#1 Book of Isaiah 1-2:5 by Chuck Missler

I thought we'd start a new book as you know my primary interest in the scripture has been prophecy even when I was a kid I thought it would be kind of fun to number one do an Old Testament book I'm kind of an Old Testament mood and I'd like to do a book on prophecy and there is the pinnacle of prophecy a sense in the Old Testament the highest form of Hebrew writing is unequivocally the Book of Isaiah and so I thought what we might do just to shift gears from our Genesis study and the shift gears from some of the other things we're doing it might be fun to dig in we did Isaiah some years ago but for lots of reasons so many things that happened that I think it will be a book full of surprises but also our study of Isaiah is sort of a personal study for me because I'd like to talk a little bit about a personal testimony because I had the privilege when I was a teenager to be exposed to an outstanding Bible teacher who ran around Southern California teaching evening studies and I developed a close friendship with him as well tutored by him taught well in the beginning a good biblically fundamental point of view Bible was inspired I learned the reality of taking it literally I was drawn into what I think would be classified today as a premillennial pre-trib orientation I first met this particular teacher when he was doing a series on Revelation pointed out that it was in code that every code was explained in the Bible that grabbed my attention I became fascinated with that book and then of course from there was drawn into all the other classical prophetic books Daniel so forth and I group very well as a teenager went to college with the Naval Academy and even during the Naval Academy pressures and so forth was able to stay in fellowship and groove spiritually and stayed in the word and it was constructive took my commission in the Air Force and started moving around the country and my wife and I well we moved quite a bit in 34 years of marriage that itself I like to get out because in Orange County it's kind of milestone in this county if you've been married two years they say what's your secret but we moved into 34 years we've lived in 25 houses so with an executive career what have you we moved around a lot we that bring all this up is that I started off great well taught really in the word but then as I started doing studies and buying commentaries and things like I discovered some interesting things I discovered that there's there's some doubt that the Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible there was a thing called the documentary hypothesis that it was sort of scholastically naive to assume that Moses wrote those five books that actually they were written by various editors je m n o p q r st you know the funny way or whatever so i ran into that and i was not greatly disturbed by a little surprised did a little reading then i discovered there was a what you know the idea that isaiah wrote isaiah was naive that anybody that was anybody that done their homework knew that there really - Isaiah's and I thought oh that's interesting what I didn't appreciate in those formative years is how insidious and how destructive those theories are because some of us you know we into the Bible we hear these things we're not that in certain textual critisism we just move on with it and but it turns out as I look back I began to realize that I lost in my spiritual life probably twenty years because I never fell away from the word I was still interested I just always had an interest in it but I it lost its edge because every time I read something I always had that lingering doubt in my mind well did is that really what the guy said or is that some copyists error and I mean you start qualifying things and as time goes on you get you start sinking into the quagmire of modernism or liberalism I wasn't smart enough in those days to know what it was I just knew that as we moved around the country a Methodist Church here a Presbyterian Church there a Lutheran jury whatever just trying a few churches nice community we lived in eventually settling on one that was least uncomfortable but never finding a home and I wasn't smart enough in those days to put my finger and what it was that didn't click we've some neat ministers articulate bright fun guys but somehow it wasn't home and I didn't understand in those days that what I was missing was first of all a minister that took the Bible seriously because they all were products of seminary training that was all imbued with what you and I would call if we're informed liberalism one of the things to to get at one thing for an example let's just focus for an example in Isaiah because we're going to undertake a a review of Isaiah and it's going to be full of some dramatic surprises for all of us but before we go down that road I'd like to share a few things with you as we study the book of Isaiah it's consists of 66 chapters and in fairness to the critics there are some strange attributes to the book of the 66 chapters the first 39 seemed to have a certain style a certain atmosphere a certain focus and even in the English as you read it when in obviously a translation we lose much of the elegance the beauty the the pulse of the Hebrew and that's just a penalty of language translation but even in the English as you read Isaiah if you're in - as they are reading a few chapters a day when you get beyond chapter 39 you you'll notice like the gear shift is there's a fresh new breeze that starts from chapter 40 on it a different kind of a mood and so in fairness the critics there is something you can sense stylistically from the first thirty nine chapters versus the last 27 now some people will point out the Bible has how many books 66 how many books in the Old Testament thirty-nine how many the new do the arithmetic 27 okay it's interesting that Isaiah is like a mini Bible in the sense that the first thirty nine chapters Corella - they have a heaviness to them in a sense and the last 27 chapters have a freshness to them a little different mood so but lest you make too much of that reminds you that chapter divisions were introduced in the 15th century by man so you can't draw don't ever draw excessive inferences from the way chapters break up in fact the more you study the Bible you'll discover that many of the chapter breaks are in very awkward places more often than not a chapter starts at verse or - too late and often you're well advised especially dealing with a critical chapter always start a few verses earlier to get the mood - you'll realize the chapter breaks are not always put in an enlightened place so any case so making some perception of Isaiah from the chapter organization is naive so in fairness the critics there are some problems so to speak in that sense but it's interesting that we survived till the 1700s and didn't have any trouble with Isaiah people read their Bibles and liked Isaiah until 1780 at German by the name of Kop Kop pé wrote a paper casting some concern suggesting some clouds or doubts about chapter 50 and then when one guy writes a paper you know that tends to cause other people to write papers and so pretty soon people are publishing papers chapter 13 and 14 and 23 and all of this diatribe continues and would probably not have been that harmful until 1889 were a very prominent commentator on the old testament Dilek who had been fighting these guys finally caved in and agreed that gee maybe there really were two Isaiah's and that opened the floodgates and so it became very fashionable among so-called and I'll put this in quotations higher critics there was an era that still continues today where men with lots of degrees and trying to impress their their constituencies from various universities love to write papers on this obscure thing or that obscure thing and on it goes now the first point I'd like to get across this idea whether it's Isaiah or Genesis or whatever these clouds that occur are far more destructive to your personal faith and walk than maybe obvious until you've experienced it some personal experience because on the one hand I was well taught and on the other hand I blew I'd say from the mid 50s to the late 60s anyway by being on the shelf loving the Lord like and you know enjoying the Bible and yet not in there you know on the sidelines why for lots of reasons most of which emerge from these clouds these nagging doubts that liberalism tends to bring now what I could do tonight but don't panic I won't is go through these arguments explain why the arguments are there and refute them one by one because they're wrong you can attack these problems scholastically and nail them to the wall surprisingly enough and we could spend hours talking about the textual subtleties that demonstrate that these arguments about to isaiah's are nonsense but if I do that not only will I bore you to death I'll deprive you of a gigantic shortcut an enormous insight that perhaps is more important than the issue itself I'm going to suggest to you that these 66 books written by 40 authors are designed as a message system I've said that many times and you'll hear it again that the Holy Spirit has architected if I may use that phrase from Genesis 1 to revelation 22 every detail what does that mean that means any heresy any notion that sweeps through the body of Christ does not catch him by surprise he knew it was coming and he has put the answer in the word now I spent I should say I wasted a lot of time reading dull dry papers on the documentary hypothesis which is usually the phrase applied to the five books of Moses arguments the Deuter Isaiah and by the way not just two guys also at three Isaiah theory there's all these theories come and go because it sells books and it also impresses professors that have the power to grant a PhD or whatever and I'm an engineer by training but a businessman by a professional background and I don't feel in business you'll discover the top executives and major corporations view a PhD with distrust with exceptions certain scientific fields most people in business have a PhD hide it they try not to let it get out and it's interesting that in business a PhD is regarded as a symptom of insecurity rather than a credential and as life goes on I'm beginning to understand that more and more but something to offend everyone at night again sorry I spent all that time and I was fascinated to discover John chapter 12 so I would like to start our little exploration of Isaiah partly because it's in the form of a personal testimony and partly because it will set the mood of what we're up to but in John chapter 12 there is a passage that when I finally understood its significance I almost wept with tears now in John there is a particular argument being made and I don't really want to take our time tonight to get into the substance of the argument it's sort of incidental to our purpose let's look at John chapter 12 picking up about verse 37 recognizing there's a discussion going on I'll leave it to yourself to read the chapter and get the flavor of the issue the issue is not what I'm after it's a subtle iam after verse 37 but though he had done so many miracles before them yet they believed not on him well that's a very common phrase in the Gospels where Jesus would do something and yet despite what he did they were still skeptical he can heal he can raise from the dead and they the Pharisee still say gee give us a time but in any case but in this case the armies that they believed not on him verse 38 that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled and I love that phrase you see you have any doubts about Isaiah's office what's his role he's a prophet how do I know John's all's me right but let's move on that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke quote Lord who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the lord been revealed right is a quote from Isaiah down in verse 40 there is another quote from Isaiah verse 40 he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted that I should heal them these things say of Isaiah when he saw his glory and spoke of him nevertheless among the chief rulers also and on it goes now here's the point here are two quotes from Isaiah right now if you do your homework verse 40 turns out to be a quotation for my Isaiah chapter 6 he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see incidentally verse 40 is parallel or analogous to Matthew 13 if you recall their times when Jesus gave them parables it was not to reveal it was to hide there were times when he wanted to communicate to his disciples specifically by the power of the Spirit and yet not necessarily make that widely known to the public and parables have that attribute you can study Matthew 13 to get that background this is an analogous type of remark here about in Isaiah yet blind of their eyes in other words that they should not see with our eyes or understand without sword but the main point I'm getting at tonight isn't that issue verse 40 in John 12 is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 6 verse 38 is a quotation that that saying Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which you spoke saying Lord who hath believed our report to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed many of you in this audience will recognize that immediately as the opening stanza of Isaiah chapter 53 alright Isaiah 53 sometimes called by scholars the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament it's the pivotal chair you could take two chapters Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and present the gospel of Christ to anyone that accepts the Old Testament I mean and accepts it literally okay now here's the point though that I'm so indebted to verse 39 I market my Bible with tears of gratitude verse 39 between those two verses it says therefore they could not believe because that Isaiah said again what does that mean we've got a quote from Isaiah 53 notice that's in so-called second Isaiah see Isaiah by the critics is classified first 39 chapters they call Isaiah 1 chapters 40 to 66 they call Isaiah to the second Isaiah right John didn't know that you say verse 38 is from Isaiah 53 verse 40 is from Isaiah 6 and between those is this precious inside verse 39 therefore they could not believe because of that Isaiah said again same guy said both now for me personally this flushed down the toilet acres of dry papers that I had wasted years trying to understand and learn and background why you either accept the Bible or you don't want to have discovered not just because of this for a thousand of the reasons either buy it or you don't if somebody says you know I don't believe the Bible like this that any other thing I can respect that position I can understand it I can deal with it what amazes me are the people who have the fancy degrees and claim to accept the Bible accept this that need all these footnotes well Moses didn't write Genesis and by the way Isaiah didn't write Isaiah and first thing you know the thing shreds it comes apart like a knit dress you know you pull one thread Mnet's you'll discover the interesting thing about the Bible is it's entered dependency everything is so interconnected that you discover a cloud or a smudge on one part has echoes all through it now the flipside of that is the excitement you get when you realize that it all hangs together tightly every verse every chapter of this whole book is an integral whole and what I've tried to do tonight and these remarks is not only share what I think's a relevant personal testimony I also am trying to give you a tool that can affect your whole life and that is to interpret Scripture with Scripture let the Holy Spirit deal with these problems I have saved you in the few minutes we spent together so far hours of library research that will be at box canyon so I'm going to tell you I'm a technically trained engineer I've studied the Bible in effect for 40 years taught it for 20 and the more I study and dig in it the more I am awed by the integrity of the design of Holy Spirit in this Cadiz collection of 66 books in fact if there's any one thing that gives me strength and comfort in a sea of adversity is the recognition that this book is in fact holy it is not a collection that contains the Word of God to a view that the Bible contains the word of God implies that somebody has to separate the wheat from the chaff nonsense the statement that's more relevant is that this Bible is the Word of God and when you start discovering in the most obscure genealogies germs of truth that impact everything else when you begin to realize that every subtlety ties into everything else that's when you stand back in utter all now as we approach this book it's going to be kind of fun because we've chosen to embark on exploration of the high ground one of the most interesting subject in my mind is prophecy and some of the richest most profound prophecy is in the Old Testament and the most comprehensive book in the Old Testament prophetically is the Book of Isaiah we call them a major prophet there's five prophets that are called major prophets it does not mean they're more important that just means they wrote more major in the sense of bulk large and Isaiah is the largest 66 books but what's going to make Isaiah fun is the discovery of what's in this book one of the things he you and I in general as Christians generally get a lot of exposure the New Testament and they're certain topics that are very topical among us for example we talk about the Antichrist I've been doing a personal study on that lately for lots of reasons and I was flabbergasted discover that most of what we know about the Antichrist is our the Old Testament he has 33 titles in the Old Testament there are 20 Psalms focusing on the Antichrist but Jeff know what to look for and what's interesting that's one reason I guess that I have sort of at the moment at least I'm going through a phase where I'm really anxious to dig in deeper into that portion of the scripture that sometimes will read devotionally and swing-through but we really don't dig out the Nuggets and I think a review not too laborious we'll try to keep it moving but of Isiah will be very very rewarding now I like to before we get in too much into Isaiah is to get a little bit of background Isaiah is different than a lot of these guys you know a lot some of these prophets were of fairly obscure backgrounds Isaiah we don't know as much as we'd like to know about him his son of a model with Amos by the way both the first and last letters in Hebrew are different and nothing do with Amos the Prophet son of amos first of all i isaiah was a man of rank we know from chapter 7 he had direct access to the king as he's a heavy he also was an intimate friend of the high priest so these inferences cause us to recognize it Isaiah is a little different kind of guy than a lot of the books of the Old Testament we're written by the other thing about Isaiah that we will miss in the English pretty much is that it becomes clearly an extreme case it's the highest level of Hebrew writing if you're a student of language Isaiah is the high ground it's almost an inventory of every rhetorical device you can mention epigrams and allegories and analogies and poetry every category of rhetoric every category of rhetoric you can find in the Book of Isaiah it's a masterpiece in that regard obviously that's not our primary interest I mentioned it in passing but even you even will have in what's really amazing and we'll show you so when we get to chapter 7 we have encryptions in the book and if you're a student of secret writing is one of the agencies or what have you the encryptions that are in Jeremiah and Isaiah are well known if you're student of cryptography and they're regarded by the trade as simply interesting historical novelties but if you're a mystic like I am the fact that the Holy Spirit has encryptions in the scripture causes one to wonder what else there is if the CIA computers can find something that's one thing what can you find if the Holy Spirit's working with you it's a whole another question will we get to that when the time comes also to get some of these things out of the way getting behind us I'd like to tell you there are some traditions about Isaiah now I say traditions you realize I'm speaking of information that we infer from extra biblical sources before I get into that I should also share with you recognizing some of you are new here and may not know me as some of the regulars who have been together almost 20 years so I apologize for being a little repetitious but you need to know what you're up against some people as audience that can you imagine being abused for eighteen year twenty years whether it's been I have a strange attitude about traditions and doesn't mean I'm right I'm just sharing this so you at least know where I'm coming from I hold what I sometimes like to dignify by calling it constructive cynicism but I think most traditions delete most all traditions probably wrong traditions come from man and the traditions that I have explored generally are incorrect from all this I have I just have this sort of caution or sin is the more attitude thing towards traditions that the most traditions that if they're either biblical if they're biblically rooted they'll buy it if they're not biblically rooted I always treat it with great suspicion it may not be harmful it may not be relevant but I still do it that way and I don't care where you're talking about the date of Christmas we've been all through that everybody knows that Jesus was not born in the winter Christmas celebration really emerges from from the corruption of or I should say the tailoring of some pagan holidays and we've all been through that when we study the Christmas background if you study the Stations the cross in Israel they were picked by Constantine's mother right and I sure what theological background qualifies her to do that but anyway most of those today I believe are regarded with great suspicion among serious scholars you know the Dome of the rock you know it's presumably among other things celebrates not only the location of the temple and that confusion is understandable and view the history but it also presumably celebrates abraham's offering of isaac well that's got all kinds of problems because when Abraham offered Isaac there was a chubby site city there you see remember he offered him justice 22 and justice 14 milk is a dick was hanging around that but then parts huh so it wasn't desolate place and with Abraham offer Isaac you know a few yards away from the current Debbie said mark I don't think so that was it wasn't the high ground what are they able to offer Isaac I think on the high ground we covered that so the point is some of these traditions that cloud our view are and if they're not biblically rooted I regarded with great suspicion so having said all that I still owe it to you to share such traditions as we know about Isaiah first of all turns out traditionally he was the cousin of King Uzziah I know what you can do with that piece of information you know and Jerusalem was his home that seems to be understood he was married and had two sons there's some inferences from some misunderstandings that he was married twice that's really I think textual confusion he seems to me Mary had two sons fine we'll talk about his two sons because he names him in a strange way and there's some lessons in that but we'll take that when we get there the other tradition about Isaiah that's worth mentioning is traditionally it's believed that he was martyred by Manasseh by being sawn in half the fact that he was martyred by Manasseh is in fact in the Mishnah the fact that he was sawn in half with a wooden saw think about that a little bit was first mentioned by Justin Martyr in 150 AD so while it's extra-biblical it's very early and yet we also have a reference in Hebrews 11 or it lists some specific men of a faith but then it summarizes others saying even prophets that were sawn asunder right and so it is extra biblical but generally widely regarded that Isaiah was martyred by Manasseh that seems to be reason to be documented and that he was in fact sawn in half and being sort of a flippant nature I'm always intrigued that Isaiah being sawn in half to me was done by cop in 1780 with the to Isaiah theory rather than Manasseh saw but in any case now it confirms your worst suspicions about chuck Missler I'll keep doing some other things about Isaiah that will catch us as we go but I can't resist sharing a few things with you you know if I talked to you about the helmet of salvation and the personal armor of God you immediately think of Ephesians 6 don't you and you know we're always told that there was Paul writing his letter to Ephesians chained to a Roman soldier and we always visualized the helmet of all these different things as if paul is looking at this roman using that by analogy in his letter to ephesians and that may be true i'm not knocking it but it's interesting that those phrases paul uses come out of isaiah you will get into the helmet of salvation and so forth if I said to you behold I see a new heavens and a new earth where am i quoting from well revelation yeah how about Isaiah I could give you probably a dozen quotes on a little written quiz and you would say each one of those are from Revelation and you'll be surprised to discover some of those aren't even in Revelation they're in Isaiah and don't do that now we'll get to that when we get there so one of the things and I'll backtrack a little bit for those that may it be among us for you know that are joining this heresy one a by chuck Missler for the first time there's some other views that I have but I want to get them out so in case you don't know me you understand the kinds of things we're going to be digging out of Isaiah I believe as I said these 66 books written by 40 authors over thousands of years are design as an integral message system and I don't mean just the themes of the overview I mean every detail every word every phrase every place name every number every genealogy is designed skillfully and I think there's all the elements of design here that you'd find for example the DNA molecule or something else I think there's the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit are all through this book now that leads to the whole issue of the time domain and I won't develop that whole idea now other than to remind you that you and I are physical we have mass we're in gravity therefore we have a time clock and we live in three-and-a-half dimensions we live in three dimensions of space Hank length width height breadth right we also live in what some people might call a half dimension in time it's not a full dimension because we can only move forward we can't move back we can move forward and look back we can't look forward or move back you can't remember tomorrow can you anyone remember tomorrow and here it was we'd have to pray for you but so we're in a physical dimension called time but we know today in modern physics it's a physical property we'll have a tough time relating that is laymen but if you're in physics or in mathematics you realize it time is not necessarily linear or not as that is not absolute it had a beginning just like not only matter and energy but space itself had a beginning and we know that now now god of course is outside time it's not that he has eternity lots of time on his hands he's outside the time domain all together and he demonstrates that to us by sending us a message a series of messages that demonstrate his transcendence see outside time by telling us the end from the beginning Amos chapter 3 verse 7 says God does nothing but that which he reveals to his servants the prophets that not only says that God tells us what's coming it says it he doesn't do anything he hasn't told us chew on that one for a while so one of the things that I'd like us to be sensitive to as we move into prophecy I don't care whether you're in the laboratory or the observatory or in a launching platform today this whole idea of time we know is not linear is nonlinear and it is a property that can be transcended and you and I as we spend time together as they are going to enjoy that we're going to move by the power of the spirit outside time and we're going to see in Isaiah God's whole plan his whole plan from the miracle of our origin whatever that means unto the mystery of our destiny one of the reasons Isaiah is so befuddled the critics and I'm not going to be flipping here I mean quite serious is the scope of Isaiah vastly transcends the scope of the critics and I'm not saying that to needle the critics not that I'd miss a chance but that's not my point as we begin to understand the scope of what Isaiah is going to deal with it's going to be staggering in its sweep and Genesis talked about the gap theory that comes out of Isaiah 48 I'll go through a little summary some of things we go to here in a minute something else that Isaiah is going to deal with you know I always talk about the Bible being a message system it's designed right I don't know if we have any communication engineers in the audience but if we were designing a communication system whether it's a phone or video or whatever if we're trying to get a message from point A to point B we typically enjoy between those two points some bandwidth that is some amount of channels we might have a very poor communication channel doesn't have much room we're gonna have a tremendously broad whatever we have whatever we have we have we have a communication channel if you're an engineer designing a communication system and if you're designing that system anticipating hostile jamming that is you've got between point a and point B you're anticipating an enemy that's going to try to either block or confuse the traffic you anticipate that your design and one of the things you do is you take the message you're trying to send and you spread it over the available bandwidth you don't send the message in any one place because it's easier to jam right you take the message and spread it that's one one of the strategies using electronic countermeasures for an example why am I getting into this because we discover that this book these 66 books are designed with that in mind let me show you what I mean in your Bible is there a chapter on baptism is there a chapter on how to get saved take any biblical doctrine can you find it in one place no you'll discover that every idea of consequence in the scripture is diffused throughout the whole scripture if you're going to study salvation Redemption Baptist you name it name any major doctrine you go to a chain reference don't you starts in Genesis right there's a chain that the ideas that God is trying to send to you or diffuse throughout your bandwidth why because it makes it resilient to hostile jamming tear a page out of the Bible what have you lost there's someplace else you can cross check in other words it's like a hologram you can drill a hole and always look around Pole hologram is a Fourier transform of a spatial image the Bible in a sense is like a Fourier transform of God's true it's diffused everywhere you may lose resolution but you never lose the data now why am I getting it because Isaiah says so we're going to suffer when get when we get to Isaiah 28 29 we're discovered that God through eyes explains why he does this I established my truth line upon line precept upon precept here a little there little it's not accidental he's designed it that way for probably lots of reasons one of which is it appears he's anticipated that he's going to be dealing in a hostile alien environment as anticipated that every problem you have every heresy you encounter every attack on truth is anticipated by the Holy Spirit and that's a great comfort as a great discovery and it's a lot of fun one other thing we talked about texts Isaiah's kind of fun too because in 1947 in cave number one of Qumran they found some Scrolls that are part of the collection that you and I know as the Dead Sea scrolls right there are lots of things they found the Dead Sea that make up in the scrolls but the most valuable thing they found was 10.2 inches high and 24 feet long a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah and the books are full of the little subtle differences between how it looks versus what we thought it said and you what the net of all that is no difference the flabbergasting discovery out of the Dead Sea Scrolls is that the Isaiah you and I have is accurate there's a couple of subtle trivial things that it allows researchers to talk about but they have no impact on the content of the book that's a staggering that's a staggering empirical verification of the soundness of the text we have for the things you and I are gonna be interested in there's only one thing that'll be adequate for our purposes and that is that Isaiah is part of the Old Testament how many knew that good the Old Testament was translated into Greek from to 70 to 85 BC and the critics say well gee it might have even gone into you know into the 200 you know they have taken spread over a century hey we're still talking more than one century before Christ was born even if you grant those arguments nonsense cinch because what's going to grab us but by the way that's the other problem that's why the critics have talked about Isaiah 2 because the prophecies in Isaiah chapter 40 through 66 are so flabbergasting so precise that the critics have to late date if you confront something supernatural and you want you and you feel compelled to deny it you have to argue that well gee it wasn't written then it was written later well let me tell you they've got a great problem trying to prove it was written after it was translated in the Greek yeah in fact by the time you're through reading Isaiah you'll feel convinced that it had to be written after the book of Revelation was written a couple of other things there's some concepts in Isaiah that you'll find interesting he has among other things he has a name for God he calls God in number of cases the Holy One of Israel it's a phrase he uses it's idiomatic of Isaiah he uses that 25 times in his book why am i making point it because it only appears 6 times elsewhere in the Old Testament so it's a phrase that's almost characteristic of Isaiah right and by the way it occurs 12 times in Isaiah 1 and 13 times Isaiah 2 so Isaiah seems to have distributed that quite uniformly he speaks of God's highway seven times he speaks of the remnant to a dozen times the remnant of Israel is going to be a popular theme with him that's gonna be very interesting because you and I are going to have a lot of interest in the remnant of Israel he speaks of Zion 18 times 10 times in Isaiah 1 and I'm when I say Isaiah 1 I'm being cute I mean in quotes obviously there's a 1 Isaiah but from the idiom of the critics Isaiah is going to talk a lot about the pangs of childbirth prophetically speaking those of us that are students of Daniel and Matthew and so forth no that's a popular concept in prophecy doesn't occur just a couple of times half a dozen times in Isaiah alone the idea that that the fulfillment of prophecy is like a woman giving birth the pangs you know getting more and more intense and so forth he will deal with that frequently ok a couple of other overview things as where this is sort of the get acquainted evening as we get started in a new book it's I like to get some of this background stuff out of the way or saying gee what are we in for here what sighs they'll about let's talk a little bit about it one of the exciting things and I don't think we'll get into it tonight but we will next time the first six chapters of Isaiah the first natural unit and in Chapter six we have a vision of the throne of God and we will take that occasion to explore not only what Isaiah tells us which is substantial but I'm going to give you since we have a break next week I'd like to give you some homework assignments so those of you since you've got a free evening you hadn't planned on let me fill it up for you I'd like you in in between now and the next time we meet to read Isaiah six because obviously we'll get to that but I like it fresh in your mind read Isaiah six but I'd also like you to explore Ezekiel chapter 10 and revelation chapters four and five those three passages Isaiah six Ezekiel 10 in Revelation four and five the thing that ties them together is those are the three major places where we have in view the throne of God that's a glib phrase it's hard for us perhaps to conceptualize that the creator of the universe the one that's beyond time and space the one that is responsible for everything has a throne that's conceptually something we might intellectually consent to we have a hard time can visualizing it we're going to see three different people who had the opportunity to confront the throne of God to be there we're going to discover that those three passages have some things in common that's always interesting to see what seems to be a common to those three experiences we'll also discover those three experiences have some differences some of those we probably won't understand some we can draw some interesting conjectures from so we'll explore the throne of God as you move through Isaiah of course after Isaiah six comes Isaiah seven I know that doesn't come as a surprise but I say Isaiah seven has of course the virgin birth we talked glibly about the virgin birth as they as seven hits that head on the sasaki it's the second time it's mentioned the scripture when's the first time Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 right on target but as eya 7:14 is the classic passage and we'll deal with that and we'll also deal with some of the nonsense that indict Sande condemned some of our modern translations who seem to stumble over some fundamentals chapter 9 messianic for unto us a son is born unto us a child is given as government shall be upon his shoulder who the government'll be on his shoulder people the church that say it's supposed to be on there we'll talk about that a little bit but then we get as we move through we'll get to chapters 13 and 14 and they're going to be a grabber literal Babylon will talk about Saddam Hussein what's going on you know 62 miles south of Baghdad Isaiah 13 and 14 have a lot to say about that some of the most exciting things in your lifetime and mine is Saddam Hussein rebuilding Babylon why because of Isaiah 13 and 14 we get a whole clearest perspective of that and of course you after 14 has another interesting thing that will introduce us to the whole role of Satan the reality of Lucifer and the fact that he's going to be incarnate and walking this earth and we'll talk about that well also as we go through they will talk about Isaiah talks about a number of things Isaiah talks about the rapture Isaiah talks about the Antichrist a lot of interest we talk about the treaty at Daniel chapter 9 Isaiah talks about the Covenant with hell that Israel gets involved in so we'll get into some of that and of course when we get in the 40s it's really exciting chapter 40 of course John the Baptist will talk about John the Baptist will explore the possibility that he was actually wearing the mantle of Elijah that was you know that's one reason he may have been drawing the crowd out there in Jericho why would people from Jerusalem I don't we've been to Jerusalem you want to go visit Jericho you get a rent-a-car and plan the day that's a drive but you're telling me that people from Jerusalem are out there visiting the baptisms at the Jordan which is essentially Jericho you know on foot in such numbers that the temple authorities had to send inquiry to find out what was going on why was John the Baptist so popular certainly wasn't his message he missed the time that they were teaching tact and diplomacy one of the conjectures will explore the validity of those conjectures is that the idea that Elijah's mantel that fell on Elijah was stored in the temple in the altar of incense and was picked up by Zechariah to give to his son when he was born and that John the Baptist may it's a conjecture it's a it's something we'll talk about one get there there's these things will all emerge out of Isaiah when we get to chapter 45 of course we get this incredible thing about Cyrus house Iris's career was summarized in a letter written to him by name 150 years before the fact that's kind of interesting Cyrus thought so also in that chapter we'll talk about the creation of God we'll learn some things about the creation you won't find in Genesis you find in as a ax 48 we'll also discover the Trinity and stuff it's going to be fun we'll discover discoveries in Isaiah that are of the New Testament we'll find out why Jesus did was never recognized after his resurrection at first as they gives us a clue Isaiah will tell us also why the pharoah that persecuted the Jews in Egypt was not an Egyptian and give us some insights there thanks to Stephen Excel as s avidin will tie that together will also make it chapter 61 will take that passage that Jesus Christ selected to open his ministry and understand why 63 of course we'll find a physical description of Jesus Christ in a second coming stained with the blood of his enemies coming from of all places basra and why what all that's about and of course as we get into the late 60s and wrap up the book will get a complete pricee of the book of Revelation we'll discover that most of what we know about the Millennium is not from the New Testament it's from Isaiah and on it goes so Isaiah should be a fun fun book and the good news is I've gone through my dry and dusty notes we are now faced with the prospect of going into Isaiah directly Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1 didn't think we'd get there did you I got the regulars or shaking their head no didn't think so I had some more notes but I'll save those for next time the vision of Isaiah the Sun famous which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of uzziah jotham ahaz and hezekiah kings of judah spans four kings four kings the focus of Isaiah is on Judah and Jerusalem as you all know after Solomon there was civil war and the nation of Israel split into two houses the northern group of tribes calling themselves the house of Israel and the southern group calling themselves the house of Judah and obviously when we say Jew today we technically denote Abel you mean Judah but connotative I obviously include all that are sons of Jacob if you will the sons of Israel as we study the succession of kings in both north and south the northern group we discover those kings go from bad to worse when we go to study Judah they also decline but there's a couple of places where there's you know some repair if you will but that if you were somehow going to plot trend lines they're both the trend lines are dismal but the northern kingdom goes to pot faster and God in about 722 BC uses the Assyrians as his mechanism for judgment the Assyrians who are the dominant world Empire at that time conquer and take captive the northern kingdom the house of Israel at about 722 BC the southern kingdom Judah survives about a hundred and twelve years longer because they while they're declining there is here and there some upstrokes if you will but all in all they also decline they also fail to be faithful to God's requirements and so he ultimately uses Babylon to judge takes do to capture the famous 70 years Babylonian captivity when Isaiah is writing Assyria is the dominant world Empire Babylon is a little city on the afraid ease that's just a pawn of Assyrian politics it's a nothing in a sense you follow me what makes Isaiah a little provocative is that Isaiah talks about the destruction of Babylon now to the readers and to his listeners and whatever that must've sounded bizarre you know because Babylon was nothing it was yet to rise to become the world empire before declining and Isaiah has that all in view but it's easy as we read Isaiah to get this fuzzy and not have this clear in our mind so something else to be alert to in the Book of Isaiah there are times that will speak of Israel in a Connaughton of sense meaning the whole nation even though they're divided there are other times the word Israel refers denotative Lee to the northern kingdom and we'll have to sort of be alert to the context as to it what that's saying okay but his primary focus is to Judah and Jerusalem in fact Jerusalem is provocative it has a lot to say about Jerusalem and he has 30 different names for Jerusalem the daughter of Zion and other thing you'll see there's different phrases they've used but it's interesting that use that that many different things so we'll keep moving here verse to hear o heavens and give ear o earth for the LORD hath spoken I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me now we're discovered the early parts of Isaiah are the heaviest parts and God is going to lay it on verse 3 the Ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib but Israel does not owe my people does not consider that's kind of interesting how many of you have pets the pets know you do they respond to you we've got a dog as it come when you call them most of the time God says I got a smart dog I say coming aren't you and either comes or he doesn't know it's an interesting metaphor that Isaiah uses here the Ox knoweth is owner and the the ass is master script but the contrast God's people is painful isn't it now as we read this it's obviously one of the many things we should do as we read this is see if the shoe fits yeah I wonder if you and I are as conscious and devoted to the Lord as your dog is when you come home glad to see you never ignores you you've got his undivided attention and you watch that is that's kind of cute and that's one of the reasons you have a dog I guess they say everybody has a dog a totally adores you should always have a cat that also totally ignores you to just keep it balanced it's interesting how a pet like that can shame us as the attitude we should have the Lord does he have our undivided attention he calls do we listen well we'll keep moving verse four our sinful nation a people laden with iniquity a seed of evildoers children that are corrupters they have forsaken the Lord they have provoked the Holy One of Israel there's that phrase Isaiah's going to use that a lot they provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger they are gone away backward that's a timely phrase you thought backsliding was a Christian idiom right no that's right Isaiah they have gone away backwards that's exactly what it means you know when I read these things it always disturbs me that we have the capacity to cause God anger and pain those aren't anthropomorphic phrases God is righteously indignant and he's going his wrath is going to be poured out in fact it's awesome for you and I that his patience is forestalled it's this long we'll talk more about that here shortly before this chapter is over it always startled me I think I've shared this with you before but it's on my heart I can remember once having a circumstance occur with one of my children that manifested in a particular situation incredible ingratitude Allen boy with the fact situation is not important but there was a circumstance where in this particular case it was rather dramatic that this particular child was amazingly ungrateful and as I was pondering that I got a profound insight you know if the child had misbehaved season that both sons and daughters I'll be neuter here I won't mention who it was as they may listen to the tape but the point is if that child had misbehaved broken a rule of some kind I can deal with that I can meet out some kind of punishment figuratively speaking you know take the child to the woodshed you know impose some kind of appropriate hopefully a response to their disobedience I can deal with disobedience right as a father what do you do with ingratitude if I have a child who's ungrateful what do I do you don't spank the child for that the other parent might or there's other things you might do but I'm speaking from my point of view what can I do answer feel pain and that's about it I mean the problem is broader than just some circumstantial thing it goes deeper but the point is what's my response to feel pain and as I was contemplating that you know the difference between disobedience and gratitude I was stunned to realize something else when I am disobedient to the Father what's he going to do he can correct me gently if I'm listening and if as I'm up soon as I usually am he has to you know get a bigger stick right as they say don't force it get a bigger hammer right when I am ungrateful what can he do feel pain he's a father and only father's this audience can know what I'm talking about you have to be a father to understand the father heart of God and I remember sitting almost crying as I realized somehow that my innumerable ingratitude cause God pained it really shook me up to realize that a puny thing like myself can cause the god of the universe pain blew me away I'll leave you with that I'll leave you with it what did you about it but I talked to him about it for one thing remember first John 1:9 that's the Christians bar of soap right if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness he's prepared to scrub report card clean if we acknowledge it and ask him to that's a pretty good deal still to understand the father heart of God well we're off the subject verse 5 as it contains why should ye be stricken any more he's focusing on them see it's 5th to the second person ye will revolt more and more the whole head is sick the whole heart faint from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores and even in the English comes across that Isaiah is pretty eloquent he's obviously speaking spiritually but he's using physiological terms to dramatize it I mean they don't have a small malady some sore that's got to be healed from head to toe there putrifying with well I would get more graphic Isaiah's done it for us the whole head is sick the whole heart faint the sole of foot even to the head no soundness in it aren't you glad this is our Israel's report card not yours in mind or is it they have not been closed neither bound up neither mollified with ointment in other words they're not even treated your country is desolate your cities are burned with fire your land foreigners devour it in your presence and it is desolate as overthrown by foreigners the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard as a lodge in the garden of cucumbers as a besieged city daughter of Zionism Jerusalem Jerusalem's interesting city it's been besieged 40 times it has been destroyed 32 times since 1948 it's had four major Wars any time you turn around they're threatening a jihad and I keep hoping they'll have won because Israel needs the land every time they have a jihad the borders get a little bigger I'm just talking to some friends about the West Bank I said which River I'd look at Genesis 50 now Justin is 12 anyway daughter of Zion is left in this boot anivia there's a logic in a garden of cucumbers those are all idioms familiar to his readers as Abbasid city except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us very small remnant authors that word again we should have been like Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrha now leave up to you to look it up between your notes those you're taking notes you might put Romans 929 Paul quotes this verse no big deal but you might those of you that want to just take a little bite out of your own you can go to Roman's 9 and see what Paul does in verse 29 but the other thing I'd like to deal with you notice here he says we should have been like Sodom and we should have been like Gomorrah where is Sodom and where is Gomorrah today anybody here from Sodom or Gomorrah that's one reason I was glad to get out of the defense industry because I could see it coming that someday the homosexuals have pushed to be a recognized minority and therefore be subject to affirmative action so all of you that employ employees have the requirement to employ your fair percentage of homosexuals and I can see that the defense community is starting to happen and I'm glad to be out of that business Billy Graham really summarized it I love his quote many years ago he said it spoke of America but it certainly applies California he says if God doesn't judge America he's going to have to apologize a Sodom and Gomorrah and if you look at this country and you realize where we're headed especially the state of California it's a sad give you another example it causes me to weep friend of mine has a ministry down near Escondido area he happens to be the Baptist background we as a school for girls who were in trouble I what I mean by that girls weren't drugs or that are you know in in in the middle teens and sleeping around the neighborhood and that sort of thing if you're a parent and face that it's a tough thing what do you do and one of the things you can do there are a few schools like this that have the facilities where they'll take a gal like that typically for one year program and give them the scripture and bring them the law you know at least most of them do come to the Lord Jesus Christ while they're there but they certainly do get the benefit of a good very rigorous tough but well administered program and they usually have something short of a hundred girls down there and they've done this for years and that while the track record isn't impeccable it's remarkable but what's interesting is the state of California looks at those kinds of facilities and wants to license them what that means is they got to have regular smoke breaks and it means that the boyfriends they were sleeping with that you're trying to separate them from has visitation rights and honor they have all these rules that guarantee that the person will not return to a spiritual walk well what's interesting is that state of California violating all the civil rights and the premises without proper order sequestered the files interviewed the girls without the parents permission and have kind of shut this place down and that's tragic they've written the governor they've done all kinds of things state of California apparently is quite aggressively hostile to Christian activities now that may not be the governor's personal fault there's there's active people on staff that have taken this on as a challenge of all shapes and size I'm just sharing one but it's tragic that this Christian operation has written all the churches across the country for help and the only person that replied and did reply and offered them some alternative facilities and tried to help but Jen parently generally tried to help was the Mormon Church in Utah what a tragic tragic commentary on the body of Christ it's visible form the real body of Christ is of course invisible but interesting I got off the subject began denied okay it's not off the subject we should have been like Sodom and we should have been like Gomorrah now that's an interesting phrase why is interesting phrase because in Revelation chapter 11 verse 8 it speaks of Jerusalem as Sodom and Egypt we might turn to Revelation chapter 11 just to pick up another insight as we do this so it'll be useful to you as we go Revelation chapter 11 speaks the first couple verses about the rebuilding of the temple verse 3 on talked about these two witnesses these strange characters that men are witnesses then eventually of course the Antichrist puts them down the only celebration on the earth in the Book of Revelations when they set Sun gifts to one another because these two witnesses dead and their dead bodies then lie in the street right verse 8 their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt I see what the writer in the book of Revelation is taking for granted generally is that you have a command a mastery of the Old Testament there are 357 direct quotes have the Old Testament in the book of Revelation so it the writer generally assumes that you really have command the rest the Bible now in this case though just to make sure you don't misunderstand that he's speaking metaphorically notice what he says it spiritually called Sodom in one sense Egypt in another but just so you don't misunderstand he also says where also our Lord was crucified was Lord crucified in Egypt was he crucified inside no it see in other words those he's using metaphorically but so that you don't misunderstand what city are these two other bodies of these two witnesses lining in what city Jerusalem but it's called Sodom why because the writer assumes that you know Isaiah among other places where Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom spiritually speaking verse 10 here the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom and otherwise rulers of Jerusalem give ear unto the law of our God he people of Gomorrah now obviously you get from the tone that since autumn or a long history it's back in you know Genesis 19 that there you know it rendered into ashes verse 11 to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me Isaiah here is going to take off and attack religious formalism now he is going to attack this rather aggressively rather eloquently and you and I in the comfort of our pews can look at this and say well gee Israel isn't Israel awful to have been so superficial with their formalism and not really understand the heart the intent of what was behind this they were going through the motions not the realities right let's not be so clumsy let's recognize that while it Isaiah is focusing on Judah Jerusalem as we read this again it's one of those things that let's keep our antenna up and see if it some of this can't apply to ourselves to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts I delight not in the blood of Bullock's or of lambs or of he goats wait a minute I thought he retained all that is that what Leviticus is all about the Torah in that was all about all these rules and all these God is saying enough already he says Here I am full and he's saying it just the way you and I would say I am full of the burnt offerings of rams the fat of fed beasts I delight not in the blood of bullets or of lambs or of he goats when ye come to appear before me who has required this at your hand to tread my courts bring no more vain oblations a hockey word vain oblations incense is an abomination unto me and by the way I was intrigued with one variation of this incense as an abomination another way of translating that Isaiah calls it the abominable smudge and you see the concept of incense levitical E is like prayers of the Saints the golden altar in the tabernacle speaks of intercession if you will and and we'll talk more about that later but but the the idea of the incense altar in the tabernacle is the incense all through the scripture you'll find a a Levitical symbolism of incense verses prayers in other words they're used metaphorically while it's interesting that in this case the incense or the prayers if you will well are like abominable smudge now here living in Southern California this has a very timely metaphor for us now we don't we no longer permit the what used to be called oil smudge pots remember that to keep the crops from freezing there was a there were techniques that of course contributed to the air pollution so they're absolutely today but the point is as I read verse 13 I think of I think of LA on a bad day but bring no more vain oblations incense or is an abominable smudge unto me the new moons and Sabbath's calling of assemblies I cannot bear it is iniquity even the solemn eating so God is saying here that the very things that he's ordained in the rules and the ordinances he wants no part of if the heart isn't there see obviously it's not that they should abandon those practices his point is of course is that their heart isn't it it's vain formalism how many of us are guilty of that tell me of it I encourage you if you haven't done it recently I encourage you to read Revelation chapter 2 and 3 the book of Revelation obviously has 22 chapters but the two chapters that are the richest most fruitful for you and I are chapters two and three seven letters to seven churches dictated by none other than Jesus Christ personally and every one of them closes with a key phrase he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the seven to the churches how many of you have an ear as your hands just thought I'd check okay that letter was written to you and me each of the seven letters he that hath an ear in other words it's an individual personal letter he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the church says all seven letters apply to you and me not just Philadelphia Laodicea also and especially pergamus religious external ISM that's what the Epistle of Galatians all about I encourage you to do a study of the seven hundred seven churches if you haven't done one recently you'll discover they're parallel to the seven kingdoms in Matthew 13 no surprise the same author gave both Jesus gave him seven parables in matthew 13 and he later dictated seven letters to john to include his revelation chapter two and three and the parallel of those seven letters is provocative to the seven parrot kingdom parables Paul wrote 13 epistles that he signed three of those a doubles first and second Timothy first second Corinthians for secular Salone ins so you've got ten letters I mean you have you got 13 letters and three doubles you've got ten addressee write three of those address these are pastors Timothy Titus and Philemon that means there's seven churches Paul wrote and one of the fascinating discoveries of the fingerprint of the Holy Spirit is those seven letters seven churches Paul wrote parallel the seven churches in Revelation and that is all new to you I encourage you get the tapes into a study if not I'm reviewing it because those at seven fold description affects you and I today where we live and that's exactly what Isaiah is focusing on here that God is a God of relationships not ordinances he is in substance not formalities and so he goes on it's interesting because here's the god of the Old Testament the one that has put down all these rules still saying hey I manage that I'm interested in the heart circumcision is of the heart that's Deuteronomy not Isaiah but you're with me okay verse 14 your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hated they are a trouble unto me I am weary of bearing them and when you spread forth your hands oh there's a good Pentecostal gesture huh nothing wrong with that right and when you spread forth your hands I will hide my eyes from you God will turn his head not look yeah when he make my prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood wash yourselves make yourselves clean put away the evil from of your doings from before mine eyes cease to do evil learn to do well seek justice relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow come now verse 18 is this famous verse you've all heard it so many times come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool come now reason together we've all heard that phrase what it really means it doesn't mean like let's let's get reasonable let's suddenly get logical where we haven't been before that's not the tone of it what he's saying is let's reach an understanding let's come to an agreement you say come to terms that's what gauzy come now let's come let's reach an understanding though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool what God is offering is a full amnesty and he's doing it how by grace not works by grace networks now I'm going to suggest to you something this is Jerusalem's report card by Isaiah starting off in a pretty tough tone isn't it let me ask you the question has the church had more illumination than Jerusalem and how we have the benefit of far more insight than they had in that day didn't they I'm going to suggest to you our failure is larger our failure is great and I which to the extent they're in trouble hey the church has more to be accountable for if you'd be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land but if you refuse in rebellion shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it how is the faithful City become a harlot it was full of justice righteousness Lodge in it but now murder now this idea of Jerusalem or Israel being a harlot is a common theme in the scripture we have in Exodus chapter 34 15 hosea chapter 1 verse 2 as they a chapter 50 verse 1 Isaiah 54 verse 1 we're going to get where and get this theme again and again the idea that Israel is the adulterous wife of Jehovah it's an idiom used especially of Hosea if you haven't read Hosea recently if you skim through that read through Isaiah Hosea you'll discover that God uses that idiom of his relationship with Israel looking at her as the adulterous wife the harlot verse 20 2004 vidiq Lee speaks of blood the silver speaks of Redemption it was the redemption coin in the temple silver the tabernacle the poles of the tabernacle were on brass sockets but the tabernacle itself those gold planks that were put together to become like a portable building sat on sockets that sat in the ground the sockets were of silver the tabernacle was resting on the blood just like you and I do we rest we take comfort we take our position before the throne is resting on what the blood of Jesus Christ everything the tabernacle speaks of Jesus Christ is a separate study altogether but the silver here speaks of blood here he's saying the sewers become dross and why is mixed with water now this is not what that really means it spoils wrecks it so this is derogatory comments if you will thy Prince's are rebellious the companions of thieves everyone loveth bribes and fall off after rewards they judge not the fatherless neither death the cause of the widow come unto them therefore saith the Lord the Lord of Hosts the Mighty One of Israel ah I will rid myself of mine adversaries I then avenge myself of mine enemies and he goes on but before it goes on I want to talk about something here you notice anything about verse 24 something subtle therefore say the Lord the Lord of Hosts the Mighty One of Israel and he goes on to say something you know something there how many titles are there three now I don't make too much of this it might be just for emphasis that might be rhetorical style with three titles just for emphasis that's fair on the other hand I ponder three titles and what echoes in my ears is Genesis to let us make man in our own image who's he talking to you see the Trinity in the Old Testament we're going to discover the Trinity quite visible in Isaiah and I'm not suggesting this is necessarily I just a hint and if that if you find that intriguing great if not it would make a big thing of it but I do find it fascinating that here we see three titles the Lord Lord of hosts the Mighty One of Israel three titles of the same guy or three persons in one let you mull that over on your own we'll move on verse 25 and I will turn my hand upon the thoroughly purge away thy dross and take away all by 10 the element in the hollowing effect and I will restore thy judgment and that counselors as at the beginning afterward now shall be called the city of righteousness the faithful City is that is that Jerusalem today is that yet future event Zion shall be redeemed with justice and her converts with righteousness and the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed for they shall be ashamed of the Oaks which she have desired and he shall be confounded for the garden that ye have chosen now that's a strange phrase but this has to do it's not obvious unless you're stood in the Old Testament when he's talking here about the oaks and the gardens that doesn't carry a sinister implication unless you understand throughout the Old Testament God spoke against what he called groves he forbid Israel to build their altars on the high places the top of the hill he also forbid near the altar to have groves and you may read that throughout the scripture Deuteronomy elsewhere all the way through you'll find that repeated emphases and it sounds a little strange what is not have against you know a group of trees what you and I are not sensitive to is what he's talking about there are phallic symbols it was the practice among the heathen cultures to worship their idols at the top of the hill and it was typically typically surrounded by trees that were trimmed in the form of phallic symbols that was Anna mathema to God that's why it intrigues me that we always talk about Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah the Temple Mount is at seven hundred and forty meters above sea level it's not at the top it wouldn't be because God never had the temples at the top of the hill because that was a pagan practice and he never emulated that obviously now Abraham offered Isaac we're at the top of the hill the top of the hill is about 770 meters it's to the north it's a place that you and I would call in all Gaza for they shall be ashamed of the Oaks which he have desired he's referring to idols that's the obvious one unless you've got in the background and he shall be confounded for the gardens you have chosen see in other words what's the overtone there is not nothing wrong with Gardens he's talking about the choices they've made in the direction of idol worship do we have problems with idol worship I don't think any of you have groves and altars in your home or do you what is an idol anything that stands between you in the Lord anything you choose in lieu of him anything that causes you to divert your heart from pursuing him is it I don't and boy if that shoe pinches huh deal with it verse 34 ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth in the garden that hath no water see those idioms are derogatory affect verse 31 and we've done chapter 1 and the strong shall be as wick and the maker of it as a spark and they shall both burn together and none shall quench them who heavy stuff I'd stand for a closing word of Prayer let's borrow hearts father indeed father the holy one not just of Israel but of all of us father we just thank you that you have indeed fulfilled your promises to Isaiah by giving us the Messiah we thank you Father that you have blessed us with your word and with your Holy Spirit we thank you Father that you also brought us right now to this moment in time where we are together in his most holy name father we would ask your very special blessing as we undertake the study of your prophet Isaiah we would ask you Father to give us a hunger for your word that you draw us into those portions of scripture that will minister to our unique and individual needs as we go through the challenges that are before us help us father to fully appreciate that there's nothing in our lives that you have not already anticipated via doctrines or be it our personal needs we thank you Father that you are el shaddai the God that provides the Almighty we wouldn't need to ask you Father to send us the Holy Spirit to just encourage us strengthen us enlighten us you asked us if we lack wisdom we should ask we do ask father the prime father you just go with us now while we are part one from another we'd ask your father to help us redeem the time help us individually and collectively to to study your word that we might be approved that which is approved might be made manifest so all these things father we commit before you in the authority into the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

Channel: NarrowPathMatt714

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Keywords: Chuck Missler, Jesus, God, Morality, Creationism, Truth, Evidence, Book Of Isaiah (Religious Text), Isaiah Saint, Isaiah, Logic, Book of Isaiah Isaiah, Intelligent, Belief, Book Of Isaiah, Chuch Missler, The Bible (Religious Text)

Id: K6eBy3GZ07M

Length: 77min 56sec (4676 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2013