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Isaiah 1:1-15 - The Start of Isaiah's Prophecies · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. I am super excited for this next
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  section of the word that we're going to be in and we are
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  looking at the book of Isaiah. And Isaiah was a prophet in the
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  Old Testament. If I had to take a guess, many
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  of you have heard from a couple portions of Isaiah before
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  because that's a lot of what I've heard from Isaiah before.
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  Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah 53, and Isaiah 7 and 9.
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  So Isaiah 6 is Isaiah looking at God in his like holy temple.
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  Isaiah 7 is the prophecy about Emmanuel.
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  Isaiah 9 is where we get the wonderful counselor, mighty God,
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  everlasting Father. Like that portion comes from
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  Isaiah 9. And then Isaiah 53 is the
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  suffering servant that Jesus is this one that was prophesied
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  that bore our iniquities in his own body on the tree.
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  And so those are like the four sections of Isaiah that I think
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  a lot of Christians have heard from, heard messages from.
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  But what we're going to do is we are going to go through this
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  book together. Now, I right before I hit play
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  or I hit record on today's episode, I looked back through a
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  Edible Project summary video of the book of Isaiah.
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  And I want to encourage you. I have attached that in the show
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  notes. Go watch that.
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  And that will give you a wonderful overview of what this
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  book entails. Isaiah is 66 chapters.
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  So I'm not going to lie to you guys.
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  We might be in Isaiah for, you know, three to six months.
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  It wouldn't totally surprise me. Now it may go quicker than that,
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  but I just want to let you guys know we're going to be here for
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  a hot minute, and I love Isaiah. Isaiah is one of those portions
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  of Scripture that Jesus himself so loved.
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  He quotes from Isaiah often. When you look at the New
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  Testament authors, one of the books that they quote most
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  often, they love the book of Psalms and they love the book of
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  Isaiah. Or technically, I think if I
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  want to get a little more accurate, I'd say the scroll of
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  Isaiah. So I'm also going to let you
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  guys know for those that are watching the video version of
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  this podcast, I am trying out something new.
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  And so if after I record these first like 2 episodes, if I'm
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  like, man, this is just not working at all, then I will not
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  do the new format. But what I am doing is pulling
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  up a, my, my Bible study software, Logos Bible study, and
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  I am actually showing you guys exactly what I'm seeing on my
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  screen. So as I'm working through
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  verses, like all, you know, show you guys exactly what I am
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  looking at and you can follow through with me visually if
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  that's the way that you use the podcast.
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  So I am so, so, so thrilled to be looking through this portion
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  of Scripture. It was important to Jesus.
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  It was important to the apostles.
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  It is in God's word. And so it ought to be important
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  to you and to me. Isaiah was a prophet in the Old
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  Testament. He was one that declared
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  especially to kings and to rulers what God had said, where
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  the people of God were failing to obey God or to worship him,
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  or when they were worshiping other gods or putting their
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  trust in things other than Yahweh.
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  And so Isaiah, to his own endangerment tradition would
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  tell us Isaiah would end up getting sawed in the half as a
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  result of his preaching, and he might be the person referenced
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  in Hebrews 11 as one that was in the old King James wording sawn
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  asunder. And so Isaiah preached during
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  the reigns of 45 kings of Judah Uzziah, also known as Azariah,
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  Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and then possibly killed during the reign
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  of Manasseh. King Uzziah was known as a good
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  king. He was not a perfect king.
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  We'll talk about that more, I think, once we get to chapter 6.
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  Hezekiah was known as a good king.
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  The other kings were not known or not renowned for their
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  goodness or their following of the Lord.
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  And so Isaiah preached during a time when Israel was operating
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  as though Yahweh was not enough. Yahweh was in the mix of the
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  gods that they were serving. He was even the primary God that
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  they were serving. But they did not believe that
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  God was enough. They thought others needed to be
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  added in to the worship of God. This is something that we see
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  even archaeologically, that people were worshipping Yahweh,
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  the God of Israel, at the same time as they were worshipping
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  Baal from the Canaanites or Marduk from the Babylonians.
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  And So what we're going to see in the book of Isaiah is that
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  God deserves our exclusive, wholehearted worship.
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  So let's dive in to verse #1 today for those of you that are
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  like, oh man, I really, really want AI.
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  Want a quick Tabernacle talk? Let let me cue you in.
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  I do not have a specific amount of verses that I am looking to
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  complete today. And so when it's about time,
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  I'll wrap it up for the day and I'll say see you next episode so
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  you can be excited for that. I'm going to pull up my Bible
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  software right now and let's dive into the Word of God
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  together. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse #1
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  the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of
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  Amos saw during the reign, the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham,
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  Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. As a reminder, at this point in
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  time there are two nations of God's people, the Israelites.
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  The northern Kingdom called Israel or sometimes called
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  Ephraim or Samaria after its capital city, or the southern
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  Kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital city.
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  So Isaiah is in the southern Kingdom.
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  The northern Kingdom had no kings that followed God or
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  worshipped him. The southern Kingdom had a few
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  kings, even as I mentioned earlier, Uzziah and Hezekiah, as
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  well as Josiah, few others that did follow the Lord.
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  So he has some good kings during this time period, but Isaiah is
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  in the southern Kingdom. This would happen about a
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  hundred, 150 years before the southern Kingdom of Judah is
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  destroyed by Babylon for reasons that we begin today.
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  Verse #2 This is what Isaiah saw concerning Judah says listen
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  heavens and pay attention earth, for Yahweh has spoken.
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  I have raised children and brought them up, but they have
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  rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner and the
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  donkey it's masters feeding through, but Israel does not
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  know. My people do not understand.
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  O sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of
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  evil doers, depraved children, they have abandoned Yahweh, they
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  have despised the Holy One of Israel.
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  They have turned their backs on Him.
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  OK, let's look first at these verses, verses 2 through 4.
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  So God is raising, if you will, in court with the heavens and
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  earth. So again, think Genesis one, in
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  the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, the skies
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  and the land. He is declaring to both all well
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  to all creation, but earth where man is and in the skies where
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  the spiritual beings are. So he says, listen up everyone,
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  the ruler of everything, Yahweh, the Lord has spoken.
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  He says I've raised children and brought them up, but they have
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  rebelled against me. If anyone on planet earth should
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  have gone, Oh yeah, God's been really good to us, I think we
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  should obey him and follow him. Certainly it would be Israel,
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  Israel that was taken from Egypt, Israel that had been
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  brought through the Red Sea, Israel that had been sustained
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  in the wilderness for 40 years, Israel that had experienced the
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  conquest of Canaan and had emerged victorious, not as a
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  result of their military might, but as a result of the help of
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  God Almighty. These are certainly the people
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  that should have worshipped and followed God because he had been
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  so good to them, but they rebelled against God.
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  I just want to speak real quick to parents that perhaps you
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  raised children and you raised them in the Christian faith.
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  You read the Bible with them. You you taught them about the
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  importance of gathering together with God's people.
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  Just because your children do not adopt your faith does not
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  mean that you somehow failed them.
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  It could be, I don't know every situation, but here God's
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  children left and abandoned him. They rebelled against God, and
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  certainly there was no fault in God that would occasion them
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  having left him. But we are each individually
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  responsible for our walk with the Lord.
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  And so I, I want to provide a little bit of comfort here.
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  If you're like, Oh yeah, God, I've been there too.
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  I know what it's like to have children rebel against me.
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  You are in good company. I've got my 6 year old and my 3
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  1/2 year old. And so I know a little bit about
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  rebellion. But here God says they are
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  rebelling against me. He says the ox knows its owner
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  and the donkey its masters feeding through.
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  Even animals know who provides for them, who cares for them,
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  who protects them and loves them, says.
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  But Israel doesn't know. My people do not understand,
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  They don't get that God is the one.
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  Yahweh is the one that is to be worshipped and feared and
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  abandoned. He says, O sinful nation, people
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  weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved
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  children. Here there is a rejection of
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  God's way, his character, His nature by his very people.
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  When he says they've abandoned Yahweh, they've despised the
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  Holy One of Israel, they have turned their backs on him.
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  Can I ask you, do you have a posture that says I love the
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  Lord, I want to obey Him, I want to receive his correction?
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  Or do you say God can't tell me what to do?
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  Verse #5 He continues on. Why do you want more beatings?
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  Why do you keep on rebelling? The whole head is hurt and the
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  whole heart is sick. From the sole of the foot, even
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  to the head. No spot is uninjured wounds,
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  welts and festering sores, not cleansed, bandaged or soothed
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  with oil. Your land is desolate, your
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  city's burned down. Foreigners devour your fields
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  right in front of you. A desolation like a place
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  demolished by foreigners here without his saying, Children of
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  Israel, don't you recognize that the hardships that you're going
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  through right now as a nation are as a result of your
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  wickedness, that you have abandoned me?
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  You have abandoned like my way, my nature, my protection.
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  And so as a result, your land is being invaded and destroyed.
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  Assyria would be one of these nearby nations that would be
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  participating in this. Fast forward a couple decades,
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  Babylon would join in that fray. At other times you would have
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  Edom or you would have even Egypt at sometimes that would
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  come and you know, ravage the land, steal crops, steal riches
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  or people sometimes. And so God says, you don't
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  recognize that all of these hardships that you're
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  encountering are ought to wake you up, that you say, oh, no,
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  I've been going the wrong way. I haven't been following God.
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  I need to come back. Verse #8 He says, daughter, Zion
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  is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a
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  cucumber field, like a besieged city.
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  No one is coming to the rescue. No one says, hey, there's the
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  shack in the cucumber field and I'm, I'm really going to spend
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  some good time there. No, no, it, it's left alone.
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  It's isolated. No one's going to it.
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  And he says Zion, Jerusalem is abandoned for summer. 9 He says
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  if Yahweh of heaven's armies had not left us a few survivors, we
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  would be like Sodom. We would resemble Gomorrah that
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  the destruction that Israel was undergoing or the southern
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  Kingdom of Judah, the destruction that Judah was
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  undergoing would have demolished them if God was still, if God
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  was not still protecting them even in their wickedness.
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  What a joy that even to Israel that had left behind God, God
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  was still protecting them. God was still including, as it
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  says here, a few survivors. That there are people that God
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  was actively protecting and caring for, even in judgement.
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  And what a joy that when I drop the ball and when God needs to
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  bring the hammer down on me, that He does not wipe me out
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  entirely. That there is still love for His
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  people. And then in verse #10 this
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  should be a hard word for these people to hear.
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  He says, hear the word of Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom.
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  Now he's talking to Jerusalem. And he says, Jerusalem, you are
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  just as bad as Sodom and Gomorrah that were completely
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  destroyed with fire and brimstone from heaven.
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  And he says, Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, you are just as bad
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  as they were. He says, hear the word of
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  Yahweh, you rulers of Sodom. Listen to the instruction of our
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  God. You people of Gomorrah, what are
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  all your sacrifices to me? Ask Yahweh.
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  I've had enough of burnt offerings and Rams in the fat of
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  well fed cattle. I've no desire for the blood of
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  bulls, lambs or male goats. Now you might say, OK, well I
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  thought God instituted all of these sacrifices and so didn't
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  God want the sacrifices? He only wanted the sacrifices as
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  a result of genuine relationship and love.
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  That it is a the the sacrifices were a picture of a heart
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  devoted to God. The sacrifices meant nothing in
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  and of themselves without an actual living relationship with
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  God, in which people wanted to know God and to exemplify his
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  character, to show it to the nations around Israel.
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  He says When you come to appear before me, who requires this
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  from you, this trampling of my courts.
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  He basically says you are a stampeding herd when you come
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  into the temple and I don't want you there.
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  He says stop bringing useless offerings, your incense is
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  detestable to me. New moons and Sabbaths and the
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  calling of solemn assemblies. I cannot stand iniquity with a
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  festival here. There was not a recognition
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  that, OK, I'm going to come to the temple.
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  I am going to genuinely come before God in contrition with a
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  heart to repent of my sin and to worship God in holiness.
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  They were not operating in that way.
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  And so God says, I don't want your incense.
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  I don't want the festivals, the holidays that I told all Israel
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  to come for. He says if you're going to come
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  with your sin, with your iniquity, holding on to it, not
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  repenting of it, He says I don't want you to just go through the
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  motions. He says I hate your new moons
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  and prescribed festivals. They've become a burden to me.
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  I am tired of putting up with them.
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  When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look
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  at you. Even if you offer countless
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  prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with
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  blood here. These people filled with
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  violence, thievery, murder. God says it doesn't matter how
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  often you just show up at you know, I'll use today's phrase it
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  doesn't matter that you're coming to church or that you're
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  going to a small group or that you are feeding the poor.
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  None of that matters if you're using it as a mask or as an
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  excuse for why you are sinning in these ways and refusing to
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  repent of it. God says I want the real thing,
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  I want your heart. So God to heaven and earth and
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  declares I've got a problem with my people Israel, because though
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  I raised them, though I rescued them, though I saved them,
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  though I gave them the law, they are not following me.
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  And instead of acting like my people, they're acting like
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  Sodom and Gomorrah. And so he says, Israel, stop
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  just the religious fervor and traditions and habits.
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  He says, I don't want religious tradition.
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  I want your heart. And for you and I today, that's
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  what God wants. More so than you just reading
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  your Bible to check off a list, more so than you just donating
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  to a church, hoping that it will make God happy with you Despite
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  that sin that you keep holding on to and refusing to let go of.
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  Don't think that just doing religious stuff will make you
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  right before God. What makes us right before God
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  is the perfect righteousness of Christ.
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  And we, if you will, we get that righteousness through repenting
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  of our sin and believing entirely in what Jesus has done.
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  And so I want to encourage you today, don't just go through the
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  motions. Have a heart that genuinely
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  wants to follow God. Next episode we'll pick back up
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  in verse #16 and I'm looking forward to that time together.
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  God bless.