A CRASH COURSE THROUGH THE OLD TESTAMENT, PART 11 (ISAIAH

Welcome to the Something To Gnaw On Podcast, a short podcast for the Christian with a short attention span, designed to give you something to spiritually and mentally gnaw on throughout your day…  and this A Crash Course Through The Old Testament, where we’re breaking the Old Testament down, section by section, book by book, to make it a little less intimidating, and easier to process.        And I’m your host, Nate Vainio.

This episode is Part 11, the book of Isaiah, Parts 1 & 2.

·         Let me share a weird theoretical stories with you. 

o   Story:  Imagine walking through the parking lot to your local grocery store.  Just before you get to the front door you see a parent behind a car hit a five-year-old child on the back side three times… and, judging from the tears, the kid is feeling the sting of the beating.  You’re not sure what the angry look on the parents face means, but they are desheveled and they look exhausted.

o   The problem I want to highlight in this crazy story is the attitude that some people look at the bible with due to the Judgment that you will read in the books of the Prophets…. Or what little they read in these books

§  When you see the kid getting a spanking, you didn’t see 

·         that the kid (over the course of his short life) has had a tendency of running through parking lots and not listening to his parents.   

·         You didn’t see the 5 year old nearly get hit by an innocent driver as the barely 3 foot tall kid ran out from behind an SUV.

·         What you didn’t see is all the times before that the parent tried to logically explain the laws of physics and the fact that the behavior is dangerous and potentially fatal.

·         And you are unaware that the parent in this situation had a sibling severely injured because of this kind of behavior.

·         What you potentially do is interpret that moment as abuse, when in fact it is loving discipline. 

o   What you saw as desccheveled clothing and exhaustion is a single parent who just picked their kid up from day care after a 12 hour shift, and they have to get groceries so there is something to eat when they get home.

o   That look on their face that seems to be anger, is most likely a combination of love for the kid, and fear of losing them.  And the spanking…. Well, it’s just that… and the kid is playing to the crowd… generating tears for public outcry…  and your response to the situation will dictate his success.

·          Sure the parent is startled and angry…  but there’s a good chance that kid no longer runs through parking lots.

So why do I belabor this point with such silly theoretical story?  It’s because when we get to the prophets, and this week especially in Isaiah, we See God like this parent.   But the problem is that too many people have an unfortunately inaccurate perception of God because of all the consequences leveled against humanity… and they don’t take the time to investigate the behavior of the child leading up to the discipline, correction, or whatever surgical procedure is necessary to remove sin, and they fail to investigate God’s patience, and His intent of doing so out of a deep love and desire for both holiness and relationship.

Two things you need to go back and investigate as we work through Isaiah.

First, starting in Genesis, we see the tension develop between God’s holiness and his love for us, and it will be on full display in Isaiah….  Starting right off in the first chapter.   And as this ran through the Section one, it resulted in a written declaration of what it is that God expects, we call it the Law.  And that is the moral standard throughout the bible.   It is written down and accessible.

Secondly, The second section becomes the history books, that is Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel’s King’s Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.  And as we get into Sections 4 & 5, it’s important to note that the prophets functioning and writing these books in the same timeframe.  

The history books cover mostly the events that happen, whereas the books of the prophets cover what God had to say about them.  This is not absolute, but a generalization. I don’t know if you remember, but in going through the History books I mentioned that once the time of the kings started in Samuel, there was a balance of power element in Israel where the King led the nation, and a Prophet would act as God’s mouthpiece.  In many several cases, the king showed deference and submission to the prophet…. And other times the kings didn’t like what they said, and they had them killed, but that’s another episode.

   Quickly, remember David being confronted by the prophets, we covered this specifically in one of the episodes of HANDLING CONFLICT KING DAVID STYLE.  And not many, if any, would speak to a king the way a prophet could.   And that’s how it should have worked out.   But unfortunately, many kings would reject the office of the prophet, and many lost their lives in the process.  Again, the record of the prophets provides a bit of a counter balanced representation of what transpires in the History books.

Here are a couple of key’s to keep in mind about the History Books, and how they correlate to the prophets, and imagine where a prophet would fit in to this cycle.

·         First, remember the sin cycle that begins right off the bat in the book of Judges.  

o   The people are in a season of blessing, and get lax.

o   The people sin and offend God.

o   The people reap what they have sown and end up in captivity or being over-run and tormented by heathen people groups around them.

o   In their oppression, the people cry out to God for salvation from their enemies.

o   God, hears their cry, and sends a ‘savior’ (and throughout  the history books that could be a Judge, a king, a prophet….. all of which point to the ultimate Savior in the New Testament, which is Jesus)

o   Then the people enjoy peace and the fruit of salvation, and as time wears on, they (or their descendants) get lax, and repeat the cycle.

·         It’s important to note that this cycle not only runs through the Judges, but through the time of the kings…. And even can be seen in this day globally, in the United States, … and even in our individual lives…. It is a struggle on an individual level as well as a familial level, and a cultural level.

And we see the prophet Isaiah dealing with this…. 66 chapters of being an intermediary between God and the people.

But before we get into that, let’s get a brutally quick view, or outline, of the book.

In Chapter 1, Verse 1, Isaiah begins by simply establishing who he is and the timeframes in which he served.  He’s the son of a guy named Amoz, and he served under Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  By way of understanding the behind the scenes activities of the people of Israel during these times, I would recommend reading 2 Chronicles 26 – 32, which covers the reigns of these kings, also you can start in 2 Kings 15.   (A word of caution in reading here,  KEEP IN MIND, that while these accounts are written to cover the same timeframe of history, they are authored in different timeframes.   Presumably Jeremiah writes Kings before the Babylonian Exile, and Ezra writes Chronicles after the exile.  Jeremiah writes in Jerusalem, Ezra writes either while in Babylon OR from a position of having spent the better part of his life in a different culture.)  So why is this important?   Isaiah and Ezra refer to the King as Uzziah, while Jeremiah refers to him as Azariah.  Different name, different cultural influence on his name, but the same person, and this becomes clear when you read the extent of his life in both records.  This is not a conflict, it may not be identical, but it would be similar to William being called Bill, and Robert being called Bob, or maybe better yet … John and Juan.  It’s not a big deal, this isn’t the only place you will find this in scripture, but it could throw you a curve ball, just don’t get hung up on it…     We’ll come back to Uzziah and the other kings in another episode… but moving on…

Additionally, Isaiah is a contemporary of the Minor Prophets Amos, Hosea, and Micah.   As always, when studying I would recommend going back and reading these books as well to get a full picture of what is happening in this timeframe… and to see if there is any clarity that one book might bring to the other.  Also, I have mentioned having a timeline and a study bible handy…  this is a good book to do that with.  

Here are some interesting stats about the book.

·         It has 66 chapters….. the bible has 66 books

·         Most theologians make a natural break in the book at chapter 39 and seem to be focused more on Judgement.   

·         Chapter40 to 66, in broad terms, highlight message of God’s comfort Especially those that are messianic in nature

·         Among theologians the book has a couple of interesting nick-names

o   Some call it the 5th Gospel because of all the messianic references, with 30 captured in the Gospels and Acts, and a total of 66 (if I counted right) captured in the totality of the New Testament.

o   And, In the event you haven’t done your homework and added these numbers together yet, and you are a numbers geek, While the book of Isaiah is broken up into two sections, the first is 39 chapters as I said previously, which leaves us with 27 in the second half.   Which just so happens to be the number of books in the New and Old Testament respectively.   Given this factoid, and the fact that Isaiah contains every major Theological theme of Scripture and every Genre of literature …. Poetry narrative, apocalyptic, historical accounts, etc..   there are those theologians that call this book “the bible in miniature”  (https://women.lifeway.com/2022/09/07/isaiah-as-the-fifth-gospel/)

·         I will be covering this in later episodes, but for today we are going to start in chapter 1, and start working our way through the book.

Isaiah’s writing covers what some call judgment or destruction or punishment, several times he uses the word WOE, which is not a simple dramatic phrase “awwwww, things are going to go bad for you.”   It is more of,  brace yourself… I am about to take a bit of interpretive license,  it’s more likely to say “You’re gonna die in a bad, painful, and brutal way, your death will be the benchmark for misery, and if you survive….. you will wish you had died.”  In the most graphic and violent of Hollywood war movie scenes, either R or NC17 rated, what you are about to experience in reality will make those Hollywood movies look like a looney toons episode. When you read WOE in the bible, keep in mind, this is an incredibly severe statement.  At the same time the book is full of hope.  Which we will get to. 

I want to take a quick break here to pause and let you catch your breath, I usually run shorter episodes, but in this series they have been running longer, and this will give you an opportunity to take a break and come back later for the second half, or just plow right on through.   

Also, I want to be sure to say thank you to all who support the podcast in prayer, and by doing all the social media things that help us advance the message, whether that is liking, sharing, rating reviewing, subscribing, etcetra….   Thank you very much.   If you would like to contribute monetarily, I have set up an online store that you can get some SOMETHING TO GNAW ON MERCH at and you get a cool shirt or hoodie or coffee cup etc, and at the same time you get to help us defray the cost of this ministry.   And to that end, I say thank you!!!   This podcast will always be free, please feel no compulsion , but if it is in your heart to do so, feel free to visit the store.

Ok, lets get back to Part 2 Isaiah.

Right off the bat lets look at a couple of snippets in chapter 1, that fall into the judgment category, and we’ll get to the salvation category in a moment, but remember what Chuck Swindoll had to say about this tension…. In essence, ‘you need to understand the judgment, to understand the level of need for salvation’

Additionally, this morning I came across a  quote from Tim Keller that helps this make more sense.   Now he writes this about the Gospel, but I think what he has to say is equally applicable to mankind in any timeframe.  He said this:  ““The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

I love that he addresses the two sides of the coin we are talking about.  But the next logical step in this to ask ‘if mankind is worse than he thinks he is, what does God do to correct it?’  I would submit to you that for those who don’t take the time to look at totality of scripture, humanity, history, and the heart of God… they will see a ragged parent, with an angry face, beating the snot out of a bawling  and defenseless 5 year old, in a public and shameful manner.   And nothing could be further from the truth.   

Lets read some snippets of Isaiah 1, and let me emphasize that for the sake of time, these are snippets, portions of the whole, feel free to go back and read it in its totality: 

·         From the Amplified:  “…I have reared and brought up sons, but they have rebelled against me and have broken away.  The ox (Instinctively) knows its owner…. But Israel does not know Me as Lord.  My people do not understand.  A people loaded down with wickedness (with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing),  Offspring of evildoers, sons who behave corruptly!  They have abandoned (rejected) the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel (provoking Him to anger).  They have turned away from Him.  Why should you be stricken and punished again (since no change results from it)?   You only continue to rebel.  The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint and sick.  Verses 2-6 in the amplified

o   Notice in this part of the chapter, the first chapter of the book,  how God establishes the past behavior.   This is not the first instance… this is not an error or an accident.  This is not the kid you see simply getting a spanking in the parking lot for a singular offense.    

o   There is history, there’s a backstory many will miss, and it precedes the pending judgment.

·         In the next 11 verses Isaiah describes the coming judgment, and here are some descriptors  from the  God’s attitude in the midst of it.

o   ‘there’s nothing healthy about the nations body’

o   ‘your land lies desolate because of your disobedience’

o   ‘your cities are burned with fire’

o   ‘strangers devour your fields in your presence’

o   This next comment is interesting to me and needs it’s own episode…. God says “what are your multiplied sacrifices to Me (without your repentance)?

§  Let me just add a quick commentary on this.   If you want to go back and listen to the episode called “An idiots guide to roman citizenship”  I spend quite a bit of time looking at biblical repentance.   And what Isaiah is referencing here is, or recording Gods comments on, is that the people are going through the motions of making a sacrifice for sin, without changing their mindset OR  behavior.  They are going to church, paying their tithe, serving as a volunteer, … they go through the motions of religion in a physical, outward sense, but inwardly they are ruled by their flesh.

·         It is woven throughout scripture, and we see the Prophet Samuel mention it to Saul in 1 Samuel 15, generations earlier, “To obey is better than sacrifice”  and once again, one of the dangers to humanity, and to the Christian, is to bank so heavily on God’s grace by failing to repent of our sin.  That’s what Saul did in this instance, and what humanity still does at varying levels,  They knowingly sin, do wrong, and count on forgiveness through a sacrifice, or a prayer….  But Samuel calls Saul out, and God (through  Isaiah) calls out the Jews…  They attempt to walk in a religiously pious manner, longing for God’s blessing, and at the same time they insult Him by their lack of repentance, their willful lack of a changed mind and heart. 

·          And that is what this particular culture is doing in the 700 BC timeframe.   To quote Solomon in Ecclesiastes, “There’s nothing New under the sun”   And we see it in presently in our culture.

o   And not only is there a lack of repentance, and an inappropriate dependence on grace, there is becoming a defense of sinful behavior.   You see, for these people to offer a sacrifice means to acknowledge the wrong…  even though they’re going to go out and do it again.   The  next and unfortunate step, is to rewrite what is right and wrong…  and those who do this become adamant that what was somehow so incredibly offensive to God in the OT, is somehow OK now, and should be embraced.   Frankly, at a basic level it lacks logic, and descends into absolute absurdity.  More on this in future episodes.

o   God continues in verse 11, ‘I take no pleasure in the blood of goats and bulls or lambs or goats (offered with out repentance)’

o   Verse 13, ‘ your incense is repulsive to me’

o   I cannot endure wickedness, (your sin, your injustice, your wrongdoing, and the Squalor of) your festive assembly. (could these be raucus church services without genuine heart change?.... asking for a friend….)

o   I hate (the hypocracy) of your new moon festivals

o   I am weary of them

o   So when you spread out your hands (in prayer, pleading for my help) I will hide my eyes from you, YES, even if you offer many prayers., I will not be listening.  

o   Later in Verse 20, ‘but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.”

o   In verse 28, rebels and sinners will be crushed and destroyed.

o   AND A LOT OF THIS BOOK HAS THIS LANGUAGE IN IT….. AND THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE GET HUNG UP, AND SEE GOD AS  AN UNFAIR JUDGMENTAL OVERLORD WHO IS OUT FOR BLOOD.

·         And now for the tension, the balance:

o   Remember how I mentioned in the book of Genesis we see this tension from the beginning?

§  Adam and Eve sin

§  IN HIS HOLINESS, God confronts sin and pronounces judgment

§  But IN HIS LOVE HE PROVIDES A SACRIFICE TO COVER THE NAKEDNESS or the SIN, for the purpose of restoring the relationship.  

§  And this berhavior on God’s part is woven throughout scripture

o   And this is the tension we see at the beginning of Isaiah, and throughout the book.

§  As we saw a moment ago, we see God’s judgment in Isaiah 1, but interwoven in that we find promises of salvation, the tension or the balance thereof….. lets look at it:

·         Picking up in Verse 17: “Learn to do good.  Seek justice. Rebuke the ruthless.  Defend the fatherless, plead for the (rights of the) widow (in court).  ((( And I would add that this would be the fruit of repentance….. but we can save that for another time.)))   

o   Also, I will add that this defending of the fatherless and the protection of widow’s was part of the same behavior that the Elders of the Early Church in Jerusalem admonished Paul to teach on his missionary journeys… to which he boasted that he was already doing.    You can find that in the book of Acts, but notice how selfless it is.

·         Jumping back in at verse 18:  “Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the best of the land.

·         So, as you see, interwoven in the first chapter are not only judgment, but salvation, and that’s what we will see throughout the book.

o   My prayer for you when you read through the Prophets is to not get so overwhelmed with the judgments that you miss the salvation.   You really need to know the depth of the Judgment, or destruction, or punishment that is being levied to value salvation.  Remember Tim Keller’s comment…. In essence, you are worse than you think, but you are loved more than you know.

o   Let me put it another way…  you need to see how deeply God’s heart is hurt in his holiness by our hostile and sinful behavior, to appreciate the value – and the miracle-  that he reaches out from amid the pain with a deep longing for relationship, to save – correct – and restore His people.

·         And this push pull tension between God’s holiness and His love and salvation is found throughout the Isaiah.  

·         Let me close with Tim Keller’s quote one last time “We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

I would encourage you to gnaw on this, mentally regurgitate it and mull it around this week, I see these episodes as building blocks, so make sure you got a good handle on this and be ready for another building block next week that will connect to this episode.

Until Next Week

God Bless