4. The Vision of Isaiah (4)
Hymns: RHC 100 He Lifted Me 111 Only a Sinner 112 Redeemed
Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
The Vision of Isaiah (4)
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4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Isaiah exhausts the vocabulary to tell us the situation is serious. It is a crisis ready to burst out into catastrophe. [Whitcomb]
Isaiah, the prophet of God, overwhelmed by the holiness of God, went forth in the strength of the Lord to rebuke his people.
The word “seed” means “offspring”.
Isn’t Israel the seed of Abraham? Were they not made to be a holy nation?
Exodus 19:6 (KJV) And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
They were a holy nation, the people of Jehovah, LORD, the children of the LORD. Isaiah 41:8 the seed of Abraham was used to describe Israel.
Isaiah 41:8 (KJV) But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
The Apostle Peter showed us the relationship the church has with God and how it was the covenant relationship enunciated.
1 Peter 2:9 (KJV) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1 Peter 2:10 (KJV) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
God loves His people and Isaiah uses those terms, nation, people, and offspring and reverses the picture completely. This is because they have despised the Holy One of Israel. That’s Isaiah’s special Name for God appearing 12 times in the first 39 chapters, 14 times in the last 27 chapters and only 6 times in the rest of the Old Testament.
One thing in Isaiah’s encounter with God is His holiness, the seraphine constantly chanting those words, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. That’s His central basic attribute, not love. He was not minimizing the significance of the love of God. Love is the expression, the outworking of holiness, not the reverse. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. Israel was degenerating spiritually. God is watching. He is weeping. God is preparing to deal with it. We see here the heart of Isaiah who has been overwhelmed by the holiness of God. The presupposition is that chapter 6 has already happened. Isaiah is able to say, Woe is me, for I am undone.; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts (v5). He is reflecting what God put into his mind and heart – Israel is a sinful nation, evil, corrupt. They have abandoned the LORD, provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger and departed from Him. [Whitcomb]
He sought that they would be awakened from their spiritual slumber and come back to God. Isaiah has not been deported out of the land. But they have forsaken the LORD, not in an outward sense, they are still attending church as it were, but their hearts were far from Him.
Deuteronomy 4:30-31 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Our rejecting God is not because God has abandoned us, but we have turned everyone to his own way.
Isaiah 53:6 (KJV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We are culpable when we depart from God, we cannot blame Him for not saving us! His grace is given to us through the gospel but if we have chosen to reject it, worse still, after professing Him, to turn from Him!
It is deliberate, it is intentional, we are accountable, we are responsible. We are not just robots that are forced to obey but given a free will, we are not forced to be bad when we want to be good.
We see that Israel did choose to forsake God but if they would repent of their sins, they could be saved from it. There is hope. There is hope for Israel. There is a way out that God has made provision for sinful men to come back to Him.
Romans 11:25-26 (KJV) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
When Jesus Christ returns, He shall defeat the Antichrist at the Battle of Armageddon to save Israel from total annihilation. At that time, the whole nation will receive Jesus Christ as their long-awaited Messiah. This will be at the end of the 7-Year Tribulation commonly called the Great Tribulation. The nation will enter the millennium as a nation of believers.
This was what the Jews were looking to see during Christ’s first coming. The Jews were looking to see the power and glory of Christ leading the nation to be strong again. They had hoped He would overthrow the Roman authorities and establish His rule in Israel as her true King. This is not God’s sovereign plan for Christ’s first coming. Jesus’ first coming was as s Suffering Servant to win salvation for mankind by His suffering, death and resurrection (Isa. 53).
Here in verse 26, the Apostle Paul is alluding to this truth first spoken by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 59:20 “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” When Jesus Christ returns, all Israel will have their sins forgiven and cleansed having acknowledged Him as their Saviour and God. What a blessed prospect for Israel. God has not forsaken His chosen nation! He never will forsake His own.
We contemplate the longsuffering of God awaiting His people to come back to Him just as the Father awaits the return of the prodigal son.
Luke 15:13-24 (KJV) And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
The prodigal son was not forced to be bad when the father wants him to be good. He deliberately chose to leave his father.
Did not God harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will not acknowledge the living and true God of Israel? No. It was Pharaoh who chose to incarcerate Israel. He had a choice. Pharaoh hardened his own heart. God responded by hardening it. That is a deep mystery, antimony. God gave Pharaoh what he wanted but he chose the way. God confirmed what the Pharoah wanted, namely, resistance to the God of Israel and submission to Him, voluntarily and lovingly, in humility. He did not want that. [Whitcomb]
Romans 9:16-19 (KJV) So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Apostle Paul cited Exodus 9:16, how Pharaoh was raised by God as Egypt’s supreme ruler to declare His glory during the time of Israel’s Exodus. Pharaoh was subdued by the Almighty power of God, demonstrating that the LORD (Jehovah); He is God, the Creator of all things. God shows all the earth that He is greater than great Pharaoh, the self-proclaimed representative of Ra, the sun god.
Any man who would not come to God cannot blame God for hardening his heart! He is culpable.
The man Pharaoh who resisted God’s command to release His people from slavery did so because God has willed it. It is God who sovereignly chooses Pharaoh to be His instrument of wrath against His people and also the recipient of His wrath. It is God who causes the heart of Pharaoh to be made stubborn that he might disobey His command to release His people. And yet we know that it was Pharaoh who freely chooses to harden his heart to resist the will of God. We marvel at the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility at work simultaneously.
Should God be charged with being unjust in choosing Pharaoh to be the recipient of His wrath? God forbid. God cannot be charged with being unjust! He is a just God as the psalmist declared to be God’s unchanging character.
Psalm 119:137 (KJV) 137 Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.
God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His justice. We must let God be God. He is God, and we are not! We must not have the audacity to question God but to submit to His just authority! God is not unfair. He sovereignly wills, it was His prerogative as God, the power to decide lies with Him.
And so, when a person did not have the opportunity to hear the gospel and dies in his sin, can he be saved? The biblical answer is no. He is not saved because he did not come to God through Christ. Is God not unfair to pass this innocent man? No, God is not unfair! Man after the fall is already under condemnation, he is not innocent but a rebel against God. It is not unjust for God to punish him even though he might not have the opportunity to hear the gospel.
It fact, it is for this reason, we are charged to bring the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth that none should perish! By human instruments, God will fulfil His will to show mercy to whom He will show mercy. May we rest in the sovereignty of God to choose whom He will save and do our duty to give the gospel that whosoever will, might believe!
It is the same for Judas Iscariot, he chose to be an instrument of Satan to betray the Lord. He was culpable. He himself chose his way. Jesus says it is better for this man not to have been born, offences must come but woe unto the one by whom they come! [Whitcomb]
The depraved man does not seek God!
Psalm 14:1 (KJV) To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14:3 (KJV) They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Israel cannot deny responsibility for their waywardness.
Whitcomb observed well, “You don’t have to be gay and homosexual either. The gay movement is emphatically saying that it was not a choice for them. This is the biggest campaign going on today. The biggest moral issue of our nation. They are saying, “we did not choose this.” We were born this way, we are programmed this way genetically and we can’t be anything else, appreciate the fact that we need to be recognized, appreciated and accepted as such. We are predestined genetically to our way of life. It’s getting so absurd that alcoholics say they are not responsible but we are genetically per-programmed by inheritance and there innocent. The worst thing we can say to such a person is that “you are right”, you are locked in forever, it’s not your fault, you are pre-programmed, you are hopeless! How much infinitely better to say “you did choose your way, you repent of your sin, you repent from it, there is hope.” And there was hope for Israel. And there will be hope for Israel.”
God is merciful. It is His character. He saves sinners. There is a way out from the condemnation of sin because God is merciful. He reached out to us through His Son. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul testifies in Romans 10:9-11 (KJV) 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
The psalmist testifies in thanksgiving for the unfailing goodness of God. He saw God’s mercy extended to all who would be willing to come freely to Him.
Psalm 136:1-5 (KJV) 1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. 4 To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. 5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Men could do nothing on the strength of their will and power to chart their course in life. Any real good comes about but by the mercy of God. What a man could do is to acknowledge in humble admission his unworthiness and call out to God for mercy. Such a one will undoubtedly receive God’s mercy for salvation and sanctification and glorification.
The Israelites were under condemnation when they sinned against God worshipping the golden calf. God could have justly judged and they would have perished instantly! But God showed mercy through the pleadings of Moses on their behalf.
Dear friends, do you have friends and loved ones in need of God’s mercy? Will you plead at the throne of grace for God’s mercy on their behalf? God indeed will be merciful to help.
Jesus preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
Here we have a picture of the hopeless estate of sinful men by which God has to send His only begotten Son to right the wrong, to cure the sin, to heal the heart.
Isaiah 53:4 (KJV) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
What is the remedy for human sin? God’s provision for sinful man to come back to God is through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. The phrase “only begotten” means “not created” explains the Deity of Jesus Christ. He is uniquely the eternal Son of God.
John 3:16 (KJV) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Jesus is God. He exists in the beginning of no beginning and will continue in His existence and at the end of no ends. In other words, He is the self-existing God.
John 1:1-2 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2 revealed the truth that Jesus Christ, known here as “the Word” is the eternally the Son of God.
Jesus, the Self-existing One is also the Creator, by Him, all things were created.
John 1:3 (KJV) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
He is also the One who gives life to men and sustains men’s life.
John 1:4 (KJV) In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Jesus entered human history at the pivotal climax of human history, B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. Anno Domini (The Year of the Lord). Jesus is fully God and fully man in one Person.
John 1:14 (KJV) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The name Jesus means “Saviour”, “for he shall save his people from their sins”. Matthew 1:21 (KJV)
Jesus Christ is introduced to you so that you may receive Him as your personal Lord and Saviour for whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16b).
John 1:5 (KJV) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:9 (KJV) That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
John 1:10-13 (KJV) He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus lived a sinless life fulfilling all the commandments of God perfectly on our behalf. As such, Jesus alone qualified to be our sin-bearer.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Isaiah 53:6 (KJV) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:5 (KJV) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
By His suffering unto death on the cross, Jesus became our Substitute for sin. He died on the cross, on our behalf, so that we may be delivered from eternal death. He defeated sin and death by paying the penalty for our sins.
What is the remedy for man’s sin? Man can be saved from his sin by Christ’s perfect life obeying all the commandments and by His finished work on the cross for our salvation. We are redeemed by Christ through His life and His death and His resurrection from the dead.
Romans 3:24-25 (KJV) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
Romans 3:22 (KJV) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Salvation comes freely to man by the grace or the unmerited favour of God. By faith in the Person of Christ, His Word and His Works, we are saved.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
This is the effect of sin upon the human soul, personified as a physical ailment. Job was struck with sores from head to toe but it was not because of his sin.
Job 2:7-10 (KJV) So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
The slippery slope of sin is a downward slide indeed, Israel was stricken from the sole of the foot unto the head, bruised all over, not treated, and not cared for. God is sending Israel here to care for Israel, to treat their wounds to bring them back.
Isaiah, though hated and rejected, was that certain Samaritan.
Luke 10:30 (KJV) And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Luke 10:33-35 (KJV) But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Jesus is the final revelation of God to mankind. He is the only Saviour of the world. Jesus preached to call sinners to repentance, to forsake our sin.
Matthew 4:17 (KJV) From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Matthew 9:35-36 (KJV) And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
Matthew described by two verbs, Jesus “saw” and “was moved with compassion”. Jesus is able to read the hearts to see the burdens in the hearts of the multitude. There was sorrow, grief, affliction, trouble, sin that was in the heart of these. He had in mind their interest and welfare. We see the great value of lost souls in the heart of our Lord.
As He saw their lost estate, it drove Him into action. Jesus felt deeply for them. He is the good Shepherd who cared for His sheep. It demonstrated the unconditional and sacrificial love of God for a sinful man who is lost and undone. Jesus demonstrated the greatness of this love in His ministry on earth.
For us who are saved, it is a love that flows out of gratitude and indebtedness. We have been forgiven much, though undeserved. Unless we realize our lost estate and experience in our hearts the reconciliation with God by the finished work of Christ on the cross, we cannot live out this love. It keeps us humble and loving.
To be continued…