WWUTT 1989 The Judgment and Deliverance of Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1-24)

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Reading Isaiah 29:1-24 where God prophesies judgment against Jerusalem, but then a greater judgment upon their enemies, and His eventual restoration of the city. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

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God promises that judgment will come upon Jerusalem, because they have rebelled against God.
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But He also promises that He will bless and restore them after this discipline, when we understand the text.
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This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word.
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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q&A on Friday.
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Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
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Thank you, Becky.
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In our study of the book of Isaiah, we are up to chapter 29, where God pronounces judgment upon Jerusalem.
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We read about the judgment on Ephraim, or really the northern kingdom of Israel, in chapter 28, and the cornerstone that would come out of Zion, a rock of stumbling and a stone of offense, in the second half of 28.
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So now we're reading about the judgment that will come upon Jerusalem, and then the blessing that God will give after He disciplines them.
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So let me begin here in chapter 29.
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I'll just read through the first eight verses out of the Legacy Standard Bible.
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Hear the word of the Lord.
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Then you will be brought low.
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From the earth you will speak, and from the dust where you are prostrate your words will come.
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Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust.
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But it will be that the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away, and it will happen instantly, suddenly.
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From Yahweh of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a consuming fire.
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And it will be that the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel, even all who wage war against her and her stronghold and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
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And it will be as when a hungry man dreams, and behold he is eating, but he awakens, and his soul is empty.
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Or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold he is drinking, but he awakens, and behold he is faint, and his soul is not quenched.
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Thus the multitude of all the nations will be who wage war against Mount Zion.
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Now, it's unusual here for Isaiah to refer to Jerusalem as Ariel.
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We don't find that anywhere else in Scripture.
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But nonetheless, that is the city that is in view.
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The city where David once camped is said there in verse 1.
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And the rest of verse 1, In other words, the Jews could continue to practice the feasts which God set in place, but it would not save them.
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Their religious practices were not making them innocent in the eyes of God.
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He knew their hearts.
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He knew their betrayal.
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He knew their rebellion.
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And so he was bringing judgment against Jerusalem that they would not escape.
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Verse 2.
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I will bring distress to Ariel, and she will be a city of mourning and moaning, and she will be like an Ariel to me.
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Now, that reference is a little confusing, and I didn't quite understand it.
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The end of verse 2, She will be like an Ariel to me.
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Could be a double meaning here.
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Because the word Ariel in Hebrew, it does mean Lion of God.
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And to refer to Jerusalem as a lion is to say at one point it was a fortified, fierce city that no one could come against.
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But God was going to allow them to be conquered.
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And he says exactly how in verse 3.
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I will camp against you, encircling you.
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I will fortify siege works against you.
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And I will raise up fortifications against you.
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That was the way that the Babylonians would come in and take Jerusalem.
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But to say at the end of verse 2, She will be like an Ariel to me, or to God.
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What could that mean? There's a few possible explanations.
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Number one, could be like an Ariel, like a lion in the sense of the way that hunters would hunt lions.
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You have to come at a lion fierce, or the lion is going to come at you fierce.
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Now, of course, Jerusalem is not going to come against God.
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But just to demonstrate the way that God would come against Israel.
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And then you have the explanation of how brutal their conquering is going to be.
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That's one possible explanation.
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The second is that the altar was referred to as an Ariel.
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Though Jerusalem is never called Ariel anywhere else, the altar was called Ariel.
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And so it could mean that God intended to fill Jerusalem with the bodies of the slain as though they were sacrifices.
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So therefore, Ariel would have a double meaning here, meaning lion of God, and also in reference to the altar.
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A third possibility is that the word Ariel meant something else in a foreign tongue.
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So to a Hebrew, Ariel meant lion of God.
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But to a foreigner, it actually meant gazelle, or the lion's prey.
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And so it could be a play on words here.
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At first, you have Jerusalem referred to as a lion, and then referred to as the lion's prey to show just how Jerusalem would fall.
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So there's your three possible explanations of the way that phrase is used at the end of verse two.
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She will be like an Ariel to me.
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And then again, you have the encampments against Jerusalem mentioned in verse three and then four.
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Then you will be brought low from the earth, you will speak and from the dust where you are prostrate, your words will come.
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Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground and your speech will whisper from the dust.
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You will be humbled.
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But notice here that God does not say he'll totally annihilate Jerusalem because that's not what happens.
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Indeed, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem.
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The sons of Israel were carried out and sent into exile.
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But remember, after 70 years, they were able to come back and rebuild not only the temple, but even the walls of Jerusalem.
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So God does not totally wipe it out as he did with, say, Sodom and Gomorrah, even though the evils that were being done by the Jews were as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah.
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You had the the temple prostitutes who were male.
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That's talked about in first and second kings.
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So anyway, continuing from here, we go into the next section where even though God is going to use a foreign army to come against Israel and bring them judgment.
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Those who come against Israel will face consequences of their own.
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So verse five, but it will be that the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust and the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff, which blows away.
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So consider again Jerusalem's posture here.
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They've been made low in the dust, but they've not been obliterated here.
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Those that come against Jerusalem will be ground to nothing.
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They will be like the dust that you will lie in.
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So Jerusalem will be spared compared to what will happen to those enemies that come against it.
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And it said in the last line of verse five, and it will happen suddenly, instantly from Yahweh of hosts.
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You will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise.
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And on and on.
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This description goes versus six, seven and eight.
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It will be as when a hungry man dreams and behold, he is eating and he awakens and his soul is still empty.
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So these people, the Babylonians in particular, will come against Jerusalem and they will feel great and mighty.
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And that they've been fed with all of this pride and accomplishment because of what they were able to do in Jerusalem.
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But the accomplishment will be taken from them as quickly as a person's dream is gone when they awaken.
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Or as when a thirsty man dreams and behold, he is drinking, but he awakens and behold, he is faint and his soul is not quenched.
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Thus, the multitude of all the nations will be who wage war against Mount Zion.
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They'll never really have accomplished what they think that they accomplish.
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Instead, what they bring upon themselves is judgment and they'll vanish like a dream.
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So God goes on turning his attention back to Jerusalem in verses nine through 16.
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Astonish yourselves and be astonished.
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Blind yourselves and be blind.
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They become drunk, but not with wine.
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They stagger, but not with strong drink.
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For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep.
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He has shut your eyes, the prophets.
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And he has covered your heads, the seers.
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Now this is reminiscent of what we had read back in chapter 28, the lesson we looked at last week.
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With Ephraim being depicted as like a drunken man.
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And so drunk that Ephraim is unable to even hear what it is that the prophets say.
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So that was not just a prophecy regarding Ephraim that we read back in chapter 28.
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God is saying the same affliction has come upon Judah as well.
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So Ephraim represented the northern kingdom.
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Here we're talking about Jerusalem and even all of Judah that would be included in that.
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So even the prophets and the seers are not able to communicate to them what is coming.
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Isaiah is surely telling them, but they won't be able to understand it.
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Verse 11, the entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, please read this, he will say, I cannot, for it is sealed.
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Then the book will be given to the one who does not know how to read a book, saying, please read this.
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And he will say, I do not know how to read a book.
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So what's being said here is that they'll give it to their prophets, but the prophets won't be given any vision that they are able to tell the people what it is that God intends to do.
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They'll all just be blind, because again, that's the statement in verse 9.
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Blind yourselves and be blind.
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Become drunk, but not with wine.
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Stagger, but not with strong drink.
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So this is the condition even of the prophets there in Jerusalem.
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They'll be given a book, but they won't be able to read it.
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God will shut up from them an ability to see what it is that he is going to do.
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So then verse 12, the book will be given to one who does not know how to read a book, saying, please read this.
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And he will say, I don't know how to read a book.
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The people will be so desperate, they'll give it to anybody.
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You're our prophet now.
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But that person's going to say, I don't know what to do here.
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God's not showing me anything.
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And verse 13, then the Lord said, because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but they remove their hearts far from me, and their fear of me is in the command of men learned by rote.
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Therefore, behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous, and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.
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Now part of this, verses 13 to 14, you might recognize is something Jesus said.
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In Matthew 15 and in Mark 7, where Jesus said to the Pharisees, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites.
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They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
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Now with Jesus saying that to the Pharisees, this also seems to indicate that verse 14 is about Jesus coming at that particular time.
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So with God saying, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous.
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What could be more marvelous than the coming of the Messiah? God himself in human flesh.
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So God will deal with this people marvelously with the coming of the Messiah, and the wisdom of their wise men will perish.
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Jesus really showed up.
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Those scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, how ignorant they were of the scriptures, how they were even twisting the scriptures to manipulate and abuse the people.
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We talked about this a little bit yesterday with the lesson in Matthew chapter nine.
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So Jesus will show the wisest of men to be ignorant, and the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.
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They won't even know that the Messiah has come among them.
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So here at this particular context, with regards to the Babylonians that are coming against them, they won't know what's coming because they've become ignorant.
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Even though Isaiah is saying it right here a hundred years before it happens, about a hundred years, maybe a little bit less than that.
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But even though he says it, they still won't be able to understand it because they'll have been made dumb.
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And so it is the same kind of judgment that comes upon the teachers of Israel at the time that Jesus comes.
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They will not know him, and their fear is instead in the commandments of men.
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They're more worried about keeping those commands and impressing one another than they are with pleasing God.
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So in verses 15 and 16, the words of God conclude, or at least a quote from the Lord, concludes at the end of 14.
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So then here, 15 and 16, this is Isaiah's commentary, but still prophetic.
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Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh and whose deeds are done in a dark place.
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And they say, who sees us or who knows us? You turn things around.
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Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, he did not make me? Or what is formed say to him who formed it, he has no understanding? Now this sounds familiar to an illustration that Paul uses in Romans 9.
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Will what is formed say to the potter, why have you made me like this? Does the potter not have the right to make out of the same lump of clay, one for honorable use and one vessel for dishonorable use? Okay, you remember that illustration that Paul uses in Romans 9.
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We have the potter motif come up a couple of times in the book of Isaiah.
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So here it's the thing made trying to say he did not make me.
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That's absurd.
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How can the thing made deny its creator? Or what is formed say to him who formed it, he has no understanding.
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Like I know what's better for me than he knows for me.
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Of course this is what we do when we rebel against God.
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We try to claim he did not make me or he has no understanding and I know better for myself than God knows for me.
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It's absurd when we do it.
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When we sin against God and we go our own way, we are nothing but absurd.
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To think that God will not find us out.
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Who sees us? Who knows us? And Isaiah says to the hearer, you turn things around lest you be dragged away and destroyed when God's judgment does come.
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Yeah indeed he won't annihilate Jerusalem.
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There are still many who are going to die who will face that judgment.
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But God in his timing will restore Jerusalem.
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It's not a promise for everybody that they're going to survive the judgment that comes.
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So now we have the promise of blessing that will come after this discipline that God is bringing upon Jerusalem.
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This is verses 17 to 24.
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Is it not yet just a little while before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard and the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest? On that day the deaf will hear words of a book and out of darkness and thick darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
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What did we just read yesterday in the miracles that Jesus performed in Matthew 9? He healed the blind.
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He made them to see.
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Verse 19, the afflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh and the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
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Now when we read those miracles in Matthew 9 yesterday I said not only is Jesus doing something physical here but it demonstrates what he's doing spiritually also giving sight to the blind.
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Just like we sing in Amazing Grace I once was blind but now I see.
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We see our sin and need for a savior.
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We look at Christ and we see that he is God.
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All of these things revealed to us by his miraculous working even spiritually in our hearts.
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The afflicted will increase their gladness in Yahweh.
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Their eyes are open to see him.
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Verse 20, the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished.
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Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off.
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So we have the promise of blessing but we also have the promise of judgment that will go along with those who don't go along with God.
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Verse 21, who cause a person to sin by a word and ensnare him who reproves at the gate and defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.
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Therefore thus says Yahweh who redeemed Abraham concerning the house of Jacob.
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Jacob shall not now be ashamed and now his face shall not turn pale.
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But when he sees his children the work of my hands in his midst they will sanctify my name.
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Indeed they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand trembling before the God of Israel.
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Those who err in spirit who err, error, right? Those who err in spirit will know discernment and those who criticize will gain learning.
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This is demonstrating God's mercy on them though they were in error yet he will show them right from wrong and they will see their own error.
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And those who criticize who say he does not understand they will gain learning.
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They will see that they're really the ones that did not understand but God was merciful to them.
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And this is the promise this is the blessing that will come after Jerusalem is disciplined when God uses the Babylonians to bring that discipline against them.
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We've got some other oracles that are coming which we'll look at next week, God willing in chapter 30.
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Once again there is the promise of judgment and then the promise that God will also be gracious and just.
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And we'll see that with chapter 30 next week.
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Let's finish with prayer.
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Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here and I pray that the attitude of our hearts would indeed be genuine not just going about our little rituals and doing our thing and thinking that by our occasional religious practices that we gain the favor of God.
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Let it not be that we fear man more than we fear God.
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And the things that we go after are the traditions of man rather than what it is that you have said according to your word.
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When we say that we love God with our lips may it be genuinely from the heart that we are truly devoted to the Lord.
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Convict us of our sin and lead us in paths of righteousness so that we don't perish in the way.
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But we are led to life everlasting.
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It's in Jesus' name we pray.
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Amen.
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This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes.
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For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more visit our website at www.utt.com If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail.com and let your friends know about our ministry.
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Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word When We Understand the Text.