Isaiah

 

Three books

 

 Isaiah 56-66 The Book of the Anointed Conqueror.

And when you come to the end of the book there is a sense that it stops in mid sentence as if Isaiah had more to say. Or maybe God has more to say. God has spoken in these days through his Son Jesus Christ. He is not just another prophet he is the fulfilment of prophecy himself, the suffering servant and anointed conqueror. He is Messiah. Isaiah longed for him. You can have him in your life today and every day.

The book of the anointed Conqueror comes in three sections

A.    The ideal and the actual: the needs and sins of the Lord's people

 (56:1 - 59:13)

B The coming of the Anointed Conqueror (59:14 - 63:6)

CPrayer and response: steps to the new heaven and new earth

(63:7 - 66:24)

 

A.    The ideal and the actual: the needs and sins of the Lord's people

 (56:1 - 59:13)  

We begin with the ideal. Read 56:1-8.

 Foreigners and eunuchs are the subject of this passage. Those who are excluded from the Mosaic covenant are here included. But they are included, not because they are foreigners or eunuchs but because they keep the Sabbath and hold fast to the covenant. That may seem strange to us. The key idea of Sabbath is rest. Read Genesis 2:2-3. The heart of our world view is that what God says is good for man. So if God stops work on Saturday, we stop work on Saturday, especially when he tells us to. The Jews still set aside Saturday from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday as a holy day. In it they do not work all travel and they attend the synagogue to hear God’s word – the Old Testament of our Bible. So why is Sabbath picked out? I believe it is because it was demonstrably being ignored in Isaiah’s day. So the test of covenant keeping was their Sabbath observance. In Jesus’ day they made it a monster which Jesus had to challenge, repeatedly. The prophet is speaking to his day. But he is also speaking to our day. If you have not set apart one day a week to refrain from work and spend time hearing God’s word, you are demonstrably not responding to the ccovenant of grace. You are claiming salvation and ignoring the rest that God gives. Christians moved from Saturday observance to Sunday Observance because the new creation begins with the resurrection of Jesus. So except for the Seventh Day Adventists, we set Sunday apart for worship and recreation. But enough of Sabbath, we will return to it in November. We would not appreciate the full force of this. Israel was God’s chosen people, set apart from the rest of mankind. Given very special revelation through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the prophets. And yet now, Isaiah says they temple is open to all! God wants all men and women everywhere to repent and believe the gospel as Paul said in last week’s reading. This is truly universal salvation.

What follows is two short oracles. The first condemns self seeking  56:9-12.  They second explores the tension between the righteous and the rest – Sorcery, prostitution, idolatry, child sacrifice and the like. The unrighteous are shown as having false hopes while the righteous although they die unnoticed are the dwelling place of God. Read 57:1-2 and 57:14-21. The oracle demonstrates the contrast between the righteous and the unrighteous. We move on as it were from Sabbath making to fasting. In ch 58  we return to the theme of 1:10-20. Religion that is not doing a series of actions to placate and excite a response from God is false. True religion receives God’s salvation by faith and then responds to the passions that God has. Read 58:6-9. This reminds me of Jesus in Matthew 25:37-40.

 B. The coming of the Anointed Conqueror (59:14 - 63:6)

 

 Ch 59 puts the blame where it belongs Read 59:1-2.. The result is that Justice is lost and men stumble and fall. But read on ch59:15b-17 – now you know where Paul got his ideas for Ephesians 6 from! And with this revcelation a new dawn in the prophecy rises

 Read 60:1-3  and it goes on to describe a glorious revitalization of Jerusalem which goes beyond the normal life cycles and launches us into heaven  read 60:19-20.

 

 Without any explanation  we jump into a new prophecy read 61:1-2. This passage Jesus applied to himself. But ch 60 does not proceed ch 61 in timeframe it comes from it.  Much of these chapter speak of heaven and are full of restoration type descriptions. God is creator and Saviour.  So he builds and he saves. But you must understand that the counter point is still very much at large. God’s love makes his wrath stand out in sharp relief.Ch 63 reminds us that the mighty to save also comes in judgment against unrepentant sin. Hell is a real place for those who choose to go there because they reject the way of salvation. God’s wrath against those who refuse to believe is awful. Isaiah pauses to reflect on this and moves into:

 C. Prayer and response: steps to the new heaven and new earth

(63:7 - 66:24)

Time does not allow us to look at it in detail but find time to read it. And parts of it put in your own prayers. Isaiah may have had a special revelation of God in ch 6. But he is on his knees calling for God to come down in power and bring salvation, acknowledging sin and God’s justice.  Then God replies in ch 65 that he has been holding out his hands to an obstinate people. In verse 8 God is holding back on judgement because of a remnant of righteousness. In verse 11 those who forsake the Lord are destined for the sword. In verse 13 -16 God divides the people. Do not be in any doubt, God will judge on the basis of whether you have believed in Jesus or not. And for those that have there is life – food, drink, joy and a name. For those who reject him hunger, thirst and anguish of heart.

In verses 17-25 the joys of the righteous are spelt out. God has a home for his people, not a patched up, restoration job, but a new heaven and new earth. Not a place of battle but a place of peace. Eternity is described as no infant mortality and everyone living beyond 100. Disappointment will disappear. Read 65:17-25

 Which brings us the last chapter in this grand prophecy. But you have just passed the climax. Isaiah reflects on some key elements of the last chapters. He is hooked on a phrase “Those who tremble at his word”  Remember back in 57:15. Here the repris picks up on those people. God is revealed as no longer living in a grand temple. Heaven is for the tremblers at his word. So do you tremble at his word? Do you read it? Does it bother you?  Isaiah rightly identifies them as the ones who are in line for God’s blessing. Right to the end the contrast between the hope of the tremblers at his word and the unrighteous is maintained. Their ends are the subject of the end of the book. For the tremblers a new heaven and new earth. For the rebels, the unburied rubbish tip. Read 66:22-24. Remember this book was written over a period of devastating change. Cold war politics and terrorism may rise around us. But the Word of God is that these are not the issues of life. What matters is your relationship with God. Do you tremble at his word? You have better, because the alternative in loathsome. For the believer there is so much hope and joy to look forward to. Life is not a dreary struggle to a bitter end. It is the launch pad for heaven a new heaven and anew earth. Enjoy!