The Righteous Sacrifice (Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Introduction

Things aren't always what they seem. Have you ever driven across country for many hours without many stops? I have. When we travel to my in-laws, we usually take that 16 hour trip in a single day – a very long day. Toward the end of the day, I begin to see things crossing the road in front of me. I know that what I am seeing is not really anything, it is just my eyes playing tricks on me (or perhaps my mind) due to fatigue. (Or maybe there are things crossing the road in front of me and it is my mind playing tricks and telling me it is an illusion)

The natural state of man doesn't always see reality as it really is. This is especially true when we have certain expectations of the way God will do something and He doesn't live up to those expectations. Not that God would ever try to deceive. It is just that man's natural fallen state often has incorrect preconceptions about the way God should do something. But the way God does anything is always the way it should be done. Our study today is no exception.

Before we go into the text, consider what Paul says in I Corinthians 1:18-31. He tells us that what God does often appears to be foolish in the eyes of sinful man. In fact, God's salvation plan even seems foolish to those who are perishing. But to those to whom the message of the Gospel has made a life-changing effect, God's plan of salvation is a beautiful plan bringing hope for an eternity in His presence.

Perceptual Distortion (Isaiah 52:13-53:3)

1)Wisdom and Exaltation (Isaiah 52:13)

Wisdom is having knowledge and the capacity to make good use of it. To take what one has learned and apply it is the correct way.

We have already looked at the fact that this servant learns and communicates what he hears from God.

And here we see that he also learns and applies that knowledge wisely.

He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

There has never been a time when the Son of God has not been highly exalted. He always has been, in reality, exalted by nature.

But this points to being exalted in his human nature.

This concept of being lifted up and raised and highly exalted, receives varied understanding in the commentary world.

Some take these words to refer to being raised on the cross, resurrected, and then ascended. Others say it refers to his resurrection, ascension, and his position at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

Others view it in a less sequential fashion and see it as everything he has done is realized in his fulfilled work on behalf of his church. He is the exalted head of his body the church.

Whatever the actual complete meaning (and it may be a combination of these), he is unmatched and above all. And as such, this makes the remainder of the chapter and the next even more surprising.

2)Many Appalled and Many Silenced (Isaiah 52:14-15a)

I don't think we can really comprehend the extreme nature of what Jesus went through. The synoptic gospels present some of the details of what went on: crown of thorns, beatings, hitting in the face, spitting, mocking, scourging, and ultimately, crucifixion.

The language here, in just a few words, points to the fact that the suffering he endured was inhumane. It was over the top. And it was something that would be appalling to look at.

Could this be someone who is exalted? Someone of high standing?

Not many would think so.

Startle or Sprinkle.

3)His Reality Will Surprise: Mystery (Isaiah 52:15b)

The last part of verse 15 talks about understanding.

Some commentators see this as referring to coming to faith in this servant. Coming to a realization of who he is when finally they are made aware of the reality of who he is.

Others believe this refers to his second coming when many who rejected him will understand that this was Jesus. Their mouths will be silenced and they will have come to an understanding too late.

Either case, there appears to be some degree of mystery in who this coming servant is. A type of confounding of man's wisdom by the way he appears on the scene.

4)The Arm of the Lord Revealed (Isaiah 53:1)

Nothing in the history of time, since the beginning when God created everything out of nothing, has the arm (or strength) of the Lord been revealed in such a mighty way.

No tsunami, or earthquake, no solar flare or super nova has ever revealed the strength of God is such a vivid way as the way revealed through the coming of this servant, Jesus.

The separation between God and man, due to sin, is infinite and impassable.

Nothing could be more opposite to the character and divine nature of God than sin. It is in complete opposition to everything that God is.

Words cannot describe the inconceivable divide between God and man due to our wickedness.

But in Jesus coming, the divine identified with the lowest of humanity – he achieved the greatest disparity between who He is and what He became. He bore what his perfection could not bear, namely our sin.

Much more could be said about this if I had the ability to articulate. But the bottom line is this, no matter how powerful you can conceive of God's power at work in creation or wherever, it has never been demonstrated so vastly as in the work of Jesus.

5)Unexpected: Humble, No Beauty or Majesty (Isaiah 53:2)

[Prince and the Pauper]

The novel begins with Tom Canty, an impoverished boy living with his abusive family in London. One day Tom Canty and Prince Edward, the son of King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour meet and as a jest, switch clothes. While dressed in the pauper's rags, the Prince leaves the palace to punish the guard who knocked Tom down. However, the boys look remarkably alike and because they switch clothes, the palace guards throw the prince out into the street. The Prince fares poorly in London because he insists on proclaiming his identity as the true Prince of Wales. Meanwhile despite Tom's repeated denial of his birthright, the court and the King insist that he is the true prince gone mad. Edward eventually runs into Tom's family and a gang of thieves and Twain illustrates England's unfair and barbaric justice system. After the death of Henry VIII, Edward interrupts Tom's coronation and the boys explain, switch places, and Edward is crowned King of England. (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_and_the_Pauper)

Isn't that like God? He understands that our fallen nature tends to judge on outward appearances.

The same was true in the days of King Saul. The people wanted Saul since he stood head and shoulders above the rest. He was a good looking strong man. He would be a great leader. But he turned out to be a failure.

His replacement was selected by Samuel, under the Holy Spirit's direction. But each time one of Jesse's sons came forward – all strong and good looking by the way – they were passed over. It didn't occur to Jesse that God might have his youngest in mind.

6)A Life of Rejection, Sorrow, and Suffering (Isaiah 53:3)

Esteem – consider valuable

All through this beginning section, we are confronted with the reality of who this servant is and the disparity between who he is and what humanity thinks of him.

This word esteemed in it's form, esteemed him not, shows that he was of infinite worth, but no one saw any value in him.

Instead of valuing him, we have men despising him. Looking down on him with disdain.

He is rejected by men. The claims he made about himself were rejected. You claim to be the Son of God, then do what we expect you to do. Prove it to us.

A man of sorrows. He saw the lost condition of those he had created. He knew the souls that would reject him and bear the consequences eternally.

And he lived no sheltered life. He was tempted in all points like we are yet without sin. Suffering was in the extreme for Jesus. Be it days (45 one time) without food. Or non-stop crushing by crowds vying for his attention. To sleeplessness.

He suffered as no other has ever suffered (but we will look more closely at that in the next divisions).

7)Principle:

Apart from Divine intervention, fallen man always misunderstands God's plans.

8)Applications:

What misconceptions about Jesus are you fostering?

Esteem means value. To what extent do you value Jesus?

Jesus is exalted whether man acknowledges it or not. What are you doing ensure that he holds a place of exaltation in your own life?

Penal Substitution (Isaiah 53:4-9)

1)Our Infirmities and Sorrows, Him Stricken and Afflicted (Isaiah 53:4)

What were our infirmities?

What were our sorrows?

How are these related to him being stricken, smitten, and afflicted?

2)What He Took Belonged To Us (Me)(Isaiah 53:5-6)

He was...

pierced, crushed, punished, wounded...

Replace our and we with my and I (or me).

My...

transgressions, iniquities, punishment, peace...

4 Surely he took up my infirmities
and carried my sorrows,
yet I considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for my transgressions,
he was crushed for my iniquities;
the punishment that brought me peace was upon him,
and by his wounds I am healed.
6 I, like a sheep, have gone astray,
I have turned to my own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
all of my iniquity.

What kind of exchange is this? He received everything bad that I deserved and had earned. He offered me everything good that I could never earn.

v6- we are the wayward sheep...

...He is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

The language at the end of 6 brings up the image of the sacrifices under the old covenant. The died for the sin of the people. And many of them, the priest or person bringing the sacrifice confessed their sin over the head of the animal. Even the scapegoat bore the people's sin out of the camp to its certain death.

3)Silently Led to Slaughter Like a Lamb (Isaiah 53:7-8)

Note: Act 8:26-40 – Philip and Ethiopian eunuch.

Oppressed – to impose an excessive and unjust burden.

Afflicted – to inflict some great injury or hurt upon causing pain or mental distress

Jesus was on trial, not for his own sin but because of sinful men. The very sins of his accusers was the types of sins he would bear.

But his defense was silence. Any and every accusation against him was unjustified.

Sometimes the words one uses in order to refute the folly of an oppressor actually does more to validate (at least in the mind) the accusations. But the wisdom of Jesus was realized in the silence before the human courts.

He had nothing to confess – his life was an open book and it read perfection.

He was on trial, as we see at the end of the chapter, on behalf of sinners. He was intercessor before the eternal courtroom of God. And his defense is sure!

The Crucifixion

Consider the sentence. When Isaiah says he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, a slaughter it was.

[talk briefly about Roman crucifixion]

Verse 8 points out that he was taken away, he was left with no progeny, and he was cut off from the land of the living.

This, from a human perspective is the end of a tragic story. Verses 7-8 point out that all of this was unwarranted and unjust.

Some might say, with smugness, “Well, we live in a fallen world. We all come to our end eventually.”

But Jesus chose to come into the world, no other human ever has. He plotted his course and always had in sight the destiny he was sent for. He always looked to the end result and reason for his coming and that was to die.

This tragedy, if you will – this truncated life – was for a purpose. It was not to point out the ills of man and how low and unjust human systems of government can be.

Instead, as the end of verse 8 points out, if was “for the transgression of my people he was stricken.”

This goes all the way back to verse 1, the Arm of the Lord being revealed. The paradoxical nature of Jesus' life and seemingly unjust end.

And to top it all off, let's look at verse 9...

4)His Identity and His Reality (Isaiah 53:9)

It's tragic to see someone falsely accused and serve time for something they never did. Especially if you find out their was negligence on the part of the prosecutors. Or perhaps there was prejudice involved.

But never has a falsely convicted person ever been able to be released and say I never deserved any mistreatment. I have always been completely without guilt of any sort and should not have to suffer the ills of any type of abuse, let alone any type of malady typical of human existence in a fallen world.

But Jesus was one who could have stood up and said that nothing he ever endured was deserved. Down to the very core of who he was, he was perfect. Certainly he was not worthy of a murderer or thief’s death – that was what crucifixion was generally reserved for.

But his identity was with the wicked and the rich in his death. He was crucified with thieves. But his burial was not like a common thief – he was buried in an unused tomb of a wealthy religious leader named Joseph.

5)Principle

Jesus' suffering offers the only solution for the human sin problem.

6)Applications

Have you ever 'owned up' to what your sin really deserves? How did it feel?

Perfect Justification (Isaiah 53:10-12)

1)He Fulfilled God's Will (Isaiah 53:10a, 10b)

It was the Lord's will or It pleased the Lord.

This is not to say that God receives some sort of pleasure out of inflicting pain. Not at all.

Instead, it means that it was his will, it was what He desired to be done.

Note: consider who this was done to and who it was done for. This was God's will.

What does this act of God's will tell you about God?

What should your response be to that knowledge of God?

2)The Results of His Suffering (Isaiah 53:10c-11)

“he will see his offspring” – the suffering resulted in the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that through his seed, all nations would be blessed. And that family of Abraham includes all who are offspring in Jesus Christ.

“and prolong his days” – after the resurrection, Jesus was the firstborn from the dead. He will never again taste death. Those who are his offspring receive that promise as well. The second death cannot touch any who belong to him.

“the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand” – through his suffering, he has established his church. Those who belong to him are indwelt by his Spirit and able to live lives that are obedient to the will of God.

“he will see the light of life and be satisfied” – the light of the gospel message continues to shine into the darkness of this lost world, even 2000 years after his life on earth.

“my righteous servant will justify many” – a judicial term meaning that the penalty for the charges have been paid and there is no more obligation on the guilty. Jesus did this by paying the penalty for sin and bearing the wrath of God on behalf of the sinner. He is righteous in himself and those he justifies are given a foreign righteousness. We are made his righteousness and the very standard by which God judges all humanity is realized in us by faith in Jesus the righteous redeemer.

3)He Is Great and Exalted (Isaiah 53:12)

God is satisfied with everything his servant did. The 'I' spoken here is God.

Jesus is given a portion with the great and a division of the spoils. This is a military type expression often used when the enemy was conquered and the conquerors were dividing up the plunder. It was generally proportionally allocated, but not always.

But the conquering Jesus did was in his identification with sinful man – he did that without being tainted by sin. He lived in absolute perfection in the middle of the worst possible conditions – physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

And he bore the sin of many, interceding on their behalf. Doing what they could never do, even if given all of eternity.

This is what satisfied God's will, God's justice, and God's wrath against sin. It was done completely and perfectly.

4)Principle

Jesus' death was a victory according to the will of God on behalf of sinners.

5)Illustration

The Few, the Proud, the Marines.

Jesus died for the many – Jesus, the One, the Humble, died for the Many.

6)Applications

Are you One of the many?

Moral Bearings (Isaiah 50:1-52:12)

Introduction

Have you ever bought something you needed to assemble, but already had in mind how it went together, thus obviating the need to read the instructions? I have! (My wife would say I always do that)

[Sprouting...]

[The game, telephone]

Now, can you imagine what would happen if you passed on your flawed wisdom to your son or daughter, in regard to assembly? And they did the same to their children.

Now, what would happen if you decided to just tell your children the things you understand about the Bible and God, but they never go to the source themselves? Something that is not intuitive but is in fact contrary to our very fallen nature.

From the Source (Isaiah 50:1-11)

1)Principle

Obeying God's word is essential in any attempt at pleasing God.

Key Verse:

Isaiah 50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

2)Israel Sent Away Due to Disregard For God's Word (Isaiah 50:1-3)

No Certificate of Divorce

God is asking, in verse 1, about a certificate of divorce. The custom was, when a husband found something in the wife that displeased him, he could give her a divorce certificate and send her away.

She was no longer considered his wife.

Here God is asking where is the certificate; but there is none. He wasn't the initiator for the reason Israel, his bride, was sent away. She was the cause.

Sent Away For Sin

It was Israel's sin that was the cause. And more specifically than just sin, and God capriciously sending her away, it was the sin of disregarding God's word.

It was also the sin of disbelief which stemmed from disregard for His word. The pattern of disbelief often starts that way. People begin to regard the word of God as optional, or subject to existential interpretation – the idea that truth is subjective and only realized within the context of individual experience rather than being objective.

That somehow the infallible word of God is no longer infallible but needs to be supplemented. The it needs to be interpreted based upon human experience and learning.

And rather than relying upon a reasoned approach to life founded on the teachings of God, one begins to forge his own path based upon his beliefs about what God is like.

[Insert Mary's example of the concern of two young mothers with the influences of modern media on their sons]

The bottom line is, we are tainted by sin, so we better have some objective source of truth outside of ourselves – something by which we can gain moral bearings in life.

We often accept secular clinical studies over the moral injunction of God's word.

If a study shows a correlation between violence in media and later violent tendencies in individuals we are convinced.

But when the inspired word of God tells us:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

We often consider these as unconvincing arguments for right behavior.

Could it be that you say the word of God has authority in your life but it really doesn't?

Stopped Hearing God (Isaiah 50:2-3)

The last thing I want to say in this section is this, eventually, a person or people who disregard God and His word long enough, come to the point where they no longer hear His voice.

The beginning of verse 2 points out the fact that “When I came... When I called there was no one”. The idea is that either they ignored his coming and calling or they no longer had the capacity to hear due to training in ignorance.

Either way, they were at a point where they saw God as an impotent entity in their lives. He was acknowledged perhaps in name, but not in substance.

And so they missed the fact of who God is and the eternal power He possesses. Not only the power over all creation, but His moral character – they, more than anything else, minimized the impact of their sin because they ignored His word.

They became content in their own goodness without realizing that moral goodness is not found outside of the Moral Standard Himself.

Are you letting the world and your experiences impact your view of God's word or does God's word impact the way you view the world?

3)God Send His Obedient Humble Servant (Isaiah 50:4-9)

In contrast to the servant Israel, Isaiah prophesies about a coming servant. And this prophecy is spoken in the first person by the Servant himself.

An Instructed Tongue (Isaiah 50:4-5)

4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.

In Matthew, chapter 7, just after Jesus teaching on the wise and foolish builder, depicting a life built on hearing an obeying Jesus' words vs hearing and doing nothing, the crowd makes this exclamation:

Matthew 7:28-29 – 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Jesus is pointing out the truth that it is not enough to be privileged to have and hear God's word. That is not enough. Obeying is crucial. And just prior to this parable, Jesus had been teaching about the narrow gate to salvation. He took an exlusivist view of the road to life.

Matthew 13:54 – Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?”

Jesus' life on earth was characterized by complete dependence on the Father. His prayer life reflected it. His words reflected it. His conversations with the religious leaders reflected it. He was continually pointing out the fact that his words were not his own. He was speaking only what the Father intended and gave for him to say.

When Jesus says that God gave him an instructed tongue and words that sustain the weary, he wasn't talking about the kind of words a coach gives his team when they are tired and they need a pep talk. He is talking about a weariness that comes through religion of self-effort.

The weariness that comes when you continually try to live up to God's standard on your own, but fail.

Matthew 11:25-30 – 25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

He had just declared woes on the unrepentant, those who had been exposed to his teaching, but were only interested in the miraculous and physical revelation of Messiah. They didn't want to believe that somehow they were not in good standing with God. They were not weary.

Most people, because of sin, want to believe that they are basically good. But that belief is based upon a flawed standard of good. It is a interpersonal comparison rather than an objective standard of moral perfection.

Abuse For the Sake Of the Lord (Isaiah 50:6-9)

Not only was Jesus, the servant, fully dependent on God as the provider of words and teaching, but he endured extreme difficulties in the process of obedience.

Sometimes we think that obeying will lead to blessing which we often misinterpret as easy living. But blessings are not always immediate and temporal.

I just want to point out several of the items that we see pointed out here that were undeserved by Jesus, but none the less, he endured them willingly and obediently:

1. back for beating

2. torn out beard

3. mocking and spitting

We looked at verses that pointed out each of these things happening in the life of Jesus here on earth. And nothing he ever did warranted this type of treatment. This was disgraceful treatment of the One who created all things. And yet he endured it.

And as verse 7 says, I will not be disgraced. In other words, though the actions were a disgrace in the sight of men, he looked at ultimate disgrace as not what happens to me here on earth as much as what God's view of these happenings are.

It's more important to be mistreated for God's sake and endure it because it's His will, than to be treated respectably throughout life and find that your life never amounted to very much true obedience.

Even the charges that men brought against Jesus, the ones that they eventually killed him for, were actually the truth. He claimed to be the Son of God and was. He claimed to be the King of the Jews and was.

The charges they brought, in their minds, were not substantiated in the person of Jesus Christ. They didn't see him living up to their expectations of a Messiah.

But in reality, they were serving to fulfill this very passage in Isaiah without even knowing it. And all of humanity that goes on into eternity, rejecting Jesus as Lord, are condemning him by their lives. By snubbing the nose at the truth of who he claimed and proved to be.

But all those who condemn Jesus and refuse to accept him, will in fact find that they are condemned and His actions are upheld by the Father.

4)Your Light Or His Light (Isaiah 50:10-11)

Back full circle to the theme verse. Back to the words of God and his revelation and obedience.

There are two types of people in the world, those who follow the light of God's revelation through the word of His servant and ultimately find God. Those who are called out of darkness and by faith, trust in God's salvation for sin.

Or, those who, as verse 11 points out, rely upon their own light. Seek their own illumination only to find that they will one day face an eternity of torment apart from God.

Hebrews 12:2-3 – 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

5)Applications

How is your light? What is it's power source?

How is your fear level?

What are you willing to endure for the sake of obedience?

Things That Last (Isaiah 51:1-16)

In reading this section of Isaiah, you get the idea that some things are going to last forever. And you get the idea that God has control over when the things that won't last forever will cease.

Too often we find ourselves consumed with our little world and forget to step back and see how everything going on has a greater, ultimate, purpose.

1)Principle

Only the Lord provides hope to endure life's troubles and assurance of blessings to come.

Key verse:

Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail.

Truths:

God wants His people to have an eternal perspective in the midst of the temporal. We live in the temporal, but we are not bound by the temporal.

God is still the same LORD in spite of circumstances. He doesn't want our relationship and confidence in Him to fluctuate based upon where our current life path is leading us.

2)Two Icons (Isaiah 50:1-3)

Icon of Faith: Abraham

When you think of faith, who do you generally think of? If you consider the man of faith most often referred to in the Bible, you think of Abraham. A man who is the father of people of faith.

He is sort of like the icon of faith, if you will. And so God begins pointing out that those who are pursuing righteousness and seeking the LORD are those people of faith who find that they are the ones hewn from the quarry.

Icon of Rest: Zion

When you think of rest, what do you think of. Lots of times rest in the Old Testament was bound up metaphorically in the land.

For example, every 7 years was to be a rest for the land. Nothing was to be planted. The land was to produce only what came up on its own.

Seven years of 7 and on the 50^th year, this was essentially a sabbath of sabbaths in which the land reverted back to its rightful owner. It no longer was for use by the purchaser.

The land of Israel is spoken of as the land of rest where the Israelite people rested from their wandering in the desert. And a whole generation was not allowed to enter that rest.

We know of course, that the true rest of God's people is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Hebrews points out that our rest if found in him and not in a plot of land.

But the symbolism of rest in the presence of God – God with his people – is often depicted in the land of Israel and specifically the city of Zion. That's where God's presence dwelt with them and where temple worship was carried out.

The Blessing of God

Both Abraham and Zion are depictions of God blessing His people. In fact, both are a depiction of God's blessing on all peoples. For out of Abraham, the Seed would be the one through whom all nations of the world would be blessed.

The worship center and ruling center of God's people was out of Zion. And that promise to David that one day a descendant would sit on the throne of David is all tied into this promise of a coming Messiah.

So I like to think of Abraham and Zion as icons of God's coming salvation for His people. His people born of faith and not of nationality.

God certainly is pointing out here that there is coming a day when Zion will be “like Eden” and “like the garden of the LORD”.

There is a coming day when all things will be made new. And that is what He is pointing these people toward (in my estimation).

Final Note

He's saying here, that Abraham is the rock, not by natural birth but by faith in the LORD. The same way Abraham was saved is the same for all who are saved – by faith alone.

The other point is that Zion is not to be an end in and of itself. It depicts something greater. It depicts “God with us” and His rule over his people. And ultimately, the eternal rest that all his people will experience because of God's great salvation.

3)The Temporal and The Eternal (Isaiah 51:4-8)

God's Law and Justice Are a Light to the Nations (Isaiah 51:4-5)

God is speaking to those who are His. The redeemed are in on this information.

And He points out that it is God's Law and Justice that are the light to the nations.

Interestingly true. The law reveals the way things are. It shows the truth of God and reveals the sin of men.

Down at the nuts and bolts level, all men realize that they are not perfect. The Law of God is there to point out what God requires and it reveals how very far we are from God.

His justice points out that there are consequences to sin. We as humans, want to think of God as someone who will overlook the small sins. As long as we avoid the top 10 biggies, then we are generally okay.

But the fact of the matter is, any deviation from God's law is like breaking them all.

Universalism and Annihilationism

Two very old, but very popular notions are out there today. People have a hard time grasping the fact that an infinitely loving God could punish a sinner for eternity without the possibility of parole.

So one of two tacks are taken to resolve this seeming conflict:

1. Either all will ultimately be save – universalism

2. Or the unregenerate will be consumed – annihilation

Both of these views have no footing in Scripture without having to take liberty with the teaching and normative interpretation.

Universalism cheapens the work of the cross. It also makes salvation compulsory – whether I like it or not I will spend eternity with the one I rebelled against all my life. There are many other problems with this view, but it's been around for a long long time. Origen was denounced for this and other Gnostic views that he held.

Annihilation cheapens the value of God's creation, humans. The eternal soul of man – the immaterial part of you and I that was created at conception – is somehow not always eternal.

Both views take a twisted view of the nature of God. They look at the aspect of love as being somehow permissive in nature. A coddling type of love in which our sins are actually mistakes that need remedying.

They both minimize the moral character of God and minimize the infinite breach of that moral character. They make all the texts regarding obedience and the need for atonement obsolete.

They overlook all the teachings on hell and there reality of eternal separation and torment.

There are too many problems with both views to cover here. But they are popular, especially in a culture where we have chosen to abandon the Scripture in favor of human philosophies, experientialism, pluralism, and the like.

But these teachings will be shown for what they are one day. All men will face the reality of what was true and what was not when the current order of things is no longer extant.

What Will Stand and What Will Fall (Isaiah 51:6-8)

One day, all of the errant teachings will be burned up and the truth will be known.

Israel, don't get caught up in the physical Zion or the human descent from Abraham.

Instead, fix your attention on the One who defines righteousness. The one whose law is a light. Who is just and the justifier.

The One who brings salvation is the same one who created all things and will one day re-create all things to the state of their original perfection:

• the heavens will vanish

• the earth will wear out

• the inhabitants will die like flies

• the reproach of men will one day be over (vs 7)

But what will last:

6b: But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.

8b: But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.

If you are looking for something to put your hope in, look no further than God. He defines what lasts. He offers what lasts. And when all else is gone, only what He has will matter.

4)A God Who Can and Will Deliver On His Promises (Isaiah 51:9-16)

Briefly, we are going to look at just a couple of aspects of God in this last several verses.

The essence of this part is to show that the God who has done in the past, is still doing in the present, and will do in the future.

He is not dormant or unable to do, but will do.

Redemption From Egypt (Isaiah 51:9-10)

Future Zion (Isaiah 51:11)

In verse 11, He points out this promise, continuing from verse 3, pointing out the fact that the ransomed of God will experience everlasting joy and never experience sighing or sorrow again.

Joy will one day be eternal and sighing and sorrow are temporal.

Joy comes from God and is, despite circumstances.

Sorrow and sighing are a result of our fallen world and we experience them in this current state of life.

Life's Current Issues Will Soon Be a Thing of the Past (Isaiah 51:12-16)

This final few verses point to God's comfort for his people. Though we face many difficulties in this life and persecution. These will not always be here.

Though men rise up against God's people, they are not an issue for God. He made this world and all who are in it. The earth is His and all are subject to him.

The oppressor will one day come to an end. And God's people can depend on Him, even in dire circumstances of life.

15 For I am the LORD your God,
who churns up the sea so that its waves roar—
the LORD Almighty is his name.
16 I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you with the shadow of my hand—
I who set the heavens in place,
who laid the foundations of the earth,
and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

5)Applications

What do you need to remember about God during these difficult days?

What Scripture are you memorizing to prepare you for possible challenges ahead?

Sin's Consequence/ Redemption's Cost (Isaiah 51:17-52:12)

1)Principle

Redemption is costly to God but the redeemed pay nothing.

Key Verse:

Isaiah 52:3 – For this is what the LORD says:

“You were sold for nothing,

and without money you will be

redeemed.”

This verse is a comforting message of hope. The fact of the matter is, you can't buy it. You can't earn it. It's a gift.

2)The Wrath Removed (Isaiah 51:17-23)

This passage depicts the state of the nation, under the wrath of God. And in that condition, they were subject to whatever their sin deserved.

To be under God's wrath, there is no consolation there is no comfort.

But God is calling Jerusalem to wake up and rise up. They had reached the point of no longer facing God's wrath. In fact, God had withdrawn the cup and was going to give it to their oppressors.

He says, in verse 22,

This is what the Sovereign LORD says,

your God, who defends his people:

“See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger;

from that cup, the goblet of my wrath,

you will never drink again.

Thought-provoking passage, isn't it. Could it mean that never would Israel as a nation face the fury of God's wrath as displayed in the sacking by Babylon? Probably not, since the Romans sacked them in 70 A.D.

More likely, he has a future application in mind. One that will come at the consummation of time, when the redeemed with experience eternity with their Savior. And perhaps that fulfillment also points to the fact that God's people in Christ, are no longer subject to the wrath of God. While those outside of Christ, Jew or Gentile, will bear that wrath.

Chapter 52...

3)The Redemption Price (Isaiah 52:1-6)

Robed in Christ's Righteousness (Isaiah 52:1a)

To bear the splendor of their position before God. They belong to Him and that is where their splendor comes from.

As Christians, our splendor is not innate. In Christ, we are God's righteousness – not because of our righteousness, but because of a foreign righteousness.

We are robed in something that is foreign to our fallen human nature, but none the less He displays the splendor of God in human vessels.

Circumcision of the Heart (Isaiah 52:1b)

Romans 2:28-29 – 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.8 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.

Freed From Bondage (Isaiah 52:2)

The bondage Israel faced in Babylon was horrific. But the physical bondage of any people pales in comparison and importance to the spiritual bondage of all descendants of Adam. Like all people, Israel needed a Savior. And God provides the only Savior, His perfect Servant, Jesus-Messiah.

Redemption In History (Isaiah 52:3-5)

Once again, Egypt is cited as part of God's redemptive history. NOTE: it must be important to return to the basics periodically – Isaiah does over and over.

God's rescue during the Assyrian invasion is brought out – that would be fresh in their minds.

And then in verse 5, he points to the fact that lately they have been taken away. Certainly the Babylonian exile is in view here. But not so much that exile as the impact that it has on people's perception of God and His divine character.

God bears the mocking of men, when evil appear to be triumphing. His name is always dragged out in the mud when things don't seem to be in his control.

Once again, it's to God's glory that He redeem his people.

Then in verse 6, not only is the blasphemy stopped, but the redeemed know their God. There is a unique knowledge of God and His character that comes to those who receive His redemption.

My People Will Know My Name (Isaiah 52:6)

[Illustration from the wedding: asked by the Father of the bride how I am related to this couple]

This verse conjures up thoughts of Jesus teaching about the Good Shepherd and His Sheep. His sheep hear his voice and He calls them by name.

The idea that they are known by the Shepherd and they know the Shepherd and willingly follow him.

4)The Redemption Impact (Isaiah 52:7-12)

God will return to Zion one day. Perhaps not in the way we conceive or in the sense that we may take it from Isaiah. But He will return.

He will recreate all of creation, putting it back to the state it once was. A place of perfection.

And in this new dwelling, there will be no more defilement. God will reign eternally. And as his people, we will be filled with joy and singing as we experience first hand as the redeemed, the salvation from sin completed.

The ends of the earth will see his salvation. This depicts that nothing in creation will be outside of it.

The old order of things will be of the past and all things will be made new.

5)Applications

How actively are you involved in spreading the good tidings (Gospel) of God's salvation?

Religion vs Spirituality

Here is a good article contrasting religion, spirituality, and true Christianity.

Exclusivism, Inclusivism, or Pluralism

I believe this article points out some valid truths in regard to dialog with people of various other religious belief systems.

Near the Cross

Jesus, keep me near the cross,
There a precious fountain
Free to all, a healing stream
Flows from Calvary's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day,
With its shadows o'er me.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Near the cross I'll watch and wait
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand,
Just beyond the river.

In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

Words by: Frances Jane (Fanny) Crosby, 1869.

Evidence and Faith

Here's a good article on evidence and faith dealing with knowing God and the revelation of His Son incarnate.

Faith and Reason

Here is the article I reference at the beginning of my lecture last Monday night. Hope you find it helpful.

A Worthy Object of Faith (Isaiah 46-48)

Introduction

Faith and reason.

An Unimpeachable Plan (Isaiah 46:1-13)

1)Man's gods Are Burdensome And Cannot Rescue (Isaiah 46:1-2)

The gods of Babylon had no choice in where they were going. Not only could they not help those who worshiped them, they couldn't even save themselves.

2)The Lord Sustains, Carries, And Rescues His People (Isaiah 46:3-5)

God conceived Israel, not the other way around (Isaiah 46:3). He wasn't an idea conceived in the mind of man, but God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram didn't call out to God and seek Him.

God is characterized as a God who is with His own in every and all circumstances. He doesn't keep us from troublesome circumstances but instead ordains the right circumstances and upholds us through them.

His purpose is to grow our faith in Him. If life is always easy, then you and I begin to put our faith in lesser things. But when God puts us in situations where we have no resources, that is when our faith in Him is tested and strengthened.

From conception, to birth, to old age. God is pointing out to Israel (and to Christians today) that our source is God himself. We don't take on a label, Christian, but we receive that identity in Him alone.

And those who are His are His forever. He never leaves His own. His own cannot be disowned.

And as His own, we are upheld by Him. He alone is our rescuer.

3)The Birth Of A god (Isaiah 46:6-7)

God conceived His people. But in verses 6-7 we see a god conceived by man.

Not only is this a waste of money, but it steals what belongs to God alone (worship), it's a burden to the owner, it just stands there and can't answer prayer, and it can't save from trouble.

Why do men seek fulfillment in created things in exchange for what only the Creator can provide?

[Example from India]

We spend what we have to get something that can't provide what we need.

4)Remember You Rebels (Isaiah 46:8-11)

The only way to find meaning and purpose in life is to go to the source of meaning and purpose in life.

Sometimes when you call something what it is, there's a sense of surprise and awakening. That is especially if the one being addressed is not really aware of their condition.

God calls Israel to a change of heart and mind. He tells them to remember something about the reality of God himself.

But He calls them a rebel, indicating that the things He is reminding them of should not be a surprise, but up to now they have not taken them to heart. They have not lived as if the thing He is telling them is real.

Your rebellion has lead you to believe in your mind and heart that there are other valid pursuits outside of me. But God is God alone, there is no other. All pursuits outside of Him are fruitless and lead away from Him.

But when God is our primary pursuit, all other areas of life come into proper perspective. We begin to see that life is not all about my wants and dreams but it's about God's direction and plan. And in that mindset there is fulfillment that cannot be found anywhere else. There is freedom in knowing that no matter what happens, I am part of what God is doing.

I must have a bit of rebel in me too. Because God has had to reteach me this lesson many times. All too often I find my focus off of God and on myself and what I am aspiring to do. Not that I can't have a life, but when I rule my life direction, then I become my own god and I find myself dissatisfied with the way things are, and rightfully so.

God's purposes are what matters. He has the plans in place and He knows the end from the beginning.

And so the rebels want to go their own way, but God says that plans and purposes are His and He will carry them out. “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

5)Listen You Unrighteous (Isaiah 46:12-13)

When you want someone to pay attention, sometimes you say “listen” or “listen up”. When I want my granddaughter to pay attention to some correction I am trying to make I say, “Darby, look at me.”

God tells Israel to listen. And he adds to that the scathing remarks that they are stubborn-hearted and far from righteousness.

Not only do you go your own way as a rebel, but you are not even close to being righteousness. But then again, how can a rebel live a righteousness life, he can't.

The righteous will live by faith. But a rebel is not trusting in God but in his own direction.

You see, this people bore the name of Israel, but they were rebellious and unrighteous. They needed God's righteousness to come near. Because man has no righteousness in himself, God alone can provide it.

In this passage He points out the salvation as coming to Zion through Cyrus, God's anointed. This deliverance that God has promised from captivity in Babylon prefigures the Messiah's deliverance in His first advent – a deliverance from bondage to sin.

No man can be righteous before God. We are all rebels from birth. We are all far off when it comes to righteousness and the type of life God requires.

Not until God's righteousness comes near – not until His salvation meets us where we are, far off and distant as we may be. By faith, God imparts a righteousness that is not our own.

6)Principle:

Only God is able to satisfy man's greatest need.

8)Applications:

To What burdens are you held captive today?

What things that God has said are “fixed in your mind” but you have yet to “take them to heart”?

God's righteousness and salvation are near, but are they yours?

An Inescapable Fall (Isaiah 47:1-15)

Most of chapter 47 is descriptive either of the downfall of Babylon or the boastful empty claims of Babylon. A short segment, right in the middle – verses 3b-6a, describe God as the Avenger, Redeemer, and the Enabler (kingdom builder).

1)God's Vengeance Against Babylon (47:1-4)

He uses vivid imagery to describe the degradation and destruction of Babylon.

From virgin to naked and exposed.

From tender and delicate to one who is put to force labor.

From royalty on a throne to one who sits in the dirt.

All this to depict the vengeance God was going to take on Babylon. This nation had experienced world supremacy since their rise to power. They had gone unchallenged and so were untouched by outside forces. They ruled the land and sea.

But the LORD Almighty, the Redeemer of Israel, had an issue with them, and that issue was going to be resolved in God's timing and by His power.

2)The Pride of Babylon (Isaiah 47:5-7)

Babylon was an empire for a purpose. The purpose was God's purpose as seen in verse 6. We also saw that previously declared to Hezekiah after a small sympathy party had left the palace. But they were who they were because God ordained them.

Their power was intended to conquer and discipline Judah. To provide a place where Judah could reflect on a life apart from the good things God had provided them. Where all the material possessions were stripped away and all they were left with was their life as a servant of Babylon.

But many times, those who have a humble beginning, once they become powerful begin to believe they are something. They begin to believe the press and think they are indestructible.

We've seen such boasts in our recent past. Adolf Hitler claimed that the 3^rd Reich would last a millennium.

[other examples]

Rather than acting as the custodians of Israel, like God intended, they were merciless and put a heavy yoke, even on the aged.

But that's what pride does. The proud person forgets that their purpose is bound up in who God is and instead seek whatever is expedient.

And the extreme forms of pride, national pride of the Babylonian sort, lead to extravagant boasts like the one in verse 7. “I will continue forever – I am the eternal queen.”

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

A. Lincoln, Proclamation of a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, 1863.

3)Listen Wanton Creature (Isaiah 47:8-11)

Once again God uses the directive, “listen”, to call attention to what He is going to say. He calls Babylon “you wanton creature”.

Wanton is not the same as wonton (a sort of dumpling with shrimp and pork inside). This is a term describing sexual immodesty or promiscuity. Rather than the virgin of verse 1, he describes Babylon as wanton.

The OT often uses the metaphor of an unfaithful wife to describe those who depart from God or have no relationship with him. Many times he addresses Israel as an adulterous wife because they continuously sought after foreign gods.

So His description of wanton is fitting, given the next few verses and what they point out about their attitude:

I am and there is none besides me. There's no nation like me. I am going to continue on in the way I have always been.

But what they believe and what is true are two different things. Their superstitious sorceries and spells could not hold off the full measure of God's wrath against them.

Babylon was a very religious place. But is was religion more of the form of Wicca, black arts, psychics, astrology, along with a bit of idol worship.

The amazing thing is, the head of their magicians was a man named Daniel. He was not a magician, however, but was instead a man who was empowered by the Spirit of God to discern dreams and see visions. He was a wise man.

So the culture of Babylon was one of integrating all types of world religions together and picking and choosing the “best” of each. Kind of sounds like many in our pluralistic society today.

We find many blends of borrowed pieces of Christian traditions, Hindu practices, New Age experiences, all mixed together. After all, this is the tolerant way.

How repulsive that must be to God.

4)Godless Religion Cannot Save (Isaiah 47:12-15)

The emptiness of godless religions wears a person out. Just like seeking purpose and meaning in temporal things wears you out, so too the demands of empty religion are nothing more than superstitions designed to appease a guilty conscience.

But they never can address the guilt and remove it. They have no salvific merit.

[Hindu temple; flowers hung over the door; priests coming to cast out demons]

All such practices are destined for the fire. Those that are performing these things on behalf of other are not even able to save themselves let alone those they represent.

And so, Babylon, in her arrogance and pride, thought she was something but would find out the truth when God brought her down in a single day.

And that is what happened when Cyrus flew in from Persian.

5)Principle:

God has no barriers in carrying out His plans.

7)Applications:

What gifts from God have subtly become areas of pride in your life? What are you willing to do about them?

What opportunities has God given you to show mercy and how well are you doing with those opportunities?

An Unearned Redemption (Isaiah 48:1-22)

1)Nominal (Isaiah 48:1-6)

Labels can be a dangerous thing. I'm not talking labels on products we buy, I'm talking about labels that we use to define broad generalities.

A label tends to categorize certain aspects of those under the label. And here God is saying that the things that are claimed by these people are actually names only.

He calls them again to listen and He calls them house of Jacob. The name that means deceiver.

• Called by the name of Israel.

• Take oaths in the name of the Lord.

• Invoke the God of Israel.

• Call yourselves citizens of the holy city.

• Rely on the God of Israel.

That sounds like a set of good credentials, doesn't it.

And they would be if they were true. But in verse 1 He tells them that they are lacking truth and righteousness.

Taking on the labels that appear pious is a farce and they yield nothing that God would consider valuable because they cannot produce righteousness.

Look To Me

Rather than looking to the labels and practices that you think make you right before me, look to me. God calls attention back to himself – His faithfulness to carry out everything His mouth declared and made known.

God isn't interested in a bunch of people who bear the label Christian, He is interested in people who live up to that label and what it really means.

2)God's Mercy (48:9-11)

God had used quite a few names to describe Israel in verse 1-8:

false, unrighteous, iron-necked, bronze-foreheaded, stubborn, idolatrous, deceitful, unfaithful, treacherous, rebellious, etc.

When God uses these terms to describe a people, that people usually don't stick around too long. But Isaiah 48:9-11 give a glimpse of God's purposes, even in sparing these rebels.

Verse 10 tells us that He is putting them through a furnace of affliction in order to refine them. Babylon is that furnace. He didn't let that furnace utterly destroy them even though He had every right to do so.

God's refining removes those things that detract from what He wants His people to be. In the process, faith in God is built as He carries His own through adversity.

And He didn't destroy them – He delayed His wrath – for my own name's sake.

He says this 3 times, once in verse 9 and twice in a row in verse 11. His name, the LORD, is the reason. The character of God is why He retains these rebellious people.

It all comes down to the purposes of God in fulfilling His plan of redemption. These people, stubborn as they are, are part of that plan. It isn't like God is stuck with them and has no options. He could raise up descendants of Abraham from the rocks.

God is able to take a godless, pagan nation, like Babylon, and use them to conquer His wayward and rebellious people. To capture them (as God predicted 100+ years earlier) and keep them in bondage for 70 years. To totally wipe out their land and property.

God has the ability to carry all this out and in the process, keep a remnant from being totally destroyed. He then has the ability to sack that nation with His anointed one, Cyrus. All predicted long before.

And why, so that His good name is not defamed. So that no other receives glory for what He has done. To reveal His mercy in holding back the deserved wrath which is justly warranted. To show His grace in saving an unsavory people such as Israel.

This is for God's sake and His reputation.

Aren't you grateful that God did save Israel?

3)God, The Eternal Creator, Not Some Idol, Will Defeat Babylon (Isaiah 48:12-15)

None of the gods of Persian or Media will be able to take credit for what God does to Babylon.

4)God's Ways Are Best (Isaiah 48:16-19)

Sometimes God uses a hard path to teach us to depend on Him. That was necessary with Israel.

God's ways, unlike popular opinion, are not designed to ruin our “fun”. They are designed for our best.

Obeying God is a protection.

Look at verses 18 and 19. The things that could have been, had Israel been obedient. The very things that God had promised Abraham.

5)The LORD Has Redeemed Jacob (Isaiah 48:20-22)

Can you imagine

6)Principle:

God is always faithful to carry out His promise.

8)Applications:

What is God calling you to flee from and what will be your response?

What blessings have you missed out on due to disobedience? How are you using past failures as a warning to live in obedience today?