Isaiah’s Passion – Part 4
Isaiah 61-62 (62:1-2)
November 10, 2024
As you know we are here studying Isaiah 61-62
And we are discussing Isaiah’s passion for ministry.
We remember
• This hypocritical man with unclean lips and an impure heart
• Who entered the temple
• And was crushed to the core before a Holy God.
We remember
• God graciously forgiving Isaiah and purifying him from his sin.
And we remember
• God commissioning this prophet to go and preach to a blind, deaf, and stubborn people.
And to Isaiah’s credit he has been faithful.
For almost 60 years Isaiah served as a prophet to the people of Israel.
And although he was maligned as a babbler
And told to stop talking about the Holy One of Israel,
Isaiah never stopped.
HE WAS FAITHFUL.
We are examining that passion and learning a great deal about
What it means to be a missionary in an unfaithful world.
We spent a few services on chapter 61 where we saw:
#1 THE PROPHET’S COMMISSIONING
Isaiah 61:1-11
We saw that he was filled with God’s Spirit and commissioned to preach.
The message of Isaiah was clear.
• He preached the Gospel of Salvation.
• He preached the Glory of Salvation.
We traveled back throughout this book and saw
How often Isaiah offered forgiveness to sinners
And how often he revealed to them the glory of salvation.
And as we have noted,
THIS IS A MESSAGE THAT
• Continued to the apostles as Peter preached the same message to the Jews.
• Continues today as we preach that message even to the Jews.
• Will continue even to the end as God faithfully calls Israel back to Himself.
Isaiah was commissioned to preach and he preached.
BUT THIS MORNING we move to chapter 62
And we take a look at the second aspect of Isaiah’s ministry.
#2 THE PROPHET’S COMMITMENT
Isaiah 62:1-12
What we are going to see in this chapter
Is not only the things Isaiah was committed to,
But also the motivation behind Isaiah’s commitment.
You’ll see that he was committed to preaching and to prayer
And certainly we wish to focus on that,
But even more you’ll see WHY he was so committed to those things.
And maybe that is a good place for us to start.
DO YOU STRUGGLE
• With your commitment to preach the gospel?
• With your commitment to pray for the salvation of the lost?
YOU WOULDN’T BE THE FIRST.
There were times when even great men in Scripture
Seemed to struggle here.
Think for a moment about Moses
Leading the children of Israel out of Egypt.
• He climbed the mountain
• He received the commandments of God
• As he was on the mountain the people fell into idolatry
Exodus 32:9-10 “The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
And you remember that this statement from God
Prompted the intercession of Moses.
Exodus 32:11-14 “Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
What happened there?
• If you’re not careful you’ll walk away thinking God just had an irrational fit of rage and Moses talked sense into Him.
We know better than that.
• We know that God made promises to Abraham, as Moses pointed out, and God will never break that promise.
COULD IT BE THAT
• God was instead prompting a little intercessory zeal out of Moses?
• God was perhaps teaching Moses’ heart about the necessity of shepherding these suborn people?
Of course He was.
God was motivating Moses to be an interceding shepherd for His people.
(indicating perhaps Moses found difficulty doing that consistently)
We see the same with Amos many years later.
Amos too was fed up with the people he was preaching to.
• One even wonders if Amos was beginning to enjoy the messages of judgment
that he was preaching to them.
And then God approached Amos in a very similar way.
Amos 7:1-6 “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.”
That is a very similar story isn’t it?
You have God pronouncing judgment, the prophet interceding,
And God changing His mind.
Now we know that God is IMMUTABLE.
We know what Samuel taught us:
1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
We know what David taught us:
Psalms 110:4a “The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind…”
So we know this is not a case of God being fickle
And Amos straightening Him out.
No, as with Moses,
God is motivating Amos to be more than a messenger of doom.
God is prompting Amos to intercede for the people he is preaching to.
Perhaps Jonah would also be a good illustration here
• Who had to receive mercy at the bottom of the sea before he was willing to go and warn the Ninevites
• And even then God had to teach him a lesson on compassion to keep him from desiring their judgment.
ONE MORE EXAMPLE HERE.
John in the book of the Revelation was given the tremendous blessing of witnessing Christ in all His glory and the end of all things.
At one point John was told to eat the scroll he was given.
It simply means he was told to
Fully digest this message of the final doom and judgment.
And he was told that he was going to like what he read.
Revelation 10:8-10 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.”
As John first digested this message of the doom of the wicked,
John admittedly enjoyed what he saw.
There was something sweet to him about the coming destruction of sinners and the redemption of the world.
But John also said that this scroll which was initially sweet
Became bitter in his stomach.
IN SHORT,
God allowed John to ponder the full ramifications of the coming judgment.
• Yes God’s justice would be poured out.
• Yes sin would be conquered.
• But that would also mean many souls in judgment.
And prompted by this revelation we read:
Revelation 10:11 “And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”
John, go preach again.
• Go tell them again.
• Go warn them again.
You see what I am talking about then when I say that
There were times in Scripture when even the prophets or apostles
Perhaps struggled with a proper motivation.
What kept them going?
What kept them preaching?
What kept them praying?
With several of those guys it was the startling horrors of judgment
That prompted them to get up and preach and pray again.
But Isaiah’s motivation was a little different.
I’M NOT SAYING Isaiah wasn’t motivated by the coming judgment to go and warn sinners that he might pluck them from the fire, SURELY HE WAS.
But in this chapter where Isaiah bares his soul
And shows us what pushed him forward
We find that his deepest and truest motivation was
THE PROMISES OF GOD.
Isaiah knew what God had promised to do for Israel
And this promise kept him pushing forward
In order that he might see it fulfilled.
This is a great motivation for you and I as well.
We’re going to break down Isaiah’s commitment here in chapter 62 into 3 segments to help us see it a little more clearly.
1) HIS VISION (1-5)
• This is the goal of Isaiah’s preaching.
• This was the end-game that he looked at.
• This is what he was striving for.
And again to grab that low-hanging fruit we see that his vision
Led him to faithfully preach to the people of Jerusalem.
He said, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,”
There is commitment.
Isaiah clearly articulates that he’s not going to stop.
We know that in chapter 30 that emphatically told him to.
Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
These were a people who had enough of Isaiah’s sermons of salvation.
• They resented being told they were in need of forgiveness.
• They resented the insinuation that they were prisoners in need of freedom.
• They resented the notion that they were somehow broken and needed to be fixed.
And they emphatically told Isaiah that enough was enough.
“Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
PUT YOURSELF IN THAT SITUATION.
Imagine preaching to a people
Who have emphatically told you that they don’t want to hear it anymore.
We live today in a nation that likes to say,
“We can talk about anything except religion or politics.”
Some of you will face such issues in a few weeks at Thanksgiving
Where some family member will try and impose and sanction on you
That the subject of religion is off limits.
WELL THAT IS WHAT ISAIAH FACED.
And yet his response was, “NOPE!”
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet.”
He doesn’t even appeal to the glory of God or the worth of the gospel
As if to say that God deserves to be heard
And His message deserves to be proclaimed, though certainly that is true.
Isaiah says that he won’t stop preaching “For Zion’s sake…and for Jerusalem’s sake”
He will not stop preaching
Because of what his preaching is meant to accomplish for them.
SEE,
• Isaiah has been shown God’s plan for Israel.
• Isaiah has been shown the glory of their salvation.
• Isaiah knows that their salvation will come about through preaching.
So Isaiah will not stop preaching
Until they are saved and experience the glory God promised.
He will not stop, “UNTIL…”
ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE FULFILLED
No go back for a moment and recall his commissioning one more time.
Remember that God told him he was going to blind and deaf and stubborn people who would not hear or see or understand.
And you remember that Isaiah’s response to this clarification was to ask God, “How long?”
Isaiah 6:11-13 “Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, And it will again be subject to burning, Like a terebinth or an oak Whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”
Isaiah was told from the outset
That his ministry would be long and seemingly unfruitful.
However God also promised
That through his ministry “there will be a tenth portion in it”
• He was promised a remnant that would return.
• He was promised a remnant that would be saved.
Isaiah ignores the banter of the blind and deaf
In favor of the promises of God.
What a message of commitment to each of us!
We don’t know who the elect are.
They could be anyone.
We know that not all people will accept our gospel,
But we preach it for the sake of those who will!
It’s what Paul wrote to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:10 “For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.”
That is Isaiah’s motivation as well.
• He knows that God has promised to save some
• And he is committed to preach to them until they are saved.
What an example for the church.
But let’s examine more than that.
• What exactly was Isaiah believing he would see?
• What exactly did Isaiah think God had promised?
• What was the “end game” that he was looking toward that would be the result of his preaching?
You see them there.
Isaiah states one in each verse.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS REAL (1b)
(1b) “Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, And her salvation like a torch that is burning.”
One thing we learned early on in the book of Isaiah is that
Israel was FILLED WITH RELIGION,
But they were extremely SHORT ON RIGHTEOUSNESS.
We remember chapter 1 and God’s announcement that He was sick of their sacrifices and their festivals and their prayers.
Isaiah 1:13-15 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
Their righteousness was phony.
It was nothing but empty ritual.
Isaiah had said on the day that he was saved
• That he was a hypocrite with “unclean lips”
• And that he lived “among” hypocrites “with unclean lips”.
THAT WAS TRUE.
Israel had no righteousness.
• We remember that parable of the vineyard in chapter 5 when God planted
this vineyard and expected good fruit but received none.
Isaiah 5:7 “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”
ISRAEL WASN’T RIGHTEOUS.
Isaiah preached to offer them the gospel.
He preached that if they would repent and trust in God that He would wash their sins away.
• He promised that their scarlet sins would be white as snow.
• He promised that their crimson iniquities would be like wool.
God would forgive them and God would justify them.
He would impute His righteousness to them.
Isaiah reiterated that very promise in chapter 61
Where he looked to the future of the redemption of Israel and heard them singing:
Isaiah 61:10 “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
Isaiah knew that Israel wasn’t righteous, but God had promised that through his preaching a remnant would be.
So Isaiah would not stop preaching “until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation like a torch that is burning.”
He wasn’t going to stop until they repented, trusted,
And were clothed in the very righteousness of Christ.
THERE’S YOU A BENCHMARK CHURCH.
What is the end game of your ministry?
What is the goal of your preaching?
For years in churches it was “decisions”.
• For years all we really wanted was people to walk an aisle and make a decision
and get baptized.
We measured success in decisions and baptisms.
We didn’t care that most of the people we baptized never returned.
That is NOT how Isaiah measured his ministry.
That is not what he preached for.
He preached until he could see righteousness
Pouring out of the people he preached to.
Think about Paul to the Galatians:
Galatians 4:19 “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you”
There’s a goal.
Not to stop until I see Christ in you.
Many years ago when I was still in high school
Our family made a living building cedar log furniture.
We actually got pretty good with a chainsaw.
• One summer we were on vacation in the mountains and saw a man who was
carving bears with a chainsaw out of a log.
• My mom said, “Rory, you should do that.”
• I pointed out that such art was beyond my skill set.
• To which the artist making them replied, “It’s actually easy, you just take a
log and grab a chainsaw and cut off everything that’s not a bear.”
In a spiritual sense Paul said that is what he was doing to the Galatians.
I’m just going to preach and confront and work on you
Until there is nothing left but Christ.
When I see Christ in you, then I’ll stop.
Think about what he wrote to the Colossians:
Colossians 1:28-29 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
• I want you to be “complete in Christ”
He told the Ephesians:
Ephesians 4:11-13 “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
Paul said that the purpose of preachers was to see men grow into “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”
To preach until they look like Jesus.
The goal is not church membership.
The goal is not decisions.
The goal is not baptisms.
The goal is righteousness
Oozing out of the lives of those we preach to.
John said:
3 John 4 “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”
There’s a motivation for you church.
And is this not something God has promised?
Has He not promised that He is conforming us into the Christ’s image?
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
AND THIS IS WHY WE PREACH.
We preach TO THE LOST that they might be saved, set free,
And conformed to the image of Christ.
We preach even TO THE REDEEMED because
We are not yet completely like Christ and we long to be.
What a missionary vision!
To preach until Christ is formed in you.
But that’s just the first promise Isaiah was counting on.
I WILL PREACH UNTIL…
YOUR TESTIMONY IS EVIDENT (2)
(2) “The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”
He said, I’m not just going to preach until I can see that you are righteous.
I’m going to preach until everyone can see it!
I’m going to preach until “The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings you glory;”
Again, this was the problem of Israel.
They didn’t shine their light in the midst of the nations.
If you will remember,
Isaiah revealed that they were just like the nations.
Isaiah 2:5-8 “Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they strike bargains with the children of foreigners. Their land has also been filled with silver and gold And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses And there is no end to their chariots. Their land has also been filled with idols; They worship the work of their hands, That which their fingers have made.”
Isaiah had revealed that there was virtually no difference
Between the lifestyle of Israel and the lifestyle of their pagan neighbors.
You could look at the pagans and then you could look at Israel and you’d have a hard time telling which one was which.
Isaiah was going to preach until the difference was obvious.
Do you remember this same problem showing up in the New Testament?
Remember what Paul said to the Jews in Romans?
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
Paul said, that they were confident that they were “a light to those who are in darkness” and yet in reality you couldn’t tell the difference at all.
• They opposed stealing and yet they stole.
• They opposed adultery and yet they committed adultery.
• They opposed idolatry and yet they worshiped them.
• They were all talk, there was no light.
That’s exactly what Jesus told them in the Sermon on the Mount:
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
I hope you are detecting His sarcasm there.
Jesus looked at His Jewish audience and said, “You are the salt of the earth”
• The only problem was they were tasteless salt that was only good to be thrown
out.
Jesus looked at His Jewish audience and said, “You are the light of the world”
• The only problem is you are a hidden light.
What good is salt that won’t taste or light that won’t shine?
NOTHING!
To which Jesus said, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
DO YOU HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS?
LET’S SEE IT!
Show it to the world!
James 2:18 “But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Well that was Isaiah’s point too!
• You may claim to have righteous light, but no one can see it!
• I’m going to preach until your light is evident to everyone!
And incidentally, God had promised that too!
Isaiah 60:1-3 “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. “For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you. “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.”
• God had promised that one day His great Light would come.
• God had promised that the remnant would repent and trust in that light.
• God had promised when Israel did that, then their light would shine to the world too!
And Isaiah said, “I’m not going to stop preaching until the light is shining out of you and the lost world takes notice of it!”
We saw it again in Chapter 61:
Isaiah 61:9 “Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed.”
God had promised that their salvation
Would be obvious and recognizable to the world around them.
And Isaiah recalls that promise here, even saying, “And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”
We see that new name later down in verse 4, it is “Hephzibah”
Which is translated “My delight is in her,”
The world will stop calling Israel by names of contempt.
They will start calling her the people in whom God delights.
Their righteousness will be obvious to the world.
And Isaiah says he isn’t stopping until that happens.
And there again is a great missionary commitment.
To not stop preaching until your righteous life
Is absolutely apparent to everyone around you.
Paul told the Philippians:
Philippians 2:14-16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.”
Paul said that he knew he was not laboring in vain
When he saw the Philippians living different from the world.
• When he saw them no longer grumbling or disputing,
• But walking in the love and humility of Christ
• He knew that their light would be shining bright!
That was Paul’s commitment.
To preach until every pagan in Philippi
Recognized that these people were different.
That is certainly my calling and commitment.
• To preach to you until you look different than your neighbors.
• To cover you with the word of God until the bucket comes off and the light
shines forth.
Preaching the word of God is meant to wash off your camouflage.
Preaching the word of God is meant to make you stick out.
That is what kept Isaiah going week in and week out.
That is why he kept preaching.
God had promised that his people would be so righteous
That they would shine like a spotlight in a coalmine.
Isaiah wasn’t stopping until it occurred.
There are 3 more promises Isaiah references here as motivation for why he preaches, but we’ll have to look at them tonight.
But are you beginning to see Isaiah’s vision for Israel?
It actually wasn’t his vision, it was God’s vision
And it was a vision that would be fulfilled through preaching.
So Isaiah committed to preach until it was fulfilled.
What is your vision?
What promise of God is motivating you?
I can tell you immediately the one that motivates me.
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
God has promised that His word does not return void,
That His gospel is powerful, and that if I would preach it,
He will use it to accomplish His work.
I cling to that above every wild-hair idea I might have.
That is the verse burned into my heart.
What is the promise you cling to?
• What is the vision you are chasing?
What is your vision for your children?
• What are you hoping to see accomplished in their lives?
• What is the promise that you are clinging to as the end goal you are pursuing?
What is your vision for this church?
• What promise are you clinging to as God’s promise to this church?
What is your vision for our community?
What is your vision for your Sunday school class?
What is your vision for our KFC kids?
What is your vision for our youth?
What promise are you clinging to?
What action has God called you to that you might see it fulfilled?
Are you committed to it?
Are you striving for it?
Isaiah had a vision to see God’s promises become a reality.
So he preached until they became reality.
• That is ministry!
• That is a missionary!
• That is what the Holy Spirit produced in him.
It is a good challenge to us.
“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s ake I will not keep quiet.”
Can you say that?
• For my kids sake I will not keep silent…
• For this churches sake I will not keep quiet…
• For this city I will not keep silent…
• For my coworkers I will not keep quiet…
Not until they repent of their sin, trust in Christ,
And Christ is beaming out of them for all the world to see.
That is Isaiah’s vision.
We’ll see the next 3 tonight.
