Do you ever feel spiritually dried up? Or that your enthusiasm for God and your thoughts about God aren’t what they ought to be? That you need to be reinvigorated with new spiritual vibrancy and life? That you don’t see God in the way you used to, or the way you ought to?
Isaiah is the book to do this. Because Isaiah gives us new eyes to see.
Isaiah’s prophecy has a fairly typical introduction for a prophetic book of the bible, with one exception -that it is introduced as a “Vision” –
and this is an unusual way to introduce a prophetic book (in fact, Obadiah is the only other book to do so)
usually, prophetic books are introduced as “the Word of the Lord” (or, “the word of the prophet” with the understanding that those words aren’t originating with the prophet but are the Lord’s words to the prophet, speaking through the prophet.
But the reason that Isaiah’s book is introduced as “vision” rather than than “word” isn’t that Isaiah isn’t relaying words to us, or that he isn’t relaying the word of God to us.
The idea of vision refers to revelation just as much as word does.
And Isaiah’s ministry was a preaching ministry preached with words written down with words; and not just his words but God’s words;
Isaiah’s words – just like any prophet – didn’t originate with him, but were given him by God as God’s words to bring God’s truth the people of God – the truth they needed to hear in that original context, and the truth we need to hear now.
But 2 reasons Isaiah’s prophecy is called a vision: first, Isaiah does in fact have a specific, & significant, & grand, vision of God in chapter 6 that is foundational to his calling and ministry;
And second, this unique introduction is trying to emphasize the intended effect of Isaiah’s ministry and preaching.
Because Isaiah’s words, expand our vision. They give us new eyes to see. This idea of “vision” implies insight, understanding, awareness of the true nature and deeper meaning of things, that only God can give us, instead of the flawed or superficial understanding based upon appearances, that we gain for ourselves.
It can be a jarring thing to gain new vision. If you wear glasses and remember the first time you got glasses; the first time you put them on, you probably said something like, “That’s what things look like!” And it’s a jarring experience because not only do you realize in that instant what things actually look like but you at the same time realize that what you thought was clear vision before, was blurry impaired vision.
And when Isaiah’s vision comes into our lives to correct our sight, we are reinvigorated with new vision of God and ourselves and his grace. We realize the blurriness, and the small-mindedness, that we had before, and we see clearer; and what we see more clearly is God who is greater than we imagined ever before.
3 truths that Isaiah’s vision helps our vision: Isaiah gives us 1) A greater vision of God’s glory; 2) a more drastic awareness of human sin; 3) a deeper realization of God’s grace. 3 things that we’ll be coming back to over and over again in the book of Isaiah (not every chapter, but cover them main parts and themes).
“Not one of us has ever had a single thought about God that was fully fair to the magnitude of who he really is.”
We treat God like a triviality; we treat ourselves like royalty; and his grace as cheap.
But Isaiah helps us do him a little more justice.
He gives us a greater vision of God’s glory – of his majesty, awesomeness, and holiness, such that we will be more in awe of him; that we would fear him; that we will have a bigger and realer sense of who he is. (In fact, reason I picked Isaiah – to help us cultivate a healthy & biblical fear of God)
And this helps us to see ourselves more accurately; more realistically; less proudly with a more drastic awareness of our sinfulness and smallness before our holy God.
And so we come to a deeper realization of God’s grace; more aware of how little he is obligated to give it and how little we deserve to receive it, and how amazing God’s grace that redeems us who were wretches in our sin and makes us children of God and restores us into the image of God.
Isaiah’s name means “The Lord Saves”; The Lord – the one glorious in his majesty and holiness; he alone saves; and he saves sinners.
And that’s where Isaiah starts, here in chapter 1, is with that second theme – a more drastic awareness of human sin
And the reason that Isaiah starts there, is because we need to start there.
Despite what unfortunately many people and even churches and pastors seem to believe, the bible teaches about this thing called sin. And it’s actually pretty central to the whole message of the bible – because if it wasn’t such a drastic problem, there wouldn’t have been such a drastic solution.
And in our sinfulness, we minimize sin and make it not so big and not so bad. But if God really is great in his holiness; and if his grace really is deep and amazing; then sin must be really sinful.
Little problems have little solutions; drastic problems require drastic solutions.
And when the eternal God enters into his creation, takes on human flesh, suffers and dies on a cross, rises again to new life having definitively conquered sin and death and satan once-for-all then coming again in glory to establish his eternal kingdom in a renewed world and usher his children into their eternal home and judge all his enemies.
That is no small solution; because he came to solve no small problem.
But Isaiah chapter 1 comes to give us, just as it went to give it’s original hearers, the grace of conviction of sin.
And many many people, when it comes down to it, don’t believe they are sinners.
I’ve talked to many people on their death bed; and I’ve asked them if they’re ready to meet God; and I’ve heard the response that deep down they are a good person.
Just yesterday the youth were at Hershey Park and we were waiting in line for some headache machine ride; and there was a country music song which normally promotes some kind of vague moralistic nationalistic gospel-less religion and the singer was saying “I believe most people are good. I believe this world ain’t half as bad as it looks. I believe most people are good.”
If you don’t think this worlds half as bad as it looks you haven’t looked hard enough; and if you think most people are good then you can’t know the God who saves sinners.
There’s a story about a College philosophy professor who asked his students to write an essay on a personal struggle they had at some point in life over right or wrong. And they weren’t able to do it; because they hadn’t done anything wrong.
And what they lacked in self-awareness they more than made up for in self-esteem; but God wants to give us self-awareness – not to crush us in despair but to bring us to the savior.
Conviction of sin isn’t flattering; it doesn’t make you feel good; but it is life-giving. And conviction of sin is a gracious gift that only God’s spirit can bring about in our hearts.
When you break a bone, if it isn’t set right before it starts to heal and heals improperly, a doctor may need to re-break it in order for it to heal properly for the full restoration.
If you have cancer, they may cut you open or pour toxic chemicals into you in order to remove and kill the spreading death inside of you and bring healing.
Conviction of sin is God’s breaking us down so that he can build us up. It’s his hurting of our pride so that he can heal our souls. It’s his putting to death our sin so he can make us truly alive. It’s his turning on the lights to whats inside when we’d rather hide in the darkness. It’s his showing us our guilt so we can see our need for his grace.
CS Lewis: “Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel they need any forgiveness.”
So embrace Gods gift of conviction. Get rid of the excuses that we make for ourselves but never for others. Stop believing the self-flattery. End the blame game where everything is always everyone else’s fault.
Be willing to recognize that maybe all your life you’ve been looking at your soul in a carnival mirror that only gives a distorted view of what’s really there. And be willing to see your soul as God sees it.
If there’s something true about yourself, that you don’t see about yourself, that might be hard to hear, don’t you want someone to tell you, even though it’s hard to hear?
In Isaiah 1, God is showing us the truth about ourselves. And it may be hard for us to hear.
And it shows us who are, by ourselves, left to ourselves, without God’s grace of conviction and healing repentance given to us.
It’s a picture of ourselves, without our savior; and it’s a bleak picture.
In fact, God comes to them, and says, essentially, “I am so sick and tired of you.” He comes to them, who are worshiping him – and says, “I am so sick and tired of your worship. I can’t stand it anymore, I can’t take it anymore, it disgusts me.”
Can you imagine God being here covering his ears to our praise saying “when will it stop!”
This is the effect of their sin: God’s weariness and displeasure in what these people offer to him. vv10-15
v11 – “the multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me?” answer: nothing!
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings” – in other words: stop!
“I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs”
V12 – their appearance before him is a trampling of his courts.
In the OT, the sacrifices of God’s people were supposed to be a pleasing aroma to him; now v13 – their offerings are meaningless, and their incense is detestable to God.
“I cannot bear your worthless assemblies”
v14 – their feasts and festivals he hates with all his being; they’re a burden to him, he is weary of bearing them;
v15 – even when they pray to him, he hides his eyes from them and he does not listen.
There has to be something really wrong; something really deficient; with these people and the worship they bring for God to have this reaction.
These are all religious activities; and, these are all things God had commanded – even instituted – but they have become so corrupt; so fallen from what God had intended – that in v11 he calls them “your sacrifices” – like when you’re embarrassed by something your kid did and you tell your spouse to “look at what your kid did!”
And the problem wasn’t the sacrifices themselves – but the hearts and lives of the ones bringing them –
they were empty – they had no love for God in them but were mere ritual going-through-the-motion – as Isaiah would later say, “they honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me”
they were empty; they were hypocritical; because they look nice on the outside when they show up to church they put on a good show but their lives behind that facade are evil –
v15 – their hands are full of blood; v16 – they are filled with evil deeds and wrong-doing; v17 they need to learn to – in other words they don’t – do right, seek justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the orphan and plead the case of the widow. They don’t do the things of love and compassion and righteousness that God does – because the true and living God is absent from all their religion.
They’re very religious; but they’ve found a way to be religious that God hates – empty, hypocritical religion.
And apart from Jesus – all of our religious activities & offerings are empty and hypocritical because apart from Jesus they are all done in rebellion against God – God remains absent from them – and so apart from Jesus we cannot please God.
(effect) The nature of sin-
foolishness of sin (2-4)
Sin makes us utterly foolish; because it makes us ignorant of and blind to the one with whom we all ultimately have to do; the one who is most significant and central, sin puts him on the shelf or in the closet and that is horrific and horrendous
in the words of v2 – sin is rebellion against God; v4 – sin is forsaking God; spurning him; turning ones back on him.
Sin isn’t just making a mistake or messing up a little; it is rebellion & rejection of the one who should most of all be obeyed, trusted, embraced and sought.
Sin is forsaking God – and that is so terrible because of how significant he is – He is an infinite God; and so that is an infinite offense.
But it’s not just that God is worthy in and of himself; it is that, but it’s more than that; that he is an infinitely worthy God who had been the deliverer of these people – the sonship language – this is OT redemption language – that through his deliverance out of Egypt they became his children;
He gave birth to them and raised them, and so they ought to have considered themselves more obligated to and dependent upon and owing a debt of eternal gratitude to
him than anything else in all creation; yet they rebelled.
Their attitude goes against common decency and common sense. They have become utterly foolish – and he compares them to animals – unfavorably: animals are wiser than they are – animals know better than them.
And, I love animals, but if you’re ever in the situation where an animal understands the important things of life better than you do, you’re not in a good place.
And especially ox and donkeys weren’t in Isaiah’s day considered the smartest of animals; but God’s people are dumber than ox and donkeys!
Because a donkey recognizes the one upon whom he is dependent for life; and an ox doesn’t forget whose hand gives it food;
but God’s people have forgotten God.
Instead of seeking him, they have forsaken him; instead of serving him, they had rebelled against him.
The stubbornness of sin (5-6)
Next he describes people who appear to love punishment, because they keep plunging into the same sin that brings disastrous consequences –
Injury is meant to alert the body to the fact that something is harming it, such that one will stop the harmful thing and pursue healing. But the picture here is of someone not only not stopping the destructive thing, but continuing it thinking that the thing that brought them harm will now bring healing.
And that’s what sin does to us. We think it will give us something; it gives us pain and death; but instead of turning from it to find life in God we think that the same sin that brought us pain and death will now heal us so we go back to it, but of course, we only find more pain and death.
The devastation of sin (7-9)
The nation of Israel, when it was at its highpoint, was glorious, but now it is desolate, run-down, stripped bare of the material blessings that came with God’s blessing.
But now they had abandoned God, the source of blessing – and he describes them as v8 a shelter in a vineyard, a hut in a cucumber field. These were temporary little shacks built in the fields that they could sleep in during harvest, so that they didn’t need to waste time & energy traveling to & from their homes to their fields. But of course since they were temporary, they were thrown up pretty quickly and by the end of the harvest they would have become pretty miserable looking – and he’s contrasting their former glory with a run down hut in a field.
Sin – we look to it thinking it will solve our problems, make our lives better, give us something we need or want; but it only devastates life.
The pollution of sin (21-23)
v22 – he calls them in their sinfulness prostitutes – In seeking freedom they’ve lost themselves – they who were supposed to exclusively belong to God in intimacy and loyalty, had committed among the worst of crimes and become spiritual adulterers against God.
Sin isn’t just breaking a rule; it’s betraying a person – the person – in the deepest of ways.
they’ve polluted themselves –
v22 – they were silver but now are dross – dross is the impurities that make silver worthless – the pure has become impure.
Similarly this image of wine diluted with water – the water has mixed and spread all throughout it.
Sin is not something on the surface, or merely located int he behaviors, but its a disease of the heart, a corruption of the soul, that spreads all throughout us and makes us corrupt.
The idolatry of sin (29-31)
trees – idol worship.
they have traded in the true living God for false gods – part of the creation that can’t sustain life.
And we think we’ve advanced beyond idol worship – but idolatry is anything we put in the place of GOd. Anything we look to for satisfaction; anything we trust in for security; anything we make the central aim and highest priority of life which only God can be and rightly is.
“they have abandoned the maker of the trees in order to put their trust in the trees; and in doing so they have cut themselves off from the only source of life;”
and when we do that, those things we trust in, do you think they’ll come through for us?
Idols will always forsake us.
v29-30 – Oaks – proud, self-sufficient; but they dry up and wither and die.
v29 – “Choose the garden of idolatry and you find there is no water, but choose the One who made the garden and there are streams of living water.”
The solution to their sin
v16 – “Wash and make yourselves clean.”
doesn’t mean they clean themselves; but emphasizing their responsibility – that they need to make use of the cleansing that only God can provide, by repenting of sin – turning away from it, and coming to God to receive his grace.
God doesn’t bring conviction to leave us in despair; but to show us who we really are, so that we can see our need for Jesus. So that we can see that he really is the friend of sinners; so that we can see how amazing the grace that we sing about really is.
So that (v18) when we know that our sins are scarlet; we can also know that he makes us white as snow.
And already in Isaiah – he is looking forward to the cross. Because even in chapter 1 there are hints to the famous chapter 53 where the Messiah – the suffering servant – is described in all that he would do to rescue his people from their sins.
In v5-6 describing the wounds and welts and sores and sickness of the people of God – you start to hear Isaiah 53 – where it’s by his wounds, that we are healed.
their sin has brought about wounds(v6); but the saviors wounds would be their healing.
IN v11 it describes the people’s sacrifices – and says that God takes no pleasure in them.
but (ch 53) Isaiah will tell of a sacrifice in which God will always delight; and that because of his sacrifice – we can know that our sins, no matter how great, are forgiven; our souls, no matter how dark, can be cleansed. our lives, no matter how rebellious and run-down and lost they’ve become, can be repaired and restored into something beautiful again.
And so if you listen to the truth about yourself; if you have the courage to see yourself as God sees you, then come to Jesus; and find life, healing, forgiveness, restoration.