Isaiah Introduction

(upbeat music) So as we're going through the book of Isaiah, there's no way we have time to go through it versus by verse, like we just did say with the book of Matthew. We would be here for nine years, just in Isaiah. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through the book and drop in to different passages, 'cause what I would really like for us all to do is to capture the melody, the song of Isaiah in our hearts. So we recognize it more and more. And what's amazing about Isaiah, it's sometimes called the fifth gospel. It's got so much hope and beauty and redemption and comfort in it. And Jesus knew this scroll backwards and forwards. He loved the book of Isaiah. And he knew this scroll so well. He even uses its melody to talk about his own life. You guys remember in Luke 4 here, we'll go there now where he goes back home to Nazareth and he goes to the synagogue and he gets handed the Isaiah scroll and he goes to Isaiah 61, right near the end of the book. Here, let's read it together. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. Oh, lower brackets, how exciting. Let's mouse over and find out. The literal translation of this is he came to Nazareth where he was having been brought up. Now, that's just bad English, right? But those are all the Hebrew words. So if you want to, or the Greek words in this case, where he was having been brought up. So the translators say, actually, let's just say, this is where he was brought up. And according to his custom, or literally, according to what he was accustomed to for him, it's just extra words. But again, it helps us get back to the original text. Okay, I'm gonna stop that for the rest of the sermon. I think I'm enjoying it more than you are. Okay. He entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written and he begins to read. Verse 18, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, "because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news "to the poor. "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives "and recovery of sight to the blind "to send out and free them those who are oppressed "to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And teachers to teach would sit down to teach. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were looking intently at him. And he began to save them. Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. Mike drop. It's amazing. He goes to Isaiah, to Isaiah 61 and talks about this anointed one, this anointed figure that's anointed by the spirit of God. To do what? Proclaim good news to the poor. Good news, is that sound like Jesus is ministry? Just being anointed sound like Jesus is ministry? What about healing, freedom? Jesus overlays his work onto the Isaiah scroll. This is me. Jesus loves the scroll of Isaiah. And if the scroll of Isaiah means so much to Jesus, I would love it if we as a church fell in love with this scroll together. To see what Jesus saw. To see the beauty of the melody of Isaiah. And I think melody is real. The reason I'm using that word so often is that we use melody to track themes. So like I'm a big Lord of the Rings nerd. And when, oh wow, I'm such a nerd, I'm forgetting a character's name. Sean Bean who dies every time. Boramir, thank you. Boramir enters Rivendell. And there's a theme for the Kingdom of Gondor. And it plays on a French horn. Just a single horn in that moment, as he enters the scene. And that's the only time you hear. And then it plays again a little louder in his death scene. Oh, sorry, spoilers. At the end of the movie. But then in the Battle of Gondor, the Kingdom of Menace Tirith, the city is there. And the armies are charging, colliding. You hear a full orchestra playing the melody of Gondor. It's powerful. The Isaiah scroll has a melody that Jesus knew by heart. And if he would see it, and he would call it out, and he would live by it. And there's an invitation to each of us to dive into this melody together. Does that sound good? Isaiah one, one. Let's read. The vision of Yashiyahu, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jatham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Here heavens, listen earth, for Yahweh has spoken. I reared children and I brought them up, but they rebelled against me. And ox knows its owner and a donkey, the manger of its master, Israel does not know. And my people do not understand. Ah, sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, offspring of evil doers, children who deal correctly, they have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the holy one of Israel. They are estranged and gone backward. If you ever walked into the middle of seeing a parent yelling at their kid, never in our household, I swear. You go, "What? Something has happened here." There's context to this situation. And there's massive context to what's going on here. So should we take a moment and pray and ask the Lord to guide us through this text? Father, we are so grateful for how you move through history and how these words are written down for our benefit. And that we get to see and peer into your heart and to your beauty and your glory. Go before us tonight, Lord, and help us hear your melody, your song in this scroll. Amen. This opening passage just assumes you know a lot about what's happening already. I mean, the first verse, the vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Okay, I'm supposed to know these areas, these cities, or the city. I'm supposed to know who Oziah and Jotham and Ahaz and has a Kaya are. So what's the history here? What's going on? I want to place the book of Isaiah on a scale. So let's say over here is 2000 BC, okay? This is Abraham, 2000 BC. Over here, this is Jesus, zero. Ish, yeah. Okay, 2000 BC, 1500 BC, Moses is on the scene. Okay, halfway, 1000 BC, David is on the scene. Okay, 250 years later, King Uziah dies, Ish. So this is where we are between Abraham and Jesus, about 750 years to go to Jesus, 2000 BC is Abraham. Everybody with me? This moment that is happening has a lot of history behind it. What is the history of Yahweh and his people for all this time? And I want to focus using the Garden of Eden imagery 'cause it's all over this chunk of the story. God creates humanity, puts them in a garden called Eden, which means what? Delight, pleasure, beauty, it's a good thing. He puts humanity in the garden, gives them an opportunity to be faithful and follow his law and his ways. And what does humanity do? And so they leave the garden, they get kicked out. But Yahweh is so good, he says, you know what, I'm gonna bring this guy Abraham. I'm gonna bring him into the scene. And I'm gonna make a covenant with him. Because Eden was this mountain that had a river that came into it and the river split and went into four different directions, bringing the life and beauty of Yahweh and Eden into the world. But then that program fails, right? So then he says, I'm gonna make a covenant with this guy and I'm skipping over Noah, sorry Noah. I'm gonna make a covenant here. I'm gonna bless you. And in fact, all the nations of the earth are gonna be blessed through you. This beautiful, Eden life presence is going to flow through you and your seed. It's great, it's going to be amazing. But then, we read the rest of Genesis. Oh, it's painful. The people of Yahweh flood it again and again and again. And finally, they're exiled in Egypt. And Yahweh comes to them and says, "I'm going to bring you out of Egypt." And he rescues his people. And he brings, remember that moment at Sinai? Remember where Yahweh's presence is on top of the mountain? It's like Eden. And Yahweh hasn't dwelt among his people since Eden. He says, "We're going to make some house rules. This is how we're going to live together." And then the presence of Yahweh comes off of Sinai and lands, descends on the tabernacle in the midst of the people. We're like, "Yes, now it's going to work." And what do the people of Yahweh do again? They flood it. They choose destruction and death again. And then come the judges we bring. Oh, Moses, oh my, right? Set it up and then Joshua leads the people into the land. And he says, "Okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to have Yahweh be our leader. He's going to raise up first judges." And then we watch in the book of judges think at darker and darker and worse and worse and worse. They say, "Okay, we need a king." And Yahweh says, "This is not going to go well." Okay, he raises up Saul, doesn't go well. And he says, "I'm going to raise up this guy David." And the word anointed in the Old Testament is used more of David than anybody else by a mile and a half. He is the anointed one. He's anointed. Because Yahweh's spirit is going to rest on him and bring that beauty and goodness everywhere. But then we look at the sons of David who love it again and again and again and again. And about 250 years after David, Isaiah steps on to the scene. And we have these kings, Uzziah. Uzziah was a good king. Had a prosperous reign. But you know what? He didn't destroy the high places where they would worship pagan gods. And he was struck with leprosy. And then his son, Jotham reigned. And Jotham followed the ways of Yahweh, but still didn't destroy these worship places. And then Jotham's son, Ahaz reigned. And Ahaz is as evil as it gets. Ahaz practices child sacrifice. Ahaz worships canonite gods. Ahaz is evil and broken. And there's some interaction between Ahaz and Ahaz, in the book of Ahaz. And then comes Hezekiah. And Hezekiah is faithful. And he does destroy the high places. And yet his son is the worst of all. He doesn't pass it on to the next king. And so there's a sense of we don't need another son of David here. We need a new David to start things again. Because this is not working. We're a broken people who keep having even put in front of us. And we keep choosing other. We keep choosing death and de-creation over creation and God's goodness. So then we come to this passage. If you want to throw up the first verses again. Here Heavens, listen, earth, Yahweh is spoken. Does this melody seem familiar? Yahweh's people have screwed up yet again. I want to. I think Isaiah scroll poses a crisis, a question, and a terrible hope. Let's look at this together. Here's the crisis. Israel and the nations have consistently replayed the problematic cycle. Resulting in Jerusalem's corruption in the days of Ahas, Hezekiah, and Isaiah. So here's the question, the scroll asks. How is God going to fulfill his covenant promises in the face of Israel's rebellion and exile? Remember Abraham? The covenant God made with Abraham? Remember Moses? The covenant God made with Moses? Remember David? The covenant God made with David? Here we are 250 years later. And things are looking dire. What is Yahweh going to do? Here's the terrible hope. Yahweh is going to purify Israel in a great purging test in order to restore a new community of holy, faithful covenant keepers who do right by God and neighbor. This community will fulfill God's purposes for Israel and restore God's Eden blessing to the nations. Because let's not forget the nations. They men at the heart of Yahweh from the beginning. This brings this Eden river life blessing to the nations. And that's not happening. Okay. Do you guys want to see the literary design of Isaiah? Because I think it helps point this out. How this works. Here's a chart that Tim Mackey put together. Isaiah has two main sections. I know it looks like three here. I'll explain in a moment. Isaiah 1 through 39 is really cohesive. Isaiah is in the middle of talking to Ahas and has a kaya and dealing with the problems of his time. And saying, listen, you're going to be exiled. Things are going to be bad. If you don't repent, things are going to be really bad. And if you look those three blue dots at the end of these major sections, there's three calls to return from exile. Even though you're going to be exiled, return. And then something shifts at the end of 39 that's beginning of 40. The very first word of chapter 40 in onwards is comfort. Comfort my people. And then there are these three images at the end of the three sections that talk about, that show an image of a return people returning from exile. Which is crazy because that happens 200 years after King of Zion dies. Actually, I went all the way to Jesus here. I know it was bothering some of you. That happened 250 years later. So Isaiah as a scroll covers this wide range of time and the second half of Isaiah mentions Cyrus. And Cyrus didn't live until 200 years after Isaiah. So the scroll covers this massive amount of time. The first part, one through 39. And then the second half, 40 through 66. One through 39 is a warning about exile. And 40 through 66 is about the terrible hope of returning from exile formed and new. Now, can we go back to the passage the verses? In the first verse, I just want to point something out. Some of you might be sitting there thinking how did Isaiah write a scroll that lasted so far past his death? There's a few options. First is I want to say I'm very comfortable with editors working in the text. So if you even look at this first verse, it says the vision of Isaiah, son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Do you see how it's talking about somebody else? This isn't Isaiah talking about himself in the third person. In fact, if you go to Isaiah chapter 6, he goes, "On the year King was I died, I." He uses the personal pronoun. So all over the Bible, there are editors that have access to the text at different times and add notes that are helpful to the reader. We'll see this at the beginning of Ezekiel, too. Now, I'm very comfortable with that. I don't know if you've noticed this, but the whole Bible has lots of authors. So I'm really comfortable with different humans having access to this text because the product that we have is the inspired word of God. God uses the editors, the scribes, the authors, to gather to bring his word to his people. Now, that said, there are a huge contingent of scholars that believe Isaiah of Jerusalem, the guy from the first one through 39, wrote the whole book. And the part about the future and the return from exile and even naming King Cyrus hundreds of years in the future is divine pressions. He can see into the future. And so he's naming these things as they happen. I'm really comfortable with that. It's a great view. And there's a large contingent of scholars that say, "Or, there's disciples mentioned throughout the scroll, too." Perhaps they are carrying on the work of Isaiah, which is a very common thing to do to write something in the vein of someone like Isaiah and then slap Isaiah's name on top of it. All that to say, I don't really care. What we have is the inspired word of God that is living and breathing and active. But I want you as a people to be comfortable with this because I don't want someone to go to class, freshman year of school and find out that they're like editors and authors in the Bible and be weirded out by that. It's okay. It's very normal. That's not good? Yeah. Okay. So, what is the melody of Isaiah? Let's put up the image here. So on the left-hand side, you'll see Israel and Jerusalem. Oh, not the map, sorry, the chart. No, next one. There we go. This is the melody of the book. Over and over and over again. You have Israel and Jerusalem, and they sin. If you sin, what happens? Exile, Syria and Babylon are there. But then there's redemption. And remember the word comfort? The people will be comforted. And there's going to be repentance and forgiveness. That's a beautiful melody. Now, here is why melodies are so important. Because sometimes we can just be going through life and not notice a melody unless it's an important melody to us. I'll give an example. I was coming down the stairs this week to drive to work. And I was on the phone with Jillian. And this guy stopped and asked me for directions. And I gave him directions, and then I got in the car. And Jillian, I started laughing her heads off. Why were we laughing her heads off? To tell you that story, I've got to tell you another one. A melody of my life-- this is one I didn't choose-- it has just happened to me. I give directions to the mafia. There was a guy who lived in our neighborhood. His name was Danny. Danny used to fix very nice Mercedes off the books. And so I would be playing in the neighborhood. And I can't tell you how many times this has happened to me. And a very sleek black Mercedes would cruise into our little little pizza, our little road. And a window would roll down. And the guy would say, hey, kid, come here. Yes, sir. How may be of service today? Where's Benny's house? Write that way, good, sir. Have you have a wonderful day? And the reason I got picked on so much is because I clearly stood out as an American. Now, I don't know they were mafia. You've come on, allegedly. So I'm coming out of my house, talking to my wife. And I come to the road. I'm not going to make any claims about this gentleman. Zero claims. I don't know where he's from, but I want you to understand what his voice sounded like to me. He smiles with his window rolled down in a very nice Mercedes, black. He pulls up and he looks at me very expectedly. And says, I, five, I want to go. And I said, I know this song. This is bringing something up deep within me that I recognize. And I said, my good, sir, do you know how to get to 99? And he said, yes. He said, you go to 99, you make a left. And he kept driving sleekly out of the neighborhood. I don't know where this man was from. I have no idea what he did for work, but I recognize the song. This is why it's so important for us to learn the song of Isaiah. So that when we're on our way to work in the morning, we can hear it. We can recognize it. We can have it resonate deep within our bones in such a way that even when we haven't thought about giving directions to mafia for years, when it happens again, allegedly, we have a sense. Oh, yeah, I know this song. I know what's happening here. Let's go back to the melody slide of Isaiah. Israel and Jerusalem sin. If they sin, they go to exile. And in exile, there is something transformative that happens. And they are brought back out. And there is redemption. There is comfort. There's repentance. There's forgiveness. So this is the melody of Isaiah. Let's look at how Jesus in Luke talks about his own ministry. So one verse, this is Luke 2426. And then we'll jump a few verses later. This is on the road to Emanes. He's talking to these two people. And he says, "Was it not necessary that the Christ "suffer these things and enter his glory?" Let's throw a melody of what he's saying. The Christ suffers and enters glory. Here's a few verses later. He's talking to the whole-- all the disciples now. Verse 44, Luke 24, 44. And he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you "well, I was still with you, that everything that has written "about me in the law of Moses and the prophets "and the Psalms must be fulfilled. "What's the melody he's going to describe?" Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He said to them, "Thus it is written that the Christ "would suffer and would rise from the dead on the third day. "And repentance and forgiveness of sins "would be proclaimed in his name "to all the nations beginning in Jerusalem. "Let's throw up the melody of what this looks like. "You have the anointed one "who is going to suffer and die because of sin. "But then he's going to be resurrected. "And in the resurrection is redemption, "is repentance and forgiveness. "And then where does that story, that melody go? "To the nations. "Remember the nations that Eden was touching "at the very beginning of the story? "That Abram was called to bless with his family? "This is the melody of Isaiah. "So when Jesus is reflecting back on his own ministry "and story after his resurrection, "he's saying, don't you see the song? "This is the song and my life fulfills this song. "About the anointed one." Remember how the anointed one is David? Anointing is an interesting word in the Old Testament. It talks about God pouring out his himselfness, his essence onto people, his presence. Sometimes it's signified by oil, right? Anointing with oil, okay. This is Isaiah 6, 11 through 13. At the end of his magnificent vision of Isaiah 6, he's, and then I said, he's Yahweh is talking about the destruction that's coming. He said, until when Lord, this sounds bad. And he said, Yahweh said, until the city's light wasted without inhabitant and the houses without people, and the land is ruined in a waste. And Yahweh sends the people far away and abandonment is great in the midst of the land. And even if only a tenth part remain, again she'll be destroyed, like a terrible, like an oak, which although felt a tree stump remains in them, but the seed of holiness will be her tree stump. So because of the sin and brokenness of the people, they're in exile, and all that's gonna remain of this giant tree of God's people is gonna be a stump, but it's gonna be a holy stump. There's gonna be some sort of redemption that comes back. Let's jump ahead to Isaiah 11, and a shoe will come out of the what, the stump of who, of Jesse. That's David's dad. A branch from its roots will bear fruit, and the spirit of Yahweh will rest on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and a fear of Yahweh. Do you see the anointing that's happening on this one? And then let's jump ahead to Isaiah 61. The part of the scroll that Jesus read from in Nazareth. The spirit of the Lord Yahweh is upon me, because Yahweh has anointed me. He has set me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives and liberation to those who are bound. Jesus is the anointed one, who brings freedom and rescue. And doesn't allow pain and suffering to exist on its own without redemption, who steps in and shows us away. Here's the melody I want us to take with us. Jesus's name, oh here's a fun thing about Jesus's name in Isaiah's name. Jesus's name is Yehoshua, Yehoh, shorthand for Yahweh, shua, shorthand for salvation or saves. Isaiah, Yehosh, Yahweh, Yehosh means rescue. Their names are poetically linked about how our God is a savior God. And here is why I want this melody to ring in your hearts, because in this world, you will have trouble, you will have suffering, you will have exile. And sometimes it'll be because of your sin, and sometimes it will be because of someone else's sin. You will go through the valley. The word that Jesus uses there in John 16 is flipsis and the word picture is a man being crushed by a boulder. You will have this crushing in this life. So church, what do we do when we see the crushing? We'll cry out for a rescuer. When we come to the crushing, the pressing, the suffering again and again and again in our lives because it will come again and again and again. We remember the melody. We remember the story. We remember that our God is a rescuer who provides a way because I so easily forget when I come to suffering a fresh and a new what God has done already. Church, let's learn the melody of Isaiah the way that Jesus knew it because the hope we have in Jesus casts such a bright light on the world around us. I think sometimes we get so comfortable with the hope we have. We forget it's glory and it's light for those who don't have it. That's to be a people who go through the fire of suffering towards Jesus, towards transformation, towards being a people who bring his light and life to the nations, to those who don't have them. That's the melody of Isaiah. Let's sing it with our lives. Would you stand with me? Let's pray. Jesus, help us carry this melody with us wherever we go. Let's carry this song as we go to work and we're frustrated. Let's carry these notes in our hearts as we enter elections. Let us sing this song when we read the news or when the test results come back. Or when brokenness rears its head again and again and again. Help us memorize this melody and bring hope not just to ourselves, but to the world around us who needs the anointed one with the spirit of Yahweh so desperately. May we carry you in your incredible work wherever we go and spirit fill us a fresh, send us out. We love you. Amen.