Milo

MAY 20

Reading 140

RUIN TO RESURRECTION Isaiah 24–27

“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples” (Isa. 25:6).The judgment of God on sin is part of His plan for the redemption of humanity. When sin is punished and the wicked wiped out, salvation will come and “the earth will give birth to her dead.”

Background

Divine judgment.

Some feel uncomfortable with the notion of divine judgment. Isaiah, however, was completely comfortable. In these chapters, which all commentators see as a unit, Isaiah examined the relationship of history, divine judgment, and God’s ultimate intentions for humanity. The message of the passage is, first, that the disasters that overtake men and nations demonstrate God’s determination to punish sin. But second, no human failure will prevent God from shaping the righteous society that His holiness demands. The God who judges sin and forgives those who trust Him will create a just moral society at history’s end.

Overview

Isaiah predicted devastating judgments (24:1–23) which would bring about the triumph of God (25:1–12). For the righteous, God’s triumph promises a resurrection (26:1–21). In His judgments God will destroy oppressors and restore the blessings of the oppressed (v. 20–27:13).

Understanding the Text

“Its people must bear their guilt” Isa. 24:1–23. Isaiah announced that the whole world will be punished. No class of people (v. 2) will escape, for earth’s inhabitants have “broken the everlasting covenant” (v. 5). This is a reference to the covenant God made with humanity in Noah’s time (Gen. 9:16), which made man responsible for maintaining a just society. Though God’s judgment will leave earth devastated (Isa. 24:6–13), the people of God will “acclaim the Lord’s majesty” (vv. 14–16). With all evil human and spiritual powers judged, “the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously” (vv. 17–23). What is striking here is the picture of the saints, praising God while everything around them crashes in ruins. Each believer must be affected by the kind of devastation described here. Yet faith gives the believer the ability to see the hand of God in what seems nothing but tragedy to others. Faith also gives us the strength to praise God and “acclaim the Lord’s majesty” when every earthly hope is lost. “You have been a refuge” Isa. 25:1–12. Isaiah explained the outcome of God’s acts of judgment, and described the future of the blessed. What the future holds is praise for God, who has stilled “the song of the ruthless” (vv. 1–5). With the wicked destroyed, God prepares a “feast of rich food for all peoples.” It is then that God will “swallow up death forever” and “wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth” (vv. 6–8). While images of the future differ slightly between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there is no difference at all in the two Testament’s description of who will enjoy it. The blessed of every age are those who can say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” How natural it is for you and me to join Isaiah in praise to the Lord, and share Isaiah’s joy. We too know God as our Saviour. We trust in Him. We know that He will deliver us from the coming judgment. We will be at His side when the song of the ruthless is stilled. “Your dead will live” Isa. 26:1–21. Not even death can thwart God’s purposes. Isaiah looked ahead and saw a day when salvation’s song will be sung in Jerusalem (vv. 1–7). Yet his own day was one of longing, not of fulfillment. “We wait for You,” Isaiah sighed, and added, “My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You.” His yearning was great, because, even “though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness” (vv. 8–10). You and I may know Isaiah’s frustration well. Yet we have the same promise that gave Isaiah hope. Isaiah looked ahead, and knew that “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead” (v. 19). Even death cannot thwart God’s purposes. We live in hope, because we know that if we should die before we see God’s plan for this earth achieved, He will raise us from the dead to share His triumph! “In that day” Isa. 27:1–13. The phrase “that day” typically indicates history’s end, an eschatological period during which God draws the threads of all His purposes together. Someone has suggested that the phrase simply means, “in God’s time.” Well, what is it that will happen “in God’s time”? (1) The Lord will destroy evil spiritual powers, 27:1. (2) The Lord will restore and protect His Old Testament people (vv. 2–7). (3) This will be accomplished after God has atoned for their guilt, and by strict punishment weaned them from their hunger for idolatry (vv. 8–11). (4) This will happen when God recalls His people from exile, and the nation is regathered to “worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem” (vv. 12–13). History does maintain its purposeful flow, coursing as God directs. At history’s end God will bring all things to the conclusion that He intends. When will this happen? We cannot know. But it will happen. “In that day.” In God’s time.

DEVOTIONAL

Waitin’ for Justice(Isa. 26)

We had just written (another) letter to our superintendent of schools. When our third-grader changed schools midyear, she was placed in a classroom where she suffered serious verbal abuse from other children, and received no support from her teacher. The stress caused Sarah some serious stomach problems. It caused us serious upset too, because only after a number of complaints did we get Sarah transferred to another classroom. Even then her first teacher seemed to take it out on Sarah by threatening to fail her in one of her subjects. What was frustrating was that, despite the fact Sarah had an A her first semester, and an A the first quarter in her new school, the teacher threatened to fail her for the year—and despite stated school policy we were not even allowed to check the grade book. I could go on and list other abuses, but the point I want to make is simple. All of us, even in the best of times, are victims now and then of injustice. I know that our situation with Sarah is relatively insignificant. There are far greater injustices suffered by others. But the experience has made us more sensitive to the frustration experienced by the powerless. This is what Isaiah felt as he cried, “Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” He went on to complain that though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness, but keep on doing evil (vv. 8–10). How frustrating to try, but always to be kept waiting. How frustrating to struggle, but never seeming to dent injustice. When something like this happens to us, we need to remember the hope that brought Isaiah comfort. All will be made right, in God’s time. It may not be during our lifetime. But, “Your dead will live!” Even death is not the end. Even death can’t thwart the ultimate achievement of justice for all in this world. One day, in God’s time, we’ll hear His voice calling us. He’ll cry out to those of us who dwell in the dust, and we will “wake up and shout for joy.” For then we will have justice. Then we will have peace.

Personal Application

Fight injustice. Even if you lose, you will surely win in God’s time.

Quotable

“In Germany, they first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist; then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me—and by that time no one was left to speak up.”—Martin Niemoller

MAY 19

Reading 139

AGAINST THE WICKED Isaiah 13–23

“How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended! The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers” (Isa. 14:4–5).These chapters of Isaiah take a new direction, and communicate a single message: God surely will act against the enemies of the righteous.

Background

Sovereignty.

The niv translates ˒adonay yahweh by “Sovereign Lord.” The first Hebrew word is an intensive form of the word for “master,” or “owner”; a form used only of God in the Old Testament. While the name itself, rendered “Lord God” in older versions, tells us little about the nature of God’s sovereignty, these chapters of Isaiah reveal much. Little Judah was surrounded by powerful enemies, who frequently brought God’s people into subjection. Yet the God of Israel was worshiped as Lord of the whole earth and Creator of the heavens. How could this vision of an all-powerful God be supported in view of the relative weakness of His people? Isaiah’s answer is found in this series of oracles-prophetic announcements of judgment-directed against Judah’s enemies. God is in complete charge of the flow of history. The Lord will judge the wicked world powers that have oppressed His people. One by one they will fall. As the decades march on, the fall of Judah’s enemies will provide evidence that God is God, and that the good He intends for His people will surely come to pass. At times we may feel overwhelmed, reading through chapters of the Old Testament which seem to us obscure or even perhaps irrelevant. Yet these oracles against the nations were not irrelevant to his listeners—nor are they irrelevant to you and me. They remind us too that, though the wicked may at times seem to prosper, God is sovereign. People and nations pass away and history flows on, channeled by God’s hidden power. In God’s time history will empty into an eternity that He has planned from the beginning, and all God’s people will be blessed.

Overview

Our sovereign God will overthrow all enemies of His people. Judgment will fall on Babylon (13:1–14:23), on Assyria and Philistia (vv. 24–32), Moab (15:1–16:14), Damascus (17:1–14), Ethiopia (Cush) (18:1–7), Egypt (19:1–25), Egypt and Ethiopia (20:1–6), Babylon, Edom, and Arabia (21:1–17). It will fall on contemporary Jerusalem (22:1–25), and on Tyre (23:1–18).

Understanding the Text

“An oracle concerning Babylon” Isa. 13:1–14:23. Why Babylon? In Isaiah’s day Assyria, not Babylon, was supreme. In Isaiah’s day the Medes, cast here as the agents of Babylon’s downfall, were allies rather than enemies. How could Isaiah speak so certainly of events that happened, not in his own time, but over a century later? Such questions have led some to insist that Isaiah could not have written this oracle. But such questions remind us of the sovereign power of God, who knows things that have not yet come to pass, and reveals them through His prophets. Perhaps one of the most striking images is found in 13:19–22, which pictures a deserted Babylon, so much a specter that no Arab will pitch his tent there, a home for wild animals that will scurry among its ruins. For well over 2,000 years the site of ancient Babylon has been just such a specter. The night winds have howled through heaps of ancient mud bricks, and superstitious Arabs have avoided and feared Babylon’s desolation. What an image of worldly glory! It flourishes for a moment. And then as history rushes on, worldly glory crumbles. How empty the ambitions and the achievements of the world. “Ar in Moab is ruined” Isa. 15:1–16:13. Moab had been an enemy of Israel from the days of the Exodus (cf. Num. 22–24). Isaiah announced that Moab would be devastated within three years (Isa. 16:14). Nestled among the predictions of destruction is a beautiful passage that reminds us of an important truth. God’s judgments are not vindictive, but are intended to bring blessing and peace. “The oppressor will come to an end, and destruction will cease; the aggressor will vanish from the land. In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness” (vv. 4–5). “The glory of Jacob will fade” Isa. 17:1–14. The coalition of Syria and Israel, formed to resist Assyria, was doomed to fail. Damascus, the capital of Syria, would fall, leaving Israel exposed to the brutal invader. But Isaiah did not see Israel’s destruction as an unmixed evil. Stripped of national pride and glory, destitute, and starving, “Men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel” (v. 7). What we are likely to see as a disaster is often intended by God for some greater good. “Stripped and barefoot” Isa. 20:1–6. In the 1960s when Arthur Blessett marched in U.S. cities carrying a gigantic wooden cross, he was frequently ridiculed. But Blessett felt called, and was willing to be thought a fool for Christ. Isaiah must have felt something of a fool in the eighth centuryB.C, when he was told by God to wander the streets of Jerusalem stripped (to a loincloth) and barefoot for some three years. This relative of the royal family exposed himself to shame at God’s command, to serve as an object lesson. Soon the sovereign God would execute judgment against Egypt and Cush (Ethiopia), and their people would suffer Isaiah’s fate. God is unlikely to ask you or me to walk about in diapers or drag a cross. But there will be times when we feel a little embarrassed or foolish at the thought of doing something we feel convicted is God’s will. At such times let’s take heart from the example of God’s bolder servants, and put obedience first. “O city of tumult and revelry” Isa. 22:1–25. Jerusalem rejoiced over its deliverance from the forces of Sennacherib in 701B.C Isaiah, however, was distressed. The goodness of God should have led the people of Judah to repent (vv. 12–13), not to party! In this Isaiah reflected a thought expressed later by the Apostle Paul: “Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” (Rom. 2:4)

DEVOTIONAL

Move Over, God(Isa. 14:12–15)

The author of Ecclesiastes said it. “There is nothing new under the sun.” He was right. Try as hard as one can, it’s even impossible to invent a new sin! I suspect that’s one reason why so many commentators take Isaiah 14:12–15 not just as the description of some arrogant but petty Babylonian ruler, but as a description of Satan. Probably they’re right in seeing at least a reflection of Satan here. The passage does describe what is perhaps the root of every sin. Some call it pride. What it really is, is the intention of the creature to “make myself like the Most High.” It’s the intention of the creature to sit on the throne of the universe, and have its own way. If Satan is in view here, his intention was quite literal. He really did say in his heart, “Move over, God, I want Your throne.” You and I aren’t likely to express ourselves quite as blatantly. But all our sins do reflect the same attitude. What we feel and think is, “I want. . . . ” and “I will. . . . ” What’s wrong with that? It’s just that there is room in the universe for only one God. Our attitude should be, “What You will” and our desires, “What You want.” It may seem strange, but that one little change in pronoun can help us avoid the judgment that these chapters assure us will overtake the wicked. If in our heart of hearts we replace the “I” with “You,” a good and holy life will follow.

Personal Application

In the Christian life if not the alphabet, “U” always comes before “I.”

Quotable

“Psychologist Bernard Rimland, at the Institute for Child Behavior Research in San Diego, has just published a simple test. “Make a list of 10 persons whom you know the best. After each name write either H (for happy) or N (for unhappy). Then go down the list again, this time writing S (for selfish) and U (for unselfish) after each name. Once you have completed your list, draw a table . . . count each category, and place the numbers in the appropriate cell. “When Rimland added up the cases of 1,988 people rated by 216 students in 6 college classes, he found that the happy/selfish category was almost empty (only 78 of the cases), while 827 fell into the happy/unselfish cell. Paradox: Selfish people are by definition devoted to bringing themselves happiness. Judged by others, however, they seem to succeed less often than people who work at bringing happiness to others. “Conclusion: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”—Cris Cox

MAY 18

Reading 138

GOD’S SILVER LINING Isaiah 7–12

“For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders” (Isa. 9:6).Dark clouds hung on the international horizon when Isaiah spoke the words recorded in these chapters. But three times the sun broke through, as Isaiah spoke of the coming Messiah who would set all things right.

Background

The international scene.

The states of Syria-Palestine, led by Pekah of Israel (Samaria) and Rezin of Syria (Damascus) forged a coalition of kings to resist Assyria. Ahaz of Judah refused to join, and the two kings threatened to invade Judah. In desperation Ahaz sent envoys to offer the Assyrians a large bribe to attack Syria and Israel before the two local powers could attack him! This strategy backfired. Assyria accepted the bribe, and overwhelmed Judah’s enemies, but then invaded Judah as well! Today’s text describes a confrontation between Isaiah and Ahaz, as the prophet announced that God would protect Judah from Pekah and Rezin. Told to ask God for a sign, Ahaz refused. He would not trust God, but insisted on turning to Assyria, thus sealing the devastation of his homeland as well as the destruction of his enemies! Isaiah’s words in this situation are a healthy reminder for you and me when we find ourselves in difficult situations, and look about desperately for a way out. “Do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy, He is the One you are to fear, He is the One you are to dread, and He will be a sanctuary” (Isa. 8:12–14).

Overview

A reluctant Ahaz was given the sign of Immanuel (7:1–16), and told that Assyria, on whom he relied, would bring devastation to Judah (v. 17–8:22). Yet a Child identified as “Mighty God” would be born and reign on David’s throne (9:1–7), but not before the wickedness of Israel, Judah, and Assyria have been punished (v. 8–10:19). The survivors of Judah would rely on the Lord (10:20–34), and Messiah will establish God’s righteous kingdom worldwide (11:1–12:6).

Understanding the Text

“The virgin will be with Child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel” Isa. 7:1–16. “Immanuel” is a Hebrew construction that means “God with us.” Actually, it is an unusual construction that makes the point: “WITH US is God!” Isaiah would not have understood the full significance of the name. Yet it, as well as other names given the Messiah in this section of Isaiah, made it clear that the promised Child was to be both human and divine. Thus Matthew referred to this prophecy when he described Jesus’ conception not by any human father but by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:23). The promise was a sign to Ahaz, in that it identified a period of time within which his enemies would no longer threaten him. From conception to birth is nine months; from birth to weaning to solid food was typically two to three years. So Ahaz was told that within three years the kings he feared would no longer be a threat. And the “whole house of Israel” was invited to watch David’s line for a Virgin Birth, and told that the Child would be the promised Deliverer. Each of the three great messianic visions in these chapters dates some 700 years before the birth of Christ! Cast against the background of Israel’s and Judah’s troubled times, they remind us that the Lord is in complete control of history. Whatever happens to us today, our future is secure, for tomorrow is in God’s hand. “The Lord will bring on you” Isa. 7:17–8:22. The Assyrian invasion of Israel and Judah reminds us that God can use even wicked people to accomplish His purposes. Yet the passage reminds us of something else. What makes us vulnerable to the wicked is our own sin. Isaiah portrayed his fellow countrymen consulting mediums and spiritualists rather than God, as abandoning the Law, and as people who when distressed curse God rather than seek forgiveness. Holding tight to the Lord is our only protection against “distress and darkness and fearful gloom” (8:19–22). “To us a Child is born” Isa. 9:1–8. The Child to be born was a Son, given us as a gift by His Father. He is called “Mighty God” as well as Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace. The name “Everlasting Father” is more likely “Father of Eternity.” Each of these names makes it clear that the promised Messiah is no ordinary human being. What no natural descendant of David could do—uphold the kingdom “with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever”—this miraculous Descendant who is God as well as man, will accomplish. Names like these help us appreciate just who Jesus is. We sense the warmth of His love as we walk with Him through the Gospels. But Isaiah reminds us that our gentle Jesus is Father of Eternity, One whose elemental power has shaped and still upholds our universe. “His anger is not turned away” Isa. 9:8–10:4. What makes a person angry, as well as what he loves, is a key to understanding his character. What makes God angry? Isaiah tells us, as he pronounced, “Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and rob My oppressed people of justice, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless” (10:1–2). If these same things in our society make us angry, then our hearts are in tune with God. “I will punish the king of Assyria” Isa. 10:5–19. Is it fair for God to punish Assyria, which He Himself chose to discipline His people? The answer again reveals the delicate balance that Scripture maintains between divine Sovereignty and human free will. God permitted the rise of Assyria so that nation might discipline His people. But Assyria chose to use the power given to it “to destroy” (v. 7). Assyria became proud, as though God were not the source of its might. Assyria is not being punished for having the power God gave it, but for its pride and misuse of God-given power. God isn’t to blame for the way any person or nation uses the wealth or power He grants. God gives us the freedom to choose how to use His gifts—but holds us responsible for our choices.

DEVOTIONAL

We Live in Hope (Isa. 11–12)

One of the best movies I’ve seen in several years is Dead Poets’ Society. It tells the story of a teacher who challenges students at an exclusive private school to think for themselves—with tragic results. One young man finds the courage for the first time to do what he wants rather than what his father demands. He acts in a play. His angry father takes him out of the school, tells him he has to spend the next 10 years studying for a medical career, and forbids him to ever act again. That night, unable to face such a future, the young man takes his father’s gun and commits suicide. That’s a strange thing about suicide. Most people who kill themselves do so because they feel hopeless. Most who kill themselves don’t do so because of some terrible present lack. They have money, food, clothing, shelter, and friends now. It’s just that looking ahead, they can’t see any meaningful future. Isaiah 11 and 12 remind us that it’s just the opposite for true believers. The believer of Isaiah’s day faced imminent danger from powerful foreign enemies. His society was marked by injustice; many may well have been homeless and hungry. Yet what Isaiah offered God’s people was a vision of the future. A descendant of David (11:1) will appear, to establish righteousness on earth (vv. 2–5). In His day nature itself will be at peace (vv. 6–9). All the hostile world powers that have threatened Judah will rally to Israel’s Messiah, and the Lord will “reach out His hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of His people” (vv. 10–16). Then God’s people will know the full meaning of salvation, and will together sing praises and give thanks (12:1–6). Inspired by this vision of the future, the believer was filled with hope. How strange it is. The suicide, who has everything needed for life on earth, kills himself because he can’t face the future. Yet many a believer who has suffered persecution or lacked life’s necessities has lived victoriously because his hope is fixed in God. In Christ, the future is never truly bleak. Beyond whatever darkness we face, we know there lies a glorious tomorrow.

Personal Application

Rather than hope for some thing, hope in God.

Quotable

“No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear. Never load yourself so. If you find yourself so loaded, at least remember this: it is your own doing, not God’s. He begs you to leave the future to Him, and mind the present.”—George MacDonald

MAY 17

Reading 137

DESTINY’S CHILDREN Isaiah 2–6

“The Law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:3).All too often we sense a great gap between what is and what should be. In these opening chapters, Isaiah reminded his hearers and us that what God intends ultimately will be.

Overview

Isaiah stated God’s intention for Jerusalem (2:1–5), then pronounced judgment on its inhabitants for failing to walk in His light (v. 6–4:1). Despite the failure of God’s people, the Lord will make Jerusalem holy (vv. 2–6). Isaiah defined Judah’s sin in his “song of the vineyard” (5:1–7) and announced judgment as a series of woes (vv. 8–30). The section ends with a Isaiah’s call to serve as a prophet (6:1–13).

Understanding the Text

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord” Isa. 2:1–5. Isaiah shared a vision of the ideal. God intended Jerusalem to be glorious: a beacon, calling all nations to Him and His Law. If only the nations would turn to the Lord and His Law, God would bring peace to the world. This thought is expressed in one of the most famous of Old Testament images: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” In Isaiah’s day the ideal had not been realized. International conditions were grim, and Judah was threatened by powerful enemies. Yet Isaiah cried, “Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” That is, let us live as though the ideal were present now! God calls you and me to live in exactly this same way. The kingdom of God hasn’t yet been established on earth. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is often perverted by the world to, “Do unto others before they can do unto you!” Yet we who know Jesus as Saviour are to live now as if God’s kingdom were firmly in place. We are to ignore the “realities” that drive others to compromise with God’s will, and to “walk in the light of the Lord.” “Their land is full of idols” Isa. 2:6–4:1. Having described God’s ideal for the Holy City and its people, Isaiah went on to describe the reality. Rather than walking in the light of the Lord, the people of Judah had embraced the ways of the pagans they were called to influence! They had arrogantly adopted pagan superstitions (2:6), materialism (v. 7a), confidence in military might (v. 7b), even idolatry (v. 8). Isaiah now warned his fellow countrymen. God would act to judge this arrogant people: they will be “brought low” (vv. 10–22). (See DEVOTIONAL.) In that day everything would fall apart: there would be anarchy within a nation desperate for leadership and stability (3:1–12). Two groups were singled out: the elders and leaders of Judah, and the “women of Zion.” The thought seems to be that the women’s passion for wealth and luxury was a driving force in the corruption of the society. When judgment came these women would lose everything, including any hope of marriage, due to the death of so many of Judah’s men. The passage reminds us that no people who refuse to walk in the light of the Lord can prosper. But there is a special word to individuals, in verse 10. God told Isaiah, “Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.” Whatever happens to our society, you and I need not despair. Our calling is to live righteous lives, and expect God to care for us whatever may come. “Those who are left” Isa. 4:2–6. God’s ideal surely will be achieved. This is the thought with which Isaiah closed his lengthy sermon. After judgment has removed sinners and purified survivors, a cleansed and holy Jerusalem will serve as a shelter and shade for humanity. But this will only be accomplished by the appearance of a person called “the Branch of the Lord.” This term, “branch,” is a frequent title of the Messiah, who is to come from David’s family line and to accomplish the ultimate deliverance of the Jews and all humankind. Again Isaiah’s words serve as a reminder to us. God’s ideal is more than we can accomplish in our own strength. But God Himself has acted in Christ to make it possible for you and me to walk in the light of the Lord. We are His new creation. All we can do is to honor the Lord by living righteous lives, however dark the ways of this present world. The low vines of Palestine’s grapes produced a crop associated in the Old Testament with joy and fulfillment. In one of Scripture’s most powerful images Judah is likened to a vineyard, planned and planted by God, intended to bear fruit that would gladden the Lord’s heart (5:1–7). But instead of the justice and righteousness God sought, His vineyard, Judah, produced injustice and bloodshed. “Woe to you” Isa. 5:8–30. A “woe” is an exclamation, a cry of grief or anguish, that is typically associated with divine judgment. This series of woes is announced for specific sins that are particularly grievous. These are: (1) creating large personal estates at the expense of poorer landholders (vv. 8–10); (2) hedonistic living that shows “no regard for the deeds of the Lord” (vv. 11–17); (3) making evil a life’s work and scoffing at divine judgment (vv. 18–19); (4) calling evil good and good evil (v. 20); (5) relying on one’s own counsel rather than revelation (v. 21); (6) failing to take governmental responsibilities soberly (vv. 22–23). God’s judgment will surely fall on such a people, for each action described shows that “they have rejected the Law of the Lord Almighty, and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.” These woes can be summed up by noting that the sins condemned involve a reconstitution of society. A desire for wealth and personal pleasure is expressed in societal values that replace the values revealed by God. The good traditional values are replaced by evil new values, and scoffed at by those who are wise in their own eyes. Even those who administer the nation’s laws accept the new values, and so “acquit the guilty for a bribe.” It may be hard to live by God’s values in our own society. But it was hard in Bible times too! Only a firm commitment to God and His ways can guard us against evil influences that press in on every side. “I saw the Lord” Isa. 6:1–8. Scholars debate whether this chapter belongs with 2–5 or with 7–12. It seems best to place it here. Isaiah had bluntly warned Judah of impending judgment. The story of his call by God is included to prove his words are authoritative. Isaiah’s account emphasized the holiness of God (vv. 1–4), the prophet’s awareness of his own sinfulness (v. 5), his cleansing (vv. 6–8), and his subsequent willingness to serve as God’s messenger (v. 8). In a sense Isaiah’s call reflects our own experience. When you and I are forgiven, we too become responsible to serve as God’s messengers to others in our society. “How long?” Isa. 6:9–13 Isaiah’s task was to communicate his message of judgment until it was fulfilled, and the doom he pronounced came. You and I are also to communicate our message until God’s words are fulfilled. But the message we carry is the good news of salvation! Let’s not become discouraged if others do not respond immediately. Let’s keep on sharing, until the Gospel bears its fruit.

DEVOTIONAL

Arrogance Brought Low (Isa. 2)

It’s surprising how extensive the Old Testament’s vocabulary of “arrogance” is. One Hebrew root, zid, pictures a self-important pride that leads to acts of rebellion. Another root, ga˒ah, implies overwhelming self-confidence linked with insensitivity to others. A third, gabah, suggests a sense of self-importance. What’s wrong with being proud? Well, nothing. As long as our pride is simple satisfaction in our accomplishments, or honesty about our strengths and abilities. But pride becomes arrogance when it grows beyond simple satisfaction to become a self-important disdain for others, or a bloated self-confidence that makes us feel we can step outside the moral rules that govern others and get away with it. In fact, the feeling that we can “get away with” something that “other people” can’t, lies at the heart of arrogance. The stockbroker who makes money with insider information, the adult who takes one more drink before driving, the teen who thinks that just trying crack or sex can’t hurt, all fall into the category of the arrogant. And, in Isaiah’s words, “The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low” by God (vv. 11, 17). What’s the antidote to arrogance? The same verses have the answer: “The Lord alone will be exalted in that day.” We exalt the Lord when we accept our place as creatures who are totally dependent on His goodness and His grace. We exalt the Lord when we keep His commands, not just out of love but out of a conviction that God is wiser than we are. We exalt the Lord when we honor others as persons of worth and value because they too are His creatures and objects of His love. We exalt the Lord when we find joy in our accomplishments, and thank Him for the gifts that made them possible. When you and I live humbly, exalting God rather than ourselves, we avoid the judgment earned by the arrogant.

Personal Application

With God in first place, we will never be in last!

Quotable

You know, Lord, how I serve You, with great emotional fervor, in the limelight. You know how eagerly I speak for You, at a women’s club. You know how I effervesce when I promote a fellowship group. You know my genuine enthusiasm at a Bible study. But how would I react, I wonder if You pointed to a basin of water, and asked me to wash the calloused feet of a bent and wrinkled old woman, day after day, month after month, in a room where nobody saw, and nobody knew! -Ruth Harms Calkin

Isaiah

MAY 16

Reading 136

BEHIND THE SCENES Isaiah 1

“Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption” (Isa. 1:4).

In spite of material prosperity and a superficial religiosity, Judah like Israel was in desperate need of a spiritual awakening.

Background

Isaiah’s life.

Isaiah was apparently a member of the royal family, and according to tradition a cousin of King Uzziah (Amaziah), Judah’s 11th king. In the course of Isaiah’s ministry he confronted the rebellious Ahaz, and worked closely with godly Hezekiah. He was warned early that he would minister to a people who would not listen until “the cities lie ruined” and “the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken” (6:11–12). Yet Isaiah was also given a glimpse of the splendor that awaits God’s people at history’s end. Isaiah, more clearly than any other prophet, foresaw the coming and ministry of the Messiah. Isaiah, more fully than any other, described the blessing God intends to pour out on Jew and Gentile alike. Tradition tells us that Isaiah was martyred during the reign of Manasseh, the apostate son of godly King Hezekiah. If so this towering Old Testament figure, of whose personal life we know so little beyond what his writings reveal, must have died in hope, sure that God would accomplish the good purposes that He had revealed to and through His servant. Perhaps the most significant thing we know about Isaiah is found in chapter 6. There Isaiah accepted his commission from his holy God, and was told that he must spend his life speaking to a people who would hear, but never understand; who would see, but never perceive. What a burden for anyone to bear! And yet, Isaiah was faithful, not just for a year or 2, but over a 50-year span! Isaiah’s contemporaries would not hear the words Isaiah spoke. Yet his words echo through the centuries, and conjure up images for you and me today that help us know God better, and that deepen our awe of God’s wisdom and His love. When God calls you or me to minister, and others do not seem to hear, or reject our efforts, we can remember Isaiah. His years of rejection bore unexpected fruit. And our faithful service will too. Isaiah’s times. When Isaiah began his ministry in Judah, around 739B.C, both Hebrew kingdoms were prosperous and powerful. Yet Isaiah, like his northern contemporaries, Amos and Hosea, was deeply concerned over evidence of spiritual deterioration. Prosperity saw the development in each kingdom of a wealthy class, which victimized the less fortunate. The court system, which relied on honest judges and truthful witnesses, was corrupted to serve the rich and powerful. Religion was increasingly a matter of ritual observance; less and less a matter of love for the Lord. In the late 730s, the states of Syria and Palestine formed a reluctant coalition to resist Assyria, the great northern power that was putting more and more pressure on the western Mediterranean states. In 722 the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was crushed and its people were deported by the Assyrians. Only divine intervention, in response to Hezekiah’s prayer, turned Assyria back from an intended attack on Jerusalem. During Isaiah’s life, then, Judah gradually declined from wealth and relative military strength to vulnerability. Isaiah’s listeners’ failure to heed his words, and their continued indifference to the Lord, sealed the fate the nation would experience when it was invaded, not by Assyria but by Babylon. Isaiah’s Judah was very much like 20th-century America. Both nations were marked by prosperity and power. Yet in each the fabric of society was strained by moral decline and materialism. The very existence of such forces in society testifies to the superficiality of religion, and no superficial religion can save a nation from disaster. While the charges lodged by Isaiah against Judah speak to us today, so do his words of hope. They remind us that whatever may happen to any nation, God remains in full charge of history. The visions Isaiah shared of God, of the coming Saviour, and of the splendor to be unveiled at history’s end, thrill our hearts, and lead us to worship our sovereign, loving God.

Overview

After establishing the setting of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry (1:1), the prophet, speaking in God’s name, launched a vigorous indictment of his society (vv. 2–31).

Understanding the Text

“The ox knows his master” Isa. 1:2–4. “Knows” here, as in other places, implies “responds to.” Even a dumb animal recognizes and responds to its master’s voice. But Judah did not respond to God. Isaiah identified the reason. This was a willful rather than ignorant failure to respond. Note the three descriptive terms: forsaken, spurned, and “turned their backs on.” We may be critical of things the pagans among us do in ignorance. But sins we commit are far worse! We know God’s will, but fail to do it anyway! “Why should you be beaten anymore?” Isa. 1:5–9 Isaiah’s prophecies are not arranged in chronological sequence. These verses suggest chapter 1 should be placed after Assyria had deported Israel. In that invasion many thousands of citizens of Judah were also taken into captivity. God’s warning here is best understood as a cry of anguish. It hurts the Lord to discipline His people. Why, oh why, will we not respond, and free Him from the painful necessity of punishment? “What are they to Me?” Isa. 1:10–17 There is no indication here that the people of Judah violated any ritual regulation. Their fault, a fault which kept God from listening to their prayers, was moral. No one who sins against his fellowmen can be confident of a hearing with God. (See DEVOTIONAL.) “Though your sins are like scarlet” Isa. 1:18–20. God chose scarlet for a simple reason. This bright red color was the most “fast” color known. While other colors might be bleached out, scarlet could not. How powerful the promise, then. Even if our sins, like scarlet, are impossible to remove, God will do it if only we will turn to Him, becoming “willing and obedient.” Sometimes Christians cannot forget their sins. The past seems fixed, forever coloring their outlook. How wonderful to realize that God can—and in Christ, has—purified us, so that in His sight we are “white as snow.” “Zion will be redeemed” Isa. 1:21–31. All things change. The faithful city fell, and became wicked. You and I may fall too. Yet God will not leave us in such a state, any more than He would leave the ancient city or its people. God said, “I will remove your impurities,” and, “You will be called the City of Righteousness.” What a wonderful word of reassurance. You may have failed God. But He will not fail you. He will “remove your impurities” and you will be known for your righteousness!

DEVOTIONAL

Right Is Only Half the Story!(Isa. 1)

One comedian has a routine in which he pictures two Christians meeting for the first time. They question each other, gradually discovering that they are both Conservative, Fundamental, Seventh-Day, Separated, Predestinarian Baptists, Great Lakes District. Then the final question is asked. Organized 1912, or Reconstituted 1934? When one answers 1912, the other pushes him off a cliff, shouting, “Die, heretic!” We might resent the routine a little. But it is funny. And it points up a flaw in some of our thinking about faith. A flaw Isaiah saw some 700 years before the birth of Christ. In verses 10–17 the prophet described a religious people whose ritual seems to be according to the Law. These folks had religion down pat, and were absolutely “right.” They went up to the temple for the required festivals. They offered the right sacrifices. They made long prayers. But God called all these things meaningless. He went on through Isaiah to tell these religiously right people to “stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (vv. 16–17). The point, of course, is that what demonstrates a real and vital faith is not that we are “right,” but that our relationship with God has produced righteousness. I suppose it’s good to be concerned about being right. But being right is, at best, only half the issue. What God cares about most is, are we righteous?

Personal Application

To please God, pay more attention to doing right than to being right.

Quotable

Henry David Thoreau once went to jail rather than pay his poll tax to a state that supported slavery. His good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson hurried to visit him in jail and, peering through the bars, exclaimed: “Why, Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied, “No, Ralph, the question is, what are you doing out there?”