(Through the Bible) Isaiah - Part 1 — Zac Poonen

Isaiah and the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament

Okay, we'll begin. Let's turn to the book of Isaiah. Now we come to the prophetical section of the Old Testament. We finish the historical section and the poetical section which was Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon.

Now we come to the prophetic section on from Isaiah to Malachi and Isaiah and Jeremiah are the longest prophecies, then Ezekiel. So therefore some of these are put first and they call them major prophets after Daniel but in terms of time I think it's good for us to know the details are mentioned here usually at the beginning of each prophecy during which Kings time like here in chapter 1 verse 1 when they prophesied.

The Chronological Setting of the Prophets

So first of all I'd like to give you a brief overview of the time at which these different prophets that we're going to study up to Malachi prophesied in terms of time so that you have an idea as to who all were living at the same time and who all prophesied at the same time and you compare their prophecies when you get time and maybe you learn something spiritually from that.

Now we know the two great prophets that we studied in Kings 1 Kings and 2 Kings were Elijah and Elisha and they prophesied these dates are approximate about 875 years before Christ and up to about 800 years before Christ a period of about 75 years Elijah and Elisha prophesied and then from about 800 years before Christ till about 400 years before Christ.

There was this period of 400 years 800 BC to 400 BC when all these prophets that we're going to study prophesied that is after the death of Elisha and the first three prophets were prophets to Israel.

You know Elijah and Elisha were both to Israel. I told you there are two kingdoms the northern kingdom of 10 tribes the southern kingdom called Judah of two tribes Elijah and Elisha prophesied in the northern kingdom and three prophets prophesied also in the northern kingdom of Israel from about 790 BC till about 715 BC.

The first was Jonah then Amos and then Hosea. So that's the chronological order. Okay, that's all there are no more prophets to Israel then because Israel went into captivity around that time to Assyria then the remaining prophets are all to Judah and the first of these were Micah and Isaiah who prophesied around the same time which was the same time as Hosea was prophesying in Israel Micah and Isaiah were prophesying in Judah.

They were contemporaries. So it's good to read Isaiah and Micah together because they were preaching at the same time. Then the next prophet after that was Nahum. He was alone and then there was another prophet after that was also alone which was Zephaniah.

There was a little bit of overlap Zephaniah had with Jeremiah who was the next prophet. Now five of these the next five prophets these are all to Judah. Remember we finished with Israel the next five prophets all prophesied around the same time with a little overlap some live longer than the others and some prophesied maybe 20 -30 years after one began the first was Jeremiah then Habakkuk Obadiah and Daniel and Ezekiel were in Babylon, but around the same time.

So all these five were around the same time Jeremiah Habakkuk Obadiah Daniel and Ezekiel with Daniel and Ezekiel being in Babylon. Then we have a gap of about 50 years and from about 520 BC onwards till about 480 where Haggai and Zechariah they prophesied together and then the last one just about 430 BC was Malachi.

So that gives you a rough idea of where these people prophesied Isaiah was around 740 BC Jeremiah was around 627 BC. So if you keep that before you when you study these prophets you'll see which all prophecies you can read together to understand what God was saying through different people.

I mean it's very interesting to see Jeremiah Habakkuk and Obadiah were all preaching at the same time to Judah and Daniel and Ezekiel were prophesying at the same time to the Jews in Babylon. So it's good to have that in mind.

The Two-Part Structure of Isaiah

Okay now we go to Isaiah and chapter one the book of Isaiah we could say is neatly divided perhaps more than any other book of the Bible certainly more than any other book of the Old Testament into two divisions and even though these chapter divisions were not inspired you know chapter divisions verse divisions Isaiah did not divide it up into chapters Isaiah just wrote continuously.

It was only a few centuries ago that people divided up in the chapters and verses for us to access it and to refer to it more easily. So there's nothing inspired about chapter divisions but having said that for ease for us to remember Isaiah has 66 books sorry 66 chapters like the Bible has 66 books and like the Old Testament of the New Testament has 27 books.

Isaiah also is divided into a first section of 39 chapters and a second section of 27 chapters and the first section of 39 chapters deals mostly with Old Testament prophecies and the second section of 27 chapters deals with New Testament prophecies.

So that's a remarkable coincidence that it's a little like the whole Bible itself and having said that you got that now it's first 39 chapters in the next 27 chapters one of the most important chapters or perhaps the most important in the first section I would say is chapter 6 where Isaiah sees the throne of the Lord and is commissioned to serve him.

So the throne of the Lord is a very important topic in Isaiah. God is sovereign and he sees him. There is holy holy holy God's holiness. God hates sin. God has to judge sin. Everything is based on that and if we are to serve God we need to have a vision of that.

And chapters 40 to 66 the second half the most important chapter is definitely Isaiah 53 where we see the lamb the lamb that is led before the shearers sheared slaughtered prophecy of the cross. So in chapter 6 we have the throne.

Chapter 53 we have the lamb and in Revelation you see them both together. The lamb in the midst of the throne in Revelation chapter 5. But before we get to Revelation Jesus lived on earth as a man as a servant of all people and as a servant of God.

So Isaiah shows us Jesus particularly in the latter chapters as the servant of Jehovah. And since it shows Jesus as the servant of Jehovah we see in him an example for us as we also become servants of the same Lord and he becomes an example for us to follow as to how we should serve the Lord in in looking through a concordance.

Isaiah's Major Themes and Prophetic Calling

I look this up myself and it's very useful to have a concordance to refer to words that are repeated frequently. You get the emphasis particularly in a chapter. As you're reading a book you find one phrase occurring quite often like Ecclesiastes under the Sun.

You look up a concordance and see how many times it comes and you say hey that's interesting. So the phrase the Lord of hosts Jehovah Sebaoth comes 62 times in Isaiah the Lord of the armies of heaven that gives us a vision of what Isaiah has at the back of his mind when he expresses something so frequently you know that if somebody speaks about something very often in his conversation or his message you know that's a very important thing in his mind.

So when Isaiah expresses in 66 chapters 62 times the Lord of hosts Lord of the armies of heaven a God of war against sin that's a big thing in his mind. The other expression that comes 30 times is the Holy One the Holy One of Israel sometimes for the Holy One that's another thing that comes very often.

So when we look at these words that come phrases that come frequently we get a understanding of what Isaiah is trying to emphasize. These things are hidden. It's the glory of God to conceal a matter and it's the glory of Kings to search it out now as I said for word by word study of Scripture.

I personally prefer the New American Standard Bible for quick reading through to get a bird's-eye view of the whole thing. I like the Living Bible or the Living New Living Translation. I would sometimes encourage you to take a Living Bible and read through Isaiah in one sitting.

Sometimes King James Version and NASB can be a little heavy. Read it through there. But when you want to go verse by verse go to a translation and not a paraphrase. So it's good to have both to study the Scriptures.

That's what I found through these years. So Isaiah prophesied as we look at the names of the Kings for a period of about 50 years and tradition says that when he was hiding in a hollow log that evil King sawed the log into two and sawed him into two.

Referred to in Hebrews 1137 of some who were sawn asunder. Tradition says that was Isaiah because Isaiah was a fearless Prophet he spoke very strong things. When he was speaking to Jerusalem for example he spoke like this verse 10.

Chapter 1. Verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord. You rulers of Sodom are you surprised that they sawed him asunder. Imagine if you called Jerusalem the Holy City Sodom he was a he was not a person who was a diplomat trying to please everybody.

Like a lot of preachers today. He was a prophet who spoke what God wanted him to speak. Whether people got offended or hurt or upset didn't bother him. That was God's Word. They could saw him asunder.

They could kill him. They could reject the word. It didn't make a difference. Finally that word would judge the people in the Day of Judgment. So the prophets were like that. And I said we want to look at chapter 1 here Isaiah is describing this condition of Israel in a very backslidden state.

Sinful Worship and the Call to Repentance

As I told you it is they had all revived under the preaching of Elijah. They had all fall down and acknowledge that he was Lord. But about a hundred and thirty years later when Isaiah comes on the scene they are back into that backslidden state again.

It's like Christendom. God raises up a prophet in some generation in some city or country and he stirs people and brings them back to the Lord. He dies. Elijah dies or is taken up. Elisha dies and Christendom sinks back until another prophet arises.

And with most prophets they just get upset and call them heretics and false prophets and throw them away. And they like to listen to the false prophets. All these true prophets always had clashes with the false prophets every one of them.

So what the Lord tells this people through Isaiah is verse 3. An ox knows its owner. A donkey knows its master's manager. But Israel does not know. I'm supposed to be their master. I'm supposed to be their owner.

I'm supposed to be their manager. But they don't understand me. Even the animals are better than my people. What a tragedy when God's people come to the place where animals recognize their master and obey them.

But God's people don't know their master. And the Lord says about these people. I have brought them up verse 2 but they have revolted against me a sinful nation. Verse 4 stricken down with iniquity. And it says in verse 6 the picture of man and sin from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.

There's nothing good in the whole of man holy sin. That's why he calls them worse than rulers of Sodom. And the Lord says what are the use of all your prayer meetings. And my five with a paraphrase at verse 11 12.

I'm not interested in your offerings your tights your prayer meetings your offerings verse 13 are worthless. Your special meetings new moons and Sabbaths verse 13 and verse 14 your appointed feasts. They've all become a burden to me because there's sin in your life.

I'm not interested in these external rituals. I'm not interested in your Bible studies. I'm not interested in your all-night prayer meetings. I'm not interested in your fasting and prayer. There is sin in your life.

Therefore the Lord says in last part of verse 15 your hands are covered with blood. So verse 15 when you spread out your hands in prayer I will not listen to them. Because with those very hands you go and sin.

And then you come here and he'll hold up those hands before me. Look at those hands. There's sin in those hands and you're holding it up to me in prayer. The Lord says I'm not going to listen. A lot of prayer meetings are a waste of time.

If you don't have a clear conscience it's true. You might as well go to sleep instead of praying if you. If your conscience is clear then a prayer meeting is valuable and powerful. But if your conscience is not clear either set your conscience right.

Or if you have no intention of getting your conscience right go and get some sleep. Far better. It's true. And the Lord says wash yourself. Verse 16. Make yourself clean. Remove the evil of your deeds.

Stop doing evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Defend the orphans. Plead for the widow. Don't exploit poor people. You know the number of Christian leaders who exploit widows and orphans who take money tithes from poor widows and orphans and live in grand style themselves.

So many even in our country. Some poor widows in the United States send money for Christian leaders to live in grand style here. This is what I mean exploiting widows. Be careful that you don't do that.

Be careful that you don't exploit poor people and take their money to live in grand style yourself. If you take money from a person make sure you live at a lower standard than that person. Then it's all right to receive from anybody not otherwise come now the Lord says let us reason together.

Verse 18. Even if your sins are a scarlet first of all you got to acknowledge your sin. Confess it. They will be as white as snow. The Lord promises cleansing. Even if they are red like crimson they shall be as wool.

If you consent and obey you'll eat the best of the land. But if you rebel you'll be devoured by the sword. Verse 21 the faithful city has become a harlot. This is like James. James says my brethren you adulterers and adulteresses.

It's quite interesting. He calls them brethren in one verse. And then says you adulterers and adulteresses. In James 4 James was another prophet. I really believe we need more prophets in the church in India will speak the truth not in hatred not in bitterness in deep love and compassion.

But it will speak the truth like Isaiah. And there are a number of verses here he goes on to describe their state and he tells them to repent. We go to chapter 2. In chapter 2 we read about the day of the Lord the day when the Lord's kingdom will be established on earth.

The Day of the Lord and the Danger of Pride

The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established verse 2 and people will say. Verse 3 let's go to the mountain the house of the Lord of the Lord to the house the God of Jacob and the law. Verse 2 3 last part will go forth from Zion and the Lord will judge between nations.

Verse 4 and further down it says about the day of judgment. Verse 10 enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord. This we read in Revelation 6 is going to be fulfilled. The proud look of man will be a base.

Verse 11 the loftiness of man will be humbled and the Lord alone will be exalted that day. The great conflict is with proud people. God is against proud people 24 hours of the day and he's going to humble all the proud people.

Proud believers proud unbelievers. They're all going to be humbled on the day Jesus comes again. If you want to live a wise life on earth. Let me give you my advice humble yourself before God and man always always think of yourself as a nobody a servant and nothing.

Don't ever get into your head that I've become experienced or I'm senior and I know so much and I'm anointed. I'm used. No no no that's the way for the Lord to become your enemy. The Lord will bring down the proud looks of man.

Verse 12 you'll have a day of reckoning against everyone who is proud lofty lifted up. So the Lord is going to have that. We might as well be ready for that right now again verse 17 look at the emphasis on verse 11 proud lofty exalted people.

Verse 12 proud lofty lifted up people. And verse 17 the pride of man will be humbled. Loftiness of man will be a base. The Lord alone will be exalted. See the emphasis is on proud people. Proud people proud people.

God is going to humble them. And therefore verse 22 it says. Stop bothering about man whose breath is in his nostrils. I remember many years ago how this verse helped me tremendously as a young man when I started preaching and standing in the pulpits I was very nervous shy reserved and I was afraid of people who are all much older than me sitting up there and I had to preach to them and I would try to impress them just like you all.

You know we're all the same made of the same flesh tempted in the same way. And then the Lord showed me something from this verse that really helped me and I want to share it with you. The Lord said to me do you know all these people sitting here their breath is in their nostrils.

If I take away that breath you know what happens to them. They become dust just like the dust outside. So just look at these people like a pile of dust a big mountain of dust. Their only life is because I've given them breath.

Stop regarding them and speak the truth. Don't seek to impress any of them. I mean if I were standing in front of a mound of dust outside I wouldn't try to impress it. Oh I hope all of you are impressed with me.

So you know it changed my thinking that I don't have to seek to impress people whoever they are whether it's white dust or brown dust or black dust or any type of dust. Okay we go to chapter 3. There's a lovely verse in verse 10.

Leadership, Justice, and Holiness in the People of God

Say to the righteous. This is a word I would say to all righteous people. It'll go well with you and it'll go badly. Verse 11 with the wicked. Verse 12 speaks of the pathetic state of many of God's people.

It says oh my people you are ruled by children. That means you're ruled by immature leaders. You're ruled by women because men are not there to take the lead. Effeminate people. Immature people. That's the meaning of verse 12.

Immature means they're not grown-up. They don't think of mature things. They don't think of eternity. You know how a child is occupied with toys and silver paper and various things like that. He says a lot of your leaders are like that occupied with the petty things of earth instead of the most important things of eternity they are effeminate people.

Effeminate people means they are not warriors. They're not bold. They don't stand up. Don't ever be immature or effeminate. If you want to leave God's people steer clear of those two things. Then verse 13 he says the Lord is going to enter into judgment.

Verse 14 with the elders and princes of his people. See always. You find throughout the prophets they always started with judgment on the leaders. The leaders are the ones who are going to be judged first because it's because of the leaders that the people go astray and says why do you crush my people and grind the face of the poor.

Verse 15 that means you care for rich people in your congregation but you don't care for the poor. The prophets are always concerned about leaders who always buttered the rich and were hard on the poor.

We see so much of that in Christendom today. They say nice things to all the rich influential people in their church. And they speak strongly and hard to the poor people who sit there. And God is concerned about that.

And the true prophet will never be like that. And then the Lord has to say a lot to the women in Zion not the unbelievers. The daughters of Zion were 16 to 26 and first of all again for their pride the daughters of Zion are so proud and just look at the things which the Lord is looking at in young girls and young women first their pride.

The way they keep their heads when they walk their eyes their flirtatious eyes with which they try to catch men. See this is and their mincing steps and the tinkling of the bangles on their feet. And verse 18 their anklets and their headbands and their ornaments and their dangling earrings and bracelets verse 19.

And headdresses and ankle chains and sashes and perfume boxes and finger rings verse 21. And nose rings and tunics and cloaks and the money handbags. And it's all here verse 22. I'm not. I'm not imagining things.

It's all here in verse 22. Handbags verse 23 the hand mirrors which are inside those handbags and the turbans and the veils. Oh you think this prophet has only got time to talk about all these type of things.

Is God interested in the way a young sister dresses. He certainly is that it must be modest and you know not showing off their body. And they must be simple and not with the purpose of attracting men.

That's the most important thing daughters of Zion. New Testament also speaks about that. Paul says he was another prophet. He said I want the women to be dressed with sobriety modestly and decently. So I just mentioned this.

You can imagine how all the women got so mad. That's why they finally saw Isaiah and said get rid of this man. He's talking about all this type of stuff. Don't think that the prophets speak what all the other preachers preach.

The other preachers are diplomatic. They don't want to offend the men. Don't want to offend the rich men don't want to offend the sisters. But prophets speak what God wants them to speak. And that's why they're not popular.

It's good to study these prophets because you see what type of men they were. And as I said I want to give you a little foretaste. I mean a little appetizer for you to go through as I yourself. Chapter 4 speaks of the Millennium where Jesus is called in verse 2 the branch of the Lord.

And one day here's the wonderful promise for these daughters of Zion these very daughters of Zion who are like this verse 4. The time will come when the Lord will wash away the filth of these daughters of Zion.

This is all filth. It's the spirit of the world. It may look like perfume but it's filth because it's a spirit of the world that's got into the dressing habits of these sisters. And when the Lord cleanses it all away by the spirit of judgment verse 4 and the spirit of burning if there is one thing that's required in the Church of Jesus Christ in India today is this the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.

And then verse 3 everyone that's left in Zion will be called holy. Everyone that's recorded for life whose name is written in the book of life in Jerusalem. And then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion over all the churches assemblies means churches a cloud like the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.

And over all the glory this is what I like to see verse 5. Over all the glory will be a covering. You know just like the tabernacle there was a glory inside but the whole thing was covered with this dirty ugly covering.

So the Lord says the church also there'll be a glory but the glory will be covered so that people won't see. The glory will be inside and there will be a shelter. Verse 6 to protection in the inside the church there's a protection from the heat of the world.

The Six Woes Against Covetousness and Moral Confusion

In chapter 5 he speaks six woes. Woes is like a curse like Jesus used to say woe unto you. Woe unto you won't you. We read six woes from verse 8 to verse 22 of chapter 5. I'll just tell you briefly what they are.

First of all a woe against those who are keeping on buying property in covetousness exploiting poor people verse 8. And then there is a woe on those who indulge in sensual pleasure verse 11 you know feasting all the time no fasting etc.

And then there is a woe on those who defy God openly. Verse 18 who drag iniquity with cords of falsehood. Verse 20 those who don't separate evil from good. Verse 21 those who are feel that they are very intelligent.

We know everything. Verse 21 clever in their own sight. And six a woe on those who drink and take bribes. Verse 23 to justify a rich wicked person against someone who doesn't give him a bribe. It's against unrighteousness against indiscipline eating and drinking and covetousness and possessiveness exploiting the poor and mixing up evil and good.

And saying it doesn't matter who don't separate the evil from the good. What a need there is for us today when you read a book when you watch a television program separating the evil from the good. Don't lump it all together.

Prophets spoke about these things very clearly. Now we come to chapter 6 which I said is the central chapter of this section. In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up.

Isaiah's Vision of the Throne, the Altar, and His Commission

And there was six seraphs. Seraphim is just the plural of seraph. There were six seraphs sorry seraphs. There were a number of seraphs but each seraph had six wings. And it's very interesting for us to see what they use these six wings.

For we saw in Deuteronomy that verse with Jesus quoted to Satan thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and then thou shall serve him. There are seraphs also worship and serve. But the interesting thing is they use four wings to worship and two wings to serve.

This is the balance. It's not three three. It's not fifty percent. Fifty percent. We must be more worshipers than service and the more effective our worship is the better our service will be. Worship means devotion to Christ is not just singing is more than singing praise and thanksgiving worship recognizing his holiness recognizing his greatness bowing down before him acknowledging that he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings that Satan's been defeated etc.

And the more we worship the better we can serve. And it's very interesting to see that they covered their faces these seraphs who have never sinned in their life cannot see the holiness of God don't think lightly of the holiness of God and that's why we should think of it as a tremendous privilege that we can come before him cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ and when Isaiah saw this the holiness of heaven the greatness of heaven this man who said woe unto this person and one to these people and one to these people and one to these people and one to these people suddenly says verse 5 woe unto me see this is always what happens when we see the glory of God we see the wrongs in other people and that's right Isaiah did not say one wrong thing in chapter 5 is all scripture, but it was necessary for him as a prophet who prophesied about the sins of other people also to get before God and see the sin in himself.

It's necessary for every prophet and preacher who stands in the pulpit and points out the sin of the congregation after that to go home and get before God and see the sin in his own self. Otherwise, he would be a backslider himself.

Many preachers don't do that. They find great delight in pointing out woe unto this one to this group one to that group one to the group and then go home and they don't go before the God they don't go before the Lord.

They don't see his holiness. They never say woe is unto me. They never see say like Paul said in Romans 7 all wretched man that I am all wretched man that I am Romans 7 24 in my flesh Romans 7 18 there dwells no good thing.

That's what Paul said. So a true servant of God is one who pronounces judgment of on the sin of others, but then goes and sees the corruption in his own nature verse 5 and he's particularly concerned about his tongue Lord.

I'm a man of unclean lips. So he has here a vision of the throne and then of the altar. We need to be struck down to the dust with a vision of God's holiness and then we need to be lifted up because the blood from the altar has cleansed us here.

It was a cold verse 6. Here's the altar you need to see the throne in the altar all the time in your life throughout the end of your life. You need to see the throne of God and the altar on Calvary never lose a vision of both of these and that burning coal from the altar.

It says came and touched his lips and cleansed your sin is forgiven. You need to hear that voice you need to hear that this this sin that you have discovered in the holiness of God is cleansed completely and forgiven only then can you go out to serve.

Then the Lord says verse 8 whom shall I send who will go for us? And he said here am I verse 8 send me, you know, you can't go if God doesn't send you if you go without God sending you and you're going to have a lot of problem.

A lot of people have gone out to serve the Lord in India without God sending them some man has sent them some organization has sent them. Yeah, that's second best you can do a lot but nothing like God sending you a deep conviction that God has sent me here.

If the confirmation may come through men God called Saul and Barnabas the confirmation came to other through other prophets. We read in Acts 13, but God must call us who and it's God saying I want to send someone to say Lord here am I and then the Lord was saying verse 9 go go.

Tell this people here is your commission. This is your message. Is God still the same living God today as he was in Isaiah's time. This is old covenant. We are in the new covenant the Holy Spirit poured out and well in our hearts.

We don't have to hear him with our ears. We can hear him in our hearts. I've never heard the Lord speaking physically, you know audibly in my ear. I've never seen with my eyes an angel or the Lord or anything, but I see him so clearly in my heart and I've heard him so clearly in my heart in the last 40 years and then the Lord gave him a very difficult commission go and tell these people strong message.

Their hearts are insensitive. The years are dull. This is the verse that Jesus quoted when he was explaining why he spoke in parables in Matthew 13 15. He quoted from Isaiah. So what do we see here a vision of God a vision of self a vision of grace that forgives us a vision of service that we can do for the Lord and finally a vision of fruit in verse 13.

There will be a holy seed that comes forth from this terribly corrupt nation. There will be a remnant as a result of your service in chapter 7. We have this wonderful promise about the birth of Jesus and Mary giving birth to Jesus in verse 14.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign verse 14. Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Emmanuel. This is the prophecy in the Old Testament that a virgin an unmarried woman without having any relations with a man would have a son because the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the name of that child would be Emmanuel meaning God with us and that verse is quoted in the New Testament as we know in Matthew 1 verse 23 and I don't have to go and I don't want to go into details of all the other things here.