Theological Commentary: Click Here
In this
chapter, God makes it clear to the Hebrew people that God is not happy with
them. In fact, Good is so unhappy with
them that He is planning on destroying Israel and allowing Assyria to destroy
Judah “up to its neck.” We know from
history that Assyria does go up to the doors of Jerusalem before turning back.
The point in
this text, though, isn’t what is going to happen. The point is why. What is it that the people are doing to annoy
the Lord so much that His anger is raised against them? Why would God seek the destruction of His
own?
The answer
is simple. The people have learned to
depend upon their leaders instead of the Lord.
They have learned to judge the world by their own standards instead of
the Lord’s standards. They have
determined right from wrong according to their own definition instead of
adhering to the Lord and His definition.
God wants us
to rely upon Him. He wants us to see Him
as the source of our strength and as our salvation. He wants us to rely upon His wisdom when
determining right from wrong. He wants
to be the center of our life, not something in the periphery.
The Hebrew
people are not doing this. They will be
sent into exile for it. Israel will be
sent into captivity under Assyria (and in the future, Judah will be made
captive by Babylon) until they have learned to look to the Lord instead of
their own strength and understanding.
At the end
of this chapter I find several expressions that fit right in with why God’s so
angry with His people. God tells Isaiah
to bind up His testimony and to seal His teaching among the disciples. It may seem odd to hear God tell Isaiah to
but and seal up His Word, but God is letting Isaiah know tat the people aren’t
willing to receive it. Why should God’s
Word go out and fall on deaf ears and closed hearts? What’s the point of evangelism if nobody is
listening? In fact, if nobody is
listening, is it even evangelism?
God also
tells Isaiah that He will be a stumbling block to people. Not only will people not be willing to listen
to His words and adhere to His ways, they will stumble over them. God’s ways will be things that drive people
away from Him instead of pull people towards Him. God is telling Isaiah that there are times
and places where people will reject God not because of their own choice but
because they actively disagree with God and His ways.
In the end,
Isaiah lived in a sad time. He lived in
a time when God’s people were turning away from God and rejecting Him. They were rejecting God because of who God
is! They were rejecting the very character
of God. This is why the Lord brought
Assyria out against them.
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