IS#05 What Israel is vs What Israel will be Part 1 Isa 2@1-22
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Isa 1 ended with God’s judgment as well as redemption depending on how the people responded to God. And even those who are redeemed will be redeemed through judgment (text should be justice; justice for the redeemed means judgment, other translations are used “justice.”) Is 1:27-28.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, And her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, And they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
The whole human race because of sin is under God’s judgment. Those who believe will be redeemed but will go through the fires of purification. So what benefit is it for believers who also has to go through the fires of purification?
This is what Isa 2 is all about. It describes Israel’s present reality and future hope. If there is no hope of a bright future, there will be no motivation to endure any discipline from God.
Isa 2 begins with Israel’s future hope and then continues with Israel’s present reality. For Israel to ever experience their future hope, they must be changed from their present sinful condition.
I. The Destiny of the House of Jacob Isa 2:1-5
I. The Destiny of the House of Jacob Isa 2:1-5
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths: For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
The first 5 verses presents Israel’s glorious destiny. That is, God will make His capital in Jerusalem where He will rule the world.
It is also the place where all nations will come and learn of God’s Word and His ways.
Jerusalem is located on a hilltop but it is not the highest hill in the area. Even the Mt of Olives is higher. But Jerusalem will be the most significant.
Why all the imagery of mountains used here? This is because of the ancient belief that the gods lived on the high mountains. That’s why in the OT especially the Book of Kings, you find many people worship in high places and kings are indicted for letting the people do so when they should be getting people to worship in Jerusalem.
@@ When nations walk in God’s ways, they will submit to God’s lordship. When everyone submit to God’s rule, there will be harmony in the world. When you look at the wars today, you can ultimately trace it to worshipping different gods. US in general still worship the God of the Bible. China denies that there is a God is heaven and substituted God with a human leader.
US has been harping on human rights. Human rights is not taught in the Bible. Instead the sanctity of every human being is taught because every human is made in the image of God. Human rights implies human lives are very precious. China on the other hand, thinks that humans are no more valuable than animals and as a result doesn’t see killing humans as something very serious.
Because of different gods, US and China has difficulty communicating with each other. Hence the great tension between them. The Western world including Australia have no such problems at all because they are mostly Christian nations.
Why are the Muslims at odds with America? For the same reason that they worship different gods.
Now if Jerusalem is going to be God’s capital, then the people living in Jerusalem must be exemplary examples. This is Israel’s glory as they are to be God’s representatives in this world.
When such a hope is presented to Israel, it is for the purpose of encouraging Israel to be the kind of people they ought to be NOW. Hence though v2 says that this hope will take place in the last days (most likely the Millennium), it doesn’t mean that Israel do nothing now.
Likewise, Christians are given the hope of eternal life, it doesn’t mean we just wait for heaven to come and do nothing in this life. If our glory is to be with God one day, then now we must endeavor to be holy like God NOW and even expected to suffer together with Christ! Christianity is not a bed of roses.
And if Israel believe in their future glory, she would have less problem enduring God’s purifying judgment now.
On the other hand, we must not go to the opposite extreme and think that we can be perfect now. As long as sin is present in the world, such hope of perfection cannot be realized. We’ve to wait for Christ’s return.
So we work hard to learn God’s ways but never disappointed that we can’t fully achieve it now. We will achieve it when Christ returns to remove sin completely from the world.
II. The House of Jacob Forsaken Part 1 Isa 2:6-22
II. The House of Jacob Forsaken Part 1 Isa 2:6-22
If I had followed the outline strictly, I either stop my message now or continue my message until Isa 4:1. The first option would make this lesson very short. The second option will make this lesson very long. Hence I chose to go until halfway of the next section. That’s why you see Part 1 in the outline heading. There will be Part 2 & 3.
Now Isaiah returns to the present reality of the House of Jacob. That is, Israel is going through God’s purifying judgment. And Isaiah explains why Israel needs to go through God’s judgment.
A. They have sought after Man’s Wisdom Isa 2:6
A. They have sought after Man’s Wisdom Isa 2:6
6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, Because they be replenished from the east, And are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they please themselves in the children of strangers.
Why did the Lord forsake His people? Because His people first forsook Him by following the world’s religions. But the Lord didn’t forsake His people in the real sense; i.e. He completely abandons them. Rather, He temporarily left them to face His judgment so that they will repent.
v6 is a hard verse to translate as seen by many translations in the different versions of the Bible.
6 For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners.
6 For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
The “things of the east” refers to complex religious thought of the Mesopotamia which are thought by ancient people to be the origin of wisdom and learning. Hence this had a terrific appeal to Israel compared with the simple and austere religion of the true God. It’s kind of like science today having more appeal to people than the God-given truth.
Next, Israel was guilty of practicing fortune telling like the Philistines. Instead of trusting God, they want to know what’s the future like so that they can take measures to prevent bad circumstances that may be coming upon them.
Worldly wise men today are very interested in the things of the future. Hence fortune telling satisfy the desire of unbelieving people as they want to control their future more than put their trust in God.
So Israel adopted the world’s religions because they wanted a wisdom that is not from God.
Today’s Christians are not any better as they are also enamored by the world’s wisdom rather than the wisdom of God’s Word.
B. They worshipped the work of their hands Isa 2:8
B. They worshipped the work of their hands Isa 2:8
8 Their land also is full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands, That which their own fingers have made:
Their desire of man’s wisdom naturally led to worship of the religions of other nations. In ancient days, wisdom and religions are virtually inseparable. As a result, Israel ended up with many idols.
Isaiah says that these idols are false gods because they are the work of man’s hands. Idolatry here is conceiving of the divine in human terms.
In other words, idolatry is exalting man to the place of God. But we’ve seen that God is outside of this creation and He can’t be compared to anything in this creation because He is the Creator and not part of the creation.
C. They will be humbled by the Lord Isa 2:10-11
C. They will be humbled by the Lord Isa 2:10-11
10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, And the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
One of the themes we looked at in the introduction is: Arrogance and Humiliation. Because Israel is so arrogant as to think that man can be compared with God, the result will be humiliation. This is what v11 says.
Hence Isaiah calls them to hide from the Lord (v10) because the Lord will show His strength and make men see how puny they are.
Anyone that exalts himself against the Lord will be humbled because the Lord needs to tell His creation that none is equal to Him.
This is one reason why when Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God worked many miracles so that both Israelites and Egyptians know that there no god that is a match for Yahweh.
Similarly, when Israel went into captivity in Babylon, God worked many miracles through Daniel and his 3 friends to show that Yahweh is way superior to all other gods. In Babylon, God has to deal severely with king Nebuchadnezzar because he thinks that he is god. Nebuchadnezzar as we know became like an animal for 7 years before sanity returns to him.
So it is a fearful thing to exalt yourself before God. Is 42:8
8 I am the Lord: that is my name: And my glory will I not give to another, Neither my praise to graven images.
D. They will then give up on their idols Isa 2:20
D. They will then give up on their idols Isa 2:20
20 In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, Which they made each one for himself to worship, To the moles and to the bats;
The prophet declares that those things that human hands created and human minds pronounced holy will be hastily cast away when he who is truly holy is revealed. They will not merely be cast away but will be cast away to “the moles (rodents) and bats,” the most unclean of animals.
Our attempt to make humanity holy actually ends up making us unclean, and our attempt to give ourselves significance renders us worthless. Why would the Israelites put their trust in something worthless and unclean when they can put their trust in the living God?
E. They are called to stop trusting in man Isa 2:22
E. They are called to stop trusting in man Isa 2:22
22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: For wherein is he to be accounted of?
After Isaiah tells Israel that their attempt to exalt anything to be god will end in utter failure, he now tells them to stop trusting in man.
Man has a short life-span just like his breath and therefore cannot by his own effort become significant. No matter how great he is, death will come knocking at his door.
The only way to be significant is to be rightly related to the Creator who can give us eternal life.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
There are 2 lessons that can be gleaned from this lesson:
1) Our future hope in Christ is the only thing that can give us significance and meaning.
If we try to find significance and meaning outside of our Creator, we doomed to disappointment and failure all because our life is so short compared to eternity given by our Creator.
2) True humility. Idolatry is an attempt to bring God down to the level of His creation. And man’s purpose is to exalt himself above God. This is how Paul describes their arrogance. Rom 1:21-23
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Refusing to submit thankfully to God, they are reduced to worshiping our appetites and representing the divine with the basest forms of earth.
Trying to take his place, we will become nothing, but allowing Him to be exalted alone, we will become the princes and princesses of the universe.
This is what Peter means in 1Pet 5:6
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
But how to humble ourselves before God? Or what is true humility?
Too often we think of humility as “feeling bad about yourself,” or at least pretending to! That is not what humility is at all, as this passage in Isaiah makes clear.
No, true humility is to refuse to put oneself in the place of God. It is to know oneself as a child of God, to know one’s place in God’s economy, and to know one’s worth in his sight.
@@ True humility is self-forgetfulness. It is the ability to go about the tasks God has given, secure in his love and his valuing, without wondering if others appreciate us as much as they should. Humility is to know there is a God, and to know you are not him!