Sunday, March 3, 2024 PM

Get started obviously we're gonna be in the eyes So encourage you to open your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 1.

Let's start with a word of prayer father We thank you for the day. We thank you for the evening Isaiah chapter 1 in verse

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem Yeah, Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah King and we started that back

Remember 2021 in our morning services and we're just about to finish up and Recently on Sunday nights.

We've been reading through the time period of Isaiah through the book of 2nd

Kings and Some of these Kings of Judah and Kings of Israel that have some relevance to Isaiah We've been reading their stories in the book of 2nd

Kings chapters 15 to 20 And I know that many of you read through Isaiah yearly as part of your yearly Bible read so given all of that I Want to ask just a few questions survey questions foreign threats, that's right, but also the threats of Babylon two major threats amongst

Two major and then there's quite a handful of minor threats as well Israel's rebellion.

Yes There is a great deal of rebuke Concerning the rebellion of God's people and they're breaking covenant with him

Isaiah that are very familiar to us All right.

So in Isaiah chapter 7 The Lord gives a sign to King Ahaz virgin shall be with child and shall conceive a son and she'll call his name

Emmanuel I'm just seeing how familiar are with Isaiah.

That's all I'm doing. I'm just trying to Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 7 were Obviously, I thought top two responses

Coming right in any other prophecies or promises that we can think of in Isaiah that kind of stand out to you

Yes, oh, yeah And I think you will

Mount up with wings like Eagles, right? Think of the the passages in Isaiah about The grass withers and the flower fades with the

Word of our Lord yours forever When we when you begin to listen through Isaiah and I listened through it three or four times in the last couple of weeks and As you listen through you realize how many?

favorite verses Not just our favorite verses but Verses that are favorites of Christ and the

Apostles that they keep bringing up throughout the New Testament versus they get repeated in the

Bible What importance do you think Isaiah has for today?

Any notions about that? Yes Isaiah very important for understanding who

Christ is and of course What more relevance could we have? Than to know more of our

King who reigns over us today And what his plans are? We all have some favorite

Isaiah passages More than once we probably have memorized some phrases or Scripture verses or even some passages from the book of Isaiah.

It is full of Very beautiful poetry images that stick with us

We have several hymns and spiritual songs that we sing today that are based on Isaiah.

We've already mentioned handles Messiah Passage after passage coming out of Isaiah Yes, there we go spiritual song their scripture songs that we sing that come right out of Isaiah we already mentioned one

That We should be as wide as snow and there's a refrain from one of our hymns, right?

Any other hymns or spiritual songs that we can think of that come out of the the words the phrases of Isaiah?

It used to be number one in the Baptist hymnal, there you go

Yeah 1976 Brodman, holy, holy, holy number one of the

New Testament without Isaiah big chunks will be missing From the New Testament if we didn't have

Isaiah so When we look at verse 1 of Isaiah This is an excellent introduction and I think that the significance of the entire

Prophecy of Isaiah is embedded here in this one verse and the plan is to take its portions and run it backwards

So the very last part of verse 1 we're going to make our first point for our introductory study Before we move on to verse 2 we'll be here for a little bit

I reckon as we familiarize ourselves with the book, but as we see at the very end of verse 1 we hear about the days the days of Uzziah Jotham a has

Hezekiah kings of Judah and of course, we can't think of Hezekiah without thinking of the

Extra 15 years that God gave to him in his life and his very wicked son

Manasseh, I think the other Sunday night I read about the end of Manasseh in second

Kings and I was reminded by brother Ken who came up and Reminded me of the account of Manasseh from second

Chronicles that at the very end of Manasseh's life. He repented He repented of his wickedness.

He repented of his sin and his final days were lived out humbly before the Lord And that was a good reminder to have so we're going to look at the

Chronological periods of Isaiah first and foremost to try to understand what time?

Was Isaiah written and what were the concerns that Isaiah had while he was writing this prophecy?

What were the things that had just happened and were going on? And about to happen and I say

I say our period after King after King, it's not so much a progression

One day to another or one week to the other but rather one reign of a king to the other that was the way that the entire

Society was structured The focus that we have there in Judah and Jerusalem in verse 1 remind us of the covenantal places of Isaiah Judah and Jerusalem are very important in God's revelation and how he did business with out with Israel and he gave them the land and told them to worship in Jerusalem and through David and Solomon I told everybody that they should be worshiping there in that city and so they become very important places

But we also remember that Judah is more than a place But a people and there are all kinds of people here in verse 1 we hear about Isaiah the son of Amoz We hear about Judah, which is not just a place but also a people group

And we also hear about these kings and burdens woes promises rebukes

Proverbs and poems parables cartoons riddles signs dreams

Doxologies, but notice that the entirety of the book is called the vision singular it's the vision of Isaiah, it's not

Isaiah's collected works But it is a singular Vision, so we're going to consider the cumulative prophecy of Isaiah and As each of these considerations are clarified in the light of Jesus Christ.

We should conclude with the Christological means a splendid display

Every which way you go in Isaiah you find Christ. It's one of the most Christ centered

Christ saturated books in the Old Testament now as we think about Isaiah being as big as it is and as old as it is and as complex as it is

I Suppose that's why in more than one introductory study that I've been reading

The advice to pastors and teachers is to not go through it passage by passage Just straight up just take the major themes

Don't do a passage by passage study through this book. It won't it won't work out. Well And I suppose if the commentators are saying that That a whole lot of people may feel a little

Intimidated by the book and indeed the size and the scope of Isaiah are daunting Isaiah to Christmas and Good Friday and Just leave it to the to those basic promises and prophecies that we remember so well

We don't have to toss it into the eschatological pantry with the other weird and dusty There it's just too much.

I Think we can make a good faith effort to see Christ Filling all of this so that he is formed in all of us and that's the goal

That's the goal I want us to write of Isaiah's prophecy

When we think about the chronological period of Isaiah, it's given to us in the lives of these.

I say periods rather than progression because the history of Judah in the days of Isaiah are measured by the reign of Kings each each period is centered on each

King This is because God in his covenant with Israel Centered his promises and dealings with Israel upon Israel's King It's a covenantal matter and thus it's a theological manner of understanding the times

To this day we still measure our times theological BC is before Christ and AD is

Anno Domini in the year of our Lord We still count everything according to theology according to the truths of Christ four names of four kings

Appear here as I had Jonathan they has in Hezekiah. And of course we can add

Manasseh to the list Manasseh was reported by tradition to have song

Isaiah the prophet in half with a wooden saw I don't know if that's the truth of the matter

But perhaps this tradition was something that the writer of Hebrews referred to when he referred to prophets being sawn in half for the faith but these kings of Judah were reigning at the very same time as kings of Israel were reigning in the northern kingdom because the kingdom had split back under the reign of Rehoboam and There is a great deal of concern during this time during the days of Isaiah Great deal of concern about Assyria Assyria was the major world power in that time and so while the kings of Judah were reigning the kings of Isaiah the kings of Israel were reigning and the kings of Assyria were reigning simultaneously the time and we can see

Micah and Isaiah were all preaching pretty close to the same time Though Amos was preaching both to the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom

Hosea was preaching to the northern the southern kingdom, but they were all saying very similar things as The Lord's message to his people had to do with very similar sins

It was based upon the same covenant that he had made with them in the same Hope that he was offering to them in the person of the

Messiah kings of Judah prophets I Took a class in my college an intensive class on Isaiah And our professor

Spencer Ledbetter walked in No notes and went to the chalkboard and proceeded to write out every single king of Judah and Israel in chronological order with their dates and showed all the different prophets and where they served and when and Did it all from memory and then proceeded to teach the rest of the class with no notes

On Isaiah, how did could he do that? Well, he had Isaiah and 75 % of the Bible memorized.

So I'm not impressed with this because Spencer Ledbetter could do it from memory

I'm sitting over here trying to write it down on my notes But it was helpful to see

What went on when we're reading our Bibles? It's helpful to know what time we're in what other things are going on around the same time period

And so hopefully we'll be able to keep track of that as we study Isaiah and I think that'll bring a lot of extra help and texture to some of these promises that we love so dearly and the prophecies that we know by heart are

So because the kingdom divided at 931 BC ten tribes sided with Jeroboam over Rehoboam who was the son of Solomon but God had promised

David a Continuing lineage remember that David wanted to do something.

I'm gonna build a temple for God How is it that I'm living in a house and the

Ark of God? Is it a house for the throne of God on earth this this mercy seat above the above the

Ark of the Covenant. I the house amongst us

And at first the Prophet said do what's in your heart do it would do whatever you desire and God Said nope.

Nope. We're not going to do that. And so in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verse 12

Build and you rest with your fathers. I will set up your seed After you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom

This is the verse that Paul was preaching in Acts 13 Speaking of Christ and yet also this promise speaking to David very much was also about Solomon the son of David He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom

Forever I will be his father. He shall be my son That's the way God spoke about Israel when he brought him up out of Egypt.

He's he told Pharaoh This is my son. You don't mess with my son. You mess with my son. I take your son, right?

in the Passover angel of death came over Egypt and killed the firstborn and God took his son out and how did

God treat his son Israel? Well, if he committed iniquity he chastened him with the with the rod of men and the blows of the sons of men in the days of the judges when when

Israel God's son did not do right and was breaking covenant God brought oppression after oppression upon him check chastening him chastising him

Trying to to press Israel until they cried out to God and then he would deliver them and they have a piece of 40 years

Here at 80 years there Well now God is speaking about David's seed

The son of David the royal king sitting upon the throne in Israel He's talking about him the way he talked about all of Israel, right?

Why that makes a lot of sense too because the king stood in for the people, right? He was the people all together in one person, which is why you remember when

David sinned and had the the people counted Well, who got the plague all the people did their representative failed them and the whole people were punished

You see how that works verse 15 But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom

I removed before you and your house and your kingdom shall Be established forever before you your throne shall be established

Forever according to all these words and according to all this vision. So Nathan spoke to David now

What went wrong What happened? Well, you have to speed ahead to first Kings chapter 15 and We have

David reigning and then we have Solomon reigning and then when Solomon Dies his son

Rehoboam Rome And Later on When Rehoboam fails to listen to the wisdom of the elders and and he speaks very harshly

Break away and they say we have no part in the house of Jesse and they they run north and Judah remains in the south and Rehoboam continues on and then he his heirs continue to reign from Jerusalem while Jeroboam Built two shrines one in Dan and one in Beersheba to keep

To keep all of the people Worshipping in the northern kingdom and not go south to Jerusalem so Maybe in Bethel not

Beersheba Chapter 15. Let's look at something that's going on in the life of Judah in first Kings 15

Verse 1 in the 18th year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat Abijah became king over Judah He reigned three years in Jerusalem.

His mother's name was Makkah the granddaughter of Abishalom and he walked in all the sins of his father

Which he had done before him his heart was not loyal to the

Lord his God as was the heart of his father David That's bad news right bad

King bad news for the whole nation first for it nevertheless for David's sake

The Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by setting up his son after him and by establishing

Jerusalem All right, so so good thing. I'm not going to put the lamp out

We're gonna leave the light David's seed burning in Jerusalem We're not good.

This is a wicked King. He doesn't deserve to stay on the throne. He deserves judgment God God should just take him out before he has a chance to have any more heirs by all rights

But God says we're going to leave him there Because of my promise to David and his descendants that there would be an everlasting heir

There's a seed for coming from David who would reign an everlasting throne. He says I'm not going This has some bearing of course, there's a lot of confusion

During the days of the exile and the Reconstruction when there was no king Reigning in Jerusalem and Ethan the

Ezra height as we saw from Psalm 89 when

Isaiah chapter 62 First I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake.

I will not rest until Until Her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns so God brings forward this metaphor of a lamp burning in Jerusalem and He says

I I'm not going to utterly Give up on Zion and Jerusalem Though this is the second half of Isaiah and it's thinking about Babylon and the and the great and the judgment that's coming along And the fact that Judah's been unfaithful and all these things

God says I'm not going to utterly erase

Jerusalem and Zion I'm going to be at work until what?

Her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her own salvation as a lamp kings of Judah that in Revelation 21 23 says in the acts are saying

David the mercies of God towards David about a reigning ruling

King from David In particular these are important ultimately because they are in the lineage of Messiah and they're in the in the lineage of the promise that God made to David about His lineage being there in Jerusalem ultimately culminating in the son of Isaiah A king is over in Chronicles his name he reigned for 52 years

But the last fifth of that he was a leper and He had to be isolated from everybody and his son

Jotham helped co -reign during that period of time He brought

Judah back to a level of prosperity and influence that was only exceeded by Solomon So his

I was very very successful perhaps he got a little too big for his britches Which is why he went into the temple and try to make sacrifices and the high priest said no you don't he says yes

I do and then leprosy broke out on his head which he never recovered from that You can read about his story second

Kings 15 second Chronicles 26 his son King Jotham of course was a co -regent with him

And he was a good king and like his father He was credited with many military victories.

They had military power during their time That was a covenant blessing that God promised to his people. He said you serve me

Well, if you if you bow the knee to me, and you keep covenant with me you are going to win in your battles

You're going to have success in military engagement And Jotham you read about Jotham in second

Kings 15 and singly

Isaiah Hosea Amos and Micah all

In their own time in their own way were active during his reign King a has or during his life

King a has Began reigning at age 20 Jotham began reigning when he was at 25 the king a has reigned beginning at age 20.

He was an ungodly and wicked King very wicked King And During that time they did not have military success

They got beat up pretty bad Pekka was king of Israel and resin was king of Damascus which was the nation of Syria not a

Syria, but Syria and they formed a coalition and Laid siege to Jerusalem.

It was during a has his reign that the famous prophecy came Isaiah 714 read about King a has second

King 16 second Chronicles 28 and Then of course, we know King Hezekiah King.

Hezekiah is very famous King. It's very good King began reigning at age Those righteous kings of Judah and he was able to do a lot of good in Jerusalem during that time, however, they did come under siege from Sennacherib of Assyria and this was

This was after the fall of the Northern Kingdom and Sennacherib took out everybody and he boasted about it too, but he couldn't take out

Hezekiah I could not take out Jerusalem because the Lord was against him. In fact an angel the Lord slew 185 ,000

Assyrians in one night which put a damper on Sennacherib's military campaign and then he went home and got assassinated

I read about Hezekiah in 2nd Kings 18 through 20 2nd Chronicles 29 through 32 and then of course

Manasseh became King 55 years a

Brutally wicked King he reversed all of his father's religious reforms and he proved a very low

All the Assyrian Kings they said jump. He said how high That was

Manasseh's foreign policy and of course tradition records Manasseh killing

Isaiah Read about Manasseh in 2nd Kings 21 and 2nd Chronicles 33.

So here are the kings of Judah they are the descendants of David. They are the ancestors of Messiah They are representative leaders of God's covenant people and as they went so went the blessings and so went the curses.

I Think it's important to remember that Isaiah covenant expectation

Israel had an image of God role to all the nations and that role was encapsulated look

At Isaiah's structure The focus in Isaiah 1 through 39.

So the first two sections here Focus in on the directed at King of Judah and his vital role in the land

But when we get to the latter portion chapters 40 through 66 this focus on the king changes importantly or rather Metamorphosis importantly into the servant and the anointed conqueror.

So there's King Servant and anointed conqueror. That would be like the three major major focuses in Isaiah and of course

The Messiah is the one who fulfills all of those and so we'll close on on this just looking at the basic structure of Isaiah Which we're going to get into more in depth later on Five chapters

Involve sermons for a difficult present. I'm saying sermons because they have a point and they're directed even though they're very it was a

Syria and then this is very much a lot of poetry and this is historical narrative in chapters 36 to 39 and These are stories that shape history the first two chapters of this section are the

Assyrian night the last two are the Babylonian dawn and Then there's 40 through 66 we have sermons for a challenging future and that's really focused about what's about to happen with the

Babylonian era and beyond because even Cyrus the king of Persia is mentioned and even beyond that because the prophecies of the

Messiah who is to come and So this is the base if you'll see in your study of Bibles and your

Bible dictionaries and so on Isaiah has as many outlines the Revelation does I'm going with this one

It seems simpler than some of the other ones, okay all right, so we're going to leave it there for now, and that's

I hope to continue working through this introduction and We'll see what the

Lord has to tell us and teach us through the book of Isaiah. Let's close by doxology together praise