back to index12-02-15 Wed Bible Study
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So we pray that your spirit of revelation and illumination would lead and guide us in 00:00:16.880 |
I know we already had one Sunday but a lot of you guys were gone for Thanksgiving. 00:00:22.200 |
Today we're looking at Isaiah chapter 5 and verse 6. 00:00:25.040 |
How many of you who have asked me for electronic copy didn't get one? 00:00:35.640 |
If you didn't, email me because for whatever reason you have not been added, otherwise 00:00:44.680 |
Alright so let's, you should have gotten two pages, one is with the notes and the other 00:01:02.720 |
Chapter 5 continues God's case against Israel and again that's what we've been looking at 00:01:11.080 |
Chapter 1 all the way to what we're studying now. 00:01:17.040 |
This is the reason why the judgment is coming. 00:01:22.360 |
In more detail, 1 through 4 details how God did everything like a farmer. 00:01:27.240 |
So if you look at verses 1 through 4 it says, "Let me sing for you my beloved, my love song 00:01:34.320 |
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill." 00:01:39.840 |
Basically he's saying that the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel. 00:01:44.640 |
So God's using the imagery of the farm and again to indict the nation of Israel. 00:01:50.400 |
So what he says is he did everything that a good farmer would do and would expect a 00:01:57.520 |
There wasn't anything lacking in the nation of Israel. 00:02:00.980 |
So in other words, all the things that he's laid out, all the sins that they committed, 00:02:06.000 |
all the compromises, that none of this is because God lacked something. 00:02:10.660 |
He gave them everything that they needed for them to bear fruit. 00:02:17.360 |
He dug it and cleared it, he said first of all my beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile 00:02:25.240 |
Now it doesn't say that clearing the stone means that he got rid of the enemies. 00:02:31.720 |
These are just kind of my added notes on top of that. 00:02:38.040 |
He didn't just say hey go out and do your best. 00:02:41.320 |
He said that he planted them in the most fertile place. 00:02:46.520 |
I kind of take that as all the enemies, all the obstacles that would prevent them from 00:02:51.080 |
being successful, whatever it may be, he already came out and cleared it. 00:02:56.480 |
When they come into the Canaanite land, they don't do the fighting. 00:03:00.720 |
God does, it's kind of like God cleared a stone for him to plant the seeds. 00:03:08.880 |
Again the nation of Israel were not just like any other nation. 00:03:12.840 |
God gave them the law for them to follow and he said as long as you abide by my law, don't 00:03:17.560 |
turn from it to the left or the right, you're going to bear fruit. 00:03:20.840 |
You're going to bear fruit, just don't turn from the left to the right. 00:03:25.320 |
Watchtower basically after you plant something so that the animals won't come and take it. 00:03:32.120 |
We take that again, he sent prophets and leaders just to watch over them. 00:03:41.600 |
He hewed out wine vat and looked for it and expected it to bear fruit. 00:03:45.040 |
So again the image he's using is a good farmer who lays out every foundation that is necessary 00:03:54.160 |
He picks the most fertile ground, he clears out the stone, clears out all the enemies, 00:04:01.420 |
he plants choice vines, gives them the law, he sends prophets to watch over them, the 00:04:05.560 |
leaders to take care of them, and then he says he kind of waited, built the wine vat 00:04:10.560 |
waiting for the fruit to come and basically in other words what he's saying is everything 00:04:21.080 |
So no one can say that the reason why we didn't obey you is because it was too hard. 00:04:27.440 |
The reason why we compromised is because we lacked this. 00:04:30.080 |
He said no, the indictment that you are guilty of, you had everything, you had more than 00:04:42.760 |
This is kind of related to what we talked about on Sunday, Romans 3, it says what benefit 00:04:48.920 |
It's like much in every way, how can you possibly even ask that? 00:04:53.520 |
But above all the blessings that you have, on top of that you were given the laws of 00:04:59.880 |
Turn your Bibles with me to 2 Peter 1, 3-5, and whoever gets there first, if you didn't 00:05:11.360 |
Whoever's there first, can you just read it out loud? 00:05:21.360 |
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through 00:05:26.960 |
the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has 00:05:31.200 |
granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become 00:05:35.840 |
partakers in the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because 00:05:44.160 |
So basically what he's saying in 2 Peter is the same thing that God is saying here. 00:05:49.160 |
He's telling the nation of Israel that everything that you need you already have. 00:05:55.640 |
And again, I think it's important for us to take a minute to kind of reflect on, you know, 00:05:59.640 |
when we think about how we are, how much of our weakness and the reason why we wallow 00:06:05.360 |
in our situation is because, you know, because of this. 00:06:09.640 |
And whatever "because" we use, in the presence of God he says, "No, I've given you everything 00:06:15.080 |
So anytime we come before God and say, "I'm this way because," right? 00:06:19.440 |
That's like the nation of Israel saying, "Well, of course we don't obey you because we don't 00:06:26.560 |
We don't have the money, the circumstances, the religious, whatever." 00:06:30.360 |
So again, the reason why he's doing this is so that when the judgment comes, that there's 00:06:36.920 |
not a single person that can stand under this judgment and say, "Hey, this is not fair." 00:06:42.000 |
So what he's establishing here is the fairness of the judgment that's coming. 00:06:46.800 |
So he's kind of breaking down every argument that an individual can stand and say or as 00:06:52.000 |
a nation can say, "No, we are the way we are because..." and he said, "No." 00:06:57.160 |
One by one, just argument, just knocking it down. 00:07:02.560 |
And so he says as a result of that, verse 5 and 6, what is his judgment? 00:07:07.520 |
"I will remove its hedge, it shall be devoured, I will break down its wall and it shall be 00:07:14.840 |
I will make it a waste, it shall not be pruned or hoed and briars and thorns shall grow up. 00:07:19.840 |
I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon you." 00:07:25.240 |
So what does this sound like in the New Testament? 00:07:37.720 |
This sounds exactly like what Paul says in Romans chapter 1. 00:07:41.680 |
They kept on going to sin, they refused to acknowledge God, so what does he say? 00:07:48.920 |
So, in other words, he says the final judgment is, "I've given you every possibility to come 00:07:55.280 |
"I've given you everything that you could have possibly needed." 00:08:00.960 |
The Canaanites could not have claimed this, the Assyrians and the Babylonians, they can't 00:08:08.280 |
If anybody had an excuse, they could have given an excuse, but Israel cannot have an 00:08:12.480 |
excuse before God, considering what God gave them. 00:08:16.840 |
So as a result of that, he says, "Well, that's what you want? 00:08:22.360 |
So the final judgment is, instead of protecting them, you're going to be like everybody else. 00:08:27.280 |
You're going to be like any other small nation, without my protection. 00:08:34.320 |
And what would it, remember, just kind of use your imagination. 00:08:42.480 |
Assyria's here, behind that is Persia, eventually they're going to become the superpower, and 00:08:49.560 |
Right now they're not that big, they're like right here, and Assyria is like right here, 00:08:52.760 |
and the Persians are kind of looming large over here. 00:09:00.200 |
So these are mega nations, these are superpowers. 00:09:04.200 |
So the southern kingdom is a little dot over here, the northern kingdom is a little dot 00:09:11.960 |
So the only reason why they're even significant, why we're even talking about them, is because 00:09:17.840 |
Otherwise, we probably have to go through history, like what's so magnificent about 00:09:22.040 |
Israel, other than their religion, that we would be talking about them 3,000 years later? 00:09:29.840 |
Only reason why is because God was with them. 00:09:32.480 |
So in other words, what God was saying is, you as a tiny little nation, if I withdraw 00:09:36.440 |
myself, all of these things that he's saying is going to happen, it's just going to happen. 00:09:40.200 |
Because that's what happened to every other nation. 00:09:43.400 |
Assyrians came up and they bullied everybody else, and then eventually the next bully came, 00:09:47.320 |
the Babylonians, and they bullied everybody else, and then the Persians came and Persians 00:09:50.760 |
bullied them, and then the Greeks came and the Greeks bullied them, and then the Romans 00:09:56.960 |
So all they were was a tiny little speck of a nation, and so God's judgment is, I'm no 00:10:05.280 |
And then you keep running toward these other gods, and you see what these gods will do 00:10:10.080 |
And so ultimately he says that's the final judgment. 00:10:14.320 |
He lays out six different reasons, they all kind of overlap, but each one of them, if 00:10:20.120 |
you remember as you were going through, there's six different woes that are mentioned in chapter 00:10:31.840 |
He said, "Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no 00:10:38.360 |
more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land." 00:10:41.840 |
In other words, you may be successful in getting all these houses, but in the end, what's the 00:10:51.680 |
You're going to have all this stuff, but you have nobody to give it to. 00:10:56.400 |
Eleven through seventeen is a long list of indictments about self-indulgence. 00:11:03.560 |
So one is greed, this is how their idolatry was expressed, through possessions, through 00:11:09.240 |
greed, "Woe to those who arise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink." 00:11:15.560 |
And basically he's talking about an individual who's just seeking pleasure, self-indulgence. 00:11:23.880 |
"They have lyre and harp, tambourines and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do 00:11:29.320 |
not regard the deeds of the Lord or see the work of his hand." 00:11:32.480 |
In other words, it's not that God is saying, "Hey, you shouldn't be seeking pleasure." 00:11:39.160 |
He said, "In the context of seeking pleasure, you forgot who God is." 00:11:43.080 |
That in the end, ultimately, God ought to be your treasure. 00:11:47.600 |
"Therefore, she who has enlarged his appetite and opened his mouth beyond his measure is 00:11:52.480 |
the nobility of Jerusalem, and her multitude will go down her, revelers and who exalt in 00:11:58.240 |
In other words, he's saying God's going to humble those people who are seeking self-indulgence. 00:12:04.600 |
18-19, indulgence or indictment against self-delusion. 00:12:15.880 |
So the picture here in verse 18 is, "Woe to those who draw iniquity from cords of falsehood, 00:12:40.040 |
What is the indictment against them about sin? 00:12:45.520 |
When you think of what he's saying here, I want to encourage you, if you read a verse 00:12:50.400 |
that you're not familiar with, go to the message Bible or go to the contemporary Bible. 00:12:57.360 |
Now, I'm not saying that that's the right translation, but basically it's the quickest 00:13:03.640 |
way for you to figure out, "Oh, that's what he meant." 00:13:07.760 |
Again, I wouldn't tell you to use that as your final resource, but if you're not studying 00:13:13.640 |
through a commentary, you just kind of want to like, "Oh, what is he saying? 00:13:17.520 |
Go to the message, what are some, living Bible, what are some other Bibles? 00:13:25.760 |
Yeah, so anyway, those translations are basically commentaries. 00:13:31.920 |
They've taken anything that's difficult, they translate it so that it would make more sense 00:13:38.740 |
So, if you look at that verse, what is the imagery? 00:13:43.940 |
He's pulling the cart, cart full of sin, right? 00:13:54.740 |
Wherever he goes, he's dragging his sin with him, right? 00:14:00.140 |
Wherever he goes, he's dragging it around with him, right? 00:14:02.580 |
It's not just compartmentalized in one place, wherever he goes, right? 00:14:06.780 |
Just like the scripture says, you know, when not to lay hands hastily, it says, "Some men's 00:14:10.700 |
sins are obvious, some men's sins trail behind them, but they can't escape from their sin. 00:14:16.500 |
And so, that's the imagery that we see in 18. 00:14:20.180 |
And then he qualifies that even further, he'll say, "Let him be quick, let him speed his 00:14:29.020 |
Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and let it come that we may know 00:14:35.540 |
How many of you read that and just put a question mark? 00:14:38.540 |
Okay, you're just saying like you were one of those people, yeah. 00:15:02.380 |
No, I think, I read commentaries, that was one of the options. 00:15:05.380 |
So, imagine, remember what he says about the nation of Israel in chapter 1? 00:15:19.620 |
Well, remember in the beginning they're deluded and then at the second part of chapter 1, 00:15:26.260 |
Like, they're going and giving many sacrifices and he says, "What do they mean to me?" 00:15:40.380 |
He says, "They call good evil and evil good." 00:15:42.980 |
So, their sense of right and wrong is completely perverted, right? 00:15:50.380 |
Not only were they dragging sin, I mean, he says, "The imagery is everywhere they go, 00:15:54.700 |
they're dragging this cart full of sin and even though they're filled with sin, they're 00:16:04.660 |
Not realizing when God comes, judgment is coming with him. 00:16:10.980 |
Verse 20, "Indictment against perversion of truth." 00:16:13.540 |
Again, we read that in verse 20, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil." 00:16:26.980 |
Things that was clearly universally Christian or non-Christian was considered sinful 30 00:16:34.340 |
Now, it's like sinful to call it sin now, right? 00:16:37.100 |
So, he's again, indicting these people that when God gives you over to your sin, you're 00:16:45.580 |
Remember, I said this so many times, whenever there's guilt on someone's life, either you're 00:16:51.940 |
going to deal with that guilt somehow, that guilt is going to lead you to repentance. 00:16:56.940 |
Because the only way to get rid of guilt is by repentance. 00:17:01.260 |
God can forgive you of your sin and you get rid of that guilt through repentance. 00:17:04.540 |
Or you're going to somehow justify the guilt. 00:17:07.460 |
Either you're going to nullify it and you're going to say, "Well, everybody else does it." 00:17:15.020 |
And then you start using that language, all of a sudden you're justifying. 00:17:19.340 |
We look at the scripture and we're so far away from what the scripture says and we're 00:17:23.100 |
not going to change, so therefore, maybe the way we understand it is wrong. 00:17:33.180 |
They're so deep in their sin and they're unwilling to repent and now they're going to call sin 00:17:40.900 |
Again, the fifth one is indictment against pride. 00:17:44.700 |
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. 00:17:49.060 |
So, all of these things together, they're just completely deluded. 00:17:54.740 |
And then finally, in 22-23, indictment against their vain pride and social injustice. 00:18:00.260 |
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, the things that they boast about, completely 00:18:05.500 |
Think about, you know, think how detailed that he's getting about their sin, right? 00:18:14.140 |
Think about the kind of things that we boast about, completely frivolous before. 00:18:18.020 |
It made me say, "Ah, you know, I don't drink, so I don't qualify for that." 00:18:22.300 |
But think about a lot of things that we kind of look at as, "Wow, look at that." 00:18:27.860 |
You know, pride or I'm not going to get into details. 00:18:32.700 |
But think about how frivolous a lot of things that we get excited about and we boast about, 00:18:36.900 |
how frivolous that must have been before God, right? 00:18:41.420 |
You know, these guys are so deluded in their sins, they don't recognize it. 00:18:46.020 |
They're asking for God to come, "Oh, we want to see your glory," not realizing that judgment 00:18:52.900 |
They don't even know how to discern what is right and wrong because they've drifted so 00:18:59.820 |
Even in their own eyes, like saying, "Okay, you know, I'm better than them." 00:19:13.020 |
And they're probably comparing with the pagans. 00:19:16.300 |
They're comparing, "Yes, we worship idols, but we don't sacrifice our children, right? 00:19:24.340 |
We don't go to temples and have orgies," right? 00:19:27.260 |
So in their eyes, they're comparing with the rest of the world and the debauchery that's 00:19:31.500 |
out there and say, "Well, we're better than them." 00:19:34.220 |
So in their eyes, they don't deserve judgment because they're not comparing themselves with 00:19:41.340 |
If they looked at the law carefully, they would see how far they are, but they're comparing 00:19:49.660 |
So again, he's laying out, again, all of these things are God's indictment against Israel. 00:19:53.420 |
So when the judgment comes, and you know exactly, here's, you know, before you give a sentence 00:19:59.340 |
to somebody, the judgment's saying, "Here, you're guilty of this," and they'll read you 00:20:06.660 |
Therefore, as a result of the rebellion against God, he will bring judgment, and that specific 00:20:13.600 |
judgment that he says in verse 26 to 30 is that there's going to be a foreign nation 00:20:17.920 |
that's going to come, and we've been talking about that, right? 00:20:21.200 |
So he says he's going to take away the hedge, his protection, and as soon as he withdraws 00:20:30.440 |
And so that's the description he has from 26 to 30. 00:20:33.840 |
He says he will raise a signal for nations far away, right? 00:20:38.080 |
Those are the, most likely the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and whistle for them from 00:20:46.480 |
So all this, verse 27 to 30, is not a description of Israel. 00:20:50.960 |
This is a description of the foreign armies that are coming, right? 00:20:55.680 |
None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a 00:21:01.920 |
So if you don't read this in context, you're going to think like, oh, Israel's pretty, 00:21:11.560 |
He's describing people who are coming to destroy them, right? 00:21:15.560 |
It's kind of like, you know, like maybe the church is weakened, and when the church is 00:21:26.240 |
So again, when I was a young Christian, I used to, you know, live in fear of the devil, 00:21:31.480 |
because it was in a charismatic circle, and they always talked about demons. 00:21:36.120 |
And as I was maturing as a Christian, I realized demonic strength is only as strong as I am 00:21:44.680 |
Because the Christ in me is much greater, but when the Christ in me is weak, not because 00:21:49.400 |
Christ is weak, but because I'm greedy in the Holy Spirit, then the demon is going to 00:21:58.000 |
We have no power over demonic force when we are not in right with God. 00:22:08.040 |
As much as we pray to God, as much as we believe in heaven, there's a hell. 00:22:11.440 |
As much as we believe in angels, there are demons. 00:22:14.320 |
The scripture tells us over and over again, right? 00:22:17.800 |
So when we are weak, the enemy is very strong. 00:22:20.360 |
So he's describing the enemy coming to destroy them. 00:22:26.440 |
I think chapter six is probably the easiest to understand of all the chapters until we 00:22:33.600 |
It's like, "Oh, I get this," because you probably heard many messages on this. 00:22:37.960 |
But one of the first questions I asked was, "Why is this in chapter six?" 00:22:43.920 |
That was one of the questions I asked, right? 00:22:51.200 |
What do you think, what do you naturally would think the calling of Isaiah would be? 00:22:56.440 |
Chapter one, you would think he would begin with, he called, right? 00:22:59.640 |
It starts by saying he ministered or he prophesied during the period of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, 00:23:10.640 |
So here he says Uzziah dies and then Isaiah comes into ministry. 00:23:15.160 |
So you would think he would begin with that, but he's in chapter six. 00:23:18.800 |
So again, I think I mentioned this in the beginning of the introduction. 00:23:29.160 |
The whole book of Isaiah is not written chronologically. 00:23:32.720 |
So one, Isaiah is not about ministry of Isaiah. 00:23:39.040 |
Whole book of Isaiah is not, "Here's Isaiah, this is what he did, this is what he said." 00:23:45.120 |
Secondly, Isaiah is just one of many prophets. 00:23:51.840 |
All these prophets here, they're all called pre-exilic prophets, meaning before they went 00:23:57.920 |
to exile, before the Assyrians and the Babylonians came, God sent all these prophets, so one, 00:24:03.600 |
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine prophets. 00:24:11.560 |
So every one of them has their own little insights, right? 00:24:15.840 |
Isaiah probably being the greatest of all of these prophets, but Isaiah was one of all 00:24:24.800 |
Again, Isaiah's calling is in the context of God's bigger story of judgment and restoration. 00:24:32.240 |
So it doesn't necessarily need to be chronological because that's not his point. 00:24:43.240 |
His calling, just to kind of give you a background behind his calling so you understand what's 00:24:47.640 |
going on, his calling begins at the end of Isaiah's reign. 00:25:04.440 |
Remember when we talked about what are high places? 00:25:13.000 |
Most likely it was idol worship that he, it says he did what was right in the eyes of 00:25:17.120 |
the Lord, except he didn't remove the high places. 00:25:20.120 |
So it was true of Uzziah and it was also true of Jotham and then remember Ahaz? 00:25:26.600 |
Yeah, he did what was wrong in the eyes of the Lord. 00:25:33.560 |
He's one of, one of probably one or two that actually stands out in Israel's history as 00:25:50.400 |
And his mistake, if we can call it a mistake, was he begged God to live longer and as a 00:25:56.760 |
Manasseh is actually the worst king, one of the worst kings Israel has. 00:26:08.400 |
Only one other person reigned longer than him was Manasseh, was 55 years, right? 00:26:12.960 |
Which was one of the most evil kings, Manasseh. 00:26:17.360 |
But there's kind of an asterisk to his reign because even though Uzziah reigned 52 years, 00:26:26.400 |
he didn't remove the high places and as a result of that, it says in 2 Kings 15.4 and 00:26:32.840 |
on, that as a result of that he was struck with leprosy. 00:26:37.640 |
And so he had to be stationed in his home and it doesn't say specifically how many years, 00:26:42.480 |
but his son Jotham, as soon as he was able, ruled in his stead until he died. 00:26:50.400 |
So one thing I want to just kind of take a minute to talk about here is, Uzziah is one 00:26:55.520 |
of the better kings of Israel and he reigns for a long period of time, but God still punishes 00:27:01.400 |
He doesn't just say, "You know what, you're good, I'll weigh the bad stuff, I just kind 00:27:06.880 |
He said he was a good king for the most part, he tried to do what was right, but he didn't 00:27:14.160 |
So there is no sin in the presence of God where God says, "You know what, I weighed 00:27:18.360 |
the good and the bad and there's so much good in you that the sin that you have just kind 00:27:24.760 |
Every sin is detestable in the eyes of God and we see that, a perfect example of it is 00:27:29.320 |
Here's a king who did what was right, but he didn't fully surrender to God, right? 00:27:39.160 |
So for the most part, I mean, consider all the bad kings in the northern kingdom, consider 00:27:43.920 |
out of all the bad kings there's only about eight of them and out of eight of the good 00:27:47.040 |
kings, only one or two of them is like Hezekiah. 00:27:51.720 |
So if you think about it, in Israel's history, this was, was it a good time or a bad time? 00:27:58.040 |
Considering everything else, this was actually one of the better periods in Israel's history. 00:28:04.320 |
So think about when God is sending Isaiah to bring judgment upon Israel. 00:28:11.920 |
He's not just a maneseh, it wasn't just when they were barring their children and, you 00:28:17.960 |
It was during a period when they were worshiping God. 00:28:21.520 |
There was a lot of temple worship, there was a lot of religiosity, but in the context, 00:28:29.440 |
And that's what kind of, he said, "You know what, all the things that he's saying, he's 00:28:33.320 |
not talking to people that you completely ignored him, you know, you never gave worship, 00:28:39.280 |
He says, "You're doing all these religious things thinking that somehow by these religious 00:28:43.360 |
things it's going to cover over the other sins that you're committing." 00:28:47.040 |
And basically what God is saying through Isaiah is like, "No, right? 00:28:50.960 |
Sin has to be atoned for and so the judgment is coming because of the sin that you're allowing." 00:28:59.480 |
So, in the Old Testament, it's about the, his son reigned in his place because of this 00:29:04.360 |
And so the picture you have, this is probably, you've probably heard many sermons on this. 00:29:09.680 |
In chapter 6, it begins with a scene where he sees the seraphims, angelic creatures. 00:29:18.600 |
In the Old Testament, the reason why you cover your feet is because you're in a holy ground, 00:29:24.800 |
Where is a situation where somebody had to cover their feet or take off their shoes because 00:29:33.840 |
Two wings cover their face to protect themselves from God's glory. 00:29:39.160 |
Again with Moses, when he's receiving the law and says, "Let me see you," he says, "If 00:29:44.240 |
So, even these holy creatures in the presence of God has to cover themselves, right? 00:29:57.240 |
So if it's terrifying to these angelic angels who doesn't have sin, right? 00:30:08.040 |
And they're in the presence of a holy God and they're covering their feet and covering 00:30:13.000 |
So what would happen to a man who is sinful, who actually has sin, right? 00:30:18.120 |
And that's the scene that we see with Isaiah. 00:30:20.520 |
Isaiah, again, with two, they're flying around. 00:30:25.640 |
And if you look at the Old Testament imagery, remember when the priest went into the Holy 00:30:32.440 |
One of the main things is that they could not stay there. 00:30:34.440 |
They had to do their work and they had to get out because that was where the presence 00:30:39.240 |
So no one, only the rightful owner of the mercy seat, who is that? 00:30:53.680 |
When Christ comes, he will be the rightful owner of that seat. 00:30:58.160 |
And until then, he said these high priests would come, they'd do their work, sprinkle 00:31:02.840 |
So that's the kind of imagery that we see at the throne. 00:31:05.480 |
These holy creatures are hiding their feet, hiding their face and they're moving around 00:31:10.760 |
And what was their main thing that they're saying? 00:31:18.120 |
They're worshipping, they're serving him, right? 00:31:21.580 |
So again, as I said, if these holy creatures can't even look at God, they have to cover 00:31:27.040 |
their feet, they're flying around, holy, holy, holy, right, in the presence of his 00:31:31.640 |
glory, what would be the response of a sinful man? 00:31:34.920 |
And Isaiah, in comparison to the rest of Israel, is holy. 00:31:41.920 |
So the first response, Isaiah recognizes his sin, right? 00:31:50.200 |
He says, "And the foundations of the threshold," verse four, "shook at the voice of him who 00:31:57.200 |
called, and the house was filled with smoke." 00:32:00.640 |
So he was watching this scene from a distance and he sees these creatures and he's seeing, 00:32:11.760 |
When he speaks, the earth moves and you feel the smoke. 00:32:14.680 |
And I said, "Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in 00:32:18.960 |
the midst of people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." 00:32:23.080 |
So it's when he speaks and he sees his glory, he's terrified, right? 00:32:27.520 |
His recognition of sin goes beyond just his own sin. 00:32:30.320 |
Like, "I'm a man of unclean lips and I am from people of unclean lips." 00:32:39.800 |
So he's going to be a prophet who's going to be sent, right, to represent him to this 00:32:46.760 |
unclean people and that's the first thing that he recognizes. 00:32:50.560 |
Before he becomes a prophet of God to be sent, he needs to recognize who he's talking to. 00:32:57.440 |
He needs to know who he is and he needs to know who he's talking to. 00:33:00.880 |
And both, he says, "I'm a sinner, talk to the sinners." 00:33:05.280 |
And that's what he recognized first and foremost. 00:33:09.240 |
So again, any representative of God is representing a holy, holy, holy God. 00:33:14.200 |
And his primary work is to reconcile that sinner to himself. 00:33:18.440 |
So if the man who's preaching doesn't recognize his sin or he doesn't recognize the primary 00:33:24.520 |
problem of the people he's preaching to is sin, then he can't properly represent God. 00:33:29.040 |
Because anything he gives to those people, whether sin is not atoned for, is absolutely 00:33:37.160 |
He's in the presence of his glory, he recognizes his, he's terrified. 00:33:41.760 |
I think, those of you guys read the book Holiness of God, I think the way that R.C. 00:33:48.000 |
Sproul explains it, the word "woe" is undone. 00:33:57.400 |
How can I possibly be in his presence and live? 00:33:59.240 |
If these holy creatures can't look upon the glory of God, right? 00:34:04.640 |
If Moses can only see the glimpse of him going, how can I possibly be in his presence and 00:34:16.720 |
Which he would have been if God didn't do what happens after that. 00:34:34.560 |
Going to think that we're going to be in the presence of this God and we're going to live. 00:34:44.640 |
So the work, so he calls him, he prepares him. 00:34:55.640 |
And they said, keep on hearing, but do not understand. 00:35:00.200 |
Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes. 00:35:03.960 |
Let's say, see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their hearts 00:35:08.920 |
And he goes on and says, you know, how long do you want me to do this? 00:35:12.440 |
I mean, that's a question that anybody would ask. 00:35:19.080 |
I was like, okay, now I'm going to go for me. 00:35:32.400 |
Until everything, everything that I said is going to happen, happens. 00:35:37.320 |
Why, why would God send a prophet if the end conclusion of it is judgment? 00:35:51.680 |
Like what you talked about in the beginning of like, there's no, you know, this is kind 00:35:58.880 |
of, you know, it'll, it'll bleed over to the text that we're going to be looking at in 00:36:03.680 |
Romans, in chapter three, where God's glory, when we think of God being glorified, how 00:36:11.720 |
When we say, oh God, so glorify Jesus, glorify Jesus, what do we normally talk about? 00:36:26.920 |
But do we, have you ever thought about glorifying God in his wrath, in his judgment, in his 00:36:35.960 |
condemnation, that God is glorified even in hell? 00:36:49.040 |
To take something and then put it on a pedestal and shine light on it. 00:36:55.160 |
So when Jesus is, Jesus on the cross glorifies the Father, does he just glorify his mercy 00:37:04.000 |
No, his wrath, his judgment, his justice, his holiness, all of that is magnified on 00:37:14.600 |
So the fact that God says if you sin, judgment is coming, when God carries out his justice, 00:37:22.760 |
So ministry is not simply, again this is something that I really had to come to terms 00:37:27.640 |
with years back when I was wrestling with ministry, that ministry is not simply declaring 00:37:33.360 |
his mercy and only seeing people fall in love with his mercy. 00:37:40.000 |
Falling in love with his mercy and his holiness. 00:37:42.640 |
If somebody is attracted to his mercy and yet is not attracted to his holiness, that's 00:37:52.160 |
That's why somebody who says I'm in love with Christ because he's so compassionate and loving 00:37:56.360 |
and merciful but holiness is something that he's done. 00:38:01.920 |
The reason why Christians desire sanctification is because there's an attraction to his holiness 00:38:11.240 |
He's glorified in every way, in his holiness and his justice. 00:38:14.000 |
So it's not just, I'm sending you to them because I want you to magnify my mercy and 00:38:19.520 |
his holiness and his holiness is doing great but he says I'm going to send you to them. 00:38:25.880 |
He's not taking innocent people and then hardening their heart. 00:38:35.880 |
Turn your Bible, we talked about this earlier, to chapter 2. 00:38:53.480 |
Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and from the 00:39:05.720 |
So terror of the Lord and the splendor of the majesty is the same thing. 00:39:13.600 |
And the people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before 00:39:17.600 |
the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty when he rises to terrify the 00:39:24.000 |
So he says his terror is described as splendor of his majesty. 00:39:31.960 |
To enter the caverns of the rocks and the cliffs of the cliffs from before the terror 00:39:36.000 |
of the Lord and from the splendor of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth. 00:39:41.920 |
So his terror and his splendor of majesty is described as the same thing. 00:39:49.560 |
So God's glorification is not just one side, the things that we want. 00:39:57.480 |
So even in his judgment against Israel, he sends his prophets to declare his glory. 00:40:09.480 |
Jonah's ministry was only about 30, 40 years before this happens where Isaiah does the 00:40:17.320 |
He says to the nation of Israel, I'm going to send you to them and they're going to harden 00:40:24.280 |
They're going to be hard of hearing and they're not going to repent. 00:40:30.840 |
Until the judgment comes and it actually gets carried out. 00:40:36.720 |
This pagan nation, mutilating people, hated by the nations and yet this reluctant prophet 00:40:55.920 |
Even this pagan nation, even the one that Jonah says, no, they deserve all the judgment, 00:41:02.800 |
This happens, again, his ministry was, so right here, 793 to 753 BC. 00:41:15.680 |
Yeah, so it's about 30, 40, 50 years possibly removed from this. 00:41:23.880 |
So it's only one generation prior to Isaiah where this pagan nation was willing to repent 00:41:34.680 |
Even though they have all the advantage I gave them, they become so hardened that they 00:41:46.440 |
He sent 10 of them pleading with the nation of Israel to repent and they wouldn't repent. 00:41:53.560 |
And the false prophets would come and say, God's not angry with you. 00:42:04.040 |
So again, all of this is to stack up evidence against the nation of Israel. 00:42:08.920 |
The judgment is coming and there's nobody who's going to stand before God saying this 00:42:15.600 |
The bad news to the nation of Israel at the end of chapter 6, he says, the judgment's 00:42:24.240 |
going to be so complete and though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again. 00:42:28.480 |
So even after the judgment comes, only a tenth remain, right? 00:42:33.760 |
A tenth of all of Israel, only then will remain, but even the tenth is going to be burnt up. 00:42:39.320 |
It's going to be thorough and complete, like a terabith or on an oak whose stump remains 00:42:45.520 |
So in other words, the bad news is that the judgment's going to be so thorough, there's 00:42:53.240 |
But the good news is that stump that's going to remain is a holy seed, Jesus. 00:43:02.840 |
And the only reason why the nation of Israel has any hope is because he leaves a stump 00:43:08.920 |
The only reason why 3,000 years later, this tiny little nation could have been squashed 00:43:17.120 |
and we never would have heard of, like Israel, what is Israel? 00:43:20.280 |
You know, you'd have to go back and take history lessons or be a history major to even know 00:43:25.080 |
And the only reason why we are still talking about them today, why they even have significance 00:43:29.960 |
in modern history is because God's presence was with them, right? 00:43:37.800 |
Think about a tiny little nation with all those superpowers. 00:43:43.960 |
They're not like way over here, they're surrounded by them, right? 00:43:47.840 |
They're surrounded by Egyptians, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Romans, 00:43:51.720 |
the Greeks, they're surrounded by these superpowers that are fighting each other and just a bomb 00:44:01.200 |
One of these bombs that they're bombing with just went astray and hit them by accident, 00:44:09.440 |
But in God's redemptive history, they're superpowers. 00:44:13.840 |
And the only reason why is because he left a stump, a remnant of the nation of Israel. 00:44:19.960 |
Now I'm not going to go off tangent here, but to me, when we talk about God's faithfulness, 00:44:26.520 |
and I know there's a whole different theology saying that Israel has been replaced by the 00:44:32.640 |
I believe that God has a place of nation of Israel. 00:44:36.640 |
The fact that they still exist today is a testament to the promises that he has that 00:44:41.960 |
meant much of what he's saying to them is still future. 00:44:45.800 |
We're going to see that restored in the second coming. 00:44:49.120 |
But again, all of this, right now he's going to reintroduce the stump which is Jesus and 00:44:54.400 |
then you know where the prophecy is going in chapter seven, about that he's going to 00:44:58.840 |
leave a sign, the virgin's going to have a child, and then he's going to go into more 00:45:04.480 |
And so he says, "Here's the indictment, the judgment is going to be thorough, there's 00:45:07.680 |
not a single person who can stand before God and be justified, and you would have been 00:45:11.280 |
completely wiped out if it wasn't for the fact that I made a covenant that the offspring 00:45:20.040 |
of the woman's going to come and crush the head of the serpent, and we're not done with 00:45:26.320 |
And then so he begins to introduce the hope that's in Christ. 00:45:30.040 |
As he is prophesying about the judgment, the hope in Christ is going to be slowly starting 00:45:35.960 |
Okay, so if you guys can take some time with your small group to discuss.