HoHum:
Two Catholic priests, in their religious uniforms, were fishing on the side of the road. They thoughtfully made a sign saying "The End is Near! Turn yourself around now before it's too late!," and showed it to each passing car. Well this one car that passed didn't appreciate the sign and shouted at them: "Leave us alone you religious nuts!" All of a sudden they heard a big splash, looked at each other, and one priest said to the other. "You think we should just put up a sign that says: 'bridge out' instead?
WBTU:
A. Exegesis of Isaiah 44:6-8
Vs. 6- Martin Luther once said, “Your thoughts about God are too human.” In Psalm 50:21, God says, “You thought I was just like you…” We tend to look at God through the wrong end of a telescope. We reduce Him to our proportions.
Lord here is Yahweh, The Great I Am
Israel’s King- He is the King of the whole world, but in a special way King of Israel. “I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.” Isaiah 43:15, KJV.
Israel’s Redeemer- He redeemed Israel out of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and would again redeem them from the Babylonian captivity
Lord Almighty- God is all powerful, hear more in a few weeks
I am the first and the last. the first cause and last end; all things are of him, through him, and from him; all things were made by him in creation, and for his pleasure they are and were created. Also talking about His eternity, who is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning or end, the Alpha and Omega; the same is said of Christ. “Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” Revelation 1:17, NIV.
Apart from me there is no god. Isaiah 40-48 God is calling upon nations to prove their gods. God is calling them into court to give evidence of their gods. ““You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.” Isaiah 43:10, 11
Vs. 7
Seen something similar in ““Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,” Isaiah 41:22, NIV.
set it in order for me- KJV
Vs. 8
Do not tremble, do not be afraid. “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10, NIV.
You are my witnesses. “I have revealed and saved and proclaimed--I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God.” Isaiah 43:12.
No other Rock. There is no rock to build upon for salvation, but Christ the rock of ages.
Also we see here that God is unchangeable, He is a Rock. Talk more about this in the future. “The doctrine of God’s unchangeableness is of the highest significance… The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature. Every creature is continually becoming. …only He is pure being and no becoming. Hence, in scripture God is often called the Rock… Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God
For the rest of these verses, we are going to talk about truth and confronting our age. The first, access to truth, is vs. 9- 20; confronting our age is vs. 21- 28. Access to truth gives focus to many of the things we have been talking about, and confronting our age is the application and challenge of this message. Especially have in mind the young people among us.
For instances:
Access to truth (Vs. 9-20)
What do these verses have to do with modern day? We don’t do things like this, make an idol
This also strikes our modern ears as harsh. Why is Isaiah making fun of these people? Even though they are doing something strange to us, why make fun of them? They are so sincere
In our day, intolerance and politically incorrect speech are the only sins left.
Intolerance is defined in the widest terms possible as believing that someone else is wrong. We have lost all confidence that anything is absolutely true. What you believe is just as likely to be true as what I believe; therefore, how dare either of us criticize the other? I may hold to any strange beliefs and practices I wish as long as I do not insist you should believe and practice them as well.
So where is Isaiah coming from? How can he speak so forcefully about someone else’s cherished beliefs? He can do so because he believes that he has access to “the truth.” That is the critical question. Does he have access to absolute truth, or is his “truth” of no more value than that of the Canaanites or the Babylonians? If his truth is based solely upon his experience, then he needs to “chill out” because his truth is just the same as everyone else’s.
If, however, he does know the truth, then he must not keep silent. Should a person who knows that a highway bridge has collapsed a few miles ahead keep silent? That would be criminal neglect. Remember the two Catholics priests.
The main issue is whether the “truth” about life, its meaning, and its purpose can be known. If, as many believe, life has no meaning, what can we say?
But if there is no meaning to life, what determines right or wrong? Our experience. Unfortunately, everyone’s experience is different. It is impossible to say that there are principles that are true for everyone. Must go alone with “as long as it doesn’t hurt me or trample on my rights, it’s fine.”
But according to the Bible there is knowledge that is apart from one’s experience. This is the principle of revelation. Truth is given to us from beyond ourselves and our experience. It is given by God, who transcends us in every way.
From the Bible we know about the transcendent Creator of the universe, who is a personal being. He created the universe freely as an act of His free will. Humans are an expression of His character and nature and are thus of the highest value to God. God wants to have a personal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Since God is transcendent, he cannot be manipulated. Since He is the one Creator and is consistent, the world has a purpose and a goal. This in turn means it is possible to determine what is effective in reaching that goal and what is not effective. This also means that it is possible to keep track of progress toward that goal. There is an absolute ethic that is rooted in the very nature of things, which, when followed, brings blessing to the human race and which, when denied, brings disaster.
This is where Isaiah is coming from. The same place that Jesus Christ was coming from when he said to Nicodemus, “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.” John 3:12, 13, NIV.
Jesus was claiming to have direct access to the truth. More than that, he was claiming to be the means of that truth’s being revealed to the world. This is where the zeal of Isaiah and Jesus came from: the conviction that the truth about nature and life has been revealed to us and that we can then speak with assurance about the right ways to live and the wrong ways. This is what is at stake in a passage like this.
II. Confronting Our Age
Exegesis of Isaiah 44:21-22:
Vs. 21
God says- I have made you. They have not made their God; rather he has “made” them. Problem with the open theists is that many are trying to fit in with the culture. It helps them to preach a more acceptable message to people in our society. Erickson says, “It appeals to the current philosophy of Western culture with its strong emphasis on human freedom and its aversion to external authority.” Greg Boy’s book titles seem to appeal to the modern mindset: God of the Possible, Seeing Is Believing, Repenting of Religion: Turning from Judgment to the Love of God (2004), The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church (2006), The Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution (2009), Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now (2010). “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 2 Timothy 4:3, NIV.
I will not forget you. If they will “remember” all that God has been, is, and will be, they need not fear that God will “forget” them. “God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”” Hebrews 13:5, NIV.
Vs. 22
They do not need to fear that their sins will become irremovable aspects of their fate. God is not bound by fate; if God determines to forgive their “offense” and to redeem them from their captivity, God will find a way to do those things.
There is nothing that can stop God. “Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No-one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”” Isaiah 43:13, NIV.
The challenge before us, especially young Christians, is whether we will confront our age as directly as Isaiah and the rest of the prophets did.
We are under pressure to conform to the culture of the day. However, the pressure is not just from outside but within. Peer pressure is not a force that presses adolescents into the same mold. . . . Adolescents generally choose friends whose values, attitudes, and tastes are similar to their own. In short, good kids rarely go bad because of their friends- LAURENCE STEINBERG, You and Your Adolescent
When children become teenagers they want to be independent from their parents, do things their own way. Natural desire. Some take the unfortunate step to reject everything about their parents and to adopt whatever is new and current. Anything to be independent from their parents. Throw out the baby with the bathwater, reject Christianity.
This internal pressure had been reinforced from the outside by the collapse of American culture. Young people have been encouraged to look at the past, and particularly their parents, with contempt. They have been encouraged to show off their defiance of all authority as though authority in itself is an evil.
In this atmosphere, it is important that Christian young people be willing to be distinct men and women. Need to fight the pressure to forsake everything of their parents. Need to look critically but appreciatively at these persons who gave us life. ““Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12, NIV. This commandment was not given because it is the natural, easy thing to do. It is because it is so easy to dishonor one’s parents that a commandment was necessary.
If your parent’s Christian faith is full of inconsistencies and hypocrisies, that does not mean that the whole thing should be dispensed with. Do your Christianity better by the grace of God! I pray this for my boys!
Here the children of the exiles in Babylon had the opportunity to trust God in ways that would put their parents’ faith to shame, and by the grace of God they did it. Vs. 26-28. May the children of Christian parents today do the same thing and go beyond our meager faith.
May Christian young people refuse to bow to the false gods of this world just as God fearing people did in Babylon 2,700 years ago (remember Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abedego).
The meaninglessness of life in a world where the transcendent God has been shut out is vividly portrayed in all the media today. We are already reaping the fruits of the view that this world is all that there is. Can things made with human hands save us from ourselves today any more than they could then? Not in the least. So the god of unlimited sensuality, the god of power through wealth, the god of alcoholic and drug parties, and the goddess of beauty must all be rejected by Christians today as we seek the face of the one God more than anything else. God alone can redeem us from the hopelessness in which those other gods will abandon us at the end of the day.
This will require increasing courage and willingness to be rejected and shunned by our society. Unless our society undergoes major revival, Christians will be seen as enemy of the state as in days of Greece and Rome. We can dare to be different, and in so doing continue to be lights for the truth so that others lost in the dark can find their way home to the Father.
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4, NIV.
