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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Isaiah 8 Fear
God (ch. 8:11 - 22) Verse
11 does a good job of portraying what is happing here.
Isaiah says that the "strong hand of the Lord was upon him'.
I picture it this way. Isaiah
is sitting in a room. God
Himself places His hand on Isaiah's shoulder, not lightly, but very
firmly. Then he tells Isaiah
not to follow in the ways of his people.
This is exactly what Isaiah needed to hear, and, I believe, it is
what Christians need to hear today.
We need to know that the strong hand of the Lord is also upon us,
telling us not to follow in the ways of the nations we live in, or, in
what is understood as church.
Note
the word "warning" verse 11.
This was not a suggestion from the Lord but a warning. In
verse 12 God tells Isaiah "not to call a conspiracy what the
Israelis call a conspiracy". There's
debate over what this exactly means.
Those living in God
goes on to tell Isaiah "not to fear" what the people of This
is how I understand this. Verse
13 makes it clear. Judah
was to fear God, not the northern kingdom or Verse
14 states that God can be a sanctuary for Judah, but, then comes the "but".
On the other hand, God would become a stone that caused men to
stumble and a rock that would cause men to fall.
It was clear, if either the north or the south reject the
sanctuary, God would no longer be that safe haven.
He'd be a stone and a rock that would cause men to stumble and
fall. Both the apostle Paul
and Peter quote this verse. Paul,
in Romans 9:33 and Peter in 1 Peter 2:8. Jesus
refers to Himself as a stone. He
said in Matthew 21:44 that anyone who falls on this stone, meaning
Himself, will be broken, but anyone on whom this stone, meaning Himself
will be crushed to pieces. God
Himself echoes what Jesus said. Or,
I suppose you'd say, Jesus echoed what God says in the next half of this
verse. God would be a trap
for Verse
15 is a clear prediction of what will happen to many living in The
word of the Lord has been spoken and in verse 16 it was to be bound and
sealed. It was to stand as a
testimony to Judah. Verse
17 is spoken by Isaiah. He
says that he will trust the Lord, the very Lord who is hiding His face
from Judah. Isaiah would wait
patiently for the Lord to do whatever He deemed right.
No matter what happened to In
verse 18 we see that there were a few others standing with Isaiah.
They would be witnesses to the Lord.
They would represent Him to the nation, even if the nation failed
to obey the Lord. The
remnant would be faithful. Christians
in this anti-Christ world today need the same conviction that Isaiah is
demonstrating here. Verse
19 shows us the condition of the southern kingdom
of The
rest of the chapter seems to not only state the near future of
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