Isaiah 8

This blog is going to contain a new approach for me, and I will not likely do it often. Instead of speaking on a specific topic, I will cover only a grouping of about four verses that I discovered this morning in my quiet time. I want to emphasize the importance of quiet time. It is at these moments that God often reveals the mysteries of Himself. Mysteries that we are supposed to steward (1 Corinthians 4:1-2.) This isn’t to say that if you read the bible, then God is going to make everything clear to you. If it was that easy, then I would just sit and read all day and in about a month, know all of the secrets to life. No, God desires for you to seek Him through His word… but then to go and live it. To go through life with what He has revealed to you and try to apply it to your life. As you do so, the lessons you learn will continue to reveal the mysteries of God. As you live His word, seek Him through prayer. This is a large enough topic for an entire writing, so I don’t want to get into it too much as of now.

Before I begin today, I would also like to thank anyone that has sent me a message telling me how they enjoyed this blog. I wasn’t ever sure anyone even read this thing, it is mainly a way for me to organize my thoughts and watch God reveal Himself to me as I think through various passages of scripture. I’m honestly afraid of writing and voicing my opinion most times. I am relatively new to my faith and am afraid that I don’t have the life experience to put most of God’s Word into perspective. But, I am encouraged by Paul, who immediately after His conversion, began to preach to everyone around the glories of our Savior. God’s Word is filled with stories of men and women who like Paul, could not keep silent about God’s love no matter how long the had been believers.

But on to the reading for today. I am taking this from Isaiah 8:19-22. If anyone is feeling really motivated, I suggest reading Chapter 8 up to this point. Seriously. Do it. I promise, reading outside of class won’t kill you.

Read.

OK, to summarize (and for anyone that didn’t read), this is what is going on in the book of Isaiah to this point. God has seen His people turn from Him and has essentially said, “Everyone I created, I love. But not everyone loves me. The majority of people that I created have chosen to pursue something else and are living immoral lives. They even are worshiping an oak tree instead of worshiping Me! I’m tired of this. If they want to live immoral lives, then I’m going to let them. I’m not going to protect them from the consequences of that style of life anymore. But, if anyone wants to return to Me, I’ll be here waiting for them.” So that may be a bit of an extreme Sparks Notes reading, but I figure I make these things long enough as it is. The point is, God is telling Isaiah to warn the people about what is about to happen.

I think its an important side note to point out that Isaiah was a prophet. A prophet was someone God had given the gift of being able to tell the future. This means two things. One, Isaiah was probably a pretty good poker player. Two, he wasn’t very well liked by all of the people. Maybe these two things are related, but it is also because Isaiah had to tell his family, friends, everyone that if they didn’t turn back to God and stop living how they were, they were all going to die. Not exactly an easy message. I mean, think about telling your parents that because you slept through a class, you had failed out of college. I can’t even tell my parents when I got a C (man, I hope they never read this) much less that their lives would only lead to death and everything they did was wrong.

So lets pick up the message. God has continued into Chapter 8 with the same style of the rest of the book. Now some people think these verses refer to the end of Jerusalem and others think it refers to the end of the world. Honestly, I don’t think it matters. The consequences of the same actions are the same and a good lesson can still be learned. So here is Isaiah, talking to his friends, family, and everyone that lives in his city. He says,

“When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (v.19)

Umm… what? And this is relevant how? Yea, pretty much my same initial thoughts. But keep reading and see what happens. This verse refers to what will happen when God begins to not protect us from our own sins anymore. What does that exactly mean? I think we are beginning to see exactly what it means. Take sexual immorality for instance. God said not to have sex outside of marriage and we said no. Now, we are faced with countless STDs and fatherless children. This is just an example and there are plenty more. But Isaiah is saying that when people begin to be punished for their sins, they will turn to physical objects in their lives and wonder why this is happening. But the truth comes in Isaiah’s next words. “Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” You are being punished by God, why do you turn to something else for an answer? That’s like being grounded by your mom for playing too many video games instead of studying, but then going to your video game system and asking it why you are being punished. Umm… “game over” is the only answer you’ll be getting. (Corny, I know.)

So what does this have to do with today? Other than maybe visiting a palm reader, most people don’t have anything to do with mediums or spiritists. Or maybe it has just changed shape. I don’t think my video game analogy was that wrong. Many people are addicted to alcohol. Although the bible doesn’t condemn alcohol, there are several verses that condemn drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18, Proverbs 23:20, Titus 1:7 among others.) I don’t think I need to explain in too much detail how people’s lives have been torn apart by alcoholism. But the sad part is that when someone’s life is falling apart because of alcohol, what do they turn to? They have another drink. There are plenty of other examples, but for time’s sake I’ll go on. Message me if you’d like to talk more about this part of the message.

Isaiah next says, “To the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (v. 20) This is simply a conclusion to the previous thought. Isaiah is saying that if something does not reflect God’s word (such as alcohol, money, etc. that most people turn to in times of trouble) then it will not give an answer (it has no light or dawn.)

So Isaiah says that people will turn to worthless objects with questions that can only be answered by God. Of these people, Isaiah says they will eventually recognize God as having a hand in their life. But not in the way God desires.

“They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward.” (v 21.)

So as God’s punishment gets worse, people won’t repent. Instead of realizing that their misery comes from their abusive lifestyle, they will blame their government and God. Sadly, this is often seen. When alcohol consumes a man to the point where he doesn’t show up for work and is laid off, it is because the government is taking away all the hard-working jobs or God is evil. There are more tragic and controversial instances also. A good friend of mine died in a car wreck after drinking and driving. He had just graduated high school. Another close friend was very close to the accident and partly watched our friend die. He was a mess. He blamed God for our friend’s death (remember verse 19,) and turned to alcohol and drugs as a way to cope.

Sadly, the next verse doesn’t offer much more hope. Isaiah says, “then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness,” (v 22.) This is what happened to my friend. When he experienced the death of our friend, he “looked to the world” for answers and found only distress, anguish, and darkness. What it means to be driven away into darkness, I don’t know. I don’t think I want to. I don’t want anyone who reads this to know either.

Remember what I said about God earlier? How throughout the entire book of Isaiah He was saying that if anyone wanted to come back to Him, He would be there waiting for them. Ready to forgive them and deliver them from their anguish. If you haven’t already, read my message about faith healing.

The simple truth of this is that God loves you. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance,” (2 Peter 3:9.) Because of his love, God sent His only son to die on the cross for your sin (paraphrased, John 3:16.) If you want to talk about this anymore, please message me, call me, email me, come see me, anything. From reading this in Isaiah, I hope you can see that turning to anything else doesn’t end well. There is only one Creator of life and therefore only one source of life. Anything else will only lead in death. Its like going to the moon and expecting to find sunlight. The moon reflects the light of the sun, but it doesn’t produce any of its own. Things in this world (a great relationship, a really good job that pays well, etc.) may shine with a light, but it is a light that is reflected from the One source. If you seek life in those things… well, has anyone seen pictures of the moon?


I want to close on a bit of a tangent. This is somewhat related to my beginning words of being new to the faith and taking lessons from life. Although I think that brand new believers can offer an insight into the Lord that maybe those that have believed their entire life cannot (for God chooses whom to reveal Himself through, regardless of our standards; He chose fisherman, tax-collectors, thieves, and prostitutes to begin the message of salvation), I want to emphasize the importance of mentorship. Hebrews 13:7 tells us to “remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” Think of someone in your life, someone older preferably, that has chosen to follow Christ with all of their heart. To lay down their life, pick up their cross, and follow Christ regardless of any consequences (Mark 8:34.) Personally, I think of Brett Rogers. Anyone that knows Brett knows exactly what I mean. He has chosen to follow God into a job that shouldn’t pay, but somehow does. He is constantly surrounded by sadness and brokenness, but he is always happy and joyful in the Lord. In college, he faced the same decisions that we do today. He was a partier and then one day, chose to follow the Lord. Because of his faith, God has blessed him with amazing friendship, an incredible family, and countless college students who consider him as a second father. He faced the same choices as you, and he chose to follow the same person as you can. For (Hebrews 13:8) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

His,

Dustin