Sunday, May 5, 2024 PM

To Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1, as we continue our introduction and overview, and we've talked in depth about the chronological periods of Isaiah, of course he ministered for a very long time under the auspices of four particular kings that are mentioned there in verse 1.

And as we're working our way through verse 1 backwards, we've started with the chronological periods, and then we've heard about some places like Judah and Jerusalem, and now we're going to be talking about the people, the crucial people of Isaiah.

So let's begin with a word of prayer, and we'll read verse 1 again. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the day. We thank you for this blessing of Christian fellowship. Thank you for the book of Isaiah, and pray that you would help us to rejoice in its truth, that you would form us into the likeness of your desire, your Son, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray. Amen. So Isaiah begins this way, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hebron. And so when we read that verse, we are made aware immediately of people.

Of course, we've talked about the kings and how important they were to the storyline and understanding what's going on, but we also hear about Isaiah, and we've talked about that sometimes we read something like Judah.

And of course, we could think of the geography of Judah, the land of Judah. The same with Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a place, but also as you read through Isaiah, Judah and Jerusalem are not just places, they are people.

They are people. The people who live there are called as a group to be accountable to God who has made a covenant with them. So we're going to talk about the crucial people of Isaiah. You may have noticed that the Bible is full of people.

There's just people everywhere. People are heavily everywhere. The father speaks of the Son by the Spirit. The triune God, He deals personally with people, men, women, children, all made in the image of God.

And of course, as the Father everywhere speaks of the Son by the Spirit in the scriptures, our attention is drawn to Jesus Christ, the God-man, who is the man for all mankind. Now, we often find God speaking of mighty creatures.

We find Him talking about majestic places, but always in connection to people. Always in connection to man. And so, folks can sometimes get the idea that God is man-centered. He's always talking about people.

But we find that God as creator is God-centered and calling men to be God-centered through Jesus Christ. And I'll just say something very specific here that may matter to you and may not. The Trinity subsists in three persons, not people.

That matters, and there's a whole lot behind that. Just know three persons, not people. It's a very fine theological point, and it matters to some people. But God is three persons, one God. Now, let's think about the crucial people in the book.

Obviously, Isaiah. First and foremost, Isaiah, son of Amoz. His name means Yahweh is salvation. You wonder about the parents who named their kids. Why did they pick that? But they certainly named their son something, a name that is against idolatry.

A name that is full of hope. Isaiah means Yahweh is salvation. And he is usually regarded as the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, especially concerning the volume of what he wrote, but not just volume, but the beauty of it, the power of it, the variety of it.

And his ministry spanned 60 years. So as we read about these kings, Isaiah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, we're reading about six decades. A 60 year ministry from 745 to 685 BC. And let's quickly turn over to Isaiah 6, and let's read Isaiah's call and commission.

Isaiah's Call and Commission in Isaiah 6

Isaiah 6, verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings.

With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

So I said, woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

And he touched my mouth with it, and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged. And I also heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I sin? Who will go for us?

And I said, here am I. Send me. And he said, go, and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.

But I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, until the cities are laid waste, and without inhabitant. The houses are without a man, and the land is utterly desolate. The Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land, in it, and will return, and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree, or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down, so the Holy Seed shall be in it, shall be its stump.".

Well, what a commissioning service that was. Mountaintop experience, throne room of God, seeing the glory of God overwhelmed by His Holy Presence, communion by the Lord's forgiveness, live coal from the altar.

Here am I, send me. What a wonderful expression of obedience. It's honoring to the Lord, Isaiah's response. So often, our memory of this passage ends there. And then we come to this passage, and then we read what happens next.

That doesn't sound like a very pleasant task. To go and preach, and to proclaim the message of the Lord, so that, to the degree that, the people stop hearing, stop perceiving, grow hard, and utterly embrace the destruction that you're warning them about.

What a very difficult calling on Isaiah's life. A little glimmer of hope that there's a remnant that will remain, that there's going to be a continuation of some sort, but it's going to be mightily diminished.

So right off the bat, you can think about Isaiah's ministry, and you might sense a whole lot of discouragement. This is not a very happy perspective. But this is the judgment of God upon His covenant breaking people.

They're supposed to be His covenant keeping people, but they're breaking His covenant. It's ingrained into their very society, and most often displayed by their corrupt leaders. So, their kings, their princes, their judges, their priests, other prophets who aren't telling the truth.

And the corrupt leaders are brought to need for a new covenant that is clearly established. The king is bad. The priest is doing poorly, not doing as he should. He sets the sermon schedule, and says, Oh my goodness, we need a new anointed.

Well, Isaiah is about that. Isaiah preaches the coming of the new anointed. The great high king, and the high priest, and the great prophet is envisioned here. The anointed one, the Messiah, is promised.

For example, you can look over in Isaiah chapter one, in verse 23, as the leaders are rebuked, exposed. Verse 23 says, your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.

They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. So, a litmus test for the magistrate. Will they do right, when there's no profit in it for them? In this case, no, they don't.

Not in Isaiah's day. Corruption is deep. Corruption is something that happens over and over again. Something that God expressly forbade his people from having, judges and princes, people who have authority, of being partial to the wealthy, or partial to the poor.

They were to be just, and have scales that were not unbalanced. They were not to have weights. Two different sets of weights. One for the people they liked, and one for the people they didn't like. We complain today about, there's two or three different systems of justice in our nation.

Well, that's typical of corruption in any nation, at any time. And of course, the people groan with the wicked rule. Also, in chapter 41 of Isaiah, in verses 28 and 29, and you might remember the pleading of Abraham for the Lord, concerning Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Zoar.

If you find just ten, just ten righteous, surely you will not consume the righteous with the wicked. And the Lord is doing an investigation here, about his people. He's looking for a man. Verse 28, For I looked, and there was no man.

I looked among them, but there was no counselor who, when I asked of them, could answer a word. Indeed, they are all worthless. Their works are nothing. Their molded images are wind and confusion. Nobody up to the task.

Nobody worth pointing to as hope, except for the next verse. Behold, my servant, whom I have appointed upon him, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles, to the nations, and so on and so forth. We have the prophet looking for the man.

Who will be the man? And no one fits the bill. And so, he says, okay, then look at the one I provide. Look at the servant I provide. So, more on that in a moment, because that will be our last point. Not only do we find corrupt leaders being identified throughout the book, those are just a couple of examples, but prophetic figures are brought to our attention.

And, of course, the promised Messiah, as many of our passages come from the book of Isaiah. So, Isaiah chapter 9 is a classic example. Isaiah 9, verses 6 through 7. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder.

And his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom.

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Another passage that promises the Messiah is in chapter 60.

So, you just run the gamut over to near the end, Isaiah 60, verses 1 through 3. And you can recall Paul's words in Ephesians 5 here. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise over you, and his glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Isaiah is just full of that. Time and again, over and against the bleak judgments promised by God, against covenant-breaking people, there are the promises of his covenant-keeping Messiah. Time and again, our attention is drawn there.

And even other prophetic figures are highlighted simply to draw attention to a situation where God, by the prophet Isaiah, challenges Ahaz, wicked king Ahaz, to ask a sign, any sign from the Lord. Ahaz refuses with false piety, oh, I will not test the Lord.

And by doing so, he tested the Lord. And God says, well, I'm going to give you a sign. The virgin will be with child, and shall conceive, and give birth to a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. And so, of course, that's fulfilled in Christ.

But when you read on to chapter 8, the same language used about the woman giving birth to a child is used of Isaiah's second-born son, Meher-shalal-hashbaz. Longest word in the Bible. And God had Isaiah name his sons weird things, just like Hosea had to name his sons weird things.

But drawing attention to the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Lord. There's also a connection between the prophecies about Cyrus and the ultimate ministry of Christ. So, really briefly look over in Isaiah chapter 41, Isaiah 41 and verse 2.

And, of course, Isaiah 44 is also full of specific prophecies about Cyrus. He says of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple your foundation will be laid.

Remember that God used Cyrus to fund the rebuilding of the temple after the exile, when the people came back home with Ezra. Cyrus shook the kingdoms of his empire for their gold and silver and sent it to Jerusalem for the rebuilding of the temple.

Well, in Isaiah 41, there's a question. Who raised up one from the east? Speaking about God raising up Cyrus. Who raised up one from the east, who in righteousness called him to his feet, who gave the nations before him and made him rule over kings, who gave them as the dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow.

So, God's dealings with Cyrus, he selected Cyrus as his special servant for a particular task. The rebuilding of the temple, basically the restoration of his people and the language that Isaiah uses of Cyrus, Jesus and the apostles use of the Messiah.

Why is that? Because there was a pattern, there was a shadow, there was a type there in God's dealings with Cyrus. So, even the prophesied figures who were yet to come, ultimately are there to draw our attention to Christ.

The Servant Songs and the Coming Messiah

God also talks a lot about his covenant people. So, he'll talk about Israel and Judah, Jerusalem and Zion. He doesn't treat them as just pure geographical places because he calls for Zion to do things and Jerusalem to do things.

He'll question the group as a single individual. He'll talk about Judah as one man. Why would you do this? He'll talk about Zion as one woman. You are barren and sorrowful and he'll deal with his people in those ways.

Sometimes he has special names. He uses the term Ariel to talk about Jerusalem and it's a pun. It's a pun that means it is a place where sacrificial fire is offered but also a place that is sacrificed by fire.

That was what happened to Jerusalem. So, he has all different ways of talking to Israel, to Judah particularly. But most importantly, he describes them as his servant. So, Isaiah has in chapters 40 -55 a series of what are called servant songs.

We leave chapters 36, 37, 38, 39, the tail end of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, the beginning of the Babylonian threat. It's been pretty well established through the first 39 chapters that great judgment is on the horizon, bad things await.

But chapter 40 starts out famously how? Comfort, oh comfort my people. Comfort, yes comfort my people says your God. Comfort to Jerusalem. What comfort is there for a city and for a people that are facing exile?

For a people that are facing a situation in which only a remnant is going to be left? What comfort could there possibly be? And as you read chapters 40 -55, you find that the comfort is being declared to the people about one person who is to come.

And the people that the Lord addresses, he calls a servant. And the translators usually have it as a lower case s. And then he says to this servant, sometimes he calls them deaf, dumb, blind, stubborn, unfaithful, so on and so forth.

And then he'll talk to this servant who's no good about another servant to come. And usually translators will help you out and they'll put a capital S in there for that servant. And this servant is faithful and true, he always pleases the Lord and he brings to pass all these wonderful things.

And as you read through, it's very interesting, you begin to hear less and less of the first servant and more and more of the greater servant. Both are addressed with the same word, both have the same role and task as a light to the nations and bringing forth the truth of God's word.

But through the course of back and forth, eventually all we're left with is a focus on the capital S servant. And so the comfort is being declared to the terminal servant of the everlasting servant. I think one of the clearest expressions of this is going to be Isaiah 49.

Of course, the most famous servant song is Isaiah 52 verse 13 to chapter 53 verse 12. A five verse hymn to the glory of the servant, the suffering dies in our place and for our sake and is raised from the dead again to the glory of God.

And that's a passage that we often turn to, to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 49, listen O coastlands to me and take heed you peoples from the womb, from the matrix of my mother he has made mention of my name.

He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. Who do you think he's talking about? Who do you think is the voice here, given what we know through the rest of scripture? This is the Messiah, this is Christ.

He's the only one I know who has a sharp sword coming out of his mouth, right? In the shadow of his hand he has hidden me and made me a polished shaft in his quiver he has hidden me. So what does he say to his servant?

And he said to me, you are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. He just tracked me, me, my, my, all the way through. So what does he say to this servant? The things that Isaiah is saying here, he's saying this is the servant Israel, and the Bible looks at that and says this is the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.

He says you are my servant Israel in whom I will be glorified. Now listen to the complaint of suffering Jerusalem, suffering Judah, right? Who has got all this judgment coming down on her. And I said I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain.

Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord and my work with my God. There's an idea of the futility of, look at the rubble of Jerusalem, look at the rubble of Judah. What's left? And yet there's a hope saying I know that God is going to keep his promises and the blessings are surely to come.

Verse 5, and now the Lord says, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, and what is the job of his servant? To bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him. Now hang on a second, I thought in verse 3, God calls, says you are my servant Israel, now he says in verse 5, you are my servant to bring Israel back to me.

Isn't that strange? It's odd only in the sense that we are not accustomed to understanding the role of kings. Do you remember when David sinned and all the nation got punished? Well that hardly seems fair.

David's idea to count all the people, now the whole place is getting punished. That doesn't seem fair, but the king stands in for the people. The king is the people in and of himself. And the covenant that God made with David was the consolidation of all of his covenant promises into a single person, David.

And the focus was upon who then after that the son of David. So that all of the covenant blessings and curses would be dealt with within one person. And so the servant is the whole group of the people, and then all of a sudden the servant is the one person who stands in for all the people.

And he is the one who actually brings Jacob back to God, and gathers Israel to the Lord. For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Verse 6 says, indeed he says, it is too small a thing to preserve the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

Meaning, it's too small a thing for the Messiah to come and only be interested in Israel. Never the plan. It wasn't even plan A. It was plan not. It's too small a thing. The servant, the Messiah was to come and certainly be the savior for Jacob, certainly the savior for Israel.

But also, verse 6 concludes, I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, meaning the nations. That you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers.

Kings shall see and arise, princes shall also worship because of the Lord who is faithful. The Holy One of Israel, and he has chosen you. So, many people will despise him and abhor him, but he's still the savior.

Verse 8, thus says the Lord, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Now listen to this, I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people to restore the earth.

To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages that you may say to the prisoners, go forth. To those who are in darkness, show yourselves. And it just keeps on getting better and better as you read other New Testament prophecies.

Other New Testament apostles point to these prophecies as fulfilled in Christ. I want to focus in on this, as he says to the servant, too small a thing for you to be for Israel and Jacob alone. I'm sending you as the Servant, capital S Servant, for the restoration of even all the nations, to be a savior to all kinds of people.

What I used to say about Israel, lowercase s, he now says of Messiah, capital S Servant. And he says what? I will give you as a covenant to the people. Him personally, he comes as the covenant, all in and of himself.

What did Jesus say? Take, eat, this is my body. Drink, this is the blood of the new covenant, which you shed for many. Remember that? Jesus himself is the covenant. Why don't we need an ark of the covenant?

An ark is something that carries something, right? What was inside the ark? The bowl of manna, Aaron's rod that had blossomed, and a copy of the Ten Commandments, which was the summary of the Sonatic Covenant.

The ark was simply that which carried it around. Well, who's our covenant? Jesus Christ is our covenant. And he has tabernacled among us. He's the covenant and the ark of the covenant. He is a covenant in and of himself, given to us.

So, that's why, in more than one way, we often say, in the Old Testament, the question was whether or not you were in Israel. New Testament, New Covenant, the question is whether or not you're in Christ.

Isaiah, in the Servant Songs, is a place that shows that change of focus. But it's not a change of plan, that the new is the fulfillment of the old. It's also to say that the old is absolutely satisfied in the new.

There's nothing in Old Covenant prophets, among the Old Covenant prophets, where they would say, Oh, I think there's something lacking in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The old is satisfied in the new. And that's what we're, time and again, in the book of Isaiah.

Alright, any questions or thoughts as we close our time tonight? Okay, let's close by singing the Doctrine and Covenants.