Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. Which means if you keep on with the unclean, God won't receive you. And that gets into a lot of stuff. Anyway, you youth, when the culture does something that's sideways, go in a different way. Remember it's hard to be a Christian, it's harder to not be a Christian.
Life is hard, it's damaged, it's defective, and we understand that, but it still has purpose, and the purpose is great. The Northern Kingdom and their apostates aren't trusting Yahweh. Syria certainly isn't trusting them against Assyria.
That they join together and remain idolaters is evidence of that. And he says, they refuse the waters of Shiloh that flow softly. Shiloh means sent, Shiloh means peace. It's not to be confused in the Hebrew. Well, the waters of Shiloh were waters that ran through a channel or an aqueduct from the springs of Gihon into the pool of Siloam. Hezekiah's tunnel has not yet been built, he's not yet king.
Ahaz is his father though. And what the Lord is saying is instead of trusting, he's using metaphor, instead of trusting Shiloh's waters, God, you refuse these waters that flow softly. He's going to go on and say, so you're going to get a flood, you're going to get a tsunami, it's going to be the Assyrians. He's saying this to Judah.
He says, you rejoice in reason in Ramallah's son. Again, Isaiah does not want to name the despicable king, Pekah, and he mentions Assyrian king by name, but he will not say that Pekah again. And it's noticeable when you see, wait a minute, he's doing it with the Assyrian king, but he's not naming, he has a name, he said it once, won't say it again. So, God is pointing out not only to Judah, but to the northern kingdom too, is you're not trusting in me, you're trusting in other things. Verse 7, Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them the waters of the river, strong and mighty, the king of Assyria, in all his glory, he will go up over all his channels and go over all his banks. Okay, so he's saying, you didn't trust the soft springs of Gihon flowing into Jerusalem, which was the blessings of God, instead you trusted in yourself, and because of that, and part of this is woven into Judah, he's saying also to Judah, because you trusted in the Assyrians, they're going to flood Judah, and they did. They devastated Judah, it wasn't for the angel of the Lord wiping out 185,000 of them in one night, they would have taken Jerusalem too, but they took everything else. And so the prophet points this out, and here's the king listening to him, and saying, nah, we don't believe you. Well, the Assyrians defeated the invading forces, and the people in Jerusalem who were listening to Isaiah said, ha, you were wrong. You were telling us the Assyrians were going to flood us, and they did not. They beat our enemies for us. Isaiah's going to say, you wait and see what happens. It ain't over. And that's exactly what happened, the Assyrians did come against them and destroy Israel.
Judah barely survived the Assyrian onslaught. There is a way that seems right to man, but its way leads to death. Well, how would I know? Well, stick with the scripture. That's how you'll know. It's not like, well, it's anybody's guess. No, it's not anybody's guess.
It's not a free-for-all. And he's going to say that at the end of the chapter. If I ever get there tonight, one of the best parts about this 8th chapter is how he closes it up. And so the right way he'll cover in verses 19 through 22. Coming back now to verse 8, I'm leaving out a lot of details because I'm trying not to put you to sleep. He will pass through Judah.
He will overflow and pass over. He will reach up to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breath of your land, O Emmanuel. A very high price to pay calling evil to fight evil. Instead of King Ahaz calling on Yahweh to fight the invading forces of Syria and the northern kingdom, he called on Syria and the prophet condemned it from the beginning. The land of Emmanuel, which is God's land, suffered because of their anti-Yahweh politics. Now if you're in high school or school, others around you may have an anti-Christ lifestyle. That's the same thing that Isaiah's dealing with with those who didn't believe him. But it was anti-Yahweh who's Old Testament Christ.
This is how these people wanted it, so this is how they would get it. They would be flooded by an enemy who the prophet warned them of. This O Emmanuel goes back to the last chapter, the prophet Isaiah tying it in. The righteous remnant would appreciate that, and they had a name that they were alive, but they were dead.
Well, where else do we hear that? The church at Sardis. Christ says, you have a name that you're alive, but I say you're dead. Man, that is, can you imagine having the Lord say that to a church? It's incidentally when the Lord addressed the churches, he addressed the angel singular of the church. That's the pastor, singular.
He holds him primarily responsible, but the others don't get off the hook because he can't be the pastor unless they support him, so they're guilty too. And we're going to find God's going to say to Assyria, I used you as an instrument of judgment, but I'm going to judge you too because you got some big issues, and I'm not going to give you a pass on those. So the land of God, the land of God with us became the land of God without us. The judgments will fall, and this point, this Emmanuel points to a future victory. And when the Jews were coming back from captivity in Babylon, these things meant a lot to them. It meant a lot that God was mindful of a remnant, and it means a lot to us when we hear that during that great tribulation period, God is still going to be saving souls.
That means something to us. It's going to mean a lot more to them when they're going through it. They're going to have Bibles, and they're going to have recorded sermons. They're going to understand the gospel, and they're going to be martyred because of it. The onslaught against Christianity will be more severe than it's ever been in human history. Verse 9, Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces.
Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Verse 10, Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. So the prophet is saying to the forces that want to conquer his people, and here it's Assyria, but it could be anywhere in ages. He's not addressing righteous people. When he says, Be shattered, O you peoples, be broken in pieces.
Give ear, all you from far countries. It's a taunt. He says, Gird yourselves. You're going to be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. That's what he says.
Take counsel together. He says, Speak the word. I'm talking about the Bible. He's talking about their plans. So he's taunting the foreign invaders, and he's saying, I'm using you, but you're going to be judged too, because you're guilty. Just because I used you doesn't mean you're innocent.
There's something to think about. Lord, Lord, didn't we cast out demons in your name? Didn't we prophesy in your name? And Jesus said, Get away from me.
I never knew you. God knows the difference between a fraud and the genuine believer, which is brought out in the story of the woman who touched the hem of his garment. Now that hem of the garment was hanging over the back. You know, we think of a hem.
We think it is to the bottom of the, but when you take a robe, the fringe, the way they wrapped it, they throw that back end tassel hanging over the back. It was one way they did it, and that's what she grabbed hold on. And he made a distinction between everybody else and her.
He singled it out. And Christ knows how to do. That's part of the lesson. The Lord knows how to make distinctions between those who are genuine and those who are not sincere. Joel says the same thing. It's a taunt from God to the unbelievers who think that they can have their way, that he's not sovereign. And God is saying, I am sovereign, not only over the Jewish people, but all people. So Joel says, in addressing the foreign powers, beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. Let the nations be wakened and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Now there's a song, let the weak say, I am strong in the name of the Lord.
I think they made a mistake. That's a nice song. It's true if you apply it that way. But if you link it to Joel, then you missed it. You missed that Joel is taunting unbelievers when he says, let the weak say, I am strong.
He's saying, yeah, work up your courage is the idea. It's not going to work. It's not going to protect you from the judgment to come. So they were not innocent. On the contrary, they too will be held accountable by God. The nations are under his control. In turn, they will be destroyed. Assyria will be destroyed. Well, first the invaders from the north, Assyria and Ephraim, and then 33 years later, the Assyrians, they were conquered by the Babylonians. And then the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. You won't meet a Babylonian, not like the Chaldeans.
The closest you get is somebody from Iraq. Anyway, this now concludes the prophecies concerning the northern threat of, I've said it so many times and it's ringing in my ears, Assyria and Ephraim, and then Assyria. This concludes that section. And now the prophet's going to deal with the people. Verse 11, for Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people. And before we get to what he is saying, there are those times when the voice of the Lord is unmistakable. The problem is that sometimes we want to hear from him so much, we become Rantuluchus and we say, And it's not him. It's just, you know, and you make the mistake, so I guess that wasn't the Lord. And hopefully you learn to not be presumptuous. And a lot of Christians make mistakes and they never seem to own it. They keep doing it again.
Anyway, be careful. This one is one of those moments for Isaiah when the voice of the Lord was unmistakable. He had many of them. The whole book of Isaiah is the voice of the Lord, but this incident, it was very pronounced for him. God told him to get a placard and write down what he had to say and we covered that prophecy.
And now God is telling him something else and he picks up on it. The pressure of the circumstances around him certainly contributed to his heart being sensitive to God. Ezekiel, I don't think Ezekiel was a weirdo, but if you could get to the line and just not cross over it into being a weirdo, that's what he did. He went as close as you could be.
He was eccentric, no question. And God used him in a very powerful way. He uses this phrase, the Lord spoke to me four times and God did speak to the prophet and his prophecies are just incredible. Anyway, Isaiah says, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people.
Culture held no sway over this man. That's what God is telling him. I don't want you to be influenced by those around you.
You be influenced by me, not them. Second Corinthians, Paul tried to tell the Corinthians the same thing. Therefore, come out from among them. Be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. Which means if you keep on with the unclean, God won't receive you. And that gets into a lot of stuff.
Anyway, you youth, when the culture does something that's sideways, go in a different way. Remember, it's hard to be a Christian. It's harder to not be a Christian. Life is hard. It's damage.
It's defective. We understand that, but it still has purpose and the purpose is great. It's hard to see these things in Christian youth. The culture, you know, what's this woke stuff? It's so stupid. And these are people that you really tout how intelligent they are. And they're dumb as a sack of hammers.
It's just like, my goodness, are you kidding me? And you've got people who say they're Christians trying to somehow salvage some of these things that they're doing. I think when we talk about immaturity in Christianity, that age range could be like 13 to 30 something, before I think some of them seem to figure it out.
Not all of them, not all of them, but a lot of them. For instance, this passage out of Colossians. I wish I could quote this every time I was in the pulpit, because it's called for. And I think a lot of Christians just either are numb to it, don't want to hear it, don't know it's there.
I don't know. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy, an empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and powers. You're complete in Christ.
You don't need to go to the world to ask, how shall I live my life? I don't think a lot of Christians believe it. I think because they incur sadness and hardship that somehow their Christianity is not working. No, that's when it kicks in. It kicks in in the face of those things. The world has a noble saying, bite the bullet. Well, they're hacking off your leg. Before painkillers, anesthesia, put this in his mouth.
Anyway, the idea is there are times you have to take the pain. There's no other way. And if you're going to take it, make it count for Christ against hell. Here's one of the things I would like on my tombstone. I need a billboard. I don't want just, you know, that's all you get? So, and I want a scrolling billboard. So, look at that, his epitaph form centered, paragraphs.
Well, here's one of them. Acts chapter 2. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Well, Christian wouldn't want that. Put that on your t-shirt. Be saved from this perverse woke generation.
And put a little picture of a sack of hammers. Well, I think it was Foghorn Leghorn said, boy as dumb as a sack of wet mice. Well, anyway, this people, he's back to that, disowning them. They walk in contrast to God and so God disowns them. They're not my people. He does that. We should know that.
This is something very serious. Moses, when Moses was sent to go forward, God was a little annoyed with the people and God says, you know, okay, I'll send my angel with you. Moses said, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, Lord. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except you go with us? So we shall be separate, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. And Moses said, if you don't go, don't send me.
It's not worth it. That's a beautiful, that 33rd chapter of Exodus, you know, show me now your grace that I may know you, that I have found grace in your sight. And it's just a beautiful section of scripture, Moses' dialogue with the Lord. Anyway, verse 12, do not say a conspiracy concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. Well, this goes past Isaiah, of course. This goes to the righteous.
And he's going to point that out in a little bit. But God says, oppose those who oppose God. Oppose those who oppose Yahweh.
Oppose those who oppose his word. Stand up to them. Don't fear them. If they ask you, well, what do you believe?
Tell them. And when they tell you what they believe and it's kooky, say, I don't believe that. And if they start giving you a hard time, I think it's fair to say, oh, so let's get this right. What you're saying is, I have to do and believe what you tell me to do and believe.
Let's just get this straight. That's what you're telling me. When you say I have no right to disagree with you, you're insisting I follow you. And we say, I'm not doing that. And that's, you know, the Puritans ran from people killing them for standing up to them. Anyway, Isaiah and his associates were being accused of conspiracy.
That's why the word in our English is here, concerning all that this people call a conspiracy. The people that aren't God's people were saying to Isaiah, oh, you're coming against the kingdom now. You're treasonous. You're not a patriot.
Jeremiah really suffered this. He said, oh, you're an agent for Nebuchadnezzar. He said, I'm not an agent for Nebuchadnezzar. I'm just telling you. You're going to Babylon.
Build houses and gardens and, you know, do some pottery there. Because you're going to be stuck. You're not coming back. I mean, not for 70 years and it won't be all, most of you will be dead by then and the other bunch will be too old to make the trip. Your children will. Some of your children will make it back.
Well, some of them did make it back, but not many. Anyway, they were trying to attack Isaiah and his character, calling him a treasonous and God was saying to the prophet, don't you be sidetracked by that. Let them call you sticks and stones. Hurt.
But you just stick close to me. And today, those who criminalize being a Christian, we have to stand up to them and tell them to their face. No. I disagree with you.
Do what you got to do, but I disagree with you. Verse 13, this is continuing, God speaking to him. The Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.
That's some serious stuff. You want to fear somebody, Isaiah? You better be fearing me. Maybe you've had a parent to tell you that. You want to be afraid of somebody? You better be afraid of what I'm going to do to you. Never mind with your little buddies out there. My mom used to say, did you pick that up from your friends in the street?
I want to look out the window. There's nobody in the street, mom. But I would have got smacked, but I didn't say anything. I was not saying a word.
My mom never hit me because I never gave her a chance. I just, I knew, I could tell until she's loading up. Look, when you hear that pump go click, click, you know it's coming. Don't force it. Some kids are dumb, man.
They're just like, boy, don't you, and they do it. The next thing you know, they're on the moon. How did I get here? So, anyhow, I know, you just, sometimes your kids can make you think evolution is true. But it's not, it's not. Anyway. And then they grow up and they're like, boy, you're pretty smart.
Because you were an idiot when you were like 14, 15 in teenage years. Anyhow, I was going to donate you to a Smithsonian. It's like, here, take this.
Anyhow, coming back to this. Verse 13, the Lord of hosts, him you shall hallow, let him be your fear. Well, Jesus taught us that a good way to open prayer was to calibrate our perspective, to get our doctrine in place. In this manner, therefore, pray our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. The absence of holiness is what?
What is the absence? It's unholiness. Esau was a decent enough man, as men go, far as we know, but as spiritual as a sack of weeds. Okay, a sack of hammers, wet mice, weeds.
We can add to this as we go on. Anyway, he just was not moved by spiritual things. He wasn't interested in them. Gadgets and all may have had his attention, hunting and stuff, but when it came to holy things, he just really wasn't there. And God points this out. What health is to the body, holiness is to the soul. And holiness for us is not purity on the level of God, but it is desire for God. It is a desire for his purity, according to his definitions, to be separated to him and by him.
So anyway, let him be your fear. What is called peer pressure is often temptation to sin in some form, even if it is just to pressure you to line up with their belief. And we have to learn to tell them no, and God is reinforcing the prophecy.
Don't you give in to them. You're under a lot of pressure right now, Isaiah. All these people around you, accusing you of all these things, saying your prophecies won't come true, talking bad about your family, your kids aren't no representation of what God's going to do.
And God is strengthening the prophet. He says, let God be your dread. The world's opinion of God is of no value to me. There's just nothing in it that's worth my time.
It's like, oh, tell me what you think about it. Unless I'm in the act of evangelism. Tell me what you believe again. Alright, anyway, I don't need the world to approve my faith. And that's what James was trying to say in James chapter 4. If you're friends with the world, you're going to be an enemy with God.
You don't have to listen to them. You came out of that. Your confession of Christ was an admission that that was upside down, and you were going to hell. And whenever you think about your conversion, you think about how close you came to Sulphurville.
That close to hell you were. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick. Right here on Cross Reference Radio.
