Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Once in a while you may have heard the phrase “What’s in a Name?”. In our day and age it seems that there’s not as much in any name as their once was. Years ago we owned a series of Novas. On the strength of the first model we purchased the second two. Neither of the successors lived up to the endurance and vitality of the first, however. In fact by the time we acquired the third, we understood the image problem of the Nova in Spanish speaking countries where Chevrolet didn’t bother to figure out what the word meant in Spanish before selling them. Translated, "no va" means "no go"! That would be like offering a car in America with the name “lemon”.
Perhaps you understand this problem all too well. With this problem in mind let me direct your attention to verse one of our passage today. “Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah.” Do you remember how Jacob’s name was changed to Israel in the same way that Saul’s was changed to Paul centuries later? Well, in this passage the reverse order of events is implied. The very people of God, descended from Israel who was once a less likely candidate for sainthood under the name of Jacob, have fallen from intimacy. Some times my less scholarly students like to be cute and call me by my first name. When my ruffians attempt too much familiarity, I advise them that when they graduate, if they graduate, then and only then can they be on familiar terms with me. At a much higher level, God is being standoffish here on purpose to grip the attention of His people. Those who would use the covenant name of Israel have offended their covenant God and He will not speak directly to them, but in the third person through Isaiah He will speak to any who might be listening.
In verses three through five Isaiah reports the foreknowledge of God for all things present and future. In verse four He even reveals the reason for prophecy. It is because the sons and daughters of Jacob have stiff necks like iron and foreheads like bronze. Hard headed, as we might say in our idiom today. Just as the Lord has acted in the past according to His plan, He not only has announced events, He has also made them known. The reason He has done this is so that His people might not fall for the fraudulent claims of pagan shamans and charlatans. These were well known in the ancient world. One of the most famous was the Delphic oracle of Greek fame who spoke in riddles, very probably under the influence of drug induced stupors. The oracles at Delphi were known far and wide across the Mediterranean world. Now, we might think that there is no such competition to the Word of God today. However, very very many people are much enamored with the mindless prattlings of a Nostradamus or a Cayce, both of whom claimed some traditional religious ties. But, unlike the clear instructions of the Almighty, all human endeavors fall far short of perfection. Jeanne Dixon can barely attain a ten per cent success rate. The writings of Nostradamus are a confused mass of non-sequential phrases. The Lord’s words are, however, perfectly understandable in the sense of verse three where God makes known what He will to those He loves. Have the sons and daughters of Jacob acted in good faith, expectantly waiting to hear from the Lord, or have they gone their own way?
Will they hear again? Look at the invitation in verse six. “You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them?”, the Lord admonishes His people. Ah, but in the next phrase they are promised new understanding, hidden things, things to be revealed through the Lord’s own prophet. What is the human condition all about? In the course of doing our work, when something unexpected crops up and we deal successfully with the situation, are we not tempted to say boldly: “I knew that”. Or even worse, do we not sometimes think that there was a flash of insight just before the event giving us the prior knowledge we so earnestly desire to claim? Intuition or precognition or some other technical term which we invent to explain what some would tell us is only the right side of the brain thinking the same thing as the left side split-seconds apart? As human adults we hesitate to admit that we might be surprised or that things might happen which we cannot explain.
God speaks to us and we are tempted to think that it is about time! After all, we have a too important view of ourselves, and as we worship the little god that we make ourselves out to be, we ignore the real God of heaven, we close our ears to His very word, instructions and revelation. Well, God knows us for what we are. look at the description in verse eight. Here were the sons and daughters of Jacob who are rightly called rebels from birth. Richly deserving the captivity to come, the people who claimed the covenant name of Israel were sadly in need of refinement.
Even as the Lord delayed judgment for their benefit, He will plainly tell them that the judgment of captivity is coming. But that captivity has the purpose of refinement. Their centuries of ongoing idolatry, mixing the worship of God with lesser idols, must come to an end. Only through the captivity in Babylon will Israel put away idol worship for all time, only later falling away by not listening to the revelations concerning the Lord’s own appearance, when Jesus appeared suddenly in the Temple.
However, there is always a way out for those who hear the very Word of the Almighty, and this is the message of the second half of this chapter. Again in verse twelve Jacob is encouraged to listen. Yes, even Jacob has been called by the Almighty God of heaven. This God has laid the very foundations of the earth and spread out the heavens. The whole starry host is arranged by His call and command. This awesome God would speak to mere humans, little specks of dust in a vast universe. Recently I bought a computerized war game. This game may be accessed at several different levels. You zoom in for closer and closer looks at the details of battle scenarios. The games will appear to run all by themselves. Yet, they are all carefully calculated by the program which calls the units into being. Little by little I can learn to zoom in and change things causing a different outcome to the preprogramming. In a much greater way is the God of heaven sovereign over the details of life and purpose to life. “Listen”, He says to His people in all ages through this prophecy of Isaiah. “Listen”, He says, I have chosen an ally who will carry out the destruction against Babylon to deliver Israel from captivity. It will happen because the Lord has declared it before hand.
In verse sixteen the prophet calls us near to hear an announcement. God has spoken clearly from the very beginning. And when His prophecies are fulfilled, He is there to bring them about. Further, as Isaiah explains his ministry in the second half of verse sixteen, there is a purpose to the revelations of God’s word. In verse seventeen we see that the Lord would teach us what is best for us; He would direct our ways. If we would but pay attention, our lives would be more peaceful and our children blessed beyond our understanding. It would have been unnecessary for them to be cut off and sent to Babylon.
A farmer philosopher, Wendell Berry, has proposed that the biblical injunction that the sins of the fathers that are visited on the third and fourth generations is easily noted. Because, that is the amount of time for new ideas to take the place of older ones where the younger generations begin to live by and for the new ideas. Was it only three generations ago when the humanist ideas first began to be promulgated? Finally, those young people who have been taught that they are only smarter animals are beginning to act like it! The worldly culture of our time has its roots in the humanist endeavor of the philosophers in the last century. The very ideas of those who oppose God, the Babylonian ideas that man is his own god and lord and master of the observable universe, have been popular in all times. Isaiah’s contemporaries were just as infected as any other generation. God would invite them and us as well to leave Babylon behind.
“Flee from the Babylonians!” God instructs. Would we accept this invitation with the joy expected in verse twenty? Would we send that message out to the ends of the earth? Will we say that “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.” ? Here is the promise of hope. Even Jacob can be saved and given a new name of Israel. In that ancient salvation, there is hope for all who have participated in God’s plan ever since. His people were rescued from Egypt; even in a dry thirsty land, as the old Hymn goes there is water for the redeemed of the Lord. Would we listen to the words of our God and leave the anti-God ideas of Babylon behind? Would we drink from the spring waters of the Exodus desert? Paul knew who was symbolized in that water. Even our Lord Jesus Christ. By the bruises of the wicked was He pierced and water and blood flowed out. And in that flood we have known redemption if we will hear, listen and obey. If we will not verse twenty-two is a final warning in this chapter. “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” May we know the peace of God through His Holy Spirit this day and all days. Amen.
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
02 October 1994
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.