A Summary of the Book of Isaiah

ISAIAH: THE SALVATION OF THE LORD

by Ray C. Stedman

Also, the prophetic nature of the book of Isaiah is one of the great proofs that the Bible is the word of God, for Isaiah lived some 724 years before Christ. The many passages looking forward to the Messiah point so clearly to Christ and are fulfilled in him, and thereby constitute an unanswerable argument for the divine inspiration of the book.

Any time we approach a new book, we always want to look for a key. I am afraid, however, that this is sometimes a rather weak approach. Sometimes these Bible books seem like locked houses, barred and shuttered, so that you can't get anything out of them unless you find the key. And some people feel that the only duly-licensed real estate agents are the Bible teachers, who alone have the keys to the Scripture's "real estate."

But scriptural books are not like that. They are more like national parks. They are open to everyone to roam in, and are a delight to explore all by yourself. But each park has a characteristic peculiar to itself that distinguishes it from the others; and you appreciate a park better if you know what that characteristic is. I have learned to appreciate some of the distinct characteristics of the great national parks in the West. For instance, if you want to see nature's various moods, go to Yellowstone Park. There she pulls all the tricks out of her bag and throws everything together. If you want to see mountain grandeur and cool lakes, Glacier Park in Montana is the place to go. If you want to be awed and humbled and stirred, then go to the Grand Canyon. If you are looking for a quiet valley in which to rest and reflect, Yosemite fills the bill -- that is, any time other than midsummer, when some twenty thousand people are in the valley with you.

Sometimes I think of these books of the Bible like this. The book of Revelation is to me very much like Yellowstone National Park. It is full of spouting geysers and all kinds of weird symbolism and a variety of formations. The Gospel of John is more like Yosemite; quiet and deep and reverent. But there is no question that the book of Isaiah is the Grand Canyon of scripture. Geologists tell us that the Grand Canyon is a miniature history of the earth -- a condensed history, a pocket volume of the past -- just so, the book of Isaiah has long been recognized as a miniature Bible.

I am very inclined to think that the order in which the books of the Bible occur is divinely inspired, because of their unique arrangement. By no means are they placed in an order we would expect them to be, and I think this is highly significant. It is particularly interesting that the book of Isaiah is exactly in the middle of the Bible. It comes right at the center and is often called a miniature Bible.

How many books does the Bible have? Sixty-six. How many chapters does Isaiah have? Sixty-six. How many books are there in the Old Testament? Thirty-nine, and therefore twenty-seven in the New Testament. And the book of Isaiah divides exactly in that way. The first half of the book comprises thirty-nine chapters. There is a distinct division at chapter 40, so that the remaining twenty-seven chapters constitute the second half of this book.

The New Testament begins with the history of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, as he came to announce the coming of the Messiah, and it ends in the book of Revelation with the new heaven and the new earth. Chapter 40 of Isaiah, which begins the second half, contains the prophetic passage that predicts the coming of John the Baptist:

A voice cries:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God." (Isaiah 40:3 RSV)

And this, John says, was fulfilled by himself when he came. And when you read on to the end of the book you will find that chapter 66 speaks of the new heavens and the new earth that God is creating. So you find here in the book of Isaiah a remarkably close analogy that parallels the entire Bible.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon are always astonished by one thing when they go there. They stand at the rim and look out over the vast. jumbled, silent canyon -- down to the Colorado River, which seems but a silver thread more than a mile below them -- and sooner or later some tourist cries in amazement, "I don't understand how a tiny thing like that river could have carved a canyon like this!" They are amazed by that concept.

Now if you read the book of Isaiah thoughtfully and carefully, you sense immediately the grandeur and the power of God. You hear the powerful, rolling cadences of this book's language. You sense the insignificance of man when compared with the might and the wisdom and majesty of God. And if you ask yourself, "How could Isaiah, just a human being like myself, write a book like this?" to answer seems impossible.

We know very little about Isaiah himself. He lived during the reigns of four kings of Judah -- Ussiah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. His ministry began some 740 years before Christ when the ten tribes that formed the northern kingdom of Israel were being carried away into captivity by Sennacherib, the Assyrian invader. And Judah, the southern kingdom, was plunged into idolatry toward the end of Isaiah's ministry in 687 B.C. and was carried captive into Babylon. So the ministry of this prophet spans the time between the captivity of the northern kingdom and the captivity of the southern kingdom -- about 50 years. Isaiah was a contemporary of the prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah. And tradition tells us that Isaiah the prophet was martyred under the reign of Manasseh, one of the most wicked kings recorded by the Old Testament. The story is that he hid in a hollow tree to escape the reign of Manasseh, and the king's soldiers, knowing he was in that tree, sawed the tree down. Thus, he was sawn in half. Some scholars feel that when the epistle to the Hebrews in its great chapter about the heroes of faith, lists being sawn in two as one of the ways the prophets were martyred, that it refers to the prophet Isaiah. (Hebrews 11:37)

He was the human author of this book, and it is indeed amazing to think that a man could write language as beautiful as this and reveal the tremendous things found here. But, when visitors go down the long trail to the Colorado River, they are no longer amazed that a river could carve out the great canyon, because they can actually hear the grinding rocks being swept along by the force of the current, and they can sense the powerful and invisible force of this river. The book of Isaiah is something like that. Here is a man carried along by an amazing force and speaking magnificent prophecies because of it.

In his second letter, Peter says of the Old Testament prophets, "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation because," he says, "no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter. 1:20,21) and this explains how Isaiah could speak and write as he did.

Now the amazing thing is that prophets who spoke like this were very much aware that an invisible power within them was speaking through them and that what they spoke and wrote was greater than their own. They actually searched through their own writings to discover hidden truths, and in this sense they ministered to themselves. They studied their own writings. Peter says the same in his first letter:

The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when they predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12 RSV)

Now if any key is needed to this book, this is it. Isaiah was a man who was searching for something. Peter says he was searching after the salvation that was to come from God. And the interesting thing is that the name "Isaiah" means "The salvation of Jehovah."

Now what sets this man searching? Why does he pore over his writings, puzzling over this matter? Well, when you read this book you can see his problem. Isaiah lived in a time of national stress, when man's true nature was visible and was exposing itself for what it was just as in our day. He was terribly bothered over man's innate rebelliousness, as he cries out in the opening chapter. The nation has deliberately forsaken the ways of God and their stupid obstinacy is simply beyond his understanding. "Why," he says, "even the ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib..." (Isaiah. 1:3) Even an animal knows where its bread is buttered, where it gets blessing and help. But he says, "Not Israel. They don't know where to go." They are wandering off stupidly, ignorantly, and this amazes him. He simply cannot understand their stubborn refusal to turn back -- and the other nations around are just as bad.

Then God gives Isaiah a vision. He sees God in his awful purity and holiness. This amazing revelation of God is in chapter 6, verses 1 through 3:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:1-3 RSV)

Imagine this! As he is in the temple one day, he sees God. In the year King Uzziah died, when the throne was vacant, he saw the throne that was never vacant. He saw a God of wrath and power. As you read on, you see beautifully described how God has power to shake the earth to its foundations -- an immense God, infinite and mighty, speaking in thunder and moving in strength. Isaiah asks, "How can such a God do anything but destroy the rebellious creatures that are men? Where is salvation for men like this?"

His problem grows worse as, in the second part of this book, he is made aware of man's helplessness. Chapter 40 begins on that note. Here is the prophetic passage concerning John the Baptist:

A voice says, "Cry!" (Isaiah 40:6a RSV)

Go to this nation and cry, cry.

And I said, "What shall I cry?" (Isaiah 40:6b RSV)

God said, cry that,

All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. (Isaiah 40:6 RSV)

The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand for ever. (Isaiah. 40: 8 RSV)

Man is just like the grass. He is temporary -- here for only a little while. His life spans but a brief period of time and then ends. Isaiah sees in this man's utter impotence and helplessness as he blindly stumbles on to his doom.

But then Isaiah begins to see the answer. Woven beautifully throughout this book is the ever-growing revelation of God's love, of Jehovah's salvation, found in the figure of someone who is to come -- the Messiah, the servant of God. At first it is dim and shadowy, but gradually it grows brighter and still brighter until, in chapter 53, the figure of Christ steps right off the page and fills the whole room and you realize that he is the answer.

But what Isaiah was given to show especially was that the God of transcendent t glory that he saw in chapter 6 -- the God who frightened him so much that he cried out. "... I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." (6:5) -- is the same God who would one day be,

... despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces... (Isaiah 53:3a RSV)

But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed... (Isaiah 53:5 RSV)

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth: ... (Isaiah 53:7a RSV)

And Isaiah saw how God's love would break the back of man's rebelliousness and meet his helpless need.

Then, at last, he sees beyond the darkness and gloom of the centuries yet to come, to the day when there will come a morning without clouds, the day of righteousness, when all God's glory will fill the earth. And man will make war no more, and they will beat their swords into pruning hooks and their spears into plows, and nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain.

You can find these two themes, or characteristics of God, brought together in the book of Revelation. In the fourth chapter, John tells us of a mighty vision of God: "And lo, a throne stood in heaven..." (Revelation. 4:2) Then, in Revelation. 5:6 he says, "And between the throne and the four living creatures...I saw a Lamb..." There, then, are the two themes of Isaiah: a throne and a Lamb. In Isaiah 6:1 you see the throne, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up..." And you find the Lamb in chapter 53, verse 7:

... like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb,
so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7b RSV)

This is God's plan you see. God doesn't choose to come with power and might and warfare to wipe men off the face of the earth (although that is the way we try to solve our problems!). As God declares to Isaiah (55:8, 9):

... my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 53:8-9 RSV)

God's method is to break through man's rebelliousness not by might, not by power -- but by love, by love that suffers. And when he does, and the heart responds by opening up, then all the majesty and the power of God are poured into that life to bring to it the fulfillment that God has intended for human hearts.

It is remarkable how up-to-date this book is. The first part of the book presents the threat of the king of Assyria; the last half of the book describes the threat of the kingdom of Babylon; and the middle part of the book, chapters 37 through 39 are the "filling" in this historical sandwich -- an interlude carrying us from Assyria to Babylon. These two nations -- Assyria and Babylon -- are in the world today and have been since before the time of Isaiah.

The king of Assyria stands for the power and philosophy of godlessness -- the idea that there is no God and that we can live as we please; that we are in a deterministic, materialistic universe that runs on in its clanking, grinding way and there is nothing we can do about it but try to enjoy ourselves and make the most of things. It is the philosophy that might makes right, and that man has no one to answer to but himself. This is the Assyrian philosophy so prominent in our own day, and it is also the philosophy behind communism.

The second force is the power of Babylon. In Scripture, Babylon is always the symbol of apostasy, of religious error and deceit. Again, this is what we experience today, on all sides. The voices from which we should be able to expect guidance -- the voice of the church itself in many places -- are often voices crying out against God, by preaching the things that encourage wrongdoing and destruction in human life. So we are living in the very times described in Isaiah.

The dominant characteristics of human life are basically rebellion and helplessness. Have you ever noticed how true that is? I read recently in the papers of a man who was given a speeding ticket. When the officer handed him the ticket, the man read it, handed it back to the officer, threw his car into gear, and sped off. The officer jumped into his car and they wound up in a high-speed chase in which the man finally ran his car off the road and destroyed it, killing both himself and his six-year-old daughter who was in the car with him. Now what made him do that? Wasn't it simply that same innate rebelliousness of the human heart which does not want to be confronted with authority? That is the problem with all of us, isn't it?

People often say to me in counseling: "I know what I ought to do, but I have to confess that I don't want to do it." Why not? We all have this problem don't we? Rebelliousness and helplessness. It is reflected in the growing despair and sense of futility that grip so many people today -- the loneliness and apparent meaninglessness of life. And twice in this book -- once in the beginning and once toward the end -- you find the great words that God addresses to a world that is gripped by rebellion and helplessness. God says in chapter 1, verse 18:

"Come now, let us reason together ...
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool." (Isaiah 1:18 RSV)

He offers forgiveness, pardon. Again, in chapter 55, verse 1:

"Ho, every one who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." (Isaiah 55:1 RSV)

You see, God's message to man is not condemnation. His message to man is, "Come, come; the salvation of Jehovah is available to all." And when a man accepts what Isaiah says --

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6 RSV)

-- he will discover the answer to his deepest need; that the rebellion can be cured and the helplessness canceled and man can become what God intended him to be.

I often think of what occurred years ago to one of England's Bible teachers. As he hurried down to catch a train after one of the services at which he had been speaking, a man ran along the platform after him and caught him just as he was about to board the train. And the man said, "Oh, sir! I was in your meeting tonight and I heard you tell about a way by which man can find peace with God. I need help. I want to find my way to God. You help me."

The teacher said, "I'm sorry. I haven't time. I've got to catch this train. But I will tell you what to do. Take this Bible and go to the nearest lamppost. Turn to Isaiah 53:6. Stoop down low and go in at the first 'all' and stand up straight and come out at the last 'all'." Then he boarded the train and off he went.

The man stood there for a minute, puzzled. He didn't know what to make of it. Then he said, "I'll do what he said." He took the Bible that the teacher had given him and went over to the nearest lamppost. "Now what was it he said?" he thought. "Oh, yes, find Isaiah 53:6." He found it."'All we like sheep have gone astray.' What did he say to do now? 'Stoop down low and go in at the first 'all'. Stand up straight and come out at the last 'all'. 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.'" "Oh," he said, "I see what he meant. I'm to admit that's the case with me. Stoop down low and go in at the first 'all'. Acknowledge that I've gone astray, that I've turned to my own way. Well, then what? Well, I'm to stand up straight and come out at the last 'all'. 'But the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' He bore it."

In a moment the man saw it. The next night at the meeting he came up, handed the Bible to the teacher, and said, "Here is your Bible, and I want you to know that I stooped down and went in at the first 'all' and I stood up straight and came out at the last 'all'."

Well, that is Isaiah's message. It is the message of the Bible -- the message of the word of God. Let's stand up straight and come out at the last 'all'.

Prayer:

Our Father, we thank you for the ministry of this great prophet of old. When we think that this book was written over seven long centuries before the Lord Jesus ever appeared on earth, yet so beautifully and accurately describes every aspect of his ministry, we can see that your hand is behind it, and that you have provided for us this great deliverance from ourselves. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. Thou hast laid on him our iniquity. He bore our transgressions. Because of this we are accepted in your sight and can discover all the wonders that you have for us. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.

Title: The Salvation of the Lord
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: Adventuring through the Bible
Scripture: Isiah
Message No: 23
Catalog No: 223
Date: December 5, 1965

THE HUMAN PROBLEM

by Ray C. Stedman

Some of the most beautiful language in English literature is found in the great prophecy of Isaiah. Truly he was a superb master of language. He was also a farseeing prophet who recorded some remarkable prophecies centering on the coming of God's Messiah. The 53rd chapter of his prophecy is such a clear picture of Christ that this book is often called "The gospel according to Isaiah." God's plan of redemption and his work of redemption are central in this prophecy. That is even suggested in the name of the prophet himself -- Isaiah, which means "God saves."

The book of Isaiah, as a matter of fact, could be considered a miniature Bible. There are 66 books of the Bible, and Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible divides between the Old and the New Testaments, and Isaiah divides into two halves. The Old Testament has 39 books, and the first division of Isaiah has 39 chapters. The New Testament has 27 books, and the second half of Isaiah has 27 chapters. The opening chapter of the second division of Isaiah, Chapter 40, describes the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Messiah, the voice crying in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way of the Lord." In the New Testament likewise, the first figure introduced is John the Baptist, crying in the wilderness, "prepare ye the way of the Lord." The closing chapter of Isaiah deals with the creation of the new heavens and the new earth. Revelation, the last book in the New Testament, deals with the same subject -- the creation of the new heavens and the new earth. This great prophecy of Isaiah, therefore, captures not only the theme of all Scripture and its central focus on the Savior of mankind himself, but also it reflects the divisions of the Bible itself.

The opening verse of the book gives a very brief introduction to the prophet.

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Isaiah 1:1 RSV)

In that historical note we learn that Isaiah carried on his ministry through the reign of four kings. (He actually was put to death during the reign of the son of Hezekiah, Manasseh, one of the most evil kings of Judah, just before the Southern Kingdom was carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.) So Isaiah lived during a time of great unrest. Israel was surrounded by enemies and criss-crossed with invading armies. It was a time of threat, danger and desolation. This was when the prophet was sent to declare to this people the cause of their misery.

The Jewish people are often referred to as the "chosen people." (Eskimos are God's frozen people. The Jews are God's chosen people.) The Jews were not so called because they were superior to other peoples, however. The Bible is careful to point out that God chose them, not because they were smarter, richer or greater than others, but as a sample nation, a picture of how God deals with the nations of earth.

He also chose them, of course, as the channel through which the Messiah would come. Speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus himself repeated the statement of the Old Testament, "Salvation is of the Jews."

Some would ask, why bother with this ancient history about a people who lived thousands of years ago, a history that cannot possibly have any bearing upon us today? To that, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament says that "all these things happened to Israel as types (or portraits) for our edification," ( 1 Corinthians 10:11). In the Old Testament we see ourselves portrayed. The problems it pictures are the same problems we face today.

This becomes obvious in Verses 2-3 of this opening chapter. God says through the prophet:

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
  for the Lord has spoken:
"Sons have I reared and brought up,
  but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
  and the ass its master's crib;
but Israel does not know,
  my people does not understand." (Isaiah 1:2-3 RSV)

This summons by God to heaven and earth to listen to what he has to say indicates this is universal truth; it applies at all times and in all places. The problem is that the children whom he lovingly took care of, and to whom he gave tremendous opportunities, turned their backs on him in rebellion and walked in their own ways. That is one of the commonest problems of today, isn't it? God also pinpoints the most painful thing about the blindness of these rebellious children, that is, their ingratitude. Even animals, he says, know better. The ox knows his owner and the ass his master's crib. Animals are grateful for their loving care, but not the children of men.

That highlights one of the problems this book of Isaiah confronts: Why is it that mankind is so blind to the goodness and mercy of God?

In Idaho a few weeks ago, David Roper told me how an 80-year-old man responded when told of his need for a relationship with God. The old man squared his shoulders and said, "I've lived for 80 years without God. I don't think I need him now." What an incredible statement! It is amazing that anyone can breathe God's air, which man did not invent or produce, eat food that comes from a process that God, not man, set into being, enjoy beauty which no man has made, live by means of the sunshine and the provisions of life which come from natural sources, which man has had nothing to do with, and still declare that he has lived for 80 years without God!

Every breath we breathe is by the mercy of God. Everything comes from his providing hand. But man ignores and turns his back upon all that, and then goes about saying that only man matters. That is incredible blindness. But that is the problem that Isaiah faces here.

God analyzes the situation in Israel in one verse, a sevenfold indictment of the nation. Here we will see the parallel to our own times. Verse 4:

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged. (Isaiah 1:4 RSV)

Let us take a closer look at those seven things:

First, God says, Israel is a sinful nation. They have been infected with a fatal virus that causes everything they do to turn out wrong. The biblical point of view is that this is the problem with the whole human race. People today, however, find that hard to believe. But there is something terribly the matter with humanity. Man is not what he was made to be. He does not function the way he ought to. There is a taint, a poison, spread throughout the whole human world, that causes even our efforts toward good to merely create new problems. The problem, the Bible declares, is sin -- that is, selfishness, self-centeredness. We are all afflicted with a tendency to take care of ourselves first, to look out for number one. That is what produces the narcissism that is so characteristic of our day, the "me generation" we hear so much about.

Secondly, God says, these people are "ladened" because of sin. Think of the heavy burdens that come upon us because of this urge to self-centeredness within us. Think of the terrible cost of crime, child abuse, teen-age pregnancies, the staggering cost of the arms race. All these heavy burdens load us down. This kind of message is not very popular, but it is realistic.

We are proud of the technological advances of our day. A man who works in Silicon Valley told me that if the automobile had kept pace with the development of the microchip, we ought to be able to buy a Rolls Royce for $2.50 and get 1,000 miles to the gallon, towing the Queen Mary! But what of the people who invent these things? They are laden with the same burdens that Israel faced in the days of Isaiah. We still have not learned how to keep a delinquent child from corrupting a whole neighborhood. We still have not learned how to save a disintegrating marriage by having those involved take an honest look at themselves and begin to work in harmony -- not in estrangement. Our inability to do these things is what God is analyzing here.

These people are also the "offspring of evildoers," he says, "sons of evildoers." This is an inherited problem, passed along from generation to generation.

They are "sons of corruption," passing along their evil tendencies to the next generation as well.

More than that, "they have forsaken Jehovah." There is a strange conspiracy, prevalent in politics and education, to keep God out on the fringes of life, to never mention his name or acknowledge his presence. Any effort to insert him into public affairs meets with tremendous resistance. People have turned their backs on the living God, and do not like to acknowledge that he has any part in human affairs.

Further, God declares, "they have despised the Holy One of Israel." They have blasphemed the God of Glory, they have insulted his majesty. That too is evident on every side today.

The ultimate result is, "they are utterly estranged." They are alienated, we would say. People are alienated from God and from each other. History confirms that when you lose God, you lose man as well. You can only understand man when you understand God, for man is made in the image of God. To lose the image of God is to lose the image of man. This is the problem with the world of our day.

Why will you still be smitten,
  that you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
  and the whole heart faint.
>From the sole of the foot even to the head,
  there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
  and bleeding wounds;
they are not pressed out, or bound up,
  or softened with oil. (Isaiah 1:5-6 RSV)

That sounds like a description of AIDS. I wonder if perhaps AIDS, the loss of the body's natural defense mechanisms, has been given to us by God as a vivid picture of what is happening to the nations and peoples of the world today. Certainly we are a sick people, fitting the description here.

The prophet goes on to describe the consequences of this seven-fold indictment of the people of Israel.

Your country lies desolate,
  your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
  aliens devour your land;
  it is desolate, as overthrown by aliens,
And the daughter of Zion is left
  like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
  like a besieged city. (Isaiah 1:7-8 RSV)

What vivid figures are employed to show the desolation that follows when people turn their backs on the living God! All natural defenses are removed. Scripture teaches that each of us in the human family has invisible defenses when we come into this earth -- "Guardian Angels" we call them. (Some say that those who like to drive motorcycles fast must have two guardian angels, one in front and one behind them as they ride!) Many of us have heard remarkable experiences of people being protected by unseen forces in times of danger.

But what happens when there is a persistent refusal to acknowledge God? Then the defenses are removed. Invaders take over and make life desolate and dreary, in the case of both individuals and nations. Between services this morning a woman told me that her husband is going through a terrible time of physical attack. His spirit is bitter and resentful toward what he perceives to be a torture imposed upon him by an angry God.

But, as we see in this picture, it is not that at all. It is God in his mercy, trying to awaken someone. He tries to awaken a nation that will not hear, and make them listen to what he has to say. Often that is the explanation for many of the trials we face.

C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is God's megaphone. He whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in our work, but He shouts at us in our pain."

Many times we have seen someone who will not pay heed to what he is doing to himself and his loved ones until God lays him on a bed of sickness or he suffers an accident. Then he will listen. That is what God says is happening to Judah.

What is Judah's reaction to this? They know they are the people of God and that God is upset with them, so they try to remedy things, not by a turnabout, where they give way to the grace and mercy of God, but by a religious performance -- a shallow and external pretense of worship, Verse 10:

Hear the word of the Lord,
  you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
  you people of Gomorrah! [The prophet compares Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah in their evil.]
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
  says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
  and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
  or of lambs, or of he-goats." (Isaiah 1:10-11 RSV)

God is no pagan deity whose anger is mollified by bloody sacrifices. No, those are symbols, he says, and he has had enough of symbols which are empty.

"Bring no more vain offerings;
  incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies --
  I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
  my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
  I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread forth your hands,
  I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
  I will not listen;" (Isaiah 1:13-15a RSV)

What good are empty religious exercises that do not involve the heart, where there is no change in the life? These are merely play-acting and charade, designed to keep God happy so he will not destroy your plans or cancel your prerogatives. What a low view of God, to think that he can be paid off by religious performance!

All of these things mentioned here, of course, were legitimate, even God-given, forms of expressing truth about man and God. But God is saying, "If your heart is not in it, if you do not mean what you sing, and what you say, it is nauseating to me."

What does God want, then? If religious ritual and beautiful, well-planned services don't do it, what will satisfy him? He tells Judah and us in very plain language, Verse 16:

"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
  remove the evil of your doings
  from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
  learn to do good;
seek justice,
  correct oppression;
defend the fatherless,
  plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16-17 RSV)

Here are two steps, one negative, one positive: stop doing wrong; start doing right. This is what God wants. The sign of true faith is obedience and service. If these are not present, then the expressions of faith that you are offering are nauseating in his sight.

Here is a quote from an insert in our bulletin that is pertinent to what I am saying.

Our children may be cheated out of a vital Christian life if their models are Christian adults who continually place a priority on getting and keeping more and more things and experiences. The only alternative to the threat of materialism in our children's lives is the adult model of "gaining your life by losing it." This is the biblical model kids must see from us in order to grow up spiritually healthy. So, while we are pondering over Christmas lists and checkbooks, let us also consider practical ways we can live intentionally Christian lives before our children.

That is what God wants.

I clipped this paragraph from a Christian magazine the other day.

We pick up our newspaper and read about a three-year-old boy who is whipped with a belt for three hours because he wet his pants. We read about his cries and pleadings as his little body squirms under the foot of his stepfather. We read about this beating, which is his last in a year long series of frequent beatings; his last because he died in his bed a half hour later. We read about how the boy's body is found months later, buried in a creek, with a tiny cross clutched in his hands. We read about this brutal murder of a defenseless child, and we feel sick. Then we turn to the financial section and read about how the economy is improving. We turn to the entertainment section and look for an interesting movie to go to. We turn to the sports section and read about last night's game. Soon the sickness leaves us. We forget about the little boy, and forget that indifference makes us accomplices.

One of those things that troubles me most about the Christian world of our day is the fact that so many churches are unconcerned about pressing needs around them, and do so little to help. Yesterday I was pleased to visit a luncheon at PBC North, an annual Christmas affair put on by our Ambassadors class. They go to all the nursing homes and sanitariums around our area, picking up many of the residents to take them there, and serve them a wonderful Christmas lunch. They reach out to these older men and women who seldom get out, some of whom are in wheelchairs, some incontinent, some with unpleasant smells. I was especially pleased because no pastor has ever suggested that the Ambassadors take on that service of love. That is the outcry of changed hearts, the outreaching of changed lives.

But when we read these verses, there is a problem immediately evident. God's analysis of the human race is that we are tainted with self-centeredness so that we do not want to do good, basically. We want to minister to our own needs and our own lives. But when we hear his command, "Wash yourself, stop sinning, look out for others," the question arises, how can evil people do good things?

This cry is answered in the next three verses. This is the theme of the book of Isaiah. "Come now," God says, "let us reason together." (This was President Lyndon Johnson's favorite Bible verse.)

"Come now, let us reason together,
  says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
  they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson,
  they shall become like wool.
If you are willing and obedient,
  you shall eat the good of the land;
But if you refuse and rebel,
  you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 1:18-20 RSV)

It could not be put any plainer. There is no help in man himself. We cannot heal ourselves. We need more than our habits changed. We ourselves need to be changed, and that change can only occur in a relationship with the living God.

This is the good news, this is the gospel. It looks forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and the shedding of his blood, his taking our place that God might put our sins upon him, and, thus, enable him to give us the gift of righteousness so that our hearts will be changed. Selfishness is not taken away but it is overcome by the gift of love.

We used to sing in Sunday School an old hymn.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
O precious is the flow
That washes white as snow.
No other fount I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

None other Lamb,
None other Name,
None other hope in heaven or earth or sea.
None other hiding place from guilt and shame.
None but in Thee!

That is the message of Isaiah.

There may be some here this morning who have been attempting to clean up their own lives. Every Christmas time people get the urge to stop doing things that obviously are hurting themselves and others. Yet it never seems to work. They may stop temporarily, but then another bad habit surfaces and soon they return to their old ways. There is no power to change. But the gospel, the beautiful good news, is that God has found a way to break through the human problem to give us a changed heart and teach us a new way of living.

It is the business of people who have been born again to keep on learning from his Word how God thinks, to obey that Word, and then to reach out and meet the human needs we find all around us. This is the true message of Christmas.

Prayer:

Thank you, our Father, for this wonderfully forthright and honest word; and for the good news that we are not left in our doleful, miserable condition, but that you have broken through into our lives by means of the Lord Jesus, by his death and resurrection, and are offering to make us different. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new," 2 Corinthians 5:17). Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Title: The Human Problem
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: Isaiah: A Short Series
Scripture: Isaiah 1
Message No: 1
Catalog No: 576
Date: December 8, 1985

HIS MAJESTY

by Ray C. Stedman

We are studying highlights from the great prophecy of Isaiah "Isaiah's greatest hits," as someone has described them. One of the greatest is the well known sixth chapter, where the prophet is given a vision of the glory of God.

Some commentators feel that this event is what introduced Isaiah to his prophetic ministry. From the placement of the chapter, however, it is clear that it follows ministry which he has already had. In Chapter 1 we looked at his first message to the people of Judah. He had prophesied for some years of ministry during the reign of King Uzziah who is also called Azariah in the Book of Chronicles. Uzziah began his reign at age 16, and for 52 years ruled Judah. For the most part he was a good and righteous king. The record shows that he followed in the footsteps of his ancestor King David. But the Book of Chronicles tells us that when Uzziah "grew strong, he became proud, to his own destruction." He presumed to enter the office of priesthood. He went into the temple, taking incense from the altar of incense which he sought to offer before the Lord. Immediately he was struck with leprosy. He spent his remaining years isolated from the court, living the lonely life of a leper. This permitted trouble to begin in the kingdom of Judah. Ominous clouds were already darkening the national sky as enemies gathered around the nation. Chaos threatened as the young prince Jotham came into office. This is what Isaiah saw as he looked out over Judah.

But he saw something else as well, as he tells us in these opening words of Chapter 6:

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim; each had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
  "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
  the whole earth is full of his glory"
And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:1-4 RSV)

Beyond the chaos which threatened the land, Isaiah saw in a vision the God of order and sovereign authority, ruling over the affairs of earth.

Only occasionally does the Scripture break through the limitations of our vision and open up to us the unseen kingdom that surrounds us on every side, permitting us to see the true glory of God. Hundreds of years ago everybody believed that the earth was flat. As you look toward the horizon, of course, you cannot see any curvature; the earth does seem flat. People in those days thought it was possible to sail to the very edge of the world, and to drop off the edge, into what, they did not know. They believed only what they could see. Gradually, however, evidence began to mount showing that the world was round, not flat. Today almost everyone knows this to be a fact, although a few diehards still deny this. (One group even said that the moon landing was merely a television production put on to convince people that the world is round when it actually is flat.) Most know that the world is round, disbelieving the evidence of their eyes in order to do so.

Many people regard God this way -- they think he is flat and uninteresting. If he exists at all he is remote, obscure, mysterious, limited. He has little to do with the affairs of earth; we are left to our own devices. Since God cannot be seen with human eyes, he cannot possibly exist, they say. This passage and others like it in the Scripture, however, demonstrate that God is not flat. He is an exciting, majestic Being. Isaiah had opportunity to look beyond the visible to the realms of the invisible and see the majesty of our God. He saw God enthroned, "sitting upon a throne," the symbol of sovereign authority, in charge of everything in heaven and upon earth. A great hymn expresses this well,

Immortal, Invisible,
God only wise.
In light inaccessible,
hid from our eyes.
Most blessed,
most glorious,
the Ancient of Days!
Almighty,
Victorious,
Thy great name we praise!

This world is not, as some would tell us, stumbling blindly along, ruled by man, the most intelligent of the animals. Isaiah saw God, sitting upon a throne, in full sovereign authority over our world.

More than that, God was encircled with the highest of the heavenly beings, the "seraphim" ("the burning ones"), bright as the sun. Yet these beings were themselves eclipsed by the glory of the One they encircled.

Their characteristics are symbolized for us. Each of them had three pairs of wings. With two they covered their faces, a picture of reverence, of the impossibility of looking at the full glory of God, just as it is impossible for us to behold the burning glory of the sun. With two wings they covered their feet. The feet, in Scripture, are a picture of earthly, personal activity. By covering their feet the angels are testifying that their authority is a derived authority; it does not spring from them, but from the One they worship and serve. With the other two wings they flew, a symbol of ceaseless activity and swiftness in service. Thus the seraphim are an angelic order concerned with the beauty and majesty of the One whom they serve. They serve him in reverence and humility, eager to carry out his work.

Not only did the prophet see these beings, but he heard them extolling the greatness of God, calling to one another in a great antiphonal chorus, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory." The thrice repeated word "holy" is a recognition of the threefold nature of God. It is a mystery which we do not fully understand. Later in this account the beings speak to Isaiah and say to him, "Who will go for us?" Thus even here in the Old Testament is revealed the plurality of God.

But these words also express the holiness of God. I confess for years I never liked the word "holy." The people I knew who were considered holy were grim-looking individuals who looked like they had been soaked in embalming fluid. They never seemed to have any fun or joy in life. But I have learned since that the word "holy" is a very wonderful word. It comes from a related English root, the word "whole." We all want to be whole, complete, with nothing out of order or unbalanced about us. That is how God is. He is perfect, total, lacking nothing. He is exactly what he ought to be. That is what the angels are singing. We admire people who approach in any degree this idea of wholeness or completeness, although we know how broken and fragmented is all mankind. But God, in his perfection, is absolutely whole "holy."

Further, the seraphim declare that God's glory is manifest everywhere: "the whole earth is full of his glory." It has always struck me as strange that in this universe of order and procedure men so often fail to apprehend the glory of God. The universe is incredibly vast. Astronomers tell us that even our own galaxy, our own little neighborhood, is three hundred thousand light years across. Light traveling at eleven million miles per minute takes three hundred thousand years to traverse it! And there are millions and even billions of galaxies like ours, and larger than ours, flung throughout the vast cosmos.

But when we turn to the minutest forms of matter, the atom, with its tiny electrons, neutrons and protons, we see a miniature universe, just as wondrous, with distances on a relative scale as vast as the cosmos itself. Think of the beauty and the order of the world of nature, of our own being, with our amazing capacities that far surpass those of the animal world. If only we had eyes to see we would know what the seraphim declare, "the whole earth is full of his glory." This is what led Elizabeth Barrett Browning to write,

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush aflame with God.
But only those who see take off their shoes.
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Further, the prophet sees the effectiveness of the God who sits enthroned:

The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. (Isaiah 6:4 RSV)

The full meaning of this breaks upon us when we turn to the 12th chapter of the gospel of John, where the apostle quotes from the latter part of this chapter of Isaiah. Speaking of Jesus, John says these amazing words: "Isaiah said this because he saw his (Jesus') glory and spoke of him" (John 12:41). This One whom Isaiah saw, by the words of an inspired apostle, is identified as none other than the Lord Jesus, the very One who, following his resurrection, declared, "All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me," Matthew 28:11).

But this vision of the majesty of Jesus reveals to Isaiah what we can only call, the malady of man.

And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5 RSV)

As he observes the majesty of God, Isaiah's immediate reaction is to see himself in a new light.

I doubt if Isaiah had ever thought of himself quite like this before. But to see God is to see man. Scripture says we are made in the image of God; thus to see God is to see ourselves. And when we see ourselves in the light of the greatness of God, we see, with Isaiah, how far we have fallen from that image. Seeing his own pollution, Isaiah cries, "I am a man of unclean lips."

Scripture frequently uses the symbol of the lips -- the tongue or the mouth -- as revealing what is in the heart. Jesus said, "The things that go into a man are not what defile him." It is not what you eat, what you wear, or what you read that defile you. It is what comes out of a man, according to Jesus: "Out of the heart come murders, adulteries, fornications, jealousies, envies," etc. (Matthew 15:19, Mark 7:21). James says the tongue is but a small member but it is set on fire of hell James 3:6). All of us have said things we wish we could take back. As Proverbs says, "Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks." This is what Isaiah recognized when he saw the majesty of God.

Notice he does not say, "Woe is me! For I am worthless." The Scripture never teaches that man is worthless. In fact, Jesus taught quite the opposite. He said what a pity it is for a man to gain the whole world and lose himself! That is how valuable man is. Even the world, with all its kingdoms, wealth and glory, is not worth the life of a single individual. What Isaiah does see and what he declares is, "I am lost. I am ruined, defiled. Woe is me." There is a moment of fear, a sense of failure, and a cry of despair as he sees how far he is from ever measuring up to the wholeness and beauty of God.

If you feel this way -- and many do today -- thank God for it, for God never uses anybody without first bringing him to an awareness of his own weakness. The pervading sickness of our day is meaninglessness, an inner conviction of defilement. Many find themselves unable to do w hat they would like. They feel powerless, unable to control their own destiny. All of us are faced with moments of truth, when we see what Isaiah saw, that the cause of our problems is our own inner defilement. When you see yourself in this way, thank God for it, for it can be the moment of healing.

A marvelous lesson that runs all through Scripture is that nothing hinders our being used by God more than pride and self-sufficiency. When Isaiah saw the majesty, the glory and the effectiveness of God, there came burning in his heart a desire to be used of God, to have a part in God's glorious work. Who does not want to have part in a highly successful enterprise? The great hunger of the human heart is the desire to be used of God. Even those who have given themselves to abusing themselves and others have within themselves a strong desire to be so used. I have seen presidents of great companies here in the Silicon Valley who trembled at the realization that God was about to use them to change somebody's life. There is no greater hunger than the hunger to be used of God. But when Isaiah became aware of that hunger, he also became aware that he was not fit to be used; he would mess everything up if he tried. This is what draws this cry from his heart.

It is not a pleasant way to feel, but it is a very hopeful place to arrive at, because pride is the source of all human evil. All the agony of life flows from our feeling that we deserve more than we are getting. We desire to be bigger, better or more noted than others. In the Bible, pride is the source of all evil. Humility, on the other hand, is the source of all virtue. The first of the beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount corresponds to what Isaiah declares of himself as he viewed the majesty of God. "Blessed are the poor in spirit [the bankrupt ones, the ones who have nothing in themselves], for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," (Matthew 5:3). God labors constantly in our lives to bring us to this same awareness as Isaiah.

A few months ago a pastor shared with me that he had arrived at the place where he was proud and happy with all that was going on in his church. The church was bursting at the seams and they were engaged in a new building program. He was congratulating himself on the tremendous job he had done in the ministry. When he and his wife went on vacation in another city they went to a church to hear a man preach whom they had always wanted to hear. This man took for his text Peter's word, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble," 1 Peter 5:5-6). He listened critically to the message, analyzed its weaknesses, and thought he could have done a much better job of preaching himself. They went on to another city and visited another church the following Sunday. To his astonishment, the sermon was on the same text, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble." He listened much more soberly on this occasion. The text came home to him in a profound way. The next day, he and his wife opened a devotional book and he was incredulous to find the text for the day was, "Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble." He began to get the message. They both got down on their knees and confessed to God how proud and arrogant they had been.

My dear patron saint, Dr. H. A. Ironside, used to tell about a young Scottish preacher who preached his first sermon in a new church. The pulpits in Scottish churches are raised high above the congregation, so that the preacher must climb several steps up to the pulpit. This young man had just graduated from seminary, having reached the place where he knew more than he would ever know again! Bible under his arm, his head held high, he climbed the steps to the pulpit, confident that his message would lay his hearers in the aisles. But his thoughts eluded him, he fumbled and stumbled about. His notes fell to the floor and he had to regain them. Nothing went right. As he came down the steps, his head downcast, sagging under a sense of failure and guilt, a dear lady sitting right by the pulpit tugged his robe and said to him, "Young man, if ye'd gang up like ye cam doun, ye'd have cam doun like ye gang up!"

Yes, God resists the proud. What a contradiction this text is to the spirit of our age! Think highly of yourself, we are told. Relieve in yourself; you have what it takes. The whole world is committed to the philosophy that you can succeed only if you believe in yourself. But Scripture declares that God works to bring us to the end of ourselves, to shatter the illusion of self-sufficiency. It must be done, before we can be used of him.

When Isaiah reaches this place, there is an immediate change. The next word is "Then" at that moment:

Then flew one of the seraphim to me, having in his hand a burning coal which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is forgiven." (Isaiah 6:6-7 RSV)

How wonderful to see the gospel of forgiveness in the Old Testament as well as in the New. This coal was not taken from the altar of incense (which stood before the door of the Holy of Holies), but from the brazen altar in the courtyard, where the sacrifices were offered. It speaks of the cost of redemption, the cost of forgiveness. It foresees One who had to lay down his life that we might be forgiven. This is the glory of the gospel. William Cowper sings,

There is a fountain filled with blood,
  Drawn from Immanuel's veins.
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
  Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
  That fountain in his day.
And there may I, though vile as he,
  Wash all my sins away.

That is true not only at the beginning of the Christian life, but every day of it. We need each day the forgiveness of our sins. That is why Paul writes in Ephesians, "He has lavished upon us the forgiveness of sins," Ephesians 1:7). Never begin a day without thanking God that the wrongs of yesterday are forgiven. You can begin each day with a clean slate. What a gift is the grace of forgiveness! When the heart confesses its need, then cleansing and commission immediately follow. That is the mystery of grace.

Once again the prophet hears the voice of God.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And he said, "Go, and say to this people:
  'Hear and hear, but do not understand;
  see and see, but do not perceive.'
Make the heart of this people fat,
  and their eyes heavy,
  and shut their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes,
  and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
  and turn and be healed." (Isaiah 6:8-10 RSV)

What a strange message! But it only comes after a long period during which God has been seeking to reach a difficult and stubborn people.

Then I said, "How long, O Lord?"
And he said,
"Until cities lie waste
  without inhabitant,
and houses without men,
  and the land is utterly desolate,
and the Lord removes men far away,
  and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
And though a tenth remain in it,
  it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
  whose stump remains standing
  when it is felled.
The holy seed is its stump. (Isaiah 6:11-13 RSV)

The message Isaiah was given was one of judgment. God was saying, "These people have so resisted my word, they have become so indifferent to it, the only thing that will awaken them is to be led into captivity in Babylon, and the land allowed to become desolate." That is not a result of the anger of God. That is his mercy. He is trying to awaken people who have turned their backs on the truth. This passage is quoted frequently in the Old Testament as a symbol of the stubbornness of men who refuse to listen to the revelation of the mercy and grace of God. But it is not our message. Our message is yet a word of mercy and grace, the word that God is still in the business of forgiving sins.

When Isaiah hears the call of God his heart is instantly responsive. By now he has believed what God said. He no longer feels undone and defiled. He believed that when God said he was forgiven he really was forgiven. No longer does he feel unworthy or unable to serve. He is eager to go, "Here am I, send me."

In seminary it was pointed out to me that, when many Christians hear the voice of God telling them to serve, they often say, in paraphrase of Isaiah, "Here am I! Send my sister!" (This especially applies to missionary work.) Such an answer reveals that they never have truly felt forgiven. They have never sensed the wonder and privilege of being used of God, the marvel of a call to serve people in need, whether a need of food and shelter, a need for knowledge, truth or love, or a need for cleansing and forgiveness. But that is what Christians are called to do. I often think of the words of Peter Marshall, "Many Christians are like men dressed in diving suits designed for many fathoms deep, marching bravely forth to pull plugs from bathtubs." Much Christian activity seems to merit that description.

But Isaiah, responding to God's call, was sent immediately to meet the need of his people. God's word is, "Go." Something great has happened to you, so go!

Do not go if you have had no vision of the majesty and greatness of God, if you have never heard his voice speaking to your heart, if you have never cried, "Woe is me! I am undone." Unless you have felt God's cleansing and restoring grace, do not go. You will have nothing to say. You cannot help anyone by commiserating with them and sharing their misery. You must go, knowing you have what they need to hear, which God will speak into their hearts as he has spoken it into yours. If you have felt that, then you can say, as I hope you are saying, "Lord, here am I! Send me."

Prayer:

Thank you, our Father, for this marvelous revelation of your unceasing labors on behalf of mankind. Grant to us who have felt the touch of the cleansing coal from your altar that we should be like the prophet, eager and available to go. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Title: His Majesty
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: Isaiah: A Short Series
Scripture: Isaiah 6
Message No: 2
Catalog No: 577
Date: December 15, 1985

O COME IMMANUEL

by Ray C. Stedman

Nothing in history remotely approaches the wonder of the birth of the Lord Jesus. Charles Wesley had a great gift for incorporating in brief form some of the greatest truths of our faith. He wrote,

Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a Virgin's womb;
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th' incarnate Deity.

In these verses he captured the mystery, glory and beauty of that scene in Bethlehem we sing of at Christmas season.

In Chapter 7 of Isaiah we have the prophetic announcement of that virgin birth. One commentator has written: "Of measureless importance to the universe, to this world, to every individual of the human family is the prophecy to which we have now come. On the fulfillment of this prophecy all Christianity rests, as a building on its foundation."

It is important to point out that perhaps twenty years of time lie between Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of Isaiah. The sixteen-year reign of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, is passed over in silence. We leap from "the year in which king Uzziah died" at the beginning of Jotham's reign, to the reign of Jotham's son, King Ahaz, a man so sunken in idolatry that he offered his own son to the pagan god of Molech.

The historical setting of the prophecy of the birth of Messiah is given in the opening two verses of Chapter 7:

In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but they could not conquer it. When the house of David [king Ahaz] was told, "Syria is in league with Ephraim," his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. This is a report of ancient power politics. The ten tribes of Israel had joined in a military alliance with the nation of Syria (countries that are very much in the news today), and had invaded the southern kingdom of Judah. They besieged Jerusalem, surrounding it with their armies, but could not overcome it. The reaction of king Ahaz, coward and unbeliever that he was, and of the people of his kingdom was, as Isaiah describes here, one of panic: "his heart and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind." (Isaiah 7:1-2 RSV)

We learn from the book of Second Kings that at this juncture King Ahaz resorted to an expediency. He gathered all the temple vessels of gold and silver and sent them far away to the north, to the king of Assyria, the superpower of that day, and hired him by this means to come against these two kings and thus deliver Jerusalem from the threat they represented. He relied upon manipulation, playing one power against another -- a familiar tactic that has been employed throughout history.

Right at this point, when the king and the whole nation are trembling with fear at what might happen, God sends the prophet Isaiah to him with a message.

And the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go forth to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field, and say to him, 'Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.'" (Isaiah 7:3-4 RSV)

In Verse 5 we discover why:

"'Because Syria, with Ephraim [another name for the northern kingdom] and the son of Remaliah [Pekah, the king of Israel] has devised evil against you, saying, "Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabe-el as king in the midst of it," thus says the Lord God:
  It shall not stand,
    and it shall not come to pass. (Isaiah 7:5-7 RSV)

That is clear and unequivocal; the threat will come to nothing. God goes on to give the reason for this powerful, forthright message:

"For the head of Syria is Damascus its capital, and the head of Damascus is Rezin [the king]. (Isaiah 7:8a RSV)

This king is such a weak figure that he is no threat and therefore Syria and Damascus may be disregarded.

"(Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces so that it will no longer be a people.) And the head of Ephraim is Samaria [that was its capital, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah." (Isaiah 7:8b-9a RSV)

That is Pekah, the king, who also is an inconsequential figure. Isaiah warns Ahaz:

'"If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established."' (Isaiah 7:9b RSV)

That is a play on words in the Hebrew. We could capture it in English if we put it this way: "If there is no belief, you will find no relief."

All this seems very far removed from us. These events happened long, long ago in a country far distant from us. Yet there are several important matters included here that we must not fail to note. Bear with me as I give you some pointers on how to interpret Old Testament prophecies. Notice first that the prophet is specifically told to take along with him his little son Shear-jashub. Although the boy does nothing and says nothing, his very presence is required to make this prophecy meaningful, as we will see. The boy's name (which means, "A remnant shall return"), is the significant element that the prophet is to bring before the king.

In studying the Old Testament it is important to note the meaning of people's names. Hebrews did not choose their children's names like we do -- after some movie star, a great football player, or some name that has been in the family for years. Hebrew names mean something, and oftentimes teach a lesson. For instance, the name of the oldest person who ever lived, Methuselah, means, "When he dies, it will come." What a strange thing to name your child! But in Genesis 5 we learn that the father of Methuselah was another remarkable man named Enoch, one of only two men in the Bible who never died, but was "caught up" when he reached 365 years of age. Enoch began his walk with God when he was 65 years old, and the reason he did so was because he had a little boy whom he named Methuselah! These clues help us figure out what is going on. I hope you learn to read the Bible like you were Perry Mason, following some of these remarkable clues. It makes the Scriptures come alive.

A look at the context reveals that what changed Enoch's life and made him walk with God was the revelation that there was coming a great event that would significantly affect every human being then on earth. He was told to name his little boy "When he dies, it will come," because the world was headed for judgment: a great flood was coming. Can you imagine what it meant to the people of that day to have this little boy around, reminding them all the time, "When he dies, it will come?" How they must have kept track of him! "Where's Methuselah? I haven't seen that boy for half an hour. Let's find him because 'When he dies, it will come!'" If you check the record, you will find that the very year that Methuselah died was the year the flood came. Here in Isaiah we will see why Shear-jashub ("A remnant will return") is a very key part of this prophecy.

Then the second thing we are told is the precise spot on which God directed the prophet to stand when he made this announcement to the king. You probably read this thinking that it was nothing more than a casual direction God gave to him. But it is very significant. Isaiah was told to go to the "end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field"; to stand at that very spot and give this announcement to King Ahaz. What is the meaning of that? In a moment we will see that it has a most remarkable meaning. There at that spot, and only there, the prophet was to inform King Ahaz that he had nothing to fear from these two armies that were threatening the city of Jerusalem. They were only "smoking stumps" and were no real threat at all. The account declares that within sixty-five years this deliverance would happen. Jewish commentators tell us that those sixty-five years began when an earthquake struck Israel during the days of King Uzziah, twenty years before this prophecy was uttered, which meant that there were only some forty years left within which it was to be concluded. Thus within that period of time, sometime before forty years had elapsed, Israel, the northern kingdom, would become a captive nation, and Syria's power would be smashed by the might of a greater nation, the kingdom of Assyria. All this came true, as predicted.

In looking at this passage we must remember the peculiar nature of Isaiah's commission. In Chapter 6 he was sent to this people with a very strange message. God said to him, "Go and speak to this people, but speak in a way that they will 'hear what you say but they will not hear it,' and they will 'see what you are talking about but they will not perceive it.'" Here we are given a clue that Isaiah is to prophesy in rather cryptic, double-meaning language.

This word about the "conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller's Field" is a good example of this. The beauty of the Hebrew language is that it is capable of a number of different meanings. That is not true of Greek. Scholars and students love the Greek New Testament because Greek is a very precise language. But Hebrew is not like that. It paints in big globs of color which can be interpreted in various ways. Many of the Hebrew words actually have many meanings -- sometimes meanings that are even opposites. Granted that this makes interpretation difficult, but it also makes it challenging and very interesting.

Let me show you what I mean. The word "pool" here ("the conduit of the upper pool"), in Hebrew also means "blessing." It is obvious why a pool of water would be called a blessing. In a dry and thirsty land any pool of water would clearly prove to be a blessing. So the word has both meanings. The word "upper" ("the upper pool") means more than a pool located on a higher level. It also means "the most high." So what we have as a second meaning is the phrase "The blessing of the Most High." This pool is a spring of water, located on the hillside west of the old City of David which flowed down an aqueduct to the city. At the end of it, where it emptied into a small pool, was the spot where the prophet was told to take his stand: "at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool."

At the same time, that was also the place where the road by which he came there, "the highway to the Fuller's Field," led. A highway in Scripture is always an ascent. It is called in Isaiah 35 "the highway of holiness," so it has to do with righteousness and moral cleansing. This is also strengthened by the fact that it led to the "Fuller's Field." In old English, a fuller was a laundry man, a washerman. The field would be at the place of washing. Thus we can see why a pool which was "the end of a conduit" of water, coming down from an upper spring, would also be the place where people washed their clothes. That is the spot where Isaiah was told to stand.

When these meanings are considered we see why the prophet was sent to where these two places met -- it was where the "upward way of cleansing and of washing, met the downward flow of the channel of the blessings of the Most High." What would that symbolize? From the New Testament, we know it could only describe the Lord Jesus himself. He is the "end of the aqueduct, the channel of the blessing of the Most High." He is also "the way of cleansing," the upward ascent that brought the prophet to this place. It is all a beautiful poetic description of Jesus himself. (Forty years later, by the way, the king of Assyria stood on that very spot and threatened the city of Jerusalem again. God met him by sending an angel into the camp of the Assyrians and slew 185,000 of them in one night.).

Now we learn why the prophet was told to take his son Shear-jashub with him.

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, "Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test " And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman, or, as some texts have it, a virgin, shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey that he may know how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, that land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah [he will bring] the king of Assyria." (Isaiah 7:10-17 RSV)

The rest of the chapter describes the destruction that would follow as a result of that invasion by the king of Assyria.

What a confusing passage this is to many! Jewish commentators say this prophecy of Immanuel is not a reference to Jesus but merely a sign given to King Ahaz, and has only to do with the immediate events that would transpire in that land. It is not a prophecy of a virgin bearing a child, they say (especially the virgin Mary), but it was fulfilled by a young woman of that time, probably the prophet's wife. This confusing language is why many have missed the import of this message.

But notice, first of all, the wide scope from which Ahaz was invited to choose a sign. God said to him, "Ask of me and I will give you a sign (that what I say is going to happen), and you can choose from as deep as Sheol (hell itself) or as high as heaven." In other words, this sign was intended to be of world-shaking importance, something that all the peoples of the earth for all time would know about, a sign that would strengthen the faith of millions.

The petulant king, who had no interest in a sign from God and did not even believe that God could or would do anything for him, tries hypocritically to cover his unbelief by pious words, "Oh, I wouldn't think of asking a sign for such a one as me!" But he has just been invited by God to ask for a sign! Have you ever heard anyone talk like that? I have read passages of Scripture to people listing promises of God about what he would do if they would trust him, and they have responded, "Oh, I cannot believe that God would do anything like that for me." That may sound humble and pious, but actually it is a fearful utterance of pride. Isaiah answers the king rather bluntly, "Look, isn't it enough that you make me tired without making God tired as well?"

It is important to notice that the prophet now addresses him, no longer as King Ahaz, but as 'the House of David': "Hear then, O House of David. . . Therefore the Lord himself will give you ["you"] is plural in this instance meaning the entire house of David"] a sign. Behold, a young woman [or a virgin] shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us]."

It is not wrong to translate this "a young woman." The Hebrew allows for that. The word can mean a young married as well as a young unmarried woman. But to be a "sign" it would have to be a young unmarried woman who had never known a man -- a virgin, in other words. Young women have sons all the time, but it would only be a sign if a woman who never knew a man conceived and bore a son. That is what the prophet said would happen. It was a sign to the whole House of David.

In the New Testament we are told that an angel appeared to Joseph because he was of the line of David and said to him, "Fear not to take this woman to be your wife because that which is born of her is of the Holy Spirit," Matthew 1:20). Thus the virgin birth was, indeed, a sign to the House of David, 750 years later, that God would carry out his promise. A baby would be born of a virgin and his name would be "God with us." All the beauty, mystery and majesty of Christmas gathers around that name. When Jesus was born of a virgin in a stable in Bethlehem and laid in a manger! the angels broke through the heavens and cried to the shepherds, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord (God with us)," Luke 2:10). Surely anyone reading these two Scriptures together can fail to see the tie between them.

That was to be the sign to the House of David, but that was not the sign to Ahaz. Beginning with Verse 15, the prophet goes on to give him that sign. We read, "He (this sounds at first like it refers to Immanuel but later verses show otherwise)... shall eat curds and honey that he may know how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted." That is clearly the sign for Ahaz for it deals directly with the problem he faced. But who, then, is this "he" to whom it refers?

Perhaps you have already guessed. This is surely why Isaiah was told to take with him his little son Shear-jashub. At this point he probably put his hand upon the boy's head and said, "He (his own son) shall eat curds and honey that he may know how to refuse the evil and choose the good." Later in the chapter we discover that after the Assyrian invasion everyone in the land was to eat curds and honey, the food of poverty. The invading army so decimated the countryside that there was no food left. But grass grew abundantly, and the few cattle and sheep remaining produced milk, from which the people made curds (we would call it cottage cheese), and they ate wild honey, naturally found in the land. By eating this food of poverty Shear-jashub would learn "to refuse the evil and choose the good" for the land was destroyed because the king had chosen evil instead of good. Thus Shear-jashub and the whole population would learn to refuse the evil and choose the good. This, then, is a prophecy containing two signs: the wonderful sign of the coming of One born of a virgin whose name would be Immanuel, and a second sign to the unbelieving king concerning the invasion of Assyria during which his only comfort would be derived from the name of Isaiah's son, "a remnant shall return."

The rest of the chapter and part of chapter 8 describes this Assyrian invasion. Here we are introduced to another son of Isaiah who is also a sign to the nation. He too has a strange name: (Isaiah) 8:3 says,

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, "Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz." (Isaiah 8:3 RSV)

Imagine having a son with a name like that! What a task, even to call him into lunch every day. Mahershalalhashbaz means "The spoil speeds and the prey hastens." It gives a picture of the people when the armies of Assyria came rushing in. The people were the spoil and the prey who would run before these armies, speeding to hide themselves. It is a picture of panic and flight: "the spoil speeds and the prey hastens."

Moving to Chapter 9, we discover another beautiful vision of the prophet that spans the centuries and brings before us new truths that were fulfilled in our Lord's day. The opening words of the chapter really belong to the closing part of Chapter 8. Thus the chapter should begin with these words,

In the former time he [God] brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
  The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
  those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shined. (Isaiah 9:1b-2 RSV)

Here a new geographical area is brought into focus. Northern Israel, around the Sea of Galilee, was utterly decimated in the Assyrian invasion. It was the part of Israel hardest hit in that attack. This Isaiah foresaw which he calls "the former time," when God "brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali," the two tribes who occupied that area. But, he says, "in the latter time [centuries later] he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." Surely no prophecy could be more striking in its fulfillment than the appearance of Jesus and his ministry in the area of Galilee. He would be, as the prophet says, a "great light" to the people who walked in darkness. When our Lord appeared he made the area glorious by his teaching and ministry. He was a great light amid the moral darkness and decay of that day.

Most of our Lord's ministry was spent in Galilee. There he healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, cast out demons and raised the dead. There some of his greatest messages were preached: the Sermon on the Mount, overlooking the Sea of Galilee; the great message on the bread of life in John 6, which was uttered after the feeding of the 5,000; there he told his great parables: the parable of the sower, the parable of the prodigal son, etc. All these wonderful utterances were made in that land of darkness. A "great light" had indeed come among them.

Between Verses 2 and 3 of this chapter we have what has been called "the great parenthesis" in prophecy. It leaps over the centuries, past our own day, to the day when the nation of Israel discovers who their Messiah is. This is a frequent occurrence in the Old Testament. The Apostle Peter in his first letter says the prophets described "the sufferings of Christ and the glory which should follow," (1 Peter 1:11 KJV). Peter puts these events together, but we know that the sufferings came at his first advent, while the glory will follow at his second advent. All through the Old Testament we see the blending of these two great themes. This is why Jews struggle with believing that Jesus is their Messiah. They read prophecies that link these two events together and saw that when Jesus came he did not do what is described here. Isaiah predicts, in Verse 3,

Thou hast multiplied the nation,
  thou hast increased its joy;
they rejoice before thee
  as with joy at the harvest,
  as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For the yoke of his burden,
  and the staff for his shoulder,
  the rod of his oppressor,
  thou has broken as on the day of Midian. (Isaiah 9:3-4 RSV)

That is a reference to Gideon and his great victory.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
  and every garment rolled in blood
  will be burned as fuel for the fire. (Isaiah 9:5 RSV)

That is a beautiful figure depicting worldwide peace, when the implements of warfare will be destroyed. It is what the peace movements of our day are longing to see, and what the bumper stickers cry for, "Make Peace Not War." All that will happen -- but in that day.

The Jews say that Jesus did not fulfill these promises, and we have to agree with that.

But this looks on to the time when he will. Who is it that will do this? The answer is given in these wonderful verses:

For unto us a child is born,
  to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
  and his name will be called
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Of the increase of his government and of peace
  there will be no end,
upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom,
  to establish it, and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
  from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 RSV)

What a remarkable picture! It hardly needs any exposition.

Suddenly, after a great time of trouble, the nation will realize that this glorious King, their Messiah, once came as a little child: "Unto us a child is born." He who was for eternity the Son of God was "given" to them as a little Baby in Bethlehem. They recognize at last, after centuries of rejection, that this One rightly deserves divine titles. This is Immanuel, "God with us."

The four titles Isaiah lists represent that:

"Wonderful Counselor." Did anyone ever fulfill that more fully than Jesus? He unveils to us secrets about ourselves, counsels us how to avoid the heartaches and problems that otherwise would beset us, showing the way of deliverance from the taint and pollution of sin.

"Mighty God." That unquestionably divine title can only describe God. He is the Mighty One, and in 10:21 the same term is used of God unmistakably.

It is not so much "Everlasting Father" as it is "Father of Eternity." This is surely a reference to the fact that Jesus alone can give eternal life; he is its father for it originates with him. "As many as believe in him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

No one contests the last title, "Prince of Peace." He states himself, "My peace I give unto you," (John 14:27 KJV). "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end." This phrase captures the universal character of the Messiah's reign and its extension at last to the whole created cosmos.

The key, of course, is in these words, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Even though this event took place thousands of years ago, when a nation (or an individual) first comes into personal contact with the Lord of Glory it seems as though he is the recipient for the first time of this wonderful gift. That is why we speak of when we "found the Lord," and how he "came to us," because it is so real in our own experience. Here we see this in the case of the nation Israel in the day when their eyes are opened.

This applies to us in our own day as well. It is unto us that he came, unto us he is born. He is "God with us," to strengthen and guide us, to meet our needs, to solve our problems.

Between the services this morning a woman told me of her struggle with a sense of being abandoned, left without guidance, needing his presence. All I could do was point her back to these marvelous promises. The Lord is with us. This is the glory, the true message of Christmas.

No Christmas carol captures this better than Philip Brooks' beautiful words:

How silently, how silently
  The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
  The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
  But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
  The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
  Descend to us, we pray,
Cast out our sin and enter in,
  Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
  The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
  Our Lord Immanuel!"

Title: O Come Immanuel
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: Isaiah: A Short Series
Scripture: Isaiah 7, 9
Message No: 3
Catalog No: 578
Date: December 22, 1985

WHAT'S COMING DOWN?

by Ray C. Stedman

We are nearing the end of what has been a very difficult year, one of the most troubled of this century. The worst airline accidents in history have occurred during the past year. Terrorism has been rampant during 1985. Just last week we were sobered by the terrible slaughter of innocent people, including children, in the airports at Rome and Vienna. Violence is increasing, and the forces of law and order seem more and more helpless to control it. All this makes us wonder what is coming down as the century draws to a close. Many, especially those of us who are parents and grandparents, wonder what kind of world our children and grandchildren will inherit. Is it going to go on forever like this, growing worse and worse as time goes by?

The secular answers to that question are not encouraging. Most commentators see increasing difficulty and trouble ahead. The few optimistic forecasts we hear sound like so much whistling in the dark. But the Christian answer, which is what we are concerned about, is very beautifully expressed in a great passage out of the book of Hebrews There the writer says, "We do not yet see all things subjected to man," Hebrews 2:8). That is certainly true of our world today. He goes on to say, "But we see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, though for a little while he was made lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, that he might taste death for every man," Hebrews 2:9).

"But we see Jesus." That is the theme also of this section in Isaiah to which we come this morning. The eleventh and twelfth chapters of this great prophecy clearly look on to the coming of the Messiah. All the Jewish commentators agree that this is a Messianic passage, although they do not, of course, believe that the Messiah is as Jesus. Here are Isaiah's words,

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
  and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
  the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
  the spirit of counsel and might,
  the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
  or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
  and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. (Isaiah 11:1-4a RSV)

It is not difficult for us to see there a clear prediction of the Lord Jesus. Here in these opening verses is a hint that the Messiah will appear in history in a very obscure way. That is suggested by this word, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse." Like a great tree that has been cut down, the ancestry of Jesus represented in David and his father Jesse has been reduced to obscurity and insignificance. But out of that lowly stump will arise a shoot, a single sprout, a man who will, as the prophet goes on to say, be filled with the Spirit of God and who will do a great work in the land. When our Lord is referred to as "the son of David" in the gospels, it is always in terms of royal glory, but when he is called the "root of Jesse," it is a reference to his humble beginnings.

The prophet not only sees the ancestry of Jesus, but he sees him in his Spirit-filled ministry. "The Spirit of the Lord (of Yahweh), shall rest upon him," he says. That Spirit consists of six spirits (for a total of seven): "the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of the knowledge of the Lord and the fear of the Lord." It is rather striking that this passage corresponds to the Jewish candlestick, the Menorah. A Menorah has a central staff that parallels this word, "the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him." Linked to that central staff are three pairs of lightholders. These correspond to what we have in this passage. "The spirit of wisdom and of knowledge, or understanding," are linked together; likewise the "spirit of counsel and of might," and the "spirit of the knowledge of the Lord and the spirit of the fear of the Lord." Thus, they are illustrated by the Jewish symbol of the Menorah, the candlestick that burned in the tabernacle throughout the centuries.

As you observe these pairs more closely, you can see that they do indeed describe Jesus of Nazareth. The first pair, "the spirit of wisdom and of knowledge," speak of his amazing insight into human affairs. Wisdom is the knowledge of the nature of things, while understanding is the awareness of the differences between them. How clearly Jesus reflected these in his ministry! One of the symbols of our age is the psychiatrist's couch. Psychiatrists and psychologists have their patients lie on a couch and ask them questions in an effort to understand their problems. Perhaps you have heard of the two psychiatrists who met in an elevator. One of them said, "You're fine. How am I?" This humorously suggests the way we try to come to an understanding of ourselves and of others. But our Lord never used a couch for he never had to ask questions. John's gospel says, "Jesus needed not that any man tell him what was in man because he knew man." He knew the Hebrew and Hebrew thinking, the Greek and the Greek way of thinking. When either came to him he always dealt with them according to the way they had been brought up and taught.

I have always appreciated that wonderful first chapter of John's gospel that gives the account of our Lord calling his disciples. Andrew was the first one called. Andrew, that canny, cautious man. No wonder he has become the patron saint of Scotland! I always think of him as a Scotsman in a Jewish body. Andrew was deep and cautious, but when he let go there was an explosion. That is why we have named the great earthquake fault that runs through California, the San Andreas Fault! According to John, when Jesus met Andrew he went home with him and spent the whole day with him. It takes that long to get through to a man like Andrew.

Andrew's brother, Peter, is quite different. He is bold, impulsive, ambitious, outspoken. Jesus said to him, "Your name is Simon, but you shall be called Peter, a rock," John 1:42). Impulsive, unstable Simon wanted to be a rock, and our Lord recognized immediately the hunger of his heart. When he promised to fulfill Peter's dream he had his man.

Next, Jesus "found" Philip. Shy, mousy Philip never says much. He did not find Jesus, Jesus found him. Looking into Philip's eyes, he said but two words, "Follow me," (John 1:43). When Philip knew Jesus wanted him he was captivated by what he saw.

The fourth disciple whom Jesus called, Nathaniel, was still different. He was the open-hearted, honest type who believed whatever was told him. Jesus discerned that. That is why he said of him, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile," (John 1:47). There was no deceitfulness in him. As our Lord flashes the truth of each man's life upon him, each one begins to know himself better than ever before. That is the beauty of this prediction here in Isaiah, that upon him shall rest "the spirit of wisdom and understanding."

The second pair, "the spirit of counsel and of might," speak of authority. Counsel is the ability to give good and right advice, while might is the ability to help carry it out. This is described even more fully in the words in verse three, "He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth." What a wonderful description of Jesus as he met with people. He does not judge Nicodemus, one of the greatest of religious authorities in the nation, by his outward words or posture. He sees immediately that this man knows virtually nothing about the spiritual life, so he begins with the ABC's and speaks of the vital things that introduce one to the kingdom of God. He spoke of truth that you can never find out by human powers. He described how the angels live, what happens after death, how prayer works, how the devil works. These he described with full authority. He did not have to study reference books, but rather spoke so that men hearing him said, "No man ever spake like this man," (John 7:46 KJV). Yes, upon him rested "the spirit of counsel and of might."

The third pair, "the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord," speak of our Lord's intimate relationship to the Father. Out of that flows the marvelous serenity of his life. He is never taken by surprise. He always seems to be master of the occasion. This grows out of his full awareness of the mind of God. He said on one occasion, "You do not know Him, but I know Him," (John 8:55). He came to reveal to us the mind of the Father, the graciousness, compassion, truthfulness and faithfulness of God. As we read what he said it is obvious that it all grew out of his "knowledge of the Lord and his fear of the Lord." This is not speaking of fear that he will be punished, but of his reverent respect for the Being of the Father. He does not want to displease him. "I do always those things that please I him," he said.

Some years ago I ran across a statement that I felt was descriptive of our Lord's ministry in this regard. It is titled, Twelve Things That The Lord Jesus Never Did. What remarkable things they are:

First, "He never sought advice." He never went about asking, "What do you think about this?" We must do that daily, but he did not.

Second, "He never changed his mind." He never said, "l agree that I said that, but I have been having second thoughts about it." Even our greatest leaders must admit to that, but Jesus never changed his mind.

Third, "He never was in a hurry." He must have frequently read that great verse in the book of Isaiah, "He that believes need not make haste."

Fourth, "He never showed personal fear." When you fear the Lord, you do not fear anything else. Remember the words in Hebrews "I will never leave you nor forsake you, therefore what can any man do unto me?" Hebrews13:5). Our Lord never showed personal fear.

Fifth, "He never made a mistake." He never had to say, "I did the wrong thing there."

And six through twelve: "He never showed surprise. He never was defeated in a controversy. He never performed a selfish miracle. He never distrusted God. He never denied a good request. He never confessed a sin. He never apologized for anything."

How fully these words of Isaiah are fulfilled in the ministry of this marvelous Man of Galilee! Upon him rested, in all its fullness, "the Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom and knowledge, of counsel and might, and of the knowledge of and the fear of the Lord." Thus, "His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord."

In the middle of Verse 4 is another one of those leaps in time, arching across the centuries to the time when Jesus comes once again. We must bear these in mind as we read this book of Isaiah, and others of the prophets also. The Old Testament is written so as to bring together the two comings of Jesus as though they were one. The Apostle Peter in his first letter says, "The prophets spoke of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow," 1 Peter 1:11 KJV). But they gave no indication of the great valley of time that lies in between. The "sufferings" came at one period of history, the "glory that should follow" will come at another.

This is what throws the Jews off in their understanding of these prophecies, and why they feel that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies of the Messiah. Those prophecies that speak of his triumph are only to be fulfilled when he comes again. We must remember the Lord's words to his disciples, recorded in the book of Acts, when they asked him, "Will you at this time restore the kingdom unto Israel?" Acts 1:6). Here is his amazing answer, one we too frequently ignore: "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons (I wish many of our modern-day prophets would hear that!) which the Father has put in his own power," Acts 1:7). He did not answer their question because it was not for them to know. Thus questions of time with regard to prophecy are highly indeterminate.

Here, then, is one of those leaps in time. In the middle of this verse we are carried forward to the time when he shall come again, not as a gentle, loving healer and counselor of men, but, as the prophet says,

... he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist,
and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. (Isaiah 11:4b-5 RSV)

That is quite a different picture of Jesus, yet to be fulfilled. This "smiting of the earth" is described in several places in the Scripture, most notably in the book of Revelation. Here is what John wrote in his great vision, clearly describing the same thing as Isaiah:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. (Revelation 19:11 RSV)

Remember that Isaiah had said, "Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist and faithfulness the girdle of his loins."

John continues,

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood [which speaks of his death], and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. (Revelation 19:12-13 RSV)

From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron [The very phrase taken from Isaiah's prophecy]; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 1:15-16 RSV)

Both Isaiah and John reveal that Jesus is the hope of this world. He is the Man that men cannot forget.

This week I saw an advertisement for a newly published book, "Jesus Through the Centuries." The writer says, "Regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the dominant figure in the history of western culture for almost twenty centuries. It is from his birth that most of the human race dates its calendars. It is by his name that millions curse, and in his name that millions pray."

The world cannot forget Jesus because he is the Lord of this world. He is crowned with glory and honor and will come again, as Isaiah says, "to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth."

Many people, especially many churchgoers, do not like this picture of Jesus. They say, "Imagine describing 'gentle Jesus meek and mild' as ruling with a rod of iron! These are contradictory ideas. This image does not correspond with the character he manifested." That attitude betrays a tremendous ignorance of the nature of truth. Truth is always ruthless. It does not tolerate error:

The phone book is ruthless in its refusal to tolerate error. It does not give a list of names and tell you to choose your own number. You must call exactly the number that is listed. If you get the digits wrong, you will not get the person you are trying to reach.

The IRS is very ruthless and narrow-minded about the truth. They do not tell you to guess how much you made and let them know. No, they insist that you give them exact figures. They even check up on you so that if you do not put it all down, you will get a phone call that scares the living daylights out of you. They became quite intolerant about it.

What this world needs more than anything else, if I may say so, is someone who will rule with a rod of iron, someone who will mean what he says. We seem to be afflicted with a plethora of mealy-mouthed politicians and gutless bureaucrats who refuse to face up to issues. We have just been treated to a view of Congress pussyfooting around the issues of debt repayment and tax reform. They will not do anything about these critical things until they are forced to because they are unwilling to face the unpleasant truth. What a tremendous joy to know there is coming One who will do what he says. You can count on it. Oh, for men of iron who mean what they say and back up their words with deeds!

Somebody asked me this morning, "If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?" The answer, of course, is, "Congress." But I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies. As Will Rogers said, "We ought to be grateful that we don't get as much government as we pay for!" What a treat it is to read there is someone coming who is going to rule the earth in righteousness and faithfulness.

"The rod of his mouth" is the Word of God, specifically the word of the cross, the cross of Jesus that ruthlessly puts to death the old self in us. It has been said that if Jesus went into any peace conference today he could settle the world's problems with just three little words: "Love your enemies." Everyone knows Jesus is right. If we would love our enemies, as he tells us to do, we could end the arms race, destroy our instruments of death and fulfill all the dreams of these sincere peace demonstrators who long for peace but do not know how to achieve it. Why can't we do that? We know why. There is something in all of us that becomes angry when we are attacked, that makes us want to strike back and get even. It is what produces the horrible cycles of murder, war, and pillage that are repeated from century to century in the history of man. Our Lord puts that to death by the Word of the Cross.

What good is a doctor who tells you that your cancer does not matter? You want a surgeon with a resolute will and a sharp knife to cut it out and get rid of it. That is what Isaiah is promising. There is coming One who will deal earnestly, honestly, and thoroughly with the evil of man. That is why he is coming to "smite the earth."

What does this lead to? Isaiah looks further on, beyond the trouble that we are headed for -- recorded in the book of Revelation and other places. He sees there is coming a wholly different scene, which he describes in this way:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
  and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
and the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
  and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall feed;
  their young shall lie down together;
  and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp,
  and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
They shall not hurt or destroy
  in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
  as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9 RSV)

What a beautiful picture! Here is the time when the dreams of men will be fulfilled, when all the longings that reflect themselves in peace demonstrations and cries for disarmament will find their fulfillment. There is a deep hunger in mankind for this kind of a world, although we do not know how to achieve it. But there is coming One who does know how. Then, even the animals will lose their ferocity and lie down one with another. How would you mothers feel if you found your child playing with a cobra? But there is coming a time when it shall happen, when the animals shall lose their ferocity against one another, when the lion shall eat straw like the ox."

Some people ask, "Is this literal or is it only symbolic! Is this all metaphor?" Some commentators say this is a picture of the work of Christ in human hearts today. I believe that. I believe this is metaphor, picturing spiritual peace.

I think of our church elders in those terms. One of them is like a lion; he roars every time you cross him. Another one is like a great bear; he swallows you up as you come into contact with him. Another is like a leopard -- sneaky. We even had one named Wolfe. And here was I, a meek lamb in the midst of them! Our elders' meetings sometimes give that impression, but when we would look to the Lord he comes among us as a great lion tamer. Then the lion lies down with the lamb, the wolf and the leopard dwell together and everything works out. This is what our Lord has power to do in human hearts today. He can heal controversy and bring peace among men.

But I also believe this is literal. There is coming a day when the curse will be removed from the earth. Paul sings about a day when creation shall be released form its bondage, calling it the day of "the manifestation of the sons of God," (Romans 8:19 KJV). Then the curse will be removed and the whole earth will break into a verdant blooming, the like of which we have never seen; when "the desert shall blossom like the rose," as Isaiah describes it in Chapter 35. The animals lose their ferocity and even the carnivores return to eating grass, as in the unfallen creation.

There are other changes as well. In the rest of this chapter and Chapter 12, four times Isaiah uses the phrase "in that day," Verse 10:

In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign [a banner, a symbol] to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10 RSV)

That summarizes all the predictions about the restoration of Jerusalem as the center of the earth. The Lord Jesus shall reign in person in Jerusalem. He himself is the banner which the nations shall seek, "and his dwellings shall be glorious." It is the millennial Temple and the redeemed city.

In Verse 11 there is another use of the phrase "in that day":

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, (Isaiah 11:11a RSV)

The first time was when he called them out of Egypt. Some think this "second time" is referring to the Babylonian captivity, but when the Israelites came back from Babylon they were still not an independent people. This will be a time when they shall be in their own land as their own rulers. But they will be "a remnant." That word always means believers. Some people ask today, "Is the present return of Israel the fulfillment of these verses? Is God now calling back his outcasts?" It sounds that way for if you read on, it says they shall come,

... from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
He will raise an ensign for the nations,
  and will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
  from the four corners of the earth.
The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
  and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
  and Judah shall not harass Ephraim. (Isaiah 11:11b-13 RSV)

That is, the division between the ten tribes in the north and the two in the south will be healed and Israel shall be at peace in their own land. Is the present return that? No, clearly not. This passage is talking about believers who are gathered back; the believing "remnant" of the people. Only a mere handful of believing Jews have returned in our day. Most of them are not even religious. Israel today is a secular state, though it is necessary for it to be there as a preparation for these days, it is not the fulfillment of these verses. Nor is it the direct hand of God that has brought them back from the far-flung nations of the earth as will happen in that day.

When they come, they shall overcome their enemies. Verse 14:

But they shall swoop down upon the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
  and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
  and the Ammonites shall obey them. (Isaiah 11:14 RSV)

Moab, Edom and the Ammonites are peculiar nations in the Scripture. They were relatives, yet enemies, of Israel. The Edomites are the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob; while Moab and Ammon were the sons of Lot, the nephew of Abraham. Yet although they were related, they were long-term enemies of Israel. Therefore, God said, "You shall not destroy them." He has a future for them as well. Spiritually, it speaks of an enemy we have within us that is related to us, called "the flesh" in the New Testament."

In that day geographical changes will occur, as well. Verse 15:

The Lord will utterly destroy
  the tongue of the sea of Egypt; (Isaiah 11:15a RSV)

This week I read a scientific article about the tectonic plates upon which Asia and Africa are located, which are now shifting. The scientists are predicting that they will drift apart in places and come together in others. "The tongue of the sea" is the Gulf of Suez which, according to this, shall disappear; it shall be literally "banned."

and He will wave his hand over the River; (Isaiah 11:15b RSV)

I think that is the Jordan, though some take it to be the Euphrates. When Israel came out of Egypt they passed through the Red Sea, through the Gulf of Suez, and also passed through the Jordan River.

he will wave his hand over the River
  with his scorching wind,
and smite it into seven channels
  that men may cross dryshod.
And there will be a highway from Assyria [that is the present country of Iraq]
  for the remnant which is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
  when they came up from the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11:15b-16 RSV)

There are some physical changes coming in that section of the world, which is located in the Rift Valley, one of the great natural gaps in the crust of the earth. Massive earthquakes are bound to happen in the future, as the book of Revelation describes.

Chapter 12 has two more references to "that day" This is still part of the same vision as in Chapter 11:

You will say in that day:
"I will give thanks t