Isaiah 9:8 - 21, 10:1 - 4
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So tonight we continue after the great prophesy of , speaking of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, and His dominion forever. So we leave the future or far fulfillment back to the near and the situation at that time.
Some have called this section the speech of the outstretched hand as there are 4 parts all ending with "For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand (of judgment) is stretched out still."
The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
9 All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.
For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.
So here God is indicting their pride and arrogance of heart. Israel believes that all the devastation coming their way through Assyria and others was only a temporary setback. They never connected the dots that God was bringing this on them due to their sin.
Verse 10 is remarkable as it was a sort of slogan; Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: "The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars." In their pride, the leaders and the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel said, "Who cares if God judges us? Whatever is torn down, we will rebuild with something better. We have nothing to fear from what God can bring against us."
This verse becomes more interesting in that some have applied it to America and the 9/11 terrorism attack.
Video: “The Harbinger” Jonathan Cahn interview 19:12 min
Very interesting stuff. We continue: () Because they refuse to repent, there will be an overthrow of leadership.
For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. The elder and honorable, he is the head; the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore the LORD will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
"The expression branch and rush indicates the same thing as head and tail. A branch grows upward and hence refers to the high and important people of the population; the rush grows in muddy marshes and refers to the lowest element of the population, the scum." (Bultema)
The refusal to repent. We have all as parents dealt with an obstinate child begging them to say they are sorry or tell the truth. He says:
For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed.
How important are our leaders both spiritually and in government? Its really scary.. You can really see America here!
We move on
For wickedness burns as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest; they shall mount up like rising smoke. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire; no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; he shall devour on the left hand and not be satisfied; every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
Here the wickedness or sin spreads like wild fire. An image close to us here. Everything is touched. The nation is fighting itself, within its own family.
Think of it, the Right verse the Left, here in America.
(Guzik) The wildfire of God's judgment burns, but God merely let the evil, hateful passions of men burn wild among themselves. 18 God did not need to start the fire, or fan the flames; He simply took away the "fire retardant" that had held the evil, hate-filled passions of men in check.
We finish in the section In Chapter 10: 1-4.
"Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain." For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
Here He speaks of the judgement against social injustice. Remember the poor, the widows, and the fatherless are very close to God’s heart.
Ultimately the judgement will be servitude and exile.
Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, and they shall fall among the slain: All God needs to do to bring extreme judgment on Israel is to withdraw His protection. The LORD declared that "Without Me you have no hope before your enemies."
As a believer, a Christ follower, God has His protection on you. However when we wonder outside of His will through sin or unrepentance we put ourselves in jeopardy.
Now, finally on the phrase For all this, His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
It is not a hand stretched out to help, it means His hand is stretched out in judgement.
The repetition of the phrase reminds us that God's judgment is persistent. It moves from phase to phase until it finds repentance. This means that it makes sense for us to repent now, because God's judgment is persistent for all eternity. "If even physical death does not satisfy the fierce anger of this holy God, what dread and punishment lies beyond the grave?" (Grogan)