A Better Way • 03.03.24
A Better Way
Isaiah 8
God provides hope in the face of divine discipline
- God is faithful to keep his word
- God provides a better way to live
- I can respond in one of two ways
Good morning church family! Welcome guests + introduce self.
Dismiss 4th + 5th Graders
Ushers + Bibles (Isaiah 8; page 680?)
Do you recall where we left off last week in Isaiah 7? Things were not looking too good for Judah, were they? Ahaz had chosen to trust in the King of Assyria rather than Yahweh and that was about to backfire on him spectacularly. You may recall that God spoke through Isaiah to tell Ahaz that he was bringing the King of Assyria, not only to conquer Syria/Israel, but also to oppress Judah!
Isaiah 7:17 (ESV)
17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
The verses that followed provided graphic detail of the devastation that would come upon Judah because of Assyria descending on their land.
Who can tell me why all of this happened? Why was God bringing a foreign, pagan nation to conquer His chosen people? (Because they had forsaken Him to worship idols! Ahaz himself was a child-sacrificing, pagan worshiper!) Both Israel and Judah had broken the covenant that their ancestors had made with God to obey Him and be His holy people. And now they are about to reap the consequences of their faithlessness.
This has not been easy to read, has it? I hope we never take joy or delight in someone else’s sin or suffering regardless of if it is self-inflicted, or we’re removed from it by thousands of years. It should be hard for us to read about other men and women willingly forsaking the One, True God to pursue their own ways. Yet, it also ought to cause us to reflect on our own lives and ask, “Am I trusting in the Lord and following His ways? Or am I trusting myself and following my own way?”
If you were present back on February 4th, we studied Isaiah chapters 2-4 in a sermon titled “In That Day: God’s Way vs Man’s Way”. The synopsis was that trusting the Lord is the best way. His way leads to life and justice and peace on earth. Unfortunately, as sinful men/women we have long struggled with trusting God and submitting to his way. We are prone to pride and trust in self, which turns us against the Lord!
Talking about this makes me think of interacting with children, who when they are first learning to express themselves often learn how to say something like: “SELF!” or “MINE!” usually followed by yelling/loud shrieks. Which translated roughly means, “I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF/MY WAY!” OR “GIVE ME WHAT I WANT!”
As “cute” as you may think that sounds coming from a 2- or 3-year-old, it is indicative of a heart bent against submission to God’s will and ways. And, as we all know, it sounds a whole lot less adorable coming from a 15-year-old or 25-year-old or 40 or 60-year-old… Yet any of us, at any age in life, can easily respond in the same manner. “No one tells me what to do!” “I have a good plan for my life; I’ll do it my way!” “I’ll live or speak however I want!” “I don’t care what God says!” These grown-up versions of self-worship are even more devastating than the 2–3-year-old version because they have greater capacity to influence and affect others.
All of this to say, this issue of the “way we walk” or “how we live” is an essential one. And it is directly connected to our understanding of God and response to Him. We are, whether you like it or not, created beings who are relating to our Creator in one of two ways. You are either humbling yourself before Him in worship and submission OR you are walking in pride/self-sufficiency which is a worship of self and rejection of Him. That’s how the Bible lays it out and that is exactly what we’re going to see on display today in Isaiah 8.
Throughout the book of Isaiah, we have been given a BIG view of God. He is the incomparably great God, a God who is the MOST HOLY ONE. As the MOST HOLY ONE we have heard Him take issue with the sinful ways of Judah and promise to hold them accountable for their disobedience. We have seen and heard that He is the God who judges. And God has spoken very bluntly to them through Isaiah to tell them how they are living in sin; we saw that throughout chapters 1-5 in broad detail and then in specifics last week in chapter 7.
Thankfully, Isaiah has also revealed that God is MERCIFUL and the God who SAVES. We have seen and heard, that in addition to God being faithful to judge, He is also faithful to preserve a righteous remnant of people for himself. He uses discipline and trials to produce holiness in His people and He is preparing them for eternal glory with Him one day. However, as we will see today, it is necessary that they (WE) respond to God in faith and obedience! So, let’s turn our attention to the text today. My goal is to show you how…
God provides hope in the face of divine discipline
Isaiah 8:1–10 (ESV)
Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
If you are anything like me, you may be thinking, “Huh?” after reading all of this. I had to do a lot of reading and re-reading of the passage and commentaries this week to make sure I was following the argument of the text. Let me tell you, it is worth it to put time into studying God’s Word! There are such deep treasures to unearth in it.
Let’s start with our takeaway from these 10 verses.
- God is faithful to keep his word
In this passage we see three separate promises being upheld. The first is addressed in verses 1-4, where Isaiah reveals God is keeping his promise to send a child representing God’s judgment upon Syria/Israel. We heard about this child last week in 7:14-16.
Isaiah 7:14–16 (ESV)
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 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
The promise of the Immanuel child was a prophecy that God would defeat the enemies of Judah, namely Syria and Israel. Last week we spoke about the two different contexts for the fulfillment of that prophecy, the immediate context, and the future fulfillment in Jesus the Messiah. Today, in Isaiah 8, you are hearing that the Lord provided Maher-shalal-hash-baz, Isaiah’s own son, as the immediate fulfillment of this prophecy in his day.
The boy’s name literally means: Speed-Spoil-Haste-Booty. Your Bible might have a text note there translating it something like “The spoil speeds, the prey hastens” or “Speeding to the plunder, hurrying to the spoil”. His name was an indication of the haste with which Assyria would come to defeat Syria/Israel. And, interestingly, God told Isaiah to write his name on a large tablet (think wooden or metal sign) in the common language of the day, likely so that it could be posted publicly and read by all. It was a foretelling of what was coming! God was faithful to fulfill what He had promised in defeating their oppressors.
However, he was also faithful to keep his word in disciplining Judah via Assyria too. As we heard at the beginning of our sermon today in 7:17:
Isaiah 7:17 (ESV)
17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
And then in our text today in verses 5-8, God speaks of how Judah had refused the gentle waters of Shiloah and instead rejoiced over Rezin and the son of Remaliah. What does that mean? The waters of Shiloah were Jerusalem’s water supply, which we heard last week were outside the walls and a defensive liability. When God rebukes them for refusing these, it means they have refused to trust Him to protect/provide for them.
That resolves the first half of the verse, but I was also left wondering… “How was Judah rejoicing over their enemies?” Then as I processed it further, I realized they were rejoicing over their enemies being defeated by Assyria! They were excited that Ahaz’s plan of trusting Assyria seemed to be working. You can imagine them throwing a party in celebration, only to hear Isaiah share from God, “therefore, behold the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” Smiles gone! That doesn’t sound good, does it?
The imagery God is using is of the mighty Euphrates River swollen with rain and running with torrential might and speed. Have you ever seen a river swollen by a flash flood? It’s absolutely devastating to anything in its path! (3 images) God is saying this is what Assyria is going to be like to the nation of Judah. The waters will rise to their necks! They will only survive by standing on their tippy-toes so they can keep their mouth and nose above water! Then he switches illustrations to say that Assyria will be like a giant bird of prey swooping down over the land. Neither of these are good news for Judah!
They have no reason to celebrate Syria/Israel’s demise when theirs is next! And the terrible irony is that they have brought this upon themselves! King Ahaz chose this path. Remember, he invited the Assyrians to hasten to the area! He did not realize that God would use the Assyrians as an instrument of divine discipline. But God is faithful to keep his promises. Judah chose to trust Assyria over Yahweh, and this was the promised outcome. As noted at the end of verse 8, Immanuel will inherit a land and people who are broken by sin and suffering. This is certainly the condition of the land in Ahaz’s day and in the days of Jesus Christ, the true Immanuel.
Thankfully, we are not at the end of God’s promises. There is yet one more to look at from verses 9-10 and this one is a positive one! God is also faithful to keep his promise of protecting and preserving a faithful remnant.
Isaiah 8:9–10 (ESV)
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
God repeatedly tells the nations who are gathered against His people that they will be broken and shattered. Though they prepare for war, they shall not ultimately prosper against His own. Though they plot and plan to try to conquer God’s people, it will come to nothing, and it will not stand. Why? “For God is with us.” (Immanuel!)
This calls to mind God’s promise to Ahaz that Rezin and Pekah’s plans against Judah “shall not stand or come to pass” in 7:7. When God has decreed it, no man can successfully oppose or thwart it! In this case, God has decreed that He will not let the nations wipe out His chosen people completely. This is tying into the theme we heard earlier in Isaiah chapters 1-5 that there are some who are righteous and repentant. Some who respond to God’s discipline with obedience and worship. God has a plan to purify and refine these people for Himself. Praise God that He is gracious and merciful and that He provides a way forward! I appreciated what Commentator John Oswalt had to say about this:
That does not mean magical deliverance without reference to the manifest sins of his people, but it does mean that their destiny is not in the hands of sinful human nations, and furthermore, it means that judgment and destruction are not the final word. Judgment is unto salvation when God is with us.
God still cares about our sin, it is not as if it was just swept under the rug, however God also is in control. He doesn’t just turn Judah over to the Assyrians and let them do whatever they want with them. As the imagery implies, there is a point where God says, “Go no further” as the waters do not completely drown them. In fact, what we will see in the weeks ahead, is that God also holds Assyria accountable for their wicked ways.
God is using Assyria as a tool of discipline for the eternal good of the faithful remnant in Judah. In his faithfulness, He is actively accomplishing His grand plan of redemption through every situation, even discipline. This should be a cause for hope in the midst of divine discipline! Are you thankful that God is a merciful and purposeful God? That He does not waste His discipline or let ungodly people/nations run amok outside of His purposes? This should still be a great comfort and hope for us today given our own nation’s turmoil and the greater turmoil of the world at large. *pause*
God is in control, and He is working out His grand redemption plan! Though the nations rage, our God is on the throne, and we can trust Him. And trusting Him should lead us to seeking him and walking in his way! *pause*
Let’s keep reading to hear God’s counsel to Isaiah, picking back up in verse 11.
Isaiah 8:11–15 (ESV)
11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Out of the surprising promise of God’s faithfulness to preserve Judah comes Isaiah’s revelation that God has provided him instruction on a better way to live. Though the people of Judah have largely chosen to walk in sin, Isaiah and those who follow him have a different and better way to live. Which brings us to our second takeaway today…
- God provides a better way to live
Isaiah speaks of God’s commands as coming through “his strong hand upon me” meaning that God is providing direct guidance to him. The warning given to him is “DO NOT WALK IN THE WAY OF THIS PEOPLE!”
How do the people of Judah walk? Well, they are preoccupied with the works of fellow humans around them as conspiracies and they are fearful about these things. It’s not hard to imagine why… they were in a time of great wars and military and political upheavals in their land. Everything was chaos around them! One commentator I read pointed out that it is easy, when things go against us, to become paranoid and react accordingly. Oh, how true that is!
Surely you have been in a situation where someone has treated you poorly or opposed you. Perhaps you have experienced several of these types of interactions in a short period of time. This can easily happen in the workplace, in your own family, or even in the church. After being opposed or personally attacked, it is very tempting to dread the next interaction that is coming, to assume that it will also be a hostile interaction. Our flesh wants to defend ourselves or put our trust in our own ability to control our circumstances. We don’t like the feeling that our lives are at the whims of other people, or even that our lives are in their control!
Yet, God’s counsel to Isaiah is not to walk in this way. Do not live a life ruled by ungodly fear or seeking control. Instead, in verse 13 he calls Isaiah to focus on the LORD of hosts. Honor him as holy. Let him be your fear and dread. That may sound a bit odd if you’ve never heard of fearing the Lord before. Fearing the Lord is speaking of a holy reverence and awe of God. Just like Isaiah had when he “saw” God in his vision in chapter 6.
Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Isaiah’s response was informed by his fear of God! He knew that God was perfectly holy. He also was greatly aware that he himself was tainted by sin. He was in grave danger being in God’s presence as an unclean man. This is a great example of a holy fear of the Lord. It is right to tremble before and worship the Creator of the Universe, the HOLY GOD.
Fearing God and honoring him as holy go hand in hand. When you have a right view of God, you will inevitably desire to make much of Him. You want to live in a way that shows how wonderful He is to the world around you. That is where honoring him as holy comes into play. Your choices, your lifestyle, the desires you cultivate will all be informed by the holiness of God. Because you fear and love Him, you want to represent Him as accurately as possible to the people around you! As God’s people we get to have a peace that surpasses understanding because we trust in Him. Rather than getting wrapped up in the things that are causing the world around us to go crazy, we are steadfast in our trust and obedience and fear of God.
Verses 14-15 reveal the two different outcomes that come depending on which way you walk… If Isaiah were to walk in the ways of the people of Judah, God would become a stone of offense and rock of stumbling, a trap and snare, just as He was to the inhabitants of Judah and Israel. This is the natural byproduct of living in idolatry and wandering from the Lord! God has not changed in his character, but your disposition towards Him is against Him, therefore you stumble over Him. He is in your way because you have made yourself an enemy of God! There is nothing wrong with God in this scenario, but plenty wrong with sinful men/women who try to live as if he is not real and in authority.
We see this happen all the time in our society. For example, our culture has pushed so hard to normalize abortion, even seeking to change the issue to women’s rights and bodily autonomy. Yet, in the heart of every abortion advocate is the intrinsic understanding that they are wrong and what they are promoting is murder of a human life. Despite how hard they seek to suppress that truth, God is very clear in his word that all life is precious in his sight and to be valued. They can ignore Him all they want, but He is a stumbling block to them. He opposes their path and will judge their ways if they do not repent.
There is an old saying, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” The point behind that quote is that when life gets hard and your life is on the line, everyone hopes there is a God. When terminal illness strikes, when you are faced with circumstances beyond your control or comfort level, you are faced with the undeniable reality of God. As created beings, we simply cannot escape the reality of our Creator. *pause*
So that is one way to walk with one particular outcome… The alternate outcome comes when you honor God as holy. In this position God becomes a sanctuary or holy place to you. Because you choose to walk in His ways and accurately represent Him, the Lord is not a hindrance but a place of welcome and safety. It is a delight to be in His presence because you are at peace with God. When the troubles of life seem too great, you delight to come to Him and lay them at His feet. There is great joy in knowing that you have a Rock who is higher than You to turn too and you don’t have to depend solely on yourself.
How you respond to God matters! How Ahaz and the people of Israel/Judah responded to God mattered. When we live as if God is not real or in control, then we inevitably make decisions that lead to our downfall. We trip and stumble over Yahweh because He is, and He is not moving/changing.
Do you know what happens when someone gets on their bike, points it straight at a car parked on the street and begins pedaling while yelling, “There is no car in front of me. There is no car in front of me. There is no car in front of me!” Eventually they hit the car that is in front of them and get injured. Why? Because no matter how much you tell yourself the car (or God) doesn’t exist, you will eventually find out that you were wrong.
The Jews in Jesus’ day had to learn the same lesson. Jesus became a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to them because they refused to believe he was the Messiah, the Savior of the world! The point is that God is. He exists. And He is holy, and He is the way of salvation. You can either respond to him in faith/fear that leads to trust in Him and walking in His way OR in rejection of him and walking in another way that leads to being broken as you stumble over him.
How will you respond to God/Jesus? Christian, do the choices and lifestyle you’ve pursued over this past week reflect that you trust Him and walk in His way? Or, like King Ahaz, have you looked at the world around you and decided “It’s working for them, I guess I’ll try it too!”? The temptations to just copy/paste the world’s methodologies in our finances, our careers, our parenting, our relationships, and so on, especially when it seems to be producing desired results, is real! But is it pleasing to God? Christians are not called to be pragmatists (doing whatever works) but Biblicists (doing what God says). It will not do to offer him lip service while our hearts are far from him! We must be men and women who love and fear God and allow that to guide our way. *pause*
When believing men and women have their hope and trust in God and want to honor Him as holy, it completely changes their outlook on life. It gives them joy to suffer for the name of Yahweh/Jesus. It helps them to endure to the end, in the face of great trials and tribulations. This is exactly what we see Isaiah saying he will do in the next part of chapter 8. Let’s read verses 16-22. However, please note, yet again, that there are two types of responses to God. Let’s read about them and discuss them together.
Isaiah 8:16–22 (ESV)
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Did you notice the two types of responses here? There is a sharp contrast between Isaiah and his children/disciples and the unrepentant people of Judah. When things are hard and God allows his discipline into your lives, how will you respond? The contrast between these two groups leads us to our final takeaway today…
- I can respond in one of two ways
I can respond in one of two ways to God’s divine discipline. The first option on the table is to respond like Isaiah. I can follow Isaiah’s example and wait for the Lord and hope in Him. Those who did this in Isaiah’s day were known as the faithful remnant. They are the ones who did not turn aside to idols or the occult to look for help in their time of need. Instead, they held fast to God. They trusted that He would provide for them, even if they weren’t sure what that would look like. They were a faithful people who clung to God’s teaching and testimonies! They sought to obey His clear commands given throughout the Scriptures. This is both an honorable way to respond in God’s sight and it is God’s desired response for his people. If you recall from chapter 2, this is what God told Isaiah he desires for all peoples in the future:
Isaiah 2:1–5 (ESV)
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
3 and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.
Following God’s ways leads us into the light of his holiness! It provides life and peace. Even when it requires us to go through the storms of life or the divine discipline being poured out on the nation at large. When all was being shaken up in their land by the Assyrians, it was still possible to respond by trusting God, waiting on Him, hoping in Him, and walking in His ways. Hard circumstances are not an excuse to sin! Isaiah and the faithful remnant are proof of it. Yet King Ahaz and many in the nation were unwilling to respond this way.
Instead, they chose response #2 – turning to sources other than God’s teaching and testimonies. In this case it was inquiring of mediums and necromancers aka the occult. They descended into darkness by meddling in the spiritual realm in a way that is ungodly and dangerous. The outcome of walking in this way is that they will have no dawn aka no light… They walk in darkness, and they end up distressed, hungry, angry at God… living in gloom and anguish… Honestly it just sounds awful and miserable! It made me think of the Exodus generation who constantly complained and were angry at Moses and God and ended up dying in the wilderness because they weren’t willing to trust God.
The differences between these two responses are very stark. Will you wait for the Lord and hope in Him? Or will you turn to the left and to the right looking for some other way through the storms of life? As we’ve heard throughout this study of Isaiah, turning to idols cannot satisfy or save you. Consuming alcohol or food or entertainment or seeking control or escape… whatever your idol might be… to numb or avoid your pain will only lead you deeper into darkness. Turning to the Lord, digging into His Word and truth, wrestling with what it says and how it applies to your life will provide guidance into the light and peace of God.
If you’re not sure how to do that, that’s what our small groups are for, that’s what discipleship relationships are for (asking a more mature believer to help you grow), that’s what our biblical counseling ministry is for… That’s what our pastor team is here for… We want to help each one of us walk in the light and to experience the joy and peace that comes from living in God’s will and ways.
In our Fighter Verse memory challenge this year we recently memorized Psalm 16:11, which says, “You make know to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This is the capstone of an incredible Psalm of David that is highly relevant to our discussion today. Perhaps a good application for you this week is to read and work on memorizing the entirety of Psalm 16!
If you feel stuck in the darkness of your sin, please reach out for help. God did not design us to be isolated or battling our sin alone. We are made for community and the church is God’s design for that community. Allow others to walk with you, to bear your burdens with you. Ultimately, we have the joy of pointing one another to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the hope that he provides through his death in our place and his conquering of sin and death at his resurrection. *pause*
Before we close in prayer today, I want to point out that although we stopped at 8:22 today, this is not where the message ends. If you look ahead at the very next verse, you’ll see God holds out a promise of “no gloom”. In the midst of a very hard word to those who have rejected God, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon. You’ll have to come back next week to hear more about that.
Let’s pray.
Pray