Isaiah 8:9-15

THE PROMISE Isaiah 8:9-15

TEXT: Isaiah 8:9-15

9 Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces.
10

Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.

11

For Jehovah spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

12

Say ye not, A conspiracy, concerning all whereof this people shall say, A conspiracy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be in dread thereof.

13

Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

14

And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15

And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

QUERIES

a.

Why does God direct the peoples to make an uproar?

b.

To whom did God speak with a strong hand?

c.

How would Jehovah become a stone of stumbling ?

PARAPHRASE

Do your worst, O Syria and Israel, our enemies, but you will not succeed. you will be shattered. Listen to me, all you enemies of ours: Prepare for war against us. and perish! Yes! Perish! Call your councils of war, develop your strategies, prepare your plans of attacking us, and perish! For God is with us. The Lord has said in strongest terms: Do not under any circumstances, go along with the plans of Judah to make an alliance with Assyria. Don-'t let people call you a traitor for staying true to God. Don-'t panic as so many of your neighbors are doing when they think of Syria and Israel attacking you. Don-'t fear anything except the Lord of the armies of heaven! If you fear Him, you need fear nothing else. He will be your safety; but Israel and Judah have refused His care and thereby stumbled against the Rock of their salvation and lie fallen and crushed beneath it: God's presence among them has endangered them!

COMMENTS

Isaiah 8:9-10 ENEMIES DEFEATED: Although God warned (Isaiah 8:1-8) that the people would suffer the ravages of Assyrian invasion, here Jehovah promises that the forces of the world will not be able to defeat His purposes nor harm His faithful believers. Jehovah, in effect, challenges the pagan nations to assemble themselves, arm themselves and do their very best against His chosen remnant (Immanuel). Jehovah assures His remnant their enemies will come to nought for He is with His remnant. This is a common expression of Jehovah through the prophets (Cf. Joel 3:9 ff; Isaiah 10:5 ff, etc.). Actually, Jehovah takes the evil machinations of worldly powers and uses them to serve His own purposes. In this instance Jehovah used the evil devices of Assyria to punish His rebellious land and strengthen His remnant.

Isaiah 8:11-15 FAITHFUL PROTECTED: The Lord spoke to Isaiah in some dramatic and emphatic manner warning him not to go along with the plans of Judah to become an ally of Assyria. The people were crying against Isaiah that he was a conspirator against the policies of the king. But who were the real conspirators? Isaiah, Jeremiah and other prophets advocated a policy of dependence upon the Lord and not upon foreign powers. And for this they were accused of treason! Ahaz, the son of David, of all men, should have understood the pleas of the prophets. The nation was so low, spiritually, however, that when the prophets advocated that the theocracy act like the theocracy, they were accused of conspiracy. Those forces attempting to enter the kingdom by violence in the days of Jesus accused Him of treason because He called the people of God back to their divine mission.

Man seems bent on fearing and respecting and reverencing the wrong power. The tendency of man is always to fear and respect the power he can see and feelworldly power. Surely Jehovah has manifested His power in the world sufficiently to direct man's fear toward Himself. Yet man in his pride refuses to trust and turns to his own devices for his salvation. Jesus reminded men, And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

God is sanctified by man when man sets God apart in His rightful placeas sovereign of man's mind and motives and actions. When man thus sanctifies the Lord, the Lord becomes a sanctuary to mana refuge, a place of safety. When man refuses to sanctify the Lord as sovereign of his life, the Lord becomes a means of man's destruction. Man is created a moral being whose life is dependent upon truth, innocence, good, beauty, righteousness and justice. God is the author and perfect source of all of man's need, When man rejects this only source and rebels against it, man's death is inevitable! This has been demonstrated historically again and again. It was being demonstrated before the very eyes of the people of Israel and Judah in Isaiah's day. This text (esp. Isaiah 8:14-15) is quoted as a typical prophecy of the evil forces arrayed against God's purposes in the Messiah when they sought to kill him (Cf. Matthew 21:44; Luke 20:18).

QUIZ

1.

What is Jehovah's challenge to the pagan nations in Isaiah 8:9-10?

2.

What does God do with the evil actions of His enemies?

3.

Why were the people calling Isaiah a conspirator?

4.

How does God become a stumbling block to those who reject Him?