Isaiah 49:1-13.  So after I wrote that post yesterday I started to get a little convicted about the whole behind thing.  You see I am very task oriented.  So of course I want to stay “caught up” in my Bible reading and the posts.  The thing is the reading I am doing is not for a class, it’s not an assignment, or shouldn’t be.  This reading is supposed to be about a relationship with God, staying in touch with Him.  So if you don’t talk to a friend for several days do you then spend the whole day?  And if you do is it because you are obligated to?  Maybe you do spend a longer time together sometimes but it does not replace the fact that you didn’t talk for a long time and hopefully it’s never because you “owe” it to each other.  And I don’t think that having gotten “behind” means I have held any of you up in your relationship with God, at least no one has posted to complain or ask where I have been.  Having said that I do hope to do a little extra soon.  I will post them as separate posts so any one who picks this up to use it will not be overwhelmed by a giant post (I have been accused of writing too much already in some of them.).

So what do we have today?  We have been reading in a section of Isaiah that is made up of several mini messages.  Each one of the messages ended with a song of prais to honor God.  Isaiah 40:12-42:13 ended with a song in 42:10-13, Isaiah 42:14-44:23 ended with a song in 44:23, Isaiah 44:24-45:25 ended with a song in 45:24-25, and Isaiah 46:1-48:22 ended with a song in 48:20-23.  Those messages focused the nation of Babylon.  Babylon was an on again off again power in the area ad Judah was tempted to make an alliance with them on several occasions.  Those mini messages warned Judah not to put their trust in Babylon but to trust in God instead.  There were also warnings about idols and their uselessness and about the power of God to do what ever he wants.

Chapters 49-55 also contain some of these mini messages but the focus is different.  In chapters 40-48 the Israelites were told that God would fulfill his promises to them and that they needed to trust in him.  Chapters 49-55 will tell us how God will care for them.  There was a hint in chapter 42 that is paralleled in the mini message in chapter 49, today’s reading.  In chapter 46 God promised to send a servant.  The servat would be a new way of dealing with the old problem between mankind and God (Isaiah 42:9).  The servant would be given power and direction by God (Isaiah 42:1).  The servant Would make all things right in all the nations (bring justice to the nations Isaiah 42:1).  The servant would face trouble but not fail in his mission (Isaiah 42:2-4).  The servant would serve all nations not just Judah (Isaiah 42:1, 4).  The servant was a promise from God to the people of the earth, he would give the people of the earth understanding (Isaiah 42:6-7).  The servant would set people free (Isaiah 42:7).

In chapter 49 we meet the servant again and now he is talking to us.  Remember the people of Judah were about to be invaded and Isaiah has spent at least the last 20 chapters telling them not to trust in other nations or their own plans but to put their lives into God’s hands.  Even powerful Babylon and Egypt will be no match for the Assyrians.  How then can Judah be saved?  Mixed in with the immediate story is the bigger picture, the long range promises.  Often the messages in Isaiah had fulfillment then but will also have fulfillment later in the future.  In  Isaiah 49:1 the servant tells the whole world to listen, not just Judah.  In verse 2 he tells us about his weapon, an important piece of information to besieged Jerusalem.  But this weapon is his what he has to say, the words of his mouth (see Hebrews 4:12).  We also see the servant compared to an arrow, but this servant and this arrow are hidden away.  “Hey!  We want a big show, a display of power, not some hidden arrows.”  That is probably what the people of Judah were thinking.  The next verse seems even worse, the servant seems to think that his work has been for nothing.  Yet the servant trust is God’s plan and power in verse 4.

Verse 5 gives more detail about God’s plan for this servant.  He will cause the unfaithful religious people of Israel to turn back to God.  Remember Isaiah 48:1 where we saw the Israelites being religious but not really meaning it?  In verse 6 we see God declaring that his servant will not only be able to bring the Israelites back to God but he will also bring people from the whole earth back to God.  In verse 7 we get a mixed picture of the servant again.  He is despised and hated but he will also be honored.  Looking back we know this servant is Jeus and we see how he was hated but also how he gave victory but this must have been a confusing picture for the people of Judah.  What they did know is that the servant would be honored by the nations because of God’s faithfulness (v. 7).  In verses 8-9 we see some of the language from the servant passage in chapter 42.  The person being helped by Yahweh (LORD) in verse 8 is the servant.  It is the servant who is the promise to the people.  It is the servant who will restore the inheritance and land to the people.  And remember this is to the nations not just Judah.  This may actually be a reference to god restoring the world back to what it was before Adam sinned and God cursed the earth.  In  Revelation 21-22 we certainly see this sort of picture.  In verse 12 again we see that the promise to fix things involves people from all over the world.  People will come from the north and the west and from the south (Sinim or Aswan is south of Jerusalem).  It is interesting that Jerusalem is not mentioned in these verses as the place where the people will come.  No place is given leaving the emphasis on God.  It’s more about whom they will come to than where.  In other passages we know that Jerusalem will be the center of God’s kingdom on earth (See for example Isaiah 27:13).

Over the past several days we have been reading through some mini messages that Isaiah wrote down for the people who were facing an invasion by the Assyrians.  Each of these mini messages ends with a song of praise and honor to God.  The last two reading have been in one of these messages and this reading finishes it. In chapter 46 we saw how powerless idols are.  In contrast we saw that God has power, he was allowing the Assyrian invasion but he would also save the people of Judah from it.  In chapter 47 we saw that one of the nations that Hezekiah was tempted to trust for help, Babylon would eventually be destroyed.  Verse 13 ends this mini message with a song praising God for comforting and caring for troubled people.

So the messages shift a little from what God will do and what we should do to how God is going to fix things.  One day he will send a servant to deal with all the problems mankind has.  As we know now Jesus was and is that servant.  And as to the mixed descriptions of him as both a king and one who will be hated and troubled (like beaten or afflicted not like upset or bothered) we know that Jesus came about 2000 years ago to suffer in our place.  We will see more of that message in the next few days.  But we also know that he will return as a victorious king to take charge of his world.  He promised his followers he would return (John 14:3) and in Revelation 19:11-21 we see Jesus coming to take charge of this world Compare Revelation 19:13 with John 1:1, 14-17, 29-30).  Over and over again we see God asking for faithfulness, trust, and obedience for people.  We also see that God is more than helpful in that task.  God is special (holy and pure) and so disobedience (sin) cannot go unpunished.  That may be offensive to some people but here we repeatedly see God willing to help, he has a servant to deal with our sins. In the New Testament we learn that that servant is Jesus and that he is no less that Yahweh God in human form.  The real offense to those who object is to their pride.  They don’t like the idea that they cannot reach God on their own.  But, that is the case, we all fail.  Praise God because he cares and has done something about the problem.  He cares.  Thank you God that you have a plan to fix the mess we have made.  Thank you for your servant, for being that servant and taking my place and my punishment.  I was once one of those who despised you.  I didn’t honor you, I ignored you.  But you didn’t ignore me, you kept pulling and drawing me toward you.  Thank you for not giving up.  Forgive me for my evil.  Help me live right today.  Not as a religion but as a mark of my appreciation for all you have done for me.  Thank you for this new relationship we have.

Isaiah 48:1-22.  Wow how did I get so far behind. The last post was Tuesday and here it is Saturday.  After being sick for three weeks I had to get all the stuff done to bring in the new class.  I got pretty behind in work, so after spending some time with God on Tuesday and getting the posts almost caught up then I had to get work caught up.  From Wednesday morning to Friday afternoon I worked just under 48 hours, one day was 20½ hours so I apologize for getting behind.  Mostly I don’t like missing the time with God, but of course he is still there to talk to and look to even when we miss a few days of listening from his word.  The real hold up is the studying.  I need to do that to fill in the blanks for me and hopefully for you too.  Of course we can still read but if we really want to know what God is saying we need to try to understand too.  It’s like that verse in Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed.”  Like anything we do in life we need to do our “homework”.

In Isaiah we have seen God dealing with the people of Judah during a time in their lives when there were a lot of changes going on in the world around them.  The nation of Assyria was taking control of their world.  At the beginning of the book we saw the people living pretty comfortable lives, most of them, but the rich people were allowing thee poor people to suffer, even taking advantage of them.  They were proud and self-reliant.  They also had forgotten about God.  King Ahaz even made a treaty with Assyria when he was threatened by his cousins in the kingdom of Israel.  When Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king he destroyed the idols that his father had spread throughout the kingdom and restored worship of Yahwea (the real God) but he was still tempted to trust in his own plans and the strength of others when  dealing with the Assyrians.  So the book is about dealing with our pride and putting our trust where it really should be.  In the end we need to make sure that God gets the credit.  When God is honored this way others will see him and what to have a relationship with him too.  The end result is that more people get the benefit (which last for eternity) of a renewed relationship with God.

Over the past several days we have been reading through some mini messages that Isaiah wrote down for the people who were facing an invasion by the Assyrians.  Each of these mini messages ends with a song of praise and honor to God.  The last two reading have been in one of these messages and this reading finishes it. In chapter 46 we saw how powerless idols are.  In contrast we saw that God has power, he was allowing the Assyrian invasion but he would also save the people of Judah from it.  In chapter 47 we saw that one of the nations that Hezekiah was tempted to trust for help, Babylon would eventually be destroyed.

In the first part of chapter 48 we see that the Israelites (“house of Jacob”, see “What’s in a Name”) were not really following God with a whole heart.  In verse one they call on God but only like a lucky charm.  But God wants them to really believe and trust.  They need to face the truth about him as a being and not see him like a magic lamp.  Also notice they need to come to God with “righteousness”.  That’s just a fancy way of saying our actions need to match the truth about God, they need to be right from God’s point of view.  In the next several verses God tells us how he has used prophecy and history to prove who he is.  The first part of verse 6 points out the problem, we just won’t face the truth about God.

The next proof God gives of himself is that he gives us information that only he could know, new things.  It is interesting how down through history many scientists have been “inspired” and come up with a solution to a problem.  One of the scientists who eventually unlocked some of the mysteries of the atom was on a street corner when he just realized what was going on in those little bits of matter.  The point is God wants us to see him so we realize where we need to get back to.  In Revelation 2:4-5 Jesus is talking to the church in Ephesus and he tells them that although they are working hard for him he has a complaint.  They have “left their first love”.  He then tells them to remember the relationship they had had with him and turn around and come back.  They needed to live for him like they had before, with desire and passion, not just with actions.

In verses 9-11 of Isaiah 48 God tells them that the trouble they are going through (facing the invasion and the destruction of many cities in Judah) is a way of reminding them.  You see the next part of those verses in Revelation warn the church in Ephesus that they will stop being a church if they do not start living for Jesus with a whole heart.  That doesn’t mean that individual believers will lose their part in God’s forever kingdom it means that the group will stop being a group in that place.  There are consequences for not living for God with a whole heart because it reflects badly on God.  As Isaiah put it God does these things for “his name’s sake”.  God’s reputation is important because if we are going to get serious about eternity we need to see the reality of who God is and what he is doing.  Otherwise we will be like the Assyrians or the Babylonians or any of the people down through history who have followed different idols; even things like our own abilities, the “goodness of man”, human potential, personal fame, all sorts of things we use to try and comfort ourselves about our existence.  Things we used to tell us that we are important.

In Isaiah 47:6 God informed the Israelites that they would one day become captives in Babylon.  Now here in Isaiah 48:12-16 we see that God will one day deal with the Chaldeans (in this context Chaldeans and Babylonians are synonymous) and save the Israelites.  All of this information is being given in advance (the history takes place between 70 and 150 years after Isaiah wrote this and in the time in between Babylon will be defeated at least once more by the Assyrians).  The purpose of the foretelling of the future is so the Israelites will believe that God is God.

Verses 17-19 tell us that Yahweh will save them and also tells us that God uses the trouble we face to teach us and help us (v. 17).  We also see that if mankind had followed God that all of this trouble could have been avoided(vv. 18-19).

Verses 20-22 are the song of praise at the end to honor God.  In this one we see that God provides for those who live for him (in this case Israelites) and that those who ignore God will have no peace.

It is ironic that a lot of what we do is to find peace and meaning for our lives but that it really backfires on us.  All of the idolatry moves us away from the one true God who gives meaning and will bring us peace.  And know that the Hebrew idea of peace is more that laying out on a warm beach with no wind.  Their concept of peace is the idea of being complete and whole, fulfilled.  Only a relationship with God can fulfill us and Yahweh has given us lots and lots of proof to back up what he tells us.  The Bible has proven itself true for millennia.  The question is are we going to ignore it or run back to God?  Lord thank you for the proof.  Thank you for caring. Thank you for having a great eternity waiting for us.  Help many people come to you for the ticket in.  Help my life show people how great you are.  Let me always remember and let me respond in love.  Keep my love for you strong and passionate.  Thank you for letting me have this time with you this morning.