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We being the final section of Isaiah’s prophecy tonight.
Chapter 65 begins God’s response to the prayer requests of the Judeans that began back in chapter 63.
God answered the prayer of his people by offering a perspective on his past relationship to them.
He then gave them a promise of better things to come.
!
I.
A PERSPECTIVE ON THE PAST
* /“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.
“See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— both your sins and the sins of your fathers,” says the LORD.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”/
(Isaiah 65:1–7, NIV84)
#. discovering God’s grace through prayer is not difficult
#. the day would come when Gentiles who have not even sought his grace would discover it (Rom 10:20f.)
* /“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’”/ (Isaiah 65:1, NIV84)
#. this passage came to glorious fulfilment in Acts 10:1-10; 27-48
#. an if you remember, Peter was roundly reprimanded by his Jewish-Christian friends for doing so (Act 11:1-18)
#. but when they heard his story they had no further objections and praise God, saying, /“So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”/
(Acts 11:18)
#. and in his book to the Christians at Rome, the Apostle Paul reminds his readers that the grace of God to the Gentiles was something God had repeatedly predicted
* /“But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.
For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
But I ask: Did they not hear?
Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Again I ask: Did Israel not understand?
First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
[Deut.
32:21] And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”/
(Romans 10:16–21, NIV84)
#. sometimes it’s easy to assume Jewish prophecy doesn’t concern us, but this verse is obviously relevant to us
#. it’s the difference between Christ be a Savior of the Jews vs. Christ having a people gathered from every nation, race, tribe and tongue!
#. to his rebellious people, however, God had stretched out his hands in appeal all day long
* /“All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations—”/ (Isaiah 65:2, NIV84)
#. they preferred to walk in a way that was disobedient, rebellious and evil
#. they preferred to follow their own thoughts (65:1f.)
than God’s ways
#. the irony here is obvious
#.
Gentiles had not sought God, but would find him easily
#.
God sought Israel, but had been constantly rejected
#. they openly provoked God and God offers the evidence in His response in vv.
3-5
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They were guilty of sacrificing in gardens
#. burning incense on bricks, i.e., the tiled roofs of their houses
#. sitting in the tombs practicing necromancy
#. spending the night in secret places in order to gain wisdom from past worthies
#. eating pork and other unclean meat
#. thinking that they were holier than others
#.
I will tell you that scholars are not sure of the exact significance of some of these practices
#. but like smoke in the nostrils, their behavior was a constant irritation to God
#.
Judah’s misdeeds called forth divine action
#.
their iniquities piled up from generation to generation
#. first on God’s agenda was the recompense for these blatant transgressions
* /“See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— both your sins and the sins of your fathers,” says the LORD.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”/
(Isaiah 65:6–7, NIV84)
#. that recompense happened in 586 B.C.
* ILLUS.
Following the siege of 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as a puppet-king of Judah at the age of twenty-one.
However, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt.
Nebuchadnezzar responded by invading Judah and began a siege of Jerusalem in January 589 BC.
The siege lasted about thirty months (Jeremiah 39:1-2; 8).
In the book of 2 Kings we’re told that by the forth month of the siege famine became widespread throughout the city.
!
II.
A PROMISE FOR THE FUTURE
* vv.
17-25
#. for the unfaithful, however, the future was bleak
#. but for those faithful few who cried out to Yahweh the future is much brighter
#.
God would spare a remnant, those stalks in his vineyard which gave some small promise of bearing fruit
* /“This is what the LORD says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is yet some good in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all.
I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live.”/
(Isaiah 65:8–9, NIV84)
#. out of Jacob (a reference to the whole nation) and Judah—the entire covenant people—God would bring forth a “seed, an inheritor of my mountains” which is a reference to the Promised Land
#. this is something that God Himself will do—I will bring forth v. 9
#. were God not to act to save the nation and bring from it a seed, there could be no seed
#. seed here refers to descendants
#. it would be from the remnants of the survivors of Judah’s captivity in Babylon that God would bring forth descendants of Jacob
#. and from those descendants God say’s my servants shall live
#.
God’s true servants would inherit the Promised Land of peace and abundance
* /“Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.”/
(Isaiah 65:10, NIV84)
#. “Sharon” and “Achor” represent the western and eastern extremes of Canaan and hence here symbolize spiritual Canaan, Messiah’s kingdom
#. these servants, these chosen ones, who inherit the land are not the physical descendants of Judah, but instead represent spiritual Israel—those who will
!! A. THE SHOCKING CONTRAST IN THE DESTINIES OF “MY SERVANTS” AND “THE WICKED” vv.
11-15
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CONTRASTING DESTINIES Isaiah 65:13–15 God’s Servants
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Shall eat.
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Shall drink.
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Shall rejoice.
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Sing for joy of heart.
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Called by a new name.
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CONTRASTING DESTINIES Isaiah 65:13–15 The Wicked
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Shall be hungry.
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Shall be thirsty.
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Put to shame.
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Cry for sorrow of heart.
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Leave their name as a curse.
#. what a glorious future the faithful could anticipate!
Former troubles would be forgotten
#. they would recognize Yahweh in that day as the God of Truth
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