The Relevance of Isaiah’s Warnings in Modern Society

Posted on by Adrian Clark
Cloaked traveler walking a rocky path through mountains at sunset with a castle in the valley

“But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty. So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day; the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.“
“Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upwards in a column of smoke.”
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.“
“Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.”
Isaiah 9:13-15, 10:1-2, 4b NIVUK

The section of Scripture from Isaiah 9:8 to 10:4 provides some terrible verses that are difficult to read, under the heading “The Lord’s Anger against Israel”, and one sentence is repeated three times: “Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.” We read the future tense with repeated “the Lord will” throughout the prophecy, detailing terrible events coming, yet despite all the warnings, and with the benefit of hindsight, we know Israel ignored them. The worrying thing is that some of the warnings can apply to our secular society today. We read “…for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly”. Then there is “wickedness burns like a fire” and a reference to “those who make unjust laws” and “those who issued oppressive decrees”. There are those who “withhold justice from the oppressed of [God’s] people”. But God asks the question, one that has hung in the air over all people and all generations ever since – “What will you do on the day of reckoning”?

I would contend that God’s hand is still upraised today and will continue to be as He allows sin and wickedness to continue in the hearts, minds, and actions of human beings, all of whom will one day be required to give an account of their lives before Him. In Old Testament times, God’s judgments were applied within a few generations, but in our New Covenant times, God is holding back until the final day, when Jesus will occupy the “Great White Throne”. The Apostles’ Creed includes the words, and referring to Jesus, “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead”. One day, there will be a time of judgement because we live in a moral universe, and the scales so skewed by wickedness will be rebalanced, and God’s hand will finally be lowered. 

We pilgrims know, I’m sure, that our names are written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life” and we will escape the wrath to come. Not, I should add, by a grudging God, but because we have turned to Him and His Son, reaching out in repentance for forgiveness for our sin and wickedness. And now, as His children, we are in a privileged position, having seen a glimpse of Jesus and His love and compassion, which will follow us all the days of our lives. 

But I cannot finish this morning without returning to Isaiah 6. In the Temple, Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up”, a vision so real and meaningful that he could not fail to respond positively to the Lord’s question, “Who shall I send? And who will go for us?” with a response that totally transformed his life, as the words fell from his lips, “Here am I. Send me”. Is that our pilgrim position today? I hope so, because time is short and many lost souls are heading to the wrong place. 

Dear Father God. Many years later, we, too, answer the call with our own response: “Send me.” Guide us to the right mission field, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Lessons from Isaiah: God’s Sign to King Ahaz

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yoghurt and honey. For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.”
Isaiah 7:13-16 NLT

Isaiah is frustrated with King Ahaz because he refuses to ask God for a miracle to save his country. Isaiah points out that Ahaz is not just testing the patience of human leaders but also God’s. But isn’t that like some people, who stubbornly stick to their sinful and selfish ways, even when they know that they are wrong, and ignore the advice or counsel about the right way? We have people today who choose a lifestyle that does them harm, physically and mentally, even though they know it is wrong, even admitting as such when challenged. But that was King Ahaz, and he probably knew the old Frank Sinatra song, “I’ll do it my way”, down to the last note. The second verse sums up Ahaz well, “I’ve lived a life that’s full / I traveled each and every highway / And more, much more / I did it, I did it my way“.

But Isaiah continued by giving Ahaz a sign from the Lord Himself. It is a famous verse, much used in the season of Advent, because it prophesies the coming of Jesus. A virgin having a child was a very rare event, and we marvel at such a prophetic foretelling of Mary and the Christmas story, something that has been a cornerstone of the Christian faith. But was there perhaps a second, more immediate, meaning for Ahaz that day? Isaiah explained how this sign from the Lord worked as a “timer” for the war. The boy would eat simple, everyday foods like “yoghurt and honey“. Before this child was old enough to know right from wrong (roughly age 12-13), the two kings threatening Judah, along with their lands, would be destroyed. This historical timeline was likely tied to a baby born during Isaiah’s time, providing immediate proof of God’s Word. 

We cannot leave these Scripture verses without turning to Matthew’s Gospel. A young peasant girl called Mary was engaged to be married, but “she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit”. “Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly” (Matthew 1:19). But God had different plans and the account continues, “As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”” The same prophecy from Isaiah was quoted by Matthew, and we know the rest of the story, with Jesus, God’s Son, being born in a Bethlehem stable.

Did Jesus fulfil the next part of Isaiah’s prophecy, that “By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yoghurt and honey”?. There is perhaps a fulfilment of this, because we know the event that happened when Jesus was twelve years old. He went missing at the time of the Passover festival and was found in the Temple speaking with the religious teachers. “His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they didn’t understand what he meant” (Luke 2:48-50). Was that the time when Jesus began to be aware of His mission, choosing what was right and rejecting what was wrong?

We pilgrims, with the benefit of hindsight, see how the Biblical prophecies were fulfilled and how foundational they were to the first coming of Jesus. We know that He will return again, and many prophecies apply to the event yet to come. But are we ready and prepared as prophecies work out in our lifetimes? Jesus said, “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42). Peter wrote, “But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved …” (2 Peter 3:13-15a). 

The question, “Are we ready?” hangs in the air and impacts every facet of our believing lives, day by day. We must do all that we can to be faithful to our calling.

Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your prophets and their messages of events yet to unfold. Help us to stay near the cross of Jesus so that we will be ready when the day comes, pure and blameless in Your sight. Amen.

Isaiah’s Message: Rebellion and God’s Unfailing Love

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: ‘I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.’”
Isaiah 1:1-3 NIVUK

Isaiah started his massive book of prophetic writings with a vision that spanned the years from about 740BC to 700BC, across the reigns of the four kings quoted in the first verse of chapter one. So in a sense, these initial verses in Isaiah form an overview of what was to come, and he didn’t hold anything back. We don’t know who Isaiah’s father was apart from his name, Amoz, but Isaiah based all his prophetic messages on the covenant between God and His people, Israel, and, straight away, we see a charge laid against the Israelites for failing to understand who their Master was. It is quite a poignant start, as any parent will understand, in that the Lord declared that He has reared His children but then they rebelled against Him. 

How many parents today can echo the same theme, as their teenage children find that they want to plough their own furrows and move on, rebelling against their parents’ authority. They may drop out of college, or school. They may get into the wrong company and start on the slippery slope into moral and physical ruin, riven by drugs and caught up in crime. There was a Biblical character who did just that, and he became the subject of one of Jesus’ parables. We read, “Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them” (Luke 15:11-12). Here we have it: a rebellious son bringing heartache and shame to his father, with a lack of respect and honour. Straight away, we can see Jesus’ take on the complaint made by God 700 years before. But the story continued in the next verse, as predicted, “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living”. The Israelites rebelled against their Father in Heaven, the One who created them, and the younger son rebelled against his father, who brought him up. 

But after a while, the son found that a life of debauchery failed to satisfy him, and eventually he ran out of the means to keep living that way. There was nothing like hunger pains and the demeaning task of feeding pigs to bring common sense back into his life, and the son returned to his father. But what was the first thing that he thought about, through the fog of hunger that was clouding his mind? His father. He must have gone over and over in his mind what he would say in that moment when he knocked on the front door of his father’s house, and we read, “When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants”” (Luke 15:17-19). 

But what about his father? He didn’t stay inside, mourning and moping, wondering what he had done wrong in his child-rearing days. Instead, we read in the next verse that he kept watch, “ … But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him”. Back in Isaiah, we overlay the actions of the prodigal’s father over the way the Lord must have felt after rearing his children, the Jews, only to find them rebelling and going their own way. The prodigal’s father had the pleasure of welcoming a repentant son back into his house, but God had yet to see the fruit of His patience with His rebellious children.

The Lord’s complaint against Israel compared the limited knowledge of an ox and a donkey, animals that knew the source of all they needed for life, with the lack of knowledge of the Jews, who failed to understand who their Source was. Worse, they proceeded to work out their rebellion by pushing God away. So God looked on, yearning for them in the same way that the prodigal’s father yearned for sight of his own son.

We pilgrims were redeemed from a life of sinful rebellion against God. After all, what is sin, other than rebellion against God? God, as any loving parent would, set out the right way to live before His children. He warned them that choosing any other way would only lead one day to ruin. We pilgrims know the same, but we are thankful for the Holy Spirit within us, gently whispering in our ears, “Not that way; go this way”. Yes, we too get it wrong sometimes, but God, the Father, is always looking out for us, heading back into our arms.

Heavenly Father. We thank You that You are always there for us, and always ready with open arms to welcome us back home. We worship You today. Amen.

The Seraphim

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“In front of the throne was a shiny sea of glass, sparkling like crystal. In the centre and around the throne were four living beings, each covered with eyes, front and back. The first of these living beings was like a lion; the second was like an ox; the third had a human face; and the fourth was like an eagle in flight. Each of these living beings had six wings, and their wings were covered all over with eyes, inside and out. Day after day and night after night they keep on saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty— the One who always was, who is, and who is still to come.””
‭Revelation‬ ‭4:6-8‬ ‭NLT

John saw, in his vision, four living beings. He couldn’t really work out what they were but he managed to find enough similarities to associate them with earthly creatures. He could see features he identified with a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle. But there the similarities ended. 

We must pause for a moment, to reflect on what is really happening. God graciously gave John a glimpse through a door into Heaven, which is a place we will only be eligible to enter once we have left our earthly lives. It’s perhaps a place we can consider as being like a parallel universe from a science fiction novel, but, most importantly, it has a spiritual basis, which provides us with quite a few ideas about Heaven. So John was seeing a spiritual environment, a world if you like, through a human, earth-bound, lens. A bit like a translator hearing someone speak one language, and then translating it to another. The translation can be straightforward while on familiar and simple linguistic grounds, but the translator will start to struggle when ideas or strange concepts are needing to be communicated.

So, bearing that in mind, we have four living beings. Two Old Testament prophets, Ezekiel and Isaiah, also had a glimpse of them. We read in Ezekiel 1:10-12, “Each had a human face in the front, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle at the back. Each had two pairs of outstretched wings—one pair stretched out to touch the wings of the living beings on either side of it, and the other pair covered its body. They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved straight forward in any direction without turning around.” And in Isaiah 6:2, “Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.” So these living beings were perhaps angels, the seraphim in Isaiah’s vision, with a special job to do. They were, in this glimpse, leading Heaven in the worship of God and His Son Jesus. 

What do we pilgrims make of all this? I suppose we can only continue to marvel as we try to get our human minds around the Heavenly vision. But one thing we mustn’t do is to discard these verses and ignore or reject them as being irrelevant. They are are included in the Bible for a reason. And one day what that is will be revealed.

Dear Heavenly Father. As we unfold these pages in Revelation, we pray that You help us understand what is there. We thank You for Your love and care, helping us in our daily walk towards our Heavenly home. Amen.