Flight ISA01 - Part B

If you were to look at the lineage of David and the promises God made to King David as a tree, man, that tree got chopped down. But go down to that stump and look really closely at that stump and you'll see this little stem just poking up through that dead wood, it would seem, but not dead. A little stem, a little rod coming up.

What's that? There's still life in it. And that life will blossom one day. There's going to be a branch and that branch is the Messiah, the son of David, the offspring of King David. Even when all hope seemed lost for God's chosen people, he never left them and he continued to move in their lives. Connect with Skip Heitzig today as he shares about the hope God gave to the Israelites in their difficult times and how you can have hope today in yours.

But before we begin, we want to let you know about a resource that helps you live today in the eternal hope of Jesus' resurrection. It's pretty obvious that this world is filled with imperfect people and that's on purpose. God is into restoring human beings.

You know, he could make perfect people and then populate heaven with perfect people, but he doesn't do that. He takes people who are dinged up, who've been beat up, bruised by time, damaged by sin, and he does a full resto job on them. Complete restoration. Celebrate the joy and beauty of redemption with The Morning That Changed Everything with Skip Heitzig. This DVD collection of six hope-filled Easter weekend messages is our thanks to you when you give $35 or more today to help connect more people to God's Word and the redeeming love of Jesus Christ. Restoration is based on redemption and redemption is tied to resurrection.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we'll be in the book of Isaiah for today's study, so let's join Skip Heitzig. Isaiah isn't just foretelling their future, but he is forthtelling their failure, their failure to obey God. Now, what do I mean, failure to obey God? One of the problems Judah had, same temptation that Israel up north had, and that is making alliances with other nations for protection rather than just trusting God.

This is hard to do, trusting God for your well-being, for your future. After all, the Assyrians had already captured and occupied the northern kingdom in 722 BC. I know you know that date already.

We've gone through it. 722 BC, the Assyrians took over and occupied the northern kingdom. 150 years later, the southern kingdom is still a free nation. They're not under the Assyrian occupation, but the Assyrians are marching toward them. So, they are facing the temptation to go make an alliance with a big superpower down south called Egypt. If you'll be our friends, we'll sign a treaty, we'll give you a bunch of money, and then if the big bad Babylonians come and start wanting to beat us up, you'll be the big brother who beats them up. Deal?

Deal. That's the alliance. The northern kingdom tried that and failed. They did make an alliance with Egypt.

722 BC came along, the Assyrians still took them over. Isaiah is speaking to the south, telling them, don't make the same mistake. Verse 2, Hear, O heaven, give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know.

My people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked to anger the holy one of Israel.

They have turned away backward. Verse 12, When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons, the sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hates. They are a trouble to me.

I am weary of bearing them. What's all this about? What is God referring to through Isaiah? He's speaking about all the prayers, all the religious feasts, all the sacrifices that God established.

Do you get that? God told them to do it. Now God says, Oh, when you do it, it stinks.

Well, wait a minute. You're the one that told us to do that stuff, to make those sacrifices, make these prayers, go to the temple courts, bring the animals. Now you're saying, don't trouble me without stuff.

You know why? Because God never separates the worship you bring and the worship who brings it. We separate that.

We try to compartmentalize that. This is who I am when I come to church. This is who I am really, in the real world. God says, I see you all the time. I don't separate your worship from you, the worshiper.

I know how you're living, but then you're being religious when you come to the temple. And God says, I've had enough. When you spread, verse 15, out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Verse 18, here's the answer. Come now, 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 as wool. Isaiah says, I will not hear.

Isaiah, from here onward, launches into a series of sermons denouncing the sins of the people and the sins of their leaders. I want you to go to chapter 5 to a familiar passage. Verse 1, now let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst.

He also made a wine press in it. So he expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between me and my vineyard. Here's a picture of God planting a vineyard, giving every opportunity to the ground to produce fruit. But it is fruitless. So he's not going to continue to work it. And he asked the people listening to this, judge between me and my vineyard.

What should be done? This should ring a bell. It should ring a bell because Jesus gave a parable called the parable of the vine dressers. Do you remember that parable in Matthew 21? He said to the crowd one day, let me tell you a story. There's a guy who owned a vineyard, and he put a hedge around the vineyard, and he planted it with the choicest vine, and he built a wine press in it, and he even put a tower on it, you know, as a lookout tower. So he just dolled the place up. Then he rented it out to tenant farmers. And about vintage time, he decided, you know, I want to see how that vineyard is doing and take some of its fruit. That was his prerogative. So he sent servants to go gather some of the product.

And Jesus said, when they came, those servants were beaten up, stoned, and killed. So he sent more, and they did the same. Finally, the owner said, I know what I'll do. I'll send my own son. Surely they'll respect him. As soon, Jesus said, as they saw the son, they said, that's the heir.

Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours. And Jesus asked them to judge what God should do. And they'll say, you got to destroy those people and give it to others. And Jesus basically said, okay, you'll get your wish.

He's going to take it from you, Israel, and give it to the Gentiles, which caused quite a reaction. The Scripture says they perceived that he spoke this parable against them. They knew this parable.

That's why they perceived it was against them. He is using the very words of Isaiah to give that parable in Matthew 21. So Isaiah is painting a very bleak picture, but not a hopeless one, because in the midst of the mess comes a messenger. I like that about God.

We say, oh, the world's so dark. What a mess. Awesome time, great opportunity, perfect timing for a messenger. Send a messenger in the midst of the mess who brings the message of light. And so the messenger is Isaiah the prophet. Chapter 6, his calling comes to us as God gives him a vision of his majesty to prepare him, the prophet Isaiah, and to prosecute them, the people of the land. Verse 1, in the year that King Uzziah died, a very significant little phrase. Now we can date this prophecy. 739 BC is when King Uzziah, good king, who had reigned for about 51, 52 years, brought great reforms. But the good king is dead. And when you have a good leader who's been a good leader and brought economic stability and righteousness for 52 years, when that leader dies, people have a tendency to go, oh, no, now what? Now we're lost.

Now we're toast. The throne is empty. And probably Isaiah was thinking, oh, man, the throne is empty. So God gives him a vision of his own throne. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim, angelic beings. Each one had six wings. With two, he covered his face, so they couldn't look directly at God. With two, he covered his feet, acknowledging the loneliness of their position before God. And with two, he flew.

How fun would that be? And one cried to another and said, holy, holy, holy. He's not just holy, and he's not just holy, holy. He's holy, holy, holy. This is called the trihagion, or the thrice repetition of the word holy, acknowledging his supreme holiness. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

And so I said, woe is me. Now, Isaiah was influential. Isaiah, perhaps, was even royalty.

Certainly, he was upper echelon, upper cross, blue blood. So it'd be easy for a guy like Isaiah to go, wow is me. I just saw a vision of God. Wow is me. I've heard people on television, I had a vision or dream of God, and they write books about it, and it's like, wow is me. Not Isaiah. He saw God and said, woe is me.

And that's important. Woe is me, for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips. Woe is me, for I am undone because I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. You see, when you get a true vision of God, you see yourself in the light of who God is. And it's never wow is me, it's wow is God, but woe is me because I see myself next to him.

Peter, when he recognized it was Jesus who calmed the sea and could walk on water and that he's the son of God, he realized who's in the boat with him. Peter just said this, depart from me, Lord. I'm a sinful man. Not get a picture with me and Jesus.

I'm going to post it. So I'm not even fit to be seen with you. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, speaks of cleansing from sin. And he touched my mouth with it and he said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away. Your sin is purged.

Special cleansing for special service. He's called to be a great prophet. So I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?

Who will go for us? Then I said, here am I, send me. So this important vision in a leaderless kingdom, God is still in charge on the throne, sending a messenger with the message in the midst of the mess. Now, in chapter 7 and 9, even in its midst of condemnation and negative proclamation, in the early ministry of Isaiah, there are predictions of the Messiah, his birth and his reign. But it is going to be fulfilled in the future, but it's couched in the local prophecies about the king on the throne at the time, King Ahaz. So, for example, chapter 7, verse 14, that famous prophetic passage, the Lord himself will give you a sign, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel.

That's chapter 7, that's the famous prophecy. Followed by chapter 8, where we have the birth of Isaiah's own son, his second son, with the longest name of any kid ever, Maher-Shalal-Hajbaz. Poor kid. You know, Johnny Cass used to sing that song, A Boy Named Sue. How about a boy named Sue? How about a boy named Maher-Shalal-Hajbaz? You think he would be made fun of?

Yeah, I bet he was. It's an odd name, and if you're looking for biblical names, please Skip that one. It'd be an odd baby dedication. But the name Maher-Shalal-Hajbaz means speed the spoil, hasten the booty. And the name of the son was a prophecy of the coming judgment, that they're going to despoil the surrounding region of Jerusalem and Judea. Judgment is coming soon, in other words. Followed by chapter 9, so you've got 7, 8, and 9, another messianic prophecy, chapter 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulders, and it's over the house of David, etc. So you have this kind of mix of local and far off, hopeless, hopeful prophecies all in one. John Phillips, who wrote commentaries, his comments on this book, he said this one moment, his book is black with the thunder and darkness of the storm. The next, the rainbow shines through, and he sweeps readers on to the golden age that still lies ahead.

Get used to that near and far stuff. Isaiah does it a lot. Again, we see in chapter 11, verse 1, great prediction of Jesus. There shall come forth a rod.

My Bible has a capital R. Does yours? R, rod, because the translators are saying, we believe this refers to a person, the Messiah, Jesus. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.

A branch shall grow out of his roots. Jesse, the father of David. David, whose dynasty God promised blessing and eternal kingdom to. David, the tree of David almost cut down, right? Because the kingdom was divided, split, two down south, ten up north. Now there's a threat of captivity.

The ten northern tribes are already gone into captivity. Now Judah is threatened with captivity and will indeed go into captivity. So if you were to look at the lineage of David and the promises God made to King David as a tree, man, that tree got chopped down. But go down to that stump and look really closely at that stump and you'll see this little stem just poking up through that dead wood, it would seem, but not dead. A little stem, a little rod coming up.

What's that? There's still life in it. And that life will blossom one day. There's going to be a branch and that branch is the Messiah, the son of David, the offspring of King David. And you say, well, how do you know it speaks of a person? It speaks of a person. Maybe it speaks of the nation because of verse two, the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, singular. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

So here is Isaiah predicting a future restoration under this branch, under the Messiah. Chapters 13 through 23 are a bunch of burdens, they're called, in the scripture. Burdens, the burden against this nation, the burden against that nation. A burden is a pronouncement.

It is an oracle. Isaiah got a message from God. It weighed on him. It was a burden to him and he was a burden to him and he unleashed his burden on the people.

He was faithful to give it to them. So there's nine nations. I'm just going to read through them, just brush through them. Nine burdens with nine nations. Here's the deal about these nations. All of the nations mentioned are nations that had some contact with the nation of the Jews, Israel and Judah.

Let's just call it Israel here. They touched Israel, usually negatively. They hassled the Jews. So God said, I'm going to hassle you. You hassle Israel, I'm going to hassle you. So chapter 13 verse 1, the burden against Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amozah, followed by Assyria and Philistia, chapter 14, followed by chapter 16, Moab, eastern side of the Jordan River, followed by Damascus up in Syria, a superpower, chapter 17, followed by Ethiopia in chapter 18, the burden against Egypt in chapter 19, the burden against Babylon again, and Edom in chapter 21, and then chapter 23, the city of Tyre. As I go through this list, you know what comes to my mind? What we read in the book of Ecclesiastes.

There's nothing new under the sun. These are the nations still hassling the Jews. To this day, many of them would love to see Israel annihilated completely, calling Israel the great Satan, and the United States, the little Satan.

Not all of them, but many of them. They're occupied by people who denied the legitimacy of Israel to exist. Now, why are these burdens given? Answer, probably to reassure the Jewish people in the midst of conflict later on in the midst of captivity, that God still is on the throne, that God still has a plan. He's reassuring them of that great promise in Genesis chapter 12, whoever blesses Israel, I will bless. Whoever curses Israel, I will curse.

So, he's saying, don't despair. I'm going to punish Israel and Judah, the Jews. I'm going to punish them, but then I'm going to punish the people I use to punish them, because they are still responsible. They are the ones saying, let's get rid of those Jews.

Let's mount siege engines against them and let's annihilate them and destroy them. So, that is in their heart to do that. I'm going to hold them responsible for their choice, but in their choice, because I'm God and I'm sovereign, I'm going to actually use them as a chastening rod for my people.

Do you understand? So, if you don't, let me reinforce that with the prophet Habakkuk complained to God that his own people, the children of Israel, were sinful and bad and doing wrong things and God, you ought to punish them. So, God says, well, Habakkuk, since you're bringing it up, I want you to know that I'm going to do something that's going to cause your ears to tingle and everybody else who hears about it. I'm actually bringing the Babylonians as my chastening rod to take your people captive. I am going to do something about it. Then Habakkuk gets all mad again at God.

God, I know we're bad, but they're worse. Why would you use somebody worse to get at somebody bad? Because it's going to work.

It's going to work. It's going to cause repentance and I'm going to bring you back into the land and for their sin of wanting to destroy you, don't worry, I'll get them. It's an amazing display of God's sovereignty. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from his series, The Bible from 30,000 Feet. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep this broadcast going strong, connecting you and many others to God's truth. Simply put, God's word has the power to change lives.

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Find more information at connectwithskip.com slash app. And real quick, tune in to watch Connect with Skip Heitzig on the Hillsong Channel on Saturdays at 4 30 p.m. Mountain or catch it on TBN on Sundays at 5 30 a.m. Eastern. Check your local listings and be sure to come back again next week as Skip Heitzig shares about the fulfilled prophecies in the Book of Isaiah and what they mean for your faith today. You don't want to miss that. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.