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IsaiahSurvey of the Old Testament: The ProphetsFall 2005 |
Table of Contents |
During the reign of King Ahaz, Israel joined forces with Aram (Syria) to attack Jerusalem. Isaiah was sent by God to King Ahaz to reassure him that the Lord would protect Jerusalem if only Ahaz would place his faith in the Lord (7:3-9).
God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign to prove that indeed He would protect Jerusalem. The sign could be anything, great or small (7:10-11). God is giving Ahaz the opportunity to receive anything from Him. But Ahaz passes, saying in a false piety, “I will not test the Lord” (7:12). Ahaz was not concerned with putting the Lord to the test, for in his mind, he didn't need the Lord, for he had already taken care of the problem. He had arranged an alliance with Assyria who would help him with the threat of Israel and Aram (2 Kings 16:7-9).
While Ahaz refused a sign, God would give a sign anyway.
Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel… for before the boy will know enough to refuse good or choose evil, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken. (Isaiah 7:14, 16)
But not only will Israel and Aram be forsaken before Isaiah's son reaches the age of accountability, but the very country which Ahaz will trust to save Jerusalem will turn around and cause ruin for Jerusalem (7:17). Isaiah's son will not be named Immanuel, but Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey” (8:1-4). Assyria will come and lay waste to Jerusalem (8:5-8).
King Ahaz feared the armies of Aram and Israel more than he feared God (7:2b). Isaiah, when confronted with the holiness of Yahweh was full of fear (6:5). In fact, the very thresholds of the heavenly temple shake in fear of the holiness of God (6:4). But Ahaz wasn't afraid of God. He was afraid of the armies of men. But it is Yahweh of hosts, the Holy One whom Ahaz should be fearing (7:13).
It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread (Isaiah 8:13)
King Ahaz sought a political solution for a spiritual problem. Now Assyria will come back to bite him. The lesson for us? If we don't trust God with the little problems, our alternative solutions will often turn out to be a bigger problem than the one we are trying to solve [1]!
Ahaz's failure to trust in Yahweh prompts God to announce the coming of a future king who would rule His people well [2].
The Assyrian army had invaded most of northern Israel and conquered the territory known as Galilee. This region bore the brunt of God's judgment against Israel. But someday, it would be this region from which the future King would come (9:1).
The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them. (Isaiah 9:2)
While Isaiah's son partially fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, this child was not Immanuel, God with us. Now Isaiah tells of a future fulfillment of this birth of this child in 9:6-7.
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us
And the government shall rest upon His shoulders
And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
This coming child from Galilee will be a king whose reign will never end, and who will establish justice and peace. But not only will He be a righteous king, but he will also be called “Might God” and “Eternal Father.” This coming King will be God incarnate.
Chapters 11 speaks of this reign of justice and peace with great detail. The coming king will judge the nations righteously (11:3-5, 10), and there will be such peace that wild animals and domesticated animals will lie together in harmony (11:6-9). The king will gather the remnants of exiled Israel back to himself (11:11-13), in what Isaiah calls a “second Exodus” (11:16b).
Isaiah concludes this section in chapter 12 with a song of praise and thanksgiving which is to be sung by the returning remnant.
While Assyria will indeed be the agent of God's judgment (10:5), this empire will be judged by God for as well. It will see Jerusalem and its God the same as any other capital city and their gods which were so easily defeated (10:10-11). But God will demonstrate that He is not like any other god and he will destroy them for their arrogance (10:12).
In that day there will be a remnant who have escaped the Assyrian invasion, and they will be unlike King Ahaz. This remnant will “never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel” (10:20).
Beginning in chapter 13, Isaiah delivers oracles against all the nations around Israel. God will bring about judgment on all the nations of the world for one primary sin: pride.
Pride is also the sin for which God is punishing the nation of Israel
In the first 28 chapters of Isaiah, the prophet declares God's judgment on Judah and the surrounding nations. The common sin of each of these nations is their arrogance. They each believed in their own strength and abilities and were proud. They did not give God his due consideration.
The structure of this begins and ends by describing the sin and the punishment for God's people. In between, Isaiah lists his oracles against the surrounding nations. It is very likely that Isaiah did not communicate this message to these nations (at least directly). Rather, as with Amos, the message probably was given to demonstrate to Judah of God's abhorrence of the sin of arrogance and the inevitable punishment this arrogance brings.
The key passage dealing with the sin of arrogance comes in the middle of Isaiah's oracle against the nation of Babylon. Isaiah describes how God will destroy Babylon and describes their sin as a desire to be like God himself.
However, in verse 12, the object of this description is not merely the King of Babylon. The object is given the title "the Star of the Morning." This is the literal meaning of the Hebrew. This same word often is translated as the proper noun, Lucifer. When reviewing the sins listed in this passage with the thought of Lucifer, our adversary, it appears that Isaiah is describing to us the fall of not just Babylon, but Satan himself.
His sin and his banishment from heaven are described in 5 “I Wills...”
The original sin of Satan, and the sin of each of the nations condemned in the first 28 chapters of Isaiah, is considered by God to be the most heinous of sins. Arrogance, or the belief that one can be as great as God himself, is abhorrent to God. God humiliates those who are arrogant and proud.
After condemning the nations for their arrogance, this section of Isaiah reaches its climax in a declaration of final judgment against the whole earth. The Lord will lay waste and devour the entire earth, leaving only a few people alive (24:1-6). The entire earth will cry out in mourning and terror as it is destroyed (24:7-20). On that day Yahweh will punish “the host of heaven,” bringing an end to the rebellion of Satan (24:21a), and he will punish all the arrogant kings of the earth (24:21b). This will then usher in Yahweh's righteous reign from Zion (24:23)
Isaiah then completes the section with a song of praise for God who defeats the arrogant and lifts up the humble. God will be a defense to the helpless (25:4), and the afflicted will trample on those who have arrogantly ruled over them (26:5-6).
The earth will be restored and the Lord will establish his kingdom of peace and prosperity for the righteous, for those who trust in the Lord (26:2-4). The righteous had been waiting for this moment like a pregnant woman ready to give birth (26:17). But now God will raise the dead back to life and bring them into His kingdom (26:19).
Therefore, the righteous need wait patiently, for the Lord will bring punishment to the evil (26:20-21), and he will gather his remnant from Assyria and Egypt and they shall come and worship the Lord on Zion (27:12-13).
Footnotes |
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