The third week in Isaiah. We had a dazed and confused man come to church, I pray he will be shown help, assesed medically and walk with the Lord. I pray that attitudes are as they should be. Who knows, maybe an angel in disguise.


God those that earnestly seek You will find You. You are our creator and we submit our lives, the ones You gave us back to You Lord. Help us to discern Your voice in our studies, apply what you teach by speaking the words You would have us to, and complete the tasks You desire.

(4) 5:20 -calling good evil and evil good- the reference said that is confusing morals. In this day "morals" is a nebulous topic, I prefer to think that calling evil good or good evil contradicts God. God that everyone can have a relationship with. If when we hear it we ask - have you asked God about that? God who wants a relationship with you, etc. People also make themselves out to be god by deciding for themselves what is moral, the problem here is that they will often pick things convenient for themselves and leave the price of their choices for humanity to pay.

(5) 5:21 goes with 4 conceited or thinking we have all the answers. Its dangerous to trust anyones "knowledge" as absolute. We absolutely need to search the scriptures and let God talk to us individually. Sharing our experiences is a good thing because God does speak to us, and He may confirm what another has said. We need that confirmation.

(6) 5:22-24 Pervert justice and take bribes. This brings about distress, and unkindness, oppression.

24 blossom blow away as dust because they rejected God- there is the dust again. This happened because people despised the Lord, so they were struck down.

Job - His friends thought his calamity was a result of Job's sin. To them it was proof. Rejecting God brings about calamity, but calamity is not a sure sign that a person has rejected God.

The end of Chapter 5 talks about other nations that God used as instruments of carrying out punishment of those that rejected Him. They are at His beck and call. Assyria in this case, but later Babylon, in our day probably the UN.

Chapter 6
This chapter starts out with a definite time stamp, the year of King Uzziah's death (approx 740 BC). This is about 5 years into what is considered his active ministry (745-695 BC). There is a difference of opinion here on several issues: 1st were the visions in earlier chapters before Isaiah's calling, or did he re-arrange his notes? 2nd- was this a record of Isaiah's calling or maybe just a special call for a certain task God had in mind?

King Uzziah was generally considered a good king, he became leporous when he tried to take over the priest duties (2 Chron 26- records his reign).

This vision came from God, was Isaiah made ready to receive this vision out of his anxiety, the clear decline he saw in the nation? Was he depressed, did that make him receptive? One of the 19th century evangelists wrote of his depression episodes, and that he came to realize that depression was a precursor to an act of God. In our day we regard depression as bad, but if it is a precursor to God moving or acting in our lives.....

The vision was a respite for Isaiah from the true conditions he saw, a reassurance.

verse 5 - Isaiah realizes his condition before God, and confesses it. That is the essence of salvation- knowing our condition before God and then accepting His cleansing us from our condition. Another of the witnessing scriptures- Isa 6:5. Isaiah in verse 8 submits to do what God asks, before God tells him the specifics of what he is to do. Submission.

What was Isaiah called to do? Halley's interprets his call to be the bringing about of the final hardening of the nation of Israel. My life application footnotes say he was to preach to a people who believed they were blessed (and they were) that God was going to destroy them due to their disobedience. God warned them one more time through Isaiah, and yet they had so hardened their hearts that destruction became inevitable.

He was sent to preach to a people that did not care to listen, I think the Lord told him they would not listen so he wouldn't get his hopes up. People who hve the gift of exhortation get terribly depressed when they don't see progress or response. He was going to exhort these people to turn back to the Lord (for a long time also- while the land God had given them was slowly overun with invaders) and they were going to ignore him (for that long).

Were these people hardened beyond repentance? God's grace gave them one more chance. Maybe for the group this was the case, but the righteous remnant that we keep hearing about may have gotten larger through Isaiah's ministry. I think the lessons here are don't give up because it looks hopeless (God doesn't give up on us- ever), and don't get your hopes up either (God did give us the freedom to choose).

Chapter 7
Ahaz is king in Judah. (2 Chron 28) a king who did not do right in the sight of the Lord. From 2nd Chronicles- He was 20 when he came to power (ruled by children?) certainly didn't have experience. He made molten images, burned incense, burned sons in fire, sacrificed everywhere.

Was defeated four times, King of Aram (Syria) defeated him, carried off captives.
King of Israel defeated him inflicting many casualties and carried off captives. He lost a son. Israel was going to make slaves of their Jewish brothers but were warned not to. So they let them go.

Syria and Israel decided to join forces to invade Judah again and set up the king of their choosing over Judah. Ahaz was in the royal line of David. Isaiah was told to go to him that this would fail. Which it did, God directly intervened. God told Ahaz if he would not believe he would not last (9)

Instead of believing God (which when considered "logically" looked improbable- Ahaz asked Assyria for help, instead the Assyrians invaded him. Ahaz gave the king of Assyria a portion of the treasures from the Lords house, which was of no help, the Assyrians still attacked him. The shaving of hair is considered total humiliation. Judah's rich farmland would be trampled to the point nothing would grow. God will redeem it.

Ahaz never turned to God, in fact he sacrificed to the gods of the countries that defeated him. Furthermore he closed the temple.

Ahaz was asked by the Lord, for the Lord to give Ahaz a sign. It was the Lord calling Ahaz to Himself. Ahaz refused - his excuse was he didn't want to test the Lord or bother Him. Do we do that? This prevented Ahaz from hearing from the Lord, and of course Ahaz probably knew that in acknowledging God he would have to acknowledge his sin- which had wreaked havoc on Judah.

The sign? Immanuel in the family of David, the future Messiah born of a virgin.

He was however Hezekiah's dad. God protected the line. Promised Messiah- future looking, but also real time the kings Ahaz dreaded would be forsaken (3 years- approximate time from conception of a baby until the baby talks). They were dead chickens- God promised it.

God whistles for fly and bee, these are signs of God's judgement. I also take it as a sign that the greatest armies in the world are powerless without the Lord. The actual judgement is delayed for several more kings after Hezekiah.

Chapter 8
Maher-shalal-hash-baz - The Lord told Isaiah to name his son that, before the boy can speak (conception- to talking - 3 yrs) Syria and Israel will conquered by the king of Assyria. The name means the spoils speeds, the prey hastens (swift is the booty, speedy is the prey), the immediate threat will fail. How often do we name our children based on what God has told us would happen. He was completely sold out. The Lord further told Isaiah that since Israel rejected Him (Shiloah- God's gentle and sustaining care), He would allow the waters of the Euphrates (abundant)- this is the way the Assyrians would sweep into the land. Reaching into Judah all the way to the neck- Jerusalem alone would remain.

Be broken, be shattered (shattered means lose courage). Gird yourselves yet be shattered- repeated. Prepare yourselves, but lose courage. God will have His way- it is best for us. We think we know what is best, and we certainly have our wants and desires, but God truly does know what is best for us.

To close I had a wonderful prayer but didn't use it. I prayed we would submit to God and do what He requests without wanting a preview, even if it is hard as in the case of Isaiah's task. The Lord was with him, and will clearly walk with us every step of the way.