Isaiah 48
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 48:1-8
SOVEREIGN IN WISDOM, CHAPTER 48
a.
PROOF
TEXT: Isaiah 48:1-8
1
Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness.
2
For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; Jehovah of hosts is his name.
3
I have declared the former things from of old; yea, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
5
therefore I have declared it to thee from of old; before it came to pass I showed it thee; lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
6
Thou hast heard it; behold all this; and ye, will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou hast not known.
7
They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
8
Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou didst deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
QUERIES
a.
What are the waters of Judah?
b.
What are the former things Jehovah showed?
c.
What are the new things being shown?
PARAPHRASE
Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob whom I have called Israel, you who are from the royal tribe of Judah and who take their oaths in the name of Jehovah boasting of your relationship to Him; I know that your relationship is not in truth or righteousness! You boast of your citizenship in the holy city of Jehovah and of your dependence upon Him; but do you not realize He is the Lord God Almighty?! The Lord says to Israel, For centuries I have been proving to you My sovereignty in wisdom by predicting what would take place; then suddenly I brought it to pass. I knew beforehand that you would be stubborn and unbending and hard-headed. And so I predicted your future long ago, telling you through prophets what was going to happen to you before it happened. I had my prophets predict your future centuries in advance so you would realize I am sovereign in wisdom and not the idols of wood and stone you worship. You have seen all My prophecies come true thus far, but you have refused to confess the truth of it, haven-’t you? Now I am predicting, through My prophets, new revelationsthings impossible for you to know unless I tell you. These are completely new things; nothing like this has taken place in the past. You cannot say of these things, This is no proof of Jehovah’s sovereigntywe knew this all along! The reason you never got the message from all My revelations, both present and past, is you deliberately chose to close your ears to My word. I know you, Israel, you have been treacherous and rebellious from the days you became a nation!
COMMENTS
Isaiah 48:1-5 PERSEVERANCE OF JEHOVAH: God addresses the people of Isaiah’s day sternly. Shama (hear) means to heed and obey. It appears they call themselves Israel but God addresses them as house of Jacob. Whether there is an intended sarcasm on the part of Jehovah or not is not easy to determine. Certainly God permitted writers of the Bible to employ sarcasm in their attempts to call men to repentance. We have discussed the difference between the terms Jacob and Israel earlier. Coming forth out of the waters of Judah simply means the audience of Isaiah’s writing are the people of the southern kingdom whose main source is Judah (see Deuteronomy 33:28; Psalms 68:26 for similar phraseology). The main point in citing the three names (Jacob, Israel and Judah) is to emphasize their culpability for not trusting the message Isaiah is giving them about captivity, Cyrus-’ future return of the exiles and the messianic destiny in their future. These are people of Jehovahthey are His specially graced people, but they do not hear. They make mention of Jehovah but not in truth or righteousness. To acknowledge the name of God in truth means to hear and obey what God has revealed for man to obey. Whoever says I know Him but does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him (cf. 1 John 2:3-6). They worshipped Jehovah with lip-service but their hearts were far from Him (cf. Isaiah 29:13-14). They boasted of their citizenship in the holy city (where the temple of Jehovah was located) and they glibly declared their allegiance to Jehovah but it did not seem to register on their minds that He Is Jehovah-Zev-‘oth (zev-‘oth is Hebrew for armies, hosts, myriads and is also used for war, battle, etc.). In other words, Jehovah is Lord of all! He is Lord of earth and heaven. He is Lord of the inward man as well as the outward man. He knows everything created everything and commands everything.
Judah should have acknowledged His lordship with their hearts as well as their lips for Jehovah had proven His sovereignty in centuries past by predicting (through the mouths of His messengers) the events of Judah’s history long before they came to pass. Jehovah also demonstrated through His prophets that He knew the hidden, secret thoughts of men (e.g., Nathan and David). The nation and individuals often knew years and centuries in advance of the coming of minutely-detailed events. Many of these events came to pass suddenly without any gradual development or advanced signals. Two needs of the Hebrew people are the motivation prompting Jehovah to predict their future; (a) their obstinacy and hardheadedness toward His sovereignty must be broken; (b) they must acknowledge once and for all that idols are not godsthere is only One God, Jehovah. This indicates that God’s primary purpose in predicting the future is not simply to satisfy the curiosity of man about tomorrow. No theology should be built on eschatology! Our theology should be built on the character of the One who knows about tomorrow, not on when and what tomorrow will bring. The only reason God foretells the future is to demonstrate His sovereignty! That is the point! Once man surrenders to His omnipotence and omniscience he does not need to know the future (cf. Matthew 6:25-34; Acts 1:7). Prophecy fulfilled is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The end is to believe God’s revelation of Himself and to accept His written word from the hands of the writers as being validated (cf. 2 Peter 1:16-21, etc.).
Isaiah 48:6-8 PERVERSITY OF JUDAH: The onus is put squarely upon the perverse people of Judah. You have had opportunities to know all these past predictions and their fulfillments; I remind you to study them again, would be Jehovah’s challenge to Judah. The question of verse six is undoubtedly rhetorical: And you, you will not declare it, will you? or, And you, how can you not declare it? The meaning is that what the Lord predicted came to pass and they must acknowledge the factuality of it even if they do not obey the moral implications of it! This shows that unbelief is a moral problem, not an evidential one!
But now, the Lord is predicting new things (things that will have their fulfillment yet in the future). Among these things (so incredible for Judah to accept) were the captivities, release from captivity by a pagan ruler and a coming Messiah who is bringing a way of salvation which is absolutely foreign to their present dispensation. Salvation by grace, through faith in the substitutionary atonement of the Messiah (Isaiah 53, et al.) had to be by revelationit had to be a new prediction because it could never have been thought-up by the human mind (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18 to 1 Corinthians 2:16). This plan of salvation was created by God and worked out in His sovereign plans (cf. Romans 9, 10, 11) as a mystery to be revealed (cf. Ephesians 1:3-10, etc.). God predicted it all and typified it all in the Old Testament dispensation, to be sure (cf. Romans 3:21-22; see special study, The Righteousness of God As Revealed by The Prophets, page 282), but it was dim and abstruse (cf. Hebrews 1:1). The Lord predicts and rules in history toward His goal of redemption. He reveals His will and plan for man; He reveals Himself (His own person, nature, charactereven in the flesh!). Man cannot know God’s plan or God’s nature until God reveals it. Man may not even be able to understand it all when it is revealed. But God revealed enough of it in human language (which is human experience) (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:13) and in human flesh (Jesus Christ; cf. John 1:1-18; 1 John 1:1-4, etc.) that man can know His will for salvation and obey His will for salvation.
In verse eight we have the reason God chose to hide these new things from Judah until He was ready to reveal them. The Hebrew syntax would indicate the latter half of the verse should read literally: dealing treacherously you would deal treacherously.. God did not let them knowHe did not open their ear to these new things because of their perversity. They were spiritually unprepared to hear them. He had yet to put them through a long period of indignation (the captivities, the return from exile, the centuries of the Greek-Seleucid oppression and the Roman oppression) before the new dispensation could come and be accepted. This verse definitely teaches the sovereign wisdom of God in a gradual revelation from Old Testament times to the New. There were things Jesus could not reveal to the twelve until after He had gone away because they were unable to bear them while He was with them in the flesh (cf. John 16:1-15). Fleshly-mindedness prohibits man from listening to God’s word even when it is being spoken and revealed (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4; Hebrews 5:11-14, etc.). It was difficult for the apostle Peter to accept the revelation of Christ about His atoning death (cf. Matthew 16:21-23) because Peter simply refused to accept the concept of a dying Messiah! So, Isaiah says, until Judah stops its rebellion against Jehovah’s sovereignty, she is not going to hear the new things Jehovah wants to reveal.
QUIZ
What is Isaiah’s point in mentioning the three names of the covenant people?
Why must one obey the commandments of God to say I know Him?
What two needs of the people prompted the Lord to reveal their future?
Why should a theology not be built on an eschatological system?
Has God revealed enough of His will to man?
Why do most men not know God?
Isaiah 48:9-16
b. PERSPECTIVE
TEXT: Isaiah 48:9-16
9
For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
10
Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
11
For mine own sake, for mine own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? and my glory will I not give to another.
12
Hearken unto me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13
Yea, my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14
Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear; who among them hath declared these things? He whom Jehovah loveth shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15
I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.
QUERIES
a.
Why would God stop His anger for His own sake?
b.
Does God love Cyrus (the one who shall perform God’s pleasure on Babylon)?
c.
Who is the me whom the Lord Jehovah has sent? (Isaiah 48:16)
PARAPHRASE
In order that the faithfulness and mercifulness of My nature may be manifested and praised I am putting a muzzle on My anger and I will not utterly destroy you, Judah. I have put you to the test in the furnace of affliction, like silver is refined, but I have found no silver in you. Therefore, I want you to know that what I am going to do in redeeming you, this new thing I am predicting, is not because you deserve it but because I do not intend for My name to be dishonored. The inviolability of My name is of supreme importance to all men lest they think My absolute sovereignty and glory can belong to another. Listen to Me My chosen people, Israel. I am the Absolute God; I am the only God there isfirst, last, and always. I created the earth and the heavens; they are at My command and when I command, they obey! Get yourselves together, Israel, and decide this; which of the heathen gods has predicted or is able to command the future like I am commanding Cyrus now before he is even born!? Jehovah has chosen Cyrus as the object of His pleasure to execute Jehovah’s will upon Babylon; yes, it shall be the arm of Cyrus descending upon the Chaldeans on My behalf. I, the Absolute Sovereign of all creation, have spoken; I have determined that it shall be Cyrus; I will support him in My work, and nothing shall keep him from doing My purpose. Draw near to Me and pay close attention to what I am telling you: From the time I began speaking to man My will has always been clearly made known and not secret like the heathen oracles; My sovereign will has been present in everything that has happened to you and it will continue to be present in what is going to happen through Cyruseven to the coming of the new things of the messianic age. Now, I the Suffering Servant, tell you, Israel, the Lord Jehovah sends Me along with His Holy Spirit.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 48:9-11 JEHOVAH’S GOODNESS: What Jehovah is doing with Judah (Israel), He is doing because of His goodness not theirs. To keep His own absolute goodness and faithfulness and mercifulness inviolate He will act to redeem them from captivity. That which motivates Jehovah is His own graciousnessJudah does not merit redemption. The Hebrew word -’ekhetam is translated refrain but literally means muzzle; it is the same Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 25:4 concerning the muzzling of an ox when treading out the grain. Jehovah decides by His own sovereign grace to muzzle Himself and not utterly destroy His covenant people. The Lord chose His people in the furnace of affliction. Israel was in the Egyptian furnace when first chosen. Then the Lord submitted them to a refining process through the wilderness, the period of the judges, the period of the monarchy and the divided kingdoms, to see if there was any silver in them. He found none! As good as some of the faithful (like Isaiah, Hezekiah, and some others) remnant may have been, put to the refinement of Jehovah none deserved the approbation, silver. Jeremiah was instructed to find one righteous man in Jerusalem, if he could (Jeremiah 5:1 f). If God refined your community in His crucible today He would not find one righteous man who deserved redemptionno man (except the Man, Very Man, Jesus Christ) deserves redemption. All have sinned and come short of the demand of God. But the Good News is that Jesus Christ did come in the flesh, earned absolute righteousness in the flesh, died as the substitute-sinner for all mankind and arose from the dead victorious over that penalty and offers the grace of God to every man conditioned upon that man’s faith and covenant relationship. The whole point of this passage is that the inviolability of the name of Jehovah is absolutely necessary to the redemption of Judah because there is no other basis upon which Judah may be redeemed! If Jehovah’s absolute goodness and mercifulness and faithfulness cannot be trusted, then all is lost! If Jehovah cannot and does not keep His word He is no better than the impotent gods of the heathen. The redemption of man rests not in the failing, falling inconsistencies of humanness, but in the never failing consistency and absolute changelessness of God and His Son, Jesus Christ. If Jehovah’s name can be profaned and His glory given to any other then there is no Absolute Being and man must have an Absolute Being. If this be the case, the focus of all prophecy and preaching should be the character of God and His Son. The Good News is Who God Is and what He has donenot who man is and what he must do! The Gospel is preaching the person of Christ, not a religious system. Of course, the good news also reveals how man may enter into a covenant with that Person. It is by obedient faith, but not of meritorious works lest any man should boast.
Isaiah 48:12-16 JEHOVAH’S GREATNESS: This chapter is a summation of the section discussing the Power of the Lord’s Servant (ch. 44-48). The power of Jehovah is going to be demonstrated through His servant Cyrus (and ultimately through His Servant the Messiah) in order that His name may be vindicated as Absolute Sovereign. This is necessary that once and for all men may realize there are no other gods. Man must trust his eternal life to Jehovah and His sovereign plans and servants. Jehovah is Creator. He made the earth and heavens. Even inanimate creation is His servant. There is nothing made that is uselessJehovah created everything and made it to be His servant and do His bidding. All of creation stands at attention to serve His purpose (cf. Psalms 119:90-91; 1 Corinthians 3:21-23; Hebrews 1:7; Hebrews 1:14, etc.).
So all Israel (Judah) is commanded to assemble itself and hear the sovereign challenge of Jehovah about His servant’s work. Which of the heathen gods or false prophets has ever told Israel all that Jehovah is now telling her about His redemptive plan, the use of Cyrus, and the coming of the Messiah-Servant? None! They do not because they cannot! They are not gods but pieces of wood and stone. He whom Jehovah loveth is undoubtedly referring (in context) to Cyrus. Of course, Jehovah loves Cyrus, but not in the same way He loves a believer simply because Cyrus (being an unbeliever) will not allow God to love him in a covenant relationship. The word love (Heb. aehevo from ahav) here probably means simply that Jehovah has chosen Cyrus to be the object of His care and providence to serve Him in conquering Babylon and freeing the Jewish exiles. At one time Nebuchadnezzar was chosen to be the recipient of the special favor of Jehovah (cf. Jeremiah 27:5 f); at another time Alexander the Great was given dominion (Daniel 7:6 f). The emphasis here is not on Cyrus but on the sovereignty of Jehovah. Jehovah has spoken! Jehovah has called Cyrus! Jehovah will bring (sustain) Cyrus and Jehovah shall make Cyrus prosper in what Jehovah wants, but Cyrus will not prosper when Jehovah does not want him to prosper!
The intent of it all is that Judah might see things from Jehovah’s perspective! This is the whole point of revelation; man must see (or understand) what is from the perspective of Who Made What Is! Man must see that all of creation stands at attention and serves the eternal purpose of God which is the redemption of creation. The coming captivity of Judah, the coming conquest of Babylon by a Persian emperor yet unborn (Cyrus), the far distant coming of a Messiah-Servantall must be seen by man, not through human perspective (carnal, limited, temporal), but through divine perspective which is eternal, righteous, true, pure and glorious. God calls Judah, Come near unto me, and pay close attention to what I am about to say. However much of His will God has deemed necessary for man to know and obey at any time, God has not been secretive about it. It was never God’s business to keep His will as secret as He possibly could. He has always desired to reveal as much of His will as He possibly could. The only hindrance to revelation has been man’s spiritual rebellion. God’s revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ is hindered by man’s unwillingness to want that revelation. We would know His will more fully if we were more willing to do His will (John 7:17; John 13:17). God spoke plainly and openly through His messengers from the very beginning. Often times He spoke more plainly than the people wanted Him to speak (cf. Isaiah 30:9-11; Amos 9:10-15; Micah 2:6-11, etc.). Jehovah’s presence was apparent in every prophecy made by any prophet of His. Now it should be apparent to Judah that Jehovah’s presence and will is being expressed in the prophecy concerning Cyrus.
The last half of Isa 48:16 presents a problem for commentators. Keil and Delitzsch say the me who is sent by the Lord Jehovah is the One unequalled servant of Jehovah (the Messiah); Edward J. Young calls Him the Servant par excellence (the Messiah); Leupold believes the me is the prophet Isaiah. Of course, it is unusual to have such a sudden transition from the speaking of Jehovah directly to the speaking of the Messiah. But it is not altogether unparalleled. Certainly Isaiah 61:1 f are the words of the Messiah. It appears that Isaiah ch. 49 is also a dissertation by the Messiah Himself. Keil and Delitzsch cite Zechariah 4:9 as another example of such transition. It would appear that the context supports the messianic view. Jehovah has been emphasizing the new thing He is going to do as a consequence of Cyrus-’ return of the exiles. That new thing can only be the messianic age. It is therefore altogether appropriate that the Unequaled Servant speak here of His commission or sending. In this text is emphasized also the unique companionship of the Spirit the Messiah will have in His mission (cf. Isaiah 42:1 f; Isaiah 61:1 f). The Suffering Servant (Messiah) did not come alone. The Holy Spirit was with Him; in fact, He was the Holy Spirit in the flesh (cf. John 14:15-17). From this point on (and of chapter 48) more and more emphasis is put on the program of the coming unequalled Servant. The work of Cyrus and the restoration of Israel to Palestine was simply a preparatory step for His coming. There is going to have to be centuries of repentance and sanctification in a remnant of Israel in preparation for His coming. Cyrus and the restoration was just the beginning of it all. From Isaiah 48:16 a to 16b the reader has been transported over a span of more than 600 years. But such telescoping of history is not unusual in the writings of the prophets (see Shortened Perspective, in Minor Prophets, by Butler, pub. College Press, pg. 32; comments on Joe 2:27-28, pg. 184-188).
Jehovah wants Israel to see her destiny from His perspective, not from the limited human perspective. Jehovah knows everything from beginning to end. He created everything. He is absolute Sovereign. When He says His people will be taken captive, released by a pagan emperor (yet unborn), and that His Servant will come to bring them everlasting victory and peace, Israel should see His day (cf. John 8:56-59; John 12:41; 1 Peter 1:10-12) by faith.
QUIZ
What was the basis upon which Jehovah acted to redeem Judah?
Why must Jehovah do things for the sake of His name?
Why emphasize here that Jehovah is Creator?
What hinders man from knowing God’s revelation of Himself?
Why should man need to see everything from the perspective of divine revelation?
Why the transition from Jehovah’s speaking to the Servant’s speaking in Isaiah 48:16?
Isaiah 48:17-22
c. PRACTICE
TEXT: Isaiah 48:17-22
17
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah thy God, who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18
Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19
thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offering of thy bowels like the grains thereof: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20
Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
21
And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22
There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked.
QUERIES
a.
How may peace be like a river?
b.
When were they to go forth from Babylon?
c.
Why do the wicked not have peace?
PARAPHRASE
This is what Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: I am your covenant-God, Jehovah, who wishes to teach you to help you and who wishes to direct you in the way you should go. If only you had obeyed My commandments. Then you would have had peace in your soul deep, steady, living and ever-flowing just like a river and you would have had a rightness in your soul that was powerful and never exhausted itself, just like an ocean. Your descendants would have been as numerous as the grains of the sand on the seashore and I would not have had to take away your nationhood. Now when the time comes for your release from exile, leave Babylon and everything she stands for; you are going to be freed from that pagan oppressor so leave all her paganism behind and flee! Go, singing about your deliverance so the whole world can hear about it; make sure everyone knows it is Jehovah who has delivered His covenant people. The Lord God will sustain you in your deliverance, you will not need to cling to Babylon as if you need her. When Jehovah led His people through the deserts in the days of Moses He sustained them. They did not need Egypt to give them water and food. The Lord made water come from a rock for them; He split the rock open and water flowed out. If you will be firm in your commitment to My commandments you will have deliverance, peace and righteousness, but there is no peace for those who are wicked and who are lax about My commandments, says Jehovah.
COMMENTS
Isaiah 48:17-19 THE WAY: The Lord God of Israel has made every effort, from Abraham to Isaiah, to lead this people in the only way profitable for them. The Hebrew word ya-‘al, translated profit, means literally, helpful, good, useful. It is also used as a proper name, Jael (see Judges 4:18; Judges 5:6, etc.). Jehovah teaches His people in order to help them to peace and righteousness. Joe 2:23 speaks of the teacher unto righteousness (see our comments, Minor Prophets, by Butler, pub. College Press, pg. 180-183). This is the way Israel should have gonethe way of peace and righteousness. It is the ancient way wherein is goodness and rest (cf. Jeremiah 6:16). But Israel, of her own free choice, refused to walk in that way. She chose bypaths and stumbled (cf. Jeremiah 18:15-17). The way of the Lord is in His commandments. They called Jehovah Lord but did not do what He commanded (cf. Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8-9; Luke 6:46; 1 John 2:3-6, etc.). If Israel had only obeyed God’s commandments (the law of Moses and the revelations of the prophets) she would have had peace and righteousness in abundance (cf. Amos 5:24; Isaiah 11:9; Isaiah 44:4), like a deep, steadily flowing, life-giving river. The figure of the river and the sea stands in emphatic contrast to Palestine’s hundreds of shallow, wadis which were dry most of the year and ran with water only occasionally, during downpours, and then soon ran dry again. The peace and righteousness Jehovah gives through His way (His commandments) is deep, not shallow; it is steady, not vacillating. It is this because it is imputed, not earned. Man cannot earn peace with God; he may have it as a gift from God by entering into discipleship with Christ (cf. Matthew 11:25-30). This is the peace available to the new, true Israel of God (cf. Galatians 6:11-16) and comes not by legal attainment but by new birth. Discipleship and new birth comes through a willingness to be taught, to be baptized, and to be taught the way of Christ for the rest of one’s life (cf. Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:3-5; Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12-13; Romans 6:1-19). If Israel had only listened to Jehovah, He would have made of her a great nation. Of course, of the seed (singular) of Abraham, God has made a great people (the church) (cf. Galatians 3:6-18). But what great things Israel could have done as a testimony to Jehovah unto the Gentiles long before Christ ever came if she had only walked in His way! God brought His redemption to the world in spite of Israel’s stubborn disobedience; what could He have done had Israel been a willing, humble, obedient servant!? (cf. Romans 11:15). Had Israel obeyed, God could have had a holy nation as numerous as the grains of sand on a seashore. But she disobeyed. God had to give her up to wars, pestilence, famine and finally complete national oblivion in captivity in order to sanctify for Himself a small remnant for His messianic use. What great good could be done for mankind today if all Israel according to the flesh would obey and become part of Israel according to faith in Christ, the Messiah! Fleshly Israel’s disobedience has been a great hindrance to the gospel. The disbelief and disobedience of the majority of the Jews was a constant source of heart-rending pathos to Jesus!
Isaiah 48:20-22 THE WAYFARER: The way of Jehovah is in His commandments. The wayfarer is not forced to take that way; he is exhorted to choose Jehovah’s way by a deliberate exercise of his will which is expressed by both a negative and positive action. First he is to flee Babylon and second, he is to declare Jehovah’s redemption. These verses are prophetic commands anticipating Judah’s captivity by Babylon and release by Cyrus. There were strong temptations for many of the Jews to remain in Mesopotamia after the Persian edict restoring them to their homeland. Many of them did, in fact, remain (cf. Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther). Although most of the Jews retained much of their cultural identity, many of them, influenced by the paganism around them, lost their firm faith in the Scriptures and they produced succeeding generations whose faith was in their past, not in their supernatural messianic future.
The Lord’s command, Go ye forth from Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans. anticipated more than physical escape from captivity. It is also a command to holiness; it is an exhortation to Israel to separate herself from the wickedness of Babylon and from dependence upon Babylon for sustenance. The true meaning of this finds its fulfillment in the exhortation to the true Israel (the church) to flee the paganism of Rome (Babylon) (cf. Revelation 18:4-5), and not partake of her sins. Singing of the Lord’s redemption is a favorite figure of Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 14:7; Isaiah 24:14; Isaiah 26:19; Isaiah 27:2; Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 35:10; Isaiah 38:20; Isaiah 42:11; Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 51:11; Isaiah 52:8-9; Isaiah 54:1; Isaiah 55:12; Isaiah 65:14). It is a song of praise and testimony the wayfarer is to sing. It is a song about what Jehovah has donenot how the wayfarer feels! Modern gospel music focuses too much on subjective experiences and feelings. All the exhortations of God are to sing about what God has done objectively and who God is revelationally! It is interesting that the Psalms, written to be sung, are focused on what God has done and who He is. See Psalms 81:13-16 which especially sounds like this passage in Isaiah.
Israel does not need to be afraid to break all ties with Babylon and separate itself unto its messianic destiny. Babylon’s material riches and carnality cannot be the source of Israel’s security and sustenance. God will keep His promises to sustain them. He kept His covenant with Israel when she separated herself from Egypt. Even when some of the wilderness wayfarers wanted to return to Egypt for security, Jehovah provided them water in the desert. He clave the rock and water gushed out (Exodus 17:1-7; Deuteronomy 8:15). The fundamental essence of Christ’s church, according to the New Testament, is its separation from worldliness. Much of the modern-day church, however, has not come out of Babylon but still clings to worldly-attitudes (bigness for bigness sake, spectacularism, subjectivism, manipulation, exploitation) and worldly behavior (wastefulness, sensualness, legalism, show-offishness, shallowness). The church must learn to depend totally on God, not on human programs.
For there is no peace to the wicked. The Hebrew word resha-‘iym is from the root word rasha-’ and refers mainly to the activity of wickedness which is disquietude, confusion, tossing, restlessness, disturbing. Keil and Delitzsch say the primary meaning of the root word is, laxity and looseness. It is to describe those whose inward moral nature is without firmness and therefore in a state of moral confusion and tossing to and fro; moral upheavel (cf. Isaiah 57:20-21). Cunning and deceitful men, Paul warns the Ephesian church, would like to bring wickedness into the body of Christ and cause it to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine (cf. Ephesians 4:11-16). Many people do not understand that doctrinal vacillation leads to moral confusion. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 15:33-34) that evil homilia (teaching, sermonizing) corrupts good morals. And this is the precise point of this passage in Isaiah. Israel must walk in the commandments of Jehovah if she is to have peace. True peace is a result of preaching and doing true doctrine.
QUIZ
What profit would God’s teachings be to Israel?
What is God’s way?
What might have been the result if Israel had been obedient to the commandments of God?
Does the exhortation to Go forth from Babylon have any application for believers today?
Why would the Jews be inclined not to leave Babylon?
What is necessary to true peace? Why do the wicked not have it?