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697. Bible Study: Isaiah 1 (Warning to Repent/Turn away from Sin and Turn back to God) · Faith by annm2705

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We are starting a new book today and it's the book of Isaiah.
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It's a pretty long 1, so we're going to be in this quite a
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while. There are 66 chapters of Isaiah,
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so we'll try a chapter a day. So it might be a few months that
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we're in here. Maybe we'll read more.
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But to get started, I will read the introduction that's from the
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study Bible regarding the book of Isaiah.
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So it says, why read this book? Do you know Christians who live
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double lives who only seem to be playing with God?
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Isaiah knew people who lived double lives, his fellow
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Israelites, and he shared God's hatred for their compromise.
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He challenged them to shape up and love God with all their
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hearts and minds. Isaiah wanted his readers to see
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their hypocrisy and change their ways.
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So who wrote the book? Isaiah, the son of Amos.
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Some claim that he could not have written chapters 40 through
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66, since that section of the book describes events that
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occurred after the prophet's death.
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But such a view discounts the supernatural element of God's
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revelation. Prophecy given by the
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inspiration of God can predict future events.
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So that's just feeling like the accuracy of what God says when
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it's being fulfilled. And then people say, well, that
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could have been written by him. So anyway, very interesting.
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To whom was it written and why? Isaiah lived in Judah, the
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southern Kingdom of the divided nation of Israel.
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He prophesied during the reigns of Four Kings and from about
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7:40 BC to 681 BC. So he he was prophesying people.
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Let's see how many 7:40 to 68159 years.
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Wow, that's a long time that he is, you know, so maybe it's like
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almost like a little bit over a chapter a year or something.
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I don't know if it it went like that, but he's.
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Yeah. I mean, he spent a long time
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doing this. Though Isaiah did address the
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northern Kingdom of Israel, His primary ministry was to Judah.
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What was happening during this time?
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The northern Kingdom of Israel had faded from its former
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prominence and was now a second rate nation.
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In fact, it was demolished by the Assyrian forces in 722 BC.
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Though Judah was threatened by Assyria, it was spared from
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destruction largely through Isaiah's influence.
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I did look back at the King's like that's how I'm going
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through the order of the prophets.
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The books of the prophets I'm looking at started 1st and then
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following along chronologically with the prophets for this
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podcast. So when Isaiah was the prophet
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that was speaking during 4 kings, it'll tell us in the 1st
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chapter who those 4 kings were, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
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Hezekiah. Now I did want to look at how
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who were these kings? Were these good kings, bad kings
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or whatever? Because when you look at the
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kings of Judah, there were more good in Judah than there were in
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Israel. In fact, they were all bad
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except in Israel, the northern Kingdom, they were all bad
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except for one Jehu, who is kind of half good, half bad only
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because he did God's will, but he wasn't really submitted to
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God, so he really wasn't good, but God used him.
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So anyway, pretty much all of the kings of the northern tribe
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of Israel were not considered good.
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They were evil as it's written in the book, in the Bible, and
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then, but in the within the kings of Judah, there were some
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good and some bad. I, I, let's see, there were 19
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total and eight of them were considered good.
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So not quite half, just shy of half of the kings that reigned
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over Judah. So little less than 50% of them
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were good. So anyway, one of them, I guess
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it triggered when I read this about it, says though Judah was
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threatened by Assyria, it was spared from destruction largely
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through Isaiah's influence. Well, he had three good kings,
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kings who did good during his time, Uzziah, Jotham and
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Hezekiah. A has was not and a has
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ironically made a treaty with Assyria.
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So I think that's what it's what I had written down here, because
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I also remember that Hezekiah ended up showing, I guess it was
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Assyria what he had. And then it led to the his, you
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know, plundering is what happened with him.
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But A has actually made a treaty.
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I did write that down. A has made a treaty and he was
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considered evil and he reigned around the 7:30 to 7:22.
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I don't BC those are just the numbers that show up in my study
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Bible. I mean there's a longer period
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but within that time frame was included.
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So anyway, just just interesting thing to note.
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OK. What to look for in Isaiah
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paradox? Isaiah was a poet who understood
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the two sided nature of God's character.
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Mercy and judgment, grace and discipline, justice and
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forgiveness, exile and salvation.
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The tension of these great paradoxes fills the pages of
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Isaiah's writings, awaiting a resolution only the reader can
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bring through faith or unbelief. So I guess this really will
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test, you know, through faith or unbelief.
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It's like the choice we all have to make.
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Anyway, let's get started with a prayer.
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Dear God, please be with us as we read through the this chapter
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of Isaiah. Give us wisdom, insight,
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revelation, understanding, so that we may apply the words not
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to just to gain knowledge, but to gain wisdom by the
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application of what we read in our lives.
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And so that we do your will and we understand what you were
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looking for in in all of us, not just to the people of Israel.
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But this is you are the same God and you don't change and the
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same thing you required of them you require of us today.
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So please help us as we read through this.
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We ask for this in Jesus name, Amen.
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So the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of
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Amos saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and
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Hezekiah, kings of Judah. So he saw this vision.
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Here it goes. Hear me you heavens, listen
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earth, for the Lord has spoken. I reared children and brought
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them up, but they have rebelled against me.
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The ox knows its master, the donkey its own manager.
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But Israel does not know. My people do not understand.
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So when I read this, I, you know, you give OK, poetic
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license. OK, you give that some, but at
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the same time, especially later on in some of the chapters, I do
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think that this prophecy is for all of us, not just Judah,
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because it talks about Jesus so often in these chapters.
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And every time it mentions something about Jesus, I'm going
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to point it out. And it's filled like as I was
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turning through pages of notes that I had written in the past
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when I read through these, I have Jesus, Jesus written all
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over my Bible because of the references that Isaiah gives to
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Jesus. So again, this is, you know,
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about 1000 years before Jesus was born, like 700 years at
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least before Jesus was born and, and more maybe 8 closer to 8.
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And he is talking about the Messiah at that point.
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And, and he's also pronouncing like what's going to happen?
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And this, you know, it says talking that he's talking to
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Judah. But then when you get deeper
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into these chapters, you start seeing that there's a prophecy
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about the surrounding nations that he's talking about.
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So it's clearly not just Judah that he's talking about.
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And especially when it opens up and it says, listen, Earth, now,
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he was wise enough to know that Israel or Judah wasn't the only
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entity on Earth, the only tribe on Earth.
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He knew there were a lot of things surrounding him.
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So he's, I look at this and even if it is poetry, I believe that
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he is talking about the entire earth.
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And I think that all of this stuff is applicable to us today.
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So now granted, some of these things are specific to Israel or
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to Judah specifically. And we'll, we'll see that we'll
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have that understanding as we go through because God is speaking
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through Isaiah to the people and he's basically wanting the
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people to turn to him in repentance.
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So continuing on, he says woe to this sinful nation, a people
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whose guilt is great, a broad, a brood of evil doers, children
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given to corruption. They have forsaken the Lord,
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they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs
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on him. So they turned away from God.
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Why should you be beaten anymore?
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Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your
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whole heart afflicted. From the sole of your foot to
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the top of your head. There is no soundness, only
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wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or
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soothed with olive oil. Your country is desolate, your
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city's burned with fire. Your fields are being stripped
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by foreigners right before you laid waste, as when overgrown,
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overthrown by strangers. Daughter Zion is left like a
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shelter in a vineyard, like a Hut in a cucumber field, like a
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city under siege. Unless the Lord Almighty had
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left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom.
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We would have become we would have been like Gomorrah.
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So Sodom and Gomorrah were completely destroyed.
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And so Isaiah is recognizing that over the time, even though
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Judah, the tribe of Judah had not been faithful to God, had
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not abided by the covenant with God, that there are still
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survivors. And it was because of God's
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promise, his oath, that there would always be survivors.
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Now, granted, it's going to be a small remnant number of people
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who do survive because of the sin.
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It's all about the sin because the wages of sin is death.
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And so if we don't turn that around and receive the Holy
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Spirit, become born again by receiving the Holy Spirit, we
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will continually be fighting and not doing very well against sin.
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But by the power of the Holy Spirit, that is how we can
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overcome sin. It's through God's power, not
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our own. So if we try it on our own to
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overcome this, we're just going to be fighting a losing battle
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because it's much stronger than us.
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But if we rely on the power of God, that's when we can overcome
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these things. So I'm going to go back to
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Scripture. Hear the word of the Lord.
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You rulers of Sodom, listen to the instruction of our God.
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You people of Gomorrah, the multitude of your sacrifices,
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what are they to me, says the Lord.
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I have more than enough of burnt offerings of of Rams and the fat
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of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood
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of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before
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me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?
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Stop bringing meaningless offerings.
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So God's saying you did. Stop being a hypocrite.
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I don't want all this stuff. I want you to do what I've asked
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you to do. I want you to have show mercy to
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people. I want you to be righteous.
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I want you to be holy. I mean, he gives all of these
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things that he wants people to be and he's like I, I don't want
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these sacrifices. That's what he's saying.
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God is not impressed by this. Going back to scripture, your
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incense is detestable to me. New moons, Sabbaths and
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convocations. I cannot bear your worthless
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assemblies, your new moon feast and your appointed festivals.
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I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me.
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I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands
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in prayer, I hide my eyes from you.
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Even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.
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Look at what's happened to God. He it's like they they turned
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away from him and he's just like you're not listening to me.
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I'm just, I'm done with this somewhat because he still has
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that promise. So he has to hold true to his
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promise, but he's going to discipline his people and he's,
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it goes on. Your hands are full of blood.
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Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
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sight. Stop doing wrong.
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Learn to do right. Seek justice.
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Defend the oppressed. So he, he really got his, you
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know, saying through Isaiah that you need to change your ways.
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Repentance is needed. You just can't keep on living
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this way and not changing your ways.
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And people don't seem to be understanding this because they
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keep repeating the same thing over and over again.
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And so that is a message they think that all of us can really
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relate to because it applies that about being repentant
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applies to all of us. And there's something that I, I
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wrote down in I don't even know what I what I wrote down in the
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book here. OK, so this is also repeated.
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So he says, wash and make yourselves clean.
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Take your evil deeds out of my sight.
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Stop doing wrong. And there is a promise that
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comes in the Book of Revelation. It's chapter 22, verse 14, and
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it says blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may
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have the right to the tree of life and may go through the
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gates into the city. So this is talking about the new
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Jerusalem that God will bring down from the heavenly realm.
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And blessed are those who wash their wash their robes.
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That means you're cleaning, you're putting on clean clothes,
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you're changing your life that they may have the right to the
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tree of life. That means eternal life.
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And so this is another promise that aligns with what Isaiah is
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saying and it's found in Revelation chapter 22, verse 14.
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OK, continuing on in Isaiah, take up the cause of the
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fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
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Come now, let us settle the matter, says the Lord.
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So again, this is it. God is looking for
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reconciliation and he's treating this like a legal thing.
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God is a God of law and order and whenever again I've heard
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people say don't be legalistic, but God is.
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God made laws and he expects us to abide by them, and there are
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consequences if we don't. So when somebody says don't be
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legalistic, is that does that mean don't obey God?
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Because that's not what God says.
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God is legal and there are legal things.
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There's a lot of legal things I believe in the spiritual realm
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that we don't even know about, and the Bible only hints at
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those but doesn't give us all the details because it's
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probably not important for us to really know because we don't
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have a part in any of that. That's God's decision.
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That's what God deals with. But the things that affect us,
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God wants us to know. And it's, it's, you know, come
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now, let us settle the matter. It's like an illegal court of
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law, says the Lord. Though your sins are like
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scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
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Though they are red as Crimson, they shall be like wool.
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There's a lot of symbolism there and but it's you know,
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ultimately what it's saying here is that to clean up, clean up
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your sin, get rid of it, change your change your clothes, become
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a new creation. Put sin to death instead of us
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being put to death, put sin to death and then and change the
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ways that it says if you are willing and obedient, you will
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eat the good things of the land, but if you resist and rebel, you
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will be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has
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spoken. So that's another thing that is
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it talks about in the Book of Revelation too, when Jesus is
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saying these things. So in Revelation 1921 and 1914,
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so from the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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So he says he is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his
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name is the word of oh, that's the wrong one.
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OK, so Revelation 19 verse 14, the armies of heaven were
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following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine
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linen, white and clean. So again, this is one that's
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talking about, you know, your their sins are like scarlet.
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They shall be as white as snow, though they are as red as
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Crimson. They shall be like wool.
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So the white and clean is kind of cleaning up a person's attire
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and getting rid of sin. And the armies of heaven are
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prepared in that way. And then in Revelation 1921, it
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says. The rest were killed with the
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sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all
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the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
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This is the mouth of the rider on the horse.
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That's Jesus. The rest were killed with the
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sword coming out of the mouth of the rider.
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And this is a St. This is kind of like relates to
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this because it says but if you resist and rebel, you will be
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devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
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So those things came to mind when I read it at one point and
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I had noted those in my Bible. See how the faithful city has
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become a prostitute. She once was full of justice.
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Righteousness used to dwell in her, but now murderers.
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Your silver has become dross. Your choice wine is diluted with
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water. Your rulers are rebels, the
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partners with thieves. They all love bribes and chase
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after gifts. They do not defend the cause of
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the fatherless. The widow's case does not come
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before them. Therefore the Lord, the Lord
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Almighty, the mighty One of Israel, declares, Ah, I will
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vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies.
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I will turn my hand against you. I will thoroughly purge away
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your dross and remove all your impurities.
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So God is not going to accept this.
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He is going to get rid of it. That's the consequence of sin.
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It'll be purged at some point and God determines when that
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point is. But if you are a child of God,
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then he will put you, put you through I, I know I went through
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it some purging to get rid of the things that God is not happy
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with. So but then he says, I will
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restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the
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beginning. Afterward you will be called the
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city of righteousness, the faithful city.
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So that's like a complete restoration.
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And that's what God does with people who repent, who turn away
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from their sin and receive the Holy Spirit.
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They become more righteous. And so this is this is actually
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not going to happen until Jesus returns the Messiah and rules
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from the city of Jerusalem. That's when it will be the city
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of righteousness and the faithful city.
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Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with
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righteousness. But rebels and sinners will both
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be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will will perish.
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So it's saying, if you're a rebel or if you're a Sinner,
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you're going to be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will,
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will perish. You will be ashamed because of
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the sacred oaks in which you have delighted.
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You will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have
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chosen. We all have to remember that
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these are our choices the the consequences.
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God doesn't just take wrath out on somebody for no reason.
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He's a God of justice. So if he does send wrath,
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there's a good reason behind it. He doesn't just do it to people
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who are completely innocent. You will be like an oak with
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fading leaves, like a garden without water.
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So in Revelation 22 it talks about Jesus giving the water of
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life. And I just that came to mind
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when I was reading it. The mighty man will become
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Tinder and his work a spark. Both will burn together with no
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one to quench the fire. So I will read the questions and
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answers for this chapter and then we will conclude with this
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one. So why do we call Isaiah a major
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rather than a minor prophet? The terms major and minor
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generally refer to the length of the prophet's book, not to his
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individual importance. Each of the Bible of the
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biblical prophets serve the Lord with distinction, but some of
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them wrote more than others. What is a vision?
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A revelation, a message or insight from God communicated
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through images seen in a person's mind or spirit.
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The pictures in such a vision illustrate either spiritual or
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spiritual truths or future events.
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Were the prophets the only people in the Bible to have
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visions? Numbers chapter 12 verse 6
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identifies a prophet as someone to whom God reveals himself in
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visions and dreams. Yet many individuals in the
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Bible who were not designated a prophet received a vision,
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including Isaac in Genesis chapter 26 verse 24, Jacob in
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Genesis 46 verse 2, Zechariah in Luke chapter 1 verses 11 through
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22, Stephen in Acts Chapter 7 verses 55 through 56, Peter in
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Acts chapter 10 verses 9 through 17, and Paul in Acts chapter 16
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verse 9 and 18 verses 9 through 10.
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Thus visions were not limited to prophets, but happened during
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unique and critical times in redemptive history.
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Now this is something that I just want to stop and talk about
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because there are people all over the world who are having
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very similar dreams about about the return of Jesus.
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And I think we really need to take this seriously because the
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I think it's the book of Joel tells us that young men will
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have visions and old men will have dream dreams in the end
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times. And there will be both women and
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men will prophecy. And there is just an
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unbelievable number in these last few years of people having
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dreams. I know I personally had it and
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that's how I found these other people who were having dreams
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because I when I started having so many.
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I'm, I'm up to over 80 dreams currently.
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And so when I started having them, I thought, are other
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people having them. And some of the things that
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people are dreaming about are the same topics that I've had
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dreams about. And then I'm also having dreams
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that are not the same topics as everyone else, but they're
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biblically related. And often, very often, most of
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them have the name of Jesus in them.
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And I never dreamt like this before They all started.
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The night of my baptism is when that started.
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So I do think it's when I read this it it makes me stop and
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think. It says that these thus visions
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were not limited to profits but happened during unique and
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critical times in redemptive history.
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Are we in a unique and critical time in redemptive history?
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And is that why all these people are having dreams recently?
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Just something we need to really pay attention to because the
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Bible does say this will happen in the last days and, and people
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are having this happen right now and they are a lot of them are
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talking about Jesus returning. They're talking about
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tribulation and they're talking about raptures.
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And I've had three rapture dreams myself and I didn't even
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really know what it was. And I was not obsessed with it
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when I had them and they were spaced over time, but I had
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three of them. And God often confirms things.
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It threes. It's really interesting.
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It's interesting because it says in the Bible that God uses two
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or three witnesses and we can find that in the Bible too.
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That's why I comment about other books that say the same thing in
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the Bible, because by two or three witnesses the truth is
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proclaimed. So I also see that God does that
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with us, with, you know, when we have multiple dreams of the same
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topic, He's emphasizing something.
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And the dream that I had multiple times, not the same
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exact circumstances but the same topic, was the gathering or the
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resurrection or the rapture, whatever you want to call it.
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But that I did have that and it really made me in as a result of
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that dream and how vivid it was and what I saw, I realized this
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is real. This is real.
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And I was like praising God in my dream and, and even
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exclaiming like this is real and then some, you know, it's just,
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it was amazing how that came about.
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But I Anyway, let's get back to the questions and answers.
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Who were these children given to?
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Corruption. The word children here does not
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refer to age, but to relationship.
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The term children, Israel and nation all refer to people who
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descended from Jacob, who was given the name Israel.
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The prophetic declaration in verses 2 through 31 is a dark
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picture of a society gone mad with social and economic
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oppression. There was sin in every corner of
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the nation. What caused the destruction
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Isaiah was describing? Isaiah used the word Israel in
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verse 3 as a reference to the southern Kingdom of Judah since
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he was prophesying against Judah.
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Verse one Judah, Isaiah home country, was attacked many times
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during his lifetime by Arum the northern Kingdom, by the
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northern Kingdom of Israel, by Edom, by Philistia during the
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reign of King Ahaz, and by Assyria during the reign of King
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Hezekiah. The destruction Isaiah
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envisioned might also refer to Judas fall at the hands of the
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Babylonians many years later. All of this was God's mean means
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of bringing judgment on His disobedient people for their
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refusal to keep their covenant with Him.
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Did the prophets know what what their predictions meant?
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Generally speaking, the prophets knew very well what the
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prophecies meant. Of course, the prophets did did
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not know exactly how a given prediction would find its
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fulfillment in specific terms if those specifics were not
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revealed to them by God. For example, a prophecy from God
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about the conquest and exile of Judah might not have given
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details such as exactly how many people would lose their lives in
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the battles, and all the particular locations in which
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these battles would be fought are precisely how many people
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would be exiled, and so forth. But the actual concepts revealed
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to the prophets in the prophecies God gave them that
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were not mysterious, confusing, or unintelligible.
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When inspiring the prophets, God used imagery, vocabulary,
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idioms, figures of speech, and other literary forms appropriate
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to His revelation to the original audience, things that
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we modern readers may have to work to understand.
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But there is no evidence that the prophets themselves had any
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trouble understanding what they had been given by God to say to
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their listeners. Who is daughter Zion?
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This is a reference to Jerusalem.
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Cities were commonly personified as as women and were said to be
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daughters of the country to which they belonged.
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Why did Isaiah address Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that had been
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destroyed? Isaiah wasn't addressing Sodom
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and Gomorrah, cities notorious for being so wicked that God
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utterly destroyed them. You can find that in Genesis
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chapter 18 and through 19. Rather, he was addressing the
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people of Judah as though they were the rulers of Sodom and the
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people of Gomorrah. The prophet pressed home his
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point in a way that would have been shocking and insulting to
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his hearers, communicating not only God's judgement but Gentile
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sin at its worst. Why was God tired of sacrifices?
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Because the people's hearts were hard and set against obeying
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Him. Though the Israelites out really
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did what God had commanded, they resisted God inwardly.
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Their offerings had lost their true purpose and had become
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empty and meaningless. So God went so far as to ask the
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people of Judah to stop the nonsense altogether.
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God wanted their hearts and motives to be pure more than He
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wanted their sacrifices. Hypocrites.
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Critical adherence to which ritual gives God no pleasure.
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Was God rejecting the people of Judah and then consoling them?
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No. This section contains warnings
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about coming judgement. Verses 15 through 17 describe
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Judah's widespread injustice in God's demand that it stop.
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Verses 18 through 20 urged the people to repent and warn them
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to change their ways because unless they do, their resistance
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and rebellion will cause them to be destroyed.
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How should we read prophetic visions?
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It's clear that the book of Isaiah cannot be read like a
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typical novel. Transitions are lacking, time
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frames jump dramatically, and threads are plot or direction
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are often severed without warning.
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Because of this, the book can be confusing.
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Though it's words must be regarded as authentically
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historical, the book of Isaiah is primarily primarily a
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collection of visions. The problem with understanding
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visions is not with the text, but with our limited
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understanding of how God communicated with the prophets.
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When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself
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to them in visions. I speak to them in dreams.
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Prophets then relayed those visions to the people.
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A prophet's vision was not straight line communication, it
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was an impression of God on the prophet.
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Prophetic words, then, primarily carried the power of the
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message, not necessarily a smooth flow of logic, of logic.
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This is why poetry, with its graphic images and exaggeration
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was often preferred, was often the preferred literary form of
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the prophets. The storyline was abandoned in
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favor of more dramatic language. This was certainly true with the
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prophet Isaiah. He was especially concerned with
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revealing the paradoxical character of God, his mercy and
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his judgement. For example, to communicate such
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tensions, Isaiah chose to describe what he saw, possibly
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hoping to impress people with God's holiness by contrasting it
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with Judah's sin. Why does Isaiah focus so much on
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issues of justice? The Hebrew word for justice
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refers not only to legal matters decided by courts, but also all
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matters of right behaviour and proper treatment of people.
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In Isaiah's day, Judah tolerated various forms of discrimination,
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neglect of the needy, abuse of the poor, disregard for God's
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covenant law, and sinful personal and social practices,
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much as our society does today. Through Isaiah, God told the
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Israelites that these things were not as they should be and
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warned them of the judgment coming as a result.
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Why offer consolation to such a sinful people?
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God's love is boundless, and He always gives people a chance to
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repent and be restored. Jesus sacrifice on the cross for
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the sake of all sinners is the ultimate expression of that
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gracious love. For God so loved the world that
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He gave His one and only Son in John 316.
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Does God have enemies? Yes.
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The enemies of God are all those who oppose Him, sin against Him,
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and insist on going their own way.
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In this instance, the Lords own people, the people of Judah,
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were his enemies. When will Zion be delivered?
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Scholars differ on when Zion or Jerusalem will be delivered.
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Some say that it happened in 536 BC when the Jewish exiles
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returned from Babylon in Ezra chapter one through chapter 3.
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Others say this redemption refers to the new Jerusalem that
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will reign when the earth is gone and a new earth has come.
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Still others hold to both views that this prophecy had an
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immediate fulfillment that set the tone for a greater, fuller
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fulfillment at the return of Christ.
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What was wrong with the sacred oaks and gardens?
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In the ancient Near East, gardens shaded by oak trees were
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often used as places for Pagan religious gatherings.
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There, under the trees, various kinds of idol worship took
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place, including some rituals that involved indiscriminate
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sexual intercourse. And that is the the end of
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chapter 1 from Isaiah. That was a long 1, so we'll pick
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up chapter 2 next time.