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Notes
Transcript
Text: Isaiah 1:1-4
This morning we will begin a study that if I’m honest intimidates me a little. I read through it on my way through Scripture. I have study it in portions when your going through it. We all have a few of our favorite passages.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: And the government shall be upon his shoulder: And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice From henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.
Just to name a few of our favorite.
But the book of Isaiah is a book of complexity. Poetry, Narrative and of course Prophecy. Each of them in layers helping us to understand God’s message to four different kings multiple different nations, and ultimately to a generation that wasn’t even born yet.
I think if we are going to step into a book so heavy it is important at to get an expert opinion. So I want to give you the expert of experts.
Turn with me to…
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
We find that Jesus has gone to the synagogue in his hometown. He is around the familiar sights and Mark even slightly referenced that his was a normal occasion for Jesus. This day in the synagogue he is handed a copy of the prophet Isaiah. Namely the 61st chapter. When all allusions to the kings of Isaiah’s day or in the proximate years of Isaiah were given up. Many generations later Jesus declares the words fulfilled. - He is the fulfillment.
Understand that Isaiah is important all the way through the NT. In fact many agree that when the phrase “the prophet is brought up they are referencing Isaiah.
IN fact 25 times Isaiah will be quoted in the Gospels alone.
Here Jesus gives us the key to understanding the whole big message of Isaiah. That message is Jesus. The message isn’t the kings in charge at the time or the people themselves it is Jesus. And the proper response to the prophecies of Isaiah are not to identify all the way the message of that time look like the times in which we live though that maybe a valuable tool in understanding the text…
The proper response is to increase in devotion, love, and adoration of Jesus.
I want to get this big picture view because it is easy to look at the Bible at the level of the Scripture. But Isaiah has a message. And he has an audience. And they had lives. And we as an audience have lives that are similar but different so if we are going to understand this passage it is not to modernize or westernize its message for ourselves but to put our understanding of the Bible into harmony with the BIble. And then understand.
THERE IS YOUR BIG PICTURE.
Consider the next layer.
ISAIAH’s VIEW
Isaiah’s ministry can sometimes get misplaced.
Isaiah writes his letter about the same time as Micah writes his prophecies.
It is written during roughly the middle of the Kings and Chronicles.
It is written after I Samuel but before Ezra and Nehemiah
But his message is so vast that you will find that it bridges timelines because the fulfillment of his prophecies are so far out in front of the lives of those involved that he will write the last of this book like a transported prophet whose followers will come and declare the message years after Isaiah has already passed away.
Is first set of prophecies will be the one of importance to us. You will find them in the first twelve chapters and are written to the people of Judah. They are the words of a jilted God.
You can hear the content of his message in the verses we read today.
“I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” Vs 2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: For the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against me.
You can hear the accusations against a people who Isaiah will remind us that that these are a people called by God out of oblivion and given a special place by him.
From Abraham
To Moses
To David
These were a covenant people closed by God and they have rejected him.
You will see next weeks that this has real world consequences.
But note the way that God sees this betrayal…
The OX is smart enough to figure out what Israel has not.
The evidence that Isaiah provides:
they are a sinful nation
Laden with iniquity
Seed of evil doers
Children that are corrupters
The full claim -
“They have forsaken the Lord”
“Provoked the Holy One”
“They are gone away backwards.”
Where does God stand in relation to them.
Vs 11-15
What matters is not where do you stand in relation to God, What maters is where does God stand in relation to you.
Then hear the Word of the Prophet.
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Wait we aren’t 16 verses in and Isaiah starts to slip hope in.
This same God who calls them wicked and wrong he then calls for their cleansing.
I think it is worth pointing out here that this is more grace than the Israelites are worthy of.
Did you hear the accusations against them. DO you know what they have done with all the other times with Abraham, or MOses, or David.
they are a sinful nation
Laden with iniquity
Seed of evil doers
Children that are corrupters
Be done with them. Tell Isaiah to let them know there is going to be a big hole in the ground where Jerusalem used to sit we can call it the Jerusalem Sea or something because you are done. Yet a call for cleansing.
No no don’t do for them what you did for Ninevah. Don’t allow them to repent They had your word this whole time their will just fail again like he generations before them. This is a waste of grace.
How can you squander the words of one more prophet when you know they will fail you again. And then I am reminded of the fact that when Jesus told the parable in Luke 20:9-19
That the vine dressers left in charge would beat the servants, then they killed the next servant, and ultimately would kill the Husbandmen’s own Son.
And I am reminded that that this same God who will waste one more word on the faithless Israelites has many a time wasted his word on this faithless servant. I’m thankful for the forgiveness he offers the week and wicked. He is a good God who once again will forgive his people if they will only be interested in being clean and walking with him.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
How many of you can run to the reassuring promises of I John 1:9 today not because you are faithful but because he is. I don’t promise you that you will understand the God of Scirpture completely at he end of this series but I can tell you that he demonstrated his grace again and again.
I don’t think I will grasp the goodness of this God in this lifetime any more than i understand why he offers it to me. But knowing that he points to my hope I want to walk ing the cleansing he offers.