumption. Instead of finding the fruit of righteousness, God found the fruit of wickedness. Any of us might be fooled had we inspected the vineyard. Had we visited Judah in the days of Isaiah, we might have concluded that it was a deeply spiritual community, winning our commendation. But God in his infinite wisdom and discernment knows the difference between good grapes and bad grapes, between true devotion to God and false worship.
This song of the vineyard is similar to Jesus’ parable of the fig tree in Luke 13. Jesus tells the story of the owner of a vineyard, who planted in the midst of his vines a fig tree. After three years, he came to inspect his vineyard discovering that the fig tree had failed to produce any fruit. He commands his caretaker to cut down the tree. The caretaker says, “Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” This is a beautiful picture of Jesus caring for the people of God, working to produce fruitfulness in us, mediating God’s merciful patience with us.” In Isaiah’s song of the vineyard, the owner is God the Son and in Jesus’ parable the owner is God the Father. In both the song and the parable it is the Son who lovingly and carefully works to make the vineyard fruitful. In the song there is fruit but it is the fruit of wickedness. In the parable there is no fruit at all. In both the song and the parable there is a clear and beautiful presentation of God’s patient cultivation of the fruit of righteousness. In both there is the understanding that God is the owner and thus has the right to do with his vineyard what he sees fit.
In (3) God explains the surprise ending of his song. He addresses Judah asking for a judgment between God and his vineyard. Who is to blame for the lack of good fruit? Having heard the song, is God to blame or is his people to blame? In (4) God asks, “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” Having heard the song, the answer is, “Nothing. God could not have done anything more to care for his vineyard.” Having read the whole of the Bible, the answer to the question is, “Thanks be to God there is one more thing he could do for his vineyard and he has done it through the death of Jesus on the cross.”
In (4) God asks a second question: “When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” Andy David, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Durahm, North Carolina, as he preached on this text observed that humanity often looks toward heaven to shout, “Why?” “Why, O God, have you allowed this to happen to me? Why do you stop short of ending the pain and suffering in this world? Why have you allowed my baby to die? Why have you allowed me to loose everything? Why have you not answered my prayers?” The Psalmist David cried out to God in Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Andy Davis then observes that in Isaiah 5, it is not humanity asking God the “why” question but it is God looking down upon his covenant people and asking, “Why have you not produced any fruit?” Davis expertly compares scripture with scripture noting that Saul, the persecutor of the Christians, was struck in the blinding light of God as he traveled on the road to Damascus. He heard the voice of Jesus say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul was producing the fruit of wickedness rather than producing the fruit of righteousness.
Davis cites the apostle Paul’s words to the church at Corinth, found in 2 Corinthians 6:1, “We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” Judah has received everything she needed to produce the fruit of righteousness. The Corinthian Church had received the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This church was filled with the Holy Spirit and had the very words of God before them, on the lips of fine preachers, the likes of Apollos and Paul. But this church was producing a mixed crop – some fruit of righteousness and some fruit of wickedness, perhaps the most troubled church of the first century. Paul writes, “We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.” These words ring down into the 21st century, as Dick Lucas says, “most relevant to us today.” “We urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.”
In (3-4) we discover God’s heart bleeding for his people: He has done everything for their spiritual good and yet they have not produced the fruit of righteousness. “Why?” God says, “What more was there for me to do for my vineyard?” The “more” is captured time and time again in the New Testament writings. Paul writes to the Church at Galatia, “In the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
The Father sees his unfruitful Jerusalem and asks, “Why?” In the fullness of time, the Son would stand on the Mount of Olives to gaze at Jerusalem glistening in the sunlight and weep. He would lament: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” In the fullness of time, Jesus, the Son would give his life to redeem all of God’s people.
This fullness of time would dawn 700 years after Isaiah’s prophecy. In the immediate context of Isaiah’s community, God’s judgment fell upon Judah. In (5-7) we read God’s decision: “Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.” God will remove his protection of Judah. He will return his vineyard to wilderness. If it is to produce wild grapes then let it be a wild. God removes his blessing from Judah. He came looking for a just society and he found a community of bloodshed. Instead of finding righteousness he heard an outcry, that is, he heard the screams of a volatile city, he heard the screams of unrest and oppression.
The question is asked, “Why did not God graciously redeem his people in Isaiah’s day? Why did he punish Judah waiting 700 years to send Jesus the Messiah?” Paul supplies us the answer in Romans 11. In closing listen to a few of the lines:
“So I ask, did Israel stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!… For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?… 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 fear. 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.”
Notes on Isaiah 5:8-30 - Six Woes
(8-10) Woe to the land speculator! God’s law (Leviticus 25, Numbers 27 and 36, and Ruth 4) provides for each family and tribe through the preservation of its land. In Isaiah’s day, many had abandoned these laws grabbing land from unfortunates resulting in impoverishment. God’s punishment of these greedy speculators is that the land they have seized will only yield one tenth of the usual crop.
(11-17) Woe to the Hedonists! A growing number of God’s people were entertaining themselves to death. Instead of rising early in the morning to pray, they were rising early in the morning to start binging on liquor. (And we thought “It’s five o’clock somewhere” was an American joke.) Their music becomes the accompaniment of their drinking parties, solely for entertainment. They no longer care to consider the acts of God, or as Isaiah says, “the deeds of the Lord,” a covenantal/relational reference - God in their midst as the focus of their festivities. It’s one thing to lift a glass in celebration of God’s goodness and his loving presence. It is quite another thing to forget God and binge. God’s punishment of these hedonists is exile, hunger and thirst. God’s punishments are fitting and here they are presented poetically so. Just as a hedonist has an insatiable appetite, his mouth open to gobble and guzzle, so Sheol, the place of the dead, has an insatiable appetite, its mouth gulping down the nobility of Jerusalem. In divine judgment, the hedonists are humbled and God is exalted. In divine judgment God displays his holiness in righteousness resulting in peace for the land and for the common man, even the nomad.
(18-19) Woe to the those who work to spin and control the knowledge of God! Just as laborers used beasts of burden bridled with ropes to pull carts laden with produce, so the people of Judah were heaping their carts full of sin and falsities, daring God to come near to tell them that their work is wrong. The question for us = “What sins and falsities have we drawn close to our hearts, working hard to legitimize?”
(20) Woe to those who flip-flop good and evil! Related to the previous woe, this fourth woe is a further breakdown. In the third woe, people rationalize that their sins and falsities are “OK,” taunting God to prove them otherwise. In the fourth woe, these people have flip-flopped good and evil.
(21) Woe to Proud! The reworking of morality, discarding God’s law, replacing it with one’s own law allows for an ungodly person to redefine wisdom and shrewdness. “According to my own law, I am wise - I live according to my own laws and so I am wise and shrewd.” This relativistic view and practice deserves divine punishment.
(22-23) Woe to those who can hold their liquor! Rather than a glass of wine as an aid to celebration, the drinking of as much as one can consume becomes a feat in itself. Drinking becomes a sing of heroism. The second woe has addressed hedonists describing binge drinking as one hedonist behavior. Here binge drinking is isolated as a sort of macho activity that is wrong in itself. What is particularly wrong here is this idea that masculine strength and courage is displayed in one’s ability to hold his liquor. Worse yet, these drinking “heroes” have so clouded their minds that those who are guilty of bribery are acquitted in their courtrooms; the innocent are deprived of justice! These men who can hold their liquor are not bums on the curb downtown, but rather they are the judges and leaders of the city drinking during their power lunches then returning to the bench with clouded judgment.
(24) All of these woes are spoken against those who have rejected God’s law and have despised the word of God.
(25) God’s anger is expressed against these lawbreakers.
(26-30) This is a description of God marshaling nations surrounding Judah to invade as instruments of his wrath. Isaiah uses the imagery of a lion as Babylonia, like Assyria used the lion as one of its insignias.
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