Well good evening everyone and welcome to my fifty seventh episode. In the previous episode, we finished our expository study of Isaiah chapter 11. Tonight, I want to take apart chapter 12 to see what we can find there. But before we get into that, there’s just a few notes of housekeeping that I want to go over with you. If you are listening to this podcast on Facebook, I would invite you to like and follow the Chapel of Hope Church page where these episodes are being listed. If you are on iTunes or any of the other platforms, please take a moment to rate this podcast and write a review. The more ratings and reviews that this podcast gets, the higher it will be ranked in the listings. This sorting algorithm is called social proof – and all of the major networks use it.
Next, I want to take a minute to talk about the importance of joining a small group Bible study. There is really no substitute for interpersonal encounters when it comes to discussing the things of God. I can’t impress how important it is for you to be able to have conversations with people wherein you might disagree on the ideas but are able to work together in pursuit of truth. It’s not easy to think critically by yourself. It’s much easier to do it when you have multiple minds focused on the same ideas from different perspectives.
This process will give you a more accurate and richer understanding of the nature of reality. This strengthened understanding will profit you in your pursuit of well being in this life. Many difficulties that people suffer are direct or indirect consequences of not knowing what they needed to know – or worse- believing something to be true when it’s actually false. You can guard yourself against this pit by regularly meeting with other people to have conversations about life and about the things of God. So join a Bible study and don’t be afraid to speak up.
For my local listeners, I would urge you to come out to the church Wednesday evenings at 6:30 and be a part of this conversation. Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there with them.” This really is true. I can’t explain the profundity of these conversations any other way. I always walk away from those evenings with new tools for navigating life and understanding my relationship with God. So if you’re listening to this and you are local, come to the church at 6:30 Wednesday evenings and have a conversation with myself and others. We need your mind and your experience as much as we need our own.
Okay, so with all of that let’s break into Isaiah chapter 12, starting with verse 1:
In that day you will sing:
“I will praise you, O Lord!
You were angry with me, but not any more.
Now you comfort me.
So Jerusalem has been judged and these verses speak of God’s embrace when His people return to him. God never stops loving His people, even when He is punishing them. We must remember to model our own discipline in the same way – your discipline must always be intentional and motivated by love. Discipline should never be expressed out of anger, desire for revenge, or hatred. Before you enact punishment, you need to be careful to ask yourself if you are doing it with good intentions or if you just want to vent some anger. If the purpose is to vent your own feelings, you need to wait until you calm down before you engage in discipline.
There’s also another point to be made here. Isaiah shows us how God goes from judging His people to comforting them. In chapter 40, Isaiah says that God comforts his people and speaks tenderly to Jerusalem. So it went from a negative to a positive. This is a very useful tool for your intimate relationships. Let’s imagine your partner does something that really sets you off. The two of you have an argument and end up feeling resentful. Then, you see your partner do something that you really like or that you really appreciate. You need to tell them that you noticed this good thing and thank them for it. You must resist the urge to remain silent while you bathe in your resentment. Even when you’re in a rough patch with your relationship – there has to be good things about your partner that you can take notice of. It will pay huge dividends if you stay sharp in your attention and take notice of all the little good things that your partner does – and then tell them about it and reward them for it. Okay, let’s move on to verse 2:
2 See, God has come to save me.
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
The Lord God is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.”
This part about God being my strength and my song is actually quoted from Psalm 118, which is a Psalm of thankfulness. There’s also this idea of trusting in God so that you won’t be afraid. In chapter 26, Isaiah tells us to trust in the Lord always for the Lord God is the eternal rock. This is another reason why it’s crucially important for you to get involved in a place where you can have these kinds of conversations. If you are united with other people by your belief in Christ, all of you will share the same foundation. The condition of your soul will see huge benefits if you regularly gather with people whom you can share the things of God with and further develop your relationship with Him as your eternal rock.
You can think of this personal interaction as the essential micro nutrient that a diet of social media is deficient in. It’s a micro nutrient because you can be deprived of it and not be aware of the cause of that deprivation. It’s easy to think social media has all that you need. This micro nutrient is essential because without it, depression and anxiety are knocking at your door. It’s not a pleasant thing to be alone for days at a time and have nothing but your own thoughts. Unless you are anchored in your beliefs, these silent moments in your life can create a fertile environment in your soul for you to start doubting yourself and your decisions. You will begin to worry about mistakes you’ve made in the past as well as mistakes you might make in the future. That self-doubt comes from being spiritually starved. So stop starving yourself and go get into the conversation. Okay, verse 3:
3 With joy you will drink deeply
from the fountain of salvation!
This is a loaded verse that is referencing Jesus Christ as the fountain of living water. God refers to Himself as the fountain of living water in Jeremiah when He says that His people abandoned Him and instead dug themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water. Now, if you’re listening to this and if it seems like no matter what you do you the sense of emptiness or meaninglessness won’t go away – these verses are for you. If you are always waiting for the next night out or the next promotion or the next vacation, then these verses are for you. I can tell you that if you try to shake that emptiness by way of accomplishments, pleasure, or other self-oriented pursuits, you are only going to make it worse. The loneliest moment in a person’s life is when that which is supposed to give them ultimate meaning fails to deliver. You seriously do not want to find yourself in a position where you’ve done everything you can think of doing to fill that void. When Jesus asked the Samaritan woman at the well if she could give Him a drink, she was incredulous. She thought it was crazy for Him to speak to her because she was both a Samaritan and a woman. Then Jesus said to her, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.” If you are struggling with that sense of emptiness, what you are feeling is a spiritual thirst. The only One who can quench that thirst is the One who is called Living Water. Listen to what Jesus says about this in John chapter 7:
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”[a]
Okay, let’s move on to verse 4 of Isaiah:
4 In that wonderful day you will sing:
“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!
Tell the nations what he has done.
Let them know how mighty he is!
So, what do you do when you receive really good news? You tell it to everyone who will listen! In Psalm 145, it says to let each generation tell its children of God’s mighty acts. Let them proclaim God’s power. There’s an old saying that goes: hard times produce strong people, strong people produce good times, good times produce weak people, and weak people produce hard times. We definitely see this vicious cycle play out all through the biblical narrative. The nations are obedient to God and receive His blessings until they start doing pretty well then they dispense with God because they think they don’t need Him any more. Then crash – everything collapses down again. In the fiery aftermath, the people realize they need God and turn back to Him. Only a Being with infinite patience could put up with the shadow side of humanity.
The scary thing is, it hasn’t been very long since the last set of really hard times afflicted the Western world. Some people are still alive who experienced those times. Yet here we are, facing another great apostasy. Each generation has the responsibility to pass wisdom down to the next one. Young people are full of vigor and have big dreams, but you can bet that the rise or fall of their generation depends on the previous generation’s ability to teach them the right way of looking at the world. Young people are not solely responsible for the massive confusion that has stricken the West in the past couple of decades. When good men and women fight and die for the safety and freedom of a population – it can be easy for that population to fall into complacency and begin thinking that maybe humanity has just advanced beyond tribalism and violence. Think again. We are facing an uphill battle for the survival of the West but the outcome is far from decided. Let’s take a look at verse 5:
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.
Make known his praise around the world.
Here we see this idea of singing praises to God. Personally, I’m still trying to work out exactly what it means to sing to God. It seems fairly easy to fall into the trap of singing to ourselves or putting on performances for ourselves in the name of God. I’m also not sure of how to tell the difference between the ephemeral emotions that music stirs up over against experiencing the Holy Spirit. But I know that there has to be something special about music because it is universally appealing to every population on record. Every society on earth has some sort of music and it’s kind of alarming how much music shapes the culture. The Scottish writer and politician Andrew Fletcher said, “Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.” Okay, let’s finish up with verse 6:
6 Let all the people of Jerusalem[a] shout his praise with joy!
For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”
It’s an amazing thing that God lives among us. He is called Immanuel, which means “God with us” in Hebrew. This is something you need to keep in mind the next time you are going through a test or a struggle. God is not some distant force that you will encounter when you die. God does not sit far away from you, far away from your pain on His throne of glory. God became a human so He could be with you in your pain. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It’s not enough for God to have a knowledge of what you go through. He wants to go through it with you. He wants to bear the cross of suffering with you and help you along during the hardest times. Zephaniah has quite a beautiful take on this, so I will close this study by reading it to you:
14 Sing, O daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment
and will disperse the armies of your enemy.
And the Lord himself, the King of Israel,
will live among you!
At last your troubles will be over,
and you will never again fear disaster.
16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be,
“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid!
17 For the Lord your God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.[a]
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
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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