Isaiah 63-65

Introduction

Question number one who is the light that should come? Lord. The Lord would rise over his people. And their light would be the Lord. What would cause Israel’s heart to fear and be enlarged? That’s really a hard question because it’s so part of the King James wording. The new King James says their heart would swell with joy. So what would cause Israel’s heart to swell with joy? As I read it, as I understand it, it’s the coming of Christ, it’s the church. I had the number of Gentiles coming to the light. Okay. I believe Robert really was looking from verse 5.

Chapter 60 and verse 5. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart will swell with joy because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you, which happened during the time of Christ. And I believe that’s really what he’s talking about ultimately, yes.

What had God done in his wrath? Struck them. Struck the nation. And in his favor?

And mercy. Okay. List five names the Lord calls himself in Isaiah chapter 60.

Savior, redeemer, mighty one of Jacob. And Lord they die. Yes, I think. Okay. And I would have said the light too, so I would have said six, but uh certainly that’s those are all descriptions, aren’t they? Uh very powerful descriptions. And what would their walls and gates be called when they had achieved the glory that God intended for them? Salvation and praise and praise. Salvation and praise. And what would Israel be named when they would eat the riches of the Gentiles?

Priest. Priests of the Lord and servants or ministers of God. How surely will the Lord cause righteousness and praise to spring forth? As surely as the earth brings forth her, her bud, and the garden brings forth things that are sour. Okay. As surely as the farmer plants a seed and expects a crop to grow, that’s what we can expect from God. I must have a problem breathing. I’m going to skip number eight, because that’s part of the thought question, really. What would they be in the hand of the Lord thy God when they had achieved the glory that God intended? The royal diadem. To be a royal diadem in God’s hands. That’s a wonderful picture. What had the Lord sworn? Verse 8. By his right hand and the arm of his strength.

That he would not allow strangers to consume the corn and the wine of the righteous. Okay. So he would protect his people from others. The thought question. Isaiah 6 and the research research question we really covered Wednesday night, so I’m going to skip that one as well. But the thought question, Isaiah 62, 2 prophesies that when the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, God’s people would be called by a new name. Has this been fulfilled? Yes or no? Yes. Okay. Explain your answer.

My explanation is very similar to the second question. It’s uh when the gospel was preached to all the nations and the church was established. Okay. Robert in his lesson speaks about uh they shall be called by a new name, and he mentions uh Antioch, or they were called by a Christian. There’s another point of view, um, and that is that the new name really is not a name that’s used as a proper name, but as a descriptor. I remember a few years ago we had a fellow at work, uh, he was a little bit overweight, a good bit overweight, actually, went on a liquid diet, a liquid diet, and he lost a tremendous amount of weight, I think uh over a hundred pounds. When he came to work, if somebody had said, hey Slim, it would be a new name for him.

It’s not his real name, it’s not a proper name, but it’s a valid description. And it’s a valid description because things have changed. Uh and so it is Isaiah 7 14 talked about the Christ. He said his name shall be called Emmanuel. But we don’t have a record of anywhere of Jesus being ever called Emmanuel’s proper name. But it was a valid description, wasn’t it? God with us. And certainly that description was used of him, but he was God with us. John used that of him. In the beginning was the word and the word with God, and the word uh was God. So, in the context, as you look at chapter 62, where he says in verse 2, you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name.

Is he talking about a proper name or is he talking about a descriptor? And I believe he’s talking really more probably about a descriptor. And well, how does the Lord describe them? Well, just a couple of verses down, he says, In that day, you shall be called Hepsibah, or my delight is in her, or your land shall be called Beula, that is married. So in this future glorification of God’s people, it would be valid to describe her as my delight is in her. She is married to me. So a new name because of a new relationship. Kathy first. Couldn’t it be both? I mean, we have different descriptor names of Jesus one for Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, and for the church as well, we’ve got bride, we’ve got Christians, we’ve got the way.

I mean, so does it necessarily it could be both? Well, and even if you take the point of view that it’s Christian, what does Christian mean? It means one who follows Christ. One who follows Christ is a member of his body, which is the bride of Christ, which is married to Christ. So you’re getting kind of back into the same descriptor. And Christ is a descriptor itself, it’s not a proper name. True.

Yes. So has this been fulfilled? I would say absolutely yes. Uh, explain the reason. Because the church is the bride of Christ, married to God. It fits the description here. So somebody else had a comment? No, that was I was just building on. Okay. Same idea. So, looking ahead, we’re into chapter 63, and and really where we’ve been in chapters 60 through 61, the focus had been on the Messiah entirely. Your light has come, and the Gentiles shall come to your light. And we had talked about the Gentiles coming. Every prophecy that we’ve seen where the Gentiles are coming in are associated with Messiah. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

1. Who Is This That Comes From Edom?

This is fulfilled in your hearing. And the plan that God has for his people that righteousness will go forth in its brightness. Here’s what I am looking for for my people. Here’s the blessings that I intend for them. In that focus, we come to chapter 63, which says, Who is this that comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? The one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. I will speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

For I have trodden them in my anger and trampled them in my fury. Their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my robes. For the day of vengeance is my heart, is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. I looked and there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uph hold. Therefore, my own arm brought salvation from me, and my own fury had sustained me. I have trodden down the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my fury, and have brought their strength down to the earth. We might ask the question, why is he saying all this about Edom in the context of what he’s been talking about? It seems like a major shift.

And yet, how does Edom figure in? What’s Edom’s legacy or heritage? They really mistreated them. Okay, they did. Constantly. Constantly. Perhaps it’s not brought out in this text, but if you go to Obadiah, violence against your brother Jacob. Your brother Jacob, yeah, Edom’s heritage or legacy was from Esau, Jacob’s brother. For violence against your brother Jacob’s shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. In the day that you stood on the other side, and the day that strangers carried captive his forces, when foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were as one of them. You should not have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity, nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of their distress.

You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them that escaped, nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord upon the nations is near, and as you have done, it shall be done to you. And so you see that Esau had made himself the enemy of Jacob. And we see the history that those that made themselves the enemy of God’s people made themselves the enemy of God.

They stood at the crossroads and cut off those that escaped. They plundered. But why is Edom brought up here? I believe he’s using Edom as a, and as Robert says in his lesson book, as symbolic for all of the enemies of Jacob. Well, why? Why? In the New Testament, a statement is made. Now comes the time of judgment, and if the judgment begin at the house of God, what will be the plight of the evildoer? Think about Esau. Esau’s part of Isaac’s family. And judgment begins at home. And if judgment is thus against Edom, what then will be the judgment against all the other nations? I think that’s why. Because of the close relationship between Jacob and Esau. And that, yes, there was no preference shown because of Edom being part of Isaac’s family.

Judgment would begin at home. And so in the like manner to all the others. So I think he stands as an example for that reason. So, God says, I have this future glory planned for my people. What about the enemies that would attack my nation? I will deal with them. I will execute judgment. I have trodden the wine press.

2. In Their Affliction He Was Afflicted

But what about Jacob? Verse 7. I will mention the loving kindness of the Lord, the praises of the Lord, according to all the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies. Which brings to mind the sure mercies of David. According to the multitude of his loving kindness, for he said, Surely they are my people, children who will not lie. So he became their savior. In their affliction, he was afflicted. Isn’t that interesting? I suspect that sometimes we feel like we’re afflicted and God doesn’t know. Or he doesn’t care. But how does God feel about his people? He said, When they’re afflicted, I am afflicted. And the angel of his presence saved them.

That’s a particularly interesting phrase, isn’t it? The angel of his presence. If you’ve got a King James or New King James, I know that word angel is capitalized. Does anybody have a translation in which it is not capitalized? And you’ve got which version? American Standard, John also? Yes. Commentators have sort of assumed that this is speaking of Jesus, and I believe that’s why they’ve capitalized the word angel. All that’s really required by this is a messenger from the presence of God has saved them. It could be an angel that’s in the presence of God. We might think of Michael the archangel, someone who sees the face of God continually, that he has sent from his presence on behalf of his people. Or it could be an angel through whom his presence is felt.

I think of the burning bush, when Moses stood before the burning bush. Who called out of the bush? Pardon?

I believe in New America’s death who says the voice of the Lord. It does, doesn’t it? It says God called out of the bush, but from later on the passage we learned that it was an angel in the bush. But that angel was the presence of God. On the same lines, what about the angel of the host for Joshua and for Jericho, or when the angel came to Gideon? Is it the same messenger? Some of them I see a capitalized and others not. And the fact of the matter is we don’t really know for sure. But the commander of the Lord’s army could be applicable to Michael the archangel, could be applicable to the Christ. The important point though is not actually who it is, but the fact that it was God’s presence for his people in a personal way.

And that’s the key here.

His presence was continually among them. In fact, he said, If I go with you, it will be difficult for you because I am a holy God. But it was his presence that was there, and that’s the key. That’s what he’s saying here. When you felt pain, I felt it too. In fact, my presence was with you. In love and in pity, he redeemed them, and he bore them and he carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned himself against them as an enemy and he fought against them. And so difficult times came.

3. To Make Himself a Glorious Name

Verse 11, he says he remembered the days of old. Not that he had forgotten them, but when we say we remember something in this context, it’s bringing up something that it becomes applicable to a decision.

And he remembered them saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea? With the shepherd of the flock.

I think for God to act on uh on behalf of his people. As he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, those that brought them out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock. Where is he who put in the midst of them his holy spirit? Yes. When I read verse 11, it’s and I’m under the impression that it’s his people remembering the days of old, and not the Lord remembering the days of old. Am I incorrect? New King James says he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people sayings. Mine says, then his people remember the days of old of Moses. Okay. Either, either way, what comes about is this this questioning. This questioning comes to mind.

Where is he that brought them up out of the sea? The shepherd of his flock, and where is he who put his holy spirit? In other words, Lord, you have executed judgment against us, and we are brought low. Where is this great God that led us out of Egypt? Where is this great God who put his Holy Spirit in us? Where is he? Well, under the time of judgment, perhaps you don’t see his hand in blessings. And so the question is, Lord, are we not your heritage? Where are you?

Put his Holy Spirit in their midst? Yeah, absolutely. We think of the Holy Spirit as a New Testament concept, don’t we? But yes, God put his Holy Spirit in them. When you look at their priests, their priests were said to be full of the Holy Spirit. When you look at their uh judges, they were said to be full of the Holy Spirit. Yes, his Holy Spirit was with them and in them. So, where is the God that did all these things? Well, this is leading up to a reason. This is leading up to a reason. In verse 12, he says, Who led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them to make for himself an everlasting name? Who led them through the deep as a horse in the wilderness that they might not stumble.

As a beast goes down into the valley, and the spirit of the Lord causes him to rest, so you lead your people to make yourself a glorious name. Well, we see this happening much in the scriptures. First Samuel chapter 12, the Lord will not forsake his people. Why? For his great namesake. Psalm 106. Yet he saved them for his namesake, that he might make known his mighty power. Remember, God’s focus is not just on his people. God’s focus is on the world. And as he deals with his people, he does so in such a way as to reveal himself. When he brings Israel out of Egypt with a strong and mighty arm, I suppose God could have figured a way to get them out by night so that nobody realized it.

But that wasn’t his focus. His purpose was to bring them out in great power in the sight of all, so that Egypt would know that I alone am God. And so as he deals with his people, it’s always for his namesake. Is God just totally focused on his name, and that’s all he cares about? No. It’s on his namesake so that people will know him and come to him. And so, over and over again, Isaiah 48, for my name’s sake I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. For my own sake, for my own sake I do it. For how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

And Ezekiel, he says, I acted for the sake of my name that it should not be profane in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, and whose sight I have made known to them, and bringing them out of the land of Egypt. That’s not the same argument, wasn’t it, that Moses made? When God looked down and saw the golden calf, and he and he said, Moses, stand out of the way, I will take care of this. And Moses said, Well, Lord, what will the neighbors think? The Egyptians are going to think you just brought them out of here to kill them. God relented. Why? Because he cares about how people view him. And so we see pleas when people plea before God. It’s never on the basis of, Lord, I am worth your attention.

Save me. Never. It’s Lord for your name’s sake. Pardon my guilt for its great. Psalm 79, help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name’s sake. For your namesake, O Lord, preserve my life. Jeremiah says, Through our though our iniquities testify against us, in other words, we don’t deserve your attention or mercy. Act, Lord, for your name’s sake. And Daniel, in his prayer, says, O Lord, hear, O Lord, forgive, pay attention and act, delay not for your namesake. Why? Because your city and your people are called by your name. And so there’s this plea to God that we see in this section. He leads into it by saying, Here’s what your people have said.

4. Why Have You Made Us Stray?

Where is our God who did these mighty things for us? Where is he? And it’s pictured, I think, in the context of judgment from God because of their sins. And so he says in verse 15, look down from heaven and see your habitation, holy and gracious. Here’s the plea he makes to God. Where are your zeal and your strength? The yearning of your heart and your mercies toward me. Well, let me just back up and deal with these one by one, because that’s why I’ve got them in my slides. If you flip back real quick to chapter 59, verse 17.

When he asks the question, Where are your zeal and your strength? I think it’s in reference to this picture of God from Isaiah 59, starting in verse the last half of 15. The context being that justice had been turned back, righteousness stands far off, and truth has fallen in the street. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him, but there was no justice. And he wondered that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him. In other words, he’s acting in judgment. For he puts on righteousness as a breastplate, verse 17, helmet of salvation on his head, puts on the garments of vengeance and clothing for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. So the question is, Lord, where is your zeal and your strength?

Your God of judgment. Show it to us. Where are your mercies toward me? He asks. The yearning of your heart and your mercies toward me. And I think of Isaiah 49 and 13.

And then I see the people crying out and saying, Lord, you promise mercy. Where is it? Are they restrained? And here’s some arguments he makes. He says, Doubtless you are our father, though Abraham was ignorant of us, in other words, Abraham didn’t know us. We are his descendants. But you, O Lord are our Father. Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord are our Father. Our Redeemer from everlasting is your name. And here’s arguably the most difficult part. He says, O Lord, why have you made us stray from your ways and hardened our heart from your fear? And that’s really the charge that he makes. Why have you made astray and hardened our heart from your fear? He says, Return for your servant’s sake, the tribes of your inheritance, for your holy people have possessed it but a little while.

Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary. We have become like those of old, over whom you have ruled. Those who are over whom you have never ruled, those who have never called your name. And so here’s the context. I believe this is talking about the time that would be in the future when they would be in captivity in Babylon. The sanctuary is burned, and the people are crying out, where is the God of mercy? Where is the God that brought his people out of Egypt with a strong hand? Where is the God that put his spirit in his people? Where is the judgment of God? What I think of when I read this is eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear. I mean, God has always been there.

It was it was it was the people rejecting God or not seeing the uh God’s God as the merciful God until until things got very, very hard on them. And then some would say, others would not. Now I may be way off based on that, but that’s why I read it. Certainly that’s the big picture view, and I agree with that. But keep keep in mind a picture of perhaps those who had grown up in Babylon who had not seen, had not known, and they had only read and heard the oral tradition from their parents. And they’re now crying out in Babylon and saying, Oh Lord, where are you? Now, the difficult part about this is the statement, why have you made us stray? Why have you hardened our hearts from fear?

Um had God done that. Is this a is this a charge? I think there’s probably three possibilities here. First of all, keep in mind that Israel had already made charges. If you go back to 40 and 27, Israel had said, or it asked the question, my way is hidden from the Lord, and my why is my way hidden from the Lord, my right is disregarded by God. Well, that wasn’t a fair question, but it was a charge.

As if this is not Isaiah speaking, but the nation speaking. They say this.

So these kind of questions have been asked before. And so Isaiah appears to be either speaking for the nation with this same kind of charge that has been charged before, or posing a rhetorical question that the nation might ask, or speaking in first person. You really don’t know which of the three it is. If it’s one of the first two, then it’s easy for us to understand. Well, yes, this is the kind of question that people might ask who are not truly seeking God. Such as people might say today, well, we’re a product of our nature and nurture, and God, you created us, you gave us our nature. So, God, why have you made us stray? And put the blame on God. If it’s Isaiah speaking from the first person, it wouldn’t be unusual at all for him to ask a question based upon this is what I see.

For instance, Habakkuk, the prophet, if you go back and you read the first two chapters of Habakkuk, he placed a charge before God and said, Lord, where is your judgment? Your judgment is not going forth. I mean, that’s wrong. And God had an answer. And then Habakkuk said, Lord, how could you use a nature more wicked than us to judge us? That’s not fair. And then he would say, and then I will stand on the rampart and I will see what he will answer me when I am rebuked. In other words, he knew it wasn’t right. But that’s what he saw. And that’s the common experience of mankind sometimes to see those sorts of things. God has an answer. Remember, this is the question. This is the charge.

This is not the answer. This is a charge. So we have to look for the answer to come. So, either way, it’s a charge. Let’s look at it. Chapter 64, I believe, he comes up with an answer himself. This is not yet from the Lord, but this is Isaiah speaking, I believe. And put it in context a little bit. Look back in chapter 57 and verse 11.

Here’s where he had been talking in context about their having rejected him and gone after idols. Verse 11 of chapter 57, he says, And of whom have you been afraid or feared that you have lied and not remembered me.

Nor taking it to heart. Is it not because I held my peace from a gold that you did not fear me? In other words, their lack of fear was because God had not punished them. He had held his peace. That which was in his patience, his long suffering, which was intended to show love, they took advantage of it and misunderstood it and used it as an opportunity for rebellion. Because they lost their fear of God, they turned against him. So when he says, and he uses that in the context of not fearing them, which is similar to hardening their hearts. And so that’s really the context, I think, for his statement here, why you might. Why have you made us stray and hardened our hearts from your fear?

5. We Are the Clay, You Are the Potter

And so look what he says in response to that in chapter 64. Oh, that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down that the mountains might shake at your presence, as fire burns brushwood, and fire causes watered up oil to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence. There’s the answer.

That’s what the people need. That’s why they don’t fear you, because your presence has not been made known to them. Well, is that the answer? You know, in the tent plagues, it was the same thing. Because you know, it talks about God’s heart and Pharaoh’s heart, but yet he rebelled after every one of those plagues. And even after he let the people out of the tent, he still ended up pursuing, pursuing them afterwards. It’s not always the answer, is it? When God came down on Sinai and made his presence known, and the mountains literally quaked, the people departed from there and went to take the land, and what did they do? They refused to obey.

Of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by any ear, as any nor has any eye seen any gods beside you, who acts for the one who waits for him. You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, who remembers you in your ways. And so already Isaiah is giving an answer that I think helps. We know from places like James 1 that God does not cause men to sin. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil. He himself tempts no one, but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Desire when it’s conceived gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it brings forth death.

So we know this charge is false, and yet from Isaiah 57, we see kind of a context for why the people might think that.

That is, you bless those who come to you. And as he’s going to say in verse 6, but we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are like filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. So who’s responsible? Has the Lord made us stray? No, we know from the beginning that you’re the only God, that you bless those who seek you, that their iniquity separates us from you. He says, We these are things we know. And then there’s an acknowledgment of dependency. He says in response to their iniquities, like a wind have taken us away. In verse 7, there is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself to take hold of you.

For you have hidden your face from us and have consumed us because of our iniquities. So again, Isaiah has already answered this charge. Now he says in verse 8, but now, O Father, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter, and we are the work of your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever. And then he makes this argument about the Lord’s name. Indeed, please look, we are all your people. Your holy cities are wilderness. Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful temple where our fathers praised you is burned with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Will you restrain yourself because of these things, O Lord? Will you hold your peace and afflict us very severely?

So there’s an acknowledgement of dependency. I don’t believe he’s saying that, O Lord, you made us, you are the potter, we are the clay, and therefore if we’ve sinned, it’s because you made us that way. I think in the context, this statement goes back to verse 5. In these ways we continue and we need to be saved. All of our righteousness is like an unclean rag. In other words, Lord, if we’re going to be saved like the potter with the clay, it has to come from you. We cannot save ourselves any more than the clay can make itself into a bowl. We understand we are dependent on you. We are responsible for our actions, but we cannot achieve your purpose without you, O God. And therefore, mold us, shape us.

Remember, we are your people. These are your cities. Do not abandon us. We need to be saved.

6. God’s Answer: You Forsook Me

Well, that’s a lot. He gets down to chapter 65, and just a few verses in our lesson will be done because I’m going to stop in the middle of 65. It’s just too much to cover in one lesson. Here’s God’s answer to that charge, by the way. Isaiah has made a statement. Here’s God’s answer. I was sought by those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. I said, Here I am, here I am, to a nation that was not called by my name. And I have stretched out my hands all day to a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts, a people who provoke me to anger continually to my face, who sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on altars of brick, who sit among the graves and spend the night in the tombs, who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels, who say to me, who say, Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you.

These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. I don’t think you can get a plainer statement of no, I didn’t cause you to stray. You, in a way, for your own thoughts and your own ways, you rejected me to the face. So there is implicit in that statement a responsibility. Now, so the answer is first, Jacob rejected me. I didn’t make him that way. He rejected me. And second, he’s got this picture of his servants as he looks at the end of the chapter. Verse 6. Behold, it is written before me, I will not keep silence, but will repay, even repay into their bosom your iniquities and the iniquities of your father together. And I believe what he’s saying is, your fathers rebelled, and you have stubbornly followed their path.

Therefore, this is not just a one-time thing. This is repeated transgression, a stubborn transgression, and it will be repaid. Says the Lord, You who have burned incense on the mountains and blaspheme me on the hills, therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom. As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob. You see this concept of a remnant, a faithful remnant. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah and the heir of my mountains, my elect shall inherit it, and my servant shall dwell there. Shannon shall be a full of flocks, and the valley of Acor, a place for her to lie down, for my people who have sought me.

Notice the distinction. Not for all the people, but for those who have sought me. But you are those who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Gad, who furnish a drink offering for Meni. Therefore I will number you for the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter, because when I called, you did not answer. And when I spoke, you did not hear, and did evil before my eyes, and chose that, which I do not delight. So you see his answer. You bear the responsibility, you made the choices, you rebelled. You forsake me. I didn’t forsake you, you. You forsook me. And you see this contrast in the next verses. Behold, my servant shall eat, but you shall be hungry.

My servant shall drink, but you shall be thirsty. My servant shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed. My servant shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and well for grief of spirit. You shall leave your name as a curse to my chosen, for the Lord God will slay you. He called his servants by another name. So that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth. And he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten, because they are hidden from my eyes. So God’s servants will experience a blessed life, others will not.

These great pictures of comfort. Even saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built.

Verse 8 He talked about new wine in the cluster. Just as there’s new wine in the cluster, and God won’t destroy it all because of the sake of the faithful. He says, I won’t destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Judah as heirs. Those who seek me. There’s a change coming. You can see that in verse 15. You will leave your name as a curse for my chosen. Will things be like they were before? The whole world should rejoice at the name of Israel and the Holy One of Israel. He says, No, things won’t be as they were before. Your name will be given as a curse.

You see this in the New Testament perspective. Paul asks the question. Yes, Israel rebelled. Israel even rejected Messiah. Didn’t Israel understand? Moses said, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation and a foolish nation, I will make you angry. Deuteronomy 32, the blessings and the cursings. He said, if you don’t follow me, here’s what’s going to happen. And it happened, didn’t it? And you really see that in this chapter in Isaiah, when verse 1 of chapter 55, and I was sought by those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me. What’s he talking about? He’s talking about the Gentiles that would come in.

And he quotes from those two verses. What’s Isaiah talking about? In the context, Paul is saying, he’s saying the same thing that he said in the blessings and the cursings. But of Israel, he says, All day long I’ve held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. There was a change coming. And we’ll get to chapter verse 17, the very next verse. He says, Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth. The former shall not be remembered nor come to mind. And I believe that’s what he’s talking about. A major change. The new heavens and the new earth. We’ll talk about that once tonight and on toward the end of the book. Is all focused on the new heavens and the new earth.

How is it a new heavens and a new earth? I believe he’s talking about a new order of things. Why is it a new order? Well, the covenant has been broken. God has not cast away his people.

Conclusion

But he will call them by a new name. And the name will be uh the name that he had used and will now become a curse. And so, as we look back to the last 2,000 years of history, uh Israel has been known continually as those who rejected Messiah. Some have persecuted them, many have persecuted them. I think that’s wrong. But it shows pretty much what he’s saying here. Your name would be a curse. Why? Because of what they had done in rejecting their God. So there’s going to be a new order of things. There’s a consequence that happened when they broke the covenant. God had not rejected them, hadn’t cast them away, but things would change. So he’s had these great pictures of glory. But what’s the glory reserved for?

Is it for Israel? I think here he’s made a very strong statement. These pictures of glory are reserved for my servants. These pictures are reserved for those who seek me. Not just because you’re named Israel, not just because you were born a Jew, will you be blessed? You will be blessed when you seek me.

Comments, questions on the lesson for today. Um the Jews that rejected Jesus as the Messiah, a lot of it was politically motivated and a misunderstanding of these scriptures. Jews today, the faithful Jews that that are still looking for the Messiah, how how do they respond to this particular these prophecies and the new heavens and new earth and that’s a really good question. I don’t have the answer to it.

I know they I know they reject Jesus as Messiah, which means they’re still looking for future fulfillment. And most everything we’re reading here for them is still future.

Because they these things are clearly, as you can see from the context, tied up in times of Messiah. And so if they’re looking for a future Messiah, oh this is future.