10:1-3 - Remember this warning...you don't want to be caught be the aggressor/oppressor/bully in the world. Isaiah says, "Woe to you who try to take advantage of those weaker." And his use of woe is not the exclamation - WHOA! Woe means, if you make a point in life to crush people and treat them like they are beneath you, you are gonna be in for some seriously bad times with God. In the end when the arrogant bullies come face to face with the wrath and judgment of God...they will finally understand how weak and pathetic they truly are and they will have nowhere to turn. Who will they run to for protection when they stand against God? Moral of the story: you don't want to be in that group of people, so treat others with love and respect.
10:12 and 15 - God is using the Assyrians to as a tool/a weapon - He is using them to discipline His rebellious people. They are kinda like a paddle. You use a paddle to discipline your kids, but it is just a piece of wood...a tool - when you are done with it you hang it back in the laundry room. The paddle is useless without the hand that guides it. The Assyrians have no grounds to be arrogant, because they have only found the success that God has allowed them to find. And when God is done with them, He makes it clear that they will pay the price for their arrogance and blasphemy.
10:21-22 - God in His eternal faithfulness will always keep a remnant, a group of those faithful in the midst of corruption, safe. I find the wording in verse 22 interesting, where the purpose of the destruction that God brings is righteousness. God can only act in righteousness...so the destruction He brings is in fact righteous - it is the punishment necessary to bring His people back into relationship with Him.
11:1-5 - This is another passage that offers us a prophetic glimpse of the Messiah - Jesus.
11:1 - Isaiah says that the Messiah will be a shoot out of the stump of Jesse. The imagery of the shoot and the stump come from nature. Often when you cut a tree down, shoots can still grow out of a stump that has its roots in the ground. Even when Israel is cut down, the remnant will stay rooted in God and a new kingdom under the Messiah will rise from the remains. Why does it not make a reference to David (Jesse was David's father, but not revered like David was)? I believe that this symbolizes the fact that Jesus will usher in a new kind of kingdom leadership. Jesus is not going to follow in the footsteps of David - He is a king that is separate and above the Davidic kingship.
11:2-5 - This section tells us exactly how the kingship will be different. The rule of the Messiah will be marked with wisdom, humility, mercy, fear of the Lord, etc. These are very different characteristics of leadership than have ever been lived out by an earthly king before. They allowed their anger, lust, selfishness, immaturity, faithlessness guide their decisions...the Messianic King will usher in a totally different era of leadership - righteous servant leadership.
11:6-9 - Jesus came to turn the world on its head...to redefine what true strength and power really look like.
11:10 - Even though Isaiah is prophesying to the Israelites who did not really see themselves as a missionary people...we see the worldwide mission of God. Through all the events of the OT narrative we see God working out His plan for all nations and all peoples - not just the Hebrews.
12:2 - When God is your hope, your strength, your salvation...there is nothing to fear...there is peace of mind...there is hopefulness. This would be a great verse to memorize and allow to give you clarity about what is truly important in life.
12:5 - Again we see a clear picture of God's worldwide mission. When God-fearers see the work of God in their lives and in the lives of people around them, they should respond by praising Him and making His goodness known to the world!
2 comments:
Thank you, Brandon, for your HUGE contribution of guiding us through the Bible. I'm in Isaiah 11, and I understand verses 1-5 but not 6-16, is this prophesying Jesus's 2nd coming? Would you please help me understand this part?
Just as we believe in the return of Jesus Christ, as he promised, we must also place our hope in the new heaven and new earth that is foretold in so many parts of the Bible. Jesus, of course, will rule over this new creation and this chapter seems to be looking forward to that time. An Eden-like atmosphere is described as animals who were once at war with one another for survival, will dwell together peacefully. We can also assume that humans will be able to dwell together peacefully for the first time as well. All the talk of the nations towards the end speaks very powerfully to the Israelite people, because these were all their enemies. In the OT God would raise up a banner over Israel that would draw powerful to destroy them (They were used as the instruments of God's judgement against His rebellious people). This passage is saying that when God raises the banner in the new kingdom - all His people will be drawn to it and there is no force on earth that will stand as a barrier before them. I hope that makes sense - shoot me an e-mail if you have more questions. - B
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