Isaiah 7 – 12
So far in our series on Isaiah, we have been examining each
chapter closely, but I said at the beginning of this series there will be times
that will cover several chapters at once. So, tonight we look at Chapters 7
-12. Since I will be summarizing a lot of information in these chapters, I
encourage you when you go home tonight to read these chapters in their entirety
while my lesson is fresh on your mind. What we learn in these chapters is that
The prophecy found in Chapter 7 was spoken during the reign
of Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah. Ahaz had a weak faith and was not a good king.
If you want to learn more details about him and the events described here in
Isaiah, then I would suggest that your read 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 28. At
that time, the Assyrians were growing in power, so
Ahaz and his people were scared, but God sent Isaiah along
with his son Shear-Jashub to Ahaz to encourage him. If you will remember
Isaiah’s son’s name means a remnant shall return. Perhaps his son was sent
along as reminder that yes things look bad now, but there is hope in the
future. In verses 3-9 Isaiah tells him not to be afraid because God is not with
these people and he even talks about how Ephraim, which is part of
God was even willing to give Ahaz a sign to prove what Isaiah was saying was true, but he refused to have a sign given to him because apparently did not want to believe. Ahaz should have been encouraged to trust in the Lord, but we find out that he really does not because he had already planned to align himself with Assyrians instead of trusting in God Almighty. Though he did not want a sign, God says He is going to give a sign anyway, and this sign would happen many years later through that remnant of Jews that would return from captivity. Here is the future sign the God would give:
Isaiah 7:14
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 "Curds and honey He shall
eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 "For before the Child
shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will
be forsaken by both her kings.
Of course, we know this is talking about Jesus being born to
Mary during first century. This another great example of how God knew exactly
what was going on and could predict the future with pen point accuracy. This is
but one of over 300 prophecies made about the coming Messiah. Jesus would be
born as a man, and live like man, yet He would learn to choose good over evil
every time. Before He is born, both kingdoms
In the remainder of the chapter, Ahaz fiinds out that the very people he will align himself with will reek havoc on his people, and like a razor they will cut away at their food supply. Not only would God use the Assyrians to carry out this task, he would use the Egyptians as well.
These events could have been avoided if Ahaz had not had a weak faith and had put his trust in God. Isaiah reveals the source of their problem later on in:
Isaiah 63:8 For He
said, "Surely they are My people, Children who will not
lie." So He became their Savior. 9
In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the Angel of His Presence saved
them; In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; And He bore them and
carried them All the days of old. 10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; So He turned Himself against
them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
While there is hope in the future through the coming of the
Messiah, chapter 8 gives a sign that shows that God is in control and that
Syria and Israel are going to be brought low by the Assyrians with Judah being
in their sights next. Part of the sign involves Isaiah having another son, who
is given another prophetic name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means “speeding of
the spoil and the hastening of the prey.” Before this child could even begin to
speak words, the riches of
Isaiah makes a great statement that shows that God is the one in control and no matter how much man thinks certain things will take place, their confidence cannot change God’s plans.
Isaiah 8:10 Take counsel together, but it will come to
nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with
us."
Isaiah is given a message from the Lord that we should all learn from. I want to read this in its entirety and make just few comments along the way:
Isaiah 8:11 For the
LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not
walk in the way of this people, saying: 12
"Do not say, 'A conspiracy,' Concerning all that this people call a
conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. 13 The LORD of hosts, Him you
shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your
dread. 14 He will be as a
sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of
It is true that God can
be a refuge or He can be against us. It is all about what path we chose to
take.
16 Bind up the testimony, Seal
the law among my disciples. 17
And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I
will hope in Him. 18 Here am
I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and
wonders in
Here Isaiah speaks of the
few that are still faithful to the Lord.
19
And when they say to you, "Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who
whisper and mutter," should not a people seek their God? Should they
seek the dead on behalf of the living?
20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak
according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them. 21 They will pass
through it hard pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry,
that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look
upward. 22 Then they will
look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they
will be driven into darkness.
In this last section,
Isaiah is warned about those whose faith is failing and who are trying put
their trust in man instead of God. If they start speaking things not found in
God’s Word then there is not light in them and they should be avoided. Same
principle is true today, because we should stay away from those teaching false
doctrine.
Since these people were
putting their trust in man, when they are captured and are hungry, they will
blame God and they will withdraw from Him even more. It is a sad commentary for
these rebellious Jews, but this same principle applies to all who are rebellious
against God today. There is simply no refuge in the way of man.
As we get into Chapter 9
verses 1-7, we have another prophecy about Jesus. These verses talk about how
bad things will be, but that when Jesus is born, He will bring about hope and
an everlasting kingdom.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto
us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His
shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7
Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it
with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the
LORD of hosts will perform this.
This great prophecy was
fulfilled in Christ in the first century. Also, Jesus makes reference to what
Isaiah says in these first 7 verses and their fulfillment in Mt. 4:12-16.
Next, we have two
different topics covered by Isaiah. The first topic is covered from Isa. 9:8 –
10:4. The focus is on
The announcement he makes
is given in a song or a poem, which has 4 stanzas, which end with the same
terrible refrain:
Isaiah 9:12 … For all
this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still.
Many bad things will
happen to
Isaiah 9:13 For the
people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the LORD of
hosts. 14 Therefore the LORD
will cut off head and tail from
These leaders were leading the people away from God and the supposed prophets were telling lies instead of the truth. These men would be cutoff. Since they corrupted their people, God would have no mercy on them either. Oh how I wish those in the religious world that have corrupted God’s Word would read verses like these and turn from their wicked ways and stop leading people down the wrong path and lying to people just so they can tickle their ears and make them feel like they are heavenward bound when they are not.
People do not like verses like these, but I can promise God has not changed nor has man. There will always be men that are willing to lead people away from God, and they have not problem lying to them. History indeed repeats itself when we people refuse to learn from the mistakes made by others.
In the O.T., we learn that God would use foreign enemies to carry out His punishment against His rebellious people.
Well, the Assyrians would play a major role in carrying out
the destruction of
Isaiah 10:5 "
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My
indignation. 6 I will send
him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give
him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like
the mire of the streets.
Just because God would
use an enemy to carry out His punishment does not mean that He approved of
them. In fact, we learn that the Assyrians started claiming their victory of
Isaiah 10:12 Therefore
it shall come to pass, when the LORD has performed all His work on Mount Zion
and on Jerusalem, that He will say, "I will punish the fruit of the
arrogant heart of the king of
God would not allow the
Assyrians’ arrogance to go unpunished. Just as God said, they were punished
severely and shown that they were not mighty at all on their own. Many men have
fallen into this way of thinking. They allow their pride to overcome them and
they think they are great without God, but they always find out in one or
another that they are foolish because eventually every prideful person is
brought low. Let us never become so arrogant that we push God to the side and
think too highly of ourselves. Instead, lets give God the glory for the things
that we are able to accomplish because He is the one that has made everything
we do possible.
In the last part of the chapter,
Isaiah talks about the doom of
A great lesson for us to
learn from this is to never lean on man or worldly ways. Let us always lean on
God, because He is our refuge and His our strength. Man can fail us and they
never can sustain us, but God will never fail us and He can always sustain us. Let
us take heed to:
1 John 2:15 Do not
love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
As we come to our final two chapters for tonight, Isaiah now turns his attention back to the future and talks about the coming Messiah and His kingdom.
Isaiah 11:1 There
shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of
his roots. 2 The Spirit of
the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The
Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
LORD. 3 His delight is in
the fear of the LORD, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor
decide by the hearing of His ears; 4
But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the
meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And
with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt
of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
Jesus is this branch
being spoken about. Way before it happened, Isaiah is talking about how Jesus
would be anointed with the Holy Spirit when He descended on Jesus after He was
baptized by John. He goes on to describe how righteous He would be and how His
judgment would be based on the will of the Father and not His own.
Isaiah 11:6 "
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the
young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little
child shall lead them. 7 The
cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the
lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8
The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall
put his hand in the viper's den. 9
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be
full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
There are some religious
groups that want to take these verses literally, but these are not to be taken
literally, but metaphorically. The picture these verses give is that of peace
that would not normally be obtained. This peace being spoken of here comes from
the knowledge of the Lord. There are at least two different ways to look at
this. First, through Jesus sacrifice, He was able to reconcile man with God.
Jesus is the only way that such peace between God and man could be obtained.
Second, those who become Christians and live according to God’s Word will have
peace that passes all understanding and they will be at peace with one another.
For example, before
Christ Jews and Gentiles would not have anything to do with each other, but
once Christ came, all were considered to be part of the family of God. Christ
brought together people that would not normally get along with each other. So,
our verses are not talking about animals getting along or there being no more
war in this world, but it was looking forward to the peach that Christ would
bring among His followers both physically and spiritually.
Isaiah 11:10 "
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to
the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be
glorious." 11 It
shall come to pass in that day That the LORD shall set His hand again
the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria
and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the
islands of the sea. 12 He
will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of
In that day, is talking
about when Jesus would come into this world and how even the Gentiles would
seek Him out. This idea of recovering the remnant a second time is talking
about how the Jews would be taught the good news of Jesus giving them the
opportunity to be saved. Hailey explains it this way:
The first time God set His hand to recover the
remnant involved the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel and Joshua the high
priest from captivity in
Isaiah 11:13 Also
the envy of Ephraim shall depart, And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut
off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, And Judah shall not harass Ephraim. 14 But they shall fly down upon
the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west; Together they shall plunder
the people of the East; They shall lay their hand on
Again, Isaiah is speaking
figuratively here of the various enemies of Judah and is saying that they will
no longer be at odds with one another, but they will end up becoming united
together in the new kingdom under Christ.
When the gospel was
proclaimed, there were no boarders that held it back. It was taught everywhere,
and those who used to be enemies or did not have anything do with each were not
united under the banner of Christ, which comes back full circle to the peace
that is spoken of among God’s people. Though we still have spiritual battles
and physical ones, we can know as faithful Christians that the spiritual
kingdom we are part of will never be defeated. As a faithful Christians, we
know what kind of peace Isaiah is speaking of. Only Christians can understand
the peace that God has provided for us.
Our final chapter for
tonight is
Isaiah 12:1 And in
that day you will say: "O LORD, I will praise You; Though You were angry
with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. 2 Behold, God is my
salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD, is my
strength and song; He also has become my salvation.' " 3 Therefore with joy you will
draw water From the wells of salvation. 4
And in that day you will say: "Praise the LORD, call upon His name;
Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is
exalted. 5 Sing to the LORD,
For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, O inhabitant
of
This is a song of
thanksgiving. Some think this is talking about when the remnant returns from
captivity, while other believe it is talking about when the Messiah comes.
Another, possibility is that it is talking about both because sometimes
prophecy refers to a immediate event and also point a future event.
In either case, we can see the important is to be thankful for what the Lord has done and that He brings salvation. One thing I know for sure is that Jesus made reference to this chapter and applied it to Himself and the Holy Spirit in John 7:37-39. Certainly, we should always give thanks to God for making salvation possible for us. We can learn from our lesson tonight that if we want to be pleasing to God, we must not rebel against Him or lead others astray. Otherwise, we will face the punishment of God because there are always consequences to our sins. God will not overlook them, but if we trust in Him and live for Him, we can be confident that He will lift us up and give us strength in our times of weakness and give us hope for eternity in heaven with Him.