The Book of Isaiah___Chapters 5:1 through 6:13

 

GOD'S SONG OF CONDEMNATION AND ISAIAH'S CALL!

In our last lesson we saw the reasons why God was condemning Jerusalem and Judah. They were rife with religious and social corruption. They turned away from God and from the law of God. The were lead astray by:

1. Their rulers

2. Their lewd women

3. Their preachers

They were a corrupt nation in family and in their assemblies.

In this lesson we need to remember chapter 4 where great blessings were pronounced on the surviving remnant. Judgment was sure to come but those who obeyed and sought the Lord out in the midst of all the wickedness will be saved. No matter how the nation around them and us behaves, there will always be a righteous remnant. I am sure there were people listening to Isaiah preach and take what he said to heart. However, I am just as sure that most people did not listen and continued in their wickedness.


Isaiah 5:1 through 6:13___

In this section we see God's attitude and solution to deep national sin. 1. We see God expose an ungrateful people who have been given every chance but refuse to produce good fruit.

2. Learn six charges leveled against the people which reveals their ungodliness.

3. See through the eyes of the prophet the magnificence of God seated on His throne and the agreement made between God and Isaiah.


Some think that this chapter dates to the latter days of Jotham or the early period of Ahaz. This chapter presents a dark, ugly picture of a people who had sown the seeds of profilgacy and lust and who were now reaping the evil fruits of their deeds. These people had great material prosperity under the reign of Uzziah and Jotham as an expression of great fullness from YHWH. THUS WE NOW LOOK AT THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. It falls into three sections.

(1) The Song of the Beloved and His vineyard (vs.1-7).

(2) The Harvest__wild or rotten grapes (vs. 8-23)

(3) The Terrifying judgment (vs. 24-30).

Isaiah 5

Parable/or Song of the Vineyard

A. The Charge: An Evil Yield from the Vineyard (vs.1-7).

    1Let me sing now for my well-beloved
         A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.
         My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 
    2He dug it all around, removed its stones,
         And planted it with the choicest vine 
         And He built a tower in the middle of it
         And also hewed out a wine vat in it;
         Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
         But it produced only worthless ones. 
    3"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
         Judge between Me and My vineyard. 
    4"What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?
         Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones? 
    5"So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:
         I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;
         I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. 
    6"I will lay it waste;
         It will not be pruned or hoed,
         But briars and thorns will come up 
         I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it." 
    7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel
         And the men of Judah His delightful plant 
         Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
         For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.



1. The Description of the Vineyard (vs.1-7).

a. Belonged to the Lord__not a worldly vineyard.

b. In a favored spot.

c. Prepared and planed. Took away all the rocks and stumps, everything that might cause the vineyard to produce bad grapes.

d. It was well guarded.

e. But yet bore only bad fruit.

2. Declaration of Innocence (vs. 3-4).

a. Jury selection (v.3) The wicked men of Judah and Jerusalem.

b. Sufficient care (v.4a) "what more could I have done....?"

c. The unexpected outcome (v. 4b)...."why were there only bad grapes?"

3. The Description of Judgment (vs. 5-6).

a. Protection removed (v.5). "I will remove the hedge."

b. Care denied (v.6a). "It will not be trimmed and hoed...."

c. It will be judged (v. 6b) God will withhold rain.

4. The Parable is explained (v.7).

a. The Vineyard is Israel and Judah.

b. The Charge: Bloodshed instead of Justice. Distress instead of Righteousness.

 Woes for the Wicked

B. The Verdict: Guilty of Six Charges (vs.8-23)

1. Materialism (vs. 8-10)

  8Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field,
         Until there is no more room,
         So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land! 
  9In my ears the LORD of hosts has sworn, "Surely, many houses shall become desolate,
         Even great and fine ones, without occupants.
 10"For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine,
         And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain."



a. The sin of greedy accumulation (v.8). Adding houses to houses, fields to fields.

b. The judgment of God on such people (vs.9-10). Empty houses and barren vineyards and fields.

2. Reveling (vs. 11-17)

11Woe to those who rise early in the morning that they may pursue strong drink,
         Who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them! 
    12Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine;
         But they do not pay attention to the deeds of the LORD,
         Nor do they consider the work of His hands. 
    13Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;
         And their honorable men are famished,
         And their multitude is parched with thirst. 
    14Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;
         And Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it. 
    15So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,
         The eyes of the proud also will be abased. 
    16But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment,
         And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. 
    17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
         And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy. 

a. Drunk from morning till night (v.11).

b. Carousing with no thought of God (v.12).

c. God will being them low by exile and death (vs. 13-15).

d. God will be glorified both by judging the revelers and delivering the humble (vs. 16-17).

3. Scornful depravity (vs. 18-19). Here we have some thought about sin.

  
    18Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood,
         And sin as if with cart ropes; 
    19Who say, "Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it;
         And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near
         And come to pass, that we may know it!" 
  

a. Its evil growth (v.18). The statement is clear. Sin gradually grows and has terrible power. Its "pull" may be at first like a silken thread; presently it becomes that of a strong cord; then it is found to be a hard wire; and finally it reaches a "cart rope. "

b. Its fearful culmination (v.19). Sin reaches its summit when it stands on the height of impious defiance of the living God.

4. Corrupted values (v. 20)

  20Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
         Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
         Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 

5. Conceit (v. 21).

    21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
         And clever in their own sight! 

6. Drunken Judges (v. 22-23)

  22Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
         And valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23Who justify the wicked for a bribe,
         And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right! 

a. Their degenerate character (v.22).

b. Their destructive career (v.23). They were the best judges money can buy. They were friends of the rich and enemies to the poor.

C. The Sentence: Judgment to Come (vs. 24-30).


    24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
         And dry grass collapses into the flame,
         So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;
         For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts
         And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 
    25On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people,
         And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down 
         And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets 
         For all this His anger is not spent,
         But His hand is still stretched out. 
    26He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,
         And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;
         And behold, it will come with speed swiftly. 
    27No one in it is weary or stumbles,
         None slumbers or sleeps;
         Nor is the belt at its waist undone,
         Nor its sandal strap broken. 
    28Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;
         The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind. 
    29Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions;
         It growls as it seizes the prey
         And carries it off with no one to deliver it. 
    30And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea 
         If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress;
         Even the light is darkened by its clouds.

1. Totally devoured by fire (v.24). The reason is clearly stated: They spurned and rejected the sweet, reasonable, Word of God.

2. Utterly destroyed by God (v.25). His present judgment does not satisfy his justice. He will return for total destruction.

3. Unmercifully devastated by nations (vs. 26-30). God's judgment is pictured as an approaching army.

THE PROPHETS CALL (6:1-13)

Isaiah's Commission

Isaiah Recalls the commission God had given him. He was to carry a message of hope and judgment. He described the coming of Messiah: Jesus Christ.

A. The Vision of God (vs. 1-4)- The year is 740 B.C.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah's Vision

 1In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.

 2Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

 3And one called out to another and said,
         "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
         The whole earth is full of His glory."

 4And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

1. Adonai (v.1).

a. Enthroned.

b. High and lifted up.

c. Glorious (cf. "train of His robe filled the temple").

2. Seraph (vs. 2-4).

a. Their wings (v.2).

1) Speed

2) Endurance

3) Humility

4) Obedience

5) Readiness

b. Their song (v.3): The Lord is Holy and Glorious.

c. The result (v.4): The temple shook and was filled with glory.

B. The Response of the Prophet (vs. 5-7)

5Then I said,
         "Woe is me, for I am ruined!
         Because I am a man of unclean lips,
         And I live among a people of unclean lips;
         For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

 6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.

 7He touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven."

1. His cry (v. 5).

a. Woe is me!

b. I am ruined!

c. I am....unclean...BUT!

d. I have seen the Lord!!!

2. His cleansing (vs. 6-7).

a. He was touched!

b. He was forgiven!

c. He was reconciled! (thorough atonement).

C. The Mission of the Prophet (vs. 8-13).

 8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

 9He said, "Go, and tell this people:
         'Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
         Keep on looking, but do not understand.' 
    10"Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
         Their ears dull,
         And their eyes dim,
         Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
         Hear with their ears,
         Understand with their hearts,
         And return and be healed."

 11Then I said, "Lord, how long?" And He answered,
         "Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
         Houses are without people
         And the land is utterly desolate, 
    12"The LORD has removed men far away,
         And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 
    13"Yet there will be a tenth portion in it,
         And it will again be subject to burning,
         Like a terebinth or an oak
         Whose stump remains when it is felled 
         The holy seed is its stump."

1. His call (v.8). "Who ??...Me!

2. His commission (vs. 9-10). "Go and tell!"

a. The people will not understand the message.

b. The people will be hardened by his message.

c. The people will be judged by his message.

3. His tenure (vs. 11-2). Until there are no more people to tell and no nation to love. Sin is go on working out its waste, until there is an empty and depopulated land.

4. God's mercy (v. 13). "The holy seed will be the stump in the land."

Summary: Dark and Bleak as the picture may be , the Lord allows a ray of light to break thorough the menacing storm clouds; there will be a remnant that will escape. Though a 10th , a small remnant will escape and even it will be eaten up until those that remain will be a remnant of the remnant. This smaller remnant is the stock or the substance of the original remnant.

27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;

 28FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY."

Romans 9: 27-28

and again:astray

 5In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice.

Romans 11:5