Sermon Tone Analysis
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Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Let's Settle This Once and For All
Have you ever said that to anyone?
Let’s settle this once and for all.
One of the issues in my house that we had to decide on is this.
I believe it should be over and Darlene doesn’t really care, she just puts it on.
Someone researched the original patent for toilet paper.
The guy who patented it had in his original drawings the paper going over the top so I guess that settles it.
Here is another one that people struggle with.
I grew up calling it pop.
When we lived in the south it was a coke.
If you went out to eat and the server asked you what you wanted to drink and you said a Coke, they would ask you what kind of coke did you want, Dr Pepper, Mountain Dew, Root beer, they were all referred to as a coke.
Around here I hear most people refer to it as a soda.
Sometimes as a parent we have to tell our kids that we need to settle something once and for all.
You know how it goes, they are arguing and fighting and we’ve had enough and we tell them that I’m settling this once and for all.
Generally it doesn’t settle it, but we feel better about ourselves thinking we’ve stopped it.
We might stop it, but it usually picks back up.
When I read through our text, the phrase “Let’s settle this once and for all” ran through my mind.
Isaiah comes on the scene and bring’s God’s word to Judah and Jerusalem.
We don’t know much about Isaiah and his background.
In the books of Kings and Chronicles we read a little about him.
This book opens with these words:
Rabbinical tradition says that Isaiah’s father Amoz was the brother of King Amaziah of Judah.
They believe that Amoz was a prophet.
If this is accurate then Isaiah came from the line of King David.
David would have been Isaiah’s 6th great grandfather if I counted correctly.
King Amaziah was not exactly a role model for Isaiah to look up to.
The Bible has this to say about Amaziah 2 Chronicles 25:14 “14 When Amaziah returned after defeating the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir.
He set them up as his own gods, bowed down before them, and burned incense to them.”
Isaiah’s name means “the Lord is salvation.”
Names had great meaning in the Old Testament.
We say that with Hosea’s children.
The theme of Isaiah’s prophesy was the same as the meaning of his name “the Lord is salvation.”
The message of salvation is the message that God gave to Isaiah to bring to the people of Judah.
Isaiah prophesied during the rain of four kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
Uzziah and Jotham were good kings, Ahaz was evil, and during the reign of King Hezekiah there was a revival.
Having a king over all of Israel was not in God’s plan.
Israel was to be a theocracy, meaning that God was king of his people.
The people demanded a king so that they would be like the other kingdoms around them.
God gave them what they wanted and they ended up with more than they wanted with some of the evil kings.
Just as they wanted a king to be like other kingdoms, they wanted a visible representation of a god to worship.
Judah ended up with 12 evil kings where idolatry was rampant and the people did not even give a second thought about God.
They had 4 good kings and they had 4 kings who reigned during a period of revival.
When the people demanded a king they did get what they wanted, they became just like the kingdoms around them who worshipped idols.
Isaiah comes on the scene here and Isaiah and the Bible opens with Isaiah 1: “1 The vision about Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw.”
This raises expectation that Isaiah is going to tell us what God showed him.
Our expectations are met.
In Chapter 6 we read
Uzziah started out as a good king, he was 16 when he became king and reigned for about 52 years.
At one point in his reign he went to the temple to offer incense to God.
He was confronted by the Chief Priest and other priests.
While he was still in the temple, there was a major earthquake that damaged the temple.
Josephus the great Jewish Historian wrote:
a great earthquake shook the ground, and a rent was made in the temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the king's face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately [1]
Uzziah’s son Jotham was the next king listed and he is referred to as one of the good kings who did right in the sight of God.
However, the people continued to worship idols.
Even though he was a good king, the people continued to practice idolatry.
Ahaz went even further away from God.
Can you see how quickly the people were turning away from God?
They had a king who sacrificed his own son.
When the people in leadership are evil it seems that the majority will gladly follow.
We see it in our own culture.
Look at the craziness out there.
Politicians claim to be Christian but the stuff they do or vote to approve is antithetical to Christianity.
King Hezekiah, the third king that Isaiah prophesied during saw a great revival.
Ok, so you might be sitting there thinking; “thanks for the history lesson pastor, but what does that have to do with the scripture today?”
Great question, I’m glad you asked!
The vision that Isaiah had does not make any sense if you do not know the history, what was going on when he was bring this vision to the people of Judah.
I didn’t read verses 2 through 9, but let me read verse 9 because it helps understand the text.
Isaiah 1:9 “9 If the Lord of heavenly forces had not spared a few of us, we would be like Sodom; we would resemble Gomorrah.”
Isaiah did not say that they would become Sodom and Gomorrah, but that they would resemble them.
The account of Sodom and Gomorrah is found in Genesis chapter 19.
In verse 10 Isaiah writes
Isaiah is not addressing the leaders of those two cities.
Those cities were destroyed long ago.
Judah had become like those two ancient cities.
Their sin had become a stench before God.
God is in essence saying Let us settle this once and for all.
In fact in verse 18 that is what God says
The people and the rulers were absolutely corrupt.
He called the leaders of Judah as the the leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah.
They were utterly sinful.
Have you heard or used the phrase about someone wanting the best of both worlds?
That was Judah, they were very religious.
They went through the motions in the temple but God says enough is enough.
They were going through the motions of worshipping God and worshipping idols.
What was happening in Judah?
Manasseh became king after Hezekiah.
There had been a great revival during Hezekiah’s reign.
When he died and Manasseh his son became king we read:
No wonder God referred to the leaders as leaders of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those two ancient cities were full of sin and evil.
God utterly destroyed them.
I shuttered to think of the sin and evil in our own nation and wonder why God hasn’t utterly destroyed us.
God help us, we need a mighty revival to sweep through this nation from east to west, north to south.
God had told the people in the Ten Commandments
That was not a suggestion.
God was saying it was Jehovah or it was idols.
The people were living in idolatry.
God in essence puts up His hand and says STOP. Enough is enough He says.
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