Isaiah 26:4-11 - Learn the ways of the Lord

We are to trust in the Lord at all times. He is the rock eternal, He is a sure foundation on which to base our lives. There are proud things that seek to intimidate us, but they will all be brought low by the Lord. Indeed it is the oppressed and poor who will trample on the proud and haughty.

If we want to have a straight and level path we need too follow God's ways. When we adopt human schemes life inevitably gets complicated.

There is a longing in our innermost being for the Lord. His judgements bring clarity. However, there are those who do not benefit from God's grace. He shows them mercy, but they refuse to learn from it. For such people the judgement of God is the only answer.

Isaiah 26:1-3 - The fruits of salvation

Here we get another song of praise. This is a song for what will happen when the people live in the fullness of God's salvation.

When we live in doubt we live in fear, everything seems fragile, but when we live in faith we realise that we are completely secure in the Lord. His salvation is our protection. How does this work out? Well the blood of Jesus has secured forgiveness for all our sins. We are no longer under judgement, and we need to realise that the root cause of man's problems is sin and the judgement upon sin. Moreover, the cross has over come death, it has removed all curse from our lives. 

This salvation is not exclusive, but is open to all who believe. In Acts 15 and in many of his letters Paul ardently defended the universality of salvation in Jesus. The sign of salvation is living by faith.

Those who trust in the Lord will be kept in perfect peace. Men are always looking for peace, only in Christ can we find it. Note that it says He will keep us in perfect peace. Many things will happen in our lives, circumstances will change. Our security does not come from finding a set of circumstances, but from finding the Lord.

Isaiah 25:8-12 - Salvation

Death will be defeated on the day of God's victory. The resurrection represents the start of that victory. Jesus is the first-born among many. What happened to Jesus is what will happen to us. There will also be a complete healing of all tears and pain.

In that day... We will proclaim that we trusted in Him and He saved us. We need to trust in God. Faith is a way of life, living by faith is the sign that we belong to God. There is joy in trusting God in the waiting times, but there is an even greater joy when the trusting is proved justified.

The chapter closes with words about Moab's destruction. At first glance this might seem a little out of place here, but the price of living under sin shows itself in very mundane ways. Moab was a continual thorn in the flesh for Israel. In each of our lives there are no doubt things that are signs of the fact that our salvation is not complete yet (in the sense that we have not yet received the full benefits of our salvation). We can be sure that all these things will one day be done away with.

Isaiah 25:1-8 - Salvation for all who believe

Isaiah breaks out in a song of praise to God. Why does he do this? It is because he sees how God's plans are going to work out. It looks as though all is lost. Israel and every other nation is lost in sin and judgement is the only thing coming their way. Yet this is not how things work out. There is judgement, but there is also salvation, and the glory of the Lord fills the earth. 

The key phrase is "in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things. things planned long ago". This is a theme that lies behind much of the apostle Paul's writings.

The strong will be brought low, and God will look after the poor and needy. 

Verses 6-8 are looking forward to the cross. A banquet is prepared for all nations. All nations are worthy of judgement and condemnation, but likewise the salvation offered by God in Christ is available for all. Through the cross He destroys the shroud that envelops all peoples, and He removes all disgrace.

See how this salvation comes out of seeming disaster. When we look at events around us we often see disaster. We need to know that disaster is not the last word, salvation is the last word.

Isaiah 24 - Devastation on the earth

After various nations being mentioned, Israel and her neighbours, the prophecy is now directed at the whole earth. This devastation is global. All the earth will be affected, and every sector of society will be affected.

Why is all this going to happen? Because of the sins of the people. The people have defiled the earth by not following the ways of the Lord.There will be no respite and no joy left on the earth.

Then in the middle of this destruction we get verses 14-16 which talk of the Lord being praised from west to east. The outcome of all this will be the glory of the Lord.

Isaiah can see nothing but destruction. Both earthly and spiritual rulers come under judgement, and the Lord will reign from Zion.

Times of devastation will come, but the final outcome will be the reign of the Lord in glory.

Isaiah 23 - Tyre & Sidon

Attention turns again to other nations, this time Tyre. Tyre was a great maritime trading city, as was Sidon. Both were part of Phoenicia.  She depended upon Egypt for trade, and her wealth was built upon it. But Egypt was about to fall, and this would spell disaster for Tyre and Sidon.

Nations become proud for all sorts of reasons. Assyria became proud because of her military strength. Israel became proud because she had the Law, Tyre and Sidon became proud because of their economic strength. All pride is built upon an illusion. At the moment we see proud EU leaders being humbled as the Euro stumbles from crisis to crisis. All pride is built upon sand. The only secure foundation is to build upon the Lord, build a life consisting of trust and obedience in Him.

Tyre and Sidon may have been tempted to flee to Cyprus for refuge, but this would provide no respite.

Tyre would indeed start trading again after many years, but her earnings would go to help Israel.

Isaiah 22 - Jerusalem

"Valley of vision" refers to Jerusalem, though it is not clear why Isaiah uses this term here, as it is used nowhere else. There is debate about exactly how this chapter should be interpreted. Some see it as referring to some Assyrian invasion, but Elam (verse 6) was an ally of Babylon who fought against Assyria. So it is maybe better to see it as Isaiah seeing ahead to the Babylonian invasion. This makes better sense of the reference to leaders deserting the city, as this happened prior to the Babylonian invasion.

Many people died of starvation rather than war during the Babylonian seige. Isaiah saw the destruction that was coming upon his people. All Judah's attempts to stave off defeat would come to nothing. They did everything they could except look to the Lord Himself. 

Instead of repenting they carried on partying. "Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die", but there was no need for them to die. They could have turned to the Lord instead.

The destruction of Jerusalem would be inevitable and unavoidable.

Happy Christmas!

Isaiah 21 - More judgement

It is significant that there is a prophecy against Babylon in the first part of Isaiah, for this was written well before the fall of Babylon. Media was the nation that eventually defeated Babylon. Babylon would defeat Jerusalem and carry many captives off in to exile, and they would spend many years there. This captivity would come to an end. The Lord enabled Isaiah to see what was going to happen in the distant future.

The prophecy against Edom is strange, not really seeming to say a lot. However, we can safely assume it was not good news for Edom.

Next it is Arabia's turn. A range of nations are subject to judgement. Might powers, trading nations, upstart nations. None of them would escape God's judgement.Arabia may have thought here economic strength would save her, but it would not be so.

Isaiah 20 - Naked Prophecy

Well here we go, the naked prophet! Isaiah had presumably been going around in sackcloth as befitting the nature of the message he was delivering thus far. Now God tells him to strip naked. This should serve as a warning to how we treat Scripture. I do not think any rational person would treat this verse as a guide that prophets should normally go around naked. We need to read Scripture within its context. It was a dramatic demonstration of what Assyria was going to do to Egypt and Cush. Many would be carried off naked and in chains. 

Note the specific historical details given here. Saragon the Assyrian king sent his supreme commander to attack Egypt. Historical fulfilment of prophecy is a key element of Isaiah.

The defeat of Egypt and Cush would serve as a rebuke to those who trusted in them for deliverance. Salvation comes only from the Lord.

Isaiah 19 - Egypt

Now it is Egypt's turn. As we know, Israel spent many years in captivity in Egypt, finally being released in the Exodus. Despite this she had a recurring hankering to go back there, the "security" of enslavement seeming preferable to the responsibility of freedom. This was evident almost from the moment she got out of Egypt. As soon as difficulties and threats were encountered she longed to go back to Egypt. Even when she obtained in her own homeland, Israel periodically made alliances with Egypt in an attempt to protect herself.

Egypt has a well established religious system, albeit one that worshipped false idols of various sorts. All these gods would prove to be useless in the attack that would ensue upon Egypt, coming from Assyria. The attack from Assyria would be coupled with natural disasters as well.

Zoan was a major city in the Egyptian dynasty of the time, hence the home of the nation's advisers and experts. Their advice would be useless and futile. Egypt would be at a total loss as to what to do about the onslaught. 

When they came out of Egypt and through the Red Sea God said the Egyptians would know that He is the Lord (Exodus 14). In the days spoken of here the Egyptians would fear the mere mention of Judah, perhaps associating it with the Lord. Then we get the remarkable outcome of all this, a time when the Egyptians call upon the name of the Lord, and He rescues them. 

Then it gets even better. Assyria would be united with Egypt in praising God, and they together with Israel will live under the Lord's blessing. This is an amazing prophecy and one we do well to remember. We also need to see how it works out. First there is enormous turmoil and the eventual outcome is nowhere in sight. Then salvation comes to all when they turn to the Lord. Peace between nations will come only when they turn to God.

Isaiah 18 - Cush

Cush was Nubia or ancient Ethiopia ( a bit further north than modern Ethiopia). In 715 BC a Cushite named Shabako gained control of Egypt. So Cush had designs on being a super power.

The prophecy applies to nations beyond Cush itself. The Lord will do things in public so that all can see. The way the Lord works is that for a long time nothing much seems to be happening, but He is doing things in secret. Then His work is put on display for all to see.

For a time the Lord would seem to be doing nothing against the raging nations, but when they seemed to be at the peak of their powers He would act. Just when they seemed about to come into full bloom they would be cut down. And this is indeed what did happen to Assyria.

The end result would be that the Cushites would bring offerings to the Lord. As it says in Philippians, every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

Isaiah 17 - Damascus

Damascus was the capital of Aram (modern day Syria). This was a busy trading city and Aram had been enemies with Israel. The modern day situation where most of the nations surrounding Israel are at odds with Israel to varying degrees is nothing new.

Aroer was on the southern border of Aram. Ephraim had made an alliance with Aram against Judah, hence its mention in these verses, and the prophecy then changes its attention and focuses on Israel (probably just the northern kingdom here). "The fat if his body will fade", now some may see this as a blessing! However, it meant that the years of plenty would vanish to be replaced by lack. The nation would be severely cut back, but not destroyed completely.

Verses 7 and 8 outline the purpose of all this, it is that men will stop looking to worthless idols and instead turn to the Lord who created them. When a people turn away from God waste and decay soon comes in. Even though they made the best plans to grow crops, the harvest would come to nothing.

People and nations boast, they pretend to be strong, but in reality are as weak as nothing. When the wrath of God is turned upon they become nothing.

Isaiah 15, 16 - Destruction of Moab

Chapter 14 ended with a prophecy against the Philistines. Up to this point the emphasis has been on Israel and Assyria, the main players in the drama, now it turns to various other nations.

The destruction of Moab would be swift, with Assyria quickly overrunning a number of cities. There would be great mourning and wailing in the land. The hearts of previously brave men would melt. The destruction would be relentless. 

In chapter 16 verse 4 we get more hope. The destruction will come to an end, both for Israel and for Moab. "In love a throne will be established". One will sit on the throne who judges with justice and righteousness. This undoubtedly points forward to Christ. "In faithfulness" - the coming of Christ was a demonstration of the faithfulness of God.

Moab had been a very proud nation. There are always nations who boast, and always people who boast. We should never fear them, for they will all eventually come to nothing. Moab would call upon her false gods, but to no avail.

Isaiah 14:5-32 - The Mighty are Fallen

The rod of the oppressors will be broken, and turmoil will be replaced by peace. Even creation will be affected by this (as an aside, is Lord of the Rings alluding to verse 8 in its bits on the trees?). 

The king of Assyria boasted of his strength and might, but he would be laid low. He would fall like every other leader has fallen. In fact it is amazing that we never learn. No one has ever managed to rule forever! No human kingdom has ever lasted for ever. Every single one has fallen, yet men still persist in thinking this time things will be different.

Verses 12-15 are sometime seen as talking about Satan. This may be so, but their primary reference is to human pride. Men can seem to be so powerful and all-conquering, but for all there comes a time when they are reduced to nothing.

The Assyrian's would be utterly crushed. It is God's plans that succeed, and no one can do anything about it.

Isaiah 14:1-4 - Restoration

While the Lord would reject Israel for a time, ultimately He will have compassion upon them. They will be resettled in their own land. Then we get a crucial development: foreigners will join them and unite with them. It had always been God's plan that the whole of humanity would be blessed by God through Abraham (Gen 12:1-3). In Christ we see this starting to happen as the good news breaks out into the Gentile world.

Israel instead of being a slave nation will be a dominant nation. Now some might react to this concept, but we need to look at Jesus. He showed us how Godly authority works when He washed His disciples feet. We react because we picture things in terms of the sorts of authority that we know, instead of the Christlike authority that will operate at this time.

Israel had been humiliated and oppressed, but the Lord would give them relief from this. This is not just a matter of being set free, but of being healed of the wounds of oppression as well.

Isaiah 13 - Prophecy against Assyria and Babylon

At the time Babylon was part of the Assyrian empire, and Babylon was its most important city.  Indeed the kings of Assyria were also called "king of Babylon".

This is a prophecy which Isaiah saw. Maybe he saw a vision of what was going to happen, or he saw in his mind what was going to happen.

Men think they are making history, or are in control of history. In reality it is God who is in control and who directs history. He had set Assyria apart for a purpose.

A vast army from various lands would gather for the Lord's purpose. The great battle of Armageddon perhaps alludes to this.

The great day of the Lord will come and all men will be seized with fear. Man has rebelled against God, but a day will come when the foolishness of this will be evident to all. At the Name of Jesus every knee will bow. We should consider this carefully, for the mind of man would say "why should we bow down to God? What right has He to be angry?". Well consider this. What say did you have in your birth? You do not determine whether or not you will be able to live tomorrow. You cannot chose the day of your death. You cannot make the weather. The truth is that we are utterly dependent upon God for every moment of our being. In rebelling against God we are living a lie.

Then we get further talk of the destruction to come, and this is given with cosmic descriptions of stars not shining and so on. We find similar allusions in Joel, the gospels and Revelation.

Utter destruction will come upon the Assyrian army. 

There was conflict between the Medes and Assyria, and Media was also responsible for Babylon's downfall many years later. There is perhaps in the latter part of this chapter a mixing of prophecies against Assyria and those concerning the future downfall of Babylon. The Assyrian attack and Babylonian exile were all part of a single act of God concerning the nation of Israel.

Isaiah 12:1-6 - Praise for Salvation

Now we get a song of praise to God. This song will be sung "in that day", ie when God's plans come to fruition. As well as this having an ultimate fulfilment in the completion of all His plans, we can also apply to "mini-fulfilments" in our own lives. 

"You were angry with me". We need to realise that there were times when God was angry with us. In our keenness to emphasise the mercy of God we can forget the seriousness of sin. 

On the cross God dealt with our sin in Christ. So our response is to trust in God, and not be afraid. Through the cross God is on our side, He is for us and not against us, so we can be confident. God is our strength and defence. Instead of relying on our own strength, or on the strength of others, we rely upon the strength of the Lord.

We draw water from the wells of salvation with joy. Particularly in times of trouble we need to draw deep on the wells of salvation. The effects of God's salvation go much deeper than we realise. No matter what we face we can be confident that God's well's of salvation will not run out.

Then the chapter closes with Israel declaring the praises and goodness of God to the world. This is the pattern of how things are meant to be. We experience God's salvation for ourselves, then we declare that salvation to others.

Isaiah 11:6-16 - Victory and Peace

"The wolf will live with the lamb". These words could be taken purely metaphorically, ie talking about peace coming between human enemies. Or they could be taken as having a natural interpretation as well. I favour the latter. In Genesis we were commanded to subdue creation, and in Romans 8 we are told that all of creation is waiting for the people of God to be revealed. When we assume our proper place there will be a dramatic effect on all of creation.

"They will neither harm nor destroy .. for the earth".  True peace comes when the earth is filled with the knowledge of God. 

This will happen when the name of Jesus is lifted high for all the people to see. The Lord will bring many people into His kingdom. The banner is for Israel and for the nations.  There will be peace between Ephraim and Judah, ie between the then divided kingdoms of Israel, and they will be victorious. We need to note that this has not happened yet. Yes, Israel was set free from Babylon, but she has never really been a victorious nation since.

Isaiah 11:2-5 - The Spirit of the Lord

So what are these qualities in the new Branch?

The first is that the Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him. After His baptism the Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove. The presence of the Holy Spirit gives wisdom and understanding. This is something that is sadly lacking in our world, but if we look at the gospel accounts of Jesus we see that He had amazing wisdom. 

The Spirit gives counsel and might. He directs in the ways of the Lord, and gives the power of the Lord. Jesus lived His life in complete obedience to the Father, He also exercised amazing power, calming the storm, healing people etc.

Then we have knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. When we forget God we quickly become foolish. When we give God His proper place we become truly wise.

Man exalts himself and despises God, but the Branch would delight in the fear of the Lord. It is a joy to put the Lord first in all things. Man is so superficial in the way he judges things, but Jesus saw into the hearts of men.

He would judge with righteousness and justice, caring for the needy, striking with iron when necessary. Verse 5 reminds us of the armour of God referred to by Paul in Ephesians.

Isaiah 11:1 - A new branch

Jesse was David's father. Assyria would almost destroy Judah. Babylon would then succeed in doing so, taking many off to exile. It would look as though the nation was completely done for, but out of the remnant of the nation would come a shoot. This is another prophecy of Jesus. This branch (a term also used by Jeremiah) would bear fruit.

Now we read of what the characteristics of this branch will be. These are the characteristics that Israel should have had. They are the characteristics that Jesus did have, and they are the characteristics that the Holy Spirit is building into our lives.

You see, Jesus came as the man we were meant to be, and the man that we will be. Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers. He is not some distant figure, but the first of many. We will be raised with a body like His resurrection body, the Spirit is already at work in us to destroy the sin and replace it with His goodness.

Isaiah 10:20-34 - Look to the Lord

Judah had relied upon Assyria (see 2 Chronicles 28:16), yet Assyria was going to strike her down. Part of the tragedy of the human condition is that we have a terrible tendency to rely on those who will hurt us. Nations make alliances with those who will overrun them, women have relationships with men who will abuse them (and vice versa in some cases). We trust in financial institutions that will exploit us. The One we should rely upon is the Lord, and Him alone.

Everything God does is geared towards teaching us to trust in Him. Many Israelites would die, but a remnant would return and trust in Him. 

God then instructs the people not to fear the Assyrians. Remember earlier that God had told Isaiah (chapter 8) not to "fear what they fear". Isaiah needed to have this himself before he could teach the people not to fear Assyria. The disaster would end when the Lord's anger came to an end. We need to remind ourselves here that  the anger spoken of here is not uncontrolled rage, but God's righteous judgment upon Israel's sin.

Assyria would seem to be on the verge of victory, having conquered much of the land. She would seem to be a mighty nation, but then she would be defeated. We will read of this later in chapters 36-39.

If we want to truly understand a situation we need to look to the Lord, if we want to find a way through a situation we need to trust in Him.

Isaiah 10:1-19 - More Judgement and Woe to Assyria

The judgement on Israel continues. Unjust laws and oppressive decrees are singled out. A government should make it a priority to look after the needy. 

People oppress the poor because they think they are more powerful and so can get away with it. However, there comes a point where God demonstrates to them in no uncertain terms that they cannot get away with it.

Again we are told that God's anger is not turned away, He still has more against Israel. However, for now, attention turns to Assyria.

Assyria was God's chosen instrument of judgement on Israel, but this did not mean that Assyria was right in what she did. Assyria had her own plans and goals and was proud of her own prowess. She thought that Jerusalem would crumble before her.

Assyria did not realise that she was only an instrument in God's hand, in the same way that Pilate was an instrument in God's hand. She had power only because God gave her the power, and He would take it away from her before she conquered Jerusalem.

Now if someone looked at Assyria at the time they would largely agree with Assyria's assessment of herself, but things would not turn out that way. When we view world events we need to look at God's agenda as well as the military, economic and political facts.

Assyria would be defeated when she thought she was on the verge of victory.

Isaiah 9:8-21 - Judgement upon Israel

Again we have a sudden change of mood. After the great section on "unto us a son is given" we are back to judgement upon Israel. This happens because the book reflects the real situation. It reflects the awfulness of Israel's sin and its consequences, and it reflects the unswerving love of God and His determination to do something about it.

We sometimes talk admiringly of the indomitableness of the human spirit, but here God criticises Ephraim. She suffered greatly at the hands of Assyria, but reacted by declaring proudly that she would rebuild an even better land. What she should have done is to repent and turn back to God. So she will find all her efforts are futile. Indeed God's anger against Israel remained.

The whole nation was guilty. Verse 17 declares that God is even against the widow and the fatherless. Now these are two groups that the Bible consistently says God supports. So why the change? It is because they too were guilty. Just because you are in need does not mean that you do not still have moral responsibility. We always have responsibility.

In the final section of this chapter we read of how evil consumes. The wrath of the Lord is to let man take the full consequences of his actions and decisions. For the people turn on each other.

Isaiah 9:1-7 - A child is given

Isaiah is the book in the Old Testament that is most full of prophecies about Jesus. We have already seen the prophecy of the virgin birth, now we get another one.

Zebulun and Naphtali were not considered to be great, and had been conquered by Assyria. In the future they would be honoured, and Jesus spent a significant amount of His time in Galilee. The people of the time were somewhat derogatory about this, asking if anything good could come out of Galilee.

Those walking in darkness have seen a great light. God brings His light to shine in dark places. The key question for all of us is not the circumstances we are in, but how we respond to God. Our God is a God who transforms situations.

The prophet is looking forward to victorious times. He sees a time of victory, fruitfulness and increase. In fact , if you look at God's plans for people, whether individuals or nations, it is always the same: victory, fruitfulness, increase.

Then there is an allusion to the defeat of Midian. This was carried out by Gideon. God chose an unlikely fellow and won the victory in an unlikely manner. No one can work out God's plans. All the forces that tore the nation apart would come to nothing.

We then come to how this would come about. "Unto us a child is born", Jesus Christ. The government would be upon His shoulders, there will be no end to the increase of His government, and the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

Isaiah 8:1-22 - Fear the Lord

Isaiah was to name his children as signs of what would happen. A key theme of the whole of Isaiah is that God knows the end from the beginning, He can tell them what will happen. Now we need to beware here, this is not the same as fatalism. When God tells us that something is going to happen the key thing is our response. It does not mean that there is nothing we can do, nor does it mean that what we do does not matter. God is eternal, meaning He is beyond time.

The first child is called Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, meaning "quick to the plunder". Isaiah calls the priests as witnesses to this. The prophetess of verse 3 is probably the young woman of chapter 7, and became Isaiah's wife. Samaria and Damascus would fall before the boy was able to speak. 

Israel had rejected God. In so doing they had rejected peace. So Assyria would swarm over the land. It would also carry on to Judah as well.

God challenges the nations to devise their plans, knowing that they would come to nothing.

Isaiah is then warned not to be carried along by the tide of public opinion or the general wisdom of the day. He is not to fear what they fear, and not to call conspiracy what they call conspiracy. When situations get difficult men have all sorts of ideas about what is happening, why it is happening and what can be done. None of their wisdom will take God into the reckoning. Isaiah is to look to the Lord, he is to fear the Lord.

Israel would fall because she did not turn to the Lord, not because of any military, diplomatic or economic failing.

The people would turn anywhere but to the Lord who could save them.

Isaiah 7:1-25 - Assyrian attack predicted

In 735 or 743BC the Syro-Ephraimite war took place, and Aram (Syria) and the northern kingdom (Israel, or Ephraim) joined forces to attack Judah. They wanted Ahaz, king of Judah, to join them in an alliance against Assyria. Judah was making overtures to Assyria. This alliance against Judah put fear in their hearts.

Events and circumstances can make us afraid, and fear leads us to make wrong decisions. Isaiah goes to the king and says "be careful, keep calm and do not be afraid". Although Aram and Israel had joined forces against them, neither of these nations was strong. Many of the things that seek to put fear in our hearts are actually weak. Both Aram and Israel would be defeated.

Verse 9b is crucial: "if you do stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all". In all circumstances we need to live by faith. Living by faith is God's chosen way.

God then told Ahaz to ask for a sign. He appreciated the difficulty of the situation for Ahaz and sought to encourage him. Ahaz, however, refused to ask for a sign. We can be very perverse. In Jesus' time the people were forever asking for signs when they had actually seen quite enough. Here Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, despite being told to ask for one.

So Isaiah tells Ahaz that God will give him a sign, and we get the promise of the virgin birth. This prophecy would have both an immediate fulfilment in Isaiah's time, and a complete fulfilment in Jesus. The immediate outcome would be that Aram and Ephraim would be defeated, and Assyria would attack Jerusalem.

Assyria would be the Lord's instrument. Note that the prophecies do not talk about complete defeat. Much of the land would be taken, but Jerusalem itself would not in the end fall.

Isaiah 6:11-13 - A hard road

In the previous verses it says "be never understanding". Now thankfully there will come a time when they do perceive. So we must beware of reading these verses with excessive literalness. God is describing there current state, not their permanent state.

Isaiah asks how long, and who can blame him! It is not much fun preaching a message and no one understanding what you are saying.

God's answer is not too comforting. "Until the cities lie ruined ..." Israel was truly hard-hearted. Exile was inevitable. Israel is in a sense representative of all mankind. God could have chosen any nation, any individual out which to make His nation. The result would have been the same because of the root of sin in all mankind.

It would look as though all was lost, but a stump would be left and the nation of God would arise from this stump. There is no easy way forward, but there is a way forward.

Isaiah 6:8-10 - Give up your bitterness

God wants to communicate a message to the world.  A few moments ago Isaiah thought he was done for, now he is as keen as mustard to be God's messenger. Why the change? It is the forgiveness of his sins. Sin makes us unsure of ourselves. We might try and hide it, ignore our sin, or excuse our sin, but deep down we know it makes us unworthy. Forgiveness from God cleanses us from all guilt, so we are now free.

Next God gives Isaiah the message he has to take, and it does not sound promising! The message declares that the people will be never understanding, never perceiving. They can hear all they like, see all they like, but they will never understand. Before we consider why this was the case, we can see first of all that it definitely was the case. They had the law, they had the prophets, but they never truly understood or responded. They saw great miracles when they came out of Egypt, when they went through the desert, when they entered the Promised Land, and at various points thereafter. Yet they never really knew God, they did not understand His ways. Then God came in person as Jesus Christ. Again they heard many wonderful things and saw numerous miracles, but understood nothing.

So, whatever else we may say about these verse, they are definitely true.

When a people are rebellious hearing the word of God will only make their hearts harder. Isaiah spoke with clarity and simplicity, but the people rejected his message. The tragedy is that if would only turn to God they would be healed. Indeed this is the tragedy of all who refuse to believe. Often there can be deep emotional wounds that contribute to their rebellion, they become bitter and angry against God for things that have happened. Yet, if they would only turn to God they would receive healing for their wounds. This does not mean pretending we have not been hurt. The book of Job is an excellent example. He suffered great tragedy, he did not hold back in voicing his complaints, yet in the end he had to submit to God, then he was healed and restored.

Isaiah 6:5-7 - Forgiven for a Purpose

Having seen the Lord, Isaiah is full of horror. After the miraculous catch of fish Peter asked Jesus to get away from him because he was a sinner (Luke 5:8). Seeing the glory of the Lord shows us how sinful we are, there is no longer any room for boasting or pretense. Isaiah knew that all his failings and sins were open to the Lord. So it seemed that he was without hope.

Then one of the seraphim touched his lips with a live coal and announced that his sin had been taken away and atoned for. Before we can be fully used by the Lord we need to understand our sinfulness and the Lord's forgiveness. This can be painful, but the result is glorious. 

We see here too a vital pattern. We are forgiven for a purpose. Isaiah was forgiven so that he could become the Lord's messenger. We are not forgiven merely so that we will not go to hell, but so that we can live Christlike lives and bring glory to God.

Paul in Athens - The Risen Lord

The Risen Christ

Finally in Acts 17:29-34 Paul calls on them to repent and turn to God. The call to believe in Christ is not an option, it is a command, for one day everyone will be called to give an account to Him.

The evidence for the Lordship of Christ is the resurrection. The resurrection was the focus of all the New Testament preaching. At this point we come to the final myth of atheism that we will consider in this series of essays. This myth is that faith is not based on evidence. Time and time again you will hear in the media the notion that faith means believing something when there is no evidence, or despite the evidence. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The resurrection is based on solid evidence. The gospels record several incidents of Jesus appearing to men and women, and in various circumstances. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, tells us that on one occasion Jesus appeared to over 500 hundred people. Paul also pointed out that many of these people were still alive, so they could be asked.

There are various arguments given against the resurrection, we will look at a few of these:

It was just all nonsense

This is based on the idea that 1st century people were gullible. They knew full well that when someone died, they stayed dead. Remember also that whenever Jesus spoke about the resurrection His disciples never had a clue what He was on about. As mentioned above, the resurrection was based on evidence.

They made it up

If it was all made up, why then did the disciples risk their lives for a lie? Most, possible all, of the apostles died because of their faith. Note also that the first witnesses were women.

In the culture of their time you would not have women as the first witnesses if you were making something up.

Both the “made it up” and “nonsense” arguments run into the problem, that if Jesus was dead why did the Roman or the Jews not just point to the tomb? This would have put an end to all the talk of the risen Lord. But they did not do this because they could not do this because there was no body.

Jesus never died

This is a very weak argument. The Romans were very skilled at two things, building roads and killing people. They checked the bodies on the cross to make sure they were dead.

Even if Jesus had just “swooned”, then He would have been in a very weak state to say the least. Hardly someone to start a new movement. And it again runs into the same arguments as the “made it up” theory.

Disciples stole the body

This is equally unlikely, and again runs into the “made it up” arguments. Moreover, the Romans had guards on the tomb who risked their lives if the body was stolen.

Hallucination

This is the idea that the disciples suffered from hallucinations. This is psychological nonsenses. First there was no expectation of Jesus rising from the dead. Secondly, there were multiple appearances, in different situations, to different people.

One of the strongest arguments for the resurrection is the church itself, for otherwise it is difficult to explain the rise of the church. Remember the apostles paid a great price for following Jesus, and received little in the way of earthly gain.

One final important point is that because Jesus is the risen Lord we can know and experience Him for ourselves.

So the resurrection is not “blind faith”, but faith based on very strong evidence.

Further Reading

You can find much more on the resurrection, and the arguments I have mentioned briefly here in Andrew Warnock’s book, Raised with Christ. There are, of course, many other good books on this topic.

Isaiah 6:1-4 - Isaiah's vision

The first five chapters have set the scene. Most of it has been an indictment of Israel, but mixed in has been the odd promise of redemption. God has let Isaiah see what the situation is, now He give Isaiah his commission. (It should be noted that many think the commission preceded the stuff we have already read.)

Isaiah now sees a vision of the Lord. The Lord was high and exalted. When we look at what is happening in the world we often see a sordid mess. We need to look to the Lord and His greatness. Now the Lord does not stand aloof in His greatness. We see this supremely in Jesus coming to earth and living among us.

Seraphs are not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, though the living creatures in Rev 4:6-9 are similar. They did not seem to be able to look upon the glory of God, but they sand a song of praise to God.

"The whole earth is full of His glory". This can be seen in various ways. On the one hand creation reflects the glory of the Lord. Despite all the goings on, it is the will of the Lord that will prevail. And finally it can be seen as prophetic. The final outcome is that the Lord will return to reign upon the earth.

Isaiah 5:8-30 - Judgement

There were some who accumulated land just for themselves, taking land from other people. Under the Law there was a vital concern with people having a right to land. This was an important part of the allocation of land when they entered the Promised Land.

When people get great wealth they start to boast of their wealth, and start trusting in it. All this boasting and trusting will come to nothing.

Then they indulge themselves in ever more trivial pursuits. So God says His people will go into exile for lack of understanding". Lack of understanding of what? Of our true place in the world, the true value of things, and our true purpose.So the proud and arrogant will be consumed, and the sheep will once again have pasture to dwell in.

Then we get a whole series of woes. This means that people who think or act in the ways delineated are in for a big shock.

First there are those who take pride in their own wisdom, calling good bad, and bad good. Surely we see this all around us today. In the debates on homosexuality the moral climate now is that it is good to support homosexuality and evil to even question its merits in the mildest possible terms. This is the opposite of what the Bible teaches.

Then there are those who indulge in excess drinking, and those who acquit the guilty. The nation had turned away from God. So God would summon the nations to expel them from the land. This is in line with what God said He would do in Deuteronomy.

Paul in Athens - Turbo Charged Chimps

A Better Way of Life

In Acts 17:24-28 Paul seeks to expand their thinking. Athens was full of temples, and if you go there today you can still see some of them. Paul tells them that God does not need man-made temples. Rather, God created us, and did so with the intention that we should get to know Him. Paul uses the words of one of their own poets to point to the true aim of God’s plan for us, namely to be His children.

The truth is that God’s goodness is greater than we ever imagine, and His plans for us are greater than we conceive them to be.

Atheism tries to pain a picture of a God who seeks to constrict and constrain. Nothing could be further from the truth, for He is a God who gives freedom. Indeed it is atheism that has a poverty of thinking.

The materialist view of the world says that we are nothing more than biochemical machines that came about by random chance. That is what atheism says you are. Consider the implications of this. If you are in love, it has no real meaning, it is just a biochemical response. If you achieve something, whether academically, in sport or whatever, it doesn’t mean anything. It just came about by chance. If you are artistic, whether it be dance, music, literature or art, it is all meaningless. The deep pain and anguish we feel when someone love dies is just an illusion, there is no real loss, no real pain. This is the consequence of the materialist viewpoint.

Indeed, if we are just biochemical machines that came about by blind chance, then any pronouncements we make have no value, no meaning. This, of course, includes the statement that there is no God. As with all contentions of atheism, materialism contains the seeds of its own destruction.

Thankfully the truth is that life does have meaning. There is a God who cares. He created us to achieve things. Just as we feel joy when our own children achieve things, so God rejoices when we achieve things. He also shares in our pain. The loss of someone we love are times when we feel deep pain and loss, but they can also be times when we are supremely aware of the closeness of God, and the cross is the primary demonstration of the depths of God’s love.

More than a turbo-charged chimp

If you want to know what life is about, then Genesis 1-3 is the best place to go. It tells us that we were created in the image of God. We are more than turbo-charged chimps. We are not just more intelligent creatures, we are radically different from every other creature on the planet. And there are seven billion experiments going on in the world today that prove it.

There is no creature on earth that is as self-aware as we are. There is no other creature that seeks to explain, understand or explore as we do. There is no other creature that invents and creates like we do. There is no creature that produces works of art like we do. We are not just monkeys with over-developed brains, but are unique. We are the only creature that was made in the image of God.

If we look at mankind we see two conflicting pictures. On the one hand we see the wonder of humanity. We have already mentioned the creativity and achievements, but we see moral goodness as well. There are famously people who have achieved great things like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Ghandi, Mother Theresa. In times of war or great suffering, ordinary people will make extraordinary sacrifices, they will put their own lives or well-being at risk in order to help others. In all sorts of mundane ways we see people doing good things. Parents looking after disabled children, children looking after elderly parents. Even in your own life you there will be times when you do genuinely good things.

But then on the other hand we can be appalled at what we see in humanity, There are the infamous monsters like Hitler, Stalin and Mao-Tse-Tung who must have been responsible for about 100 million deaths or so between them. In times of war and hardship while some will be amazingly selfless, others will be horrendously selfish. There are parents who abuse their children, children who neglect their elderly parents. Again, if we are honest, there are times when do, or at least think, appalling things.

To say that humanity is wonderful is only part of the story, but to say that humanity is a complete disaster is equal nonsense. This is exactly what Genesis 1-3 tells us. It explains the good and wonderful side of humanity, because we are made in the image of God. We get all the bad stuff because we have rebelled against God, and the rest of the Bible is God’s plan to sort out the problem.

Further Reading

The Reason for God by Tim Keller is an excellent book which explores these and many other themes.

I have also produced a website that explores the issues involved in the creation-intelligent design-evolution debate.

Isaiah 5:1-7 - Vineyard Gone Bad

The vineyard is a common analogy used of Israel. The parable of the tenants (Matt 21:33-44) probably alludes to this passage, and in John's gospel Jesus talks about the vine and His father being the gardener. Paul, too, uses the vine analogy in Romans.

"The one I love" is God, and Israel is His vineyard. The Lord cleared the land of its inhabitants when Israel entered the Promised Land. He planted the nation of Israel there, and she had the Law. The land should have produced good fruit. It should have been a light to the nations, indeed it should have been the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. Instead it produced only bad fruit.

The Lord then calls on Israel to consider the situation, basically whose fault was it? There is nothing else the Lord could have done, so the fault lay with Israel. So the Lord was going to remove the hedge of protection around the land, it would be open to foreign invaders. Natural disasters too would befall the land.

In verse 7 Isaiah makes clear the meaning of the parable. Israel and Judah were the vineyard, justice and righteousness were the good fruit He looked for, instead He found bloodshed and oppression of the poor.

Paul in Athens - Science's Altars to an Unknown God

Meeting them in their own ground

Paul went to the meeting of the Aeropagus, where the philosophers of the Athens discussed the latest ideas. Now in Acts 17:16 we read that Paul was greatly troubled by the number of idols he saw. So we might expect him to have condemned them for their idol worship, but instead he complements them on their religiosity, and points to one altar with the inscription “To an Unknown God”. Paul met them on their own ground, and took that as a starting point for what he was going to teach them.
Science has its own “altars to unknown Gods”. Let me give you three of them: one from quantum mechanics, one from cosmology, and  one from mathematics.

Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Mechanics is an amazing and complex subject. The Nobel prize winner Richard Feynman said no one understands quantum mechanics, so we can count ourselves in good company. Indeed, one can summarise quantum mechanics in three words: “life is weird”.

One of the better known aspects of quantum physics is Heisenberg’s Uncertainty principle. This states that it is impossible to know both the position and momentum of a fundamental particle with perfect accuracy. So you can know where a particle is, but not what its doing. Or you can know what it is doing, but not where it is doing it.

Cosmology

We have very complex and sophisticated models of the universe. However, there is a big problem. In order for them to work there has to be more energy and mass in the universe than we can detect. In the wordx of Nasa, “more is unknown than is known”. In fact, it is reckoned that 70% of the universe is dark energy and 25% dark matter. This dark matter and dark energy cannot be directly detected.

Mathematics

In the 1930’s the Austrian mathematician Kurt Godel proved his “incompleteness theorems”. These say that in any logically consistent system there will be some things that are true, but that cannot be proved to be true. This came as a great shock, as it had been expected that we could develop mathematical systems that could explain everything, Godel annoyingly demonstrated that this would never be possible!

So we see that science keeps coming up with limits to knowledge. Now this is not just things that we do not know yet. It could be argued, and I would expect this to be the case, that eventually we will either work out exactly what dark matter and energy are, or we will advance our theories so that the concepts are no longer needed. However, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle is a solid fact, or at least as solid as anything can be in quantum mechanics, and the laws of logic are not likely to change anytime soon.

You see, men are always trying to run away from God, but every attempt is doomed to failure, because the fundamental fact is that there is a God. Far from doing away with the need for God, God is in fact the foundation of all science. It is because the universe is the creation of an intelligent being that science can make sense of it. And it is because we were made in the image of God that we are able to be good scientists.

If you want to read more about God and Science, can I recommend  the book God’s Undertaker by John Lennox.