Our Christmas season has been busy, though not in the usual ways. A new job for myself and a sick family has kept us whirling, but we were also blessed with a visit from my parents and celebrated a bit of an early Christmas with them. I've been under the weather myself the last few days and my head and my tummy are still swirling a little. I would be so grateful for prayers if God brings me to your mind!
My apologies for a few missed days. I will finish them at some point and place them where they belong. In the meantime I'll put together what I can for the next week. Wow, Christmas is coming so soon! I hope you are finding this time of reflecting on the story of our coming Savior to be hope-filled and life-changing!
I love that we have been able to take this journey through the scriptures together. Thank you so much!
Now back to the story:
Day 17: Isaiah (Isaiah 1:10-20; 6:1-13; 8:11-9:8)
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Isaiah, son of Amoz,
came to be God’s mouthpiece in this call narrative during the reign of Uzziah. His prophetic career extended through the
reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Kings of Judah).
Isaiah found himself in the presence of the heavenly council when God called him to take this role.
This is what he saw:
Isaiah found himself in the presence of the heavenly council when God called him to take this role.
This is what he saw:
The Lord, high and exalted, his robe filling the temple as he sat
enthroned in it, Seraphim calling out to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is YAHWEH Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory!"
The temple shook. It filled with
smoke.
Majesty, mighty presence, glorious dread, power uncontained, holy unapproachability. Still, YAHWEH was magnetic in attractiveness, Isaiah was drawn
to him. Instilled
with a sense of unworthiness, nothingness by contrast, he became so aware of his
creatureliness. So aware of his
dependence.
Terror filled him. He was helpless
before him. He stared death in the face.
“Woe to me!” Isaiah cried. “I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips, among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King! YAHWEH Almighty!”
He feared for himself.
He feared also for his people.
“The people too have unclean lips; for, though worshiping their God
with ritual (1:10-17), fasting (58:1-5), and words (29:13), they were in fact
rebellious (1:2-6; 30:1-5 et al). Many
of them even expressed this fundamental rebelliousness in idolatry and synergistic
worship, thus showing their utter blindness (6:10; 29:9-10; 44:18; 45:20). The prophet’s scathing denunciations of
idolatry (chs. 40-48) reflect not only his own conviction that there is only
one God but also his holy intolerance of the sin of idolatry… Pride and unbelief are singled out for condemnation
(2:6-22; 7:1-9); “for who in the presence of the holy God, can lift his head
high or declare his self-sufficiency or his trust in others, whether “gods” or
men?”[1]
What could Isaiah do but stand there.
Contaminated. Dreadful. What hope did he or his people have?
There was One hope. Only one. Isaiah would come to know it as a
seraphim flew, with a live coal in his hand, to touch his mouth. “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt
is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
He was purified. Made holy. Set apart…but for what?
That is when the voice of the Lord called out, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
At God’s call there could only could be one response. “Here I am.
Send me!”
But what about Isaiah’s people?
Will they be saved too?
God put his message in Isaiah’s mouth.
Isaiah “was made aware of the insensitivity that sin induces in the
sinner (6:9-10). Sin is, of course,
rebellion against the God who reveals himself; and the prophetic word itself
was therefore, though a call to righteousness, also the means through which
this hardening process took place. Sin
has made the whole people unclean (64:5-7), and the prophet is warned that his
own ministry would be rejected. There is
a note of hope, however, in his own responsiveness to God’s voice and his
personal confession of sin.”[2]
This is what he was to tell God’s people:
“Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
Be ever seeing, but never perceiving.
Make the heart of this people calloused;
Make their ears dull and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And turn and be healed.”
Sins effects go beyond the sinner.
Sin contaminates the whole environment - the very God-given gift of the land - its cities, houses, fields, all of
it. Israel first under the Assyrians, and then Judah under the Babylonians.
“For how long, Lord?” Isaiah
asked.
“Until YAHWEH has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly
forsaken.”
But left behind, in the wake of ruin, a stump would remain. A holy seed that might grow again.
Just one chapter over we meet Ahaz, King of Judah, as he faces the
threat of two kings to the north.
Isaiah prophesied that they would not succeed, and YAHWEH challenged Ahaz
to ask him for a sign.
Ahaz refused. “I will not put
YAHWEH to the test.”
Then Isaiah warns him. “Hear
now. Is it not enough to try the
patience of humans? Will you try the
patience of my God also?”
Then we come to it. That famous
passage: “Therefore the Lord himself
will give you a sign: The young woman of
marriageable age [virgin] will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel.” It goes on to describe
how the two kings will be plundered before this child knows the difference
between right and wrong.
We turn the page to learn that the son referred to would be Isaiah’s
own son, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
YAHWEH said to Isaiah, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an
ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” And Isaiah goes to his wife, conceives, and
births this child with this name that means “quick to the plunder, swift to the
spoil”.
Again, the passage repeats in connection with the child, that the two
kings will be laid waste before the child can say “mommy” or “daddy.” This same son is called Immanuel (8:8), God
with us (8:10).
Matthew, hundreds of years later, recognizes the double fulfillment of
this prophecy. Isaiah’s son fulfilled the
immediate future dimension: a child born
during Isaiah’s time. But the passage
also contained a larger eschatological context that didn’t distinguish between
Isaiah’s son, and one who would be a divine, messianic King. [3]
Before New Testament times, the Septuagint translated the Old Testament
from Hebrew to Greek. Here we find that
the word which carried the meaning of “young woman of marriageable age” (generally
also a virgin if unmarried) was translated with a word more narrowly defined as
“virgin.” This suggests that already,
before the New Testament age, some Jews had come to link Isaiah 7-9 together,
recognizing that they were still awaiting a long-term fulfillment in the birth of
a messianic king of supernatural conception.[4]
Matthew recognized the prophecies fulfillment. Jesus was born to a young woman, not just of marriageable
age but also a virgin at the time of conception. The “coincidences” were too striking to
question.
Born of a virgin.
Immanuel.
God WITH us.
Jesus is the messianic King!
What response can we have when we encounter the One True God but
repentance, a heart of sorrow – of fear for our lives – before him? YAHWEH loves our worship, but worship apart
from repentance is no worship at all! There
is no room for pleasing self in worship, or for thinking of ourselves as more
important than anyone else standing before the One True God in worship. Like Isaiah, we will meet God face to face at
Christmas. Will you bow low? Will you fear him?
Prayer:
Jesus, when I see you I see my impurity, need, my lack, my insufficiency, and I
long for you - to meet you – to burn away my filth. To make me whole.
What can you do to celebrate
this today? Reflect today on the people you worship
with. Your worship practices. Your heart.
How does God feel about your worship?
Close your eyes and stand before
God, exposed, and ask him to take the coals and cleanse your lips to make you
pleasing to him!
Worship:
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