Isaiah 9:8-10:4
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
We have one of two reactions: We either think, “I look pretty good,” or we think, “I look pretty bad.”
It could be that we look at ourselves in the mirror or that someone takes a photo or video of us, and we either respond with, “Hey, I look pretty good,” or “Oh no, I look awful.”
[ILLUS] Years ago, I had a friend whose son was getting married. The wedding festivities included a rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, a ceremony and a reception following. And, of course, there were pictures.
As I ate with my friend after the wedding, he mentioned that he was on a diet. He said, “I’ve got to lose some weight.”
I asked what sparked this decision, and he said, “I saw the pictures from my’s sons wedding.”
And when he saw them, he thought, “Oh no, I look awful.”
Because he saw himself in those pictures, he decided to make a change.
But what if he didn’t see himself?
What if he saw a cousin in those photographs and said to his wife, “Boy, he sure has put on weight; he looks awful,” only to have his wife respond, “You two look a lot alike”?
Do you think my friend would’ve changed his diet and exercise habits if he saw how badly his cousin looked and then realized that he looks a lot like his cousin?
[CONTEXT] In Isaiah 9:8-21, Isaiah holds up a picture of Israel, and it doesn’t look good. Israel is ugly with pride and oppression, and God’s wrath will fall on the northern kingdom.
But as is made clear in Isaiah 10:1-4, Isaiah’s true aim was to show Judah its ugliness by holding up a picture of Israel in the north and saying to Judah in the south, “You know, you two look a lot alike.”
Israel will be destroyed because of its spiritual ugliness.
[INTER] If Judah is just as ugly, how can it expect anything different?
[READING - Isaiah 9:8-10:4]
8 The Lord sends a message against Jacob, And it falls on Israel. 9 And all the people know it, That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, Asserting in pride and in arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the Lord raises against them adversaries from Rezin And spurs their enemies on, 12 The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; And they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out. 13 Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. 14 So the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel, Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day. 15 The head is the elder and honorable man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail. 16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. 17 Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out. 18 For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame And they roll upward in a column of smoke. 19 By the fury of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother. 20 They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm. 21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out. 1 Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, 2 So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans. 3 Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? 4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
[PRAYER]
[TS] As I read, you noticed the refrain throughout the passage: In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out.
That refrain in 9:12, 9:17; 9:21, 10:4 helps us to easily break up this passage into four PARTS…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
PART #1: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Pride (9:8-12)
PART #1: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Pride (9:8-12)
8 The Lord sends a message against Jacob, And it falls on Israel. 9 And all the people know it, That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, Asserting in pride and in arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the Lord raises against them adversaries from Rezin And spurs their enemies on, 12 The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; And they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
[EXP] God’s word against Israel is a word of judgment, a word of wrath.
God had disciplined His people leaving them with fallen brick and felled sycamores, but rather than responding to God’s discipline with repentance, they responded with a sort of superficial optimism: “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.”
Rather than this superficial response to God’s discipline, Israel out to have genuinely repented from the heart.
Because it didn’t, God would send the Assyrians and the Philistines—the enemies of Rezin, King of Syria (a.k.a., Aram)—against Israel.
But even then God’s anger would not turn away (i.e., His anger would not relent), and His hand would still be stretched out (i.e., His hand was still poised to strike.
[ILLUS] When I was a child, I sometimes wanted to go with my older cousins here or there. My mom wasn’t always keen to have me go along with them; she would say, “No,” and I would try to wear her down.
In my pride, I wanted to go even if my Mom said no.
In her pride, she wanted to stick to her no no matter how much I complained.
But every now and again, my Mom didn’t stick to her no.
I would wear her down and she would eventually give in to m pride, saying, “Fine, Rocky, just go!”
[APP] Spiritual ugliness is rooted in pride, but our pride will never wear God down. It is not our pride versus His pride, but our sinful, ugly pride versus His beautiful holiness. And His holiness will always win.
He will continue to discipline us until we are humbled enough to repent or until we have spurned every opportunity to repent and are handed over to the ugliness of our sin.
[TS]…
PART #2: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Leaders (9:13-17)
PART #2: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Leaders (9:13-17)
13 Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them, Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts. 14 So the Lord cuts off head and tail from Israel, Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day. 15 The head is the elder and honorable man, And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail. 16 For those who guide this people are leading them astray; And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. 17 Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
[EXP] With the word ‘yet’ in v. 13 we notice a pattern developing: In response to the ugly pride of His people in vv. 8-12, God brought wrath, “Yet the people (v. 13) do not turn back to (God).” God struck them that they would seek Him, the Lord of hosts, the Captain of Heaven’s armies, but they have refused to turn back to God.
One reason for that refusal was the spiritual ugliness of Israel’s leaders.
These leaders were elders and honorable and false prophets who taught falsehood.
In other words, when the false prophets should’ve said, “What you’ve experienced is the discipline of the Lord; repent of your wickedness,” they said instead, “This isn’t from the Lord; You’ve committed no sins, and the Lord will soon deliver you!”
When leaders should’ve been leading God’s people to repent and obey the Word of God, they were leading them into more and more spiritual confusion.
The result was that everyone was increasingly wicked: the young men, the widow, the orphan included.
Everyone was godless.
Everyone was doing evil.
Every mouth was speaking foolishness.
Wicked leaders were God’s judgment on wicked people who should’ve have repented of their wickedness.
But because they refused, God’s anger would not relent, and His had was still poised to strike.
[TS]…
PART #3: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s People (9:18-21)
PART #3: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s People (9:18-21)
18 For wickedness burns like a fire; It consumes briars and thorns; It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame And they roll upward in a column of smoke. 19 By the fury of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, And the people are like fuel for the fire; No man spares his brother. 20 They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm. 21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
[EXP] Wickedness burned through the people of God like a wildfire through dry brush, but God’s judgment would burn through His people leaving them preying upon one another.
Rather than being the united people of God, they turned on one another, devouring one another the way the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh in the north tried to devour one another and then tried to join together to devour Judah.
Rather than repenting of wickedness, and loving one’s neighbor as one’s self, the spiritual ugliness of Israel led them to consume one another.
This was the judgment of God because they refused to repent, and yet God’s anger did not relent and His hand was still poised to strike.
[TS]…
PART #4: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Society (10:1-4)
PART #4: The Spiritual Ugliness of Israel’s Society (10:1-4)
1 Woe to those who enact evil statutes And to those who constantly record unjust decisions, 2 So as to deprive the needy of justice And rob the poor of My people of their rights, So that widows may be their spoil And that they may plunder the orphans. 3 Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? 4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
[EXP] Pride is the root of spiritual ugliness, and when a nation is given to pride, it won’t be long before it is led by prideful (i.e., spiritual ugly) leaders; and when that nation is led by spiritually ugly leaders, societal upheaval will prevail, and injustice, even toward the most vulnerable, is sure to follow.
In that way, this last stanza in Isaiah 10:1-4 is the culmination of every stanza that has come before it.
Pride (i.e., stubborn rebellion against God) spun Israel out of control.
Leaders couldn’t be trusted.
Neighbors were out to harm rather help.
Everyone was a target of injustice even defenseless widows and poor orphans.
This was a spiritual ugly society from top to bottom.
But I want you to imagine that Isaiah, a true prophet of God in Judah, has been delivering this word of judgment concerning Israel to an audience in Judah; and everyone has loved it all the way through the end of v. 2, but then Isaiah turned to His audience in Judah and says to them, “Do you see how ugly Israel is? Do you see the wrath coming upon them because they will not repent? Do you know that you look a lot like them?”
3 Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? 4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.
If Israel experience wrath when it refused to repent, what would Judah experience? The answer is given in Isaiah 10:11…
11 Shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images Just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?”
Through His prophet, God held up a picture of Judah’s cousin and said, “Doesn’t he look terrible? Isn’t he spiritually ugly? You know, you look a lot like him. What will you do about it? Will you make a change? Will you repent of your sin and turn back to me?”
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
When Jesus began preaching, He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel,” (Mk. 1:15); He said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,” (Lk. 5:32); He said that unless we repent, we will all perish (Lk. 13:3, 5); He said there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 supposedly “righteous” persons who see no need for repentance (Lk. 15:7).
This picture of Israel’s spiritual ugliness has been held up to us tonight so that we might see our own spiritual ugliness and our own need to repent.
We repent by turning from sin and unbelief and trusting in Jesus who repented in our place, died in our place, and rose from the dead to make us right with God.
Only as we repent of sin and trust in Him do we go from spiritually ugly to spiritually beautiful.
[PRAYER]