Isaiah 9: 1 – 21
Time For A Spanking
I was going to start off by apologizing because from our last study we had only managed to talk about verse 6. However, in all truth, I will not apologize. Our Precious Holy and Majestic Lord and Savior deserves the time of praise and worship due His Holy Name. We, in fact, only dabbled in reviewing His Majesty. So, let us move forward again in looking at chapter 9.
1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. 3 You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; They rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5 For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, and garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire. 6 For unto us a Child is born, unto 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. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. 8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. 9 All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 “ The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and spur his enemies on, 12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. 14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. 15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. 18 For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand and not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. 21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
In our last study we were taught how our Lord Jesus Christ’s Person identified Him with Deity. We pick up in verse 7 how His Peace will identify Himself with Royalty.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The word for ‘zeal’ means ‘jealousy’. Can you understand the great ‘feelings’ of our Lord? He responds with great emotion to us human beings. Look at what the book of Exodus says in chapter 20, “5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Look at His Great Love, Mercy, and Care. He doesn’t want to deal harshly even with those who hate Him. He only lists a few generations of being dealt with yet for those who ‘love’ Him He will pour out His Mercy to thousands.
Sadly, Isaiah moves, from His awesome description of how great the future will be when the Messiah, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, comes back to earth and rules, to the sinful current condition of His people. For whereas the future was moving forward to triumph, the present was heading for disaster. Our Holy God Is about to reveal His anger against Israel because of their disobedience to His Covenant. He will seek by chastisement to bring them back to Himself.
The four chastisements are distinguished by the phrase ‘For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.’
The first chastisement is the invasion by Syria and Philistia, which seeks to make Israel join an alliance with them against Assyria,
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. 9 All the people will know— Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria— Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 “ The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” 11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and spur his enemies on, 12 The Syrians before and the Philistines behind; And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
Our sinful tendency is to be stubborn when being disciplined. Remember, this famous passage in the book of Proverbs chapter 13 verse 24, “He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly.” We tend to look at this verse for dealing with our kids. Have we forgotten that we are God’s kids? He loves us and uses His rod to bring us back from the slippery slide of sin.
Did the spanking work? No, in fact look at their attitude, ‘Who say in pride and arrogance of heart: 10 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones; The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” In their disaster they declare that they are not concerned that their buildings, businesses, and lives are damaged. They have the old power of positive thinking working for them. They will just make the things better than before. Their attitude is that they do not need God in their lives. But they have forgotten that they are dealing with their Heavenly Father Who Isn’t about to ignore their bad attitude.
Rezin was the king of Syria. He now has the Philistines joining him to destroy the land of Israel. Their invasion is successful as described with the statement, ‘with open mouth’. This is like the statement, ‘Open wide and say, Ahh.’ The county opened wide its mouth and the enemy came pouring in.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts. 14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. 15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. 17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
The second chastisement is the removal of leadership. By the way, does any of this remind you of our country?
Our Lord explains to us why His Judgment was initiated. For one thing He does not like it when we forsake Him and trust ourselves to get ourselves out of trouble - 13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, nor do they seek the LORD of hosts.’
Psalm 146: 3, “Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.”
Proverbs 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered.’
Isaiah 30 “1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the LORD, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; 2 Who walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked My advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation. 4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, or be help or benefit, but a shame and also a reproach.”
The next reason our Lord points out for His discipline is due to the leaderships deception - 14 Therefore the LORD will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. 15 The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. 16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed’
Do you see that our Lord Is not only talking about politicians but also He Is speaking against the religious establishment – ‘The prophet who teaches lies,’ The politicians and religious ministers are hypocrites. They say one thing and do the opposite in their lives - 17 Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
We now are presented with our Lord’s third chastisement. We see the disintegration of their society.
18 For wickedness burns as the fire; It shall devour the briers and thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest; They shall mount up like rising smoke. 19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire; No man shall spare his brother. 20 And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand and not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. 21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; Together they shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
As a country’s leaders go, so goes the country. Having rotten people in charge. The new leaders are not in office for the purpose of serving but for the purpose of gaining power and riches. Corruption is rampant and there is no one who can hold them accountable for their evil deeds.
We are not talking about cannibalism here in verse 20 – ‘ Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm’.- but is speaking about being un-neighborly and disloyal. People will use and do anything and everything at the expense of others. And the list of evil goes on. How sad!
The fourth chastisement is discussed in chapter 10 which we will look at in our next study.
