Isaiah 9:8-11:16
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Isaiah 9:8-11:16
Isaiah 9:8-11:16
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, And it has fallen on Israel.
9 All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, But we will replace them with cedars.”
I hope you guys remember from last week what is happening here in the context of our chapter, but God’s people, Israel is a mess at this point in their history, they have become divided as a people and a land. With 10 tribes in the north known as Ephraim with Samaria as their capital, and Judah was in the south and maintained Jerusalem as their capital.
Their division wasn’t the good guys against the bad, it was the wrong brothers and sisters being divided against the other wrong brothers and sisters. The Lord gives invitation to turn from their wicked ways, to repent and come back to Him, and they resist. God uses other nations as we will see tonight, wicked nations, an evil nation even as a tool in His hand. God didn’t make them wicked and evil, but when Adam chose sin, wickedness and evil entered the seed of man, and in their free will men choose darkness over the light. Look at their reaction here as God allows judgement upon them in an attempt to save their souls and have them turn to Him…they don’t…but in their pride and arrogance of heart...
They say the bricks have fallen down....that’s no big deal, we’ll just build back better. We will rebuild with hewn stone. The sycamores are cut down, that’s no problem we still have the mighty cedars of Lebanon…rather than turn to God in repentance for salvation, they dig their heals in and say, we got this, we’re tougher than this. This type of heart is the hardest for me to deal with as a pastor.
Not out of frustration or weariness, but for grieving and sadness on their behalf. If I’m dealing with someone who the world has chewed up and spit out, there is nothing more refreshing than the good news of the gospel. But for the one who thinks they know God, professes to know God, but out of pride and arrogance of heart remains the Lord of their own life, not just refusing to submit or surrender to God, but refusing to receive the rescue of God.
There are so many Christians that think that they are on some kind of maintenance plan. They made a profession of faith and then somewhere along the line they quit. Maybe they show up to church here and there, or remain in contact with some, but they are empty, and alone, and for the most part trying to make it on their own, trying to build back better, when their world is crumbling all around them. I understand sometimes fellowship is hard…but, it is not typically the ones that I see faithfully attending and serving when the doors are open in the church, sitting in men’s study’s and women’s study’s those aren’t the ones that are struggling to hang on.
You might asks, yeah but are they in a good place because they are doing those things, or are they doing those things because they are in a good place, the answer is yes. For all of us, all that we need is right here. The Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, fellowship with the family of God, communion, fellowship, prayer.
So God is beginning to deal with these guys and rather than being quick to repent, rather than calling out for His help and mercy, they dig their heals in, they don’t respond so God continues. I was thinking about a story when I was a kid about a cow... Isa 9:11-14
11 Therefore the Lord shall set up The adversaries of Rezin against him, And spur his enemies on,
12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
14 Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, Palm branch and bulrush in one day.
15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, And those who are led by them are destroyed.
God points out that this is not just a problem of rebellion in the hearts of the people, but puts the accountability for it on the leaders of the people and the false prophets. Isa 9:17
17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, And every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
His anger is not turned away because of their continued response of pride and wickedness. Isa 9:18-21
18 For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, And kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts The land is burned up, And the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand And be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand And not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
His anger is not turned away why? They don’t respond, they don’t repent, their pride continues. Chapter 10 Isa 10:1-4
1 “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed
2 To rob the needy of justice, And to take what is right from the poor of My people, That widows may be their prey, And that they may rob the fatherless.
3 What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?
4 Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain.” For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
So this is a Woe to Israel for their sin, and this next section is where we see a Woe or a warning to Assyria, Isa 10:5
5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
but we also see God using them as a tool of discipline against Israel. Like they are the belt that Poppa is using to spank a rebellious child. Now I said some things last week about the nation of Assyrians being wicked and evil in their warfare, remember I talked about them shaving the hair off the Israelites when taken captive as slaves, putting hooks through their faces, to chain the captives together?
Considering all of the saber rattling that is going on in our own country and in the world this week. With carrying out an execution on AL-Qaeda’s top leader, China attempting and threatening the US on what we can and can’t do. We sometimes think that we have some special protection because we used to be a Christian nation or were at least founded on Christian principles.
From 729-609 BC, there was only one super power in all of the world, the Assyrian Empire. Listen to how Haley’s handbook of the Bible describes the Assyrians. Understand, God never condoned the evil of the Assyrians, and He hated the idols that they worship, yet he still used them as His tool, as His rod of correction. How could a loving God ever do such a thing? Because, and our hearts might struggle with this, because He loved and still loves His people.
The most horrible things we can experience on this earth, don’t compare at all to Hell. If you had a set of balances and put hell on this side of the scales, and put our worst hurt, our deepest pain, our most gruesome scar on this side of the scale, the scale would not budge, there is no comparison. Far too often we blame God for allowing things to happen in our lives, when we fail to look back and see how many times our story says, and His hand is stretched out still, because I didn’t respond way back here, or you said in pride and arrogance, I don’t need you God, I won’t surrender....
If discipline, correction, even our worst nightmare will cause us to turn to God and repent and cry out for His help, rather than spend an eternity in Hell, what an act of love it is. Most of the time we respond with, anger, hurt, pride, and a determination that NOW, I’ll never, ever turn to you God, and we remain in our pain, suffer in our misery, until it gets worse of all of eternity. Although He uses Assyria, doesn’t mean that they escape justice for their own actions as we’ll see here. I actually think there is an important lesson here for all of us, and in particular those who are in ministry.
Just because God may be using you, doesn’t mean that He is pleased with, or approves of your methods and motives. Leaders need to understand the responsibility of their role. When broken and hurting people come into the church, are you too busy, or too arrogant wash their feet, or to tend to their wounds? We can be a tool in the hands of the Great Physician that is used powerfully, even in life saving measures, but can then be discarded with the medical waste. If we’ve become contaminated. Many times people are being used by God for a specific purpose, and they start to think, as the Assyrians did here, because they are so awesome, completely forgetting that God can speak through a donkey like He did to Balaam.
6 I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations.
8 For he says, ‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”
13 For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, And by my wisdom, for I am prudent; Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, And have robbed their treasuries; So I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
14 My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people, And as one gathers eggs that are left, I have gathered all the earth; And there was no one who moved his wing, Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”
15 Shall the ax boast itself against him who chops with it? Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it? As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, Will send leanness among his fat ones; And under his glory He will kindle a burning Like the burning of a fire.
17 So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame; It will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day.
18 And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, Both soul and body; And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 Then the rest of the trees of his forest Will be so few in number That a child may write them.
So few in number that a child just learning to count, learning their 1,2,3’s may write them. Isa 10:20-23
20 And it shall come to pass in that day That the remnant of Israel, And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, Will never again depend on him who defeated them, But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
21 The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, To the Mighty God.
22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.
Remnant first returned from Babylon in 538 bc by the decree of Cyrus, and then on May 14, 1948, Israel once again declared itself to be an independent state, and Jew began returning. In 1967 we saw the reunification of Jerusalem, and now millions of Jews have returned and continue to return. In 2021 there was a 31% increase in the number of Jews returning to Isreal, God has made promises that He will fulfill, specific to the nation of Israel. Israel should be turning to God for help, not any other nation.
24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little while and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.”
26 And the Lord of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
You are going through this now because you’ve rebelled against me, but it won’t last forever. I will destroy them. Just as God delived them from Egypt as Moses raised his arms and the red sea parted and then drowned the approaching Egyptian solders, He would deliver them from Assyria as well, that is what we read about last week this deliverer. In a practice sense, we will read about it in chapter 37 of Isaiah, but the story is in 2 Kings 19 where an angle of the Lord wipes out 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a single night.
26 And the Lord of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.
27 It shall come to pass in that day That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
28 He has come to Aiath, He has passed Migron; At Michmash he has attended to his equipment.
This is the path from North to south that Assyria took as they were being used as the rod of God. This area Michmash was only about 7.5 miles north of Jerusalem so the assault continues to approach and is more and more threatening. Isa 10:29
29 They have gone along the ridge, They have taken up lodging at Geba. Ramah is afraid, Gibeah of Saul has fled.
Geba and Ramah about 6 miles away. Gibeah 4 miles. Isa 10:30-31
30 Lift up your voice, O daughter of Gallim! Cause it to be heard as far as Laish— O poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah has fled, The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
Gebim was the sight of a water reservoir that the citizens of Jerusalem were dependent upon. Less than a mile from the walls of Jerusalem. Isa 10:32-34
32 As yet he will remain at Nob that day; He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem.
33 Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, Will lop off the bough with terror; Those of high stature will be hewn down, And the haughty will be humbled.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.
Antichrist will have this same animosity for Jerusalem in the future. But Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One, already identified in our study last week as Immanuel.
1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 Sam 7 Davidic covenant with God. Forever be a remnant on the throne.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
This is a Messianic verse of the promised Messiah, Jesus, but it is also an important verse for a couple of other reasons. One, it explains a very difficult verse in the new testament. The book of Revelation, or the Revelation of Jesus Christ, begins with this greeting from the Trinity. Rev 1:4-5
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
Ok, I understand the Father and the Son, but what is the deal with the seven Spirits, in speaking of the Holy Spirit? Lets look at verse two again…Isa 11:2
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
We also see seven candles in the Jewish menorah that is designed to represent the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord, as His primary job is to testify of Jesus. This is why there are two important ways to recognize the leading of the Holy Spirit. He inspired the Bible, He won’t contradict Scripture. Secondly, since He is the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jesus, He will never violate the nature of Jesus that we see revealed to us in the Gospels. So is this you Lord, is the Spirit leading me? Does is contradict the Written Word of God? If is does, it’s not the Holy Spirit. Does it contradict the Living Word? What we would see in Jesus? Then it is not the Holy Spirit.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Check this out as Paul talks about the Antichrist in 2 Thes chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians 2:8
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.
Paul gets this from the Prophet Isaiah. Jesus will return to judge the earth and will rule and reign, and although He won’t win the popular vote, nor the electoral college, He will take power over all of the land. And the government will be on His shoulders and listen what it will be like, for a 1,000 years.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.
No matter where you are on the earth, all the people will have a knowledge of Him and will be talking about Jesus. Isa 11:10-13
10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11 It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
12 He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.
13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
There will once again be complete unity in Israel. Isa 11:14-16
14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15 The Lord will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, And strike it in the seven streams, And make men cross over dryshod.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.
God will miraculously make a way for them to return. Chapter 12 is just a song of praise that was sung at the return and will still be sung in the future fulfillment. Isa 12
1 And in that day you will say: “O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.’ ”
3 Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.
4 And in that day you will say: “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.
6 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!”
Communion
On the night the He was betrayed, Jesus sat with His disciples and He "19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." - Luke 22:19-20 NKJV