Over the last few years, I have started to enjoy board games more and more. I have found that playing a game is a much better way to interact with people than sitting down and watching a movie or a TV show together. Now, I can get a little competitive when I play board games because I love the thrill of making a plan and following it to victory. On the other hand, I can get pretty frustrated when I form a plan that I think is fool-proof, and then someone else makes a move that ruins my entire strategy. Is that frustrating to you, too—to see your best-laid plans fall apart? Its even worse when it happens in real life, isn’t it?
Did you know that God has never had that experience? He has never had the experience of making a plan and seeing it fail to happen. That is truly amazing, even if you only think about it for a moment. It becomes even more amazing when you realize that His plan for creation has somehow taken into account billions and billions of choices made by human beings and even by angels!
In our study of Isaiah today, we’re going to get a glimpse of God’s plan for history. We’re going to take a panoramic view of chapters 13-24, which reveal to us how God’s plan for this stage of human history has been foreshadowed by His actions in the Middle Eastern nations of Old Testament times. These chapters do not progress chronologically through time; rather, they are united by geography, as Isaiah systematically delivers messages from God concerning all of the power players of the ancient Near East.
We are going to trace the major themes of God’s plan as they appear in these chapters, and as we do, we will be repeatedly reminded of the lesson that is stated very simply in Isaiah 14:24—“The Lord of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.”
The Overall Goal of God’s Plan—The Messiah (Jesus) reigning from Jerusalem over a righteous kingdom
We’re going to begin our study this morning by looking at the end—in this case, the end of God’s plan, or the point toward which history is moving. If we take the prophecies in these chapters at face value, as I believe we should, then we discover that the overall goal of God’s plan is to have the Messiah—the Lord Jesus Christ—reigning from Jerusalem over a righteous kingdom. We have already read several prophecies about this kingdom in the book of Isaiah, so it should be no surprise that we read about it again.
In Isaiah 16, we read about this kingdom being a time in which oppression will cease [READ 16:4b-5]. We read again in these verses that this ruler will have a connection to King David of Israel, and in chapter 24, we read that this ruler—who will be the Lord of hosts Himself—will reign from Jerusalem, the city that King David had established as the capital of his own kingdom. Verses 21-23 tell us that Lord will establish justice as He takes His throne [READ 24:21-23].
Perhaps what is most amazing is that during His reign, the Lord will even embrace nations who were idolaters and some of the greatest enemies of His people Israel [READ 19:19-25]. Now, the Egypt we read about here is the same country of Egypt as we know today, and Assyria had its capital in modern-day Iraq. Can you imagine Egypt and modern-day Iraq embracing a Jewish Messiah? Talk about peace in the Middle East! Leaders all over the world today are trying to broker some kind of peace in the Middle East, but only one will finally achieve it, and that is the Lord Jesus Himself!
Transition: What a day that will be, to see historic enemies become friends, united under King Jesus in His kingdom! But why don’t we see this kingdom yet? Why has its inauguration been delayed? These 12 chapters of Isaiah also give us answers to that question.
Why Don’t We See This Kingdom Yet?
1. The sinful rebellion of Israel
Now, we really can’t single out Israel for criticism, for as we will see in a moment, all nations have rebelled and all people are sinful. But since Israel is the centerpiece of this kingdom, the inauguration of this kingdom is bound up with the history of Israel. God chose to bring the blessing of this kingdom into the world through the nation of Israel, but these chapters remind us how the people of that nation had rebelled against God.
The Lord told them in Isaiah 17:10 why they were suffering at the hands of invaders: “for you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge.” Israel had been chosen to be a special people by the living and true God, but throughout their Old Testament history, idolatry was a constant temptation to which they frequently gave in. God repeatedly called them to repent, but Isaiah 22:12-13 tells us that His call fell on deaf ears [READ 22:12-13].
Thus, the people as a whole did not meet the spiritual qualifications for the kingdom, because as we have seen, the Lord’s kingdom is to be one of righteousness and justice. That’s why Jesus’ message when He first came into this world was “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus was offering to establish His kingdom if the people would only repent. But our Lord was rejected by the leaders of Israel in particular, which ultimately led to His crucifixion. Yet as we know, even that was part of God’s plan, because Jesus’ sacrificial death made a way for people to become righteous in God’s sight and thus to be fit for the kingdom.
New Testament prophecies reveal that one day, the Jewish people will embrace Jesus, which will prepare the way for Jesus’ kingdom to be inaugurated at that time. Those New Testament prophecies only build on what we read in passages like Isaiah 14:1-2 [READ 14:1-2].
Transition: In these verses, we read of a day of exaltation for the people of Israel, which should have given them hope in Isaiah’s day, because at that time they were suffering under…
2. The prideful ambition of the nations
As we have already seen in the book of Isaiah, God was bringing discipline to Israel and Judah by allowing neighboring nations to oppress them. These nations were ultimately carrying out God’s plan, but they did so with their own motivations. They didn’t see themselves as servants of the God of Israel; instead, they saw themselves as victorious over the God of Israel and His people. Just recently, in chapter 10, we read how the king of Assyria considered the God of Israel to be just like the idols of all the other nations whom he had already conquered.
The prideful ambition of the nations is captured most clearly by the words of the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12-14. These verses describe the king’s downfall because of his pride. Many commentators think that Satan’s original rebellion against God is also being referred to in these verses, and that could be the case [READ 14:12-14].
In those days, kings had virtually absolute power over their kingdoms, and when no one around you can check your power, it must be tempting to think that no one at all can check your power. So the kings and their nations that are mentioned in these chapters are almost universally rebuked for their pride, particularly as it was displayed in their aggression toward Israel.
But the nations would not be given free reign against Israel, for Isaiah says that the nations will be rebuked for their prideful aggression [READ 17:12-14]. The enemies of Israel—whether past, present, or future—will not have the final say, but they will be subdued by the Lord—at least partially subdued for the time being, and ultimately humbled and subdued when Jesus inaugurates His kingdom in this world. But as we have already learned, these nations will worship Him during His reign, and He will accept them as His own people.
3. The general sinfulness of mankind
In chapter 24, the final chapter of our section today, Isaiah describes how the general sinfulness of mankind requires a thorough cleansing of the earth before the Lord’s kingdom is established. Its similar to the way that you would thoroughly clean a house before you move in, although we are obviously talking about a much more serious situation. Notice Isaiah’s words in vv. 1-6 [READ 24:1-6].
The ultimate fulfillment of these words will come during the time period commonly called the Tribulation, which will happen, according to the book of Revelation, just prior to the inauguration of the Lord’s kingdom on earth. That time will be one of intense anguish on the earth as the Lord humbles the kingdoms of this world to deal with humanity’s general rebellion against Him. But it will also be a time of tremendous revival, particularly for the Jewish nation, as they finally embrace the Lord Jesus and thus pave the way for His kingdom to be established.
So throughout this entire section of Isaiah, from chapters 13-24, we read of rebellion against the Lord from the people of Israel, from their neighbors in the nations surrounding them, and from all of mankind. Yet all of this rebellion will not thwart God’s plan to bless the world by setting up a kingdom of peace through the Jewish people. As Isaiah wrote in 14:26-27, “This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”
The questions, of course, are rhetorical, because the obvious answer is—no one! No one will thwart His plan, and no one can turn His hand away! He is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords, the blessed and only Sovereign. He is the potter, and we are the clay. The only question that remains for us is this—will we embrace His plan and thus receive the blessings of it, or will we reject His plan and thus face His wrath for doing so? God’s plan will be carried out, and we can choose to receive the blessings of His love, or the brunt of His wrath.
According to the Bible, a great rebellion has taken place in God’s universe, and we were all born into the side of the rebels. We have all received a desire in our hearts to rebel against God, and that desire has reveled itself in the way we think and speak and act. This is what the Bible calls sin.
But God, the king of the universe, has done the unthinkable. Because He loves even His rebellious subjects, He has allowed His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die to pay for our treason. But then He raised Him from the dead to declare to us that the sentence for our treason had been paid in full, and a way of forgiveness was now available. So now, if we will confess our rebellion against God and accept by faith the payment that Jesus made for us, we will be forgiven of our treason and actually accepted into the royal family as God’s children!
If we want to enjoy the blessings of this future kingdom, we must embrace the King! If we do not embrace Jesus by faith, we will be shut out of His kingdom and shut out of eternal fellowship with Him. But if we accept Him as the one who provides forgiveness for our rebellion, we will enjoy not only the time of His earthly reign, but eternal fellowship with Him as well as His kingdom is transformed by God into the New Heaven and the New Earth where we will live with Him forevermore.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
A Leader Who Will Deliver on His Promises--Isaiah Series
You may not have heard this little piece of news yet, but we are in the midst of a presidential election. We only have one party that is heavily involved in campaigning at this point, but already we have heard a long list of promises that just sound too good to be true—promises like instant reduction in our nation’s budget deficit, immediate savings at the gas pump, and jobs for everyone who desires to work. All of the candidates paint a picture of glorious days for our country and our world if they are elected as president.
We can easily become cynical about promises of better days ahead when we look at the problems that exist in our world today. We frequently express this cynicism toward our politicians, but if we are not careful, we could express this kind of cynicism toward the Bible as well, because the Bible also gives us promises of glorious days ahead. I hope we will see this morning that we don’t need to reject the idea of one day seeing heaven on earth—we simply need to place our hope in the only one who can truly bring it about.
In our study of Isaiah today, we will read a prophecy about a coming world ruler who will bring justice and peace to the world. With the complete Bible in our hands as we have it today, we know that this prophecy refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it tells about conditions that He will establish in the world after He comes back. Today, let’s our allow our hearts to celebrate and rejoice as we read about the glorious days ahead for our world, and let’s take Isaiah’s words to heart as he tells us how to respond to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. God’s Preservation of His People, Israel (10:28-34)
Last week, we read that the northern kingdom of Israel was facing a threat from their neighbors to the northeast, the Assyrians. Both Scripture and the history books tell us that Assyrians did in fact conquer the kingdom of Israel and take the people into exile. But God would not allow the Assyrians to completely conquer the Jewish people, for when they continued their march into the southern kingdom of Judah, they went a step too far.
In 10:28-34, we read a prophecy about the Assyrian army advancing to the very outskirts of Jerusalem before they are destroyed by the Lord of hosts. Isaiah will record the fulfillment of this prophecy in chapters 36-37, but for now, let’s read the prophecy of this great deliverance [READ 10:28-34].
Ever since God told a man named Abraham that He would make a great nation out of his descendants, the Lord has had a special plan for the nation of Israel to make them a blessing to all the world. Various enemies have threatened the people of Israel from time to time, but God has often miraculously delivered them from danger so that His plan would not be thwarted. In chapter 11, Isaiah writes of a ruler who would come from the Jewish people to bring peace into the world. This ruler came to be known as the Messiah, and we know Him today as the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s see what Isaiah has to say about His future reign.
2. The Character and Accomplishments of the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ)
a. He will have a human origin with divine empowerment (11:1-2)
In v. 1, we read that the Messiah will come from the family of King David [READ v. 1]. This is an interesting picture of the Messiah’s human origin. He is said to be like a small sapling coming up out of a stump—something that is a mere remnant of the tree that used to stand there. The royal dynasty of King David is in this “stump” phase today. There is no Jewish king today, and for all intents and purposes, it appears that the royal line of David has been cut off from the world, never to flourish again. But this sapling—the Lord Jesus Christ—has already grown in this world, and some day He will return to produce the fruit that is described in this prophecy.
Although the Lord’s human origin is emphasized in v. 1, we see in v. 2 that the Lord was predicted to have divine empowerment [READ v. 2]. This verse describes the ideal characteristics of a godly leader, and we see next how the Lord will put these characteristics to use.
b. He will carry out true justice (11:3-5)
Without true justice from our leaders, there can be little hope for peace in the world. People will always seek to overthrow an unjust leader, and laws will be unenforced and ignored. Justice is the foundation for a flourishing peace, and we read here that the Lord will rule His kingdom with justice [READ vv. 3-5].
Now, it seems strange to read that the Messiah would delight in the fear of the Lord, because, after all, what does Jesus have to fear from God? This statement actually helps us clear up a misunderstanding of the important biblical concept of fearing God. We learn from this statement that fearing God is not a fear of being harmed by Him, because Jesus had no reason to fear that. Rather, it is simply an attitude of humble obedience. It is a fear of stepping outside of His will and thus being found unfaithful. And it is an attitude in which we can delight, not an attitude that is unpleasant.
We see next that the Lord’s reign will even bring about peace in the animal kingdom.
c. He will restore peace among animals and between animals and humans (11:5-9)
In our little corner of the world, we deal with animals quite a bit. We handle domesticated animals, which may be tame, but they’re still just barely under our control. We also live with wild animals that may be a threat to us and our crops. But you may remember from the book of Genesis that God never intended for there to be animosity between animals and humans. He created animals to live peacefully with us under our compassionate care for them. We see in the next few verses that these conditions will exist once again during Christ’s reign on earth [READ vv. 6-9]. It is unclear just how the “knowledge of the Lord” mentioned here will change animal behavior, but how exciting it is that we will have another opportunity to live under those conditions!
d. He will unite humanity and exalt His people Israel (11:10-16)
Humanity has been sharply divided ever since God divided our languages at the Tower of Babel to halt our rebellion against Him. We have lived with the bitter fruits of our divisions ever since as we have dealt with racism, nationalism, and war. God’s covenant people, Israel, have been a particular target for oppression, but we see that during Jesus’ reign in this world, humanity will be united and Israel will be exalted [READ vv. 10-16].
If you like to make note of encouraging passages of Scripture to read when you need a little “pick-me-up” for your faith, I would encourage you to bookmark Isaiah 11. This chapter describes a nearly complete reversal of the problems that we face today in a fallen world. After Jesus returns, He will restore this world to what it was meant to be in virtually every respect. So better days are ahead for us; better days are in store for our world after Jesus returns. In the next chapter, Isaiah describes the proper way to respond to God in that day, but we don’t have to wait until then. We can learn some lessons from this chapter about how we should respond to the Lord today. Let’s read this chapter, and then I’ll point out some specific thoughts [READ Chapter 12].
II. Our proper response to the Messiah (Ch. 12)
a. Thankfulness (vv. 1, 4)
Thankfulness is such a healthy attitude because it reminds us that we are dependent upon God, and it reminds us how abundantly God has come through for us. Verse one calls us to thank God for turning His anger away from us, and verse four calls us to thank God for His deeds. We can thank God for each of these things every day.
When the Lord Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He appeased the anger that God appropriately felt toward our sin. So now, if you know Jesus as your Savior, you don’t have to fear God’s anger. Verse one says that you receive God’s comfort instead. We can thank God with every breath that we take for saving us from His wrath.
We can also have a continual reason to thank God if we will just stop and think about His work in our lives. Just think about all that you have—family, friends, possessions—and remember that none of it is deserved. It is all a gift from God. Think about times when He has protected you, and times when He has soothed your wounded heart. We don’t have to wait until Christ returns to be thankful—we would just have a lot of catching up to do at that point!
b. Trust and a lack of fear (v. 2)
The phrase “do not fear” could practically be a subtitle for the Bible. You could print it right on the cover: “The Holy Bible: Do Not Fear!” So many times we are told not to be afraid because God loves us, He knows everything about our lives, He is always with us, and He’s in control. If you have embraced Jesus by faith as your Savior, you have nothing to fear. You can trust Him at all times and for all of your needs.
So often we act like we can trust God with our souls but not our stomachs! “Sure, God—I trust you to take care of my eternal destiny, but I’m not sure about breakfast tomorrow!” That doesn’t make any sense! We can trust God for ALL of our needs, and we truly can live free from fear.
c. Confidence and Contentment (v. 2)
Verse two says, “the Lord God is my strength and my song.” That is a beautiful statement! We can draw confidence through the strength that God provides, and we can know true contentment that brings a song to our hearts. Think about the times when you are mostly likely to find yourself singing. Its when you’re content, right? When you feel like everything is okay, and for even just a brief moment you feel care-free. We can find that kind of contentment in the Lord.
A desire for contentment just might be the universal motivation behind everything we do. I think this is why the drug addict takes one more hit, and why the workaholic works through one more sleepless night. I think the desire for contentment is in the back of our minds with every choice that we make. But if you know the Lord, you don’t have to look any further to find contentment. As we make the choice every day to place ourselves under His yoke and learn from Him, we will know true contentment that satisfies our hearts.
d. Rejoicing and praise (vv. 3, 5-6)
Rejoicing is the idea of celebrating, and praising God is the idea of declaring his value and why He has that value. Think of getting an appraisal on your house—it’s the same root word. An appraiser declares how much your home is worth. Praising God is truly a very similar idea, though it also carries the thought of devoting yourself to God because of His matchless worth.
e. Telling others about His glorious works (vv. 4-5)
Verse four tells us to “make known his deeds among the peoples,” and verse five says to let His glorious deeds be made known in all the earth. Think about this for a moment—if there is something in your life that causes you to be thankful, fearless, confident, content, and in a mood to celebrate, don’t you naturally share that with other people? We share YouTube videos with each other so we can all laugh about the talking dog!
It is only natural to tell others about something that you’re thankful for, something that is tremendously valuable to you, or something that brings you contentment. Telling others about what God has done for you is just a natural response. And that’s all you need to focus on—just talking about what God has done for you! You don’t have to memorize 57 reasons why God exists; if that sort of thing fits your interests and your gifts, then fine—you can memorize things like that! But we are all capable of just telling others about what God has done for us, and this is a fitting and natural way that we should respond to our Lord.
As we look forward to the glorious days ahead during Christ’s kingdom on earth, we can keep ourselves busy today by thanking God, trusting in Him, finding our contentment in Him, praising Him, and telling others about Him.
We can easily become cynical about promises of better days ahead when we look at the problems that exist in our world today. We frequently express this cynicism toward our politicians, but if we are not careful, we could express this kind of cynicism toward the Bible as well, because the Bible also gives us promises of glorious days ahead. I hope we will see this morning that we don’t need to reject the idea of one day seeing heaven on earth—we simply need to place our hope in the only one who can truly bring it about.
In our study of Isaiah today, we will read a prophecy about a coming world ruler who will bring justice and peace to the world. With the complete Bible in our hands as we have it today, we know that this prophecy refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it tells about conditions that He will establish in the world after He comes back. Today, let’s our allow our hearts to celebrate and rejoice as we read about the glorious days ahead for our world, and let’s take Isaiah’s words to heart as he tells us how to respond to the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. God’s Preservation of His People, Israel (10:28-34)
Last week, we read that the northern kingdom of Israel was facing a threat from their neighbors to the northeast, the Assyrians. Both Scripture and the history books tell us that Assyrians did in fact conquer the kingdom of Israel and take the people into exile. But God would not allow the Assyrians to completely conquer the Jewish people, for when they continued their march into the southern kingdom of Judah, they went a step too far.
In 10:28-34, we read a prophecy about the Assyrian army advancing to the very outskirts of Jerusalem before they are destroyed by the Lord of hosts. Isaiah will record the fulfillment of this prophecy in chapters 36-37, but for now, let’s read the prophecy of this great deliverance [READ 10:28-34].
Ever since God told a man named Abraham that He would make a great nation out of his descendants, the Lord has had a special plan for the nation of Israel to make them a blessing to all the world. Various enemies have threatened the people of Israel from time to time, but God has often miraculously delivered them from danger so that His plan would not be thwarted. In chapter 11, Isaiah writes of a ruler who would come from the Jewish people to bring peace into the world. This ruler came to be known as the Messiah, and we know Him today as the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s see what Isaiah has to say about His future reign.
2. The Character and Accomplishments of the Messiah (the Lord Jesus Christ)
a. He will have a human origin with divine empowerment (11:1-2)
In v. 1, we read that the Messiah will come from the family of King David [READ v. 1]. This is an interesting picture of the Messiah’s human origin. He is said to be like a small sapling coming up out of a stump—something that is a mere remnant of the tree that used to stand there. The royal dynasty of King David is in this “stump” phase today. There is no Jewish king today, and for all intents and purposes, it appears that the royal line of David has been cut off from the world, never to flourish again. But this sapling—the Lord Jesus Christ—has already grown in this world, and some day He will return to produce the fruit that is described in this prophecy.
Although the Lord’s human origin is emphasized in v. 1, we see in v. 2 that the Lord was predicted to have divine empowerment [READ v. 2]. This verse describes the ideal characteristics of a godly leader, and we see next how the Lord will put these characteristics to use.
b. He will carry out true justice (11:3-5)
Without true justice from our leaders, there can be little hope for peace in the world. People will always seek to overthrow an unjust leader, and laws will be unenforced and ignored. Justice is the foundation for a flourishing peace, and we read here that the Lord will rule His kingdom with justice [READ vv. 3-5].
Now, it seems strange to read that the Messiah would delight in the fear of the Lord, because, after all, what does Jesus have to fear from God? This statement actually helps us clear up a misunderstanding of the important biblical concept of fearing God. We learn from this statement that fearing God is not a fear of being harmed by Him, because Jesus had no reason to fear that. Rather, it is simply an attitude of humble obedience. It is a fear of stepping outside of His will and thus being found unfaithful. And it is an attitude in which we can delight, not an attitude that is unpleasant.
We see next that the Lord’s reign will even bring about peace in the animal kingdom.
c. He will restore peace among animals and between animals and humans (11:5-9)
In our little corner of the world, we deal with animals quite a bit. We handle domesticated animals, which may be tame, but they’re still just barely under our control. We also live with wild animals that may be a threat to us and our crops. But you may remember from the book of Genesis that God never intended for there to be animosity between animals and humans. He created animals to live peacefully with us under our compassionate care for them. We see in the next few verses that these conditions will exist once again during Christ’s reign on earth [READ vv. 6-9]. It is unclear just how the “knowledge of the Lord” mentioned here will change animal behavior, but how exciting it is that we will have another opportunity to live under those conditions!
d. He will unite humanity and exalt His people Israel (11:10-16)
Humanity has been sharply divided ever since God divided our languages at the Tower of Babel to halt our rebellion against Him. We have lived with the bitter fruits of our divisions ever since as we have dealt with racism, nationalism, and war. God’s covenant people, Israel, have been a particular target for oppression, but we see that during Jesus’ reign in this world, humanity will be united and Israel will be exalted [READ vv. 10-16].
If you like to make note of encouraging passages of Scripture to read when you need a little “pick-me-up” for your faith, I would encourage you to bookmark Isaiah 11. This chapter describes a nearly complete reversal of the problems that we face today in a fallen world. After Jesus returns, He will restore this world to what it was meant to be in virtually every respect. So better days are ahead for us; better days are in store for our world after Jesus returns. In the next chapter, Isaiah describes the proper way to respond to God in that day, but we don’t have to wait until then. We can learn some lessons from this chapter about how we should respond to the Lord today. Let’s read this chapter, and then I’ll point out some specific thoughts [READ Chapter 12].
II. Our proper response to the Messiah (Ch. 12)
a. Thankfulness (vv. 1, 4)
Thankfulness is such a healthy attitude because it reminds us that we are dependent upon God, and it reminds us how abundantly God has come through for us. Verse one calls us to thank God for turning His anger away from us, and verse four calls us to thank God for His deeds. We can thank God for each of these things every day.
When the Lord Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He appeased the anger that God appropriately felt toward our sin. So now, if you know Jesus as your Savior, you don’t have to fear God’s anger. Verse one says that you receive God’s comfort instead. We can thank God with every breath that we take for saving us from His wrath.
We can also have a continual reason to thank God if we will just stop and think about His work in our lives. Just think about all that you have—family, friends, possessions—and remember that none of it is deserved. It is all a gift from God. Think about times when He has protected you, and times when He has soothed your wounded heart. We don’t have to wait until Christ returns to be thankful—we would just have a lot of catching up to do at that point!
b. Trust and a lack of fear (v. 2)
The phrase “do not fear” could practically be a subtitle for the Bible. You could print it right on the cover: “The Holy Bible: Do Not Fear!” So many times we are told not to be afraid because God loves us, He knows everything about our lives, He is always with us, and He’s in control. If you have embraced Jesus by faith as your Savior, you have nothing to fear. You can trust Him at all times and for all of your needs.
So often we act like we can trust God with our souls but not our stomachs! “Sure, God—I trust you to take care of my eternal destiny, but I’m not sure about breakfast tomorrow!” That doesn’t make any sense! We can trust God for ALL of our needs, and we truly can live free from fear.
c. Confidence and Contentment (v. 2)
Verse two says, “the Lord God is my strength and my song.” That is a beautiful statement! We can draw confidence through the strength that God provides, and we can know true contentment that brings a song to our hearts. Think about the times when you are mostly likely to find yourself singing. Its when you’re content, right? When you feel like everything is okay, and for even just a brief moment you feel care-free. We can find that kind of contentment in the Lord.
A desire for contentment just might be the universal motivation behind everything we do. I think this is why the drug addict takes one more hit, and why the workaholic works through one more sleepless night. I think the desire for contentment is in the back of our minds with every choice that we make. But if you know the Lord, you don’t have to look any further to find contentment. As we make the choice every day to place ourselves under His yoke and learn from Him, we will know true contentment that satisfies our hearts.
d. Rejoicing and praise (vv. 3, 5-6)
Rejoicing is the idea of celebrating, and praising God is the idea of declaring his value and why He has that value. Think of getting an appraisal on your house—it’s the same root word. An appraiser declares how much your home is worth. Praising God is truly a very similar idea, though it also carries the thought of devoting yourself to God because of His matchless worth.
e. Telling others about His glorious works (vv. 4-5)
Verse four tells us to “make known his deeds among the peoples,” and verse five says to let His glorious deeds be made known in all the earth. Think about this for a moment—if there is something in your life that causes you to be thankful, fearless, confident, content, and in a mood to celebrate, don’t you naturally share that with other people? We share YouTube videos with each other so we can all laugh about the talking dog!
It is only natural to tell others about something that you’re thankful for, something that is tremendously valuable to you, or something that brings you contentment. Telling others about what God has done for you is just a natural response. And that’s all you need to focus on—just talking about what God has done for you! You don’t have to memorize 57 reasons why God exists; if that sort of thing fits your interests and your gifts, then fine—you can memorize things like that! But we are all capable of just telling others about what God has done for us, and this is a fitting and natural way that we should respond to our Lord.
As we look forward to the glorious days ahead during Christ’s kingdom on earth, we can keep ourselves busy today by thanking God, trusting in Him, finding our contentment in Him, praising Him, and telling others about Him.
Monday, March 5, 2012
If Pride Comes Before a Fall, What Comes Before Pride?--Isaiah Series
I remember a time during my early days of college when I was driving from Lawrence to Kansas City. I was driving through a torrential rain storm, one of those storms where your wipers just can’t keep up. But, like most men, I haven’t yet seen a storm that I don’t think I can drive through, so I kept driving. I did at least take the “sensible” precaution of slowing down to about 50 mph.
I honestly should not have been driving because I could barely see in front of me, but I thought I could see the lines well enough that I could stay in my lane. Well, when I got into the city, I went under an overpass, which gave me that brief moment of clarity when the overpass stops the rain and your wipers can briefly catch up. In that moment, I discovered that I actually wasn’t on the road—I was driving on the shoulder, and I probably had been for miles. That spooked me a little bit, but instead of stopping, I just moved over to the right until I thought I could see another line, and I kept driving. I couldn’t have been more than a mile or so beyond that overpass when I passed a car on my left that was parked on the shoulder of the road. If I hadn’t gone under that overpass, I would have slammed into a parked car as I was going almost 50 mph—all because I chose to drive blind.
Blindness is a great illustration of the sin of pride that we all wrestle with in our lives. Pride distorts the way that we look at everything around us—ourselves, other people, and even God. But the most dangerous aspect of pride is that it keeps us in the dark about its presence in our lives. Proud people are usually the last to know about their pride!
I’m sure you’ve all heard the old saying “Pride comes before a fall.” I’m sure we all want to avoid a “fall,” so we must ask ourselves—if pride comes before a fall, what comes before pride? What attitudes or actions invite pride into our lives and make it feel right at home?
Our passage of Isaiah this morning is a case study in pride. Thus far in the book, the prophet has been speaking mostly to the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah, but in chapter 9 he starts to direct his attention to the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel. He speaks of the discipline that Israel was facing because of their pride, and He reveals to us how God opposes pride wherever it may be found. So, if pride comes before a fall, what comes before pride? Let’s find out!
1. Failing to accurately assess your circumstances (9:8-12)
The northern kingdom of Israel was about to be invaded by the Assyrians, and they were already facing some hard times, but let’s see how they assessed their situation [READ 9:8-12].
God had already begun to express his anger against the people’s pride, but they looked at their situation and said, “these happy days are yours and mine…” (my apologies if you don’t know the theme song from “Happy Days!”). They were convinced that their best days were still ahead of them! Now, they may have had a good reason to think that if they were turning back to God in repentance, but its clear that their confidence was in their own ability to rebuild.
But their overconfidence in themselves kept them from seeing why they needed to rebuild in the first place! Why were they facing problems? It was because God was disciplining them, as He had clearly told them through the prophets. But they didn’t listen to the prophets, so they didn’t understand why they needed to rebuild, and thus they didn’t make the necessary changes to worship God in truth once again.
Pride can blind us to the causes that lie behind our circumstances, and discipline is one of the measures that God uses to help us see clearly again. Thus, it is very important for us to accurately assess our circumstances in light of Scripture. The Bible is like a fog lamp that cuts through the mist and haze of pride to allow us to see things as they really are. If we are facing discipline from God, the Bible will show us where we have gone wrong; it will help us see our lives clearly.
2. Failing to seek wisdom from God (9:13-17)
Let’s see how this failure played out within Israel [READ 9:13-17]. As we see, the people had chosen to take the advice and counsel of people who were actually leading them astray. Notice that this group of leaders actually included “prophets who teach lies,” according to v. 15. These prophets claimed to have a divine message, but they were in fact teaching things that were not true. This should be a sobering reminder to us that not everyone who claims to speak for God truly does speak for God.
Now, in the rest of the Old Testament, we discover that prophets like this gained an audience because they were basically “yes men” who told people what they wanted to hear. A message like that would naturally be more popular than the message of repentance that the true prophets delivered from God.
But the people’s acceptance of the false prophets led them to believe that everything would be okay—they could go on living just as they were living now, and they had nothing to fear. So their pride was fed by the source of advice and counsel that they chose to embrace.
This situation teaches us how important it is to seek wisdom from God and to be willing to embrace His wisdom, no matter how difficult it is for us to hear. Even as we seek God’s wisdom in God’s Word, it is easy for us to dismiss what the Bible says or explain away the commands that call for us to do hard things. But as I have said at times, we must place ourselves under God’s Word the same way that place ourselves under a surgeon’s knife. We must entrust our well-being to God and allow Him to cut away anything in our lives that is detracting from our spiritual health. This kind of spiritual surgery can hurt in the same way that physical surgery does, but spiritual surgery is just as necessary, and in the grand scheme of things, it is far more beneficial.
3. Oppressing other people for personal gain (9:18-10:4)
In the next few verses, Isaiah speaks first of all about the people of Israel in general, then he focuses on their leaders, who write the laws of the land. Let’s read about the people first [READ 9:18-21]. Isaiah graphically portrays the people’s wickedness as cannibalism because they were committing wicked acts against their own flesh and blood. They were like a group of drowning people who were pushing each other down to keep their own heads above water.
This kind of behavior creates a self-centeredness that only allows pride to thrive all the more. Everyone views their own needs and interests as all-important and all-consuming. And when we commit wicked acts against others, we isolate ourselves from the healthy relationships that help us combat pride.
Now, leaders can be particularly vulnerable to pride because their position gives them a measure of power of other people. That power can be used for good, but it can also be abused, and that is exactly what was taking place in Israel [READ 10:1-4]. The leaders were oppressing the helpless among them, but ironically, they would be the helpless ones on the day of punishment that was coming from the Lord.
Virtually all of us will occupy some position of power in our lives. Some of us will be church leaders, some of us will be supervisors at work, and most of us will be parents. As we function in these positions of power, we must have the attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who, existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8, HCSB). As Jesus Himself said, He did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45), and He modeled this attitude on the night before He died by washing the feet of His disciples, which was a task reserved for the lowliest servant in the house.
Pride drives us to think only of ourselves and to view other people as tools to be used for our own interests. We must resist such a temptation and embrace the attitude of our Lord instead.
4. Failing to understand the truth about God (10:5-11)
At this point, we see a fascinating change of focus in the text. Thus far, the Lord has been speaking through Isaiah to the people of Israel, warning them about a coming day when the full measure of His punishment would be poured out. Now, the Lord speaks against the very nation that would carry out His punishment and condemns them for their pride. We see here that their pride originated in a failure to understand the truth about God [READ 10:5-11].
This is a fascinating passage about the interaction between God’s activity and man’s activity. God was raising up Assyria to invade and thus discipline the people of Israel, but as we see, the Assyrians had their own motivations for their actions. They were being used by God for His purposes, yet they were being condemned by God for pursuing their own purposes.
Their greatest mistake was viewing the God of Jerusalem as just another idol, like the gods of all the other nations. Thus, they failed to understand who they were dealing with. When we fail to understand the truth about God, we are begging for pride to come into our lives, because we begin to exalt ourselves rather than God.
When we fail to understand that God’s wisdom and knowledge are unlimited, we can begin to think that we know more about life than God does. When we fail to understand that God is in control, we can begin to think that we are in charge—that we can call all the shots and take credit for all that we have done.
What you believe about God is tied directly to what you think about yourself. So if you embrace a lie about God, you will also embrace a lie about yourself. Whether you realize it or not, you will give yourself the characteristics that the Bible assigns to God, and that is the essence of pride. We see that this is exactly what the king of Assyria did in vv. 12-19 [READ 10:12-19].
Pride would ultimately lead the Assyrians to their downfall, and it was going to bring down the kingdom of Israel as well. But as God so often does in the Bible, He gives a reminder of hope with a warning about judgment. In the next few verses, He reminds Israel of the glorious future that He has in store for them, and we see that in that day, the people will embrace the remedy for pride, which is leaning on the Lord.
The remedy for pride—“Leaning” on the Lord (10:20-27)
Let’s read vv. 20-27 [READ 10:20-27]. These verses show us that God is undeterred in His intention to bless Israel. Though many generations of that nation have lost out on God’s blessings because of their disobedience, God will draw a generation to Himself through which He will fulfill His promises to Israel.
According to this passage, that remnant will “lean” on the Lord, which is precisely the opposite of the proud attitude that the people had embraced at that time. Leaning on something is a great picture of humble reliance. When you lean on something, you are entrusting your weight to it. You are showing that you are confident in its strength to hold you up. Also, we often lean on things when we are tired and weak, so we are acknowledging our own weaknesses as we acknowledge the strength of the object on which we lean.
This picture thus illustrates the remedy for pride. We must acknowledge our own weaknesses as compared to God’s strength, and we must entrust ourselves to Him, believing that He will hold us up and sustain us. If we will lean on Him in this way, we can avoid pride and the downfall that it brings.
I honestly should not have been driving because I could barely see in front of me, but I thought I could see the lines well enough that I could stay in my lane. Well, when I got into the city, I went under an overpass, which gave me that brief moment of clarity when the overpass stops the rain and your wipers can briefly catch up. In that moment, I discovered that I actually wasn’t on the road—I was driving on the shoulder, and I probably had been for miles. That spooked me a little bit, but instead of stopping, I just moved over to the right until I thought I could see another line, and I kept driving. I couldn’t have been more than a mile or so beyond that overpass when I passed a car on my left that was parked on the shoulder of the road. If I hadn’t gone under that overpass, I would have slammed into a parked car as I was going almost 50 mph—all because I chose to drive blind.
Blindness is a great illustration of the sin of pride that we all wrestle with in our lives. Pride distorts the way that we look at everything around us—ourselves, other people, and even God. But the most dangerous aspect of pride is that it keeps us in the dark about its presence in our lives. Proud people are usually the last to know about their pride!
I’m sure you’ve all heard the old saying “Pride comes before a fall.” I’m sure we all want to avoid a “fall,” so we must ask ourselves—if pride comes before a fall, what comes before pride? What attitudes or actions invite pride into our lives and make it feel right at home?
Our passage of Isaiah this morning is a case study in pride. Thus far in the book, the prophet has been speaking mostly to the southern Jewish kingdom of Judah, but in chapter 9 he starts to direct his attention to the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel. He speaks of the discipline that Israel was facing because of their pride, and He reveals to us how God opposes pride wherever it may be found. So, if pride comes before a fall, what comes before pride? Let’s find out!
1. Failing to accurately assess your circumstances (9:8-12)
The northern kingdom of Israel was about to be invaded by the Assyrians, and they were already facing some hard times, but let’s see how they assessed their situation [READ 9:8-12].
God had already begun to express his anger against the people’s pride, but they looked at their situation and said, “these happy days are yours and mine…” (my apologies if you don’t know the theme song from “Happy Days!”). They were convinced that their best days were still ahead of them! Now, they may have had a good reason to think that if they were turning back to God in repentance, but its clear that their confidence was in their own ability to rebuild.
But their overconfidence in themselves kept them from seeing why they needed to rebuild in the first place! Why were they facing problems? It was because God was disciplining them, as He had clearly told them through the prophets. But they didn’t listen to the prophets, so they didn’t understand why they needed to rebuild, and thus they didn’t make the necessary changes to worship God in truth once again.
Pride can blind us to the causes that lie behind our circumstances, and discipline is one of the measures that God uses to help us see clearly again. Thus, it is very important for us to accurately assess our circumstances in light of Scripture. The Bible is like a fog lamp that cuts through the mist and haze of pride to allow us to see things as they really are. If we are facing discipline from God, the Bible will show us where we have gone wrong; it will help us see our lives clearly.
2. Failing to seek wisdom from God (9:13-17)
Let’s see how this failure played out within Israel [READ 9:13-17]. As we see, the people had chosen to take the advice and counsel of people who were actually leading them astray. Notice that this group of leaders actually included “prophets who teach lies,” according to v. 15. These prophets claimed to have a divine message, but they were in fact teaching things that were not true. This should be a sobering reminder to us that not everyone who claims to speak for God truly does speak for God.
Now, in the rest of the Old Testament, we discover that prophets like this gained an audience because they were basically “yes men” who told people what they wanted to hear. A message like that would naturally be more popular than the message of repentance that the true prophets delivered from God.
But the people’s acceptance of the false prophets led them to believe that everything would be okay—they could go on living just as they were living now, and they had nothing to fear. So their pride was fed by the source of advice and counsel that they chose to embrace.
This situation teaches us how important it is to seek wisdom from God and to be willing to embrace His wisdom, no matter how difficult it is for us to hear. Even as we seek God’s wisdom in God’s Word, it is easy for us to dismiss what the Bible says or explain away the commands that call for us to do hard things. But as I have said at times, we must place ourselves under God’s Word the same way that place ourselves under a surgeon’s knife. We must entrust our well-being to God and allow Him to cut away anything in our lives that is detracting from our spiritual health. This kind of spiritual surgery can hurt in the same way that physical surgery does, but spiritual surgery is just as necessary, and in the grand scheme of things, it is far more beneficial.
3. Oppressing other people for personal gain (9:18-10:4)
In the next few verses, Isaiah speaks first of all about the people of Israel in general, then he focuses on their leaders, who write the laws of the land. Let’s read about the people first [READ 9:18-21]. Isaiah graphically portrays the people’s wickedness as cannibalism because they were committing wicked acts against their own flesh and blood. They were like a group of drowning people who were pushing each other down to keep their own heads above water.
This kind of behavior creates a self-centeredness that only allows pride to thrive all the more. Everyone views their own needs and interests as all-important and all-consuming. And when we commit wicked acts against others, we isolate ourselves from the healthy relationships that help us combat pride.
Now, leaders can be particularly vulnerable to pride because their position gives them a measure of power of other people. That power can be used for good, but it can also be abused, and that is exactly what was taking place in Israel [READ 10:1-4]. The leaders were oppressing the helpless among them, but ironically, they would be the helpless ones on the day of punishment that was coming from the Lord.
Virtually all of us will occupy some position of power in our lives. Some of us will be church leaders, some of us will be supervisors at work, and most of us will be parents. As we function in these positions of power, we must have the attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who, existing in the form of God did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men. And when He had come as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8, HCSB). As Jesus Himself said, He did not come to be served, but to serve (Mark 10:45), and He modeled this attitude on the night before He died by washing the feet of His disciples, which was a task reserved for the lowliest servant in the house.
Pride drives us to think only of ourselves and to view other people as tools to be used for our own interests. We must resist such a temptation and embrace the attitude of our Lord instead.
4. Failing to understand the truth about God (10:5-11)
At this point, we see a fascinating change of focus in the text. Thus far, the Lord has been speaking through Isaiah to the people of Israel, warning them about a coming day when the full measure of His punishment would be poured out. Now, the Lord speaks against the very nation that would carry out His punishment and condemns them for their pride. We see here that their pride originated in a failure to understand the truth about God [READ 10:5-11].
This is a fascinating passage about the interaction between God’s activity and man’s activity. God was raising up Assyria to invade and thus discipline the people of Israel, but as we see, the Assyrians had their own motivations for their actions. They were being used by God for His purposes, yet they were being condemned by God for pursuing their own purposes.
Their greatest mistake was viewing the God of Jerusalem as just another idol, like the gods of all the other nations. Thus, they failed to understand who they were dealing with. When we fail to understand the truth about God, we are begging for pride to come into our lives, because we begin to exalt ourselves rather than God.
When we fail to understand that God’s wisdom and knowledge are unlimited, we can begin to think that we know more about life than God does. When we fail to understand that God is in control, we can begin to think that we are in charge—that we can call all the shots and take credit for all that we have done.
What you believe about God is tied directly to what you think about yourself. So if you embrace a lie about God, you will also embrace a lie about yourself. Whether you realize it or not, you will give yourself the characteristics that the Bible assigns to God, and that is the essence of pride. We see that this is exactly what the king of Assyria did in vv. 12-19 [READ 10:12-19].
Pride would ultimately lead the Assyrians to their downfall, and it was going to bring down the kingdom of Israel as well. But as God so often does in the Bible, He gives a reminder of hope with a warning about judgment. In the next few verses, He reminds Israel of the glorious future that He has in store for them, and we see that in that day, the people will embrace the remedy for pride, which is leaning on the Lord.
The remedy for pride—“Leaning” on the Lord (10:20-27)
Let’s read vv. 20-27 [READ 10:20-27]. These verses show us that God is undeterred in His intention to bless Israel. Though many generations of that nation have lost out on God’s blessings because of their disobedience, God will draw a generation to Himself through which He will fulfill His promises to Israel.
According to this passage, that remnant will “lean” on the Lord, which is precisely the opposite of the proud attitude that the people had embraced at that time. Leaning on something is a great picture of humble reliance. When you lean on something, you are entrusting your weight to it. You are showing that you are confident in its strength to hold you up. Also, we often lean on things when we are tired and weak, so we are acknowledging our own weaknesses as we acknowledge the strength of the object on which we lean.
This picture thus illustrates the remedy for pride. We must acknowledge our own weaknesses as compared to God’s strength, and we must entrust ourselves to Him, believing that He will hold us up and sustain us. If we will lean on Him in this way, we can avoid pride and the downfall that it brings.
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