Isaiah 44
OGCEXAMINATION Chapter S FORTY-FOUR THROUGH FORTY-EIGHT
DEFINITION
(Define the following words or phrases as they were discussed in the comments.)
Jeshurun
hidest thyself
graven image
Nebo
delight
show yourselves men
shut their eyes
virgin
seen the fire
mistress
liars
tender, delicate
anointed
profit
MEMORIZATION
I am Jehovah, and there is _____ else; besides me there is no _____. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the _____ of the sun, and from the west, that there is _____ besides me; I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I _____ light, and _____ darkness; I make _____, and create _____; I am Jehovah that _____ all these things. (Isaiah 45:5-7)
For my _____ sake I will defer mine anger, and for my _____ will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not _____. Behold, I have _____ thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of _____. For mine _____ sake, for _____ own _____, will I do it; for how should my _____ be profaned? and my _____ I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:9-11)
EXPLANATION
Explain the stupidity of idol making.
Explain how God shuts the eyes of idolaters.
Explain how Cyrus could be used of God in redemption.
Explain how God proves that idols are not gods.
Explain what was new about some of Jehovah’s predictions.
Explain why Jehovah always acts primarily for His own name’s sake.
APPLICATION
(In its context every scripture has one meaningthe author’s intended meaning. How may the following be applied in the believer’s life?)
Would man in our enlightened age be stupid enough to call a thing God?
Does God’s statement that He creates both goodness and calamities apply to modern history?
What application may we make of God taking an oath on His own name?
Of what value is biblical typology today?
Why is the teaching about idolatry so continually relevant to every age of civilization?
Is the teaching about listening to false prophets relevant for today?
Is there an application concerning the practice of astrology today from the teachings of Isaiah concerning Babylon’s astrology?
SPECIAL STUDY THE TRANSCENDENT GOD REVEALED HIMSELF
by Paul T. Butler INTRODUCTION
I.
THE POSSIBILITY OF GOD REVEALING HIMSELF
A.
Once established from Theism (natural revelation) that God exists and that He is the Uncaused, First Cause, with eternal power and deity (Romans 1:20), the Purposing Designer of the universe
then unless that which He created is greater than He. and
unless the laws He created are greater than the Lawgiver.
There is no escaping the conclusion that He can, if He wishes, intervene in the universe to reveal Himself, to accomplish His omnipotent will and purpose.
B.
Uniformitarianism (dogma of the so-called immutable laws of nature) does not preclude the possibility of supernatural intervention
The uniformity of nature is not a force, it is a mere abstract designation of the force that is observed to be working.
Both Heisenberg’s principle of indeterminacy and Einstein’s principle of relativity show that natural law is not immutable.
The absolute uniformity of nature depends upon human observation of all time and all experiencehuman observation has not been long enough into the past to say that these laws have always acted uniformitynor can human observation say with any absoluteness what these laws will do in the immediate future!
The question whether God has revealed Himself or not must be decided on the basis of evidence. Is there any evidence of supernatural intervention or revelation?
II.
THE PROBABILITY OF GOD REVEALING HIMSELF
A.
Would God create man and leave him all alone? All reason cries NO!
A man given a free will might do things contrary to the will of his Creator and be in danger, so the Creator would want to warn the creature.
The Creator is a Being of Purpose. There must be some purpose for man. There is no way for man to find the Purposer’s purpose for him unless the Purposer tells it!
B.
All religions, however pagan, have some form of revelation from their gods. Where did this idea of the higher being revealing himself come from if God did not put it there and if such a revelation had not, in fact, occurred?
III.
THE PROGRAM OF GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF
A.
In History (events and deeds)
B.
In Words (directly and through human agents in human language)
C.
In Person (Jesus Christ)
DISCUSSION
I.
GOD REVEALED HIMSELF IN HISTORYIN EVENTS, DEEDS OR IN NATURE
A.
In Acts 14:15-18, Paul told the citizens of pagan Lystra that the Creator-God did not leave himself without witness, for he did good and gave you from heaven rains and fruitful seasons.
B.
In Acts 17:22-30, Paul told the Athenian philosophers that what they and their poets had been led (by a revelation they had of God through nature and reason) to worship was a Person, not a thing of stone or wood. The Athenians should have known this and deduced it from the nature of their own being!
C.
In Romans 1:19-20, Paul writes that the Gentiles had a revelation of the wrath, the eternal power and deity of God in that which had been created (nature); cf. Psalms 19:1-4.
D.
God has revealed Himself through supernatural events (we call them miracles) which have taken place historically. Such events cannot be explained as natural phenomena (parting of the Red Sea; Noachian Flood, etc.) except by men who choose to deliberately ignore the facts (cf. 2 Peter 3:5).
As a result of such supernatural events, having been empirically demonstrated, God expects man to reason to the Uncaused Cause (cf. Exodus 14:10-18; Psalms 44:1-3; Psalms 67:7-7; Psalms 78:1-72; Psalms 105:1 ff; Psalms 106:1 ff; Psalms 136:1 ff).
Compare these references also: Daniel 4:34-37; Hebrews 2:2-4; John 5:19-23; John 10:31-39; John 14:8-11.
E.
Some still refuse to admit, even in the face of demonstrable, historical evidence, that miracles have occurred. C. S. Lewis puts it this way in Miracles. Because such an admission would force them to admit there is a living God! Men exclude miracles from the realm of possibility today because in so doing they fashion for themselves a God who would not do miracles, or indeed anything else. Men are reluctant to pass over from the notion of an abstract and negative deity to the living God. An abstract and negative deity does nothing, demands nothing. He is there if you wish for Him, like a book on a shelf. He will not pursue you. It is with a shock that we discover a living God. You have had a shock like that before, in connection with smaller matterswhen the line pulls at your hand, when something breathes beside you in the darkness. So here; the shock comes at the precise moment when the thrill of life is communicated to us along the clue we have been following. It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. -Look out,-’ we cry, -it’s alive!-’ An impersonal Godwell and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own headsbetter still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tapbest of all. BUT GOD HIMSELF, ALIVE, PULLING AT THE OTHER END OF THE CORD, PERHAPS APPROACHING AT AN INFINITE SPEED, THE HUNTER, KING, HUSBAND, THAT IS QUITE ANOTHER MATTER! There comes a moment when the children who have been playing cops and robbers hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (-Man’s search for God-’) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?
THIS IS WHY PEOPLE DENY THAT GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF HISTORICALLY IN EMPIRICALLY WITNESSED DEEDS. OR PERSONALLY IN JESUS CHRIST. HE IS, THEN, THE LIVING GOD!
II.
GOD REVEALED HIMSELF IN WORDSIN HUMAN LANGUAGE
A.
A verbal revelation is necessary
Some historical events lend themselves to interpretation by the innate capabilities of the mind of man alone (Romans 1, etc.)
Most events, however, must be interpreted by God to man in a verbal communication if man is to understand their revelatory nature.
Revelation then consists of event and interpretation. God acts in history and discloses by words the meaning of His acts.
The interpretation of the prophets, of Jesus Christ and of the apostles of what God has done in History is itself a part of the revelatory situation.
God communicated in words to Adam even before Eve was created (Genesis 2:15-17)God gave Adam the ability to use language and name the animals before Eve was created (Genesis 2:20).
B.
The nature of language as a medium of revelation
Written words have the same validity as the actual words of the speaker and this is shown by the fact that written words are admissible as evidence in a court of law, carrying the same weight as those of a living and present witness.
Speech, as defined by Wm. J. Martin, is the act by which the speaker provides with perceptible garments the invisible offspring (thoughts) of his mind.
Language makes the communication of thoughts possible by providing verbal deputies for the ingredients of many situations.
By language it is possible also for a speaker to superimpose his will on another, and thus it becomes possible for the Holy Spirit to superimpose His will upon us and within us through a verbal revelation.
Language makes possible even the communication of inaccessible matter (the supernatural wisdom and plan of God, which would be inaccessible if He did not speak it to us in language).
Language is necessary even for the mind of man to communicate with itself, for the mind is never completely happy until it has reduced its problems to linguistic terms.
C.
Existential theology denies that God can or will reveal Himself propositionally (that is, they affirm that God does not reveal Himself verbally, through words, but by direct confrontation, subjectively)BUT
We cannot have the knowledge of God without the knowledge about God!! anymore than we can have a knowledge of our wives or children without a knowledge about them!
We cannot claim the transcendent experience, the oneness of the soul with God, without the truth that God gives of Himself in the saving events of history, the truth of which comes to us by historical media.
Christian faith is not hung on a sky-hook but is founded securely in fact. One senses that the writers of the N.T. were terribly empirically minded. The fact-basis of faith is everywhere apparent in Scripture.
Faith without truth is impossible! and that truth is not some ether that haunts the atmosphere or the brain but something that is the function of statements and that grasps us when there is conveyed that which is actually the case.
To be personal means to be a self, a rational self, a moral self, and a purposing self. Man is both intellectual and moral. The one cannot be separated from the other. Response to the truth is moral as well as intellectual. Therefore there must be propositional truth in verbal form before there can be either an intellectual or moral confrontation with God!!
Confrontation involves the meeting of minds, of common response to one anotherin the truth. The confrontation of persons involves the communication of truth. Truth is a function of language!
D.
Language and Personal Encounter
Events (nature, history) cannot bring about the personal encounter which the genius of language alone can accomplish.
By means of the sense of hearing, as the receiver of verbal communication, one mind can make contact with the mental world of another mind and can influence that inaccessible and mysterious realm of thought.
Further, with the voluntary cooperation of the recipient, one may learn in turn something about the contents of that other mind.
Without such voluntary cooperation and without communication THERE IS AN IMPENETRABLE BOUNDARY TO PERSONAL ENCOUNTER. this is exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:11. For what person knows a man’s thought except the spirit of the man which is in him? The mind of the man sitting next to you may be quite inaccessible to you, while at that very moment a friend a 1000 miles away may be allowing you, by means of a letter, to learn something of what is beyond this boundary. the act of crossing this boundary is one of the most remarkable phenomena of our experience.
If God willed to cross this boundary, He could surely do so by the existing means so extensively used between man andman. This is what the Psalmist infers in Psalms 94:8 ff. If God made the eye, He can see. AND IF GOD MADE THE TONGUE, HE CAN TALK!
E.
The Bible leaves us in no doubt whatever that the vehicle of revelation is language (words).
Language is versatile: it is unique in the reception and transmission of knowledge; it is the only means which possesses such potentiality.
Mystical communication, in which the intellect is in abeyance and the object of the participant is to merge himself by a non-verbal process in the Godhead, is excluded by a word often on the lips of the writers of the O.T. The word is translated to hear, and signifies not only to hear, but to understand and even to respond to what is said.
There are literally thousands of references in both O.T. and N.T. representing God as speaking words (cf. Exodus 20:1; Deuteronomy 1:6; Psalms 33:9; Jeremiah 7:13; Jeremiah 14:14; John 6:63; Matthew 24:35; John 17:14; John 17:17).
Language is the only conceivable means of communicating non-empirical places, things or concepts (heaven, hell, remission of sins). It has the ability to cross dimensional limits of time, space, etc., and communicate by verbal deputies (figures of speech, analogies, etc.) the non-experienceable. It has the ability to bring about PERSONAL ENCOUNTER, 1 Corinthians 2:13.
Yet language is inadequate to describe the ultimate realities of such things as heaven, hell, etc. ON THE OTHER HAND, INADEQUACY DOES NOT MEAN ERRONEOUSNESS. Paul was caught up into the third heaven and heard things it was impossible for him to utter. (2 Corinthians 12:1-4) We do not believe the book of Revelation’s description of heaven is in any ultimate sense, adequate, yet it is adequate enough in its relative sense to engender love, faith and purpose in the believer’s heart.
III.
GOD REVEALED HIMSELF IN A PERSON, HIS UNIQUE SON, JESUS CHRIST
A.
Because God is personal, the final revelation of Himself was a Person.
Hebrews 1:1-4, In times past God revealed Himself in many ways, and through many servants (prophets), but in the last dispensation He has revealed Himself in the Son, This Son is: Heir, Co-Creator, Glory of God, Express Image of His Person, Sustainer, Majesty on High.
John 1:1-18, The Third Person of the God-head became Incarnate and tabernacled among men. Men beheld His glory as of the only unique Son from the face-to-face presence with the Father. No man has seen God at any time, but the Son has declared Him (exegesatos) exegeted Him.
Philippians 2:5-10, God took upon Himself the form of a man and suffered the death of the cross, revealing the love of God.
2 Corinthians 5:19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.
Hebrews 10:4-10, He came in a body prepared for Him to do the will of God willingly, and by that will we are sanctified.
His name is Immanuel (God with us), Matthew 1:23.
B.
The Son of God became Incarnate and acted in history and spoke exactly and exclusively the very words God willed Him to speak!! Luke says his gospel document is a treatise. of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. Acts 1:1.
Jesus lived and taught the love of God perfectly.
Jesus lived and taught the compassion of God perfectly.
Jesus lived and taught the righteousness of God perfectly.
C.
The most important statement of Jesus concerning His personal revelation of the Father is found in John 14:7-11.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works-’ sake.
CONCLUSION
I.
PERSONAL REVELATION INVOLVES DECISION, RESPONSE TO THE PERSONAL GOD
A.
God meets man in the act of revelation not as an Idea, an Unmoved Mover, but as a PERSON who speaks to man and requires a response from man.
B.
To say that revelation is historical, verbal and personal means, in brief, that God has come into our midst and because He has so come, we can never remain the same as we were before.
II.
JESUS CHRIST IS GOD IN THE FLESH, HEAR YE HIM!
A.
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9
B.
Do you want to know what God thinks? Read the words of Jesus and the apostles.
C.
Do you want to know how God acts? Look at the life Jesus lived.
D.
Do you want to know what God thinks of man? Read the Bible.
E.
Do you want to know what God promises to men of faith and obedience? Read the New Testament!
F.
Do you want to know what God commands man to do? Read the New Testament!
III.
AT THE END OF THIS AGE GOD IS GOING TO REVEAL HIMSELF ONCE AGAIN
A.
Historically, Verbally, Personally
B.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 ff; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:1-3; John 14:1-6; Acts 1:9-11
IV.
WHAT IS YOUR DECISION? GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO YOU PERSONALLY, VERBALLY, YOU HAVE HAD A PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH GOD HERE, NOW!
HIS PERSONAL INVITATION TO YOU IS COME, RECEIVE, OBEY, TRUST. THE BIBLE IS HIS LOVE LETTER TO YOU.
SPECIAL STUDY TYPOLOGY
Definition:
From tupos meaning literally to strike; the mark or impression of something; stamp; impressed sign; emblem. Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 10:6; 1 Corinthians 10:11; John 20:25 Print of nail (lit. usage) Webster: A figure or representation of something to come; a token; a sign; a symbol; correlative to antitype.
Synonyms:
skia (shadow), Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 10:1
hypodeigma (copy), Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 9:23
semeion (sign), Matthew 12:39
parabole (parable), or (figure), Hebrews 9:9; Hebrews 11:19
antitypos (antitype), Hebrews 9:24; 1 Peter 3:21
Characteristics of types:
They are thoroughly rooted in history. They are not myths or allegories. This is where they differ from symbols. Symbols do not necessarily have to be historical realities (such as the dreams and visions of Daniel and John in Revelation). Types are actual, historical persons, events, institutions.
They are prophetic in nature. Again they differ from symbols in this aspect. Symbols may or may not be figurative of future things. Types must always predict.
They are definite, integral par of redemptive history. They were intended to be part of God’s plan of redemption. They are not afterthoughts read back into the O.T. story. They retain their typical significance even after the antitype has appeared (1 Corinthians 10:1-11) (Romans 15:4).
They are Christocentric. They all point to Christ in one way or another (Luke 24:24-44; Acts 3:32ff).
They are edificatory. They have spiritual meaning for God’s people in both dispensations. The OT saint was undoubtedly edified by the typical significance of such things as circumcision (Deuteronomy 30:6), the sacrifices (Hosea 14:2) and the coronation of Joshua (Zechariah 6:9-15); also the tabernacle, etc.
We must be careful not to think the OT saints perfectly understood all the type taught about Christ (1 Peter 1:10-12). If they understood all, it would take away the type’s prophetic nature.
They are in variety. There was a necessity for a great variety of types to give anything like a correct idea of the Messiah. Just as a single letter, or a very few letters from the alphabet could not express the full ideas of authors, so no type could fully exhibit the promised Savior in the dignity of his person, the mystery of his incarnation, excellency of character, union of offices, depth of humiliation, etc. Moses was an eminent type as a prophet, but he was no priest; Aaron was a chosen priest, but no prophet; David was a king and prophet, but no priest. While one goat slain was a type of the death of Christ, another must be sent away alive to typify his resurrection.
Importance of Studying Types: 1.
Absolutely necessary if we are rightly to understand the revelation of God.
Types and their antitypes are like a book with a large number of pictures of things, institutions, events followed by words of descriptions and explanations. It is difficult to conceive of any one trying to understand the descriptions and explanations without referring to the pictures themselves. Yet this is how the Bible is often treated. Many people are satisfied to read the N.T. without any reference to the types of the O.T.
The typology of the O.T. is the very alphabet of the language in which the doctrine of the N.T. is written.
It is very clear that God himself sets great value upon types. In Hebrews we learn that in the construction of the Tabernacle every detail was planned by Him. And He warned Moses to follow those details! For example: The veil in the Tabernacle was not merely a curtain to divide rooms. there was great meaning. a great lesson conveyed in that vail.
God Himself rent that veil from top to bottom. He added the finishing touches to that picture! Doesn-’t this show the great importance God puts upon the types!?
Jesus set great value upon types. Again and again He referred to them and showed how they pointed to Himself (Manna from heaven; Jonah’s death and resurrection from the whale; Light of World; etc.)
The very high place that is accorded types by the writers of the N.T. show their importance (Hebrews, Romans, Gospel of John, Revelation). The Epistle to the Hebrews is almost entirely made up of references to the O.T. The O.T. is the shadowsChrist is the substance.
We sometimes forget that the writers of the N.T. were students of the O.T.; that it was their Bible, and that they would naturally allude again and again to the types and shadows, expecting their readers also to be familiar with them. If we fail to see these allusions, we lose much of the beauty of the passage, and cannot rightly understand it.
We fit the type to the antitype as a glove to the hand. as we prove a criminal’s steps by fitting his boot into the tracks, so are we enabled, by a comparison of these types, to declare to the world that we have not followed any cunningly devised fables when we made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus. He alone answers to the typical photographs. Such is the unity of the Divine purpose, that, look at what portion of it we will, there meets us some allusion to or emblem of our common salvation. The Scheme of Redemption is one gorgeous array of picture-lessons. The nation who typified it was a rotating black-board, going to and fro, and unfolding in their career the Will of the Eternal. Let us not despise the day of small things.
Some Rules for Interpreting Types:
The literal meaning of the word (strike) is not that which is generally found in the Scriptures.
We must never expect the type and the antitype to be the same. It is therefore utterly impossible to find something in the antitype that is analogous to every feature of the typeor that the type has perfectly prefigured the antitype.
For one purpose, generally, the type has been selected. Always rememberone point, or, at most, for but a very few features of similarity only.
It must predict something.
It must have been intended to represent something. Types are not coincidental.
The Scriptures should be allowed to interpret them, as far as possible.
We are always safe in calling anything a type that is so named in the word of God. But it is not necessary to suppose that we are limited to these named ones only.
Just like in the interpretation of symbols, the similarity between type and antitype will lead, in most cases, to the true meaning. (Lamb, Laver, Priest, etc.).
Anything, to be a type, must have been a real person, thing, event, or office.
The antitype is always superior to the type. The type is always visible at the time it is given, because it is material; but the antitype contains divine or spiritual thought.
Sometimes figurative language is employed in giving a typical event.
The rules for the interpretation of symbols apply as well as to types.
a.
Many of the symbols have been interpreted in whole or in part by their authors. Let them interpret, first.
b.
Other symbols have been interpreted by other inspired authors. Second choice of interpretation.
c.
Other scripture illustrations help where authors have not interpreted. Third choice of interpretation.
d.
Names of symbols are to be understood literally.
e.
There must be found a resemblance, more or less clear, between the symbol and the thing signified.
f.
The condition of those to whom the symbol was given must be known, if possible. to get the meaning the author intended for his primary audience.
Why types:
I.
There was something ultimately greater and more perfect than the OT.
A.
The Gospel age is the end of the ages (1 Corinthians 10:11; Hebrews 11:40; etc.)
B.
The Gospel age is called the dispensation of the fulness of time (Ephesians 1:10).
C.
In the Gospel dispensation only is the great mystery of God in connection with man’s salvation disclosed (Luke 1:78; 1 John 2:8; Romans 16:25-26; Colossians 1:27; 1 Corinthians 2:7-10).
D.
In the NT are the realities which were before in the OT mere shadow and partial revelations (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 8:5).
E.
Even the most eminent of people in the OT (John the Baptist) were said to be inferior to the least in the Messiah’s kingdom (Matthew 11:11).
F.
The OT predicts its own fulfillment by something ultimate (Jeremiah 3:15-18; Jeremiah 31:31-34, etc.).
II.
To prepare the way for the introduction of these ultimate objects, He placed His chosen people under a course of training which included instruction by types (designed resemblances) of what was to come.
A.
There must have been in the Old the same great elements of truth as in the antitypes of the New.
Spiritual necessities of men have been the same in every age. So the truth revealed to meet these necessities, however basic or progressive, must have been fundamentally the same or essentially one in every age.
Primary elements of truth embodied in Gospel (atonement, sacrifice, purification, etc.) had their origin as primary elements of truth even in the types.
B.
Presented more simply and palpably in the OT types.
In a shape or form the human mind could easily grasp.
From type to antitype involves a stretch of the mental faculties.
THIS IS REALLY THE FOUNDATION OF THE WHOLE IDEA OF TYPOLOGY: One truth in both type and antitype, but that truth existing first in a lower, then in a higher stage of development. III.
Something more was needed than mere prophecy.
A.
Training (experiential) of a very peculiar kind was needed.
B.
Touching, seeing, tasting the spiritual realities which could not be seen and touched was needed.
C.
The Jew had constantly presented to his sight and touch, in the outward and earthly things, the fundamental truths and principles of eternal-spiritual relationships which cannot be seen and touched.
Several kinds of types: (not exhaustive)
Typical persons
a.
Adam (type of Christ in that he was opposite from Him, Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Corinthians 15:45).
b.
Moses (type of Christ as leader, prophet and mediator, Deuteronomy 18:15-18; Acts 3:22-24)
c.
Joshua (leader)
d.
Melchizadek (priest and king togethernot from Levitical genealogy, Genesis 14:18-20; Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:5-10; Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 7:1-17).
e.
David (king after God’s heart, Acts 13:33-35; Isaiah 9:6-7).
f.
Solomon (2 Samuel 7:13-15; 1 Kings 8:18-20; Romans 1:1-4)
g.
Zerubbabel (Haggai 1:1-12; Zechariah 4:1-10; Zechariah 6:12-14).
h. Cyrus (a type of Christ as deliverer and anointed of God, Isaiah 44:27-28; Isaiah 45:1-4); as Servant of God also.
i. Ahithophel (type of Judas, 2 Samuel 15:30-35; Psalms 41:9; Psalms 55:12-20; Acts 1:16-20).
j. Elijah (type of John the Baptist, Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5-6; Isaiah 40:3-4; Matthew 3:1-3; Luke 1:17; Matthew 11:7-15; Matthew 17:9-13).
Typical things
a.
Tabernacle (Hebrews 9:9-10)
b.
Temple (John 2:13-22; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
c.
Serpent in the wilderness (John 3:14; Numbers 21:9)
d.
Lambs slain by priests (John 1:35; Revelation 5:6; Revelation 5:12).
e.
Laver before the tabernacle (Titus 3:5-7; Hebrews 10:22).
Typical institutions
a.
Sacrifices and offerings of patriarchs and Law (Hebrews 10:1 f)
b.
Day of Atonement; Jubilee (Hebrews 9:25; Luke 4:18-21).
c.
Sabbath (Hebrews 4:1-10; Matthew 11:28-30)
d.
Cities of refuge (Numbers 35:9-34; Hebrews 6:18-20).
e.
Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles (1 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Corinthians 15:20; John 7:37-39; John 8:12)
f.
Ablutions, laying on hands, etc. (Hebrews 6:1-8)
Typical offices
a.
Prophet
b.
Priest
c.
King
Typical conduct
a.
Abraham’s faith, type of Christian response (Romans 4:1-25; James 2:18-26; Hebrews 11:8-12).
b.
Many of the prophets performed deeds that were typical (Jeremiah, Hosea, etc.)
Typical events
a.
Passage through the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:1-10).
b.
The Flood (1 Peter 3)
c.
The Manna in the Wilderness (John 6)
d.
The deliverance from Egypt (Hosea 11:1)
e.
Wilderness Journey (Hebrews 3)
Typical places
a.
Egypt (Bondage and sin)
b.
Jordan (death)
c.
Canaan (heaven)
d.
Babylon (proud paganism opposing God’s people)
THE TABERNACLE
I. The earthly tabernacle was a parabole of the Christian age (Hebrews 9:9)
A.
It is said to be a shadow of the heavenly, Hebrews 8:5
All the law of Moses was a shadow of the good things to come, Hebrews 10:1
Thousands of years before the N.T. church was instituted it was typified, and prefigured in the Tabernacle, built according to the pattern.
(The pattern was for the tabernacle, not the N.T. church)
B.
The Altar of Burnt Offering
Sacrifices twice daily, besides all the feasts
For atonement of sins; offerer must lay hands on head of sacrifice (doctrine of laying on hands, Hebrews 6), to signify substitutionary nature, Leviticus 1:3-4
Christ is our Lamb; He was a willing sacrifice (Hebrews 10), not the blood of dumb animals
We lay hold of our sacrifice by faith and obedience to the initiatory commands of the Gospel, demonstrating that He died for us and we accept His death in our place.
C.
The Laver
Priests must wash hands and feet (complete cleanness and sanctification) before entering Holy Place; on penalty of death, Exodus 30:17-21
Laver is certainly figure of our cleansing and separation from world unto God; would then be typical of baptism
a.
b.
c.
We have two things to do before entering God’s new Holy Place (the church); accepting in faith the substitutionary death of Jesus; cleansing in the laver of regeneration, 1 Peter 3:21
D.
The Lampstand
It was for a light in the Holy Place, Exodus 25:37
It was to be made of pure gold and burn pure oil
It was to burn continually, night and day; no other light was to shine in the Holy Place
It typifies the Word of God in the church
a.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway
b.
We have been delivered from the power of darkness into the light of his kingdom by the word of God
c.
The church is to continue stedfastly in the apostles doctrine
d.
The word is sufficient light (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:2-4)
e.
The church is the pillar of truth, 1 Timothy 3:15 Christ symbolized the church with seven lampstands in Revelation 2, 3 as pillars of truth in Asia Minor
E.
The Table of Shewbread (Presence)
Twelve loaves renewed each week (Leviticus 24:5-7)
Eaten as memorial each week to deliverance from Egypt and as a memorial to their being set apart to good works
Priests had to partake each week
Apparently typifies the Lord’s Supper, a memorial of our deliverance, Christ’s presence, our sanctification to good works.
F.
Altar of Incense
Just before the veil and smoke and scent of incense permeated the whole tent (drifting even into the Holy of Holies)
Was to be made according to the will of God and to be pure (Nadab and Abihu were slain for offering incense contrary to God’s will)
Burned at times of prayer
A figure of prayer in the N.T. church
a.
Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee.
b.
Revelation 5:8; Revelation 8:3-4, prayers of saints going up as incense before throne
c.
Our prayers must be according to God’s will (1 John 5:14-15)
G.
Ark of the Covenant
God’s presence was there in the Shekinah glory (Spirit)
It was the place of mercy
The people were separated from it by a veil, signifying that an open and free access to mercy and glory had not yet been made
The High Priest entered once a year to atone for sins
The veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom when Christ was crucified, signifying that the way into mercy and glory had been made and we may now enjoy (every one, not just High Priest) the presence of God in the Spiritthe church is the habitation of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Typology of Scripture, Fairbairn, Baker
Hermeneutics, D. R. Dungan, Standard Publishing Co.
Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, Baker, pg. 533-534
Principles of Interpretation, Clinton Lockhart, Central Seminary Press
Types and Metaphors of The Bible, J. W. Monser, John Burns Book Co.
Shadow and Substance, Victor E. Hoven, Northwest Christian College Press
The Study of The Types, A. R. Habershon, Kregel
Christ: The Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, James D. Bales, Lambert Book House
Things Old and New In Religion, Hoyt Bailey, C.E.I. Pub. Co.
Survey Course In Christian Doctrine, Vol. II and IV, C. C. Crawford, College Press, Pg. 256f
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. V, art. Types Eerdmans
The Theology of the Older Testament, Payne, Zondervan
Class notes from Hebrew Epistle, Butler, unpublished.
Bible Types and Shadows, John W. Wade, Standard Pub. Co.
Isaiah 44:1-8
B. POWER OF THE LORD’S SERVANT Chapter S 44-49
- SOVEREIGN OVER ALL GODS, CHAPTER 44 a. SHOWS FAVOR TO THE FAITHFUL
TEXT: Isaiah 44:1-8
1
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2
thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
3
For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
4
and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
5
One shall say, I am Jehovah’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6
Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
7
And who, as I, shall call and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them declare.
8
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.
QUERIES
a.
Who is Jeshurun?
b.
When is this promise of the Spirit to be fulfilled?
c.
Why the different names in verse five?
PARAPHRASE
Although chastisement is sure to come to you, O Jacob my servant, I want you to know I called you Israel because I have chosen you for something better which will surely result from your chastening if you will listen and obey Me. First of all, remember, I, Jehovah, created you as a nation; your birth as a people was My doing. Surely you know I will help you. Do not be afraid Jacob my servant, Jeshurun, my chosen, for your offspring who are faithful and the messianic seed among you will have My Spirit poured out upon them and they will spring up and grow a harvest like the dry ground produces when streams of water are poured upon it. They will thrive like the abundant grass and trees that grow by the river banks. One by one they will proclaim that they belong to Jehovah. Some will bear witness that they belong to Jehovah by writing it down, counting it an honor to be called Jehovah’S. Secondly, need I remind you that I am the King of Israel; I am Israel’s Redeemer; I am Jehovah, Lord of all the heavenly hosts; I am before all that begins and after all that endsFirst and Last; there is no other God besides Me. If there is any man or god like Me, let him stand forth and declare it and prove his claim by ordering the course of history like I have from the very beginning. If there is anyone like Me let him prove it by predicting what will happen in the future. No, Israel, you have nothing to fear from these others who claim they are gods and have omnipotent power. I have proved to you long ago that I am the only God there is haven-’t I? By the prophecies I have declared and their fulfillments which you have experienced, you are witnesses to the fact that I am the only God. Is there any other God? No! None that I know about! There is no other Rock!
COMMENTS
Isaiah 44:1-5 INVIGORATES: Although the chastening judgment of Jehovah is predicted with absolute certainty (chapter 43) upon Israel, still Israel is the chosen of the Lord. They were not even a nation when God chose them. He took them as nomadic sheepherders and formed them as an instrument of His from nothing! God molded them from useless clay into a vessel for His purpose (cf. Romans 9:19 f). They should surely know that God desired with all His heart to help them and favor them. But God could not help them become the vessel they were chosen to be because they did not want to be that vessel! The Lord knew, and predicted through His prophet here, there would be a remnant formed from the chastening captivity which would believe and surrender to its chosen purpose. This remnant, even now being formed by Isaiah’s preaching, need not fear the impending judgment. God’s purpose will survive through this remnant called Jeshurun (the name means: right, upright, esteemed, righteous). The prophet suddenly makes a dramatic shortening of perspective in verse three. From the promise of help to the remnant of Israel formed from the chastening captivity Isaiah focuses his prophetic telescope down on the time when God will pour my Spirit upon thy seed. and thine offspring. God’s redemptive purpose will be accomplished ultimately in the seed and offspring of Israel. What is this pouring out of the Spirit? Is it the special, miraculous Spirit on the apostles at Pentecost (cf. Joe 2:28 f; Acts 2:14 f), or is it the promise of the Holy Spirit to all obedient believers (Isaiah 32:14; Acts 2:38-39)? Isaiah could be making a general prophecy in which both were intended since without the miraculous revelation of the gospel covenant terms of salvation through the Spirit to the apostles there could have been no indwelling presence of the Spirit. Whatever the case, we feel certain Isaiah’s prophecy of the Spirit here is intended to be fulfilled in the new covenant believer. Christ is the seed and offspring (cf. Galatians 3:15-29) and Christians are offspring by being in Him. So, Isaiah has skipped from the Captivity to the New Covenant without any mention of the centuries between. Keil and Delitzsch think the threefold zeh (demonstrative pronoun) (one. another. another) indicates verse five is speaking of the heathen (cf. Psalms 87:4-5). Gentiles will take pride in belonging to Jehovah. They will confess their allegiance orally and yiketov (from kathav, to subscribe) in writing. The emphatic willingness of the Gentile to allow himself to be surnamed Israel is an astounding prophecy in view of the contempt most of the heathen world had for the Hebrew and his God. Nothing short of conversion and rebirth could fulfill this prophecy!
Isaiah 44:6-8 INFORMS: Man thinks in terms of beginnings and endings. Timelessness is outside man’s experience. God condescends to man’s limited experience and calls Himself, the first, and the last. When time began, God was already there; when time shall end, God will still be there. Many heathen people claimed such eternal existence for their gods, but they could not prove it. Jehovah demonstrated His eternal deity, not only in the things He made (cf. Romans 1:18 f), but also in the predictions and revelations He gave through His prophets. Jehovah challenged and defeated scores of false prophets and false priests (scoffers of the days of Noah; magicians of Pharaoh in Moses-’ day; false prophets of Baal in the days of Elijah; the witch of Endor in King Saul’s day; the false prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah’s day). None of these were able to meet the challenge of Jehovah. In every instance Jehovah demonstrated that only He has absolute knowledge and power. Now, Isaiah is emphatically reminding his generation that as the Lord’s servant the power of Almighty God is available to them in the supernatural revelation of Jehovah through His prophets. He knows their future and their destinythey do not need to be afraidthey simply need to trust Him. Has He not from of old proven His omniscience? And are they not witnesses to it? There is no other god they need to fear.
QUIZ
Who is the seed and offspring of verse three?
Why is the prediction of verse five such an astounding one?
When had God proved He was the only God?
Why should Israel not be afraid?
Isaiah 44:9-20
b. SHOWS THE FRAUDULENCE OF FALSE GODS
TEXT: Isaiah 44:9-20
9
They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame.
10
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
11
Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.
12
The smith maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13
The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
14
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
15
Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
16
He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17
and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18
They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19
And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20
He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
QUERIES
a.
Why the question of verse ten?
b.
Why the detailed description of the work?
c.
How have their eyes been shut?
PARAPHRASE
Those who carve out graven images and call them gods are all fools, These idols which they are so proud of are worthless. All those who make testimonies to idols are as dumb as the idols because they have blinded themselves to the truth about their gods. Who but a fool would create something with his own hands and call it a god when he knows it cannot be greater than himself. All those who join with this fool who has made his own god will also be shown to be fools. Yes, and included in this group of fools are the workmen who manufactured the idolthey stand right alongside the other fools. The foolishness of the making of idols is seen in the exhaustive amounts of energy craftsmen waste in manufacturing gods which cannot see or know. The iron-smith has had to first make his tools to work the metal which covers the wooden image. Then he uses these tools, working long, hard, exhaustive hours working and reworking the metal. He foolishly works himself so long over the forge he gets weak and almost faints. Before he wastes this much energy, the carpenter has gone to great lengths to sketch the image on a block of wood, shape it with his tools, sketch some more, work it some more, and what does he end up withsomething in the image of man. Even if it is in the image of the most masculine of men, it is still a man-image and then it is put into a man-made temple. But before the carpenter has wasted all his energies in producing the mere image of a man to call his god, the woodsman has wasted time, energy and money planting trees, cultivating them, selecting just the right one. Then he cuts it down and half of it may be used to make an idol and half of it may be used to fire an oven for cooking meals. Yes, as stupid as it may sound, a man will take a tree and with half of it he will build a fire and warm himself and cook his meals and with the other half of it he will carve himself an image of man and fall down before it and worship it., Incredible as it may sound, a man takes half a tree and builds a fire, cooks his meal, stands right there in front of the fire and says, Oh, that feels good, I feel that heat warming me; then, with what is left of that same tree, he carves an idol and falls down and worships, praying to it, Deliver me, oh my god! Such idiocythey act like they do not have any brains at all. Apparently they have never reflected a moment on how stupid such an action is! They have plastered shut their own eyes so they cannot see and they have plastered shut their hearts so they cannot understand. These fools never stop to really think all this out with any perception. They never reason this way: Now, part of this tree I have burned in the fire and cooked my meal on! Does it make sense to take the other half of a piece of fuel and make it into something as deprecating and shaming to good sense as an idol? They never stop to think: Shall I, a living, thinking, feeling being, fall down to a chunk of wood and call it a god? The fool who makes idols, so easily reduced to ashes, has been deluded by his own choice. He really does not want spiritual deliverance and so finds none and it never occurs to him to say, Isn-’t this all a big lie?
COMMENTS
Isaiah 44:9-17 GRAVEN IMAGES: There are a number of Hebrew words for idol; -alilim (a thing of nought); atsabbim (an image of grief); gilulim (a filthy image); tsirim (images of stone); teraphim (images) and others. The word used in verse nine is pesel which means specifically graven thing or sculpture. The object of the pesel or sculpture was to make some material into a representation of the invisible God to be worshipped and thus it was an idol. The word translated delight is also interesting; it is hkamudyehem which means desirable, delectable, precious, darling. Their graven images were more than ornaments! They venerated, pampered and worshiped those pieces of stone and chunks of wood much like the ignorant masses of India worship cows and the Buddhists of Japan worship statues of bronze and gold.
Isaiah is shaming the foolishness of the people who make and worship idols as much as he is the idols themselves! Those who make them are tohu, void, empty, vain people. Their witnesses is reference to the idolaters who are the only witnesses the idols could have. The idols are dumb and so are those idolaters (the people) who testify to them. It must have taken a great deal of courage for Isaiah to make such scathing public rebuke of idolatry. It had been instigated and approved by Ahaz and was practiced by the majority of the population. The prophet presents a sarcastic question: Who but a fool would fashion something with his own hands and call it a god when it cannot ever be more than it isa piece of wood or stone? In Isaiah 44:11 Isaiah offers both a prediction and a challenge. He predicts that idolaters will someday be acknowledged as the fools they really are. His prediction has come true. Idolatry stands discredited as utter folly in most of the world today. The discrediting of idolatry is due fundamentally to Christianity, not science! Science is due to Christianity! Isaiah challenges that if all the idolaters and idols could be gathered together in one great mass meeting to substantiate the truthfulness of idols, they could present no evidence or verification. Their images would still remain dumb, unable to speak, hear or see and unable to deliver, save or act at all!
Our author now begins (Isaiah 44:12-17) one of the most satirical, comical passages of the Bible! This is the graphic, ludicrous picture of the idol-smith as seen from God’s perspective. We must understand that most idols were composites of wood and metal. First, a wooden image was carved with the desired features. Then molten metal (gold, silver, bronze, etc.) was poured over the wooden image and the metal is then polished and worked again into the desired product. All this craftsmanship required proper tools and so Isaiah begins his picture describing the hot, exhausting, famishing work invested by human beings in just the tools to make idols. All that human energy to make tools to make something that is nothing! Then the craftsman hkarash (artificer, engraver, probably from the root, to scratch), spends long hours sketching, measuring, shaping, remeasuring, shaping again and the end product is the image of a man! Perhaps it would be the most masculine man with the most perfect features the craftsman could fashion, but still the image of man. Water cannot rise above its level. So, the human cannot produce the divinenot even an image of the divine! And the image of man is not alive. It is only an image of the features of mannot man! Most idols are much more decadent than that because they are images of beasts and creeping things!
The prophet has described the process of idol-making in reverse order. In Isaiah 44:14-17 he describes the initial steps in the formation of a graven image. Even before the craftsmen begin there is much human energy exerted on a project of nothingness. The woodsman must spend time deciding on the proper tree (only the best will do for one’s god). Then much energy and time is invested in hewing down the tree, sectioning it and hauling it to the craftsman. But before all this long years of time has been invested in planting, nourishing and protecting the sapling until it was time to harvest it for idol-making. The destiny and existence of this god was totally dependent upon the circumstances of weather and growth and man’s whims of selection and harvesting it should appear absolutely idiotic to think the thing formed was a god! But that isn-’t all! After planting a sprout, watching it grow into a sapling, then a tree, then taking all the pains to select, harvest, transport, and sell to the craftsman, one watches as the craftsman takes half of the log for a god and casts the other half aside for cook-wood! How utterly incredible! Out of the same log a man makes a god and fuels a fire to cook his meal or warm his body! What supernatural guidance did the craftsman use to decide from which half to make a god and which to burn in the fire? Why couldn-’t the half in the fire have made a god equally as well as the other half? There is an interesting use of the word raiyth from the root raah to see. The Hebrews used see often to mean feel, experience. The idea is the contrast between feeling the warmth of the fire made by the same wood the man falls down before to worship as a god! How senseless! He has just felt the warmth from the fire of the wood and now he cries out, Deliver me, to part of the same wood! How can men and women be so stupid?
Isaiah 44:18-20 GULLIBLE IDOLATERS: Lange says the tahk (shut, plaster shut) of Isaiah 44:18 should be considered as the nominal form and take as its nearest qualification the word -aeyneyhem which Isaiah 3 pers. pl. masc. In other words, they plastered their eyes shutnot God. It is apparent from the context that the idolater exercised his own choice in knowing or not knowing the utter stupidity of idolatry. The Hebrew lo-yashyiv el-libbo means literally, carry not back into the heart, and is translated in the ASV none calleth to mind. Evidently these idolaters once had understanding about the vanity of idols, but they did not carry it back into their hearts. They rejected any willing reflection or investigation of their practices. They refused to come to the light lest their deeds be exposed (cf. John 3:18-20). It certainly was not because they were incapable of understanding the stupidity of their practicethey simply did not want to carry it back into their minds. To-’evah is an abhorrence or an abomination. Its evaluation comes from God, not from man. Men who make them think them darlingGod calls them abominations! Idols insult God and degrade and eventually destroy men whom God made in His own image.
The man who makes idols of wood and metal which are so easily reduced to ashes has been led astray from truth by a heart overpowered with self-delusion and cannot be saved nor does it ever occur to him to say, Isn-’t all this a big lie? The most enslaving delusion is self-delusion, because it has to do with selfish feelingsnot objective truth. There does not seem to be any hope for these idolaters of Isaiah’s people unless they are willing to investigate what is outside their own feelings and desires. As long as men accept only what agrees with their feelings and desires, and are unwilling to accept that something may be valid truth outside their own autonomous selves, they cannot be saved. God is transcendent. He is the objective Object. He is the eternal Person. He is truth, outside of and beyond man. His being, objectivity and truthfulness must be validated by His revelation of Himself. Man cannot reduce Him to man’s limited experience for man can rise no higher than himself (as evidenced by his idols)!
QUIZ
What is a graven image?
How would you characterize Isaiah’s mood in this dissertation against idol-making?
What is a carpenter?
How does the idol-maker see the fire?
What is the meaning of none calleth to mind?
Why is the idol-maker unable to evaluate idolatry as a lie?
Isaiah 44:21-28
c. SHOWS THE FRUSTRATION OF FOOLISH COUNSEL
TEXT: Isaiah 44:21-28
21
Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have found thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
23
Sing, O Ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
24
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone: that spreadeth abroad the earth (who is with me?);
25
that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
26
that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof;
27
that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers;
28
that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
QUERIES
a.
What things are to be remembered by Israel?
b.
Who are the liars of Isa 44:25?
c.
Why mention Cyrus again?
PARAPHRASE
As you contemplate the idiocy of idolatry, remember the following things too, O Jacob, and Israel. First, you are mine. I chose you and I created you as a people, to be My servant in a divine destiny. Second, I could never forget you Israel, for it was I who blotted out your transgressions and sins. You must return to Me and never forget Me, Israel, for I purchase you with the price of redemption. Indeed, your redemption is so glorious it involves the heavens, mountains, and the forests. The whole universe will sing and shout Jehovah’s praise. Jehovah’s redemption of Israel will, in its completion, redound to His glory in Israel. This is what Jehovah, your Redeemer and Progenitor says: I am Jehovah-the-Faithful. I am Jehovah, Creator of all things. I alone formed the heavens and the earth. Who could say they helped Me? I frustrate the fulfillments of the false prophets and expose them as liars and make the soothsayers appear to be mad men. I refute the wisdom of unbelieving counselors and demonstrate it to be foolishness. But when My servants, the prophets, predict that Jerusalem shall be inhabited and the cities of Judah shall be built and that the waste places shall be populated, I make their predictions come to pass! When I say to what opposes My redemptive people, Be gone! it shall be gone! And when I say Cyrus shall be My shepherd to fulfill My purposes by giving permission for the building of Jerusalem and the Temple, that is exactly what shall come to pass.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 44:21-23 FORGIVENESS Is IN JEHOVAH: The message of this section is that Israel is to remember (Heb. zekar) who Jehovah is. We remind the reader, this is the very essence of biblical religionthe realization of the objective Personhood of God. Biblical religion is not how man feels, but what man acknowledges about who God is and what God has said. Especially Israel is admonished to remember who Jehovah is in view of the foregoing expose of the idiocy of idolatry, All men are vulnerable to idolatry if they do not acknowledge the objective reality of the eternal, supernatural Personhood of Jehovah. Men must have a god. He will make one of wood or stone, of science or government, of fame or fortuneor even of himself, Israel must remember that Jehovah chose her and created her for Himself. He evidenced His special claim upon her in ages past by miraculous powers of deliverance, sustenance, subjugations and revelations. He demonstrated that He was a living God, capable and willing to guide and guard Israel over thousands of years. He never forgot her!
The blotting out of Israel’s sin is apparently in promise here. We know from the New Testament that the actual, historical event which blotted out sin and accomplished redemption was the atoning death of Jesus Christ (cf. Hebrews 10:1-18). The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. The Hebrew who offered his sacrificial lamb lived in faith that God would, someday, accomplish the act which would atone for his sins and thus fulfill His promises. The point being stressed in Isaiah 44:22 is willingness and mercifulness of God in promising to blot out Israel’s sin and offering her, even then, a way to believe in that promise. The redemption spoken of in Isaiah 44:22-23 cannot refer to the return from the exile, for there was no permanence to that. The Hebrew word goal is repeated in this text and it implies more than forgiveness of sins; it implies that a price has been paid to purchase Israel. That price was God’s dear Son on Calvary. Certainly, the redemptive plan included God’s deliverance of Israel from her captivity so she might bring forth the Suffering Servant. And this is exactly what Israel needed to remember nowher redemptive servanthood. She needed to remember that God had called her and promised her (in type and prophecy) redemption. God’s promises are as good as done! God can direct His prophets to predict the future as if it were accomplished!
All nature is bound up with the destiny of mankind. When man sinned, God cursed nature so man would not, in his sinful state, fall in love with this earth. When Christ died on the cross suffering the curse upon man and earning man’s redemption, He also suffered the curse upon nature and earned nature’s redemption. Therefore, in view of the certainty of God’s redemption of Israel, all of God’s creation can rejoice and sing and shout because all of God’s creation is equally certain of its redemption. The true Israel of God is destined for dominion over a redeemed and recreated Eden (cf. Romans 8:18-25; Hebrews 2:5-9; 2 Peter 3:13). Israel must remember that and repent of idolatry!
Isaiah 44:24-28 FAITHFULNESS IS IN JEHOVAH: Another aspect of Jehovah’s nature Israel is to remember is His absolute faithfulness. He alone is sovereign. He alone knows the future. He alone speaks and it comes to pass. Who dares challenge His claim that He created everything? Who can bring forth evidence to dispute His claim? Job learned a lesson he probably never forgot (Job 38-40) about challenging the sovereign wisdom of God. Many alleged scientific explanations of the formation of the universe are posited today but they are moral evasions, not verifiable scientific demonstrations.
Jehovah demonstrates His omnipotence and omniscience over and over again by frustrating the alleged signs of the liars (Heb. baddim, feigners, fakers, false prophets). The Lord may expose the false prophet immediately or He may take a long time to do so, but eventually the false prophet is exposed and the Lord’s Word is vindicated. Isaiah was one of those prophets of the Lord whose word was confirmed publicly (cf. Isaiah 36-38). Jeremiah (Jeremiah 28:5-17) was another! The list goes on and on. The Lord is still frustrating the fakers and confirming the veracity of His Word today! But this text is directed especially to Israel. She must remind herself of God’s omniscience and not listen to the oracles of the idolatrous false-prophets. When God says Jerusalem would be inhabited and the cities of Judah (although many of them had been made desolate by the Assyrian armies) would be built, Isaiah’s contemporaries must believe it will surely come to pass. Ultimately, Jehovah is going to confound the wisdom of the wise in His Suffering Servant. God will use the Foolishness of the cross to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:18 f). The idea of a crucified Messiah was utterly foreign to the Jewish concept. Isaiah predicted that (Isaiah 53:1-9)! Peter confirms the Jewish revulsion at the concept of a dying Messiah (cf. Matthew 16:21-23, etc.). The total absence of any specific reference to a personal, dying Messiah in the Jewish Apocrypha confirms this.
The point of these verses is the way in which Jehovah confirms His sovereign will. He confounds and frustrates the vain predictions and philosophies of men and fulfills the predictions of His commissioned prophets. Many said Jehovah’s program to redeem mankind and form a redeemed people on earth would not survive. Great empires and powerful emperors opposed it. They overran Jerusalem, tore down His temple and slaughtered His people, but God preserved a remnant through the centuries. Out of that remnant (Jerusalem and Judah) God produced Jesus Christ and His church. No river was deep enough to stop God from keeping His promise of redemption. No empire was large enough, cruel enough, rich enough to keep God from preserving those who remained faithful to Him. God was able even to use Cyrus, a pagan ruler of Persia, to shepherd His people and send them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. God used Nebuchadnezzar and many others to fulfill His purposes (cf. our comments in Daniel, College Press, Chapter s 7-12). We will have much more to say of Cyrus in the next chapter.
Israel is to renew its divine destiny as the servant of Jehovah on the basis of Jehovah’s faithfulness. Jehovah will keep His promises, and no amount of opposition will stand in His way. As a matter of fact, Jehovah will use His opposition as servants and shepherds to carry out His plan. Israel is more than a conqueror through Him who loves her! The church must daily renew its divine destiny as God’s Zion in the world today on the basis of Christ’s faithfulness to keep His promises. Let the church focus its preaching on the nature of Christwho He is and what He promises, and this will build the kingdom of God. Man has many questions, but Jesus cuts through all our irrelevancies and goes to the very heart of our problem when He asks, Whom do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15). For in this question He asks for conviction, confession and commitment to the only thing that mattersthe deity of Jesus of Nazareth. Once that is settled, all else falls into proper place.
QUIZ
Why is it important to remember who God is?
How was Israel’s sin blotted out?
Why is God able to direct His prophets to predict the future as if it were already accomplished?
Why direct the heavens to sing?
How does God frustrate the signs of the liars?
In what or whom did God ultimately confound the wisdom of the wise?