ISAIAH 1-8 HERE AM I SEND ME2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Isaiah 1-8 Here Am I Send Me

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Well, as we get started this evening in the book of Isaiah, we're picking it up in chapter one. We'll be working our way through chapter eight. And as we do, we're kind of heading into kind of back to our, you know, how we began the Bible in three years, where...

As we started in the book of Genesis and working our way through the historical books, we were looking at kind of an overview of the chapters that we read and trying to get a good sense of where these things took place. And so this evening, I'll be using maps on the screen to kind of show some of the context of

and where those things were happening, but also when they were happening. And so there's timelines that we're going to be looking at to kind of help us fit into our understanding, you know, the events that were going on, the situation that was before them. And it helps us to understand better the words of Isaiah to the nation of Judah.

Now, we're going back then to using the PowerPoint or the presentation screen a lot more. And so if you haven't been around and you haven't been part of this, I wanted to let you know that we also make these presentations available online. So if you go to the live streaming page,

You can see the most recent presentations, or if you go to the Bible in Three Years page, you can also download it from there. So if you want to look at it on your phone or something while we're going through it tonight, you're welcome to do that. Or later on, you want to refer back, then it's available for you online. But as we begin the book of Isaiah, we're beginning a new section, really, of the Old Testament, which is referred to as the Major Prophets.

And the major prophets are major not because of their rank in God's kingdom and not because of their importance either, but it's just a reference to the size of their books. The major prophet books are large.

a lot bigger than the minor prophet books. And so the major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And so we're going to be spending the next couple of months looking at these prophets and their messages to the nation of Judah.

The prophet Isaiah, of course, this is his work. He's the author. He ministered from about 745 to 695 BC. Those dates don't mean a whole lot to us just like that. So we'll be looking at some timelines in just a moment. But he ministered during the reigns of kings of Judah, such as Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and then also Manasseh.

His contemporaries, that is those who were prophesying with him at that same time, were Hosea and Micah. And so those prophets, although they're much farther in the Bible for us, chronologically they were around the same time and some of them were overlapping along with Isaiah as he was prophesying, they were prophesying too.

Here's a quick rundown of the timeline for Isaiah. And I backed it up to 933 BC to help us get the context for the situation of Israel. In 933 BC, Israel...

was divided as a nation. At one time it was one kingdom under Saul and David and then Solomon but then it was split in two and the northern kingdom was kept the name Israel. The southern kingdom took the name Judah and

And this split was, well, it was pretty significant for the nation because it was from that point on that the nation was really spiraling out of control in rebellion against God. The northern kingdom, Israel, never had a good king after that. Once they split, they never had a king that said, we're going to worship the Lord. We're going to walk with the Lord. We're going to seek the Lord.

Because Jerusalem was in the southern kingdom. It was in the nation of Judah now. And the northern kingdom didn't want their people going to the temple to worship. They didn't want them going to Jerusalem because, you know, that's the enemy. And so they set up their own idolatry and caused the people to worship these false gods right from the beginning. And so they spiraled out of control much faster than the southern kingdom.

the southern kingdom, Judah, also began to decline. They had Jerusalem there and the temple was there, but they had a lot of bad kings who were not seeking the Lord. They also had some good kings who would call the people back to repentance. And so there would be some like mini revivals that would go on. But the hearts of the people continued to be rebellious and they

were more and more and more and more up until the point where God actually brought destruction upon them. And so that all, you know, tracks back to the division of the nation and they're turning away from the Lord at that point.

Well, then in 884 BC or around there, these dates are approximate, of course, but the nation of Assyria rises to power. And Israel and Judah are kind of caught in the midst of these powers, these world nations that are trying to conquer the world. And so Egypt was very powerful.

And then Assyria was very powerful and they were kind of the two mega powers of the day. And so they were kind of going at it. Well, if you think about the geography, Israel's right in the middle between Egypt and Assyria. And so that was the battleground. And so Assyria and Egypt both were affecting militarily Israel and Judah and Syria and those nations around it.

Well, in 775 BC, there's a king by the name of Uzziah who reigns in Judah. He's a good king, and you might recognize his name because in Isaiah chapter 6, it was the year that Uzziah died. And so it was during the reign of Uzziah that Isaiah really began his ministry, and that we estimate to be about 745 BC when he begins to prophesy.

Well, then we have a couple of different kings that come to the throne of Judah. Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a good king. And during that time, during Hezekiah's reign, 722 BC, the nation of Assyria that had been rising to power finally conquers

Israel, the northern kingdom. And they're taken captive. They're led away. And so the northern kingdom is conquered. Judah is not conquered, although Assyria tries. But you remember during Hezekiah's reign, there's that incident where the angel of the Lord goes out and wipes out 186,000 of the enemy's soldiers in one night. Well, that was the Assyrian army. And so they were unable to conquer Judah because God took them out.

Well, then in 697 BC, Manasseh begins to reign in Judah. He was an evil king, and it was during his reign that Isaiah dies, and we estimate about 695 BC. And his death by, you know, Jewish tradition says that he was

cut in two during Hezekiah's reign that he was martyred as a prophet of the Lord. So that's a quick rundown of the timeline of Isaiah. Here's what it looks like graphically or visually. So you have the kingdom divided there on the left and then the northern kingdom carrying on, the southern kingdom carrying on. You see the northern kingdom was conquered and taken away captive much sooner than the southern kingdom.

Because again, they were wicked from the start and they never turned back to God. And so they were conquered as a result of their rebellion. And it was during that time frame that Isaiah was ministering. Now he's speaking primarily to the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah. And so what's happening is they're watching...

their sister nation Israel be conquered and Isaiah is saying look what's happening to them this is what's going to happen to you if you don't turn and get right with God and so that's kind of the thrust of Isaiah's ministry and his call to the nation of Judah

Here's another look. The purple bar is the northern kingdom, the kings of Israel. And that's just a list of the kings. Then the blue bar on the bottom, that's the kings of the southern kingdom, Judah. So Azariah is also known as Uzziah. And then Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. And so it's during that time that Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea are ministering and prophesying on behalf of the Lord.

Well, here's a quick look at the geography. On the left here, you have the divided kingdom. And so, again, at one time it was united. It was all together one kingdom. But now you have the northern kingdom called Israel and then the southern kingdom called Judah.

On the top right, you have a quick look at the Assyrian Empire, and that's the rising power of the day. So they were rising to power, and we'll talk about that a little bit more later on. Down on the bottom, you have the nation of Babylon. They don't really come into the picture until after Isaiah is off the scene, but that's the nation that rises up and conquers Assyria, and then ultimately conquers Judah as well.

All right, one more thing before we get into our chapters for this evening. And this is just some extra information on Isaiah the prophet. So he's often referred to as the messianic prophet. And that's because he refers to the Messiah all throughout his book. He's talking about the first coming. He's talking about the second coming. He focuses primarily on the second coming and the millennial kingdom. And that's what we're going to see a lot of throughout the book of Isaiah.

There's 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah, which makes it the longest prophetic book. And it's interesting that it's 66 chapters. It roughly corresponds to the division of the Old Testament and the New Testament, because you know there's 66 books in the Bible. Now, I think this is interesting and it's intriguing to look at, but I want to encourage you not to take it too far. Remember that the chapters are man-made.

Isaiah didn't write chapter 1 and then start writing his prophecy. So those were inserted afterwards. So, you know, we can't, you know, put too much into this. But it is interesting. And I think definitely the Lord could have a hand in this if this is what he wanted. So...

The Bible is 66 books. Books 1 through 39 are the Old Testament, Genesis through Malachi. Then books 40 through 66 is the New Testament, Matthew through Revelation. And what's interesting as we go through the book of Isaiah, you'll notice a change. Just as we see a dramatic change

From the Old Testament to the New Testament, there's a pretty significant change in the tone and in the style of what Isaiah is saying from chapters 1 through 39. And then at chapter 40, you know chapter 40, right? They shall run with wings and not be weary. And, you know, there's all this great encouragement. Up to this point, it's going to be a lot of judgment. There's a lot of, there's some promises of the future and rest.

but it's primarily, you know, watch out, you better repent. And then in chapter 40, it kind of changes the tone and it primarily becomes message of hope and encouragement and the promise of rest in the Lord. And so it's interesting that those chapters correspond. I

I wouldn't take it too far though. Some people try to then, okay, chapter one of Isaiah corresponds with the book of Genesis and let's see how we can tie it together. I think that's taking it too far. Again, you know, those were inserted after the chapter divisions were inserted after they're not part of the original inspired, you know, written word from Isaiah. Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament. Um,

And so you'll see a lot of these quotations and a lot of these will be familiar to you because of your experience with the New Testament. What's interesting about that is both...

The first half, chapters 1 through 39 and chapters 40 through 66 are both quoted in the New Testament by Jesus and others and ascribed to Isaiah. And that's significant because later on in history anyways, it's the past for us, but people come on the scene and try to claim that, well, there's really two Isaiahs and Isaiah the prophet didn't really write the whole thing and they try to, you know, make it less

anointed or less inspired by the Lord as a result. But the New Testament says Isaiah, the same Isaiah, wrote both the first half and the second half of the book.

The tradition, the Jewish tradition records that he died by being cut in two. And you remember in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 37, as it's talking about all the men of faith, and then he says we don't have time to go into all these other guys. And one of them that they mention, it says that they were sawn in two, as well as stoned and tempted and slain with the sword. And so the sawn in two is believed to be a reference to Isaiah.

And then finally, the oldest complete copy of Isaiah was found with the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. And so again, a lot of it, it was answering a lot of speculation and concern, suggesting that there was two different writers, you know, that the second half was written later on or something. But we found the copy there in the Dead Sea Scrolls and that answered a lot of those objections. And so if you want to check into that, it's pretty interesting to look at. All right, well, let's get into our chapters for this evening. Isaiah chapter 1.

The key verse of Isaiah chapter 1 is verse 1. It says, So here he introduces himself and he introduces the time frame that he's dealing with the kings that he was ministering to.

Well, the Lord begins in verses 1 through 4 declaring, My children rebelled against me. As he begins this book and this prophecy, the message is, My children, the people of Judah, are rebellious, and they have turned against me. In verse 3, I think it's interesting, he says, The ox knows its owner, and the donkey knows its master's crib, but Israel does not know, and my people do not consider."

He's saying animals know where their home is. Animals know who their master is. But my people have turned away from me and they don't know me at all. And so this is the problem with the nation. And that's what Isaiah is addressing throughout this book. In verses 5 through 9, God says, Why should you be stricken again?

During this time, as Isaiah is prophesying, although they haven't been conquered yet, they have experienced a lot of affliction as a result of their rebellion against God. They've lost territory. And so we looked at the map and it shows, you know, the nation of Judah lost

But that's, you know, kind of the original borders and kind of the ideal borders. But at this time, as Isaiah is prophesying, Judah is actually much smaller and really focuses mainly on the city of Jerusalem. A lot of the other major cities of the nation had already been conquered by Egypt and Assyria. And so there was not that many people left. There wasn't a great nation like there once was. You remember under King Solomon, there was this great glorious kingdom.

With all kinds of wealth. And you know silver was counted as nothing. Because there was so much gold in the city. In the city of Jerusalem. And the nation was wealthy. And the population was massive. But now at this time it's shrunk down as a result of their rebellion. And they've been under attack. They've been defeated. They've lost ground. They've lost people. And so he says now why should you be stricken again?

You've already experienced so much judgment. Why are you insisting on experiencing more by your continued rebellion? In verses 10 through 17, he says, bring no more futile sacrifices. The interesting thing about the nation of Judah, and I think it's so important for us to understand and grasp hold of, is that although they were rebelling against God, they still went to church.

It was the temple for them. They went to the temple. They offered sacrifices. It wasn't that they took the word of God and just cast it out.

It's that they added on to the things that they were doing to worship God, outwardly anyways, the sacrifices and ceremonies, and then they would also worship these other gods and these other idols. They would disobey God and disregard his commands, but then still come and offer sacrifices. And that was a great issue with God. And so he calls their sacrifices futile. They're worthless. He says...

You think you're doing good by offering the sacrifices, but what I'm really looking for is your heart and your obedience, not just your sacrifices. Check out verse 16. He says, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good. Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. You see, they were corrupt and they were evil.

involved in all kinds of sinful activity, but then they would come and try to make up for it by offering their sacrifices. Instead of repenting of their sin, they would try to offer God some kind of sacrifice. And they tried to include the worship of these other gods as well. And so God says, I don't want these sacrifices. That's not what I'm asking for. That's not what I'm looking for. These are worthless.

But then verses 18 through 20, great set of verses. He says, come now, let us reason together. God is still extending and we have to understand this. When the prophets were sent to the nation to announce judgment, it's always an invitation to repentance. It's always, God's always saying, remember Jonah? He goes to the nation of Nineveh.

Or the city of Nineveh, the nation of Assyria. He goes to the city of Nineveh and he says, in 40 days judgment will come upon this city. It was an announcement of judgment. But what happened? The people repented and God did not bring that judgment upon the city. It was an invitation to repent.

And as Isaiah is announcing these things and saying, hey, why would you be stricken again? If you keep going this way, you're going to bring extra judgment upon yourself. It's also the invitation where God says, let's talk about this, okay? I mean, does this make sense to you? Why would you continue on in rebellion and experience more judgment? Hey, let's reason together. Although your sins are like scarlet, I can make them white as snow.

Though they're red like crimson, they can be like wool. I can wash away your sin. Let's talk about this. Doesn't this make sense to you? You don't have to experience judgment for sin. As you press towards that, you can repent and turn back. And I'll wipe away your sin. I will take care of your sin. In verses 21 through 23, he describes Jerusalem, the faithful city, as becoming a harlot.

At one time they were faithful to the Lord, but now they've prostituted themselves, spiritually speaking, and gone after all of these false gods and all of these other idols. And so God promises in verses 24 through 31, I will purge your dross.

all of that iniquity, all of that stuff, I'm going to purge it. And that's a great picture for us because that's what judgment is all about. It's God's discipline saying, I'm going to clean it up. And if you don't clean it up yourself, then I'm going to bring judgment and clean it up for you. My dad used to always tell me that. Hey, if you're not willing to discipline yourself, I'll be happy to discipline you. You have that option. Either discipline yourself, clean up yourself,

Come to me in repentance or I will bring judgment to bring that cleansing upon you. And so that's Isaiah chapter 1. Now we move on to chapter 2. Verse 1 is the key verse. It says, the word that Isaiah the son of Amos saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. So again, Isaiah is primarily speaking to the southern kingdom, the nation of Judah, which is

just contains the city of Jerusalem. There's not much else left at this point. Verses 1 through 4...

We see, in the latter days, the Lord's house shall be established. So here we begin to look forward. And Isaiah does this a lot. So you kind of have to try to keep track of where he's at. Right now, in chapter 1, he was talking to the nation, calling them to repentance. Now he's speaking to the nation, but he's telling them about the future in those latter days. And he begins to refer to what we call the millennium.

It's that time when the Messiah will rule and reign upon the earth. And we know that that is Jesus. And he came the first time in humility to be the sacrifice for sin. But the second coming of Jesus is for him to come in glory to establish his kingdom upon the earth and rule and reign for 1,000 years here upon the earth.

And during that time, while the Messiah reigns, it's going to be a time of seeking God. And you see that here in verses 1 through 4. The people wanting to learn his laws, desiring to know him. It's also going to be a time of peace. It talks about them beating their swords into plowshares. They're not going to need their weapons. They're going to make them into tools for farming and for, you know, things that are productive. And so when the Messiah reigns, it's going to be a time of peace.

and pursuing God. In verses 5 through 9, he goes back to the current condition though. The land is full of idols. So the problem with Judah is, well, they're full of idolatry. Now again in verse 5, you can see this invitation. He says, "...O house of Judah, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord."

As Isaiah is prophesying, he's calling the people, let's walk with God. Let's get right with God. Let's turn from idolatry. Let's turn from sin and follow him. Verses 10 and 11, we see that man shall be humbled and the Lord exalted in that day. Again, looking forward to the return of Christ, that kingdom that will be established by the Messiah. He says, here's what you need to know.

man will be humbled and the Lord will be exalted. Right now, man exalts himself and we exalt ourselves every time we disregard what God says in his word. But Isaiah promises, look, the lofty looks of man, verse 11, shall be humbled. The haughtiness of man shall be bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted.

God will be exalted. Jesus will be exalted. He will be high and lifted up against everything that tries to exalt itself. In verse 12 through 22, we see that extended saying, everything lifted up shall be brought low. This is so important. All pride will be cast down against

The Lord of hosts in verse 12 says, shall come upon everything proud and lofty, everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low. He will not stand for man's pride. He patiently waits and gives man opportunity to repent. So every time we have pride, he doesn't cast us down. But he will allow us to go so far individually and as humanity. And then he will put an end to it.

And he will say, you're not exalted. I'm exalted. I am God. Chapter 3, verse 8 is the key verse. It says, for Jerusalem stumbled and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. In verses 1 through 9, Isaiah promises that the people will be oppressed. As a result of their rebellion, God is bringing oppression.

He's bringing a great oppression upon the people. This is hard for Christians to accept sometimes. And sometimes we kind of look at the Bible and people refer to, you know, there's the God of the Old Testament. He's angry and, you know, full of judgment. And then there's the God of the New Testament. He's loving and caring. And it's not that way. It's the same God. But as we, well, as you consider the timeline again, it's been...

It's been a couple hundred years of rebellion against God. It's not that they made one mistake and God said, all right, that's it. I'm bringing down the hammer. No, what we really see, even though these are promises of judgment, we really see the grace and mercy of God in that he has allowed them the opportunity to repent this long.

This far. And he's not done yet. You'll see as we get to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is like 150 years later. And he still hasn't dealt the final blow. He's still been sending prophets to call them to repentance. And give them opportunity to repent. But what we need to understand is that God does bring judgment. He's merciful. He's gracious. He gives us opportunity to repent. But he doesn't just let us walk all over him.

God is bringing this oppression. Look at verse 1. It says, They're not going to have any supplies any longer. He's taken away. He's causing them to experience shortage, famine, loss, hunger, pain, agony. Why? Why?

To help open their eyes. To give them the opportunity to repent. God is holy. He will not stand for sin. But before he wipes them out completely. He's going to keep turning up the heat. To give them opportunity to turn back. In verses 10 through 12 he calls out the leaders. He says those who lead you cause you to err.

It's not just the people as a whole. They had lots of issues and they were in rebellion. But their leaders weren't doing their part either. And their leaders were helping them and encouraging them in their rebellion against God. And so God deals with the leaders there in verses 10 through 12. In verses 13 through 15, He says, I'll judge them. I'll judge the elders. In verses 16 through 23, the Lord says He will take away finery. In their great pride...

In the midst of their great sin and rebellion against God. They were celebrating and flaunting their disobedience. Verse 16.

Moreover, the Lord says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet. He's describing here this idea of promiscuity and sexual immorality and refusing to be corrected. Openly and publicly, they're flaunting with their jingling of their anklets. You know, like, hey, you know, we're out...

pleasure. We're out for a good time prostituting themselves, both spiritually and literally. And so God says, I'm going to take away your finery, all those jingling inklets and bracelets and those beautiful things that you're flaunting as you revel in your sin. I'm going to take away all of that. In verses 24 through 26, he says there's going to be a stench instead of a sweet smell. So you like all of your perfumes and you think you're all wonderful, but you're

Just wait. There's going to be a stench as I bring this oppression upon you. Now chapter 4 verse 2 is the key verse.

So again, he goes kind of back and forth. So he's dealing with them. It's going to be stinky and you're going to be awful because all this oppression is going to come upon you. But then, looking ahead, the branch of the Lord is going to be beautiful.

The branch is a reference that Isaiah uses throughout this book. It's a reference to the Messiah, to the Savior, who we now know is Jesus Christ. And so the branch is going to be beautiful. God's going to send a Savior, a Redeemer, and that is going to be glorious. And in that time, verses 3 through 6, the Lord is going to wash away the filth.

He's going to wash it away. Now, the judgment is announced. Again, it's the opportunity to repent. If they don't repent, then the judgment is going to come. And the purpose of the judgment is for cleansing. In verse 4, it says, "...when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning."

God is bringing judgment to wash away the filth. And if you refuse to repent, well, you're going to be part of the filth that's washed away. But God is going to purge all that is sinful and wrong in the nation of Judah. And if they will not listen to the message, then they will experience the judgment as God purges his people. Chapter 5, verse 7 is the key verse.

And verses 1 through 7, we're introduced to this picture of a vineyard, and we're told that the vineyard of the Lord is Israel.

In verse 2, it describes him digging up this vineyard. He's setting it up and clearing out all the stones and putting the best vines in there. Builds a tower for protection. And he sets a wine press there. And the end of verse 2 is important. He says, so he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And so he asks the question in verse 4, what more could I have done?

I mean, I set up the vineyard the best that was possible. The ground was cleared. The rocks were removed. Protection was set in there. Everything that was needed for the vineyard was provided for the vineyard.

So the expectation is this is going to produce good fruit. Just like if you were going to, you know, plant a little bit of a garden. You would set up the soil, you know, get the right seeds. You would make sure it's watered properly. Make sure it gets the right amount of sun. And then your expectation would be that it would produce the fruit or the vegetables that you expected. Because I did everything. Now, you understand if I don't do anything to the soil...

If I don't plant the seeds, if I don't water the seeds, if I don't take care of them, then it's not reasonable to expect a whole lot of fruit from those seeds. But if I do all of those things and take all of those steps, we would expect there to be some fruit. We would expect that there would be some produce as a result.

But God is calling the people, or the nation, you know, the vineyard. He says, look, I set you up. I gave you everything you needed. I expected good fruit. But instead, you brought forth bad fruit, even though you had everything you needed. And so God says, what will I do? Verse 5 and 6, he says, I'm going to remove my protection and all of the provision. And this is a good picture for us to understand judgment from the Lord. Judgment from the Lord oftentimes is,

Again, it's not God bringing down the hammer, but God removing the protection. That the judgment is coming for a long time and he's holding it back. He's holding it back. But he's saying, I've given this vineyard opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. And so what else can I do? I'm going to stop protecting it. And I'm going to let the judgment come in. I'm going to let the destruction take place. And so we're given this picture of the vineyard as the nation of Israel.

In verses 8 through 23, God explains, My people go into captivity because they have no knowledge. They're clueless. And as a result, they're experiencing this great destruction.

Here, Isaiah pronounces all kinds of woes. Woe to those who are pursuing prosperity in verses 8 through 10. Woe to those who are pursuing pleasure. Verse 20, woe to those who call evil good. Verse 21, woe to the wise in their own eyes. Verse 22, woe to those mighty at drinking wine. He pronounces all of these woes, which is a word of sorrow, but also a pronouncement of judgment. There's this great sorrow, this great judgment that's coming because the people are

are not seeking after God. They're not seeking first the kingdom of God. They're pursuing all kinds of other things because they have no knowledge. They're not seeking after God. In verse 16 it says, Again, if you will not exalt God...

And exalting God is, well, it's seeking him. It's hearing him. It's obeying him. If you will not exalt God and lift God up, then God will exalt himself by bringing judgment upon you. That was true of the nation of Judah. That's true of every person. If we will not exalt God, God will exalt himself by bringing judgment upon us.

He will be exalted. He will be lifted high. But when we refuse to exalt God, we are exalting ourselves. And everything that is lifted up and exalted shall be cast down. Our job is to humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord. To lift Him up and not ourselves.

Well, verse 24 through 30 says that the Lord has stretched out his hand against his people. Now again, Judah has already experienced some judgment, but here we see that God is calling for more. He's whistling for Egypt. He's whistling for Assyria and he's saying, come get them boys. They're continuing to refuse and so I'm going to continue to stretch out my hand and bring these other nations against my people.

God here is forced to deal with their sin and their rebellion, their exaltation of themselves. And so he will exalt himself. They can say, oh no, we don't have to listen to God. We don't have to obey God. And God brings judgment and says, yes, you do. You cannot get away with living in sin.

Well, chapter 6, now the key verse is verse 1. It says, A great passage here. Chapter 6 is one that you're probably familiar with. It's the commission of Isaiah.

Now we don't know exactly if this is chronological. So if chapters 1 through 5 happened and then, you know, he had this experience with the Lord, it seems that that is the case. But there's some discussion about whether these things are in exact order or not. But in verses 1 through 4, Isaiah says, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne. It's the year that King Uzziah died, a good king.

He made a mistake. He tried to go into the temple and offer incense. And so God struck him with leprosy. But overall, he was a good king. He sought the Lord. He called the people to the Lord. And so this is a tragic death. It's a death that, you know, it's a king that will be mourned. It's not one that, you know, the people are excited that, you know, he's finally gone. Now the new king can jump in. No, this was a sad time. The king had died.

And it was in that time frame, as this new king comes on the scene, that Isaiah gets caught up into this glorious scene of heaven. And he's there before the throne of God. And there's the glory of the presence of the Lord. And there's these angels going around, crying out, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. And the doorposts are shaking as they cry out to the Lord.

This glorious scene. You know, it made me think, you know, sometimes you're sitting there in your home and the walls begin to vibrate right there. Why? Because there's some car, you know, with some crazy bass going down the road. And maybe you shake your fist at them. But, you know, maybe that's more like heaven than you think. The walls are shaking. The doorposts are shaking as the angels are worshiping the Lord. It's this glorious scene. And he's there standing, seeing the Lord seated on the throne.

And as he takes in this scene, he realizes his own sinfulness. In verses 5 through 7, he says, I am a man of unclean lips. Remember all those woes he was pronouncing? Now he says, woe is me. He's not just pointing the finger at everybody else saying, hey, you know, woe is you, woe is you, woe is you. But he's also realizing, woe is me.

Now Isaiah, I mean, we've been looking at him. We have a long way to go in the book of Isaiah. We see it's a long book. God used him mightily. He's the most quoted prophet in the New Testament. I mean, he was a great man of God, but what we remember here is that prophets are sinners. And he says, woe is me. I'm unclean. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Prophets are sinners. And I hope not to shock you too much, but pastors are sinners.

I know. Terrible, huh? People are sinners. Jesus was the only one who is sinless. And so as he stands in the presence of God, again, he's not exalting himself and saying, yes, yes, Lord, I'm here. The great prophet Isaiah is in your presence now. No, that's not the response when we encounter God. Our response is, I'm undone. I'm unclean. I'm not worthy. I am sinful.

But the glorious thing that we see here is that confessing sin brings cleansing of sin. He says, I'm a man of unclean lips. And the angel takes the coal from the altar and touches his lips and says, now you're clean. You're cleansed. The scripture is very clear. When we hide our sin...

We try to insist that we haven't sinned when we try to cover it up and say, no, I'm not sinful. I'm not practicing something that's wrong. I'm insisting, you know, hey, what I do is okay. It's okay. God understands, you know, my position. And so that's why He allows me and it's not a big deal that I practice this thing that He said I shouldn't be practicing. When we're explaining away and justifying and hiding and refusing to confess sin, well, there's no forgiveness for that sin. But when we confess...

and say, woe is me. I'm undone. I am a man of unclean lips. Well, that brings the cleansing, right? 1 John 1.9 If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. We need to admit our sin to God just like Isaiah did.

Well then, he sees the Lord. He recognizes his sin. He confesses his sin. He's cleansed of his sin. And now he's ready to serve. Verses 8 through 13, he says, Here I am, send me. And here Isaiah volunteers to be the messenger of the Lord. Warren Wiersbe says, True worship leads to service. You hear God's call and you respond with obedience.

When we really encounter God, not only do we confess our sin, but we also sign up and say, Lord, I'm willing. However you want to use me. Whatever you want me to do. You want me to go to Africa? You want me to go to Okinawa? You want me to go across the street? You want me to go to this workplace or that workplace? You want me to live in this place? You want me to have that kind of family? You want me to go to that church? Whatever you want me to do, Lord, that's what I'm going to do. That's the response of one who has encountered the Lord.

Not, I'm going to do whatever I want to do and I'm going to pray that God blesses it. That's not the result of an encounter with God. It's a sign me up, Lord. Send me, use me, however you want. I want to be obedient to you. Verse 8 is interesting. He says, And then I said, here I am, send me.

It's interesting, not just because Isaiah signs up here, but because you see the plural pronoun here. He says, who will go for us? God is speaking. He says, who will go for us? And here is, you know, not the definitive proof, but here is where we see there's room in the language of the Old Testament for God to be triune. The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Our God. God is one. But he's also three. And I don't want to try to explain it more than that. Because I'll just go around in circles and get a headache. In John chapter 12. Check this out later on when you are bored. And you want to have a little bit of a headache. In John chapter 12. It tells us that Isaiah saw Jesus. Here in Isaiah chapter 6. It refers back to this situation. Where Isaiah is before the throne. And he's in a position.

And we're told there that Isaiah actually saw Jesus. So when you read Isaiah chapter 6, I mean automatically our minds is like this is the father. But we also know the son is there because Isaiah saw Jesus. And then in Acts, forgive me, I didn't write down the chapter. I think it's chapter 24, chapter 26. The book of Acts, the same encounter is referred to and said it's the Holy Spirit who is speaking forth these words that we're reading here.

Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father is God. There's one God, but there's also three distinct members of the triune Godhead, eternally coexistent, incredible mystery. Who will go for us? And Isaiah says, here I am, send me. Now he goes on to tell them in verses 9 and 10, hey, people are not going to be receptive to your message.

It's not like, don't get the idea that you're going and it's going to be, you're going to have this fanfare and it's going to be wonderful. They're not going to hear. They're not going to listen. They're going to refuse to receive your message. And in verse 11, Isaiah asks, how long is that going to go on? And God explains, they're going to refuse to hear until they're fully destroyed. So Isaiah, as you're signing up for this, understand this isn't, you know, a piece of cake mission. It's not going to be super easy. It's going to be rough.

But Isaiah still willing goes as the messenger of the Lord. Well, here's a quick look at the timeline again, just to call out because we see the time. It's the year that Uzziah died. And so now Jotham is reigning in Judah. And so this is happening around 735 BC. Isaiah has been ministering already for a little bit. And now he has this encounter and God renews his commission and sends him to the people of Judah. Chapter 7 now, verse 1 is the key verse.

It says, Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.

So here in verses 1 and 2, we see the situation where Syria and Israel war against Judah. And here's what that looks like on the map. Again, Israel is the northern kingdom. The capital of the northern kingdom is Samaria. And so that's what's being referred to there. And so the king of Israel from Samaria is

comes down against Jerusalem. He joins up with Syria. Now Syria is a little bit farther north off of the map here, but the capital of Syria is Damascus. And so kind of gives you some reference. So they join together, they align together to try to take out Jerusalem, to try to conquer Jerusalem.

Now this is happening in the days of Ahaz. And so if you want to look at the historical context, it's in 2 Kings chapter 16 verses 5 through 9. And there we learn that as these two nations combine to go against Jerusalem, that Ahaz hires Assyria instead of trusting God.

Remember, he sends gold and silver from the temple and he says to Assyria, hey, why don't you take out Damascus, you know, and get these guys away from me. And so Assyria takes the money, attacks them, and Ahaz thinks he won. But later on, Assyria is going to break that treaty and come against Jerusalem as well. So here in chapter 7, again, verses 1 and 2, we have this war against Judah.

In verses 3 through 9, now before all of this is completed, Isaiah is sent to Ahaz with a message from God saying, do not fear or be faint-hearted. So this attack comes before he hires Assyria. God sends him a message and says, don't fear. Don't be faint-hearted. I'm going to take care of this. Verse 3 tells us that Isaiah goes with his son,

which his name means a remnant shall return. And we'll see that the names of Isaiah's kids are really important as we go on. And so the Lord sends Isaiah with his son saying, I'm going to take care of you. Don't fear. Don't be faint hearted. But then in verse nine, he says, if you will not believe, well, surely you will not be established. And so Ahaz, you have a choice to make.

Believe and trust me and I'll take care of you. Or, if you do not believe, you're not going to be established. And only a remnant shall return. You won't be protected. Well then in verses 10 through 17 we see a sign is given of a virgin conceiving.

We see, first of all, God tells Ahaz to request a sign. And Ahaz says, no, no, no, I'm not going to test the Lord. Which sounds pretty right on, right? Sounds pretty spiritual. Sounds like what we would expect. But to demand a sign from God is not good. But if God tells you to ask for a sign, what do you think you're supposed to do? Ask for a sign. But Ahaz says, no, I'm not going to ask for a sign. Now, we don't know exactly what was in his heart, but my thinking goes...

Well, if I ask for a sign and then God proves it, then I have to be obedient and I don't want to be obedient. I want to do, I already figured out what I'm going to do. I'm going to hire Assyria. And so perhaps that's what's happening in his head. And so verse 14, he says, well, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Here's a famous verse because of course it's quoted in the New Testament showing that the virgin birth

Mary conceiving without ever having intercourse a miracle by the Lord and that's how God provides his salvation. And you're going to call his name Emmanuel which means God with us and a reference there to the deity of Jesus Christ. This brings up an important thing for us to understand though that many times in the scriptures specifically regarding prophecy you'll find that there are dual fulfillments.

That prophecies have oftentimes a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. It makes me think of Grover. Remember Grover? He goes, near, far, near, right? Same thing. Prophecies have a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. So the near fulfillment, as Isaiah is giving this sign to Ahaz, he's not primarily speaking about Jesus because that's not going to happen in Ahaz's day. He wouldn't see that sign. Right?

He's talking about something that, well, not a miraculous conception like what happened with Mary. He's talking about a normal but notable conception. Now, we don't know specifically who this young girl is or this young virgin is.

But the point is, Ahaz understood. Ahaz was going to see the sign, whether it was someone in Ahaz's household, or perhaps it suggested that it's Isaiah's wife, or someone that Isaiah marries that's going to have a child, and that's going to be the sign. Again, we don't know the specifics, but they know the specifics. And so it was a sign to Ahaz, and within a certain amount of time, God was going to fulfill his word. Then the far fulfillment then is Mary, and it's

literally fulfilled in that a virgin conceives and gives birth to a son and she brings forth God who became flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. Alright, verse 18 through 25. Now the Lord will bring Egypt and Assyria to humble Judah. So you're hiring, you're disregarding what God says, you're hiring Assyria to

But I'm going to bring Assyria as well as Egypt to humble you because you refuse to trust me. Chapter 8 now, verse 4 is the key verse. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria. So the context of this is still these two nations, Israel and Syria, are attacking Judah. Now don't confuse them.

Syria is different than Assyria. Syria is a little bit north of Israel. The capital is Damascus. Assyria is north and east. The capital is Nineveh. So Syria and Israel come together and God says, look, you're going to have a son. Verses 1 through 4, your son is a sign. And this is going to be the sign that before he's able to speak...

Damascus, Syria, Samaria, Israel, they're going to be taken away captive. So before the child is old enough to speak, those two nations which are coming against Judah will be conquered. And then in verse 5 through 10, God goes on to explain that Syria, Assyria rather, will overflow Judah. Verse 8 says, he will pass through Judah, will overflow and pass over. He will reach up to the neck of

And so it's like this picture, you know, when you're up in water up to your neck, it's like just completely consumed. And you can see that here on the map. So here's the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh is over there. Damascus is there. Here in this little section is where the northern kingdom was. And then this little section here that Assyria was unable to conquer is Judah.

And so they tried to conquer Judah. They tried to conquer Jerusalem. They took all the surrounding areas. And so you get this picture up to their neck. Assyria came and flooded the land but was unsuccessful in conquering the nation of Judah.

Well, verses 11 through 15, he says, let the Lord be your fear. So there was all this fear going on. There was all these conspiracies going on. Egypt's rising up. Assyria's rising up. You have Syria and Israel joining together. And there's this kind of panic amongst the people. And God says, don't be like the rest of the people to Isaiah. Don't call conspiracy what they call conspiracy.

Don't be freaked out about what they're freaked out about. Don't fear because of the rumors of this or the rumors of that. Don't be afraid of those things. I think this is really a timely word for us as believers. There's a lot of fear in the body of Christ. Kind of a lot of panic. And it's not that we can't, you know, kind of be realistic, you know, in our outlook as we survey the political scene and the political climate. But

But there shouldn't be this terror or this fear or this kind of paranoia over some of the things that are going on. Don't call conspiracy what they call conspiracy. Verse 13, God says, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hollow. Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. Don't get caught up in fear over rumors of this nation or that nation or this thing or that thing.

Fear God. Put God first. Let Him take care of you. He promises to take care of you. Be most concerned about Him and not the things of this world. Well, then verse 16 through 18, we see that Isaiah's family are signs. He says, here we are for signs and wonders. My sons, you know, they have specific names. The one son, his name meant a remnant shall return. The other son from verses 1 through 4 says,

Meher Shalal Hashbaz. It's a good name if you're thinking about naming a kid. It means speed the spoil and hasten the booty because Assyria is going to come and take away the spoils of Damascus and Samaria. And so it's going to happen quickly is what God's saying. And God tells them, name your kid as a sign. I think that's another good picture. You know, hey, don't think like the world thinks. Name your kids as signs if God tells you to.

Oh, but they're going to be made fun of for that name. Do what God says. Put God first. Verse 19 through 20, we finish it up. It says, to the law and to the testimony. Verse 20 is a key verse. If you don't have this verse highlighted, if you don't have it memorized, if this verse isn't very familiar to you, then start getting familiar with it. Verse 20, to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

So picture, there's all these rumors going on, right? There's all this commotion. There's all this talk. Conspiracy this and conspiracy that. And did you hear about this? And that nation joined with that nation. And I think they're coming from over here. Maybe if we go this way, maybe if we do that. And there's all this talk. And God says, let's get back to what's real.

To the law. To the testimony. Go there. Get to the word of God. And if people that are speaking to you are not speaking according to the word of God, it's because there's no light in them. They're caught up in this world. They're caught up in the things of this life. And they're not concerned about the things of God. No, our conversations, our discussions, our plans need to be based upon, need to be rooted in, need to be centered around the word of God.

Don't call conspiracy what everybody else calls conspiracy. Don't get caught up in those things. Get back to the Word of God. Stick to that. Base your decisions on that. Base your opinions on that. There's a great tendency right now to base our opinions on what the world says. There's some real convincing arguments about all kinds of things. But if they don't speak according to the Word of God, it's because there's no light in them. This is the standard.

This is why we read it. This is why we study it. This is why we preach it. Because this is the standard. And if they're not speaking according to this, there's no light in them. Let's pray. God, I pray as we continue to study and read your word, Lord, that you would fill us with your light. Lord, that we would not be like Ahaz, presented with your truth, but then deciding to do

our own plans and our own ways. Help us, Lord, as we're presented with your truth to fear you, to put you first, and to follow you. And so, God, I pray that you would give us a thirst for your word. Lord, that you would show us where your word is not the foundation of our lives and our decisions and our opinions. Lord, that we would allow you to correct those things, to reinforce those foundations.

by the truth that you've revealed to us. Give us a thirst for your word, I pray, God, that we would seek you, that we would know you, that our lives would be built upon the rock. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.