In Isaiah, we begin the oracles against the nations. These type of judgment oracles are typical of the prophecy genre. They show that God is sovereign, not just over Israel, but over the Gentile nations as well.
In Romans, Paul stresses again that God’s plan for salvation has always included the Gentiles.
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Romans 15:8).
That’s a mouthful, but oh, the riches contained in that verse!! Christ’s life, death and resurrection proved that God’s word was true. Every Old Testament promise was fulfilled in Christ. And because of Jesus, the way has been opened for all to receive his mercy and enter the Kingdom of God!!
Isaiah’s judgment oracles should remind us to run away from God’s judgment by running into His kindness… Let the truth of the gospel sink into your heart and cause you to wonder at the awesome power and goodness of our God!!
Consider the context of Isaiah’s writings… Syria and the northern Kingdom of Israel were threatening Judah. King Ahaz reached out to the great world power, Assyria, for help – and then Isaiah looked into the future to see that Assyria was God’s chosen instrument of judgment against the Northern Kingdom of Israel – Assyria would completely destroy Israel – and most of the cities of Judah – but God would not allow them to destroy Jerusalem.
So it is in this context in which Isaiah is writing – he writes that Assyria is just a tool in God’s hands – that this world-super-power would be utterly destroyed – as judgment for the destruction of God’s people.
And then Isaiah looks forward to the day when God would gather his remnant and the Messiah would rule in peace.
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And 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 the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1-2).
Out of the stump… God’s judgment would reduce Israel to a stump, but from this stump would come the Messiah! And from the Messiah would come salvation! This salvation was a supernatural salvation – the kind that King Ahaz scorned for a short-sighted, political savior.
Where do you look for salvation?
Do you look to Christ, alone, for salvation – or, like Ahaz, do you look for help from worldly sources? Our salvation is based on grace that comes through faith. Romans 14 reveals that the gospel of Jesus Christ nullifies many of the Jewish “ceremonial” laws. These laws were sacred to Israel because it gave them a way to be symbolically righteous. In other words, if they adhered to the strict diet, observed the festivals and performed ceremonial washings, they could be clean.
But those things don’t save!!!! Jesus came and set us free from the demands of the law ! We are free to obey by faith – so there is no room for judgment.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:7).
Both Isaiah and Paul were trying to focus the eyes of their readers on the source of salvation. Ahaz was looking to Assyria for help. The Jews were still relying on their laws to gain righteousness. Both pursuits were in vain.
Jesus is the beginning and the end, the source of all things. He is our Salvation. In Him, alone, we will trust!
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).
Before we dig into the text, we need to understand more about the book of Isaiah as a whole…
Isaiah can be divided into three sections:
Chapters 1-39: Written for Isaiah’s contemporaries, the rebellious people living in Judah under the Assyrian threat (during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah). They were tempted to look to political saviors instead of to God.
Chapters 40-55: Looked beyond the future destruction of Jerusalem and was written for the remnant of Jews living as exiles in Babylon.
Chapters 56-66: Looked even further forward in time and was written for the restored Jews including all people until the end (which includes us!)
Isaiah 7-9 is part of a larger section (that will conclude tomorrow) that is written in the context of the military threat against Judah from neighboring Israel and Syria (2 Kings 16). Isaiah comes to king Ahaz of Judah and exhorts him to trust in God – even encouraging him to ask for a sign, but Ahaz refuses, and instead turns to Assyria to rescue him from the hands of Syria and Israel.
God, in his grace, gives a sign anyway (7:14-15). He promises that after the birth of a certain boy, and before the boy reaches the age to discern right from wrong, both Syria and Israel will be conquered (7:17). God’s word proves true, but even though the imminent threat to Judah is averted, Ahaz’s sin of looking to Assyria instead of to the Lord will bring about a greater future threat – in the form of Assyria, itself (7:7:17-18)!
…behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel (Isaiah 8:7-8).
Here Isaiah predicts Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah (2 Kings 18:13 – 19:37). He took all of Judah except Jerusalem. Do you notice how the nations are like puppets in the hand of God?! Romans 13 alludes to God’s sovereignty over rulers as both his instruments of blessing and of judgment. Even the great and mighty Assyria was subject to God’s will!
Just after Isaiah predicts Sennacherib’s invasion, he looks forward to the day when God will execute justice over all the nations (8:9-10) and establish and uphold David’s throne with justice and righteousness forever (9:7)!
What makes the book of Isaiah so beautiful (and complicated) is that he weaves the present with the future so seamlessly. Judah’s tragic choice of a political savior forces Isaiah’s eyes forward – first to judgment through the Assyrian army and then further forward in time to how God will save the faithful remnant of Israel!
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Isaiah’s work is a symphony of words swirling into the climax of the saving work of Jesus and the restoration of all that is good and right! I think our time in Isaiah is going to be rich :)
In today’s reading, Isaiah 4 opens with a prophecy of hope – and then Isaiah 5 turns dark as it describes how the people of Judah had rejected his grace (5:4) and consequently, would experience God’s wrath (5:13-14).
It is this context of future hope (chapt. 4) and imminent judgment (chapt. 5) that we see God’s grace and calling to Isaiah in Chapter 6.
Isaiah’s vision is truly awesome. He is face to face with the glory and holiness of the Lord, and he is terrified. Never has Isaiah been more aware of his own shortcomings – he was absolutely destitute in his sin.
But see God’s severe grace. Forgiveness does not come cheap. Sin always bears a price…
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:6-7).
Then God gives Isaiah his calling and purpose. Isaiah was called into a life of suffering – as he would proclaim God’s impending judgment on a hardened people.
But look deeper into the text and notice that Isaiah is describing the very throne room of God! God’s robe fills the temple and the foundation of the temple shook at the power of His voice. Isaiah, in his sinful state, could only crumple under the Holiness, but the seraphim, the pure seraphim, were engaged in worship.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)
This song is echoed in Revelation 4 – where we are also transported through vision to the throne room of God – and there we find the four creatures (representing all of creation) gathered with the 24 elders (who probably represent the unity of Israel and the church – combining the 12 tribes of Israel + the 12 apostles) – and what are they ALL doing??!! Worshiping the Lord!
And the four living creatures, …day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4:8-11)
What is our response to the God we serve?? First, we say with Isaiah, “Woe is me!” And then, we must worship.
Romans 12:1 instructs us in this worship. We don’t contain our worship to Sunday mornings. No! We worship with our very lives!
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Jesus demands our all. How will you worship Him today?
We begin Isaiah today, and what a glorious book it is!! The whole gospel is beautifully woven throughout the book…
It is important when reading Isaiah to remember that future events can be compared to a mountains in a horizon. It’s impossible to tell the distance between the mountains in the horizon. So as Isaiah describes future events, sometimes he is referring to the close mountains – or relatively short future events – such as the Babylonian exile. And other times he is referring to mountains farther in the distance – such as the coming of the Messiah – and oftentimes, he groups mountain ranges together! So his prophesies can have multiple layers and meanings.
His style is very poetic, and the language is beautiful, but ultimately, Isaiah leads us to Christ.
It is fitting that we are beginning Isaiah right alongside the last half of Romans 11, because these verses in Romans can only be understood in the context of all of history. Remember, Paul is trying to prove that God has not rejected his people. Yesterday, Paul argued that God had saved a remnant, but in the last half of the chapter, Paul looks forward to the day when the fullness of Israel will be saved!
Paul summarizes both past and future “history” in verses 11:30-32…
vs. 30a: “For just as you were at one time disobedient to God…” Paul is speaking to the Gentiles, and for most of ancient history, God allowed the nations to walk in their own way while He focused on Israel.
vs. 30b-31a: “but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient…” Most of the Jews stumbled over Christ and rejected the gospel – whereas the gospel multiplied among the Gentiles. We are still living in this part of history – where a large number of Gentiles have received and are continuing to receive God’s mercy, alongside a small remnant of Jews.
vs. 31b: “in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy.” Paul is teaching that at some point in history, the Jews will receive mercy – just as the Gentiles have – and great numbers of Jews will be saved!
Paul’s last two points coincide with Isaiah’s message of hope for Israel’s future…
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-3).
Do you see how Isaiah describes blessing for the nations because the word of the Lord has gone out from Jerusalem? This is both a description of our current age and the age to come…Isn’t it amazing how we are seeing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesies made thousands of years ago??!!!
But we must return to Paul’s teaching in Romans… He concludes 11 chapters of systematic gospel theology by summarizing the WHOLE of history in this one statement… “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (11:32).
Do you see the depth of grace in this statement? He has planned – from before the creation of the world – for all to receive mercy – both Jew and Gentile!
As we consider God’s great plan of salvation, which originated before the world was created and continues until the end of the age, we echo Paul’s doxology!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:34-35)
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (11:36).
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