Click here to get a copy of RealAudio
Click here to get a copy of RealAudio
TH1144: On-Line
Teaching Notes
Please open your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 10, as we continue our study through the Word of God. As we saw last week, God was going to pour out His judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel for their idolatry. They had deteriorated into a wicked nation that refused to turn to God. And the destruction and devastation that took place in Zebulun and Naphtali, would spread throughout the Northern Kingdom of Israel as the Assyrian army swept through the land. The alliance that Israel made with Syria would not profit them or spare them from the Assyrians, who were God's rod of judgment that He would use upon His people. It is as Isaiah 8:22 says, "Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness."
Now, as we open up in Isaiah chapter 10, we are going to see the fruit or the works that are born in the hearts and lives of a people who have turned from God, specifically the Northern Kingdom of Israel is in view here.
ISAIAH 10
VERSES 1-2
1. We see that corrupt leaders were passing laws to take advantage of God's people, to pervert justice, to move away from righteousness. And this is what happens when man places self on the throne of his heart instead of God. The works of the flesh will be manifested in his life instead of the fruit of the spirit, which is love. The result of taking advantage of people is given to us in Proverbs 21:13, which says, "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and not be heard." Thus, God wants us to be sensitive to the poor and care for them. In Proverbs 21:3 we read, "To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." God's anger fell upon them for what was manifested in their life, an abuse of power, because their hearts were far from God!
VERSE 3
1. In other words, you are not going to be able to escape the wrath of God, no matter how hard you try. And in your destruction, who are you going to leave all your earthly possessions to? There won't be anyone left! You can't run, you can't hide from God, and all He really wants you to do is to turn to him, but they refused.
VERSE 4
1. Instead of bowing to the Lord, they will bow to the Assyrians as captives. And the impression here is that because they refused to repent, "...His hand is stretched out still" in judgment!
2. Now God is going to speak of the instrument of His judgment, the Assyrians.
VERSES 5-6
1. God used this wicked, unsaved nation to judge His people, the Assyrians, just as He will use the Babylonians to judge the Southern Kingdom of Judah down the road. I think God was trying to get their attention, to wake them up from their spiritual sleep, and show them how far they have sunk in sin, that God has sent a wicked nation to chasten them. He wanted to shock them back into reality!
VERSE 7
1. Even though Assyria was used by God to chasten His people, they went to far and wanted to crush and destroy them. That was not God's intention and God is going to hold the Assyrians accountable for their actions.
VERSES 8-9
1. The Assyrians began to boast of their power, of their strength. And they are basically saying that no nation could stand up to them, all would fall to them. The problem is they took out the true and living God from the equation. (The conquests of Assyria are as follows: Calno - 738 BC, Carchemish on the Euphrates - 717 BC, Hamath on the Orontes - 720 BC, Arpad - 740 & 720 BC, Samaria - 722 BC, Damascus - 732 BC).
VERSES 10-11
1. The thought in those days was if you defeated another nation, your gods were more powerful than their gods. And Assyria is boasting in the nations that they have conquered already, how strong their gods were and yet they were defeated. Thus, Samaria, the capitol of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Judah in the south, would not stand a chance against them. As Samaria fell, so too would Jerusalem, or so they thought! God put a stop to their advancement before the Southern Kingdom was destroyed by them.
VERSE 12
1. After God uses the Assyrians to judge His people, because the Assyrians went to far, God will judge them.
VERSE 13
1. This is the attitude of the Assyrians, very boastful, very prideful, not giving any glory or credit to God for their strength.
2. Another king, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had a similar problem. He too was boasting about his great kingdom, how he had built it, and God gave him a year of grace, but then, as he boasted once more, while the words were still in his mouth, judgment came upon him. For 7 seasons madness struck this king. He grazed in the field, ate grass, and obviously lost his kingdom UNTIL he recognized the true and living God, and then his sanity returned, his kingdom was restored. God does hold us accountable to give Him glory, and when we boast in what we have done we take that glory from Him.
VERSE 14
1. Like a bird who is scared away from her nest, leaving her eggs behind, so are the people whom the Assyrians have come against, leaving the spoil for them to take. No nation could stand against them. No man was a threat to their power. But, God says...
VERSE 15
1. In other words, the instrument is not to receive the honor or glory. The instrument can't say "I have done this!" It is the one using the instrument that gets the glory. You don't see the paint brush of an artist get praised, and go on talk shows, but the artist that used that instrument to paint that beautiful picture is the one that does.
2. One of the fastest ways to be taken out of any ministry and placed on the shelf by God, is to allow yourself to become prideful, boastful in what you are doing. You are just the instrument by which God uses, and He gets the glory, He gets the praise. Be humble before Him, for He desires to use us!
VERSES 16-19
1. The kingdom of Assyria would not stand. God's judgment would come upon them quickly and their numbers would dwindle so low that even a child could count them. When the Assyrians surrounded Jerusalem, in 701 BC, we saw that in one night the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And then, by 609 BC the nation of Assyria fell to the Babylonians.
VERSE 20
1. The Southern Kingdom of Judah had made an alliance with the Assyrians who have now turned against them. And God destroyed the Assyrians, and God's desire for the Southern Kingdom, His people, is that they would turn to Him and trust in Him.
VERSES 21-23
1. The Southern Kingdom of Judah will escape from the wrath of the Assyrians, and they will return to God.
VERSES 24-26
1. God is encouraging His people during a difficult time. The Assyrians will prosper for a time, but in the end they will be destroyed, and a remnant of His people will remain. And God compares what will happen to Assyria to what happened to the Midianites. In Judges chapters 6 & 7 we see the Midianites come and take the crops that were being harvested by the Jews. It was a judgment from God for their turning from Him. And for a time they oppressed the Jews until they turned back to God, and God raised up Gideon , who, by the power of God, defeated the Midianites and cut off the heads of 2 of their princes, Oreb and Zeeb. Also, Just as the Egyptians oppressed the Jews for a time, God brought a deliverer by the name of Moses, who brought his people out of bondage. In other words, they have read of what God did in the past, and it should give them confidence during the present situation they are in.
VERSE 27
1. What or who is that "anointing oil" that God is speaking of? It may be a reference to Hezekiah. Remember the story, the Assyrians had surrounded the city of Jerusalem. And Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sends his representative, the Rabshakeh, who taunts and threatens the people of Jerusalem to give up, not to listen to their king, no other nation could escape their power. And the reality was that the Assyrians were a very wicked people, very cruel. And if you surrendered to them, you would not be punished as much as if you tried to fight against them. Thus, as Hezekiah sees and hears what is going on, he brings his requests before God in prayer, and that night the angel of the Lord comes and kills 185,000 Assyrians soldiers, sending the rest home in defeat. Their threat quickly vanished, not because of the military might of the Southern Kingdom, but because they rested in the strength of the Lord, and Hezekiah brought his requests before God who answered his hearts cry.
VERSES 28-34
1. The Assyrians were marching from the north to the south, capturing cities and peoples by their strength. And as big and mighty as they saw themselves, this mighty tree was going to be cut to the ground, they will eventually be destroyed and taken into captivity by the Babylonians.
2. Now as you read through this portion of Scripture, you can't help seeing a picture of another king coming on the scene and prospering for a time, oppressing the people of God and yet he too will be cut down, he will not prevail. I am speaking, of course, of the antichrist. The tribulation period, those last 7 years will be devastating, but it is the tribulation period that gives birth to the kingdom age, as we will see as we move into chapter 11.
ISAIAH 11
VERSE 1
1. This is obviously a Messianic prophecy, pointing to Jesus Christ. Now this is the deal here. The house of David, the tree of Jesse, David's father, is going to be cut down. Why? Because it has degenerated so much into idolatry that God cut it down. In fact, it got so bad, that during the reign of Jehoiachin, also known as Jeconiah and Coniah, that God places a blood curse on his descendants, that no king will sit on the throne of David because of this man's evil, the succession of kings from David was being cut off. (Jeremiah 22).
And Satan and his forces must have been rejoicing over this, for God's promise to David, that from his descendants the Messiah would come and sit on the throne of David, was now destroyed because of this blood curse has destroyed that promise. But Satan did not see the whole picture here. In Matthew chapter 1 we see the lineage of Jesus from his step father Joseph back through to the royal or kingly line of David, in which Jehoiachin was from. But the blood curse did not affect Jesus because he was adopted by Joseph, and yet had the legal right to the throne of David, minus the curse. In Luke chapter 3 we are given the lineage of Jesus through His mother Mary, only this time Jehoiachin was bypassed, and Mary was a descendant from another of David's sons, Nathan, in which there was no curse. And thus, out of this stem or stump, out of this lifeless line, comes this branch that will grow and bring forth life once again!
VERSE 2
1. In Revelation 4:5 we read, "And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." Now this is not speaking of seven Holy Spirits but the seven fold working of the Holy Spirit, which speaks of perfection in His attributes. When Jesus became flesh He laid down some of his Godly attributes and as His ministry began, the Holy Spirit fell upon Him to assist Him in the work. Obviously Jesus is God, and He did not need that assistance, but He freely emptied Himself so He could show us that what was at His disposal is at our disposal also. And that is the power of the Holy Spirit in our life to give us wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord!
VERSES 3-4b
1. Back in chapter 10 God came against His people for their unrighteousness, but He will judge in righteousness, not looking at the outward appearance, but at the heart of the matter. As Revelation 19:11, 15-16 says, "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war...Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."
VERSES 4c-5
1. When Jesus returns to set up His kingdom He will do so in righteousness and faithfulness. No one will have an advantage over another, and all will be judged fairly.
VERSES 6-9
1. Here we have a glimpse into what the millennial kingdom will be like. No longer will there be carnivorous animals, but they will be herbivores or vegetarians, like man will be. A lion will eat grass, you will be able to have bears and lions for pets. The millennial kingdom will be like it was during the Garden of Eden before sin entered the picture, and death through sin. In Genesis 1:29-31 we read, "And God said, 'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food'; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Thus, sometime after sin entered the world or right after the flood, animals degenerated into carnivorous animals, meat eaters! And for man, after the flood God said in Genesis 9:3-4 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood." Now some may have degenerated into meat eaters before the flood, but after the flood God said that we can eat meat. But, in the millennial kingdom we will all be vegetarians. Again, in Hosea 2:18 we read, "In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely." I can't wait for that day!
VERSES 10-12
1. That banner that arises for all to see, that light that pierces the darkness, is none other than Jesus Christ, as all people are drawn to Him.
2. Now the first time that God brought His people back from captivity, was after they were exiled in Babylon for some 70 years. Now some feel that the second time God did this was on May 14, 1948, when God brought His people back into the land after almost 2,000 years without a homeland. This may be a partial fulfillment of that promise, but I don't believe it is the ultimate fulfillment. That will come as God sets up His kingdom here on earth, and draws His people, the Jews, from the four corners of the earth back to Israel. In Matthew 24:31 we read of this time, "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
You see, as the antichrist begins to persecute the Jews at the 3 1/2 year mark of the tribulation period, what happens to them? The Jews from Jerusalem will scatter and hide out in the rock city of Petra, and Jews from other parts of the world will also hide away from this evil man. It is in this place that many Jews come to recognize Jesus as their Messiah, and when He returns Jews from around the world will come home to Israel again.
It is as Jeremiah 31:31-34 says of the Jews, "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
VERSE 13
1. No longer will they be a divided kingdom, north and south, but a united kingdom in Christ.
VERSES 14-15
1. Before the Lord sets up His kingdom, He will judge the nations. The goats He will place on His left side and they will be cast into hell awaiting the final judgment day. The sheep He will place on His right side and they will enter into the kingdom age with Him. This is speaking of those who make it through the tribulation period. For those who die in Christ before the rapture of the church and for those who are caught up in the rapture to be with the Lord, they will be kings and priests with the Lord in the kingdom age. Revelation 1:5-6 says, "and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
VERSE 16
1. There is going to be a highway in the kingdom, a highway of holiness, where we will make a yearly pilgrimage on so that we may come and worship the Lord in Jerusalem. We see this in Zechariah 14:16-21, which reads, "And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In that day "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts."
ISAIAH 12
VERSES 1-2b
1. In what day? In the kingdom age we will see God openly worshipped not only by the gentiles, but by the Jews. Notice what they are saying, "...God is my salvation..." or Jesus, YESHUA. They will recognize Jesus as their Messiah and the nation of Israel will enter into the kingdom age, not every Jew, but the remnant that turn to Him.
VERSES 2c-3
1. YAH is a contraction of YAHWEH or JEHOVAH and I think it is repeated this way to make a strong point that there is salvation in no other name!
2. Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria, back in John 4:13-14, "...'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.'" What the world has to offer will never satisfy, it is not refreshing, and you will thirst again. But what God gives to us is refreshing, it is satisfying as we draw our strength from Him!
VERSES 4-6
1. In chapter 10 we saw the cutting down of the enemy by God, Satan and his forces will not stand forever. As we moved into chapter 11 we saw the promise to David, that the Messiah would come from his descendants. In that section the Davidic line was cut down to a stump and now it has brought forth life, as a branch grew from it and filled the earth - that branch is Christ! And now we see the climax of these events with God's glorious kingdom as the whole earth is filled with His glory and the praise of and to the Lord will fill this land. No longer will unrighteousness fill the land, but righteousness will flow from His throne and permeate the land. It is as Hebrews 1:8-12 says, "But to the Son He says: 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.' And: 'You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.'"