Welcome to the MHB Podcast. This is Michael Baun. And welcome to my fortieth episode. Tonight I want to do something a little different. Over the past week, I’ve been thinking quite a bit how I can begin moving between the Old and New Testaments. Don’t get me wrong here, I love doing a chapter by chapter study of the Bible from the beginning. I will continue to do this in the future. The problem is, at the rate that I’m able to get these studies out – which has been once per week – it will take us almost 23 years to complete the Bible. So I’ve decided that I’m going to switch off of Genesis for a little bit and work on Isaiah. I will return to where I left off in Genesis at some point in the future. So why have I chosen the book of Isaiah?
Isaiah is widely regarded as the greatest Old Testament prophet. God’s plan was revealed more clearly to Isaiah than any other prophet in the Old Testament. You will see dates for his writing that include 740 B.C., 700 B.C., and 681 B.C. Here’s an interesting side note: Earlier this year they found the seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem. The dig was led by the archaeologist Eilat Mazar. These seals provide even more evidence for the integrity of Isaiah’s writings as well as the Biblical narrative as a whole.
So there are 5 major themes in the book of Isaiah. 1.) The glory and greatness of God. 2.) The sin of both Israel and Gentile nations and subsequent judgment. 3.) The disbursement and regathering of Israel. 4.) The first and second coming of Christ. 5.) The coming Great Tribulation and the Glorious Millennium. So we see holiness, punishment, salvation, Jesus, and hope – all of these are found in this book.
I want you to consider these points of interest about the book of Isaiah. The Bible has 66 books, Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Old Testament has 39 books, the first section of Isaiah has 39 chapters. The New Testament has 27 books, the last section of Isaiah has 27 chapters. The Old Testament covers the history and sin of Israel, as do chapters 1-39 of Isaiah. The New Testament gives us the gospel and salvation, as do chapters 40-66 of Isaiah. The New Testament begins with the ministry of John the Baptist, the second section of Isaiah begins by predicting this very same ministry. The New Testament ends by describing the new heavens and new earth, Isaiah ends his book by describing the same things. So you can see that Isaiah lays itself out very much like a miniature Bible – but it gets even more interesting than that.
In the second section of Isaiah, which is chapters 40-66, there are 3 divisions of 9. The first 9 chapters promise salvation from Babylonian captivity. The last 9 chapters promise salvation from the curse. The middle 9 chapters promise salvation from sin. Now, the middle chapter of the middle 9 is chapter 53, which is an account of Jesus. The middle verse of this account is 53:5 which reads:
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be healed.
So the very center of Isaiah’s writings on salvation drive us straight into the gospel – straight to the crucifixion – written a full 700 years before the event took place. God has masterfully planned the book of Isaiah. It explodes into the rest of Scripture.
So let’s take a look at chapter one. Before we read it, I want you to keep these three questions in your mind:
- What should we do if God judges our nation?
- Why must obedience be prioritized over worship?
- How can you burn off the parts of yourself that are “dead wood?”
Now I’m going to read the chapter to you in its entirety. Please enjoy.
Isaiah chapter 1
These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.[a]
A Message for Rebellious Judah
2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me. 3 Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care—but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.” 4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are—loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
5 Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick. 6 You are battered from head to foot—covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds—without any soothing ointments or bandages. 7 Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes and destroy everything they see. 8 Beautiful Jerusalem[b] stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege. 9 If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us,[c] we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.
10 Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.” 11 “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? 13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting—they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. 14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! 15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. 16 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. 17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.
18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool. 19 If you will only obey me, you will have plenty to eat. 20 But if you turn away and refuse to listen, you will be devoured by the sword of your enemies. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Unfaithful Jerusalem
21 See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers. 22 Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag. Once so pure, you are now like watered-down wine. 23 Your leaders are rebels, the companions of thieves. All of them love bribes and demand payoffs, but they refuse to defend the cause of orphans or fight for the rights of widows.
24 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says, “I will take revenge on my enemies and pay back my foes! 25 I will raise my fist against you. I will melt you down and skim off your slag. I will remove all your impurities. 26 Then I will give you good judges again and wise counselors like you used to have. Then Jerusalem will again be called the Home of Justice and the Faithful City.”
27 Zion will be restored by justice; those who repent will be revived by righteousness. 28 But rebels and sinners will be completely destroyed, and those who desert the Lord will be consumed.
29 You will be ashamed of your idol worship in groves of sacred oaks. You will blush because you worshiped in gardens dedicated to idols. 30 You will be like a great tree with withered leaves, like a garden without water. 31 The strongest among you will disappear like straw, their evil deeds will be the spark that sets it on fire. They and their evil works will burn up together, and no one will be able to put out the fire.
Okay, so first I want to look at verses 1-9. I believe these verses are predicting the invasion and capture of Judah by Babylon in the year 586 B.C. I want you to notice the pattern of God’s judgment. The nation enjoys prosperity, then becomes complacent and disobedient. Disobedience brings a warning from God, and then the warning is followed by a judgment. Tell me that that doesn’t sound like what’s going on in the West today. The canaries are already in the coal mine. For those of you who are not familiar with the analogy, coal miners would take a caged canary with them into coal mines so they could detect build ups of carbon monoxide. The bird would die before the miners would enter toxic levels of the gas. Today, there are speakers exploding into fame out of obscurity and they are pointing to the Scriptures. I don’t think I’m being alarmist by considering the possibility that these speakers are a warning from God. In the Bible, God never judges a nation without sending a warning first.
So this leads me into my first question. What should we do if God judges our nation? I want to take on this question from a personal perspective and a collective perspective. From a personal perspective, I believe it is important to remain faithful and peaceful during a judgment. If your lifestyle is threatened, it’s going to be tempting to fight back and try to seize power. I don’t believe this is the Christian thing to do. Theocracy will never work because Jesus Himself advised against Christian’s building their kingdoms here in this life. But you aren’t entirely helpless, either. If you want to do something, then you should teach individuals to be Christlike. You should display the fruit of the Spirit everywhere you go: these are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control. Be salt which preserves what is good and light to guide the world. That’s the best way you can contribute to preventing society from shaking itself apart.
Now I want to think about the collective perspective. It’s possible that a future is coming where Christians will not be able to freely worship in public. If this happens to the church, we must be bold enough to continue our worship peacefully. Even if that means going underground, as they do in less developed countries. The church must not be intimidated into compromising on truth or capitulating to outside forces. In the book of Acts, Peter and John are told to stop preaching about Jesus. This is how they respond:
19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
That’s really the bottom of it. If you’re given a choice between disobeying human beings or disobeying God, don’t choose to disobey God. Do what you can to make peace and bring honor to God in the process.
Next I want to look at verses 10-20. In these verses, God is rejecting the worship and offerings of Judah and commanding them to obey Him before doing any rituals or ceremonies. So why must obedience be prioritized over worship? It turns out there are three levels to what God wants from you in serving Him. The first level is the most important, and that is to motivate your heart with love. Make love the motive for all that you do. Next, is obedience. God wants you to keep his commandments. But keeping his commandments isn’t enough if you don’t have love in your heart while you do it. Third is worship. God wants you to worship Him alone and in groups. But your worship doesn’t mean anything to God if you are not obeying him and if your heart is not motivated by love. These three levels of love, obedience, and worship are what make up your relationship with God. All of these are important, but the greatest of these is love.
Finally, I want to examine verses 21-31. Here we see how God’s judgment is going to purify his people and restore them to righteousness. The analogy of metal being purged with lye in a smelting pot refers to how metalworkers skim off the slag until the worker can see his own image in the reflection of the liquid metal. If we don’t allow God to purify us we cannot accurately reflect his image. And so this leads me into my third question.
How can you burn off the parts of yourself that are “dead wood?” You know there’s this idea when it comes to forest fires that if you never let them burn then you are setting yourself up for disaster. This is the principle behind controlled burns. Firefighters use controlled burns to dispose of any build ups of dead wood and dry brush. If you let all of this fuel build up, then all you need is a spark and the fire would burn so hot that it would take the soil right down to the bedrock. There are parts of you that are dead wood. Famed Canadian psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson points this out when he says that you need to burn off your insufficiencies like dead wood.
The idea is that you have insufficiencies. For example, I am not super compassionate. That’s an insufficiency. I need to be humble enough to let God work with that insufficiency and “burn it off” across time. You might think this is obvious, but it’s actually really easy to begin identifying with your insufficiencies. An example is someone who brags about how much alcohol he or she can drink. Or someone who refuses to learn from failure because he or she believes himself to be unchangeable and believes reality to be changeable. These are the Cains of the world. These are the people who prefer to be the victims of some type of perceived oppression rather than look to their own insufficiencies as the root cause of their failures.
Suffering is one of the primary ways in which God purifies his people. Burning off the dead wood in yourself means learning from failure and being humble enough to see your flaws. You must see your flaws but you must not embrace them into your identity. It may take the rest of your life, but God wants to shape you more and more into the perfection of Jesus Christ.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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