Isaiah chapter 1. This book is
a collection of the prophecies of Isaiah, the son of Amoz. You
find this in the first verse. And it was prophecies that he
received and gave out during the reigns of four kings beginning
with Uzziah and ending with Hezekiah. And these are kings of Judah.
If you'll remember, right after Solomon died, His sons went to
war with one another over who was going to be the next king.
Even though Solomon had already, excuse me, yeah, Solomon probably
already announced a successor, but the sons fought over it anyway. And it ended up that it split
the kingdom. And one of the sons ruled the
lower part of the kingdom made of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin.
And that became known as the nation of Judah also. And then
you had the ten northern tribes which were immediately drawn
into idolatry. And they never had even a single
good king. And the Lord sent those ten tribes
into captivity and never brought them home. But these were prophecies
given to Judah concerning Judah and
Jerusalem. And of course Jerusalem was there,
was the capital city right there in the tribe of Judah. Now it's
possible, in fact it almost seems likely that it was not as though
Isaiah sat down and wrote this whole book at one time. He probably
wrote down various prophecies throughout his career as a prophet.
and someone collected them together into this book. And it's even
possible, and this doesn't mean that this, you know, it's illegitimate,
like the book is illegitimate, but like verse one here, and
in chapter two, verse one, where it describes what the next section
is about, these could have been headings that were added by whoever
edited this book, or edited all those prophecies into a single
book. But these are Isaiah's prophecies, the prophecies given
to Isaiah by the Lord, which he declared during the times
of these kings. And generally, they involved
things which would not come to pass for another 150 years. Isaiah
is, to me, the most remarkable of all the prophets. And when
I say remarkable, well, the New Testament quotes him more than
any other prophet, and he gave such detailed prophecies about
Judah's being sent off into captivity, and then how that they would
be brought back, even naming the Persian king that would send
them back, all 150 years before it happened. Now Daniel gave
some rather remarkable prophecies, but they were pretty much, you
know, shadows and images and things like that. Isaiah named
Cyrus 150 years before the man lived and reigned. So these prophecies
concerned Judah a long time after Isaiah wrote. So he says here
in verses two through four, Hear, O heavens, listen, O earth, for
Jehovah has spoken. I reared children and brought
them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his
master, and the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know
my people do not understand. Now, Isaiah is the one speaking
here, but he is speaking the words of the Lord. You know,
he's speaking as though he were the Lord. where he says, for
the Lord has spoken. And he brings, as it were, the
entire world in to listen to God's indictment of Judah. He says, oh heavens, listen,
oh earth. And now he brings up three illustrations
to apply to Judah's rebellious condition by way of comparison. Three things which live in a
subservient and should be obedient position. Children, oxen, and
donkeys. Now children should be obedient
to their parents if for no other reason than this one. Their parents
love them and provide for them. And I guess we could add also
to that their parents should know more than them, having more
experience. But simply out of gratitude Children
ought to recognize that they should be subservient and obedient
to their parents. But what does it say of Israel? He says, Israel does not know,
my people do not understand. So far would the nation fall
that they no longer even retained the knowledge of their God. They did not and they no longer
understood his ways. Now this is the only nation in
all the earth to whom Jehovah God had revealed himself. The
only nation. But Paul says, you know, what
advantage is there in being a Jew? And he says, well, much in every
way. Theirs is the prophets, theirs are the oracles, theirs
is the temple worship. You know, all these things and
advantages that Jehovah God gave to the nation Israel. If anybody
in all the world should have known and understood the true
and living God and His ways, it was this nation. And yet,
they had become just like the Gentile nations, ignorant, without
understanding. In fact, later Isaiah would say,
there's none righteous, there's none good, there's none who understands. And Paul quoted that and actually
applied it to the entire world. But here it's speaking of Israel. And so, children, they've rebelled. God brought them up and they've
rebelled. And it says, the ox knows his master and the donkey
his owner's manger. Now, we've all heard the phrase,
stubborn as an ox. And while it's generally considered
a crudity, it was never meant as a crudity, but people, when
they're called a dumb ass, what it's referring to is the donkey.
And yet, while oxen are known for stubbornness, and donkeys
are known for foolishness, yet the Lord says, compared to Israel,
the ox knows his master. The ox, oxen hears his the master's
voice and does what he's called on to do. And the donkey, he's
at least smart enough to know his owner's manger where he puts
his food. But Israel does not know, they
do not understand. They don't know his voice anymore.
They don't listen to it. And they don't even understand
who it is that's providing for them. You know, without the grace of
God, we would be no different. Absolutely no different. Remember,
like Israel, we have had the oracles of God
committed to us. They had the temple worship.
We've got the reality of it. We have God sent ministers to
teach us the gospel like they had the prophet. We have all
these things. That's no guarantee. That's no
guarantee that we'll listen and that we'll know and that we'll
understand. And we must be, shall we say,
on our toes, sober, careful, that we do not follow their pattern
and have so many advantages dropped in our lap and yet never see
them for the blessings that they are and make use of them. Now,
we know and believe in the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty,
but we also know and believe that the scriptures call upon
us, as Peter said, be sober, be vigilant, pay attention. We know that no man will take
advantage of these advantages unless the Spirit of God moves
him to, but the exhortation still is lay hold of these things.
When Paul was talking, I believe it was to Timothy. It was Timothy
or Titus. But he made this statement. I thought it was so neat. Lay
hold of eternal life. Now that's commanding somebody
to do something they can't naturally do. But nonetheless, he says
lay hold of it. And these things, similar things
have been given to us as were given to Israel. Let us lay hold
of it and not let go of it under any circumstance whatsoever.
lest we fall after this example. Now that is describing, you know,
verses two through four are using illustrations to describe what
Israel had become. And even though we're actually
talking about what would later become known as the nation of
Judah, he's using the name Israel because they were, at least at
this time, they were more like the descendants of Israel were
supposed to be than the northern tribes were. And so God still
calls him Israel, even though they would call themselves Judah.
Now, verse four. In verse four, we see the reality. That is, it's not an illustration,
it's just a direct description of Israel. Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given
to corruption, they have forsaken the Lord, they have spurned the
Holy One of Israel, and turned their backs on Him." Now, there
are three adjectives, nouns, ascribed to
them, and it's actually in the opposite order that we normally
describe them. He begins with the result of
their condition and works back backwards for the reasons of
these things, he said there are a people loaded with guilt. Now guilt is a legal term. I
mean if you're tried for a crime, there's only one of two verdicts
available, guilty or not guilty. Israel had been found guilty,
loaded with guilt, had been brought before God the judge, and been
declared to be guilty. Now, why was that? Well, they
were a breed of evildoers. Their conduct had brought them
into a state of guilt. Now, on the one hand, we understand
that all of us are under sin and condemnation is passed on
us because of what Adam did. But I believe, according to what
I've heard another preacher say, But nobody but Adam ever went
to hell because of Adam's sin. They go to hell for their own
sin. And these people were counted guilty, not just because you
could trace their ancestry back to Adam. That was true of everybody.
Even Israel would be held accountable to God because they did evil. And then he says, children given
to corruption. Why did they do evil? Because
they were corrupt. Sin always starts with the nature,
doesn't it? We are not sinners because we
sin. We sin because we're sinners.
We do not act corruptly, or we are not corrupt because we act
corruptly. We act corruptly because we're
corrupt. Now I know that we are often
shocked by the things that we read in the newspaper that people
do. But we of all people should not be shocked. We might want to be shocked by
the things we as believers do. We know better. But we should
not be shocked in anything we hear the people of the world
do. If we preach total depravity, let's not be surprised when we
see it. And then They describe Israel's sin, the last half,
as this, you have forsaken the Lord, they have spurned the Holy
One of Israel, and turned their backs on Him. Do you know what
is the utter sinfulness of sin? That it is a personal attack
upon God Himself. You have forsaken the Lord. Sin is not just breaking a command. It is a personal affront to the
God who made us. It is spitting in God's face.
You see, if sin were sin simply because it was breaking a command,
we might understand a hierarchy of greater and lesser sins. Because
some sins bring about more trouble than other sins do. But if you
realize that in every sin is a heart of rebellion against
God, an utter rejection of God, then suddenly all sin is the
same thing. But I could not help but notice
this. It says, you have forsaken the Lord. And how was that remedied? My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Because we forsook the Lord,
we who are his people, forsook the Lord. The Lord forsook his
only begotten Son in our behalf. We spurned the Holy One, and
the Holy One spurned Christ. We turned our backs on our God,
and our God turned His back on His Son. That was the remedy
of it. But you know, if in our hearts,
and I realize it's not going to happen this way, but all that
it would, if we saw every sin for the ugly thing that it is,
for the ingratitude it expresses toward the God who made us and
to the God who redeemed us, If we saw every sin not as just
breaking some rule, but as actually spitting in the face of God,
it might restrain some of our outward expression of our fleshly
nature. Now verse five, why should you
be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured. Your whole heart is afflicted.
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is
no soundness. wounds and welts and open sores
not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil. Now this description
has often been used to describe the natural state of humanity
and I've done that but that's really not what the Lord is describing.
Look what he says here verse 5, why should you be beaten anymore? This condition that he describes
as, you know, the sole of your foot to the top of your head.
There's no soundness and all that. It's the result of his
chastening hand on them. They had gone astray. And the
Lord will not let his people go astray without chastening. Now, chastening is not an act
of justice. Chastening is an act of love.
Because its purpose is to bring us back. Judgment puts people
away. Chastening is designed to restore
and bring back and purify a people. For instance, your children,
when they act up, now of course sometimes unfortunately the punishments
we mete out are simply wrath. You know, we ought never show
wrath to our children. That's not the purpose of our
discipline and chastening of them. What are we doing? We're
trying to teach them to do right. And we're trying to drive the
foolishness out of them so that by the time they leave our home,
they won't destroy themselves. In other words, it should always
be motivated by love. Now, children may not be able
to understand how a spanking is an expression of love. But
believe me, if you've told them, don't you go past this part in
the yard, because there's cars out there, and I don't want you
getting hit, and they go past that point, and so you fire up
their rear end, that's love. That's not wrath, that's love
to preserve their lives, isn't it? Well, what God was doing
to Israel was an act of love towards them to bring them back. But, they wouldn't pay attention. You know, there are some children,
they're so rebellious. You can, I hate to put it this way, but
you beat them with an inch of their life and they still won't change.
And that's what the Lord said was going on with Israel. He
said, why will you be beaten anymore? Of course, I don't believe
this is describing the state of Israel right when Isaiah wrote
this. He's writing about future. And I tell you, by the time God
sent them off into captivity, They were just, he had already
just nearly beaten them to pieces. And he says, why do you persist
in your rebellion? Why don't you just submit? And the chastening will stop.
And you'll be able to heal up, as it were, and do better. He
said, but no, you're too stubborn. You're too stupid. You're too
rebellious. to listen to the voice of loving
chastening. He says, your whole head is injured,
your heart afflicted. Their head, the the place where
the intellect and knowledge is afflicted. Their heart, where the affections
are. It's afflicted, injury, affliction,
and yet it's not producing a change of mind or a change of heart.
from the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is
no soundness, only wounds and welts and open sores, and they've
not been cleansed or bandaged or soothed with oil." Now, what
do I see here being illustrated? It's this, the Lord had chastened
them, and yet none of the men whom God had charged with Israel's
leadership, the priests and whatnot, had ever come and delivered to
them the message of grace which might restore them and help them. You know, most often these scriptures are
applied to individuals, but we must realize this scripture,
the book of Isaiah, was written to Israel. And Israel we understand
to be a picture of the church, at least the visible church.
And the church comes under God's chastening hands. But how awful
it is when the Lord sends chastening and there's no one to deliver
to them the message of God's grace, to make them to understand
what's going on, that they might turn and therefore that their
wounds might be bound up. All of us go through chastening.
Not all of us understand what that chastening is about. Sometimes it requires a preacher,
and I don't mean by that that they come to that particular
person and say, I know what you did, and that's why you're sick
or whatnot. But at least through his faithful
preaching of the whole counsel of God, you're made to understand
the Lord is speaking to me with a chastening hand. I need to
listen. Israel didn't have that. There was Isaiah, and that was
it. And by the time that these days
came to pass, there was virtually no one in Israel to administer
the healing effects of the message of God's grace. Well, now he
gives a literal description of what he meant by the whole head
is injured, heart afflicted, and wounds, bruises, and that
sort of thing. Verse 7, your country is desolate,
your city is burned with fire, your fields are being stripped
by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown
by strangers. The daughter of Zion, that's
Jerusalem, is left like a shelter in the vineyard, like a hut in
a field of melons, like a city under siege. Unless the Lord
Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been like Gomorrah. Now, this is one of the things
that lets us know that Israel is talking about a later date,
because at this time, this wasn't happening. in the tribes to whom
Isaiah was sent. This was a later time. But God
did send invaders in. And, you know, war, under any
circumstances, is a horrible thing. I'll tell you, in those
days, it was horribler. Because those invading armies
came in and they didn't just meet the opposing army out there
in what we might call a gentleman's war. They swept through and destroyed
everybody and everything. And they would take the crops
for their own sustenance and leave the people with nothing.
And I believe it was the Romans, and I don't know, others may
have done it also, but the Romans were known to go into an area
and lay waste to it and then salt the field so nothing would
grow afterward. And he says, that's what it's
like with you. He says, you've been left desolate. And you know,
the chastening hand of the Lord will leave us feeling desolate
like that. Now, once again, it's a hand of love to restore. But
really, in one sense, what God is doing when He leaves us feeling
desolate like that because of our wanderings or whatever, He
is letting us experience what it's like to be without Him. We spurn Him. Now, He will not
ever, ever, ever leave us. Like you were talking about in
the book of Hebrews, where it says, I will never leave you.
You know, it's actually a triple negative in the Greek. I will
not ever, ever, ever leave you. But he can make it feel like
he has. Because we've played the fool. And spurned him, and
he says, all right, let me show you what it's like when you don't
have me. Desolate. Cities burned with fire. Stripped. Laid waste. It talks about the
daughter of Zion, Jerusalem was like a shelter and a vineyard.
They used to set up these just little tiny hut out in their
fields. And so somebody could stay in
it and watch that someone wouldn't come and steal the fruit. And
of course that, you know, you got this big flat field out there
and then this little hut sticking up, you know. What's it look
like? Isolated. And God can make you feel so
alone. Just leave you out there hanging
by yourself. You know, when the psalmist wrote,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For the psalmist,
it felt like that. It wasn't true. But he felt like
that. Now, for the Lord Jesus, who
later quoted those words and applied it to his own case, it
was absolutely true. But the Lord God knows how to
make us feel like a little hut out in the middle of the field,
all alone, isolated. And as I said, this is to be
applied to the group, the churches, the visible church, the Lord
sends judgment on them. Maybe judgment is not the right
word, chastening. And the Lord's chastening becomes so severe,
He said, unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we
would have been like Sodom and been like Gomorrah. God utterly
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. What he did there was take the
only righteous man out of the town and then wiped out the whole
town. But when the Lord chastens his
church as a body, as a group, what you find he's often doing
is purifying the church so that all that's left are the real
believers and the others are destroyed. And we see it happen
and we weep and say, It's been destroyed. No, it's been purified.
But it was not a pleasant experience even for the ones. Who survived
by the grace of God? God was going to send this people
into captivity and they were going to spend 70 years under
the heel of another empire. While they were there, there
would be no temple worship, no sacrifice, no opportunity to
gather with the others and rejoice in the things of God. And you
know what was gonna happen? None but those who truly believed
God were gonna be able to hold out until it was over. And then
he would bring back and settle in the land. And God often sends
such severe times on one of his churches or on all of his churches
or whatever, not to be mean, but there has been found within
the churches, many, maybe the majority, maybe the great majority,
that truly do not know God. And he brings persecution upon
them. And what does persecution do
to a phony? It drives him out. You know,
there were times, particularly in the first century of the church,
when they suffered such severe persecution at the hands of the
Jews and then of the Romans. And it was an awful, difficult
time. But what did it do? Anybody that
didn't really believe, they ran. I'm out of here. I didn't sign
on for this. Those that did believe, they
endured. Some of them were killed. And
as the book of Revelation said, they were under the altar. And
they said, oh Lord, how long until you avenge our blood? Well,
the time came, he did avenge their blood. And some were preserved
through those trials. And that was the remnant. But
if the Lord had not been merciful, because believe me, while we
may be true believers, we're still worthy of destruction.
But by the sovereign grace of God, there is a remnant, according
to the election of grace, that survives the severe hand of the
Lord. And by that, he purifies his
people. And when they come back bruised,
you know, and sore, they come back together purified and devoted
even more than before unto their Lord. Call it quits right there.