by Larry Ferrell | January 26, 2018
We are at another of those points in the book where the focus returns suddenly to present realities, in this case the sad condition of the northern kingdom (Israel) and its imminent demise. It’s remarkable to see a southerner (from Judah) like Isaiah so even-handed in his assessment of the two kingdoms. But he understands that “Israel” in a theological sense is one people (north and south together) ruled by the Lord, so what happens in the north is just as significant for him as what happens in the south. But Judah was already infected with the same evils.

This four stanza poem is a classic of biblical social analysis, impressive in its logic, and frightening in its inevitability. The Word which the Lord has sent has fallen on deaf ears and from this easily dismissed beginning everything else follows as certainly as night follows day. The poem is either a prophetic forecast of events or a prophetic meditation bringing out the significance of events which have already taken place. The same issue faced Israel as Judah: would they accept and live by the Word of the Lord? The whole logic of Isaiah’s social analysis stems from this question. The Bible insists large scale national and international consequences follow from spiritual causes. There is no escape from the Word. All the people will know it. The word spoken and refused becomes the same message turned to chastisement. Their pride will not protect them against the coming fulfillment of the word.

In verse 10, the bricks falling down could refer to the earthquake which took place in the reign of Jeroboam II (786 – 746 BC). It was the voice of God, but they took it as a challenge to rise to the occasion: they were equal to it! On the other hand, the words may be metaphorical, indicating an awareness that things are falling apart met by a spirit of self-confidence towards the future, never stopping to read the lessons of the past. Not only will the set-back be overcome but the future will outshine the past as dressed stone and cedars surpass (mud) bricks and (common sycamore) fig trees. Pride made Israel think it would recover and rebuild in its own strength. Even though God made the people of Israel a nation and gave them the land they occupied, they put their trust in themselves rather than in Him. Too often we take pride in our accomplishments, forgetting that it is God who has given us our resources and abilities. We may even become proud of our unique status as Christians. God is not pleased with any pride or trust in ourselves because it cuts off our contact with Him.

The bricks have fallen, now the leaders fall (vv, 13-17). The consequences of rejecting the Lord’s Word unfold. Refusing revealed truth and therefore relying on unaided human wisdom, they find that it’s not enough. Their leaders become misleaders and everyone comes off the worse; from young men in their prime, who might be thought able to look after themselves, to the defenseless fatherless and widows, who are in any case without resource. Even the virtues which the Lord loves cannot be had without commitment to the Lord. When the Word is rejected every grace is subject to erosion. Under deficient leadership the door is opened to unchecked self-seeking. Verses 18-21 expose the betrayal of brotherliness, the essential barrenness of the acquisitive life and the breakdown of social cohesiveness. All this is attributed to a twofold cause: it’s the natural progress of wickedness but it’s also the implementation of the Lord’s wrath.

The fourth stanza (10:1-4) returns to the topic of leadership but not in the same way as verses 13-17. There the charge was general – inept, misleading leaders. Here the charge is of blatant misrule, the willful making of decrees in the interest of class-division and personal advantage. In the end, social unruliness (vv. 13-21) resolves itself into the dominance of an unscrupulous clique who write laws for their own ends.

Isaiah 9:8-10:4 Reflection Questions:
Does God feel distant to you? Could it be your pride and trust in yourself?
Can you remember of a time when you used human wisdom and found that it wasn’t enough? What was the outcome?
How does this study impact your leadership with family, job, church, etc?
What did Jesus have to say about those who used laws to their own ends?

Be the first to comment

by Larry Ferrell | January 20, 2018
This unit deals with the same events as chapter 7, and the fact that the name Immanuel occurs in 8:8 and is alluded to again in 8:10 suggests that, in general, what we have here is the further outworking of the word spoken to Ahaz in 7:14. That word was a doubled-edged involving both judgment and salvation. Its outworking is now depicted in terms of darkness and light. In the short term it means gathering darkness (judgment), but in the long term brilliant light (the coming of the Messiah and the drawing of a new age). The passage as a whole consists of four oracles, in which Isaiah delivers messages given to him directly by the Lord, and two brief reflections on their significance by the prophet himself.

The verses 8:1-10 are strikingly reminiscent of 7:14-17. Like Ahaz in chapter 7, the people as a whole are being given a last chance to abandon their faithless scheming and rely entirely on the Lord as their deliverer, for the sign does not speak of judgment on Judah, but rather of the destruction of her two northern enemies (v. 4). King and people alike have rejected the Lord’s help (compared to the gently flowing waters of the Shiloh spring in Jerusalem) and preferred the help of Assyria (likened to the water of the mighty Euphrates). But if they thought that the river, once in flood stage, would stop at their own borders, they were mistaken. It will sweep on into Judah, all but engulfing it (v. 8). For all that however, the clever schemes of the nations (whether they be Israel, Syria, or Assyria) are, in the final analysis of no consequence. It’s what the Lord has purposed, not what they have planned, that will ultimately be achieved (vv. 9-10).

The verses in 8:11-15 have a logical connection with what has gone before. The schemes of the nations will come to nothing because they stem from the fear of mere humans. Isaiah and his followers are to have nothing to do with such schemes. Instead, they are to fear the Lord alone. To those who do this the Lord will be a sanctuary (He will protect them), but to those who do not He will be like a great stone in their path, over which they will stumble and fall (vv. 14-15). The bottom line is that the Lord cannot be ignored. Whether He is experienced as Savior or as Judge depends on how we respond to Him.

In verses 8:16-22 Isaiah, at times, appears to be addressing an unspecified individual (v. 16) or his disciples collectively (v. 19), but the mixed speech forms are in reality an indication of his inner turmoil as he reflects on the preceding words and their implications. Those who have rejected the clear message he has brought from God will turn in their lostness to the occult, and in so doing plunge themselves into ever deeper darkness and ruin (vv. 19, 21-22). Isaiah therefore sees the urgency of committing his teaching to his disciples. They will need it to turn to as the darkness closes about them (v. 20), and they will preserve it for a future generation who may be more willing to hear. But if Isaiah has hope in this dark moment (and he does), it is not grounded finally in the disciples but in the Lord. Even the disciples may fail to live up to the expectations Isaiah has of them, but the Lord Himself will never let him down.

Verse 9:1 introduces a sharp contrast (Nevertheless…) which prepares the way for what follows in verses 9:2-7. The change of mood from fearful gloom to no more gloom is possible only because of Isaiah’s confidence in the Lord. With his gaze once more fixed on the future, the time of fulfillment, the imminent devastation of the northern kingdom by Assyria is relegated to the past. By faith he sees a glorious reversal that will one day be effected by God’s grace. Devastation will give way to glory. The dawn will break in the very region that was the first to experience God’s judgment. No wonder Matthew draws our attention to the fact that it was in these northern parts, with their mixed population, that Jesus first proclaimed the gospel.

The theme of salvation is clearly the climax of the whole movement from darkness to light in verses 8:1-9:7. At the same time it represents the final reversal of the situation in chapter 7 where the Davidic house, represented by Ahaz, was rejected. The logical structure is signaled by the threefold “for” of verses 4, 5, and 6 (RSV). The rejoicing of verse 3 is occasioned by release from oppression (v. 4), cessation of war (v. 5), and the birth of an ideal ruler (v. 6). That which is plainly future spoken of as already accomplished, for the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (v. 7c). Finally the language of verse 6 can apply only to one who is God incarnate. There can be little doubt, then, that this oracle points directly to the coming of the Messiah, the great Son of David and the true Light.

Isaiah 8:1-9:7 Reflection Questions:
Are you bringing the Lord into all your major decisions or are you doing acting alone?
What Scriptures in the New Testament refer to Jesus as the true Light?
In what ways are you daily reflecting His light?
What lesson is God showing you with this study?

Be the first to comment

by Larry Ferrell | January 12, 2018
The question mark put against the doctrine of hope by chapter 5 was erased by Isaiah’s own experience. His sin was as the sin of the people (6:5). If the Lord dealt with Isaiah’s sin, will He not deal with theirs? Hope is restored (6:13b). Isaiah proceeds now to work this out. First, the moment of decision has come. Isaiah found himself faced with the Word of God and the challenge to respond (6:8); so it would be for the people. For them the point of no return had arrived. Secondly, membership of the people of the Lord must now be evidenced by personal decision and commitment. It’s not a matter of nationality. In these chapters (7:1-11:16) the doctrine of the believing remnant flowers. Thirdly, the dying kingship of Uzziah provides the foil for the hope to come: David’s house is sinking fast but the promised King will come.

The setting this encounter between Isaiah and Ahaz is briefly sketched in verses 1-2. A resurgent Assyria has begun to push west and south into Palestine. The kings of Israel and Syria have formed an anti-Assyrian pact and are determined to force Judah to join them by deposing Ahaz and installing a puppet king in his place (v. 6). Ahaz is torn between two fears. He is panic-stricken in the face of the invasion by Syria and Israel (v. 2), but he is even more fearful of joining them against Assyria. When Isaiah confronts him he appears to have already decided to try to hold out in the hope of finding security through submission to Assyria. Isaiah offers him a radical alternative: forswear all alliances and trust wholly in the Lord (vv. 7-9). In view of Ahaz’s refusal to do this (vv. 10-11), Isaiah announces that Judah will soon be overrun and devastated by that very Assyria that Ahaz has foolishly decided to turn to for help (vv. 17-20).

Verses 13-16 are clearly the theological key to the chapter. The encounter with Ahaz in verses 1-12 leads up to them, and verses 17-25 which follow are an extended commentary on them. It’s certain that verse 14 finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, but what is its meaning here in its immediate context? In chapter 6:9-10 Isaiah was told to make the ears of the rebellious people dull and to close their eyes. Here in chapter 7 we see Isaiah doing this to Ahaz. Ahaz has rejected the clear word of the prophet (vv. 7-9) and the offer of a clear sign to confirm it (vv. 10-12). Therefore Ahaz is given a sign which is veiled, a sign which he cannot understand (vv. 13-16).

But the sign is not meaningless. It can be understood, but only from the perspective of faith, and again chapter 6 provides the key. The final verse of that chapter spoke of a righteous remnant, a “holy seed” that would survive the coming judgment. At the beginning of chapter 7 Isaiah is pointedly told to take his son Shear-Jashub with him as he goes to meet Ahaz. “Shear-Jashub” means ‘a remnant shall return’ or ‘a remnant shall repent’. Both are possible, but since the immediate context here is one of faith verses unbelief rather than exile and return, the latter meaning is almost certainly the primary one. Isaiah comes to challenge Ahaz to repent and join the remnant who believes, but he refuses. The Immanuel saying of verse 14 is therefore given to Ahaz as a veiled message of judgment.

Two important themes from the previous chapters are strongly developed here in chapter 7. The first is the Lord’s supreme, universal sovereignty, which was so forcibly set before us in 6:1-3. Here in chapter 7 we see Him exercising that sovereignty as He summons the nations to do His bidding. The second theme is closely related to the first, namely, the absolute necessity of wholehearted reliance upon the Lord. In chapter 2 the alternative to such trust was reliance upon man; here that general notion is developed in terms of trusting in the nations (especially Assyria) for protection instead of the Lord. The choice is put squarely to Ahaz in verse 9b: “If you will not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Whatever we rely on instead of trusting in God will eventually turn and devour us.

Isaiah 7:1-25 Reflection Questions:
Have you ever been in a situation similar to Ahaz and to put all your trust in the Lord?
What would be some of today’s examples of “Assyria” and “Syria & Israel” that we face?
Are you receiving signs (dreams & visions) or Words from God that you are ignoring?
What are you relying on instead of God that you might need to repent from?

Be the first to comment

by Larry Ferrell | January 5, 2018
Chapter 6 towers like a majestic peak over the surrounding terrain and is clearly of central importance for the message of the book. It was in this encounter with the Lord that Isaiah’s understanding of both God and his own mission was crystallized. It stands centrally within chapters 1-12 and is intimately related to both what precedes and what follows. Chapters 1-5 as a whole have posed a bigger problem than the corruption that affluence bred and the judgment that this must entail. It is the question of how spiritual renewal can be affected, so that Israel may become the center of world blessing that it is destined to be (2:1-5). Chapter 6 moves from a vision of God (vv. 1-4), to confession of sin (v. 5), to cleansing (vv. 6-7) and finally to commissioning (vv. 8-13); that’s the path by which Isaiah enters into his servanthood, and it’s the path Israel must also take. Isaiah’s experience in this chapter shows them the way. Isaiah’s identification with the sinful nation is made clear by his confession in verse 5.

We see in the first four verses (vv. 1-4) an implied contrast between King Uzziah and “the King, the Lord Almighty” (v.5), and we are taken at once to the central theme of the chapter (divine kingship) and the root problem underlying Israel’s failure (trust in mere humans rather than trust in the Lord). As so often is the case, increased wealth had brought a diminished view of God, so that people felt secure in their sins as long as they performed the appropriate rituals. But Isaiah sees the Lord as He is, high and exalted, beyond manipulation, seated on His judgment throne. The time of reckoning has come. Heaven and earth merge in this blinding vision of the One who is above all Holy (v. 3), a term which includes transcendence and righteousness. The seraphs, by their words and actions, show that the appropriate response is reverence, service and praise.

In verse 5, the vision of God produces not rapture but sheer terror in the prophet. He knows himself to be utterly ruined, for two reasons: he is unclean and he has seen God. The belief that no-one could see God and live has its roots in the encounter with God at Sinai. A privileged few, both then and at other times had been permitted to see God. Isaiah is not proud at being admitted to the inner circle. He is aware only of being unclean, like his fellows. In the presence of God degrees of sin become irrelevant. It is the holiness of God which reveals to us our true condition, not comparison with others. Paradoxically, Isaiah’s confession of being unclean like his fellows has set him apart from them, for he, unlike them, has been willing to acknowledge his condition.

In verses 6-7, the altar from which the burning coal is taken by the seraphs to cleanse Isaiah is not named. But it doesn’t matter. The altar, whatever its identity, symbolizes the entire provision which God had made in the temple and its services for the sins of His people. Isaiah is cleansed, not by his own efforts, but purely by the grace of God. The same grace was available to Israel as a whole but by their arrogance they had cut themselves off from it.

It now becomes apparent why the ‘lips’ and ‘mouth’ have been so prominent in verses 5-7. The Lord seeks a messenger, and Isaiah, now cleansed, is ready and willing to be his mouthpiece. Verses 9-13 reveal that his message is to be essentially one of judgment, but it is described more in terms of its effects than its content: it will harden hearts (vv. 9-10) and lead to devastation of both land and people (vv. 11-12). There is a thread of hope however. Verse 13 likens the land and its people to a tree whose stump remains in the earth after it is felled, and speaks of a righteous remnant (holy seed) within the nation. The closing words of this chapter are a promise rather than a threat. The righteous remnant will not be destroyed, but survive and grow into a new people of God. As we shall see in chapters 7 and 8, Isaiah himself is the nucleus around which this righteous remnant begins to gather.

As well as giving us an awesome view of God, this chapter provides us with a succinct portrait of his servant Isaiah. He was a man with a big vision of God (v. 1), a deep awareness of his own sinfulness (v. 5), a profound experience of the grace of God (v. 7), and a willingness to spend and be spent in His service, whatever the cost (v. 8). May God help us to be more like him.

Isaiah 6:1-13 Reflection Questions:
Do you feel secure in your sins because of your spiritual rituals?
Do you put more trust in yourself and others than trusting in the Lord?
How willing are you to spend and be spent in God’s service, whatever the cost?

Be the first to comment

by Larry Ferrell | December 29, 2017
In this last section of his preface Isaiah faces the seeming inevitability of divine judgment. The choice of the vineyard metaphor is significant. In 1:8 the vineyard reference pointed to a remnant which the Lord preserved; in 3:12-4:1, when the vineyard was plundered, the Lord intervened to pass judgment on its behalf and against its plunderers. Now, however, the vineyard is the place where total destruction must be pronounced (vv. 1-7). The future seems like a great question mark, for even the Lord has come to the point where He asks what more is there that can be done (v. 4). In 1:2-31 though sin blighted life yet a bright hope was sketched in 1:26-27 for the future; in 2:1-4:6 though sin marred life’s highest purposes yet cleansing and new creation was held in view (4:2-6); but now sin takes even hope away and nothing is left but the gathering darkness (v. 30).

Isaiah lives always with the tension between what will be and what is; between the glorious destiny which beckons Israel and the awful reality of its present condition. It’s a tension which ultimately only the Lord can resolve. Here, once again, as in 2:6, we plunge from the heights to the depths as the prophet returns to the thankless task of exposing the sins of his fellows and warning of judgment to come. But it will not be easy for him to gain a hearing for such an unpleasant message.

According to Ezekiel 15:2-5 a vine is either good for fruit or good for nothing and since the Lord’s people are His vine, the same truth applies. By the Feast of Tabernacles the vintage would be gathered in. It may have been on such an occasion that Isaiah invited the crowd to hear him sing, first of his friend (vv. 1-2), then as his friend (vv. 3-4), then revealing who his friend is (vv. 5-6) and finally revealing who the vineyard is (v. 7). Skillfully he draws his hearers on to the point where they can only utter a condemnation and discover that they have condemned themselves.

Item by item Isaiah penetrates the façade and gathers the offensive fruit from the Lord’s vine and pronounces a woe on each in turn (vv. 8, 11, 18, 20-22). The structure of the passage is interesting and important. The first two ‘woes’ (vv. 8-12), dealing with abuse of the material benefits of life, are followed by two ‘therefores’ (vv. 13-17); the final four ‘woes’ (vv. 18-23), dealing with failure in the moral and spiritual obligations of life, are likewise followed by two ‘therefores’ (vv. 24-30). The ‘therefores’ match each other. In each case the shorter of them (vv. 13 & 24) explain how the judgment is suited to the foregoing sin, and the longer (14-17 & 25-30) describe an act of God in total judgment. At the center of Isaiah’s ‘anatomy of Judah’ lie his exposure of sin and the reversal of moral values (vv. 18-20). When life consists of the following of sin, denial of the living God and rewriting the moral code, there is no stopping place short of complete devotion to self-pleasing.

The destroyer of the Lord’s vineyard is to be a foreign invader, and he is to come at the Lord’s express command (v. 26). It was the message of Isaiah and other prophets that it was the Lord, not these nations, who called the tune. It’s a biblical revelation about how history has always worked and still does today. The first Christians, in their time of testing, cried out to God in full confidence that the worldly powers ranged against them, both Jewish and Gentile, could do nothing but what God, by His power and will, had decided beforehand should happen. Even Herod and Pontius Pilate, in conspiring to bring about the death of Jesus, had merely played roles that God had scripted for them. “The authorities that exist”, Paul tells us, “have been established by God” (Rom 13:1), and the book of Revelation points us with complete confidence to the day when God’s lordship over the nations will be manifested in final judgment (Rev. 11:15). Isaiah was absolutely certain of the Lord’s sovereignty over history; He was using the nations to accomplish His purposes and would continue to do so. It’s a theme that will be developed more fully as the book proceeds.

Isaiah 5:1-30 Reflection Questions:
Has your religion become passionless? How passionate are you about sharing the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ?
After studying these verses, do you hear God speaking to you about your life?
Do you see God using nations and people groups today for His purposes? What about how God is using you or the people in your life?

Be the first to comment

by Larry Ferrell | December 22, 2017
The expression “in that day” has run like a refrain through the whole preceding judgment section, from 2:6 to 4:1. But now here in 4:2 the expression is used climatically as Isaiah’s attention is fixed again on the very end of history, the goal towards which everything is moving under God. The great and final day of the Lord, then has a double aspect. It’s both terrible (2:6-22) and glorious (4:2-6). But the way the text refers to glory as the climax reminds us that God’s ultimate purpose for His people is not destruction but salvation, a truth confirmed by the apostle Paul with resounding clarity (1 Thess. 5:9). Peter is no less definite (1 Pet. 1:5). That salvation which will be fully realized when Christ returns to draw history to its triumphant conclusion is represented here under four images.

The Branch of the Lord (4:2a): The Branch of the Lord or simply ‘the Branch’ is used as a technical term for the Messiah, and the motif of a ‘shoot’, ‘branch’ or ‘root’ springing up will later be used in some fairly specific ways within the book of Isaiah. Here however, it seems best to take the full-grown plant in conjunction with what follows, as a general image of the Lord’s saving purposes come to fruition and on display for all to see on the last day. Every gardener knows how a healthy plant in full bloom reflects credit on the one who planted and cultivated it. In a similar way the salvation that the Lord will achieve for His people will reflect great credit on Him on that final day. The Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious. The next three images reveal just what that salvation will involve.

A fruitful land (4:2b): The fruitful land of Canaan had been God’s gift to the Israelites in the days of Joshua in fulfillment of the promises made to their ancestors. The land therefore had religious significance for them. It was a visible sign or sacrament of the grace that the Lord had shown in choosing them to be His people. In Isaiah’s day that relationship was strained almost to breaking –point, and the land lay desolate and ravaged by Israel’s enemies, right up to the gates of Jerusalem itself (1:2, 7-8). But Isaiah was confident that the ancient promises would not fail. God would not destroy the nation; nor would He divorce her permanently from the land. A remnant would survive and enjoy in full measure what had been promised to their fathers long ago. It’s an image of abundant provision and deep contentment.

A holy city (4:3-4): Now the focus narrows from the land to Zion or Jerusalem, the city which had acquired a special significance for Israel in the time of David. In those days it had been holy in a double sense. It had been holy in that God, the Holy One of Israel, had chosen it as the place where David (His chosen king) and his descendants would rule over His people forever, and where God’s people would meet with Him in His temple. It was also holy in the sense that it had exhibited in its corporate life the very character of the one who had chosen it. It had been ‘faithful’ and ‘full of justice’. The Zion of Isaiah’s day had become a corrupt, harlot city, but Isaiah never doubted that it was still chosen to play a key role in the Lord’s purposes. In these two verses he sees the Zion of the future inhabited by an elect remnant, living in a city which has been purged of its moral corruption by divine judgment. Zion will then once more be holy in both senses: elect and faithful. The holy city represents perfect community.

A canopy of glory (4:5-6): The final image is of journey’s end, of the pilgrim people of God at last secure in God’s presence forever. There are many allusions here to the period of the exodus. That journey was punctuated by encampments, and at such times, rest in the land had never been perfectly achieved, even in the time of David. Now, in Isaiah’s time it seemed further off than ever. Isaiah believed that the final encampment of God’s people would be in the new Zion. In the final encampment the glory of the Lord’s presence fills the whole camp, and the protecting cloud, like a vast canopy or pavilion, covers the entire site and all who are assembled there (v. 5). There will no longer be any need for the tabernacle or temple, for the glory of the Lord will be directly accessible to all. And those with whom God is present in this way will be perfectly secure forever (v. 6). This is no out-of-date dream, but one which Jesus prayed to be realized, and which the apostle John sets before us again at the climax of the Bible as the vision of our own future in God which should still inspire us and draw us on. We too, are pilgrims.

Isaiah 4:2-6 Reflection Questions:
Putting yourself into this study, where are you in your spiritual pilgrimage?
Have you experienced the glory of The Lord?
What does it mean when you don’t feel close to the Lord’s presence in your life (according to your spiritual pilgrimage)?

Be the first to comment