Thursday
Evening Bible Study
February
6, 2020
Introduction
The book of Isaiah is the first book in the section of the Old Testament
that we call the “prophets”.
It is the Old Testament book that has the clearest picture of the coming
Messiah.
The New Testament quotes from Isaiah more than from any other prophet.
John, the forerunner of Christ, began his ministry with a quote from Isaiah
(Mat. 3:3).
Jesus preached His first sermon in Nazareth from Isaiah (Luke 4:17-21).
Old Bible critics will say that the book of Isaiah is actually
two books written by different authors, with chapters 1-39 as the first
book, and chapters 40-66 as the second.
The two sections are indeed distinct, but they serve different purposes. The
first half is a book of judgment, the second half is one of comfort.
Better, recent scholarship, including the contribution of the Dead Sea
Scrolls affirms that it is a single book written by a single author.
This is not a book that was written all at once, in a single sitting. There
are various sections of the book, and it is the compiling of the writings of a
man over sixty years.
There will be times that the prophetic message is aimed close to Isaiah’s
time.
There will be times when the prophetic message is aimed far in the future.
There will be times when the message has a double effect with both a near and
far prophecy.
Isaiah has contemporaries.
His ministry overlaps the prophets Hosea and Micah.
His ministry lies roughly between 740-700 BC.
He prophesies during the reigns of the Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah –
all kings of the southern kingdom of Judah.
Keep in mind that in Isaiah’s lifetime, Israel has been split into two
different nations.
The northern ten tribes were called “Israel”, or “Ephraim”.
The southern two tribes were called “Judah”
Isaiah lived in the southern nation, and they are the main
focus of his prophecies.
Two concepts we keep in mind as we study prophecy:
We have seen that some prophecies have “double fulfillments” – they may be
fulfilled inside Isaiah’s day, and then again far in the future (like Is. 7:14
– the virgin). When you say “what does that mean?” you
may need to realize it may be more than one thing.
We are also seeing that when it comes to prophecy, sometimes the prophecy
can skip hundreds or thousands of years between one phrase and the next. This
is called “prophetic telescoping”.
We are now in a section that has been flipping around the timeline of the latter
days.
The end of the last chapter began a prayer of a people who have realized
just how backslidden they’ve become. The
prayer continues.
Warren Wiersbe calls this “one of the greatest
“revival prayers” found in Scripture”.
Isaiah 64 – The Repentant Cry
:1 Oh, that You would
rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at
Your presence—
:1 that You would rend the heavens
Isaiah is crying out that if God would rip a hole in the heavens, He might
come down to help.
When you are struggling, it seems like God can be so very far away.
In reality, He’s right here with us.
:1 the mountains might shake at Your presence
This happened at Mount Sinai.
(Exodus
19:18 NKJV) Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke,
because the Lord descended upon
it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole
mountain quaked greatly.
This could also be speaking of adversaries as mountains.
(Zechariah
4:7 NKJV) ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before
Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the
capstone With shouts
of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
This seems to be speaking about the difficulties that Zerubbabel was
facing.
(Psalm 97:5 NKJV) The mountains melt like wax at the
presence of the Lord, At the
presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
:2 As fire burns
brushwood, As fire causes water to boil— To make Your
name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your
presence!
:3 When You did awesome
things for which we did not look, You came
down, The mountains shook at Your presence.
:3 awesome things for which we did not look
awesome things – yare’ -
to fear, revere, be afraid
God is not only powerful, but sometimes can be a little terrifying as
well.
When the Red Sea parted and the people walked down between two walls of
water, I’m sure it was more than a little “thrilling” (Ex. 14).
When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord and were consumed
by the fire that came from heaven (Lev. 10), I’m sure it was a little scary.
we did not look
look – qavah – to wait, look for, hope, expect;
(Piel) to wait or look eagerly for; to lie in wait for; to wait for, linger for
(Isaiah 64:3 NLT) …you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations…
Lesson
Expectations in prayer
I think that sometimes our prayer life may be hindered a bit by our
expectation of the ordinary.
Sometimes we feel we need to instruct God on how to answer the prayer, kind
of like giving instructions to Google, Siri, or Alexa. We seem to think that if
we don’t get all the request right, God won’t respond.
Video: SNL – Amazon Echo Silver
Sometimes we think our prayer time needs to be extremely
specific, and if we don’t ask for the right things, God isn’t going to answer
the prayer right.
I think we need to be ready for God to answer our prayers in a “bigger” way
than we expected.
Paul wrote,
(Ephesians 3:20 NKJV) Now to Him who is
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us,
:3 The mountains shook at Your presence.
Once again Isaiah has been reaching back to the events in the Sinai when
God was bringing the people out of Egypt, preparing them for the Promised Land.
(Judges 5:5 NLT) The mountains quaked in the presence of the Lord, the God of Mount Sinai— in the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel.
Lesson
Finding Hope
The issue is this – what is God going to do in our future? Will God deliver us? Will we survive?
Isaiah looks back to the days of the Exodus and Sinai to find hope for what
was ahead.
We struggle to find the faith to trust God for what’s up ahead.
The Bible says,
(Romans
10:17 NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.
In other words, our ability to trust the Lord grows as we
spend time in God’s Word, the Bible.
Reading about what God has done in the past helps us to
trust Him with our future.
If God can part a Red Sea, is He able to solve my
problems? I think so.
Our church is facing some major hurdles up ahead like getting used to a new
pastor and the need to find a new location to meet.
Is God able to take care of us? God has done it before.
We need to trust He will do it again.
Some of you are facing challenges in your lives.
Remind yourself of what God has done in the past. Look at the great stories of old.
:4 For since the
beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the
one who waits for Him.
:4 Nor has the eye seen any God besides You
Lesson
The God who is there
Nobody has ever seen any God who works like the True God.
I thought it was kind of ironic that in today’s Quiet Time reading, we saw
two instances where God actually appeared, and people
heard Him speak.
In our Old Testament passage: Moses and the Elders
(Exodus
24:9–11 NKJV) —9 Then Moses went up, also Aaron,
Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10 and they saw
the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work
of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity. 11 But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His
hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.
In our New Testament passage: The Transfiguration
(Mark
9:2–8 NKJV) —2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter,
James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He
was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became shining,
exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with
Jesus. 5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to
be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah”—6 because he did not know what to say,
for they were greatly afraid. 7 And a cloud came and overshadowed
them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear
Him!” 8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but
only Jesus with themselves.
We do not serve a God who is silent.
He is here and He speaks.
Paul uses this phrase to talk about the most amazing thing that God had
spoken and prepared for us.
(1 Corinthians
2:7–9 NKJV) —7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our
glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written: “Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, Nor have
entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Sometimes you will hear preachers use 1Corinthians 2:9 to
talk about the wonders of heaven.
But the context of 1Corinthians 2 tells us that the most
amazing thing God has ever done, something so past our expectations, was to
send His Son to die for us.
:5 You meet him who
rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers
You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we
continue; And we need to be saved.
Isaiah recognizes that the predicament the people are in is because of
their sin, and they continue to sin.
Something needs to change.
:5 for we have sinned
we have sinned – chata’ – to sin,
miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt.
Literally, “we have tripped”.
This is one of the main words for “sin” in the Old Testament (237x)
It’s the word that David used in responding to Nathan after being confronted
about his adultery and murder. Nathan
said, “You are the man…”
(2 Samuel
12:13 NKJV) So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against
the Lord.” And Nathan
said to David, “The Lord also has
put away your sin; you shall not die.
Isaiah uses this in contrast to the truth that God meets with the one who
“rejoices and does righteousness” (v.5).
:6 But we are all like an
unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses
are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like
the wind, Have taken us away.
:6 all our righteousnesses are like
filthy rags
“righteousness” is supposed to be the best of all that’s good, pure, wholesome,
and godly
Yet the best we can do when it comes to measuring up to God’s righteousness
is “filthy rags”.
filthy – ‘idda
– menstruation; filthy rag, stained garment
all our righteousnesses – ts@daqah – justice, righteousness; righteous
acts
rags – beged – (CLBL) garment, clothing (used
indiscriminately)
Lesson
Our best isn’t
Some people think they have a lot to offer God.
Then there’s that six year old story of the
80-year-old gal who took on the responsibility of restoring a famous piece of
art that had been painted on the wall of her church in Spain.
Video: Botched
Painting Restoration
She thought she was doing a good thing for the painting.
We might agree with the idea that our sin is pretty bad
… or at least “most” of our sin.
We tend to think that our good deeds can somehow outweigh our bad ones.
There are some folks who think that when judgment day comes, God will put
all their good deeds on one side of the scale, and all their bad deeds on the
other.
Yet even if God were to use that standard to judge us, the
best of our deeds are like “filthy rags”.
Illustration
Suppose you come over to my house and we play a rousing
game of “Monopoly”.
We find out that you are probably the best Monopoly player
in the world and you totally clean us out.
We are so awed at your skills we suggest you take home your play money
as a reward, so you leave with $20,000 of Monopoly Money in your pocket.
You are feeling a little rich, so you decide to stop at
Target and go on a shopping spree. You
load up your little red cart with all kinds of cool things and head for the
checkout register. As the cashier tells
you that your bill comes to $5,000, you smile and say, “No problem”, and begin
to count out Monopoly money.
Will you get out the door with your merchandise?
When people tell me that “hell” seems a little over the top when it comes
to punishing our sins, that tells me that they have no concept of the depth of
our sin and how offensive it is to God.
We certainly don’t have a notion of just how “good” our righteousness is.
Of course this is talking about our own ability
within ourselves to do good things.
When Christ becomes part of our lives, there is a change.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
It’s not “our righteousness” that God looks at, it’s
Jesus’ righteousness.
:7 And there is no
one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to
take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us
because of our iniquities.
:7 no one who calls on Your name
Lesson
We’re all guilty
In Romans 3, Paul builds a case that we are all sinners, that we all need
salvation from the consequences of our sin.
He writes,
(Romans 3:9–18
NKJV) —9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have
previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is
written: “There is
none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is
none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have
together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat
is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison
of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is
full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are
swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their
ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no
fear of God before their eyes.”
And then Paul summarizes it:
(Romans 3:23 NKJV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
It’s horrible that we’re all guilty.
It’s wonderful that God has provided something to take away all of our sin.
(Romans
3:24–25 NLT) —24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes
us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from
the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the
sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus
sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was
being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,
:7 consumed us because of our iniquities
Lesson
Who’s to blame?
These people will find that there is no one to blame for their situation
other than their own selves.
I want to show you a video I showed a few weeks ago, but I want to show it
again because I have been catching myself lately putting blame on others
instead of myself.
Illustration
When David had committed his horrible sin of adultery with Bathsheba, and
then tried to hide it by committing murder and having Bathsheba’s husband
killed, he was confronted by Nathan the prophet. After telling David a story about a rich man
taking advantage over a poor man, he turned to David and said, “You are the
man”.
How did David respond?
Did he blame his parents for raising him in a “dysfunctional”
household? Did he blame Saul for having
caused him such distress in his youth that he now lacked self-control? Did he blame Bathsheba for taking a bath on
the rooftop for him to see? No. He said, “I have sinned”.
I need to look carefully in the mirror and not pass the blame on to someone
else.
:8 But now, O Lord, You are
our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are
the work of Your hand.
:8 We are the clay, and You our potter
Lesson
Yield
Isaiah is speaking for the nation, responding by yielding to God.
A potter has the ability to make anything he wants
from the clay.
(Jeremiah
18:6 NLT) “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter
has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my
hand.
Isaiah is yielding to God to mold and shape them.
:9 Do not be furious, O Lord, Nor
remember iniquity forever; Indeed, please look—we all are Your people!
:10 Your holy cities are
a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
:11 Our holy and
beautiful temple, Where our fathers praised You, Is
burned up with fire; And all our pleasant things are laid waste.
:11 temple … burned up with fire
Our text has entered another one of those “temporal anomalies” (“Star Trek”
for a problem with time).
Remember how prophecies hop and skip through time (“Prophetic Telescoping”)
In the previous chapter we saw clearly that Isaiah was talking about the
future when Jesus returns.
Here we have some more time markers –
“Zion is a wilderness”.
“temple … burned up with fire”
These don’t seem to be speaking of the time when Jesus returns as much as
either the Babylonian captivity, or Israel after the Romans finally destroyed
the second Temple.
Thousands of years before Christ’s return.
:12 Will You restrain
Yourself because of these things, O Lord?
Will You hold Your peace, and afflict us very severely?
(Isaiah
64:12 NLT) After all this, Lord, must you still refuse to help us? Will you continue
to be silent and punish us?
:9 Do not be furious, O Lord, Nor
remember iniquity forever…
:9 Nor remember iniquity forever
Lesson
Forever Forgiveness
This is not just the hopeful prayer of some poor, disillusioned crazy
person. There’s something real here.
God’s forgiveness is real. He wants
to have things fixed with you.
His forgiveness is forever.
(Psalm 103:12 NKJV) As far as the east is from the west, So far has He
removed our transgressions from us.
(Jeremiah 31:34b NKJV) …For I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more.”
(Micah 7:19b NKJV) …You will cast all our sins Into the depths
of the sea.
Illustration
Holding A Grudge
One day a visitor leaned on the old fence around a farm, while he watched
an old farmer plowing with a mule, tugging hard on the reigns to guide the mule.
After a while, the visitor said, “I don’t like to tell you how to run your
business, but you would not have to work so hard if you would just say, “gee”
and “haw” to that mule instead of just tugging on those lines. The old farmer
stopped and pulled a big handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. Then he said, “Reckon you’re right, but this
animal kicked me five years ago and I ain’t spoke to
him since.”
That’s NOT the way God deals with us.
When we confess, He forgives.
Paul tells us that this forgiveness God has given us ought to affect how we
relate to others.
(Ephesians
4:32 NKJV) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.