Isaiah 3 - Continued
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Isaiah 3
Isaiah 3
Tonight we come back to the Book of Isaiah after being off for a couple of weeks and m apologies, we will not be back here this coming week as I will be driving home that day and spending a couple days with Spencer in Northern VA.
But after that, we shouldn’t have any interruptions for quite a while.
Remember what has been happening, God has been communicating His will and displeasure at the sin of the people of the Judah and Benjamin.
Their wickedness and unfaithful ways have been seen by the Lord and He will judge them!
So lets return to our text this evening and hear the word of the Lord.
Lets open this first section, verses 6-8
6 For a man will take hold of his brother
in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
shall be under your rule”;
7 in that day he will speak out, saying:
“I will not be a healer;
in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
leader of the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled,
and Judah has fallen,
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
True leadership has been pushed away, and they (the people of the land) have trusted in all the wrong people. It is like they have trusted in incompetent people.
You know at times God will give you want you chase after. A good example of this is King Saul, the first King of Israel. The people called for a earthly king even though God was to be their King. He was to lead them as a God centered and ruled Kingdom, but the cried for a earthly king that they would be like the other nations.
But they insisted, God gave them over to their wishes and the consequences that follow…
In verse 6, the lack of good leadership is so bad, people will claim the ridiculous qualification… if you own a coat, you should be our leader..
Q.. Can you imagine that, what if we elected people based on that they had or didn’t have… Those are not the marks of a good man. The first good step of a good man is what he thinks and had done with God.
For us in our day and age, the first thing I want to know is if the know Jesus. if their heart isnt right, now can the really serve us, in a broken world without the leadership of God? Simply, they can not.
But, as you see verse 7...
7 in that day he will speak out, saying:
“I will not be a healer;
in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
leader of the people.”
Even though the qualification of a leader is very shallow, those people will not want to run or lead this train wreck.
They do not have the answers to lead, or to heal, and are certainly not fit to lead the people, so the do not want the position.
What is really needed here?
Godly people to step up and lead correctly, when godly people fail to step up and step into positions of leadership, then poor leadership or those with poor morals end up in leadership.
And these things will happen… Why? Because of the way Judah as acted, they brought the disaster upon themselves. God just rewards the actions of the good (reward) and the bad (punishment).
Jerusalem will fall, it will do so because of their words and actions that defiled God.
My friends, God holds all, prince or pauper accountable for their words and deeds.
Now lets move on to verses 9-11
9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
they proclaim their sin like Sodom;
they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
God reminds them to remember that their evil was paraded in public just like the people of Sodom.
Do people display their sin before God today… sure they do, they talk about how great it was for them to abort their baby. The speak about how great it is to groom our children and mislead them..
God will hold this world accountable just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
The righteous may suffer and in fact the will because of the sins of the larger whole. The wicked will prosper for a season. for a short time only. Disaster has come upon them and the Lord will be certain of it.
This last line of verse 11, what the have done with their hands, their sin and how they have treated others is what they are going to see happen to them.
Action is proportionate with Judgement.....
Now lets look at verse 12
12 My people—infants are their oppressors,
and women rule over them.
O my people, your guides mislead you
and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.
Looking at this verse and the following through verse 15, we see the Lord demands an accounting of their actions.
When the Lord speaks of infants and women ruling over them, it might very well be true that the youth and women are leading, but some think it might be symbolic, the Lord is says the men are inept leaders, not worth anything.
Their advisors have led the people astray, confused them and turned them in such a way, the do not follow the path God has given them to walk. The people are so lost there is little hope.
13 The Lord has taken his place to contend;
he stands to judge peoples.
14 The Lord will enter into judgment
with the elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.
Looking at verse 13, it is like the judge has taken his place to rightfully judge the people. He has been leaving charges against them and so he is taking them to court.
IN verse 14 we see who will be judged, the elders and princes of the people, those who were to lead righteously, well they failed.
They oppressed people, lead people astray, took advantage and robbed the poor, and crushed the people.
They misused their power, and status to take advantage of those who are weaker.
These leaders did things that benefited them, so they are condemned as selfish, mean and not a true servant leader.
The phrase of grinding the face of the poor in verse 15, is the idea of standing on the neck and or head of those you seek to hurt, to treat them who were brothers and sisters to them, horrible my friends, just horrible.
The great thought is how can you do this to my people says the Lord. They have forgot that God holds all rich and poor, prince and beggar as the same and all made in His image.
These leaders have really rejected the office of blessing and helping the people and instead hurt them.
Think about today: Does God have his standards for those who lead? Yes, and it doesnt matter if its the church our or the house of legislature. God will hold all accountable if one misuses their power.
Now moving on...
16 The Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty
and walk with outstretched necks,
glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet,
17 therefore the Lord will strike with a scab
the heads of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.
This new oracle or word of the Lord is really harsh. God speaks about the women of Zion, those who are the wives, daughters and enjoy the place the have, God has a accusation against them.
They are proud, pompous demeanor, the out stretched necks is putting their nose in the air. Glancing, plotting against others along the way. They had jewelry on their feet and ankles...
So what we see is women who carried themselves in a way the say, “...oh dear, I am better than you...” But the truth of the matter is this… God hates the proud.
So on account of this, the Lord will strike these ladies. He will remove everything that makes them beautiful. He will strike them with a scab… could be a skin condition or something else, some have suggest baldness or sores. Nevertheless, what is true, the Lord will humiliate them, shame them for the way they have acted...
Friends, it doesn’t matter who we are, we are all made in the image of God, we are to treat each other and love each other in a way that is acceptable to God.
Now we move to the last section of the chapter 3, we will start with verses 18-23
18 In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; 19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20 the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21 the signet rings and nose rings; 22 the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.
In that day of the Lord, often referring to the day of his judgment. The day when all must give an account.... The things that made them beautiful, the rings, bracelets, clothing and scarfs, earrings, veils, anklets, crowns, roses, mirrors even...
Those items that they enjoyed, it will be taken from them. God will remove the things they enjoyed and took pride in...
God hates pride and the way people live above others, especailly when others have suffered.
Verse 24-26
24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;
and instead of a belt, a rope;
and instead of well-set hair, baldness;
and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;
and branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword
and your mighty men in battle.
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn;
empty, she shall sit on the ground.
So we see in those verses, what they did have an enjoy, judgement wil remove it and they will enjoy something they never thought of, they never thought the would be poor, or suffer....
Instead of smelling good, the will stink, like rotten flesh because they are filthy,
No belt, only a rope. no robe instead a piece of sackcloth, like a feed sack for us would be the understanding. and their men will die in the battles ahead of the nation.
And the death of their men will deprive the women of Zion of their wealth, their social status, their security, even the inability to have children.
The gates of Zion, like these women will be helpless like these women. The gates will mourn and lament. Both the women and the gates/city will mourn at all lost and knowing their future is hopeless.
Here is the truth my friends, .... lives lived apart from God, apart from His ways, those lives are hopeless and helpless.
A question we might ask, are we prideful in any way, shape or form? Are we self-centered or are we God centered and we want his ways ....
Daily we must ask this of ourselves, God hates pride and the proud.