THE BOOK OF ISAIAH
‘Woe’ to You if You
Forget the Lord and His Deeds
Isaiah 4-5 SCC 3/3/13
GOD WILL VINDICATE
ISRAEL IN THE FUTURE 4
The purpose of judgment is always
restoration
Verse
1 is a high point of the horrors that were to come.
It suggests that war has caused so many men to die in Israel that women would
be desperate for male companionship and support. They would be willing to
humiliate themselves to escape the reproach of being unmarried and childless.
Long gone is the hope to gain a man through seduction of the eyes. All this
will happen on “that day” namely, when God judges His people for trusting in
other human beings and themselves rather than Him.
Verse 2 "In that day" refers to a future
time when the Lord comes (for blessing or judgment) to His people. The ‘Branch’ is a name of Christ, used in a
fourfold way: (1) ‘the branch of the Lord’ (v 2) belonging to the Lord; (2)
‘the Branch’ of David of the royal house; (3) the Lord’s ‘servant, the Branch’
in incarnation; and (4) the ‘man whose name
is THE BRANCH’ that is, His character as Son of man. “The fruit of the earth” probably refers to the fruitfulness of the
earth that God would provide through Israel and, specifically, the Messiah in
the Kingdom Age. The ‘survivors of Israel’
refers to those who would live through the judgments mentioned earlier in this
passage but also on into the final judgments when this branch would bring
bounty to the land while ruling there.
Verse 3 reveals divine
judgments that God will bring on the Israelites in the future (in the
Tribulation). This will have a purifying effect on many of them, specifically
the elect. Those left alive to the end will be holy in conduct as well as set
apart by God for His purposes.
Verse 4 has
two metaphors for spiritual cleansing; ‘washing’ and ‘purging’. This will be
the outcome of ‘judgment’ and ‘burning’. The filth, that is, the seductive
immorality and idolatry, and bloodshed, that is, the exploitation of others as
well as premeditated murder, of Jerusalem, will be targeted by God.
Verse
5 is a historical allusion to the Lord’s personal
presence and care during the Exodus and Wilderness Wandering Periods. It refers
to the Shekinah cloud of glory (a protective
covering over the whole of the people, like the Exodus and Wilderness
Wanderings). He would personally lead His people again and provide for all
their needs.
Verse
6 has several metaphors combined to show the Lord’s
protection (from heat and storm). Often these metaphors refer to the Lord’s as a
protective mother bird (i.e., under the shelter of its wings) and a high
fortress or stronghold. Believers can trust the protection and tender care of
their covenant God! He is with us and for us, if we only repent, believe, obey,
serve, and persevere. The covenant has promises (benefits) and responsibilities
(obligations). Both have consequences!
NB: History has
shown that some of the predictions of judgment found partial fulfillment in the
exiles of Israel that preceded Messiah’s appearing. However most of the
judgment, and the entire blessing connected to Messiah, lies in the future from
our perspective. It is mainly the Tribulation and Messiah’s blessing of Israel
in the Millennium to follow in view here.
YET GOD’S OMINOUS
JUDGMENT MAY SEEM THAT ALL IS LOST 5
God’s people are in danger of becoming
bad fruit 1-7
Verse 1-2 is a
song used to draw the attention of the passers-by, so that they would stop and
listen. ‘Beloved’ is mentioned 3
times referring to a dear friend for which the owner had special expectations. The man
double-fenced his vineyard and built a watchtower and a wine vat in it
indicating that He intended it to satisfy him for a long time. Yet all His work
was for nothing. His finest vines disappointed Him. He was really describing
God’s careful preparation of Israel to bring forth spiritual fruit.
Verse 3-4 asks them for
their opinion. What more could he have done to insure a good crop? Why did his
vines produce worthless (sour) grapes? In view of what the owner had done (vv. 1-2), the answers would
have to be, you could have done nothing more than you did. The grapes were the
cause of the disappointment, not you. God did everything for
His people, but they rejected Him.
Verse 5-6 God explained
what he would do to his disappointing vineyard. He would stop protecting it and
abandon it to the elements and to its
enemies. He would invest no more
labor on it and would even stop providing it with the nourishment it needed to
flourish. Furthermore, he would assist in its destruction.
Verse 7 identifies the
characters in his parable by name. His well-beloved and the owner of the
vineyard was Lord of hosts, not some unnamed friend. The vineyard was Israel,
not his friend’s wife and the people of Judah were the individual plants in
this unresponsive vineyard. The good fruit God looked for was justice (the
righting of wrongs) and righteousness (right relationships), but the bad fruit
the vines produced was oppression (the inflicting of wrongs) and violence
(wrong relationships).
Sin can overwhelm their way of life
8-25
Yahweh’s crop was worthless because it produced wild grapes that
manifested six blights related to a
very bad crop indeed:
Verse 8-10 Greedy Land Owners: The Israelites
were buying out their neighbors, as they had opportunity or made the
opportunity, to increase their land holdings. The wealthier or smarter members
of the community took advantage of their less fortunate brethren and so
deprived them of their opportunity to live on land that God had given them. The
expectations of the greedy rich and exploitive elements of society will not
materialize. They will not enjoy their ill-gotten gain! God would judge
the farmers by decreasing the productivity of their crops. The land-hungry
would become hungry. No matter how many acres a person may own, God still
controls the weather.
Verse 11-12 Pleasure-seeking: These people were
“party animals” who paid no attention to the Lord or His works.
Judah, during most of Isaiah's prophetic ministry, was an extremely successful
and prosperous nation. This prosperity brought spiritual weakness and a
dependency upon human resources, naturally leading to forgetfulness and thankfulness,
giving God no credit!
Verse 13-17 is an explanation of further judgment to come due to the greed and pleasure seeking:
(1) The exile will drive the people out of the land so they cannot be greedy and indulge any longer in it.
(2) Instead of
pleasure-seekers opening their throats to drink wine, Sheol
(the place of the dead) would open her throat to drink down the
pleasure-seekers v 14.
(3) The offenders’
actions showed that they really did not know the Lord in any life-changing way;
the knowledge of God had had no practical effect on the way they lived v 15.
(4) In contrast to
the humiliation of the Israelite proud, the Lord would enjoy exaltation because
what characterizes Him is the opposite of what marked His people, namely,
justice and righteousness. This difference between God and His people is an
aspect of His holiness. When God’s people were humiliated and He would be
exalted v 16.
(5) Innocent lambs
and unknown strangers would enjoy the property that the proud sought to secure.
The ruin of their illegally procured land has made it public land now v 17.
Verse 18-19 Willful Sinning: They had not innocently fallen into sin,
but they were pursuing it willfully. Rather than fleeing from it, they were holding
it close to themselves. Even worse, they were doing so in an attempt to bait
God to respond. They believed that He would not punish them. Their ties with
sin were like the cords that the people used to lead their animals and the cart
ropes that were much stronger and harder to break.
Verse 20 Perverse: The people were calling good
what God called evil, and vice versa. They were mocking God’s ways publicly and
privately. They refused to accept the standard of God’s revelation.
Verse 21 Arrogance: They thought they were wiser
and cleverer than the Lord.
Verse 22-23 Corrupt Values: The more a person could
drink, the greater the people honored him. They thought it “smart” to profit
from the misfortune of others even though that ran counter to God’s will.
Verse 24 is an
explanation of further judgment based on these sins. Fire
is a metaphor for judgment and cleansing. He would also be an internal disease to
them that decimates a whole plant, from roots to shoots. The reason for
judgment is the people’s rejection of the Lord of Hosts revealed will. It
was the willful, purposeful rejection of the Judean people of their covenant
God.
Verse 25 many judgments had already come against Judah in her history. Nevertheless the nation had not repented, so more judgment would come. Carcasses and quakes the norm.
The only outcome is thorough
judgment that may seem to exhaust Gods mercy 26-30
Verse 26 reveals that the
Lord, as sovereign not only over their nation but also over all nations, was
preparing to call a foreign power to punish them. All He had to do was raise a
flag, as in battle to summon troops, or whistle and they would respond swiftly,
even though they resided in a remote part of the earth.
Verse 27-29 describes the invincible invading
army. God is against His own covenant people! He will fight on behalf of the
invading pagan enemy. The judgment will descend like a destructive storm with
the attendant terror, horror, devastation, and loss of life.
Verse
30 says the enemy’s attack would be as irresistible
as the pounding of waves on a shore. Israel would find no help anywhere, not
from the sea or from the land. This is the case at the end of the Tribulation
as Jesus predicts in Matt 24-25.
So What?
1. No one can expect to get away
with his or her sin. We can never be novel enough to get God to look the
other way. Colossians 3:25 says, For he who does wrong will
receive the consequences of he wrong which he has done and that without
partiality. Victory in the spiritual life is coming to terms with the fact
that I am not in charge of determining what is in my best interests. God is.
2. God’s discipline of or judgment of my sin will be relentless. There is simply no way of God will stop short of my having to live with sins consequences or either deal with my sin. It will be either/or.
3. If you choose a life of sin, you will inevitably leave God out of your life, forget him, ignore him, marginalize him, challenge him, and be ungrateful to Him. That will get you in a heap of trouble with him. Always include time to praise God, thank God, when you pray. Begin your prayers by paying attention to His deeds in history, in the Bible, and in your own life.
Okay!
1. Look sin in your life squarely in the eye. Call it what it is. Name it.
2. God will and he will also do something about it.
3. Sin is possible because you set God aside so instead remember him and thank him.