back to index20160622 Wednesday Bible Study
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All right, let's let's pray and we'll get into it. 00:00:13.120 |
Heavenly Father, we want to praise you and thank you. 00:00:21.680 |
You know how easily we get entangled and get distracted, how we wrestle and struggle, Lord 00:00:29.240 |
We genuinely desire to know you, to be intimate with you. 00:00:33.440 |
And at times when we feel helpless, we pray, Father God, that our community of believers 00:00:38.200 |
would cause us to strive together as iron sharpening iron, that we may be sharpened 00:00:43.380 |
as a result of our fellowship, that our study of your word, Lord God, would penetrate deep 00:00:48.160 |
into our hearts, that it would not just cause us to understand superficially, but that it 00:00:55.080 |
would be convicting, that it would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. 00:00:59.920 |
I pray that you give us fertile hearts, Lord God, as you are the potter and we are the 00:01:07.040 |
So we pray that the study of Isaiah would mold your church, that we may be people who 00:01:19.240 |
So each week what we're going to do is each day there's questions and we're going to we're 00:01:23.240 |
going to the teaching is going to be going down the list of the questions that you have 00:01:29.280 |
So the first section is in Isaiah 51 through five. 00:01:33.400 |
The two questions that was brought up was what does the imagery of giving the certificate 00:01:39.160 |
In other words, what is what is he trying to get at? 00:01:42.340 |
And what was the reason that Israel was not delivered when they were oppressed by their 00:01:48.120 |
So if you look at Isaiah chapter 50 beginning, he begins by asking a rhetorical question. 00:01:52.320 |
Where is your mother's confidence of divorce with which I sent her away? 00:01:57.920 |
So what does the imagery of giving the certificate of divorce to Israel signify? 00:02:11.240 |
So God is not divorces people as some may have been accusing God of. 00:02:16.520 |
And why, why do you think some of them were thinking that? 00:02:19.600 |
What was what's happening during Isaiah's prophecy? 00:02:31.400 |
And then there's prophecy about the Babylonians are knocking at their door and that they may 00:02:36.720 |
So they're being oppressed by every every which way. 00:02:39.940 |
And so they're basically crying out, why has God forsaken us? 00:02:44.240 |
So Isaiah comes in and he's trying to answer that question. 00:02:47.120 |
Where did I, if you, if you're claiming that I somehow forgot about you and divorced you 00:02:50.700 |
and allow the creditors take you away, that is not the case. 00:03:00.240 |
He said, God is basically saying that he has never divorced Israel or sent her away. 00:03:06.320 |
It's because of their own iniquities and transgressions. 00:03:08.600 |
And he says, why, when I came, was there no man? 00:03:12.800 |
Why when I called, was there no one to answer? 00:03:19.880 |
And it wasn't because his hand was short that he couldn't read, didn't redeem them. 00:03:23.360 |
He said, ultimately it was because of their own sins. 00:03:32.400 |
Instead of sending them away as they were, they were accusing God of possibly, they were 00:03:39.200 |
So in other words, this is the psyche of an individual or a nation that's being oppressed. 00:03:46.600 |
You know, like when hardships come into your life, the natural reaction sometimes when 00:03:51.040 |
we don't trust in God is why is God doing this? 00:03:55.880 |
And so God's answer to them specifically, right? 00:04:00.160 |
Hardships don't always come into our life just because we sin. 00:04:02.880 |
But in this particular case, it was God's discipline. 00:04:20.000 |
So the only thing keeping God's people away from God is unrepentant sin. 00:04:25.120 |
And that's what God was trying to tell the nation of Israel. 00:04:29.680 |
What you are experiencing, you're experiencing because you refuse to repent. 00:04:35.080 |
But again, the whole point of why he says this, again, if you've been following along 00:04:39.120 |
in chapter 50, is not simply to condemn, right? 00:04:42.320 |
The first 39 chapters, what's the main theme of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah? 00:04:50.640 |
Why is judgment coming upon the nation of Israel? 00:05:00.600 |
So in the context of his primary theme of redemption, he's reminding them again, like 00:05:09.640 |
But the reason why he's doing that is because he's trying to introduce to them the solution. 00:05:17.120 |
So the other question is before the servant of the Lord could speak, what did the Lord 00:05:23.680 |
One of the questions that was emailed to me, which I thought was a very good question, 00:05:28.200 |
was how do you just assume that he's talking about the servant and not Israel or not Isaiah, 00:05:35.080 |
And the reason why I just kind of put the question without explaining is because the 00:05:39.680 |
previous verses, previous chapters, it was pretty clear the servant is referring to the 00:05:46.680 |
So in the context of the previous chapters, it's clear that he's prophesying about the 00:05:53.920 |
And he said the Messiah has deep fellowship with the Father, verse 4. 00:05:59.880 |
The Lord has gone and given me the tongue of those who are taught that I may know how 00:06:05.960 |
Him who is weary, morning by morning he awakens. 00:06:08.480 |
He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 00:06:12.040 |
And again, John 14.10 talks about how Jesus always woke up early in the morning to have 00:06:17.640 |
fellowship with his Father, to pray with his Father. 00:06:20.560 |
And again, you'll see, you'll see, the more we dig into it, the more we see how much it 00:06:34.680 |
Verse 5, the Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. 00:06:39.280 |
I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. 00:06:44.760 |
I hid my face from disgrace and spitting, right? 00:06:48.440 |
So when it says his ears were opened, it means two things. 00:06:58.440 |
His ears were opened, meaning that whatever God was saying, he's eager. 00:07:01.760 |
What do you have to say to me that he wanted to obey? 00:07:04.440 |
The other part of it is related to the Old Testament. 00:07:07.400 |
To be eared, ears to be opened or to be pierced was symbolic of a slave who was submitting. 00:07:14.400 |
And I'm not going to get into that because of time, but in Exodus 21 to 5 to 6, it actually 00:07:19.100 |
gives instructions to a slave to go back and resubmit yourself to the Master. 00:07:23.740 |
And it's described as piercing your ear, right? 00:07:30.300 |
So Jew would have understood that right away when he says my ears were opened or pierced, 00:07:34.360 |
means that he's willing to obey, he's willing to submit, right? 00:07:39.460 |
So the servant is going to come, there's going to be intimacy between him and the Father, 00:07:48.880 |
And when this servant comes, the Messiah comes, how would he be treated? 00:07:56.520 |
Talks about physical abuse, verse 6, "I gave my back to those who strike." 00:08:05.600 |
The imagery of the servant turning around, giving his back, again, is the imagery of 00:08:22.680 |
So what he's come to do, he didn't come begrudgingly, God didn't send him and say, well, why do 00:08:27.480 |
He said he turned his back and he turned his cheek and let them have him. 00:08:35.640 |
And why does the Messiah say his strength came from the Lord? 00:08:39.040 |
And I think we've gone through this so many times, just like it says in Philippians 2, 00:08:45.880 |
6, that his incarnation meant that he absolutely humbled himself. 00:08:52.620 |
He experienced all the weaknesses, hunger, pain, rejection, living, growing up in a poor 00:09:01.520 |
family, he experienced all of that and all human limitations, he deliberately. 00:09:06.720 |
So everything that Jesus experienced and everything he did, he did as a humbled human being, dependent 00:09:13.900 |
So in this passage it describes him as someone who is strengthened because he relies on him, 00:09:21.480 |
It says, "Because the Lord God will help him, the Messiah has set his face like a flint, 00:09:28.800 |
meaning he has resolved to carry out God's plans." 00:09:30.960 |
Again, so we see, you see what's going on, just kind of give you the flow of chapter 00:09:38.720 |
50, he says it's not because God's arm was short that they were experiencing discipline, 00:09:46.640 |
But the whole reason why he reveals that is to give the solution, and the solution is 00:09:51.720 |
So this Messiah who's going to come is going to be sent by the Father, he's going to have 00:09:56.280 |
deep intimacy with God, he's coming voluntarily, he's going to be mistreated, right, and then 00:10:03.640 |
he says he's going to turn his face, right, and make his face like flint, meaning he's 00:10:12.520 |
In fact, Luke 9, 51, it says, "When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his 00:10:19.200 |
And so that was the imagery, like, that's where he said he's going to the cross, and 00:10:23.000 |
he's not dragging his feet, God is not, like, you know, pushing him and dragging him, he 00:10:31.000 |
Just like it says in the first three chapters of Ephesians, it was his will, it was his 00:10:34.520 |
purpose, it was predestined, it was elected, that from the very beginning, this was his 00:10:41.360 |
So his servant is going to come and volunteer to offer his life to be abused because of 00:12:13.280 |
In light of his sacrifice, what does God call them to do? 00:12:18.560 |
He's called to obey, verse 10 through 11, "Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the 00:12:24.400 |
Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on 00:12:30.760 |
So because of what the servant is going to do, again, you see the flow? 00:12:36.680 |
He's saying, he reveals the sin, and it is because of your sin, not because God is not 00:12:42.640 |
The solution comes and the Messiah is going to come and he's going to offer his life. 00:12:45.960 |
And as a result of what the Messiah is going to do, he said, all those who desire to come 00:12:52.720 |
So it's not that because Jesus died for you and took care of your sins, so therefore now 00:12:57.320 |
He said as a result of what he has done, he's caused everyone to come and obey. 00:13:04.080 |
So in verse 11, "Behold, all who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning torches, 00:13:09.920 |
walk by the light of your fire and by the torches that you have kindled." 00:13:19.000 |
When you were reading through that, what, what, how did you understand those who kindle 00:13:25.760 |
Do you think that's a good imagery, bad imagery? 00:13:27.760 |
, I think it's a bad imagery because they're kind of lighting their own fire, trying to 00:13:46.600 |
earn their own righteousness, whereas God is telling them to walk trusting him instead 00:13:52.080 |
Because he's saying what you're trying to do, you got to do, right? 00:13:56.440 |
But what do you, what do you think of when you think of fire? 00:14:09.160 |
But I mean, yeah, but more specifically, riot. 00:14:29.640 |
I think of it like judgment, like a mob, right? 00:14:34.880 |
A mob who's got the light fire and they're looking for vengeance because these people 00:14:40.960 |
They kindle a fire and they're looking for a fight, right? 00:14:45.120 |
Those who kindle a fire, who equip yourselves with burning, with burning torches, walk by 00:14:52.880 |
The same thing that your righteous indignation, first light it and you walk by it, right? 00:15:01.900 |
Walk by the light of your fire and by the torches that you have kindled. 00:15:04.720 |
So the, so the righteous indignation you feel, he said, turn that toward yourself, right? 00:15:12.280 |
So those who first be affected by that light, those who call others to submit must first 00:15:18.920 |
So in other words, first come humble yourself before the Messiah, before you stand up for 00:15:27.320 |
And what is the basis on which Israel ought to base their trust in the Lord? 00:15:31.240 |
In verse one to three of chapter 51, he said, listen to me, right? 00:15:38.200 |
And you'll notice that all throughout chapter 52 and all along to chapter 50, no, chapter 00:15:43.720 |
51, 52, he says over and over, listen, right? 00:15:50.480 |
So as you're studying through, see how many times he says over and over again, wake up, 00:16:01.120 |
And then he goes through, like, do you remember? 00:16:05.620 |
Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from 00:16:09.840 |
which you are hewn and to the query from which you were dug. 00:16:14.240 |
Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who bore you, for he was but one when I called 00:16:22.960 |
What encouragement is he trying to give through that imagery? 00:16:27.880 |
Remember Abraham, you who are righteous, who are seeking me, remember Abraham? 00:16:34.040 |
And so all these things, all these blessings came out of this one man. 00:16:37.080 |
What is the encouragement he's giving to the righteous here? 00:16:41.040 |
>> To trust God, to trust his faithfulness, to trust his goodness. 00:17:04.840 |
What do you think is specific of this one man? 00:17:13.000 |
>> Yeah, his faithfulness, his covenant through me. 00:17:19.960 |
So specifically, it's God used this one man to bless everybody. 00:17:29.920 |
And so he said, if you're searching me and you are not the majority, right? 00:17:34.080 |
And you're coming to God and all you see are your enemies. 00:17:40.080 |
And even though you feel like you're standing alone, remember that God blessed one man and 00:17:44.360 |
through that one man brought the nation of Israel, right? 00:17:47.720 |
So in other words, what is he telling the righteous man? 00:17:58.640 |
So he reminds them that God's faithfulness is to one man, one man to lead to what Israel 00:18:16.600 |
And so when he says, when he comes, what will he bring with him? 00:18:19.500 |
So along with that context, he says, you know, don't be fearful because you're a minority 00:18:25.080 |
It seems like there are more people who are against God than those who are for God. 00:18:30.240 |
And what is one of the reasons why he says not to fear? 00:18:34.320 |
Because when he comes, he will bring reward to the righteous and judgment to the unrighteous. 00:18:39.760 |
So instead of fearing them, you should pity them because the real judgment is coming to 00:18:52.880 |
And what is the, why was it that the righteous man was fearing the people? 00:18:57.440 |
So do not fear the reproach of man or their reviling against you because they are the 00:19:06.020 |
At this moment, they may be oppressing you, but they are the ones who are ultimately going 00:19:13.380 |
And here's a question that, did everybody get this email, the correction? 00:19:31.980 |
I worded it poorly because after I got the email and I read it, I said, okay, that's 00:19:38.180 |
So basically the corrected version of it was, why was it not Israel? 00:19:42.620 |
In fact, what is God trying to do and why, like who is, who is the one who sustained 00:19:48.820 |
So in other words, your pride, even when things were going great, he goes down the history 00:19:52.180 |
of Israel and all the things that God has done, he's reminding them that it wasn't you, 00:19:59.900 |
He was the one that the right, the arm of the Lord is the one who delivered you. 00:20:03.420 |
Arm of the one who performed miracles, right? 00:20:06.300 |
So even though at this time you may look on the horizon and it seems like enemies are 00:20:09.880 |
surrounding you, that in the end, all the great things that happened, it wasn't because 00:20:14.540 |
of you, that it was ultimately because of God, right? 00:20:19.220 |
So his faithfulness to the past is a guarantee of his faithfulness for the future. 00:20:28.020 |
And again, we've been talking about justification by faith and how we have been saved. 00:20:32.420 |
And because if God has been faithful for our justification, how will they not be faithful 00:20:41.540 |
So it's not like he thought we were helpless in justification and then just kind of let 00:20:48.460 |
But he who is justified, he will sanctified and ultimately will glorify. 00:20:54.140 |
So he again repeats the history over and over again because their confidence comes from 00:20:59.260 |
who God is, not what they're able to do, not some new technique that they somehow found 00:21:04.380 |
that works that didn't work in the previous generation, but the solution is always to 00:21:11.380 |
And that's what's unique about Christianity, where everything around us is trying to progress. 00:21:16.540 |
You're trying to find a new way to do things, new way to do church, new way to do small 00:21:19.900 |
group, you know, new way to reach out to new people because we have a new generation. 00:21:24.980 |
But Christianity is always about sticking to the past, right? 00:21:29.020 |
And I'm not talking about how we dress or the style of songs, but in the end, our source 00:21:33.220 |
of strength and power comes from our past, from who God is, right? 00:21:38.540 |
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the same God was faithful to them, is the same God 00:21:46.900 |
So our goal ultimately is to dig back and to recognize that God who saved you is the 00:21:51.860 |
God who will continue to save you, will ultimately save you. 00:22:00.700 |
Forsaking your first love, to restore your first love, what does he say? 00:22:04.380 |
Remember the height from which you had fallen. 00:22:15.180 |
Remain with Christ, continue with Christ, right? 00:22:17.740 |
And so that message is consistent all throughout scripture, even in the Old Testament. 00:22:21.900 |
He's trying to encourage these people because of these trials. 00:22:24.700 |
And where did the source of strength come from? 00:22:35.580 |
What was the primary reason why they were fearful? 00:22:41.700 |
And isn't that ultimately the reason why we become anxious? 00:22:46.800 |
We forget that we have a God who is the creator of the universe. 00:22:52.180 |
If he loved you enough to send his only begotten son, would he not love you enough to provide 00:22:59.620 |
Would he not love you enough to answer your prayers, to protect you? 00:23:03.940 |
That he somehow, you know, went out of his way to send his only begotten son, but then 00:23:09.980 |
he has no power over your health, he has no power over your wealth, he has no power over 00:23:16.660 |
The only reason why anxiousness and fear come is because we've forgotten who he is. 00:23:22.460 |
And finally, on Wednesday, what was God's discipline of Israel meant to do for Israel? 00:23:34.340 |
And over and over again, Israel was called to awake, awake. 00:23:40.700 |
Even in the midst of enemies coming and crashing in, they were relying on their religiousness. 00:23:48.620 |
So the Babylonians are coming, the Assyrians are coming, the Egyptians are coming, and 00:23:54.780 |
Go to the temple and offer meaningless sacrifices, right? 00:23:59.820 |
Go to the temple, you know, give sacrifices, give to the temple. 00:24:03.340 |
And so they were constantly doing these rituals, and God's looking at that, and said, "That's 00:24:08.820 |
How can you be sitting outside the temple, and somehow by coming into the temple and 00:24:13.180 |
doing righteous things, that somehow that's going to erase your sins?" 00:24:23.980 |
So basically he's calling for revival in the nation of Israel. 00:24:27.100 |
And the reason why he's allowing discipline to come is so that they would open their ears 00:24:31.260 |
and start paying attention to God instead of relying on their religiousness. 00:24:56.260 |
You think it's these chairs blocking the way? 00:25:26.780 |
What does God promise to do again to the nation of Israel? 00:25:32.940 |
God will take away the cup of wrath that they were under. 00:25:36.020 |
So if you look at verse 17, chapter 51 verse 17, he says, "Wake yourself, wake yourself, 00:25:42.900 |
stand up O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord, the cup of His wrath." 00:25:47.220 |
So again, when the scripture uses the imagery of the cup, it typically talks about His wrath. 00:25:52.100 |
Remember when Jesus says to the disciples, let me sit to the left and to the right, and 00:25:56.500 |
He says, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?" 00:25:58.820 |
And the cup He's referring to is a wrath that He's going to take upon Himself. 00:26:02.620 |
And so He says, "The cup of wrath, do you not know that the cup of wrath came to you 00:26:08.540 |
And then He says in verse 22, "Thus says the Lord, the Lord your God, who pleads the cause 00:26:13.040 |
of His people, 'Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.'" 00:26:16.780 |
In other words, God gave the cup for the purpose of disciplining. 00:26:21.340 |
But time's going to come when God's going to take away the cup, right? 00:26:24.260 |
The bowl of my wrath, you shall drink no more. 00:26:27.860 |
Even though your sins are many, my servant is going to come, He's going to make His face 00:26:33.900 |
like flint, and He's going to go toward the cross, take our sins upon Himself. 00:26:41.360 |
He's going to have deep fellowship with the Father, right? 00:26:44.820 |
And ultimately, He's going to take away our sins. 00:26:47.960 |
And so the wrath of God is going to be taken away. 00:26:50.340 |
So again, it doesn't spell it out here, it gets more detailed. 00:26:53.500 |
All of this is a setup for chapter 53, right? 00:26:57.740 |
And you know what He's going to say in chapter 53, is the most detailed description of what 00:27:13.540 |
I'm tired of disciplining you, I'm just going to let you go." 00:27:18.020 |
If He did that, He would be going against His righteousness and His holiness. 00:27:24.100 |
Imagine if you're raising kids and you did that. 00:27:28.660 |
I'm just going to pretend like you did sin and nothing happened. 00:27:31.380 |
Just kind of like, I'm just going to look the other way." 00:27:38.120 |
If you really loved your child, you wouldn't do that. 00:27:41.080 |
So God's not saying, "I'm just going to take away." 00:27:43.740 |
It's like, "Oh, you know, I'm so sick of bringing judgment. 00:27:50.580 |
So He's going to have that wrath diverted to His Son so He absorbs it. 00:27:56.020 |
And when He absorbs it, He doesn't just absorb our sin. 00:28:03.860 |
He dies and He resurrects and He makes us new creation. 00:28:09.260 |
So that His sacrifice affects us so deeply that we become new creation. 00:28:15.740 |
So He's not just simply saying, "Ah, forget it. 00:28:17.380 |
I don't remember your sin because Jesus took your sins." 00:28:23.820 |
So that He can put new wine into new wineskin. 00:28:41.780 |
But I think I wanted to take some time to worship with you again. 00:28:46.740 |
And just kind of along with the theme that we're studying.