Isaiah Translation by Josh, Beni, Amos, and Peter Wilson, other Bible passages from ESV translation, sermon by Nate Wilson with help from Ken Wilson, delivered Sept 10, 2006 at Christ the Redeemer Church
When my son Josh was a baby, he had a real knack for getting into trouble. One lesson I remember teaching him was about electrical outlets. He was trying to stick his finger in an electrical outlet one afternoon and I ran over and told him “No no!” and pulled his hand away, then stood back to see what would happen next. Sure enough that little chubby hand was reaching toward the electrical outlet again. I decided he needed a little negative reinforcement, so I flicked him on the hand just hard enough for him to see that I was being aggressive but not enough to hurt, and I said “NO” again. Josh sat back and thought about it, but back he reached again, captivated by the little holes in the wall. The flick came a little harder this time – hard enough to hurt a little. (Now at that time, I hadn’t learned how the Bible teaches us to use a rod rather than our hands for discipline. As we will see in Isaiah 10, God used a rod to discipline His people.) At any rate, Josh eventually learned his lesson, he would go up to a wall socket and look at it, then look at his hand, then turn around and attend to something else. I was thrilled and I told him how pleased I was that he obeyed me and stayed safe from being hurt badly by the electricity in the wall. Yes, I spanked my child, but it was to protect him from a greater danger. When I disciplined him, I was following the example of God Himself. God is love, yes, but that love is sometimes expressed through discipline for our protection and benefit.
There are two key passages that introduce the concept of God disciplining His people, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. I’d like to read them to you:
Leviticus 26:27-45 "But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, (28) then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. (29) You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. (30) And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. (31) And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. (32) And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. (33) And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. (skip down to v.38) And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. (39) And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them. (40) "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, (41) so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies--if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, (42) then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. (43) But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes. (44) Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God. (45) But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD."
Do you see the context in which God is administering punishment here? It is in the context of a covenant relationship where God uses the means of discipline in order that they would remember Him and turn to Him in obedience and receive His blessing. The New Testament also talks about how God administers discipline out of love:
Hebrews 12:5-13 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. (6) For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." (7) It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (8) If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (9) Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? (10) For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (11) For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (12) Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, (13) and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
The passage we will study in Isaiah is a description of a divine spanking. Remember in the Leviticus passage I just read, it spoke of disciplining seven times? Well, in Isaiah, the phrase describing God’s “hand” being “stretched out” to strike His people appears seven times. His first blow is introduced in 5:25 followed by the phrase “his hand is still stretched out,” and then we have four stanzas from 9:12 through 10:4 which end with the divine hand still stretched out to administer discipline. The last place this phrase occurs is in chapter 14 where Isaiah is still prophecying in the context of the threat of Assyria. So here we have a fulfillment of Leviticus 26 with seven blows from the hand of God. The four blows that are outlined in our passage this morning follow a certain progression, and I want to look at them one by one and draw some applications for our lives today.
The first stanza begins with Chapter 9 verse 8 and runs to verse 12:
9:8. The Lord sent a word to Jacob and it fell on Israel.
9:9. And all His people will know.
Ephraim and those inhabiting Samaria in pride and arrogance of heart say,
9:10. “Bricks have fallen, but we will build hewn stone;
sycamores have been cut down, but we will grow cedars instead.”
9:11. But Jehovah strengthened the enemies of Rezin against him,
and those who are his adversaries join together.
9:12. And Aram/Syria from the front and Philistines from behind
eat Israel with every mouth.
In all of this His anger has not turned away, His hand is still stretched out.
In this first stanza we have an early stage of sin and punishment. God has already inflicted some punishment on the Northern kingdom of Israel, perhaps through initial raids from the Assyrian army. God wants them to know that it was He who did this in order to get their attention and cause them to turn back to Him. However, they did not get the point. Instead of turning to God, they turned to their own strength. They said, “Ah well the Assyrians knocked down some bricks and cut down some trees? No problem, we can improve upon any loss we sustain from them. We’ll build stronger buildings and plant nicer trees.” They responded in pride and arrogance of heart to that first blow from God, so God gives a second blow: He strengthens all the enemies of Israel. When they realize that the ally they have in King Rezin, who governs some (but not all) of the Aramean peoples of Syria is not big enough to deal with strengthened armies from all around – the rebel Arameans, the Assyrians, and the Philistines who are threatening to devour their nation - perhaps then Israel will become afraid and their fear will drive them to call upon God for help!
We can learn a lesson from this. If you see some things crumble in your life, God isn’t looking for you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and fix the problems better; he is getting your attention and calling you gently at first to confess your sin and turn to Him! Recognize this as God’s discipline. If you have been self-sufficient and you start seeing things that are really threatening to you and raising fear in your heart; don’t run to other people to allay your fears, run to God and ask for Him to help!
Here’s a modern-day example: This week I learned a little bit about Wal-Mart. As best as I can tell, they have faced some challenges recently, including flagging profits, negative publicity, and the challenge of locating new stores in urban areas. Here’s a business that God has blessed in the past, but they do not seem to be looking to God for help as they encounter these challenges. They seem to think like the Israelites that in their strength they can go in to these urban areas and build nice new stores where other companies have failed. Also like Israel’s reliance upon an alliance with Syria, Wal-Mart is relying upon an alliance with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, to get help in expanding its customer base and overcome negative publicity. This alliance includes making donations to the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce which will be used to promote same-sex "marriage," and through giving homosexual retailers and businesses preferred status over straight businesses in Wal-Mart’s selection of goods. You see, the issues Isaiah is addressing are still fresh as ever!
When people do not respond to initial stages of discipline, it gets tougher. God’s love doesn’t quit. In the second stanza, we see outright rebellion which results in God removing people from the land.
9:13. But the people did not turn to the One who caused them to be struck
and did not pursue Jehovah of Hosts.
9:14. So Jehovah will cause to be cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and plant in one day.
9:15. The old and the honorable man is the head,
and the prophet who causes lies to be taught is the tail.
9:16. Those who guide this people have been causing them to go astray,
and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
9:17. Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over its young men
and has no compassion on the orphan and widow,
for every one is a hypocrite and evildoer,
and everyone’s mouth speaks wickedness.
In all this His anger is not turned away and His hand is still stretched out.
Head and tail, branch and plant = great as well as common people, all levels of society will be taken captive by the Assyrians – even the orphans and widows for whom God exercises special care. Why? Because everyone – all of them – are: ESV=godless/NIV=ungodly/ASV=profane/LXX=lawless/KJV=hypocrites like in Noah’s day (Gen 6:5).
So God causes His own people to be “struck.” He is just and therefore He punishes sin. But it doesn’t stop there. He struck His own son, laying upon Him the ultimate punishment we all deserve (Isa 53:4-5). There is an application here for parents. God sets an example of punishment by striking, but it is not for the purpose of venting frustration or for making people pay for their sins, it is for the purpose of directing us to the right way. We cannot purge guilt through acts of penance. The ultimate punishment was laid upon Jesus and only through His death on the cross can we find actual forgiveness of our sin. Parents can apply this truth in child discipline. I do not spank a child to make them suffer to pay for their sin, I spank enough for them to realize the gravity of their sin and then I point them to Jesus who alone can remove the guilt of their sin. After spanking a child, I pray together with them and ask God to forgive them of their sin, then I tell the child that everything is o.k. because we asked God to forgive the sin and God did!
But the people of Isaiah’s time refused to pursue God and find cleansing from guilt. They were ungodly. When people start living like there is no God then society turns into unbridled lust and evil. The next stanza describes the sinful desires like a fire:
9:18. For wickedness burns like fire;
it devours thorns and weeds and it kindles the thickets of the forest,
and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
9:19. By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, land is scorched
and the people are made like fuel for the fire,
no man will have compassion on his brother.
9:20. He snatches on the right and hungers,
and he eats on the left but he is not full.
Each man will eat the flesh of his arm.
9:21. Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
together they are against Judah.
In all this His anger has not turned away and His hand is stretched out still.
God withdraws common grace and there is no more compassion. It’s like Paul says in Romans 1:24-25, there comes a point where “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, (25) because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” The ravages of sin become their own punishment
· Sick picture of a person eating their own arm. Irrational consuming of their natural strength.
· Civil war – Manaseh and Ephraim being two tribes of Israel that grew from Joseph’s sons
The fourth stanza flows into chapter 10 and pictures desolation after their lusts have destroyed them.
10:1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and to the writers that write perverseness;
10:2 to turn aside the needy from justice,
and to rob the poor of my people of judgment,
that widows may be their spoil,
and prey upon the fatherless!
10:3 And what will you all do in the day of visitation,
and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will you flee for help?
and where will you leave your glory?
10:4 Unless he kneels in the place of a prisoner,
he will fall in the place of the slain
In all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
· Decrees of iniquity and writings of oppression:
1. To turn aside needy from justice
2. To rob poor of judgment
3. To plunder widows and orphans
We have laws that are unjust in our country today, too:
· Fiat currency where the dollar does not have a fixed value (Prov 20:10, 23)
· Inheritance taxes that rob orphans and widows of money that is their right
· Trade agreements that favor oppressive countries, such as China that uses slave labor from Christians thrown into labor camps to produce goods that are sold inexpensively in America
· Tax money that is poured into godless and misguided aid in Africa
The point is not to make a comprehensive critique of our government but to say that the issues Isaiah address are very relevant to us still today and we need to think carefully about what we do and avoid supporting oppressive laws.
God will judge those who support oppression, and here in verses 2 and 3 we see Isaiah’s second son’s name “Maher shallal hash baz” coming true – “shallal” and “baz” are Hebrew words in v. 2 for “booty” and “spoil,” that the leaders were taking from widows and orphans, but God shows up in the next verse and the leaders are running for their lives, abandoning the booty and spoil, thus the booty and spoil are “quick” and “speedy” at changing hands, which is what “Maher shallal Hash baz” means!
God shows up and He asks three piercing questions to those who are caught red-handed:
1. What will you do?
· Not a matter of “if” these things happen to you, but when! Turn to God!
2. To whom will you flee for help?
· Isaiah 41:8-10 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; (9) you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off"; (10) fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
3. Where will you entrust your glory?
·
Isaiah 4:5 Then the LORD will create over the whole site
of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining
of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory
there will be a canopy.
Isaiah 42:8a,12a I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other… (12) Let them give
glory to the LORD
· What we give to God can never be stolen! (Otto Koning’s Pineapple Story)
How do I know that God intends these questions to be answered in this way?
Because of these highlights from chapter 10:
(12) When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
(20) In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them[Assyria], but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
(21) A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
(24) Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. (25) For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. (26) And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. (27) And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck..."
Praise God that He doesn’t abandon us to self-destruction in sin, but disciplines the ones He loves!
Several years ago, my Dad was teaching a Bible study with a group of inner-city kids from Birmingham, AL, and shared a story about spanking me when I was a boy. After the Bible study, one of the boys came up to him and said, “Rev. Wilson, I wish I had a Daddy who could whup me!”
Do you wish you had a heavenly father who could give you some boundaries and help in life? Who would discipline you with love and for good? Call upon God and tell Him you believe that He punished Jesus for you and that you want to be one of God’s people!
If you know you have a Father in heaven, you can expect that He will discipline you to make you more like He wants you to be and to protect you from sin. When you go through hardship, what will you do? To whom will you go for help? Where will you entrust your glory? Thank God that He loves you enough to step into your life, go to Him for help, and trust Him with all that is precious to you!