Lecture # 4
Isaiah Lecturers
Isaiah 2-5
I. Chapter 2:
Chapter one is a powerful sermon that deeply challenges its listeners to change, and then there is a change that takes place as chapter 2 opens.
>>>> Let us read together 2:1-5. Notice the absolute beauty.
>>>> Now let us read together Micah 4:1-4.
Which do you think came first? We think the two prophets were contemporaries, but it is hard to tell which one spoke first. It could be they were both quoting from a popular hymn instead of one another. We simply do not know. However, as we start to investigate this beautiful passage….
Q What is Israel’s role? Is what Israel does the central issue? If not, what is?
Q What does “Jerusalem” symbolize to you?
Let me take help you think of this in another way.
Q What is the role of your particular Christian group, church or school if these verses were applied to it?
An = How exciting to read the last phrase of verse 2 if it happened from your church? Notice from what source the “law of the Lord” comes from at the end of verse 3, and the initiative comes from the people outside of Israel not within it. It would be great to have people knocking down the doors of the church seeking the truth about God. Then the main actor is God, not the church or the people of God, for He will act, not us, and then there will be peace. It is Him, not the church, not Israel, which will be exalted.
Note: Israel’s job is found in verse 5. She is to walk in the ways of the Lord herself. This is the church’s job.
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 2:6-11
Notice a shift has occurred.
Q What is the tone of this passage?
The passage opens with the announcement that God has abandoned his people (2:6). The very people the world was to learn from in the beautiful passage above. The reason for the abandonment is found in what follows in verses 6-8. They have compromised with pagan ideology and they have become full of wealth but also false gods. They bow down and worship what they have made with their own hands, not the Source of all that was made, i.e. the Creator.
Note: If the church bows down to what it has made, it too will be abandoned.
The result of what Israel or the church has done is found in verses 9-11. They will be humbled and the prophet requests that they stay humbled. They will hide from the dread of the Lord and the arrogant will be brought low and only God will be exalted in “that day”.
Note: The church is to serve the world and show them the truth of God so the Lord will be exalted, but if she compromises and becomes wealthy and arrogant she will be humbled and then the Lord “alone” will be exalted. In 2:2 the word “day” is one of exaltation, but now the word “day” will be mentioned again, but now it will be a “day” of reckoning.
>>>> Let us read together 2:12-17
In the reckoning passages, humiliation of the proud will take place. God cannot exalt the pride and wickedness of man.
Q Where can God not exalt our church or school or group?
An = He can not be exalted in our pride and in our compromises.
>>>> Let us read together 2:18-22
Note: Notice there are two words that are in verse 19 and 21 (and the same two words are in verse 10): terror and majesty. They are used in parallel with one another. When we compromise and become arrogant then the splendor or majesty of God becomes dread or terror to the people of God. The key is the contrast between verse 5 and 22.
Q What are we not to esteem or “trust in” according to verse 22?
An = As the church or as Israel, we are not to trust in humans because they are transitory and temporary. Human beings are to “walk in the light of the Lord”. The reason we are to do this is found in 2:6-21. We will be abandoned and judged. They will see and discard the works of their hands (2:20) and hide from the majesty of God because it will be come a terror to them. They will trust in themselves and what they accumulate and glory in that and not in God.
There is a set of contrasts in 2:6-22 and 2:2-4.
In 2:2-4 In 2:6-22
The world is drawn to Zion (2) God’s people conform to the world (6)
The world seeks spiritual benefit (3) God’s people heap up material wealth (7a)
The world finds peace (4) God’s people are loaded with armaments (7b)
The world seeks to know the true God God’s people are inventing their own gods (8)
And commits to obey Him (3)
The world receives the Lord’s lordship (4) God’s people are abandoned and denied forgiveness (6,9)
So often religious institutions or churches will emphasize or acquire wealth (2:7, 8 or see 3:14 or 5:8). It becomes an alternative source of security. Our security and ability to positively influence the world is based on “walking in the light of the Lord”.
Note: We are elected by God to bless the world, but it is so easy to forget that.
II. Chapter 3:
We are often very uncomfortable with “threats” but they have a role, a positive role in the life of the believer.
Q Can you think of a time when threats have helped you? Can you think of times when the threat of consequences has motivated good things in your life?
The prophetic literature contains many promises and words of comfort, but it also contains threats. Let us see how they function in chapter 3.
>>>> Let us read together 3:1-7
Q What is being threatened? What is the prophet predicting will happen to this community? What would this look like in America today?
Q Why is the prophet giving these threats? What does he seek to accomplish? What good thing is he aiming for?
>>>> Let us read together 3:8-9
Q How are these verses functioning in relation to 3:1-7?
An = Verses 3:8-9 are the reasons or justifications for the judgments predicted in verse 1-7.
>>>> Let us read together 3:10-11
These two verses are typical prophetic preaching and are found through the biblical prophetic literature. They are an attempt to persuade (called in some academic circles: a paraenesis) by means of a promise coupled with a threat. There is a promise in verse 10 and a threat in verse 11. The prophet does not merely wish to announce doom but change people’s destiny for good. He threatens to let them see what will come about or what consequences will unfold (1-7) due to their illegitimate actions (8-9) and then follows up again to persuade them to change with a threat and promise.
The prophet though does more than try to change people for the good, let me read to you 3:12. Read yourself verse 12. The prophet is not above his people. He is not aloof, but identifies with them and their pain. Prophets care. This verse is a verse of lament, and the prophet himself is lamenting.
>>>> Let us read together 3:13-16.
Q What area of life is verse 13 drawn from? What metaphor taken from human experience is applied to God?
An = This is another frequent prophetic mode of thinking. The prophets frequently use the legal arena. They often use the metaphor of a court case or of going to court with God as the judge. There is a call to attention in verses 13-14 (all rise, judge so and so is presiding) then in 14b-16 the accusations against the people of Israel are enumerated. The case against Israel (or the church) concerns finances (14-15), hurting the poor and sex (16) in that the women dress provocatively. What follows next is the judgment or verdict in verses 3:17-4:1
>>>> Let us read together 3:17-4:1
In America today and even in the church, the evangelical church, we do not focus on the treatment of the poor or on sexual propriety. Yet see how seriously God takes these two issues. The women will be stripped and taken captive and the men will die. We dare not mess with the poor.
Q How do you think this will play out in America in the next few years if we do not change? What will this look like?
III. Chapter 4:
Let us read together 4:2-6
This is so different sounding. It is announcement of grace following an announcement of well deserved judgment. This again is so typical of prophetic preaching. There will be judgment only survivors (2) will experience such grace and will experience the washing (4). They will then no longer fear, but experience the very protection of God. It is described beautifully as only Isaiah can: the protection of God will be “a shelter and shade from the heat of the day and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” All of this will be done because God wills to do it. It will be grace and it will be all done by Him. It will not be the work of the church or Israel or the work of human beings.
IV. Chapter 5:
One great aspect of prophetic preaching was their ability to illustrate their messages with images, with metaphors. They created a mental image in the minds of their hearers and that image would remind the listener of the message every time that image was seen. The images were usually common ones. For example, Jeremiah used the image of a potter’s wheel. This was something common in those days and every time they would see a potter’s wheel they would be reminded of Jeremiah’s point.
This happens to us today. We often associate a certain thing, item or experience with an old friend or a cousin. Often we associate an item or place with an old boy or girl friend.
A common image in the Ancient Middle East was a “vineyard” so…
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 5:1-2.
The prophet is describing a business investment. A vineyard is an investment of time and money and one must wait a few years to receive benefit from the investment. However, as we read on we see that there was no return on this investment. God is the vine grower and Israel is the vineyard…
>>>> Let us read together Isaiah 5:3-7
Q What was the product God was looking for from Israel?
An = Justice and righteousness. I believe this applies to other countries than our own. A nation must be just in how it sets up and runs their courts and in how they do business and how they deal with their poor. In some South American countries or in the Soviet Union there is amazing resources but constant poverty. The prophet will go on to show the underlining problem…
>>>> Let us read together 5:8-12
Note: The underlining problems the prophet is bringing up are greed (8-10), excessive consumption (11) and entertainment without any thought of the Lord (12). This sounds so much like America or any nation before it falls.
>>>> Let us read together 5:13-17
Isaiah again begins to lay out the consequences or results of such behavior. God will be glorified but “lambs will feed among the ruins of the rich.” Isaiah wanted his audience to remember this threat or this prophecy every time they saw a vineyard (which was often). He wanted them to remember that judgment was coming and they had brought it on themselves.
Note: This is uncomfortable preaching, but it was done to help people avoid disaster. Perhaps, it is a reflection of how much we love the people we know by how creative our approach to them is. We are not to please them but to help them. Is it reasonable to be passionate when communicating to them?
>>>> Let us read together 5:18-23
Note: After the colorful denunciations, watch how your author will proceed with powerful rhetoric and pushes the audience to see the very heart of God attitude towards them. They are forced to hear of God’s wrath.
>>>> Let us read together 5:24-25
Then in one terrifying, final move, Isaiah warns, scares, terrifies…
>>>> Let me read to you Isaiah 5:26-30. Israel was going to be destroyed. Let me show you one New Testament example of this.
>>>> Let me read to you Romans 8:35-39. In this passage, Paul is encouraging steadfastness, but the tone, the intensity, is very much like a prophet of old.