Isaiah 8.1, 65

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Jerry and Peggy Haley

Teachers/Schools/Parents

Laura—Ruth Alaya, diagnostic tests

Isaiah 65:1–7 ESV

1 I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that was not called by my name. 2 I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; 3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; 4 who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; 5 who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. 6 Behold, it is written before me: “I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their lap 7 both your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together, says the Lord; because they made offerings on the mountains and insulted me on the hills, I will measure into their lap payment for their former deeds.”

We ended chapter 64 with this question: Isaiah 64:12 “12 Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord? Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?”

You will you keep silent? That’s the accusation against YHWH, that he has been silent in the face of His people’s suffering. The answer to that is then given in 65, the voice of the Lord is the speaker here. The question from the people was, “will you keep silent…” and YHWH answers:

“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me…I was ready to be found…I said, “Here I am, here I am.” God’s answer: I’m right here! I’ve been waiting, I was ready to be found even by those who haven’t been looking for me! Even by those who haven’t been called my children. He is affirming his accessibility.

Israel’s problems are not the result of God’s refusal to listen; God was listening before they were calling out to Him. In fact, He was actively revealing and disclosing himself, “Here I am!” If the people did not call on his name, it was not because God had hidden his face.

The words here are an echo of the beginning of Isaiah, all the way back to chapter 6, the calling of Isaiah, the Lord there says, whom shall I send? And what is Isaiah’s response? Here I am. Send me. And what was the trajectory of Isaiah’s mission and ministry? No one would listen, he would preach the message of repentance and salvation int he Lord and no one would hear him. And now? God Himself says, “Here I am!” And the people are missing it!

God is revealing Himself to humanity, will we respond? That’s the thrust here, he’s showing Himself. And for us, living in light of the life of Jesus Christ, God’s revelation of Himself—His self-disclosure—is all the more evident in the person of Jesus, His son. This is how God has revealed Himself to us, it could not be clearer, in the person and message of Jesus Christ. How will we respond?

For many of us in this room we have responded, yes. But the warning of these verses is also for those who think of themselves as religious people, who may think of themselves as saved. Right? Isaiah is writing to Israelites who understood themselves as children of YHWH, that was their identity. Yet, and we’ll see this, they were complacent in their faith (they accused God of turning away from them) and their religious practices, we’ll see in a minute, aren’t helping them.

Ok. Isaiah 65:2 “2 I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices;”

God continues: I spread out my hands—the image here is startling, the language of hands being spread out is of one in prayer, hands out in petition or supplication. One scholar said, if we dare say it, it’s as if God is begging the people to turn to Him. We wouldn’t quite characterize God in this way, but the image certainly helps us understand his posture toward us—he longs for us to come to Him!

But the people…they walk in a way that is not good, they follow their own way, their own devices.

God tells them to do one thing, they do another. They people do not walk in the ways of God, however good those ways might be. They would rather make their own plans and follow their own schemes. Again, this is the problem, NOT that God is unresponsive, but that we try to have him on our own terms and not on his.

We ought to choose his way over our way and over our thoughts, because ours are not good. But so often, we want God on our terms, we want Him the way we want Him. To do what we want Him today, and to not demand too much from us. For some, God is just another tool in the toolbox, one of many things with which we can find our own way in this world.

Here’s the image then, God is waiting for people to come to Him on His terms so that he can deliver them. We’ll talk about this a lot more in our next study after Isaiah!

Isaiah 65:3–5 ESV

3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; 4 who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig’s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; 5 who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.

God is describing the people who provoke him—another translation uses the word vex, frustrate. It is people who are religious—this is all language of religious practice, sacrifices, offerings but then who are eating unclean food and coming in contact with the dead (sitting in tombs, this is likely a reference to some sort of demonic or cultic practice) and walking out of step with God’s ways. You see, their religious practice cannot save them. But they delight in their practice, and even though it might look like proper religious practice, this is of their own making and it is worthless. And look at the irony of v. 5: Keep away, don’t come near, for I am too holy.” This is the irony of the religious one who rejects God—it does nothing for him. God’s intention is to make His people Holy, yes, but see here the people are declaring themselves holy even as they’re doing evil and are unclean.

This section ends with God’s declaration that He will not keep silent in the face of this wickedness. He will repay the evil of the people, this evil that provokes and insults Him.

Now as we move into this next section, this is God’s promise to His servants and those who do come to Him:

Isaiah 65:8–16 ESV

8 Thus says the Lord: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, and they say, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there. 10 Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, for my people who have sought me. 11 But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you to the sword, and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter, because, when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen, but you did what was evil in my eyes and chose what I did not delight in.” 13 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame; 14 behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit. 15 You shall leave your name to my chosen for a curse, and the Lord God will put you to death, but his servants he will call by another name, 16 so that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.

V. 8-10 and the promise of deliverance

In v. 8-10 emerge this concern: will God destroy everything and everyone because of the sins of the majority? This is an echo of Abraham’s dealing with God, bargaining for the salvation of some in Sodom and Gomorrah, could a just and merciful God kill everyone, including those who love him?

No, God assures that he will not, that those who love him will be spared, judgement will fall, but those who believe and trust in him will be saved.

In v. 8 we get the image of grapes, a vineyard, that there is still some good, new wine, in the midst of the rotten grapes, but it won’t be all thrown out, the good grapes will be culled and spared and so it will be for God’s people.

In v. 9, we see that there will be an offspring of Jacob, from Judah, who will possess the promises of God, this land, His Kingdom—there are called here His chosen. And of course, we understand that this comes through Christ—the shoot of Jesse, of Judah, who will rescue God’s people.

v. 11-12, reminder of judgement

Again, here is a reminder of judgement. For those who forsake the Lord, he sets a table of His wrath for them. The indictment is this: I called, you didn’t answer. I spoke, you did not listen, you did what was evil but good in your eyes, rather than what was good and what I delight in.

I’ll just remind you here of Psalm 1: blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, he will prosper, but the wicked are not so, they are destroyed and cast into the wind.

v. 13-16, a conclusion

Here’s the conclusion, interweaving the two previous threads together:

-my servants shall eat vs. you shall be hungry

-my servants shall rejoice vs. you shall be put to shame

-gladness vs. pain

-blessing vs. curse

And all of this leads to the great climax of Isaiah 65, the new heavens and the new earth and this really is the climactic finale to the whole book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 65:17–25 ESV

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

We’ll stop there today and over the next two weeks we’ll finish the book of Isaiah.