Awesome God
The book of the Bible that we read from today is named after the Prophet, Isaiah, who we believe was responsible for most of it.
In the Bible, there are many prophets whose lives appear in the Old Testament. They were people who heard from God, either audibly or through thoughts or dreams. They would hear things that might be of the future, perhaps warnings or words of hope or promise, and the Prophet would be expected to pass those words on to those that needed them.
Apart from Isaiah, Prophets in the Bible included people like Jeremiah, often seen as something of a Prophet of Doom, because he kept warning the Jewish people of their bad ways and of the need to repent else face the consequences. Jonah was another one who heard from God, and it was the fear of the delivering a tough message to the people of Ninevah that prompted him to run and get swallowed by the whale, then ultimately go back and deliver the message.
And prophets were not just old people who sat meditating. Isaiah was married and had three children. He heard from the Lord and was clearly speaking as a prophet for more than forty years. The passionate conviction with which he was grabbed by words from the God probably started before he was married. He would have been front line ministry throughout his adult life. Not just an old man living a quiet life in a corner somewhere.
Prophecy didn’t die with the old people in the Old Testament. There are prophets in the New Testament – notably in the writings of Revelations – the last book of the Bible – about the time when Jesus will come again, a second time. Importantly, and notably, prophecy was not the preserve of men – the story of Anna, speaking of the life of Jesus to his parents – in Luke 2 – is a wonderful example.
The gift of prophecy is alive and well today, it may surprise you to know. The Bible talks about the gift of prophecy as being something very specifically given to particular people, see Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.
The person right next to you could have this gift, or it could even be yours, but you are just at the start of that journey.
In Revelations 1:3, we read “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of his prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”.
If you have that gift, don’t keep what you hear for yourself, and do learn to use it. Listen, write, record, test, and speak.
Isaiah heard and wrote his words in the period 740 to 700 BC. So seven hundred years before Jesus was born, He heard God speaking to him about a Messiah coming. He didn’t know when what he wrote of might come to pass, but as with other words he heard, he wrote them down and they all formed part of this big book in the Old Testament.
Just before we turn to the passage, the name Isaiah, what does it mean in Hebrew? It means “Yahweh [is] salvation” or “God is Saviour”. Quite a name for someone who is going to point to the arrival of Jesus, the son of God.
The Tapestry within Isaiah
This passage we have before us today is one of the very specific sections which point to the coming of Jesus.
We have the benefit of being able to see the threads now as they weave together, but for him, he just heard sound-bites through his life.
From the first prophecy is Isaiah 7, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and he will be called Immanuel”,
The son who was going to arrive was to be called “Immanuel” meaning “God with us”. What more was he going to hear about this special child?
There were other threads before the one this morning; Isaiah 8, verse 14 “He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall”.
Immanuel would be for the two peoples of Israel and Judah – who were all that were left of the original twelve tribes - at that time, split rather than together.
Isaiah 9, verse 6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders… He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever”.
Immanuel would re-claim the throne of David and rule his kingdom, not just for his lifetime for but forever.
When he also had the thread in Isaiah 11, that “there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse”
He knew that Immanuel would take on rule of the Jewish people legitimately through birth-right as a descendant of Jesse, the father of David, King David, the one who slew Goliath.
And Isaiah 11 promises that “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him”.
The Lord’s blessing and presence will be with him.
These prophesies are world changing for Isaiah and the Jewish people
- Someone special is going to be born of a Virgin, someone who is “God with us”
- That someone will be descended from the royal line of David
- He is going to be a holy place for the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah
- He is going to cause much disruption but unity too
- He is going to reign forever
- The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him
These words that Isaiah heard and wrote were explosive. And there was more to come.
Isaiah didn’t just hear of the lineage and role of Immanuel. He also heard about the kind of ruler that Immanuel would be.
Isaiah 9, “And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever”.
Isaiah 11 “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirt of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and in the fear of the Lord”
Isaiah 28 verse 16 “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.”
Immanuel is going to be the most perfect ruler one could wish for
Isaiah also hears that Immanuel will bring with him a new relationship with God.
In Isaiah 35, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you” and later verses “the eyes of the blind will be opened” and the “ears of the deaf unstopped”. “a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way”.
In Isaiah 43 verse 18-20, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland… to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise”
If I was in Isaiah’s shoes, I would be struggling to contain the words. I would be wanting to proclaim this year of the Lord’s favour, the new dawning, the promise. A new king for God’s people, a unified people and a unified land.
The challenge of course, with these prophecies is that they were visionary. They were not for tomorrow and it was unclear what would be fulfilled when. Isaiah must have sat many a time, dwelling on these words, and hoping the day would be soon. It would come seven centuries later.
We have a wonderful picture emerging of a new saviour for God’s people. But Isaiah starts to hear of a more uncomfortable part of the story.
In Isaiah 53, there are more sombre words “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground… He was despised and rejected by men… he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed”
And this was the struggle that people had in recognising Jesus as the Messiah when he came. Thousands followed him as he was led in Jerusalem on a donkey with palms laid before him, but they vanished when Jesus was arrested.
Those that were waiting for the Messiah expected someone to rule, one of princely heritage, and one who would have power.
God’s people were told to expect something new but they stuck with their old-world view and they measured this king by the human lens. No eye to the heavenly dimension.
Those who ran away when they saw Jesus persecuted had failed to hold onto the lens that Jesus himself would take, that Isaiah 11 foretold “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”
This is the challenge of the Christmas story. We have this beautiful and seemingly romantic beginning to a new life which faces the reality of a dirty world and death before resurrection.
Fear and love
As we contrast all that we think we want from a saviour with all that we think we don’t, I want us to talk a little of fear and love; Two wildly different emotions and emotive words. Is there anything odd that struck you about the first verses of Chapter 11? Did you notice the word fear and how it was portrayed?
We live in a world that is fearful. We all have fears and worries, about now, about the future, about money, about health, about what we know and don’t know, about what we see and what we cannot see. About being found out, about finding out.
But of Jesus, Isaiah says that “he will delight in the fear of the Lord”. Isn’t that an odd expression? How can someone delight in fear?
How does that sit with the command that the Lord gives us “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your mind.”?
And the words in 1 John 4 that “Perfect love drives out all fear”.
We read the words earlier “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
How many of you will have held on to the warm words? Counsellor, Father and Peace?
But our God is also a MIGHTY GOD. Ruler of Heaven and Earth.
Immanuel will delight in the fear of the Lord because he will delight in the fact that he is the son of a Mighty God.
The fear that Isaiah talks of is not a fear that brings panic but one that brings a full and total respect of the one true God. How much is our world missing that awe and respect today.
The Promise of Heaven
The picture in Isaiah 11 verses 6 to 9, is one of heaven. A time when there will be no fear. When Jesus will come again, when a new heaven and a new earth will come into being, as described in Revelation 21:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea…. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people…”… “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away”.
Isaiah was prophesying the first coming of Jesus, and with Him, the Holy Spirit came to be present with us. John, in Revelation, had a vision of Jesus’s second coming, when the Garden of Eden will be restored.
How will we look at Revelation when those times come to pass? Will we have seen and imagined more or less than Isaiah glimpsed of the future in his day?
We started with a prophecy of our times now and we finish with prophecy of times ahead.
There will be prophets amongst our congregation, our community today. Those of you that have that gift, men and women, please bring words to us so that we can be awake, alert, and walk more closely the Way that our God wants us to.
Bring words in fear and trembling to a people ready to be challenged.
Bring words to a people who are just starting to be in awe of their Mighty God.
Going Deeper
Does the talk make you think differently about who prophets were?
In what ways do you think God can speak to us today?
In what ways do you think the Lord has guided you or spoken to you?
Can fear be a good thing?
What do you think of this idea of a new heaven and a new earth?