Isaiah 3-4
Shaken and Strengthened
Loss of Stability vs. 1-15
Loss of Excess vs. 16-4:1
Gain True Beauty & Security vs. 4:2-6
Intro:
Spilt Blueberries at Costco
A Couple of weeks ago we were doing some school shopping
We went by Costco to stock up on a “few” lunch supplies for our kids
A basket full and $250 later we were all set
During the shopping I needed to rearrange our basket to fit everything in
I picked up some plastics boxes of fruit to make some room for some milk
On top of those boxes of fruit was a plastic container of fresh blueberries
As I went to move them to the from of the cart I didn’t have them balanced right and the blueberries went toppling out of my hands on to the floor of Costco
This happened in the dairy section in the Santa Maria store
If you know that section that is where most of the food samples are
As hundred of blueberries went rolling everywhere it brought the section to a standstill
People couldn't move their baskets out of fear of crushing blueberries
Husbands were stranded from wives, Parents from children
But the worst by far was that customers were cut off from the free samples
People were visibly shaken and didn’t know what to do
One man who couldn’t get his taquito gave me a look like I had ruined his dinner
Sometimes things happen in life that leave us visibly shaken
Other times God does a work spiritually to shake us of things that aren’t necessary
Israel is often referred to as a olive tree with Gentiles grafted in
Do you know that they harvest olive trees by shaking the olives off
Sometimes God may shake the fruit off of you so he can use it
In the process of that shaking He strengthens us through His son Jesus Christ
Today we are going to see how God is going to shake Israel but thru the process strengthen them
Read Is 3:1-5
Transition:
God’s work is both terrible and beautiful.
He leads us into loss in order to enrich us with lasting gain.
The whole section of Isaiah 2:1–4:6 has two bookends: the prophecy of the nations attracted to God’s people (2:2–5) and the prophecy of God’s people visited by him (4:2–6).
In between, God speaks bluntly about the mess that his people are right now
In 3:1 God says he is “taking away” something from his people.
Then again in 3:18 he says he will “take away” something further.
But in 4:2–6 He doesn’t say that he will give something back.
He promises to “create” something new.
Sounds like the work of Salvation: I am going to take away your sin and old life and make you a new creation
God knows how to enrich us through loss.
Sometimes he takes away more than we wish he would, but only to give us more of himself forever.
Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
And we will not gain what we cannot lose without giving up what we cannot keep.
Loss for the sake of gain—this is the way of God for us.
Stability Shaken vs. 1-15
Isaiah starts right off telling them that God is cutting them off
The days of prosperity are over
He goes right after the basics; bread and water
The basic necessities will be tough to come by
Ezek 4:16 Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the supply of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water by measure and in dismay.
Moses warned them about this if they left serving God
Lev 26:26 When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
Not only that but he is going to wipe out the army and rulers
It will be so bad that infants will rule over Israel
God also brought judgment on Jerusalem and Judah by depriving them of godly, competent leaders on every level
One way God may bring judgment on a nation is to curse them with incompetent, ungodly leaders.
Often, this is the simplest avenue of judgment: giving people what their wicked hearts desire.
Eccl 10:16 Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child, and your princes feast in the morning!
Because of this ungodly, incompetent leadership, the people will be oppressed, and there will be a breakdown of order in society
(The child will be insolent toward the elder, and the base toward the honorable).
God is going to shake Israel down to its core where they have to look to God
Sometimes God has to shake us down to our core to get our attention
It may take time for it to get to that point but if we don’t listen it will happen
Israel didn’t go right to this stage, it took lots of years and warnings unheeded
The eventual fulfillment of this prophecy is found in 2 Kings 24:14: Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
Vs 8 Jerusalem and Judah have sinned in what they say and in what they do: their tongues and their doings are against the LORD.
It is much easier to think that what we do is offensive to God, than to think that what we say can provoke the eyes of His glory.
But we are commanded to glorify God by what we say just as much as by what we do.
Jesus said, For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
Matt 12:36-37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.
Story of the Slanderous Woman
Went to the minister and confessed the sin of slandering
The minister told her to go and put a chicken feather on the door of each house she had slandered and then come back the next day
She put a chicken feather on the porch of every house in the village
The next day she went back to the minister
He told her to go and collect all the chicken feathers she had laid yesterday
The woman replied: “I can’t the wind has blown them away.”
The minister replied “So it is with your words.”
Vs. 9 The very look on their faces is evidence of their guilt.
Either they have smirk of the reprobate, or the downcast gaze of those under conviction.
Their sin is openly displayed, and there have no sense of shame.
The cultural dynamic in Isaiah’s day was probably much the same as in our time.
In the name of “frankness” and “honesty” and “let’s not be hypocrites,” all kinds of sin is approved, and no one is “allowed” to proclaim a standard unless they live up to it perfectly.
One of the most destructive lies of our time is that it is wrong or hypocritical to have a standard that we don’t live up to.
No one has always told the truth, yet it is right and good to teach our children, “Don’t lie.”
It would be wrong, and destructive, for someone to answer, “You can’t tell your child not to lie. You have lied in the past. You are a hypocrite.”
This attitude in our society translates into a certain result: a wholesale lowering of standards.
Also, the charge of hypocrisy is false.
It is not hypocritical to promote a standard you don’t perfectly meet.
Hypocrisy is when you pretend to keep the standard when you do not, or think it is fine for you to not keep the standard, when you think others should.
Eccl 8:12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
Excess Shaken Off vs. 16-4:1
Vs. 16 changes the direction of God’s judgement
He now turns it to the Daughters of Zion
These were the women of stature and wealth
The daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks:
The women of Judah were proud. They were taken with themselves, and loved to consider themselves better than others (are haughty).
Wanton eyes: The women of Judah were sexually seductive and promiscuous.
They wanted to behold and attract what was sexually impure
Walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet:
The women of Judah were obsessed with finery, luxury, and “accessories.”
They devoted far too much of their lives to their appearance and their image.
Their obsession with their appearance, their love of luxury, and their promiscuity made the daughters of Zion ripe for judgment:
Therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will uncover their secret parts.
Their “crown” will be a scab, and instead of being beautifully adorned, they will be exposed and humiliated. Also, the Lord will take away the finery.
Instead of … Instead of … Instead of … Instead of … instead of:
The LORD will replace their finery with the marks of captivity and humiliation.
They will live the stench, the baldness, the branding and the general deprivation of captivity.
High priest’s wife was reduced to begging for bread in the streets of Jerusalem
So many men shall fall by the sword (Isaiah 3:25), that seven women would chase after one man.
They would be so desperate for marriage that will not expect their husbands to provide for them at all (We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel).
Is 32:9-11 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech. In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come. Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.
Strengthen What Remains vs. 4:2-6
God’s ultimate purpose for his people is not destruction but salvation
The Branch of the LORD is a Messianic title, speaking of Jesus Christ.
This image is repeated in Isaiah 11:1There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
It is repeated in Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.”
The ideas behind the title Branch of the LORD are those of fruitfulness and life
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who have escaped: for the remnant preserved through judgment, the promise of the Messiah would be all the more beautiful, dear, and life-giving.
Fruit would come forth from the Branch of the LORD, even as they simply trusted in the promise of the Messiah before He came.
In the days when the Branch of the LORD reigns, the distinguishing mark of all, including the daughters of Zion, is that they shall be called holy
Holy does not mean “super-spiritual.” It does not mean sinless perfection.
It does not mean spiritually superior and obnoxious.
It means a life, a heart, a mind, and a body that is genuinely separated unto the LORD.
It is a life lived apart from the thinking and heart of this world, this flesh, and the devil, and lived apart to the LORD.
When the Branch of the LORD reigns, there will be cleansing.
The cleansing will not come easily; it will come by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.
But it will be worth it.
1 Thess 5:9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1 Peter 1:5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Closing:
