Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Isaiah 46-51
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin. We're going to be looking in Isaiah forty-six through fifty-one today. Isaiah 46 through 51. So remember, this is kind of the we're transitioning. The people are looking to go back to Jerusalem eventually. ⁓ so this is kind of telling them, okay, you're you're You've paid your dues and now you're going to be able to slowly start making your way back. It's also calling out Babylon ⁓ for so the things that they have done, that they have not been faithful to God either, that God was using them, ⁓ but they would be held to account ⁓ as well. So ⁓ Isaiah chapter forty-six starts off it says, Bel bows down, Nebu stoops. Now who are Baal and Baal and Nut N Nabu? They are Babylonian gods and You know, in that time and in that c ⁓ culture, many times whenever two different ⁓ nations and again it's it's not nations like we think of of nations, it ⁓ many times it was just, you know, either city gro ⁓ you know, groups of cities or it could be just different tribes or one tribe against another tribe. ⁓ but whenever ⁓ anybody fought each other, it was kind of assumed that the gods of those two people were fighting each other. Right. And so whoever won, it was always attributed to, well, that God was stronger than the other God. ⁓ so you can see in this case how the the challenge there becomes, well, Babylon Babylon won, so does that mean that their gods are greater than the one true God? And of course the answer is no. That's why God was constantly ⁓ telling the people and reminding the people I'm going to use others to to bring punishment upon you if you do not ⁓ turn from your wicked ways, if you do not begin to follow me. And ⁓ and so that is what's happened. But the Babylonians would have kind of considered that, well, obviously our gods are greater. Well, they're gonna get theirs. And ⁓ so Isaiah starts off ⁓ there in chapter forty six, Bell bows down, Nebu stoops, their idols were on the beast and on the cattle. Your carriages were heavily loaded A burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity. So what's what's he saying there? He's basically saying, Your gods are just fake idols. They have to be carried ⁓ by the cattle. ⁓ and and now they are beginning to fail. ⁓ now they are actually going to end up going into captivity. Verse three says, Listen to me, O house of Jacob. And all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been upheld by me from birth, who have been carried from the womb, even to your old age, I am he, and even to the grey hairs I will carry you. I have made and I will bear, even I will carry and will deliver you. ⁓ I love this kind of connection, right? The the gods of Babylon have to be carried by the cattle. Our God is the one who carries us. We do not carry him. We do not have to transport our God ⁓ with with cattle on a on a trailer. ⁓ God is the one who carries us, ⁓ who loves us. And that that is what God is is saying right there. Then you completely c continue, excuse me, continue on ⁓ chapter eight. Remember this and show yourselves men. Recall to mind, ⁓ your transgressors, remember the former things of old. For I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all do all my pleasure. I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do ⁓ it. ⁓ again, this constant reminder, what we see here, especially in this section of Isaiah, is just a a a remembrance and and a continual ⁓ push ⁓ to for the people to know that there was only one true God, ⁓ that that it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that that all other are fall short. ⁓ verse twelve says, Listen to me, you are stubborn hearted. y who are far from righteousness, I bring my righteousness near, it shall not be far off. My salvation sh shall not linger, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory. Right. So he's Isaiah's l reminding Israel that God has not forgotten you. He will deliver you. Chapter forty seven kind of talks about the humiliation of Babylon. Says, come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. Right. ⁓ basically they will be humiliated. ⁓ can it says, ⁓ I will take vengeance and I will not arbitrate with a man, as for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Sit in silence and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall no longer be called the lady of kingdoms. I was angry with my people, I have profaned my inheritance and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy on the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily, and you sha said, I shall be a lady forever, so that it did not take these things to heart, nor remember the latter end of them. Therefore, hear this now you who are given to pleasures who dwell securely. Alright, so he's he's talking to again to Babylon, what's coming to Babylon, how they have taken advantage of How God used them, but then they took advantage of of the people and showed no mercy. Says, and so now he's condemning them. And listen to these words of what they are being condemned about. Who those who say in your heart, I am and there is no one else beside me. I shall not sit as a w as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments, for you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, No one sees me, your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. and then it says, And you have said in your heart, I am and there is no one else beside me. See, this is the the main problem, isn't it? Whenever we say I am and there is no one else beside me. ⁓ above me, right? Whenever we take the place of God, that is the heart of idolatry, that's the heart of sinfulness, that's the heart of selfishness and narcissism, right? Is when we don't recognize there is something greater than us. And especially whenever we don't acknowledge that that that that something is the one true God. And ⁓ and it's it's pretty pretty brutal here. It says ⁓ who say in your heart, I am I am and there is no one beside me. Again, that word I am, that's you remember whenever Moses was speaking to God through the burning bush. It is he said, I am who has sent you. Now it's saying those who call themselves say them to that themselves that I am and there is no one beside me. ⁓ that and and become arrogant, says the the people they s they they thought that they couldn't become a widow or Or become childless, that they were not going to be conquered by anyone else. They were arrogant in their thinking. They trusted in their wickedness. I love what it says there in verse ⁓ 10. Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. They thought they were smart enough, right? They trusted the experts of the day, and they did not trust in God. And it eventually. brings destruction upon them. I think there's a a good lesson there for us ⁓ as well. Chapter forty eight ⁓ it talks about ⁓ Israel being refined for God's glory. ⁓ it says verse three I have declared the former three things from the beginning. They went forth from my mouth and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them and they came to pass because I knew you that you were obstinate, that your neck was an iron sinew and your brow bronze. Even from the beginning I have declared it to you. Before it came to plat before it came to pass, I proclaimed it to you, lest you should say, My idol has done them and my carved in image and my molded image, right? So God is saying, No, this I did this, I brought you through this difficult time. and he says that I am doing that at ⁓ verse nine. For my name's sake I will defer my anger, and for my praise I will restrain it from you so that I do not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, ⁓ I will do it. For how should my name be profaned, and I will not give my glory to another? So he's refined the people through their affliction that was brought upon by themselves. They decided not to obey, and so this is what what ⁓ what happened. ⁓ but through this is he is refining them, bringing them back ⁓ into ⁓ in into a relationship with him. Says ⁓ verse twelve, listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called. I am he, I am the first, I am also the last. Indeed my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, my right hand has stretched out ⁓ to the heavens. ⁓ when I call them, they stand up together, right? Reminding them of who God is. Verse seventeen, thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the holy one of Israel, I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. ⁓ that you have heeded my commandments, then your peace would have been like a river and your righteousness like the ways of the sea. Your descendants also would have been like the sand and the offspring of your body like the grains of sand. His name would not have been cut off nor destroyed before me. ⁓ right. So he's saying you didn't have to go through all of this. If you would have just kept my commandments, if you would have just remembered who I was and what I had called you ⁓ to do. And ⁓ the very last verse ⁓ there says, ⁓ there is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked. So the wicked will find no peace. ⁓ then in I Isaiah forty nine through fifty one. ⁓ you start to hear it it talk about the servant of the Lord again. Remember, sometimes that servant of the Lord seems to be connected to Israel. Sometimes it can seem to be connected to like a a worldly leader. but as you know as Christ comes into the picture, ⁓ it certainly appears that Isaiah is also talking about Christ in some of these places where where he is the one. ⁓ who is going to come. And especially here we have a servant, the the servant of God is sent to the Gentiles. ⁓ well, Christ opens that door, doesn't he? ⁓ through what what he does, ⁓ the message ⁓ spills out ⁓ into the rest of the world in a a very profound way. So ⁓ chapter forty nine, ⁓ verse five says, And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant. to bring bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed he says, It is too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. I I love that how it's ⁓ it's too small of the thing for you just to be Bring salvation to the the ⁓ to Jacob, ⁓ to the nations of Jacob, right, to the nation of Israel. But I am taking to you to all of the nations, to all of the Gentiles, to be a light ⁓ to to all the Gentiles, that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. ⁓ verse thirteen Sing O heavens, be joyful, O earth, break out in singing, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people, he will have mercy on the afflicted. ⁓ you continue he talks about how he remembers Zion. ⁓ he remembers ⁓ what they have been through, how how he has called them. ⁓ chapter fifty ⁓ it talks about the servant being Israel's hope as well. ⁓ verse four, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, he awakens my ear to hear as the learn learned that. ⁓ the Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. Definitely some correlation there with with what Christ went through, right? ⁓ but but yet God equipped him and called him to speak ⁓ truth to the people. Then chapter fifty one talks is is the Lord comforting Zion. It says, Listen to me, ⁓ you who follow after righteousness who seek the Lord. ⁓ look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you, for I called him alone and blessed him and increased him. He's telling them to remember their heritage. ⁓ four listen to me my people and give ear to me, O my nation, for law will proceed from me, and I will make my justice rest as a light of the people, my righteousness is near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait upon me, and on my arm they will trust. Lift up your eyes to the heaven and look on the earth beneath, from the heavens will va vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in the in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. Isn't that a a good thought that we that we can put our trust in him and it will never falter or fade? All right. Encourage you to read Isaiah fifty two through fifty-five and then we're gonna look at second chronicles thirty six, actually just a couple of verses there that ⁓ are a transition ⁓ to the king of Persia. ⁓ and then we're gonna look at ⁓ Proverbs. ⁓ remember we we've hit quite a few of the Proverbs, but there's there's a few that we didn't, so we're gonna incorporate that into to this this time period. So Proverbs 22 through 24 and 30 and 31. So Proverbs 22 through 34 22 through through twenty four and thirty and thirty one. All right. So we will read ⁓ all of that, kind of a big section, but ⁓ look forward to seeing you then. Hope you have a good week.