Isaiah
Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Intro
Intro
[Pray: for the Spirit to lead.]
Good morning: I’d like to say to you all that I am very thankful that the Lord has brought me to this church. Yes it is small, but I can see just from the time that I’ve been here that you are a church that seeks to be faithful even in the little things. I am grateful for Pastor Cheeseman that he has permitted me access to his pulpit that I may grow in my preaching, and hopefully be a blessing to you all this morning.
I hope, by God’s grace that in the coming time, I grow not only in doctrine and knowledge, but in my character at this church, that I may learn to serve you all with the heart and mind of Christ, and that God may use me to preach his word and serve throughout my life in His Church and in the streets.
Today we will be be talking about the book of Isaiah, which will require a lengthy but necessary introduction:
Up front, I am going to credit Joseph Alexander for his great work which has been a great help to me in understanding the meaning of Isaiah.
Also, if at any point you don’t understand what I’m talking about, please stop me, or signal to me, so that I can restate it. I want to make sure everyone follows me where I’m trying to take you.
Prophecy:
the Greek work “Prothetes” Biblically denotes not a fortune teller, but an authoritative speaker for God. It meant a variety of things to the ancient heathens , but The new testament authors use it to denote those who spoke for God in the old dispensation, or Old Testament.
The Hebrew word for prophet, “Navi” is used in the Old Testament as one who speaks for God, not only in his name and by his authority, but under his influence, in other words, by divine inspiration.
The prophetic office was a key part of God’s design for the old testament. The foundation of the Old Covenant was the law given to the Israelites, which is re-stated succinctly in the book of Deuteronomy. The function of the prophets was to continually apply and interpret the law to the nation.
The law itself stated that God would raise up a prophet after Moses, which showed itself to be a continual succession of prophets, of which Christ became the ultimate climax and peak.
(you don’t need to turn there.)
18 ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
19 ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
There was a continued line of prophets all throughout the OT, after Moses, there was Joshua, and then judges and so on. The rite was not passed down by the will of men, but by the choosing of God, often in times of crisis for the nation. The prophets were not selected for their work by a committee, or denominational elder board, but were chosen directly by God to speak directly to the people.
The Scripture is clear that the prophets spoke for God and carry His authority.
Paul says speaking of the Scripture, which includes the OT.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
and Peter writes:
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
God equipped the Prophets for whatever task He had for them. Some He used in practical action, and some he used just orally, and some He used to reveal and seal His Scripture for His Church.
The ancient pagan nations also had “prophets”, which you find references to in various ancient literature. The sign that these heathen “prophets” were in communion with their gods were ecstatic fits of excitement, fits of ecstasy, and often what appears as insanity.
Coincidentally, we see this today, this corresponds with the hyper emotional and frantic behavior that is common in hyper Pentecostal or charismatic circles, things like bethel church (those whip themselves into emotional ecstaticism and claim that it is a sign of God’s supernatural manifestations), this is also typical of many false prophets, such as Ellen G. White, the founder of the “seventh day Adventist movement” who would have her so-called“prophetic” visions in ecstatic emotional fits.
On the contrary to this, the Biblical prophets are characterized by the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which include calmness, self-control, intelligence. They were not recluses in the mountains and caves like the false prophets, artificially cultivating and faking a type of mystique, but often lived and ministered among the people.
Other things about them: The Prophets were distinct from the office of the high priests, though some of the prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel were also priests.
We know from the historical books that there were Prophets for which we don’t have their words; God sent them to that generation only. But God specifically inspired the Prophets of our Scriptures to write and preserve their messages that we may read them and be instructed from them, that we may be “wise unto salvation.”
Again in 2 tim, Paul mentions how Timothy was raised.
15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
And in
10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries,
11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.
Peter reveals that even the prophet’s themselves knew at the time they prophesied, that they did not yet have all the information; that they were speaking of a coming Messiah, a coming salvation; God revealed to them that they were looking forward in time to the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories to follow. They knew that they were not serving themselves, but us, members of the Church of Christ.
This is important to keep in mind when dealing with any accusations against Christians that we are reading Jesus back into the Old Testament. God Himself tells us that Christ has always been the focus, of Old Testament and New.
____
About Isaiah:
The name Isaiah means “Salvation is from Yahweh”. He had a wife and two or three sons, which he himself mentions. There is a historical account of him in the book of Kings. He plays a pivotal role in two major events in the history of Israel which are seen throughout the book. If you look at vs. 1, we see when he prophesies:
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
He prophesies during the reign of four kings, which have an aggregate length of 120 years. The exact start and end dates of his ministry are not certain. If he began in the last year of Uzziah to the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, than he would have ministered around 47 years, which, if he began around the time he was 30, would place his death around the age of 80. The start date of his ministry is considered generally to be around 740 BC.
The Book of Isaiah has been part of the OT cannon for as long as it has existed, and there is no evidence whatsoever in the manuscripts or history or otherwise that it has ever undergone any changes whatsoever in substance or length. Jews and Christians alike have unanimously agreed for thousands of years that Isaiah was the author of Isaiah, and that the book was written as we have received it.
However, when German higher-criticism-mania began to take place in the 18th century, all sorts of theories began to be thrown around about Isaiah. Unbelieving “scholars” showed no restraint or principle in throwing out any and every sort of theory based on nothing more than whim, with baseless assumptions, and groundless accusations against the book that it was written in a different order than what we have, or that there were multiple authors, even of the same verse, or that the text was lost and changed repeatedly throughout history and underwent multiple revisions, etc. etc.
All these claims come from the assumptions of a worldview that believes there can be no such thing as Prophetic inspiration or fore-site, a worldview which has led “scholars” to come up with every wild whim and excuse to explain away the book that is one of the clearest and most obvious demonstrations of Prophetic inspiration in the whole Canon. The critical scholars are not united on any consistent principles of exegesis, or rules of interpretation or historical evidence, but only of this one uniting and underlying presupposition, or preconditioning, or precomitted belief: that there is no such thing as prophetic inspiration.
The reasoning goes as follows: Isaiah predicts hundreds of years beforehand, by name, that the Persian ruler Cyrus will release the Israelites to return back to their land to rebuild their temple. Well, since we know that it is not possible for a Prophet to predict the future, this section of Isaiah must have been written later by a different author at a later date and added to the book after the fact, or another may say that the whole book was written later than what it claims, and all the contrary evidence is a fabrication to convince you otherwise by a clever imposter of Isaiah. Therefore all the evidence of the early date of writing, is actually just evidence of the later date.
To those of us already convinced of the possibility of prophetic foresight, this type of reasoning holds no value or merit at all. However, those of us who believe what is evident, that God created the world, Christ rose from the dead, He reigns from the heavens and He will return, we must be warned about the effects of this unbelieving scholarship which has annoyed the Church for a few hundred years now.
The “scholarship” put forth in order to sustain these unbelieving conclusions is aimed directly and intentionally to warp the perception of the book. Unbelieving scholars do what they can by their work to exacerbate and exaggerate the difficulties, to attack the consistency of the book, to overstate the “problems” of the text and so called “difficult passages”, and do everything they can to destroy the foundational belief that there is a God who has the power and authority to speak to man.
I speak of this now to warn you ahead of time of what you may find if you go search for resources to study this book. There are many great ones, but there are many not so great ones.
Not only do the presuppositions of these “scholars” need to be rejected, but also their unfounded conclusions, which are reached in order to sustain and confirm their unbelief. A believer ought not to take these “scholars” as authorities in all other cases, except when they apply their unbelieving principles, but that these unbelievers are to be treated rather as advocates and witnesses and special pleaders, who have no due regard to sound exegesis and interpretation. (Joseph Alexander, 25)
For example, Bart Earman, UNC’s most persistent and obnoxious New Testament critic and “scholar” should not be treated as an objective an authoritative source, except when he steps across the line into unbelief, but everything he does needs to be seen by believers in the context of a man who has made it his life’s mission to destroy the faith of young people because of his hatred for God, never ceasing to attack the Scriptures day and night.
Discretion and discernment must be used; yet even they sometimes can be used to learn technical facts of language from their studies. Think of it like watching a BBC nature documentary. As believers we can enjoy their amazing footage of lizards on the islands of the Galapagos which magnify God’s great creation, but when they go off into nonsense about this lizard having evolved over millions of years from a prehistoric bird, we can with discernment shut our ears, and recognize that they have left the field of observation, of disciplined science, and all sound reason, and entered into the field of atheistic evangelism of an unfounded creation myth.
The Hebrew text of Isaiah, and the rest of the OT Canon, has been preserved meticulously with far greater supervision than any other known text. The uniformity of the Hebrew manuscripts are evident and unquestionable. We have what Isaiah wrote. The Jewish people preserved the text they recieved, and this is admitted even by unbelieving liberal scholars when pressed. God blessed us with the discovery a full copy of the book of Isaiah in the dead sea scrolls which date as early as 200 BC, and the contents match with extreme precision the Masoretic texts which are the basis for the Old testament which we have before us today.
Now let us set aside the prejudicial conjecture of higher criticism and unbelieving scholarship. I’ve taken the time to go through all this with you to assure you as I stand before God, that we know that we have the words of Isaiah; we know that Isaiah wrote Isaiah, and we know that it is inspired by God. The last of these claims will become apparent to any who may not be convinced as we go through the book itself. We will interpret the book using common sense, approaching it acknowledging it’s divine authority and inspiration.
Before we begin, Let me say a few more things about the nature of Prophecy and interpretation.
1 Not all prophecy is prediction.
Biblical prophecy is much more than predicting the future; it includes revealing the truth and will of God in regards to the past, present and future. We will find many statements in Isaiah of a general nature, and an application and demonstration of general truth and principles about God’s purposes, particularly in regard to God’s relationship to His people throughout history and to their enemies.
2 All predictions, or prophecies relating to the future, are not specific nor exclusive.
Meaning that a predictive prophecy may not be exclusively predicting only one event, but very often can refer to a sequence of events that has often been realized repeatedly throughout history. Prophecies can be vague or indefinite, or relate to very specific events at specific points of history. Sometimes images from multiple events, such as battles, or sieges, across multiple ages are combined together to make a broad description that fits multiple events; yet cannot exclusively or exhaustively describe any one event in particular. We will talk more about this when we discuss the sieges of Jerusalem and the destruction of Babylon. But this is one reason why a single prophecy of a battle may have been applied specifically to a myriad of different wars throughout the ages by many different interpreters. This type of prophecy is great evidence of divine inspiration, as to compose prophecies of this nature requires foresight that spans far beyond any single lifetime of a human being, and beyond any one event in particular.
3 All predictions and prophecies are not to be literally understood.
Every reader of Biblical prophecy must admit that they are full of metaphorical expressions, which often span long sections, and cannot be arbitrarily restricted the the use of single words, or phrases. Everyone recognizes the NT use of parables, and we must recognize a similar of use of language at other points of Scripture.
4 All predictions and prophecies are not to be figuratively and spiritually understood.
While one extreme is to assume literality in everything, the other extreme is to assume a metaphorical or spiritual sense of interpretation consistently which yields absurd and mystical results. It is just as absurd to assume that the Bible always speaks metaphorically or literally, as it would be for me to assume that Pastor Cheeseman is always either speaking metaphorically or literally, or to assume that the members of Christ Reformed Fellowship are always communicating in only one or the other. This wars against all common sense, and obviously is absurd. The temptation for us is form a quick and easy canon, an easy standard, or rule to universally apply to all points of prophecy.
But we are not to hold to either principle, that a literal or figurative sense are to be assumed wherever possible and without absurdity. Some people hold to the slogan, wherever possible is probable or certain. This leads to error. Everything cannot be taken figuratively simply by the nature of language itself. If everything is figurative and a metaphor, than nothing is. If we only spoke in figures and metaphors than that metaphorical way of speaking becomes the new literal or normal or common usage, and other less common forms of language becomes the basis for new anomalous metaphorical language. If that’s confusing, just know that I mean to say by the very nature of language, we cannot take everything figuratively.
On this issue of taking everything literally, which today is the far more popular view, is to ignore the fact that God speaks in the Bible all the time with symbols, images, tropes, emblems. There is no unchanging formula rule that can be applied top down to every passage. The same thing is true with a double sense, or the idea that certain prophecies have two meanings, you cannot always assume it, or never assume it. Both lead to errors.
In short, I will now read one of the best statements I have ever heard regarding the interpretation of prophecy, summarizing what I am trying to communicate:
“The question, under which of these descriptions any prophecy must be arranged, i.e. the question whether it is general or particular, literal or figurative, can only be determined by a thorough independent scrutiny of each case by itself, in reference to form and substance, text and context, without regard to arbitrary and exclusive theories, but with a due regard to analogy of Scripture in general, and of other prophecies in particular, especially of such as belong to the same writer, or at least to the same period, and apparently relate to the same subject. This is far from being so attractive or so easy as the sweeping application of a comprehensive canon to all cases, like and unlike; but it seems to be the only process likely to afford a satisfactory result.” (Alexander, 31)
This introduction may seem tedious, but it’s important to establish the foundation upon which we will move forward into this great book, that we may understand the meaning and application of each verse to the ancient people who first received it, and to our lives today, and to the future. The journey which I promise you will yield great rewards.
Briefly, let’s talk about structure and theme:
The first section: Chapters 1-12 are Isaiah’s earliest prophecies, the first six chapters are general in character without any particular reference to a historic occasion. (Alexander 47), the second six chapters are prophecies of specific historical events which occured under Ahaz. In the middle of these two are the events of chapter six, which describe Isaiah’s commissioning by God.
The second section: Chapters 13-23, are prophecies from Isaiah to foreign powers and heathen nations, the one exception being Judah, which is included, but for the reason that the prophecy is against a foreign power which is in control of Judah. There is an appendix, or end section to this series of prophecies, 24-27 which sums up Yahweh’s judgment’s and powers against all foreign nations from then until the end of time.
The Third section: Chapters 28-33, contain prophecies which relate to specific events which occured under Hezekiah’s reign, which also has a similar type of appendix, or end section, in chapters 34-35.
The Fourth section: Chapters 36-39 contain prophecies and events that reveal the influence Isaiah had during the reign of Hezekiah, and correspond to the events which are recorded in 2 Kings.
The Fifth section: Chapters 40-66 contain Isaiahs prophecies which relate to the people of God from that time until eternity.
The great theme of the book of Isaiah, which is consistent throughout the whole book, is the relation of God’s people to Himself and to the world, and in the latter stages of its history, to that ethnic group with which it was once outwardly identical, namely Israel. (Joseph Alexander).
(say twice)
That the people of God used to be identified with the national identity of Israel, and the book explores how that nation has acted in relation to the law of God which was given to them, and what God is going to do about it.
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem, which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.
3 “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”
4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.
5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
7 Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
8 The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah.
11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?
13 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
19 “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land;
20 “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The book opens with a grandiose proclamation, not just to Israel, but to the whole earth. Let the whole creation listen, because Yahweh speaks.
2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.
God is calling to the heavens and earth as witness against them. They have broken the covenant and they will be judged.
In Deut 30:19, when God makes and states the covenant of the law to Israel, He says this:
19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
So as He called them to witness back then, He again calls them as witnesses now, to see how Israel has acted in keeping their side of the covenant. Just like when two people get married, the groomsmen and brides maids are taking upon themselves a responsibility to accountability in the covenant, so God is calling back the witnesses when the covenant was made to proclaim to the whole creation how Israel has failed to keep his end of the bargain.
He says:
Sons he has reared. Son’s He has raised. The nation of Israel was from the beginning grown and nurtured exclusively by the God’s grace. In the book of Ezekiel, God describes this relationship as Him finding Israel as an abandoned bloody baby left out in the desert to die, which God then took and reared. If it were not for God’s grace, they would never had become a nation, they would have been nothing.
But though this is the chosen nation of which God Himself is their Father. They have rebelled. They disobey.
3 “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”
Even the animals, they are intelligent enough to know who is their master. The donkey understands how he is fed; But the people of God lack this basic intelligence. They do not obey their master.
4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.
The Prophet speaks in his own person here, astonished at the incredible wickedness of the nation. They are weighed down, heavy with the burden of guilt. They are the children of evil doers, and they are evildoers themselves. Their parents are wicked, and they are wicked. They have left their relationship with their God, not for one generation only, but for many.
They have hated, despised, the Holy One of Israel. This title is for Yahweh is fairly unique to Isaiah, and here particularly emphasizes the sin of the nation. That they have despised the unique one, the Holy One. Yahweh is in His own category, and He has made Himself particularly and uniquely the God of Israel. He was the God of this very nation, and yet they have turned away from Him. And because of this they are alienated, they are like strangers to their very own God.
5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
Using a metaphor the Prophet depicts the entire nation as one sick and afflicted body. And they are not afflicted naturally, but as the result of continual chastisement and discipline from sin. Where else will God strike them? How much more can they be punished? From the tip of their head to the sole of their foot, their entire being, there are only welts and wounds, not cared for at all. There is no healing upon the sores which God has inflicted upon them. Where else will He strike them? How could He punish them any more?
7 Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers.
And now the literal meaning of the metaphor is given, with the consequence of foreign invasion brought into view.
Hebrew often doesn’t use “being” verbs (“am, is, are, was, and were, be, being, and been), so they are frequently inserted in english translations. The verse can be rendered:
Your land, Desolate
Your Cities, Burned with fire!
Your fields, strangers are devouring them!… etc.
Which adds a quickened pace to the punishments being described and levied against them. The foreign invasion here is revealed to be the overwhelming chastisement of the Lord.
8 The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
The daughter of Zion - aka the children of the capital, or of Jerusalem. Zion is another term for Jerusalem, or the mountain of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The phrase here is used to denote the whole nation of Israel, particularly the southern Kingdom.
She is left like a booth or a tent in the middle of a vineyard. Like a little hut in the of a field, like a besieged city.
That is to say, that she is utterly cut off from communication with others. She is watched by friends and foe’s alike, and she has become isolated, as if she was being besieged. She has nowhere to turn, and is surrounded by trouble.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.
If Yahweh had not sovereignly elected by His grace, a remnant, according to His purposes, than the entire nation would have been destroyed, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
From Paul’s citation of this verse, we know that this refers to true believers in the Jewish Church, not just a number of unbelieving survivors.
He writes:
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved;
28 for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.”
29 And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.”
Paul in the broader context is making the point that even though there were many Israelites, there will only be a few who were actually saved; because it was not the fact of being a genetic Israelite that attained to salvation, but by being saved by the grace of God through faith, which so many in the nation failed to attain.
There is great application, to the visible church in our day. Many people we meet on the street claim to be Christians, and yet when you press and ask them on what basis they claim to have salvation, they say, “I was born a Christian.”
My friends, one cannot be born a Christian. As Jesus said, “That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit.
And: “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Unless one has faith in the work of Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, than they are not saved from their sin. Unless one has saving faith, which bears fruit unto good works; Unless they are following after Christ with all their lives, they are no Christian.
If someone is born into a Christian family, as great of a blessing as that it, as we can see with Israel, it does not guarantee salvation, only faithfulness to Yahweh does. Israel had blessings upon blessings, being entrusted with the greatest revelation and grace of God by the giving of the law of Moses to the nation, and they had Prophet after Prophet sent to them, but so many failed to obtain that grace, because they did not have faith. Do not be like them. May we not be like them.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the instruction of our God, You people of Gomorrah.
What greater insult can be given by our Lord, than this. And this is not only time God will call Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah.
For those of you who don’t know, Sodom and Gomorrah were wicked cities in the Old Testament, who committed wicked and evil acts, which God destroyed in the book of Genesis. Destruction came upon them suddenly, and without expectation and they were all destroyed except for Abraham’s Nephew Lot and his daughters. God is comparing His chosen people, His nation, to those whom He wiped of the earth in judgment!
He says to her,
11 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?
13 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.
14 “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
These things that God is speaking of, animal sacrifices, coming into the courts of God, bringing offerings, observing holy days, new moons and festivals, are all things which God commanded in the law!
These are things which in one sense, God does delight in, but hear what God is revealing here, this is the same thing that Jesus lambasted the Phrases for
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
You see, God does want the external obedience in the little things, but only when it comes from an internal heart that is changed. Only a heart that is pure, and regenerated. A heart that understands the Spirit of the law. That is full of love, mercy, faithfulness and justice.
He says in
6 For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
You see, that God gave certain symbols and rituals in the law to the people of Israel, which were to teach them things. But it was never the outward symbols, the sacrifice of bulls and goats, or their holidays, that God cared about, It was never exclusively about external obedience, that if the people simply kept these things then God would be happy, and they could go on on sinning in their heart, continuing in lust, anger, hatred, envy, disobedience and strife,impurity, etc.
This is like those who say, “I am saved because I was baptized” or “because I go to church.” They have the outward signs, but those signs are worth nothing if the inward heart is unclean.
God requires of His people, then and now, a new heart, inward obedience, a heart that genuinely loves and strives to love the Lord with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves. That is the meaning of the law. We must be born again of the Spirit of God, to have His law written on our inner being.
The Psalmist writes
6 Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”
We are not commanded to keep these same ceremonies anymore, but God has given us new ceremonies, although they are fewer, Baptism and Communion. And the same truth applies to us:
If you are continuing in internal sin, unconfessed sin, and come to the table for the supper, than you are doing the same thing that these Israelites were doing. Showing an outward sign of righteousness, but inwardly still wicked and unclean. Deal with the inner man first, and then the obedience of the outer man will come naturally. This is why we confess our sin each service.
You cannot make an unconverted man walk in the Spirit of the Lord. He can fake it for a while, but eventually, He will break away. Because love for God is not something that can be faked forever, it must come from a genuinely transformed heart, from a love of Our God and Messiah Jesus, who laid down His life for our forgiveness and cleansing. That we may be sprinkled clean, immersed in the Spirit of God, baptized into Christ Jesus.
This point briefly I would like to raise against what the Roman Catholics and many others believe falsely about the wine and the bread of communion, that these outward signs are the magical rites that please God, that efficiently cause us to be right with God.
From here we see, in God’s sight there is nothing magical about the offerings, the ceremonies, and today there is nothing magical about the bread, there is nothing magical about the water, these are outward reflections of an inner heart change. The wedding ring doesn’t cause someone to be married, but shows the world the inward reality of the loving marriage commitment to another.
God does delight in these rituals as commanded in Leviticus, but He delights in obedience with a pure heart, not a sinful heart.
So what is the result of this hypocrisy:
15 “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
God rejects not only their outer offerings, but their inner offerings, because of their sin, their prayers, because the people are full of violence. Do you think God is pleased with the LGBLT churches across the land, or apostate churches, who trample God’s word with sexual immorality, but come and offer Him praise? Do you think God is pleased with the worship and prayer of the self-righteous? No He is not.
So what does God command? Do you want to make your offerings clean before God? Do you want Him to hear your prayers, to listen to you, and be your God
And what does God command His people to do?
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
They are to repent! To wash themselves, in a moral and metaphorical sense, which is expressed literally by the phrase, Remove the evil deeds, cease doing them. Stop doing evil! Be spiritually and morally clean!
And not only are they to stop doing evil, they are to start doing good!
Learn to do good! Something that is implied that they do not currently know how to do. Seek justice! Seek to do right by others, not just of oneself, but of those who cannot do it themselves. Reprove the oppressor, the one who acts wickedly against the weak and helpless, the poor and oppressed. Orphans and widows are consistently used throughout Scripture as objects of divine compassion, and they represent the whole class of helpless innocent people.
Take up the cause of those who cannot fight for themselves! Stand up against those who oppress the innocent wickedly! This is what God commands us to do! Take care of the poor and fatherless, do justice for the afflicted.
Coincidentally this is why the Church in America MUST be concerned about abortion, because what child is more an orphan that the one who’s own parents have become their oppressors and murderers. Take up their cause, please for the poor and needy.
This is true righteousness! This is Holiness in God’s sight. This is an ram offering, a new moon festival, a holy day, a day in the court of the temple that God desires.
18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
19 “If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land;
20 “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
And we see the grace, the forgiveness of sins. That though these people are wicked, they will be made clean, those they are stained with their sin, the redness, like blood on a white cloth, though the are stained, bloody and filthy, they will be pure; they will be made clean, they will be renewed in the righteousness, which they do not deserve.
God bends down to our level, and says, let’s reason together. Let us as creatures reason with the Most High. Let us see the truth He will reveal to us. What grace upon grace He gives us.
And here is the promise of the blessings of obedience. In Deuteronomy, in the law, there is chapter upon chapter about the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. When Israel obeyed, they were the most powerful and feared nation in the land, but when they disobeyed, they were cursed, enslaved, starved, and more. They were devoured by the sword.
For in the redemption of God, which is by grace, let us not say that we will continue in sin that grace may abound. No, and let us not say that obedience to God’s law was part only of the old dispensation, and not the revelation of His will to His people today. But let us acknowledge that if we are willing and obedient, that God will bless us. That these things were written for our edification, and instruction. That God blesses obedience.
It is no secret that there is financial difficultly and trouble in our land. That banks are collapsing; in years prior we had riots in the streets, What is the cause? Why is our nation troubled, because we are disobedient, we do not follow the law of God. We do not seek justice, for the widow and the orphan, the cause of the afflicted and needy.
My brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us never forget what God can do with a faithful remnant, with a faithful few. As you know, there are faithful believers in the land, who are day after day assaulting the gates of hell, tearing down the strongholds of wickedness and fighting the rulers of darkness.
Let us be found in their number. Let us be named with their cause, that we would please Yahweh, and eat the good of the land all the days of our lives, and until eternity.
Conclusion:
As you can see, we are only just getting started in this book. Dipping our toes, yet this book contains riches beyond measure. And if Pastor Cheeseman does not throw me out for heresy, then next time he offers the pulpit, we will pick up right where we left off.
Let’s pray
[to be part of the remnant, offerings and sacrifices, to be inwardly clean, that we would repent and be obedient to what You desire.]