Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:20 and 21 (NIV):  "On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied.  Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring:  Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh; together they will turn against Judah.  Yet for all this his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."

Thought:  To me, deep sin can bring horrifying consequences, and our children may end up suffering the most for our behaviors. 

Question:  Have I ever been stubbornly blind and failed to see my rebellion against God?

There is one very disturbing and tragic consequence of rebellion against God and the substitution of worshipping idols in the place of worshipping God:  God begins to "give you up" to your sin.  Reading Romans chapter 1 will lay this concept out very clearly to you.  Sinners are given over to their own lusts when their rebellious anger toward God increases.  To me, this verse in Isaiah is a good description of this very process.  Sinning still leaves one quite empty but at the same time drives a person on and on to deeper depths of degradation, all in an effort to satisfy cravings of the soul.  

"On the right they will devour..."  On the one hand, the Israelites are driven to devour, each feeding "on the flesh of his own offspring".  How ugly!  On the other hand they are driven to eat as well.  Both "extremes" of behavior result in the consumptive destruction of their own children.  And this is one deep irony of extreme sin:  it reaches to destroy the children, the successive generations, of those who have sinned.  It does not matter which "way" your sin goes, as it were, it is still arrogant godlessness and will still result in horrible consequences.  

Here Manasseh "feeds on" Ephraim.  These are the twin brothers who were grandsons of Jacob; yet for all of their close brotherhood, they, as enlarged tribes, are now fighting against Judah.  God has given them up completely to their sin.  Israel is imploding.

"Yet for all this his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."  This is the fourth time this phrase has been repeated recently here in Isaiah.  God has allowed Israel to go off into deep sin.  He has judged them for their sin by allowing much destructive harm to come as a discipline, yet they have not heeded the warnings.  After the corrective attempts and their failure to convince Judah, God's anger is still burning.  "His hand is still upraised", that is, His treatment of them, to allow more suffering, will continue.  

Prayer:  Oh Lord God, may I never be guilty of such stubborness!  But if I am, and I am certainly capable of it, help me to repent of it.  Help me to receive Your conviction.  Help me to want to change and to ask Your help to alter my behaviors.  May I seek You through the healing blood of Jesus Christ.  In His name I pray, Amen.   

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:19 (NIV):  "By the wrath of the LORD Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire; no one will spare his brother."

Thought:  To me, we need to realize that our sin is what stirs up God's wrath.

Question:  Will my soul become "fuel for the fire" or will I be saved from the burning? 

"...wickedness burns like a fire..." (yesterday's verse), but not even wickedness burns this way without God's permission.  "By the wrath of the LORD Almighty the land will be scorched..."  says today's verse.  God angrily allows the evil of wickedness to run free across the land.  He even permits "people" to "be fuel for the fire."  God's wrath is ultimately behind even the power and limited control that He has given Satan.

All that is happening to Israel is ordained by God and God is sovereign over each facet of it.  It becomes our task to hold faith in God while witnessing His wrath and His choice to allow Satan to succeed with breakouts of evil sin and destruction.   

The fires of hell are fueled with the souls of unsaved, unregenerate people.  We could venture to say that on earth, many times the lives of people have become the fuel for the "fires" of evil men and their purposes.  What possible good can all this produce?  The scorching of the land, the people being consumed with fire--these must find a place in the whole of the picture and our faith must include them.  

"...no one will spare his brother."  This fire, fueled by the people of Israel, allowed by God and developed by Satan, is characterized by a wicked hatred of brother against brother.  "...no one" sparing his brother indicates a kind of mass presence of evil in the minds and hearts of all the Israelites.  All are bitten with the "war bug" it seems.  I think of our own nation's Civil War and how some families were divided against themselves with sons pledging different allegiances.  How strong the convictions became in the hour of conflict!  Perhaps the same thing has gripped the Israelites:  a strong belief that each is right, even to the point of killing one's own brother.  

Prayer:  Lord, may I never become "fuel for the fire" of Your wrath!  I pray that the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, would cover me and carry me away from the lust that initializes war; that Your "peace that passes all understanding" would indeed keep my heart now and forever.  Amen. 

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:18 (NIV):  "Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke."

Thought:  To me, not enough is spoken about hellfire in our day. 

Question:  Have I ever experienced the burning of wickedness in my life?

"Surely wickedness burns like a fire..." 

If you have ever wondered why hell is described in terms of fire and brimstone, this verse in Isaiah 9 gives us some insight.  Wickedness burns.  Burning is a consumption--a destructive consumption.  It reduces everything in its path to smallness and worthless ash.  Hell, that place created for the devil and his angels, (Matthew 25:41) is a place where destruction finds its outcome.  In hell is only huge smallness and worthlessness.  Hell is a place devoid of anything good, a place where God is completely absent.  And the fire of hell is never quenched, as our Savior, Christ  pointed out in Mark 9:48 "where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched', (which is a quotation from Isaiah 66:24, the last verse of the book of Isaiah, "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all  mankind.")

Wickedness "burns like a fire" in that it is never quenched or satisfied.  It is never at rest or at peace.  It is frantic to find fulfillment; full of corrupt desires that run and run to be answered but find no resolution anywhere.  In its search for meaning and satisfaction, wickedness tramples everything and everyone around it.  "...it consumes briers and thorns"--not your average fuel, but, nevertheless, when found in the way, destroyed just as completely as good wood or grass in the field.  Wickedness is not selective about what it destroys.  

"...it sets the forest thickets ablaze".  Even the "good" areas are caught up in the conflagration.  Their sturdiness and usefulness is of no matter to the indiscriminate flames.  This shows how evil can spread.  Christ taught that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump (of dough)".  Evil sin is like an illness that spreads throughout the body from one little germ.  Soon the raging fire is completely out of control and helpless onlookers can only wait for it to run its course and burn itself out (when all fuel is finally consumed.)  Yet we do well to remember what Christ said about hellfire:  "...the fire is not quenched" that burns in hell.  Hell will never burn itself out.

The forest thickets burn until the fire "rolls upward in a column of smoke".  This is a picture of violent destructive consumption:  the fire violently eats the forest away until, turned to smoke, it "rolls upward", away from men, into the air where it disperses and dissolves away.  Here a useful and productive forest is reduced to puffs of black smoke.  A great sense of loss would follow such a scene.  

The prophet, Isaiah, writes such imagery in order to set a clear warning to Israel--they will experience deep loss unless they change their ways.  

Prayer:  All-powerful God, the images of hellfire here in Your Word are powerful reminders to fear You, obey You and respect You.  Help me never to forget that sin can produce horrendous loss.  Help me to confess all sin, repent of it, give it up and turn to You, Lord, in deep humility so that I may escape, through Christ, the devastations of hell.  Amen.  

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:17 (NIV):  "Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness.  Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."

Thought:  To me, a third repetition of "his hand is still upraised" provides great hope!

Question:  Does the Lord take pleasure in me?

God created human beings to take pleasure in them.  He has no other real need for us.  How said that in broken fellowship we cause the very purposes of God to be destroyed--we break apart the very heart of God's affections.  "Therefore", that is, because of rebellion and not seeking return to God, "the Lord will take no pleasure...", "nor will he pity.."  If we have ever experienced emptiness from God, it is not because God is empty and unable to love, but it is that we have angered Him with our behaviors until He disconnects from us and our sin.  

"...everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness."  This is all-inclusive!  No one is left out.  Romans 3:10 - 12 (which quotes Psalm 14) says:  "As it is written:  'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.' "

And though God takes no more pleasure in even "the young men", and though He has no more pity, not even for "the fatherless and widows", yet for all of this disconnecting of God from his people, His anger is still unquenched:  "his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."

To me, the fact that God's anger is still alive actually displays a factor of hope.  What will God's anger produce next?

Prayer:  Loving Father, I know Your love is everlasting and I thank You for it!  Because of the reconciliation provided to me through Your Son, Jesus Christ, I need not fear a complete disconnection from You.  Praise the Lord!  Thank You for covering my awful wickedness with Your Son's blood.  Amen.

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:16 (NIV):  "Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray."

Thought:  To me, teachers, especially spiritual teachers, have an awesomely huge responsibility. 

Question:  Have I been led astray by the evil one?

It is of utmost importance to know those who lead you, particularly those who are your spiritual instructors.  Scripture has much to say about the judgments that will come against false prophets and those who would lead the people astray--they will be held especially accountable.  "To whom much (responsibility) is given, much will be required", (Luke 12:48). 

This verse focuses on this responsibility.  If God recognizes that certain leaders have mislead the people, He, obviously, will not be forgetting this.  Not only does God recognize their accountability before Him, He also recognizes that the people have been "led astray" by "someone" or "some spirit."  In other words, the false prophet's leadership has been successful:  the people have indeed gone astray.  We are "like sheep"--we follow leaders "dumbly"!   "Astray", to me, indicates a crooked way, a wrong choice, an immoral action.  We can know by other scriptures who directs this crooked way; it is, of course, our enemy, Satan, who is at work behind the scenes.

It is a wise person who looks beyond people to realize there is power behind all people and their activities.  It would do us well to be on the lookout to observe what "power" or "spirit" is at work in and through people.  People are moved to act either by good or evil, by selfishness or unselfishness, by hope of gain or chances to give sacrificially, by deception or truth, etc.; in short, people are moved to act either by God or Satan.

These leaders of Israel were not purely motivated.  Apparently their primary goal was not to bring good to the people.  This is why God "will cut" them off (Isaiah 9:14).  

God is not out to "cut off" failing leaders left and right.  God knows that Satan is behind their actions, and He is ever vigilant against this kind of evil.  This verse makes this very clear.

Prayer:  Father in heaven, I am so thankful that You can discern good from evil purely and wisely.  I look to You as my guide!  Help me to find good and godly leaders who will teach me truth as seen in Your Word, and lead me to them, Father.  Then, Lord, enable me to obey them, follow them and honor them as is pleasing to You.  Amen.   

Scripture:  Isaiah 9:14 and 15 (NIV):  "So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day; the elders and prominent men are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail."

Thought:  To me, God can act very swiftly when it is important to Him to do so. 

Question:  Am I following godly leaders and truthful teachers?

With God's angry hand of correction still upraised, (yesterday's verse), He acts swiftly.  He strikes to remove that which leads Israel astray and that which follows the corrupt lead.  Like drastic pruning, "both palm branch and reed", God trims away wickedness.  His purpose is to cleanse and purge so that the future may produce better "fruit."  

God's anger, often referred to as "righteous indignation", is different than the anger of man.  Sometimes man's anger is justified but ususally it is not.  In the book of James we're told that "...man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."  (James 1:20).  But God's anger does!  Everything God's anger produces is righteous and correct and acts to purify away evil.

Anger in human beings is a God-given emotion that signals something is wrong in the world around us.  As Christians we are to allow God to act against that which is wrong in the world around us; "vengeance is mine", says the Lord, "I will repay."  (Romans 12:19)

Here, God has taken action against that which is wrong in the world.  He has hit Israel most effectively:  elders are cut off, as are the false prophets.  This will give Israel a chance to recover--to acquire better leadership and to hear true prophets.  

Prayer:  Father God, I thank You that Your anger is 100% good and right.  I thank You that you act with Your anger in a way that produces good.  I trust You, Father--have Your own way.  Amen.

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