Southern Cross Presbyterian Church

Isaiah 14:24-18:7

Here the prophecy of Isaiah turns to the nations:

²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will stand.

²⁵ I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶ This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

For Isaiah and the remanent of Gods people it must have been reassuring that in the midst of large enemy nations exerting their military strength, the Lord was still at work bringing about his purposes.

In the midst of the greatest enemies we face; sin and death it reassuring to know, the Lord has worked out his purposes and who can turn it back.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 8:38-39

Isaiah 4:2-6:13

When the Lord appears before Isaiah in chapter 6 he is scared… pretty scared:

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined!

He knows that no one sees the Lord and lives. He knows he is just a human, but more than that he is sinful and lives amongst a sinful people.

His sin is atoned by the altar in verse 7, as was the place of sacrifice within Israel but later Isaiah will signal a greater atonement to come. A suffering servant will be introduced who will become the new place for atonement.

But for now the nation stares down the barren of judgement, where even the remanent will be laid to waste:

¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,
it will again be laid waste.

Judgement will have to come, before salvation can rise from the ashes.

Isaiah’s experience of salvation is a sign God will do a mighty work to his people.  He will bring atonement. He will bring cleansing to the sinful through judgement.

Judgment leading to salvation = The Cross.

2 Chronicles 31:2 – 32:33

It has been great to read the stories of the kings of Israel and Judah as well as studying 1 Samuel at church and in small group. The main reason that I am enjoying it because it reminds me of the bigger picture – we get to think about all that has happened in the life of Israel as they chose their king (in 1 Samuel) and all that has happened since then. It has given me a wider view of the failure of the kings but also a deeper understanding of the faithfulness of God to his people. God did raise up kings who turned the nation back to him. He graciously worked through fallen, sinful man, but always pointed the nation forward to the great King that was to come (or the King that was already there but the people had forgotten…).

Just one thing I was curious about was… (2 Chronicles 32:31)

“…God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart…”

Anyone have thoughts on what this means??

2 kings 18:1-20:21

Hezekiah is described as one of the great kings of Israel. Yet we see his failure at later part of his life.

This section shows us that even when Hezekiah was living obediently to the Lord. It would not be his goodness that would guarantee the nations salvation. It would be for the sake of the Lords holy name and his holy offspring (2 Sam 7) as we heard in 19:34:

³⁴ I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.”

The name of the Lord must be upheld, that had been the mission of Israel yet they had failed miserably, they had profaned the name of the Lord. So listen to words from the prophet Ezekiel:

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. Ez 36:22-23

The Lord made known in the prophets that he would bring restoration to the people. For his sake he would bring life to their hard hearts. He would pour out his spirit and give them a heart of flesh.

After the spirit is poured out in Acts 2 the disciples who had disowned Christ, were now willing to stand up for the name:

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! ⁹If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, ¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹He is
” ‘the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.^[a]‘^{[b] 12}Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Hosea 5:1-9:9

In Hosea we have heard that Israel is guilty of great sin. Not only have they turned to other gods, they even turn to other nations for their rescue:

¹³ “When Ephraim saw his sickness,
and Judah his sores,
then Ephraim turned to Assyria,
and sent to the great king for help.
But he is not able to cure you,
not able to heal your sores.

Israel have failed to respond to God. They have fails in many different ways that the Lord says of them:

¹³ Woe to them,
because they have strayed from me!
Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me!
I long to redeem them
but they speak lies against me.

The future of Israel is heard in this chilling prediction:

³ They will not remain in the LORD’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt
and eat unclean ^[y] food in Assyria.

Israel is headed for slavery once again. Off to Assyria, never to return.

Israel would never return to the land until many centuries later a man would enter the Jordan, face great temptation in the wilderness yet would remain obedient.

Jesus would not walk away from the love of the father, but in love would die to bring the unfaithful back to the father:

⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8