The player is loading ...
July 27, 2021
The Greatest Prophet (Walk Thru the Bible Week 26)
The prophet Isaiah was called at a critical moment in history with a mission to speak to a people who would not hear nor understand him. He was not called to great success in terms of impact but to declare the word of the Lord as a witness to what was about to happen. The prophet Micah was raised up during the same period and predicted many specific events. Both had glorious visions of a future messianic kingdom. But first, God had to judge His people’s sin and rid them of idolatry once and for all.
This episode complements the daily readings from our Walk Thru the Bible reading plan for July 26 - Aug 1, covering Isaiah 1-17; Micah; 2 Kings 15-17.
Show Links:
3D Jesus Series - Part 1: https://youtu.be/V9s0R_T76DM
3D Jesus Series - Part 2: https://youtu.be/l68CcVRKvd4
Face to Face With a Holy God: Isaiah - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736923055/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_WP64DGNZP3PXM0Q98BTF
Names in the Bible by Dr. Yossi Balas - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B095PZLKTC/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VA0YCXS6YDBQYTVZKSV4
Walk Thru the Bible 2nd Quarter Reading Plan – https://icejusa.org/walkthrubible
The Daily Bible - https://www.icejusa.org/dailybible
https://www.instagram.com/outofzion_icej/
https://www.facebook.com/susanmichaelicej/about/
Sign up for emails about upcoming shows: http://www.outofzionshow.com
More info on Susan: https://www.icejusa.org/susans-blog
Transcript
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,180
Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting
2
00:00:06,180 --> 00:00:07,680
book on the planet.
3
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,680
It will transform your life one page at a time.
4
00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:15,140
Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible
5
00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:16,140
to life.
6
00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:20,200
Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.
7
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,020
Well, hey there and welcome back.
8
00:00:25,020 --> 00:00:31,640
This is Walk Through the Bible Week 26 and we are reading this week in the Daily Bible
9
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:39,800
what our pages 791-825 or the dates of June 25-30.
10
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,080
Now let me just set our review of what we read last week so we know where we are in
11
00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:46,580
our story.
12
00:00:46,580 --> 00:00:55,000
So in the northern kingdom of Israel, they just lost their king Jeroboam II and it was
13
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,600
really a highlight in the time of the history of the northern kingdom of Israel.
14
00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,800
They were very, very strong, very wealthy, prosperous.
15
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,320
Everything looked really hunky dory, as we say.
16
00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:15,160
But after Jeroboam dies and for the next 20 years, the northern kingdom of Israel goes
17
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:23,160
from one king to another and just spirals into a very, very fast decline to their actual
18
00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:24,160
end.
19
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,360
But let's think about this for a minute.
20
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:33,160
If you're in the time of Jeroboam and even though he has just died, things don't happen
21
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:34,160
overnight.
22
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:40,880
So it takes a number of years before the people themselves would see a large deterioration
23
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,240
or a large change.
24
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:48,000
These things kind of sneak up on a nation.
25
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:55,520
So as this is beginning to take place, we have down in the south in the kingdom of Judah
26
00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:01,680
the rise of what is known as the greatest prophet to Israel.
27
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:03,840
And this is Isaiah.
28
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,720
His book is massive.
29
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:12,280
And I mean, he gave so many prophecies and they're so amazing.
30
00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:13,960
It is such a rich book.
31
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:19,160
It'd be wonderful if we could just take about eight weeks just to walk through the book
32
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,440
of Isaiah.
33
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:27,640
Just absolutely amazing prophecies and an amazing prophet.
34
00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:34,000
I want to just point out, if you were wanting to just read through the book of Isaiah in
35
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,800
your normal Bible or even hear what we're doing in the daily Bible, reading it kind
36
00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,680
of chronologically.
37
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,160
You know, what I want you to understand is these books of the prophets.
38
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,120
So Isaiah, today we're also going to talk about Micah.
39
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,680
The book wasn't about Isaiah or about Micah.
40
00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:04,800
The book wasn't necessarily written by Isaiah, but that was the prophecies given by Isaiah.
41
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,200
So it's not like Isaiah sat down one day and said, I'm going to write a book.
42
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,840
And he starts writing chapter one, verse one and writes it so that you can just read through
43
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,960
it and sort of follow a line of thought.
44
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:26,000
No, these are many separate prophecies that the prophet Isaiah gave.
45
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,600
And they were later compiled into a book.
46
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:37,040
And this is why when you're reading through one prophecy may talk about judgment and about
47
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,960
sin and then it may talk about one day that God's going to restore them.
48
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,920
And you think, oh, great.
49
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:50,200
And then the next one starts, we're back about sin and we're back about judgment.
50
00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,400
And then finally we get to a little bit of hope that there's going to be restoration.
51
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:56,920
And then the next one we go back.
52
00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,200
So you have to realize these are like a sermon.
53
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,640
You know, it's like a prophet was in a way kind of like a preacher.
54
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:13,040
So these are different sermons and therefore it may have a beginning and an ending point
55
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,760
and then it'll run right into the next one.
56
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:21,480
And so that's why last week I said Isaiah is kind of like an orchestra where you're
57
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:29,320
constantly going back and forth between the winds and the string instruments and the percussion,
58
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:35,600
a balance here of sin and of judgment and of hope of restoration.
59
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,960
So his book is just really amazing.
60
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:46,720
Before I go on, I want to also mention the name Isaiah, which is a combination of the
61
00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,040
word for salvation.
62
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,920
Yes, yes, the Yahoo is the way you pronounce it in Hebrew.
63
00:04:53,920 --> 00:05:00,040
And so the Yesha is about salvation or rescue.
64
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:06,480
And then the Yahoo is the name of God put in this conjunctive.
65
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:14,080
So his name means salvation or God is my salvation or God's salvation.
66
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,240
And truly that was his message.
67
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,720
God was their salvation if they would just return to him.
68
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:29,720
And it's so amazing these names and how that they actually bear the meaning of the person.
69
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:40,000
So I want to start out with the calling of Isaiah that we read in Isaiah 6.
70
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,400
It's a portion of Scripture we're all fairly familiar with.
71
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:50,720
We've read it many times and it's where Isaiah sees this vision of the Lord sitting on his
72
00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,120
throne.
73
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,280
And it says that his train fills the temple.
74
00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:02,160
And I just want to mention here that the word for train is the same word for him.
75
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:09,400
So you and I, when we read this, we're thinking like a train on the dress of a wedding dress
76
00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:15,840
or on a queen's dress, you know, a train that tells behind her.
77
00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:22,080
And it may very well actually mean that, but I want to just point out once again, it's
78
00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:29,240
talking about that hymn, the hymn of God, just like the priest had a special hymn, the
79
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:36,560
king had a special hymn, the people were told to put tassels on the hymns of their garments.
80
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,440
Hymns were so important at the time of the Bible.
81
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:45,080
And God's hymn is really probably the most amazing one and it just filled the temple.
82
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,760
It was a hymn of royalty.
83
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:56,760
And so then it says that, you know, Isaiah cries out and he says, I'm unclean.
84
00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:04,880
And so the angels take a piece of the burning coal and puts it at his mouth to cleanse his
85
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,560
mouth.
86
00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,680
And then God tells him to go.
87
00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:15,840
And Isaiah responds with, here am I, Lord, send me.
88
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,680
So the Lord says, go.
89
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:24,520
And you're going to go and speak to a people that will not hear and will not understand.
90
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:32,640
And I always pause right here, call to preach to a people that are not going to hear you
91
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,640
or understand what you're telling them.
92
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:37,160
What a calling.
93
00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:44,000
You know, I have to say in America today, we think that a successful calling on a person
94
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:52,560
is one that they build a big, massive following and a big ministry and big staff and a large
95
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,240
audience and millions of people following them and listening to them.
96
00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,000
To us, that's a successful call.
97
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,920
That's a successful ministry, I should say.
98
00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:11,720
But here in Isaiah's case, the successful call would be his faithfulness to proclaim
99
00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:18,680
the word of the Lord, knowing that it wasn't about success, it wasn't about people hearing
100
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,480
or understanding or following him.
101
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:27,160
It wasn't about him actually impacting the nation and bringing about change.
102
00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,720
It was about him proclaiming the word of the Lord.
103
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:37,840
And I believe many times that we have a responsibility to speak up, not because we're going to garner
104
00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:45,520
this great following or we're going to have a great impact, but we have a spiritual responsibility
105
00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:50,720
to speak up and to speak what we know to be the truth.
106
00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,160
And that was the calling on Isaiah.
107
00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:59,480
It's a very appropriate calling for today and for the world in which we live in.
108
00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:04,120
Now I want to make a note also about the call of Isaiah.
109
00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:12,000
In chapter 6 verse 1, it actually tells us exactly when this vision took place.
110
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,480
And it says that it was in the year after the death of King Uzziah.
111
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,800
We know that King Uzziah died in 739.
112
00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:28,920
And this tells us this was a very critical point in history.
113
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:29,920
Why is that?
114
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:37,520
Well, because starting in 740, and remember before before Christ, the numbers go backwards.
115
00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:48,560
So from 740 beginning in 740 to 738 right at this time is when the Assyrian Empire under
116
00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:54,600
Tigloth Pileser, and I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name right or not, did their
117
00:09:54,600 --> 00:10:05,160
first military campaign into the West, into this area of the earth, the land of Israel.
118
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:13,320
And so here when God is raising up the prophet Isaiah to speak to the southern kingdom, the
119
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,520
end is beginning.
120
00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,800
This is the beginning of the end for the northern kingdom of Israel.
121
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:27,520
Now inside both the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah where Isaiah is, there's great
122
00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:28,520
prosperity.
123
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:34,120
They've just gone through the time of Jeroboam II and in the south the time of Uzziah who
124
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:35,840
was a king for a long time.
125
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,720
It was a stable time.
126
00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,200
It was a good time.
127
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,640
And so the people have enjoyed prosperity.
128
00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:45,720
They've enjoyed stability.
129
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,720
They've enjoyed a period of peace.
130
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:55,280
And so people at that point, you're going to have a prophet go and begin to proclaim
131
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,560
to you that judgment is coming.
132
00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,160
Nobody's going to hear.
133
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:07,240
And I'm afraid we have the same exact situation in the United States.
134
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:12,040
People do not want to hear when things are going well.
135
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,940
It's like it's impossible almost to hear.
136
00:11:15,940 --> 00:11:22,480
And then when things go wrong, and right here in the United States we might say that a lot
137
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:28,040
of more people are opening their ears and they're actually talking about is judgment
138
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,960
coming.
139
00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:34,440
But four years ago, three years ago, if you tried to say that people said, what are you
140
00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:35,440
talking about?
141
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:36,960
Things are great now.
142
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,600
It's really prosperous in America right now.
143
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,400
The church is being given freedom.
144
00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,040
We have more religious freedom than we've had in a long time as Christians.
145
00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,720
We have great things happening in our country.
146
00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,520
You're going to tell me judgment's coming?
147
00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,120
That's just an example of what Isaiah was sent into.
148
00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:02,760
He was sent into a time of history where they were not going to hear him.
149
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,920
So now his message to the southern kingdom of Judah is all about their sins.
150
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:14,800
And so this week we're reading many of the scriptures about their sins.
151
00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,640
So let's just name a few of the sins.
152
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:26,600
So that was righteous religious formalism, injustice, idolatry, pride.
153
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:31,880
He prophesied against their wicked leaders and he prophesied against their haughty women.
154
00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,480
Now you might have been wondering, what's the problem here with women?
155
00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,000
It's not about women.
156
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:46,840
It's about these wealthy women of leisure that were proud and haughty and were not going
157
00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,080
to take his word seriously.
158
00:12:51,080 --> 00:13:02,120
He also preached against greed, against revelry, against arrogance, drunkenness, and even rationalization.
159
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:09,440
And this is a scripture that I think of often with the world that we live in today.
160
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:14,120
And this is in Isaiah 5 verse 20.
161
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:24,360
The prophet Isaiah said, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness
162
00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,240
for light.
163
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:32,080
And this my friends is the world we live in where we can no longer believe what we hear
164
00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:33,640
on the news.
165
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,920
We can't hear what people are saying.
166
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:40,680
We can't believe what people are saying because they're calling what's actually good.
167
00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:43,000
They're calling it evil.
168
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,360
And they're calling what's evil as good.
169
00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,880
What a perfect description of our world.
170
00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,880
And of course we read this week how that God got very anger and it says that he was going
171
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,560
to summon destructive forces that were going to come.
172
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:07,280
I just want to make a note here because we're talking a lot in these last few sessions and
173
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:12,640
about judgment, about the judgment of God and how he was going to use these foreign invaders
174
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,680
to come in and carry out his judgment.
175
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,800
They were going to execute it.
176
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:27,520
And I know that it sounds very harsh and it sounds almost like it was indiscriminate,
177
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,280
but that's not the case.
178
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:39,280
And here in Isaiah this week we read in chapter 1 verses 17 that he describes how that Zayn
179
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:46,680
will be delivered with justice and her penitent ones with righteousness.
180
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:51,040
But rebels and sinners will both be broken.
181
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:57,720
So it's very clear here that if they repent then they'll be saved.
182
00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:04,560
But this judgment is for those that are rebels and sinners that do not repent.
183
00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:13,360
Isaiah is also very clear that idols will not save them and man will not save them.
184
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:20,560
There's only one way of salvation and that is through the Lord as Isaiah's name tells
185
00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:21,560
us.
186
00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:27,600
Now I want to take a minute and talk to you about Isaiah chapter 2 which is right at
187
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:35,520
the beginning of his book, but such a powerful prophecy here of looking forward, of jumping
188
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:42,760
ahead after all the judgment, everything he's going to be preaching about in his book.
189
00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:49,960
Here in the very beginning he has this glorious vision of the restored Zion.
190
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:55,400
After all the judgment has taken place when the Lord brings his people back.
191
00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,200
So I want to read it to you quickly starting with chapter 2 verse 1.
192
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:07,120
This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
193
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:13,120
In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest
194
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,760
of the mountains.
195
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:20,640
It will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it.
196
00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:26,800
Many peoples will come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
197
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,160
temple of the God of Jacob.
198
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:34,280
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.
199
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:40,780
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
200
00:16:40,780 --> 00:16:45,760
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.
201
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:52,600
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
202
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:59,480
Nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore.
203
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:06,480
Come descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
204
00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:13,320
Wow, of course I love this one because this is where we got the name of this podcast.
205
00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:18,920
That it says that the word of the Lord will go from Jerusalem.
206
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:26,960
The law will go out from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
207
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:32,360
Now we have another prophet at the very same time as the prophet Isaiah.
208
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,800
Let us take a minute and talk about the prophet Micah.
209
00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,120
Micah is a much shorter book.
210
00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:46,000
Either they lost a lot of his prophecies or he just didn't prophesy as much as Isaiah
211
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,120
did.
212
00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:53,440
But what is in his book, his oracles, are actually very, very specific.
213
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:58,760
And so Micah is known for his specificity in his prophecy.
214
00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:05,600
So he specifically prophesies the fall of Samaria, which is the capital of the Northern
215
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:13,320
Kingdom, about Sinakrib's invasion of Judah, which we will get to I think next week, the
216
00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:21,280
fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, exile in Babylon, return from captivity,
217
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:30,480
and then his amazing prophecies about the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem.
218
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,280
So let's look at Micah.
219
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,800
I want to talk about his vision about the coming Messiah.
220
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,160
A lot of this history we will be dealing with next week.
221
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:46,280
But let's jump ahead to his vision about in the last days in chapter 4, verses 1 through
222
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,840
5, very similar to Isaiah.
223
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:57,000
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of
224
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,400
the mountains.
225
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,280
It will be exalted above the hills and peoples will string to it.
226
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:09,880
Many nations will come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple
227
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,000
of the God of Jacob.
228
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,960
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.
229
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:22,480
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
230
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:28,800
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and
231
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:29,800
wide.
232
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,800
They will beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks.
233
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:42,120
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
234
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:48,640
So Micah is very similar, almost verbatim to Isaiah.
235
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,120
How did that happen?
236
00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:55,840
Well, we don't know, but I trust that the Lord was speaking the same through both of
237
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,960
them.
238
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,120
What a glorious vision of the future.
239
00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:08,680
What hope that must have given the exiles later on after everything fell, that they
240
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:13,040
had these writings that they took with them into exile.
241
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,040
What hope it would have filled their soul.
242
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,440
But now his prophecies about the Messiah.
243
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:27,720
And I want to say that in my previous series called The 3D Jesus, part one and two of that
244
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:32,360
series I deal with about the birth of the Messiah.
245
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:40,440
And I elaborate greatly on these prophecies and about Bethlehem and the host setting there.
246
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:45,120
We're not going to take the time to do that today, but if you're interested, we will link
247
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:49,040
in today's show notes to these two episodes.
248
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,320
You can listen to them if you'd like to.
249
00:20:52,320 --> 00:21:04,640
But the famous prophecy from Micah 5 is, but you, Bethlehem Ephrata, though you are small
250
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:13,840
among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be ruler over Israel,
251
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:22,280
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times, therefore Israel will be abandoned
252
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:27,680
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.
253
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:33,240
So this is verses two and three.
254
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:41,640
It's this verse that the rabbis, the Jewish sages all taught that Messiah would be born
255
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,600
in Bethlehem.
256
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:47,360
This was very widely accepted.
257
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:52,720
This was referring to the Messiah because it says here clearly he'd be a ruler over
258
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:58,120
Israel and his origins are of ancient times.
259
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:07,520
Who would be born in Bethlehem whose origins are of ancient times except the Messiah, Jesus,
260
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:15,560
who was God himself, the ancient one, come down in the form of a baby.
261
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:24,560
So now, of course, before all of these wonderful things will take place, God must defeat paganism
262
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,520
amongst his people.
263
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:31,720
And there's only one way that that's going to happen, and it's through judgment and
264
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,560
it's through exile.
265
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:41,000
Another interesting verse in Micah that I want to talk about is Micah 6-8.
266
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:50,080
You know, our young people are all really touting a philosophy and maybe a theology
267
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,640
of social justice.
268
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:59,080
And you know, I'm not going to get into a whole analysis of social justice.
269
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,880
It's really not a biblical concept.
270
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,320
I'm for biblical justice.
271
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:09,240
Social justice is a little bit of a communist ideology.
272
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:16,360
But nevertheless, we all want to see justice in society and we're all opposed to injustices
273
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:18,600
in society.
274
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:27,400
And what we see in all of these prophets, that the Lord is telling his people that if
275
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:33,360
they would just obey his commandments, see, there would be righteousness and justice in
276
00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:35,280
society.
277
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:43,960
But the injustice in society is because they're not following the Lord and they're not obeying
278
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,040
his commandments.
279
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:51,560
And here in Micah 6-8, it kind of sums it all up, I think.
280
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:58,040
It's a wonderful verse that says, He has shown you, oh, mortal, or some translations say,
281
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:07,960
oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy
282
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,200
and to walk humbly with your God.
283
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:21,720
God is all about justice and mercy and just wants us to walk humbly with him and to care
284
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,720
about others.
285
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:29,320
So if your young people are turning against the Bible and against God because they have
286
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:35,280
some idea that it allows for injustice, it doesn't.
287
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:43,560
God loves justice and his word and his commandments make for a very just society.
288
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,840
So now let's pick up our story.
289
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,000
Let's go back to the northern kingdom of Israel.
290
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,200
And as I said, it's now beginning to crumble.
291
00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:01,640
We're into a very fast spiraling down and Assyria has moved in and Assyria has already
292
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:08,560
begun to take some of the land and take some of the people into captivity.
293
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:15,600
They left the capital city of Samaria in place, but now the kingdom of Israel is actually
294
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:22,560
getting smaller and smaller and it's getting weaker and weaker.
295
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:29,640
In the south we have a very sad moment of history when after King Uzziah we have King
296
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:30,640
Ahaz.
297
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,320
And what does he do?
298
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:39,680
Well, he starts burning incense on all the high places, worshiping the pagan gods.
299
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:48,040
It says specifically he was burning sacrifices in the valley of Hinnom and sacrificing his
300
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,880
own children.
301
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:56,120
Now if you remember, the sin of Solomon was he began to worship the detestable God of
302
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,720
the Ammonites, Moloch.
303
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,240
And Moloch requires that you throw your children into the fire.
304
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:13,040
It was a form of child sacrifice and it was by using fire and a lot of that took place
305
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:14,560
in the valley of Hinnom.
306
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:22,080
So it seems like this is referring to the worship of Moloch and the sacrifice of children,
307
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,320
of human sacrifice.
308
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:32,480
It's just appalling to think that he would be doing this, but he did.
309
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:41,480
And so Isaiah preaches to Ahaz in chapter 7 and he goes to Ahaz and the Lord says this
310
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,080
to Ahaz through Isaiah.
311
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:49,920
It says, Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest
312
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:50,920
heights.
313
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:57,680
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test.
314
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:05,120
So Isaiah says to him, Here now, you house of David, is it not enough to try the patience
315
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:06,120
of humans?
316
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:09,760
Will you also try the patience of my God?
317
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,480
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
318
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:21,200
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel.
319
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:27,160
He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose
320
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:28,360
the right.
321
00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:34,280
For before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the
322
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:39,920
two kings, you dread, will be laid to waste.
323
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,920
What is this talking about?
324
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,720
Isaiah is saying God's going to give you a sign, Ahaz.
325
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:51,920
And a young woman could be a virgin is going to have a baby.
326
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:58,440
And by before this child knows how to choose between what's wrong and right, the king of
327
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,560
Assyria and the king of Syria.
328
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:08,800
Now, I'm sorry, the king of Syria and the king of Israel will be defeated.
329
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:15,040
At this point in our story, Syria and Israel have teamed up and they're coming against
330
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,320
Judah in the south.
331
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:22,640
And so God is saying, I'm going to give you a sign and it's going to be that before this
332
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:29,320
child is old enough to even know right from wrong, they're going to be defeated.
333
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:35,960
Now this scripture has also been quoted as a messianic scripture about the virgin birth
334
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:37,240
of Jesus.
335
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:43,320
Jesus also was a sign to a generation and he was born to a virgin mother.
336
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,200
But it's very important that we understand the original context of this verse.
337
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,760
And there is a little bit of debate over the meaning of the word virgin.
338
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,720
Did it really mean virgin or just did it mean a young woman?
339
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:03,080
But obviously here, if God is giving a sign and he's going to use the birth of a child
340
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:09,480
to be the sign, then the birth of that child needs to be almost supernatural.
341
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:15,280
And so it would have to be to a virgin for it to be a real sign of the Lord, otherwise
342
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,480
it could just be any pregnancy, right?
343
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:24,760
So the young woman here had to be of a pure young woman for this to have any meaning.
344
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:30,680
So I do believe it does mean virgin and that's why it's been translated as virgin.
345
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:37,640
And that's why it also has been used to apply to Mary.
346
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:47,800
I want to talk about a couple of other messianic promises here in our last few minutes together
347
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,400
in Isaiah.
348
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,760
Moving forward to Isaiah 9.
349
00:29:52,760 --> 00:30:02,520
Now 9 through 11, there's just some amazing, powerful prophecies about the birth of Jesus
350
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:09,280
and the coming of Messiah that I just want to mention quickly as we bring today to a
351
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:10,280
close.
352
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:19,520
But in chapter 9, it says that the land of Zebulun and Naftali, the Galilee of the Gentiles,
353
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:24,760
and says that the people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
354
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:32,000
Well, the people walking in darkness are the people here in the Galilee, in the land of
355
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:39,360
Naftali and Zebulun, they were some of the first captives to be taken off to Assyria.
356
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:45,440
And the Galilee of the Gentiles, there were already a lot of Gentile pagans living in
357
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:52,640
the Galilee, but we're going to find out next week how that it becomes the Galilee of the
358
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,240
Gentiles.
359
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:59,160
And so here Isaiah refers to it, but I'll say that for next week.
360
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:05,560
But it says the people walking in darkness have seen a great light and a few verses later
361
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:14,200
it says, for unto us a child is born, a son is given, and the government will be upon
362
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:21,360
his shoulders and upon the throne of David and over his kingdom.
363
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,240
You know that scripture well, you hear it every Christmas.
364
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,200
But what a powerful setting he's saying here in the Galilee, the area that's walking in
365
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:37,520
darkness right now is going to see a great light.
366
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:43,760
No coincidence that the child that was born, even though the child was born in Bethlehem,
367
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,840
as Micah said, ended up growing up in the Galilee.
368
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:55,240
And later the bulk of his ministry and miracles all took place in the Galilee.
369
00:31:55,240 --> 00:32:03,240
And Isaiah is saying here, a light is going to shine on to the Galilee of the Gentiles
370
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,880
because this child is going to be born and the throne of David, he's going to sit on
371
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,440
the throne of David and the government is going to be on his shoulders.
372
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,000
What an amazing prophecy.
373
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:23,960
And then I just have to close today with talking about in chapter 11 verse one where it says
374
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:30,800
that what's going to shoot forth is going to come forth a shoot, a branch, from the
375
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,200
trunk or the root of Jesse.
376
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,560
A branch, the word is netzer.
377
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:42,360
And you have to picture here of a trunk like an olive tree.
378
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,480
An olive tree is a perfect depiction here.
379
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,120
You can cut an olive tree down to the ground.
380
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,400
But the roots will still be living.
381
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:58,760
The roots underground are actually as big, if not bigger than the tree itself above ground.
382
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:04,640
So there's a lot of life in the roots and you can cut the tree down to the ground.
383
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:10,480
But the roots are just going to put up a new branch and they're going to start a whole
384
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,320
another part of this tree from this root.
385
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:21,360
What a perfect example here that even though the house of David was going to be cut down
386
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:29,000
to the ground and taken into exile, it's going to look like it's all over that this branch
387
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:35,600
is going to shoot up from the root and it's going to have a whole new life.
388
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:42,200
And in verse 10 it says, in that day, the root of Jesse.
389
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,040
Now Jesse is David's father.
390
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,920
So it's the same thing as saying the root of David.
391
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:48,760
But in here it says the root of Jesse.
392
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,760
So let me start all over.
393
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:56,600
In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.
394
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:05,720
The nations will rally to him and his resting place will be glorious.
395
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:14,840
So when God reestablishes the house of David, it says the nations, that's you and me, the
396
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,160
Gentiles are going to rally to it.
397
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:20,720
That's Jesus.
398
00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:27,640
He is the one sitting on the throne of David and he's drawing the Gentiles, the nations,
399
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:34,240
unto himself and his resting place will be glorious.
400
00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:38,040
Enjoy your reading of Isaiah this week.
401
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,360
Phenomenal book.
402
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,960
We actually will be reading more of it next week and the following week.
403
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:50,360
I want to say that next week, well in two weeks from now, we're going to have a special
404
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:51,360
guest.
405
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:59,880
We're going to do a going deeper series interview on the book of Isaiah with world renowned
406
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,400
Bible teacher Kay Arthur.
407
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,400
So be looking for it.
408
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:12,600
And also I wanted to say that we have put a link in our resource, in our show notes
409
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,920
this week to a resource.
410
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:22,080
If you like studying the Hebrew names in the Bible, one of our listeners is an Israeli
411
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:27,920
professor living here in the United States who has taught Bible for many years and he
412
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:35,120
has just put together a book that's available on Amazon called the names of the Bible.
413
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,200
And so we're going to link to that book in Amazon.
414
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,520
It's actually a very, very cheap book.
415
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,080
You have to get it as an e-book or a Kindle book.
416
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:51,120
You can read it even if you don't have Kindle, but you can buy it through Amazon.
417
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:58,560
And it's a great little resource of all the Hebrew names in the Bible, how to pronounce
418
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:04,400
them, how to spell them in Hebrew, and then their meaning in English.
419
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,880
So take advantage of those resources.
420
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,920
We will see you back here next week, and until then, God bless.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,180
Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting
2
00:00:06,180 --> 00:00:07,680
book on the planet.
3
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,680
It will transform your life one page at a time.
4
00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:15,140
Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible
5
00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:16,140
to life.
6
00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:20,200
Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.
7
00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,020
Well, hey there and welcome back.
8
00:00:25,020 --> 00:00:31,640
This is Walk Through the Bible Week 26 and we are reading this week in the Daily Bible
9
00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:39,800
what our pages 791-825 or the dates of June 25-30.
10
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:45,080
Now let me just set our review of what we read last week so we know where we are in
11
00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:46,580
our story.
12
00:00:46,580 --> 00:00:55,000
So in the northern kingdom of Israel, they just lost their king Jeroboam II and it was
13
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:59,600
really a highlight in the time of the history of the northern kingdom of Israel.
14
00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:04,800
They were very, very strong, very wealthy, prosperous.
15
00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:09,320
Everything looked really hunky dory, as we say.
16
00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:15,160
But after Jeroboam dies and for the next 20 years, the northern kingdom of Israel goes
17
00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:23,160
from one king to another and just spirals into a very, very fast decline to their actual
18
00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:24,160
end.
19
00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,360
But let's think about this for a minute.
20
00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:33,160
If you're in the time of Jeroboam and even though he has just died, things don't happen
21
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:34,160
overnight.
22
00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:40,880
So it takes a number of years before the people themselves would see a large deterioration
23
00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,240
or a large change.
24
00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:48,000
These things kind of sneak up on a nation.
25
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:55,520
So as this is beginning to take place, we have down in the south in the kingdom of Judah
26
00:01:55,520 --> 00:02:01,680
the rise of what is known as the greatest prophet to Israel.
27
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:03,840
And this is Isaiah.
28
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:06,720
His book is massive.
29
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:12,280
And I mean, he gave so many prophecies and they're so amazing.
30
00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:13,960
It is such a rich book.
31
00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:19,160
It'd be wonderful if we could just take about eight weeks just to walk through the book
32
00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:21,440
of Isaiah.
33
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:27,640
Just absolutely amazing prophecies and an amazing prophet.
34
00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:34,000
I want to just point out, if you were wanting to just read through the book of Isaiah in
35
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,800
your normal Bible or even hear what we're doing in the daily Bible, reading it kind
36
00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,680
of chronologically.
37
00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:47,160
You know, what I want you to understand is these books of the prophets.
38
00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,120
So Isaiah, today we're also going to talk about Micah.
39
00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,680
The book wasn't about Isaiah or about Micah.
40
00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:04,800
The book wasn't necessarily written by Isaiah, but that was the prophecies given by Isaiah.
41
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,200
So it's not like Isaiah sat down one day and said, I'm going to write a book.
42
00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,840
And he starts writing chapter one, verse one and writes it so that you can just read through
43
00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,960
it and sort of follow a line of thought.
44
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:26,000
No, these are many separate prophecies that the prophet Isaiah gave.
45
00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,600
And they were later compiled into a book.
46
00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:37,040
And this is why when you're reading through one prophecy may talk about judgment and about
47
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:41,960
sin and then it may talk about one day that God's going to restore them.
48
00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:43,920
And you think, oh, great.
49
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:50,200
And then the next one starts, we're back about sin and we're back about judgment.
50
00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:55,400
And then finally we get to a little bit of hope that there's going to be restoration.
51
00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:56,920
And then the next one we go back.
52
00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,200
So you have to realize these are like a sermon.
53
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,640
You know, it's like a prophet was in a way kind of like a preacher.
54
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:13,040
So these are different sermons and therefore it may have a beginning and an ending point
55
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,760
and then it'll run right into the next one.
56
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:21,480
And so that's why last week I said Isaiah is kind of like an orchestra where you're
57
00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:29,320
constantly going back and forth between the winds and the string instruments and the percussion,
58
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:35,600
a balance here of sin and of judgment and of hope of restoration.
59
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,960
So his book is just really amazing.
60
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:46,720
Before I go on, I want to also mention the name Isaiah, which is a combination of the
61
00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:49,040
word for salvation.
62
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,920
Yes, yes, the Yahoo is the way you pronounce it in Hebrew.
63
00:04:53,920 --> 00:05:00,040
And so the Yesha is about salvation or rescue.
64
00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:06,480
And then the Yahoo is the name of God put in this conjunctive.
65
00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:14,080
So his name means salvation or God is my salvation or God's salvation.
66
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:16,240
And truly that was his message.
67
00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:20,720
God was their salvation if they would just return to him.
68
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:29,720
And it's so amazing these names and how that they actually bear the meaning of the person.
69
00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:40,000
So I want to start out with the calling of Isaiah that we read in Isaiah 6.
70
00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,400
It's a portion of Scripture we're all fairly familiar with.
71
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:50,720
We've read it many times and it's where Isaiah sees this vision of the Lord sitting on his
72
00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:52,120
throne.
73
00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,280
And it says that his train fills the temple.
74
00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:02,160
And I just want to mention here that the word for train is the same word for him.
75
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:09,400
So you and I, when we read this, we're thinking like a train on the dress of a wedding dress
76
00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:15,840
or on a queen's dress, you know, a train that tells behind her.
77
00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:22,080
And it may very well actually mean that, but I want to just point out once again, it's
78
00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:29,240
talking about that hymn, the hymn of God, just like the priest had a special hymn, the
79
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:36,560
king had a special hymn, the people were told to put tassels on the hymns of their garments.
80
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,440
Hymns were so important at the time of the Bible.
81
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:45,080
And God's hymn is really probably the most amazing one and it just filled the temple.
82
00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,760
It was a hymn of royalty.
83
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:56,760
And so then it says that, you know, Isaiah cries out and he says, I'm unclean.
84
00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:04,880
And so the angels take a piece of the burning coal and puts it at his mouth to cleanse his
85
00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:06,560
mouth.
86
00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,680
And then God tells him to go.
87
00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:15,840
And Isaiah responds with, here am I, Lord, send me.
88
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:17,680
So the Lord says, go.
89
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:24,520
And you're going to go and speak to a people that will not hear and will not understand.
90
00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:32,640
And I always pause right here, call to preach to a people that are not going to hear you
91
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,640
or understand what you're telling them.
92
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:37,160
What a calling.
93
00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:44,000
You know, I have to say in America today, we think that a successful calling on a person
94
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:52,560
is one that they build a big, massive following and a big ministry and big staff and a large
95
00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:57,240
audience and millions of people following them and listening to them.
96
00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:00,000
To us, that's a successful call.
97
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,920
That's a successful ministry, I should say.
98
00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:11,720
But here in Isaiah's case, the successful call would be his faithfulness to proclaim
99
00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:18,680
the word of the Lord, knowing that it wasn't about success, it wasn't about people hearing
100
00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:21,480
or understanding or following him.
101
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:27,160
It wasn't about him actually impacting the nation and bringing about change.
102
00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,720
It was about him proclaiming the word of the Lord.
103
00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:37,840
And I believe many times that we have a responsibility to speak up, not because we're going to garner
104
00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:45,520
this great following or we're going to have a great impact, but we have a spiritual responsibility
105
00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:50,720
to speak up and to speak what we know to be the truth.
106
00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:53,160
And that was the calling on Isaiah.
107
00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:59,480
It's a very appropriate calling for today and for the world in which we live in.
108
00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:04,120
Now I want to make a note also about the call of Isaiah.
109
00:09:04,120 --> 00:09:12,000
In chapter 6 verse 1, it actually tells us exactly when this vision took place.
110
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:17,480
And it says that it was in the year after the death of King Uzziah.
111
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,800
We know that King Uzziah died in 739.
112
00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:28,920
And this tells us this was a very critical point in history.
113
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:29,920
Why is that?
114
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:37,520
Well, because starting in 740, and remember before before Christ, the numbers go backwards.
115
00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:48,560
So from 740 beginning in 740 to 738 right at this time is when the Assyrian Empire under
116
00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:54,600
Tigloth Pileser, and I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name right or not, did their
117
00:09:54,600 --> 00:10:05,160
first military campaign into the West, into this area of the earth, the land of Israel.
118
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:13,320
And so here when God is raising up the prophet Isaiah to speak to the southern kingdom, the
119
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,520
end is beginning.
120
00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,800
This is the beginning of the end for the northern kingdom of Israel.
121
00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:27,520
Now inside both the northern kingdom of Israel and Judah where Isaiah is, there's great
122
00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:28,520
prosperity.
123
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:34,120
They've just gone through the time of Jeroboam II and in the south the time of Uzziah who
124
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:35,840
was a king for a long time.
125
00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,720
It was a stable time.
126
00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:40,200
It was a good time.
127
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,640
And so the people have enjoyed prosperity.
128
00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:45,720
They've enjoyed stability.
129
00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:49,720
They've enjoyed a period of peace.
130
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:55,280
And so people at that point, you're going to have a prophet go and begin to proclaim
131
00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:58,560
to you that judgment is coming.
132
00:10:58,560 --> 00:11:00,160
Nobody's going to hear.
133
00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:07,240
And I'm afraid we have the same exact situation in the United States.
134
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:12,040
People do not want to hear when things are going well.
135
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:15,940
It's like it's impossible almost to hear.
136
00:11:15,940 --> 00:11:22,480
And then when things go wrong, and right here in the United States we might say that a lot
137
00:11:22,480 --> 00:11:28,040
of more people are opening their ears and they're actually talking about is judgment
138
00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,960
coming.
139
00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:34,440
But four years ago, three years ago, if you tried to say that people said, what are you
140
00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:35,440
talking about?
141
00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:36,960
Things are great now.
142
00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,600
It's really prosperous in America right now.
143
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,400
The church is being given freedom.
144
00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:47,040
We have more religious freedom than we've had in a long time as Christians.
145
00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:49,720
We have great things happening in our country.
146
00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:52,520
You're going to tell me judgment's coming?
147
00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:57,120
That's just an example of what Isaiah was sent into.
148
00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:02,760
He was sent into a time of history where they were not going to hear him.
149
00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:08,920
So now his message to the southern kingdom of Judah is all about their sins.
150
00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:14,800
And so this week we're reading many of the scriptures about their sins.
151
00:12:14,800 --> 00:12:17,640
So let's just name a few of the sins.
152
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:26,600
So that was righteous religious formalism, injustice, idolatry, pride.
153
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:31,880
He prophesied against their wicked leaders and he prophesied against their haughty women.
154
00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,480
Now you might have been wondering, what's the problem here with women?
155
00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,000
It's not about women.
156
00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:46,840
It's about these wealthy women of leisure that were proud and haughty and were not going
157
00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,080
to take his word seriously.
158
00:12:51,080 --> 00:13:02,120
He also preached against greed, against revelry, against arrogance, drunkenness, and even rationalization.
159
00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:09,440
And this is a scripture that I think of often with the world that we live in today.
160
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:14,120
And this is in Isaiah 5 verse 20.
161
00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:24,360
The prophet Isaiah said, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness
162
00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:26,240
for light.
163
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:32,080
And this my friends is the world we live in where we can no longer believe what we hear
164
00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:33,640
on the news.
165
00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,920
We can't hear what people are saying.
166
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:40,680
We can't believe what people are saying because they're calling what's actually good.
167
00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:43,000
They're calling it evil.
168
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:46,360
And they're calling what's evil as good.
169
00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,880
What a perfect description of our world.
170
00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,880
And of course we read this week how that God got very anger and it says that he was going
171
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:59,560
to summon destructive forces that were going to come.
172
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:07,280
I just want to make a note here because we're talking a lot in these last few sessions and
173
00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:12,640
about judgment, about the judgment of God and how he was going to use these foreign invaders
174
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:16,680
to come in and carry out his judgment.
175
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,800
They were going to execute it.
176
00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:27,520
And I know that it sounds very harsh and it sounds almost like it was indiscriminate,
177
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,280
but that's not the case.
178
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:39,280
And here in Isaiah this week we read in chapter 1 verses 17 that he describes how that Zayn
179
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:46,680
will be delivered with justice and her penitent ones with righteousness.
180
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:51,040
But rebels and sinners will both be broken.
181
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:57,720
So it's very clear here that if they repent then they'll be saved.
182
00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:04,560
But this judgment is for those that are rebels and sinners that do not repent.
183
00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:13,360
Isaiah is also very clear that idols will not save them and man will not save them.
184
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:20,560
There's only one way of salvation and that is through the Lord as Isaiah's name tells
185
00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:21,560
us.
186
00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:27,600
Now I want to take a minute and talk to you about Isaiah chapter 2 which is right at
187
00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:35,520
the beginning of his book, but such a powerful prophecy here of looking forward, of jumping
188
00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:42,760
ahead after all the judgment, everything he's going to be preaching about in his book.
189
00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:49,960
Here in the very beginning he has this glorious vision of the restored Zion.
190
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:55,400
After all the judgment has taken place when the Lord brings his people back.
191
00:15:55,400 --> 00:16:01,200
So I want to read it to you quickly starting with chapter 2 verse 1.
192
00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:07,120
This is what Isaiah, son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
193
00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:13,120
In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest
194
00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:14,760
of the mountains.
195
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:20,640
It will be exalted above the hills and all nations will stream to it.
196
00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:26,800
Many peoples will come and say, come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
197
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,160
temple of the God of Jacob.
198
00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:34,280
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.
199
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:40,780
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
200
00:16:40,780 --> 00:16:45,760
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.
201
00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:52,600
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
202
00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:59,480
Nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore.
203
00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:06,480
Come descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
204
00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:13,320
Wow, of course I love this one because this is where we got the name of this podcast.
205
00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:18,920
That it says that the word of the Lord will go from Jerusalem.
206
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:26,960
The law will go out from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
207
00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:32,360
Now we have another prophet at the very same time as the prophet Isaiah.
208
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:36,800
Let us take a minute and talk about the prophet Micah.
209
00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:40,120
Micah is a much shorter book.
210
00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:46,000
Either they lost a lot of his prophecies or he just didn't prophesy as much as Isaiah
211
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:47,120
did.
212
00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:53,440
But what is in his book, his oracles, are actually very, very specific.
213
00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:58,760
And so Micah is known for his specificity in his prophecy.
214
00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:05,600
So he specifically prophesies the fall of Samaria, which is the capital of the Northern
215
00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:13,320
Kingdom, about Sinakrib's invasion of Judah, which we will get to I think next week, the
216
00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:21,280
fall of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, exile in Babylon, return from captivity,
217
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:30,480
and then his amazing prophecies about the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem.
218
00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:32,280
So let's look at Micah.
219
00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:36,800
I want to talk about his vision about the coming Messiah.
220
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:40,160
A lot of this history we will be dealing with next week.
221
00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:46,280
But let's jump ahead to his vision about in the last days in chapter 4, verses 1 through
222
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:50,840
5, very similar to Isaiah.
223
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:57,000
In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of
224
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:58,400
the mountains.
225
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:03,280
It will be exalted above the hills and peoples will string to it.
226
00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:09,880
Many nations will come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple
227
00:19:09,880 --> 00:19:12,000
of the God of Jacob.
228
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:16,960
He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.
229
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:22,480
The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
230
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:28,800
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and
231
00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:29,800
wide.
232
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,800
They will beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks.
233
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:42,120
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
234
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:48,640
So Micah is very similar, almost verbatim to Isaiah.
235
00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:50,120
How did that happen?
236
00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:55,840
Well, we don't know, but I trust that the Lord was speaking the same through both of
237
00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:57,960
them.
238
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,120
What a glorious vision of the future.
239
00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:08,680
What hope that must have given the exiles later on after everything fell, that they
240
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:13,040
had these writings that they took with them into exile.
241
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,040
What hope it would have filled their soul.
242
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,440
But now his prophecies about the Messiah.
243
00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:27,720
And I want to say that in my previous series called The 3D Jesus, part one and two of that
244
00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:32,360
series I deal with about the birth of the Messiah.
245
00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:40,440
And I elaborate greatly on these prophecies and about Bethlehem and the host setting there.
246
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:45,120
We're not going to take the time to do that today, but if you're interested, we will link
247
00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:49,040
in today's show notes to these two episodes.
248
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,320
You can listen to them if you'd like to.
249
00:20:52,320 --> 00:21:04,640
But the famous prophecy from Micah 5 is, but you, Bethlehem Ephrata, though you are small
250
00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:13,840
among the clans of Judah, out of you will come from me one who will be ruler over Israel,
251
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:22,280
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times, therefore Israel will be abandoned
252
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:27,680
until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.
253
00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:33,240
So this is verses two and three.
254
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:41,640
It's this verse that the rabbis, the Jewish sages all taught that Messiah would be born
255
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,600
in Bethlehem.
256
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:47,360
This was very widely accepted.
257
00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:52,720
This was referring to the Messiah because it says here clearly he'd be a ruler over
258
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:58,120
Israel and his origins are of ancient times.
259
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:07,520
Who would be born in Bethlehem whose origins are of ancient times except the Messiah, Jesus,
260
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:15,560
who was God himself, the ancient one, come down in the form of a baby.
261
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:24,560
So now, of course, before all of these wonderful things will take place, God must defeat paganism
262
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,520
amongst his people.
263
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:31,720
And there's only one way that that's going to happen, and it's through judgment and
264
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:35,560
it's through exile.
265
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:41,000
Another interesting verse in Micah that I want to talk about is Micah 6-8.
266
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:50,080
You know, our young people are all really touting a philosophy and maybe a theology
267
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,640
of social justice.
268
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:59,080
And you know, I'm not going to get into a whole analysis of social justice.
269
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,880
It's really not a biblical concept.
270
00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,320
I'm for biblical justice.
271
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:09,240
Social justice is a little bit of a communist ideology.
272
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:16,360
But nevertheless, we all want to see justice in society and we're all opposed to injustices
273
00:23:16,360 --> 00:23:18,600
in society.
274
00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:27,400
And what we see in all of these prophets, that the Lord is telling his people that if
275
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:33,360
they would just obey his commandments, see, there would be righteousness and justice in
276
00:23:33,360 --> 00:23:35,280
society.
277
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:43,960
But the injustice in society is because they're not following the Lord and they're not obeying
278
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,040
his commandments.
279
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:51,560
And here in Micah 6-8, it kind of sums it all up, I think.
280
00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:58,040
It's a wonderful verse that says, He has shown you, oh, mortal, or some translations say,
281
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:07,960
oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you to act justly and to love mercy
282
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:12,200
and to walk humbly with your God.
283
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:21,720
God is all about justice and mercy and just wants us to walk humbly with him and to care
284
00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:23,720
about others.
285
00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:29,320
So if your young people are turning against the Bible and against God because they have
286
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:35,280
some idea that it allows for injustice, it doesn't.
287
00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:43,560
God loves justice and his word and his commandments make for a very just society.
288
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,840
So now let's pick up our story.
289
00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:49,000
Let's go back to the northern kingdom of Israel.
290
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:53,200
And as I said, it's now beginning to crumble.
291
00:24:53,200 --> 00:25:01,640
We're into a very fast spiraling down and Assyria has moved in and Assyria has already
292
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:08,560
begun to take some of the land and take some of the people into captivity.
293
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:15,600
They left the capital city of Samaria in place, but now the kingdom of Israel is actually
294
00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:22,560
getting smaller and smaller and it's getting weaker and weaker.
295
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:29,640
In the south we have a very sad moment of history when after King Uzziah we have King
296
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:30,640
Ahaz.
297
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,320
And what does he do?
298
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:39,680
Well, he starts burning incense on all the high places, worshiping the pagan gods.
299
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:48,040
It says specifically he was burning sacrifices in the valley of Hinnom and sacrificing his
300
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,880
own children.
301
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:56,120
Now if you remember, the sin of Solomon was he began to worship the detestable God of
302
00:25:56,120 --> 00:25:58,720
the Ammonites, Moloch.
303
00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:03,240
And Moloch requires that you throw your children into the fire.
304
00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:13,040
It was a form of child sacrifice and it was by using fire and a lot of that took place
305
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:14,560
in the valley of Hinnom.
306
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:22,080
So it seems like this is referring to the worship of Moloch and the sacrifice of children,
307
00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,320
of human sacrifice.
308
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:32,480
It's just appalling to think that he would be doing this, but he did.
309
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:41,480
And so Isaiah preaches to Ahaz in chapter 7 and he goes to Ahaz and the Lord says this
310
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,080
to Ahaz through Isaiah.
311
00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:49,920
It says, Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest
312
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:50,920
heights.
313
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:57,680
But Ahaz said, I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test.
314
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:05,120
So Isaiah says to him, Here now, you house of David, is it not enough to try the patience
315
00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:06,120
of humans?
316
00:27:06,120 --> 00:27:09,760
Will you also try the patience of my God?
317
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:14,480
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
318
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:21,200
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel.
319
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:27,160
He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose
320
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:28,360
the right.
321
00:27:28,360 --> 00:27:34,280
For before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the
322
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:39,920
two kings, you dread, will be laid to waste.
323
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,920
What is this talking about?
324
00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,720
Isaiah is saying God's going to give you a sign, Ahaz.
325
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:51,920
And a young woman could be a virgin is going to have a baby.
326
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:58,440
And by before this child knows how to choose between what's wrong and right, the king of
327
00:27:58,440 --> 00:28:01,560
Assyria and the king of Syria.
328
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:08,800
Now, I'm sorry, the king of Syria and the king of Israel will be defeated.
329
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:15,040
At this point in our story, Syria and Israel have teamed up and they're coming against
330
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,320
Judah in the south.
331
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:22,640
And so God is saying, I'm going to give you a sign and it's going to be that before this
332
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:29,320
child is old enough to even know right from wrong, they're going to be defeated.
333
00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:35,960
Now this scripture has also been quoted as a messianic scripture about the virgin birth
334
00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:37,240
of Jesus.
335
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:43,320
Jesus also was a sign to a generation and he was born to a virgin mother.
336
00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:48,200
But it's very important that we understand the original context of this verse.
337
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:52,760
And there is a little bit of debate over the meaning of the word virgin.
338
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,720
Did it really mean virgin or just did it mean a young woman?
339
00:28:56,720 --> 00:29:03,080
But obviously here, if God is giving a sign and he's going to use the birth of a child
340
00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:09,480
to be the sign, then the birth of that child needs to be almost supernatural.
341
00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:15,280
And so it would have to be to a virgin for it to be a real sign of the Lord, otherwise
342
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,480
it could just be any pregnancy, right?
343
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:24,760
So the young woman here had to be of a pure young woman for this to have any meaning.
344
00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:30,680
So I do believe it does mean virgin and that's why it's been translated as virgin.
345
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:37,640
And that's why it also has been used to apply to Mary.
346
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:47,800
I want to talk about a couple of other messianic promises here in our last few minutes together
347
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,400
in Isaiah.
348
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:52,760
Moving forward to Isaiah 9.
349
00:29:52,760 --> 00:30:02,520
Now 9 through 11, there's just some amazing, powerful prophecies about the birth of Jesus
350
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:09,280
and the coming of Messiah that I just want to mention quickly as we bring today to a
351
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:10,280
close.
352
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:19,520
But in chapter 9, it says that the land of Zebulun and Naftali, the Galilee of the Gentiles,
353
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:24,760
and says that the people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
354
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:32,000
Well, the people walking in darkness are the people here in the Galilee, in the land of
355
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:39,360
Naftali and Zebulun, they were some of the first captives to be taken off to Assyria.
356
00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:45,440
And the Galilee of the Gentiles, there were already a lot of Gentile pagans living in
357
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:52,640
the Galilee, but we're going to find out next week how that it becomes the Galilee of the
358
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,240
Gentiles.
359
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:59,160
And so here Isaiah refers to it, but I'll say that for next week.
360
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:05,560
But it says the people walking in darkness have seen a great light and a few verses later
361
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:14,200
it says, for unto us a child is born, a son is given, and the government will be upon
362
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:21,360
his shoulders and upon the throne of David and over his kingdom.
363
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:26,240
You know that scripture well, you hear it every Christmas.
364
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,200
But what a powerful setting he's saying here in the Galilee, the area that's walking in
365
00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:37,520
darkness right now is going to see a great light.
366
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:43,760
No coincidence that the child that was born, even though the child was born in Bethlehem,
367
00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:48,840
as Micah said, ended up growing up in the Galilee.
368
00:31:48,840 --> 00:31:55,240
And later the bulk of his ministry and miracles all took place in the Galilee.
369
00:31:55,240 --> 00:32:03,240
And Isaiah is saying here, a light is going to shine on to the Galilee of the Gentiles
370
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,880
because this child is going to be born and the throne of David, he's going to sit on
371
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:13,440
the throne of David and the government is going to be on his shoulders.
372
00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,000
What an amazing prophecy.
373
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:23,960
And then I just have to close today with talking about in chapter 11 verse one where it says
374
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:30,800
that what's going to shoot forth is going to come forth a shoot, a branch, from the
375
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,200
trunk or the root of Jesse.
376
00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,560
A branch, the word is netzer.
377
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:42,360
And you have to picture here of a trunk like an olive tree.
378
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,480
An olive tree is a perfect depiction here.
379
00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:49,120
You can cut an olive tree down to the ground.
380
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,400
But the roots will still be living.
381
00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:58,760
The roots underground are actually as big, if not bigger than the tree itself above ground.
382
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:04,640
So there's a lot of life in the roots and you can cut the tree down to the ground.
383
00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:10,480
But the roots are just going to put up a new branch and they're going to start a whole
384
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,320
another part of this tree from this root.
385
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:21,360
What a perfect example here that even though the house of David was going to be cut down
386
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:29,000
to the ground and taken into exile, it's going to look like it's all over that this branch
387
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:35,600
is going to shoot up from the root and it's going to have a whole new life.
388
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:42,200
And in verse 10 it says, in that day, the root of Jesse.
389
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:44,040
Now Jesse is David's father.
390
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,920
So it's the same thing as saying the root of David.
391
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:48,760
But in here it says the root of Jesse.
392
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:50,760
So let me start all over.
393
00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:56,600
In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples.
394
00:33:56,600 --> 00:34:05,720
The nations will rally to him and his resting place will be glorious.
395
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:14,840
So when God reestablishes the house of David, it says the nations, that's you and me, the
396
00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:19,160
Gentiles are going to rally to it.
397
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:20,720
That's Jesus.
398
00:34:20,720 --> 00:34:27,640
He is the one sitting on the throne of David and he's drawing the Gentiles, the nations,
399
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:34,240
unto himself and his resting place will be glorious.
400
00:34:34,240 --> 00:34:38,040
Enjoy your reading of Isaiah this week.
401
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,360
Phenomenal book.
402
00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:43,960
We actually will be reading more of it next week and the following week.
403
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:50,360
I want to say that next week, well in two weeks from now, we're going to have a special
404
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:51,360
guest.
405
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:59,880
We're going to do a going deeper series interview on the book of Isaiah with world renowned
406
00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:02,400
Bible teacher Kay Arthur.
407
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,400
So be looking for it.
408
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:12,600
And also I wanted to say that we have put a link in our resource, in our show notes
409
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,920
this week to a resource.
410
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:22,080
If you like studying the Hebrew names in the Bible, one of our listeners is an Israeli
411
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:27,920
professor living here in the United States who has taught Bible for many years and he
412
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:35,120
has just put together a book that's available on Amazon called the names of the Bible.
413
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:38,200
And so we're going to link to that book in Amazon.
414
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,520
It's actually a very, very cheap book.
415
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,080
You have to get it as an e-book or a Kindle book.
416
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:51,120
You can read it even if you don't have Kindle, but you can buy it through Amazon.
417
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:58,560
And it's a great little resource of all the Hebrew names in the Bible, how to pronounce
418
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:04,400
them, how to spell them in Hebrew, and then their meaning in English.
419
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,880
So take advantage of those resources.
420
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,920
We will see you back here next week, and until then, God bless.
Join the Email List
Listen On
