Session One: The Celestial Showdown Series

Our journey is a continuation of the fight and fire our forefathers knew so well. We pick up the story in Isaiah chapters 46-48. In each Session we’ll focus on a chapter and its lessons for our time together. Strap yourself in and if there are moments when a sudden outburst is residing in your gut and you need to get it out, here’s the “amen” for this weekend; are you ready? It’s “YEAH!” - Not this one from Russell Oliver: “Oh yeah” (Russell Oliver) but Macho Man Randy Savage’s “YEAH”!! (NB: Russell Oliver you tube videos is a jeweller waving cash with a soft "oh yeah". MMR SAVAGE is a World Wrestling Entertainment name - also can be found on you tube).

Our journey begins with Isaiah chapter 46. We’re going to jump around a little in the chapter, pulling verses into themes. If I go verse for verse, some of you will be asleep before verse 2! (If I don’t do it this way, I’LL BE ASLEEP BEFORE VERSE 2!!) The first lesson is an obvious but heart-breaking lesson. It is one of the things that means the difference between the stance as a warrior or a prisoner.

WE'VE BECOME ADDICTED TO IMPOTENT gods

The idea of this chapter is the lesson that we've reduced God to wood. Our wood is any attempt to shape God in our image, to make Him suit our thinking. Idolatry is the worship of other gods and we have become very good at shaping Yahweh (Hebrew name for God) to suit our preferences of what He should look like, how He should sound and what He should do. And once we've completed our idolatrous shaping, the pathetic, grotesque image we've constructed is itself, even ignored.

One dictionary defines impotent as, “lacking power or ability; utterly unable”. We've become addicted to gods – to stuff – and to the Yahweh God we've shaped to suit our appetites, which have no power to do anything for us. Yahweh does not possess the power to save us when our demand of Him is to feed our appetites or we use Him as a bargaining chip.

The chapter begins with a focus on Babylon’s idols. (46:1-2…)

There are two suggestions regarding these verses’ meaning:

1. It was not uncommon that a people would have a New Year’s procession and they would parade their gods on carts through the streets in celebration. Bel and Nebo are divinities known to the Babylonian people. One source (Interpreter’s) paints the picture that the carved gods are about to topple over because of the rutted streets and roads as they were pulled along in oxen or mule carts, something like a modern-day float in a parade that might be about to topple. The first thing we’d do is try to prevent it and hold it up. It is that picture here.

2. During the time of this writing, Cyrus, the king of Persia, was God’s instrument to bring Babylon down. It is suggested the Babylonians were possibly trying to cart their gods to safety before Persia invaded. This may be the more unlikely of the two suggestions because it seems more probable that Persia would worship the same gods.