Isaiah
Introduction and chapter 1
How can the faithless city become the faithful city?
In the lead up to Easter we are going to be looking at selected passages from the book of Isaiah, one of the best known of the Old Testament prophets. I’ve got the happy task of introducing the book, helping to place it historically and theologically.
Introduction to the political and social geography
Internationally
Assyria is the regions superpower, dominating the political and military scene. There are many smaller nations in the Palestine area and down in the south lies Egypt, a potential ally against Assyria’s imperialist expansion.
Israel
After the reign of David and Solomon the kingdom of Israel was split in a long running civil war. The Northern kingdom (often called “Ephraim” in this book, after the largest tribe) became more and more pagan under a succession of different dynasties.
The southern kingdom of Judah is still ruled by the house of David, and they are still following the rituals of Judaism, but their hearts are not in it, and there is much pagan practice too. They are a tiny nation, even smaller since the division of the kingdom, and they are surrounded by vast pagan nations, in particular the superpowers of Assyria to the North and Egypt to the South.
Moral Osmosis
This has led to more and more of the ethics and morals of the surrounding nations entering into the life of Judah. Judah has been losing its distinctiveness. The people had originally been set apart by God to be a kingdom of priests, declaring the glory of the LORD to the nations. How far they have fallen from this goal!
Most of the Old Testament prophets were writing in this period. Their task was to call people back to the covenant which YHWH had made with them, reminding them of the terms of the covenant and proclaiming the blessings and cursings that would result from their actions.
We know from the opening verse that Isaiah ministered during the reigns of Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz and Hezekiah. He almost certainly died during the reign of evil king Manasseh. His timeline is on the screen behind me.
The book itself is in two prophetic halves including a historical section at the end of the first half. The first half of the book runs from chapters 1-39 and gives messages of judgement. Chapters 1-6 are during the reign of Uzziah and Jothan, ch7-14 are during the reign on Ahaz and 15-39 are in the reign of Hezekiah. The last four of those chapters (36-39) are a historical narrative of what happened in those days rather than just prose.
The second half of the book is particularly interesting, because it is filled with a message of hope, speaking of release from captivity, a future redeemer and a future king. The redeemer introduced here is the suffering Messiah who would come to rescue Gods people.
Taking the book as a whole, we find it starts in chapter 1 with the faithless city of God in active rebellion against Him – and ends in the final chapters with rejoicing in a New Heavens and a New Earth and a New Jerusalem. The whole book of Isaiah can be considered to be answering this question “how can the faithless city become the faithful city?”
Happily this first chapter replicates that question, thus setting the tone for the whole book.
The City is in full-on rebellion against the LORD (2-23)
They are worse than dumb animals (v2-4)
Isaiah says that the people are even more stupid than dumb animals. At least they know who they belong to, at least they know who looks after them.
The people can’t just claim ignorance of the situation - the accusation against them is clear (v4b): they have deliberately turned their back on the Holy One of Israel, deliberately spurning him.
They are like a badly beaten victim (v5-9)
The tiny nation is at the mercy of the surrounding countries. The countryside is desolate and foreigners strip the fields. Military incursions from their neighbours have left them like this. They were losing territory and couldn’t do anything about it…The LORD portrays this as the result of their rebellion - if only they would turn back to him and trust him, it would stop!
Their hands are full of blood (v10-20)
Judah was unlike the surrounding nations, because their fortunes were tied directly to their faithfulness to God. At this time they were following the religious forms, but it is abhorrent to God, it is meaningless because their whole attitude and heart is wrong.
Behind the sacrifices and offerings and prayers the people were doing wrong, ignoring justice (16-17), ignoring the oppressed and the helpless - basically ignoring the requirements of the law of Moses.
Yet even now, the LORD has a plan for dealing with their sins (v18). Their scarlet sins, reminiscent of the blood on their hands, can be made white as snow. If only they would turn back to him and trust him, it would stop!
Their city has become a prostitute, not a princess (v21-23)
The city that used to be full of justice, ruled by godly men according to the law of God is now just full of murderers. They have prostituted themselves, selling out morality for short-term personal gain.
All that was good in the city has lost its shine. The courts and politicians are motivated by bribes and gifts rather than by justice. They are no longer interested in the helpless, the orphans and the widows.
This moral collapse comes as a direct result of their rebellion against the LORD. If only they would turn back to him and trust him, it would stop.
Do we see facets of this in our own nation too? Spiritual and moral trouble? More worryingly, do we see this being reflected in the church life of our country:
losing territory in the inner cities and villages,
having a form of religion but no heart to it, no practical side to it;
having morality that can be bent or discarded according to our circumstances.
The apostle James shockingly writes (4v4) “you adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God?”
But amidst all this, there is good news: God is in charge of the situation
God will make them the faithful city once more (24-26)
God will bring judgement on his enemies (v24)
God is going to bring judgement on the people who are making themselves his enemies. In the immediate situation that Isaiah was preaching into the LORD would do it by using other nations - but towards the end of this book Isaiah has more to say about the far horizon of this prophecy when God will come to personally bring judgement and vengeance, pointing to Jesus’ role as judge.
God will purge them of their sin (v25)
Their sin is the root of their problem, and God cannot overlook it. It must be dealt with and removed fully and completely. As the book continues Gods plan for accomplishing this is revealed, pointing to Jesus’ role as sacrifice.
God will restore a just rule. (v26)
Things are going to be “like they were in the old days”. Now I’ve heard people say that nostalgia isn’t what it used to be… but in this case God is looking back to the days of king David and his son Solomon. In those days the nation was ruled by a king after Gods own heart, the borders were secure, there was justice for all, there was great glory for the city of David. Gods kingly rule will be seen in the perfect king that is expected - again, pointing to Jesus’ role as king.
This 3 pronged action: judgement, purging of sin and restoring a just rule are seen all through this book of prophecy. It is how the LORD plans to change the faithless city of these opening chapters into the faithful city of the new heavens and the new earth at the end of the book.
These words from Isaiah, written over two and half thousand years ago, give use hope for the future and prompt us to action in the present.
- Jesus has already come as our sacrifice, to purge us of sin by paying the penalty for sin in his own body on the cross. The suffering Messiah has come and completed his work, which we will be thinking of in more detail in future weeks.
- Jesus will come back again, as judge, conqueror and king. The accuracy of the prophecies about Jesus’ first appearing gives us confidence in those prophecies which are still in our future! He is coming back, Hallelujah! We don’t live in a world which is adrift from Gods plans; the creator and author of this world still has his hand on the tiller; God is still in charge of the situation.
- And finally – let us be warned by the lesson from the Israelites here... they had a form of godliness in that they made the sacrifices, said the prayers, met in congregations... but there was no compassion, justice and honesty in their day-to-day lives, which made their religious observations empty. As James writes in ch2v14-16 “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ”
- Jesus expects his people to be about his work while we wait for our Lord to return. Perhaps we can be inspired as we remind ourselves how much He has given for us.
Alex White
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