Isaiah

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Isaiah
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Chronology
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Isaiah

• When King Ahazruled Judah, war broke out.
  Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekahking of Israel,
  attacked Jerusalem, but were unable to capture
  it. When word reached the king of Judah that the
  armies of Syria were already in the territory of
  Israel, he and all his people were so terrified
  that they trembled like trees shaking in the
  wind. (Isaiah 71-2 GN)

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Isaiah

• The LORD sent another message to Ahaz Ask the
  LORD your God to give you a sign. It can be from
  deep in the world of the dead or from high up in
  heaven. Ahaz answered, I will not ask for a
  sign. I refuse to put the LORD to the test. To
  that Isaiah replied, Listen, now, descendants of
  King David. Its bad enough for you to wear out
  the patience of people---do you have to wear out
  Gods patience too? Well then, the Lord himself
  will give you a sign a young woman who is
  pregnant will have a son and will name him
  Immanuel. By the time he is old enough to make
  his own decisions, people will be drinking milk
  and eating honey. Even before that time comes,
  the lands of those two kings who terrify you will
  be deserted. (Isaiah 710-16 GN)
• Who was this child? Who was the young woman?

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Chronology
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Isaiah

• Young woman or virgin?
• Almah can mean either virgin or young woman
• Betulah can only mean virgin
• The LORD said, Isaiah, get something to write
  on. Then write in big clear letters the name,
  MAHER-SHALAL-HASH-BAZ. I will have Uriah the
  priest and Zechariahserve as witnesses to this.
  Sometime later, my wife and I had a son, and the
  LORD said, Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
  Because before he can say 'Mommy' or 'Daddy', the
  king of Assyria will attack and take everything
  of value from Damascus and Samaria. (Isaiah
  81-4 CEV)

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Isaiah

• There will be no way for them to escape from
  this time of trouble. The land of the tribes of
  Zebulun and Naphtali was once disgraced, but the
  future will bring honor to this region, from the
  Mediterranean eastward to the land on the other
  side of the Jordan, and even to Galilee itself,
  where the foreigners live. The people who walked
  in darkness have seen a great light. They lived
  in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on
  them. You have given them great joy, Lord you
  have made them happy. They rejoice in what you
  have done, as people rejoice when they harvest
  grain or when they divide captured wealth.

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Isaiah

• For you have broken the yoke that burdened them
  and the rod that beat their shouldersA child is
  born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be
  our ruler. He will be called, Wonderful
  Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father,
  Prince of Peace. His royal power will continue
  to grow his kingdom will always be at peace. He
  will rule as King Davids successor, basing his
  power on right and justice, from now until the
  end of time. The LORD Almighty is determined to
  do all this. (Isaiah 91-7 GN)

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Isaiah the people

• The Lord said, These people claim to worship
  me, but their words are meaningless, and their
  hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is
  nothing but human rules and traditions, which
  they have simply memorized. (Isaiah 2913 GN)
• Jesus replied, You hypocrites, Isaiah described
  you beautifully when he wrote This people
  honors me with their lips, but their heart is far
  from me, teaching as doctrines the commandments
  of men. You are so busy holding on to the
  traditions of men that you let go the commandment
  of God! (Mark 76-8 JB Phillips)
• God told me to write down in a book what the
  people are like, so that there would be a
  permanent record of how evil they are. They are
  always rebelling against God, always lying,
  always refusing to listen to the LORDs
  teachings. They tell the prophets to keep quiet.
  They say, Dont talk to us about whats right.
  Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our
  illusions. Get out of our way and stop blocking
  our path. We dont want to hear about your holy
  God of Israel. (Isaiah 308-11 GN)

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Isaiah

• Listen, heaven, and pay attention, earth! The
  LORD has spoken, I raised my children and helped
  them grow, but they have rebelled against me.
  Oxen know their owners, and donkeys know where
  their masters feed them. But Israel doesnt know
  its owner. My people don't understand who feeds
  them. How horrible it will be for a nation that
  sins. Its people are loaded down with guilt. They
  are descendants of evildoers and destructive
  children. They have abandoned the LORD. They have
  despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned
  their backs on him. Why do you still want to be
  beaten? Why do you continue to rebel? Your whole
  head is infected. Your whole heart is failing.
  (Isaiah 12-5 GODS WORD)

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Isaiah

• Jerusalem, your rulers and your people are like
  those of Sodom and Gomorrah. Listen to what the
  LORD is saying to you. Pay attention to what our
  God is teaching you. He says, Do you think I
  want all these sacrifices you keep offering to
  me? I have had more than enough of the sheep you
  burn as sacrifices and of the fat of your fine
  animals. I am tired of the blood of bulls and
  sheep and goats. Who asked you to bring me all
  this when you come to worship me? Who asked you
  to do all this tramping around in my Temple? Its
  useless to bring your offerings. I am disgusted
  with the smell of the incense you burn. I cannot
  stand your New Moon Festivals, your Sabbaths, and
  your religious gatherings they are all corrupted
  by your sins. I hate your New Moon Festivals and
  holy days they are a burden that I am tired of
  bearing. (Isaiah 110-14 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• What is more pleasing to the Lord your burnt
  offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his
  voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice.
  Listening to him is much better than offering the
  fat of rams. (1 Samuel 1522 NLT)
• Do what is right and fair that pleases the LORD
  more than bringing him sacrifices. (Proverbs
  213 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• You do not want sacrifices and offerings you do
  not ask for animals burned whole on the altar or
  for sacrifices to take away sins. Instead, you
  have given me ears to hear you, and so I
  answered, Here I am your instructions for me
  are in the book of the Law. How I love to do your
  will, my God! I keep your teaching in my heart.
  (Psalms 406-8 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• I do not reprimand you because of your
  sacrifices and the burnt offerings you always
  bring me. And yet I do not need bulls from your
  farms or goats from your flocks all the animals
  in the forest are mine and the cattle on
  thousands of hills. All the wild birds are mine
  and all living things in the fields. If I were
  hungry, I would not ask you for food, for the
  world and everything in it is mine. Do I eat the
  flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Let
  the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God,
  and give the Almighty all that you promised.
  (Psalms 508-14 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• You do not want sacrifices, or I would offer
  them you are not pleased with burnt offerings.
  My sacrifice is a humble spirit, O God you will
  not reject a humble and repentant heart. (Psalms
  5116-17 GN)
• I will praise God with a song I will proclaim
  his greatness by giving him thanks. This will
  please the LORD more than offering him cattle,
  more than sacrificing a full-grown bull. (Psalms
  6930,31 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• What shall I bring to the LORD, the God of
  heaven, when I come to worship him? Shall I bring
  the best calves to burn as offerings to him? Will
  the LORD be pleased if I bring him thousands of
  sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I
  offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?
  No, the LORD has told us what is good. What he
  requires of us is this to do what is just, to
  show constant love, and to live in humble
  fellowship with our God. (Micah 66-8 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• The LORD says, I hate your religious festivals
  I cannot stand them! When you bring me burnt
  offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept
  them I will not accept the animals you have
  fattened to bring me as offerings. Stop your
  noisy songs I do not want to listen to your
  harps. Instead, let justice flow like a stream,
  and righteousness like a river that never goes
  dry. (Amos 521-25 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• I want your constant love, not your animal
  sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me
  than burn offerings to me. (Hosea 66 GN)
• Go and find out what is meant by the scripture
  that says It is kindness that I want, not
  animal sacrifices. (Matthew 913 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• What was the purpose of the sacrificial system?
• As it is, however, the sacrifices serve year
  after year to remind people of their sins. For
  the blood of bulls and goats can never take away
  sins. For this reason, when Christ was about to
  come into the world, he said to God You do not
  want sacrifices and offerings, but you have
  prepared a body for me. You are not pleased with
  animals burned whole on the altar or with
  sacrifices to take away sins. Then I said, Here
  I am, to do your will, O God, just as it is
  written of me in the book of the Law. (Hebrews
  102-7 GN)

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Sacrificial system

• The sacrificial system was to remind people of
  the consequences of rebellion
• Adam
• It did point toward a solution
• God is not pleased with sacrifice God is not
  appeased by sacrifice
• God desires our constant love and that we know
  him
• Jesus did away with the sacrificial system

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Sacrificial system

• They misinterpreted the sacrificial system
• He could have pricked his finger and solved the
  problem, but he wanted to go all the way.
• I want your constant love, not your animal
  sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me
  than burn offerings to me. (Hosea 66 GN)

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What happened at the Cross?

• Has anyone believed us or seen the mighty power
  of the LORD in action? Like a young plant or a
  root that sprouts in dry ground, the servant grew
  up obeying the LORD. He wasnt some handsome
  king. Nothing about the way he looked made him
  attractive to us.
• He was hated and rejected his life was filled
  with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted
  to look at him. We despised him and said, He is
  a nobody! He suffered and endured great pain for
  us, but we thought his suffering was punishment
  from God. He was wounded and crushed because of
  our sins by taking our punishment, he made us
  completely well. (Isaiah 531-5 CEV)

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What happened at the Cross?

• Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses,
  weaknesses and distresses) and carried our
  sorrows and pains of punishment, yet we
  ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten,
  and afflicted by God as if with leprosy. But He
  was wounded for our transgressions, He was
  bruised for our guilt and iniquities the
  chastisement needful to obtain peace and
  well-being for us was upon Him, and with the
  stripes that wounded Him we are healed and made
  whole. (Isaiah 534,5 Amplified Bible)

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What happened at the Cross?

• But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our
  pain even though we thought he was being
  punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for
  something he had done. He was wounded because of
  our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our
  sins he endured punishment that made us well
  because of his wounds we have been healed. All of
  us had wandered off like sheep each of us had
  strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused
  the sin of all of us to attack him. He was
  treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not
  even open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the
  slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before
  her shearers, he did not even open his mouth. He
  was led away after an unjust trialbut who even
  cared? Indeed, he was cut off from the land of
  the living because of the rebellion of his own
  people he was wounded. They intended to bury him
  with criminals, but he ended up in a rich mans
  tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds,
  nor had he spoken deceitfully. (Isaiah 534-9
  NET)

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What happened at the Cross?

• God came in the flesh to reveal his character and
  the full magnitude of his love for humanity
• The greatest love you can have for your friends
  is to give your life for them. (John 1513 GN)
• I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die
  for the sheep. (John 1011 GN)
• No one takes my life away from me. I give it up
  of my own free will. I have the right to give it
  up, and I have the right to take it back. (John
  1017,18 GN)

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What happened at the Cross?

• The last actions of Jesus
• The upper room
• Gethsemane
• His enemies Forgive them, Father! They dont
  know what they are doing (Luke 2334 - GN)
• His mother So Jesus, seeing His mother there,
  and the disciple whom He loved standing near,
  said to His mother, Dear woman, See, here is
  your son! Then He said to the disciple, See,
  here is your mother! And from that hour, the
  disciple took her into his own. (John 1926,27
  Amplified Bible)
• The thief I promise you that today you will be
  in Paradise with me (Luke 2343 GN)

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What do we learn at the Cross?

• God is just like that!

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Healed by his stripes?

• Yes, may you come to know his love---although it
  can never be fully known---and so be completely
  filled with the very nature of God. (Ephesians
  319 GN)

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What else do we learn at the Cross?

• Ill not be talking with you much more like this
  because the chief of this godless world is about
  to attack. But dont worry--he has nothing on me,
  no claim on me. But so the world might know how
  thoroughly I love the Father, I am carrying out
  my Fathers instructions right down to the last
  detail. Get up. Lets go. Its time to leave
  here. (John 1430,31 The Message)

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What else do we learn at the Cross?

• You are the children of your father, the Devil,
  and you want to follow your father's desires.
  From the very beginning he was a murderer and has
  never been on the side of truth, because there is
  no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is only
  doing what is natural to him, because he is a
  liar and the father of all lies. (John 844
  GN)

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What else do we learn at the Cross?

• How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son
  of the morning! How you are cut down to the
  ground, You who weakened the nations! For you
  have said in your heart I will ascend into
  heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
  God I will also sit on the mount of the
  congregation On the farthest sides of the north
  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I
  will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be
  brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of
  the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, And
  consider you, saying Is this the man who made
  the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made
  the world as a wilderness And destroyed its
  cities, Who did not open the house of his
  prisoners? (Isaiah 1412-17 NKJV)

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What else do we learn at the Cross?

• And on that cross Christ freed himself from the
  power of the spiritual rulers and authorities he
  made a public spectacle of them by leading them
  as captives in his victory procession.
  (Colossians 215 GN)
• The Cross the pinnacle of all that is important

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God wins!

• The Son of God appeared for this very reason, to
  destroy what the Devil had done (1 John 38
  GN).
• Jesus himself became like them and shared their
  human nature. He did this so that through his
  death he might destroy the Devil (Hebrews 24
  GN).
• He came as the light of the world (John 812
  GN), because their minds have been kept in the
  dark by the evil god of this world (2
  Corinthians 44 GN).

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God wins!

• Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the
  whole universe back to himself. God made peace
  through his Sons blood on the cross and so
  brought back to himself all things, both on earth
  and in heaven. At one time you were far away from
  God and were his enemies because of the evil
  things you did and thought. But now, by means of
  the physical death of his Son
• God has made you his friends (Colossians
  120-22 GN)

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Why are we still here?

• The Lord isnt slow to do what he promised, as
  some people think. Rather, he is patient for your
  sake. He doesnt want to destroy anyone but wants
  all people to have an opportunity to turn to him
  and change the way they think and act. (2 Peter
  39 GODS WORD)
• And this Good News about the Kingdom will be
  preached through all the world for a witness to
  all people and then the end will come. (Matthew
  2414 GN)