Why Prophecy (Isaiah 1:1) 12 th October 2014 1 This morning we re beginning a new series on the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. We ll be looking at the first 8 chapters of Isaiah over the next few weeks and that will take us up to the end of the year. There s an outline in the church bulletin to take notes if you like. Before we start, let me pray for God s help and guidance with this passage. Intro/Context Before we start looking at the book of Isaiah. We need to get the context and period of time that Isaiah lived. So the context is this: In about 922BC after the reigns of King Saul, King David and King Solomon The kingdom of Israel was divided in two [Powerpoint 1 - map] One of King Solomon s superintendents a guy name Jeroboam gathered support from the people because of King Solomon s extravagance lifestyle during his reign as king and he rebelled against King Solomon s son Rehoboam. The result of that - was a split in the kingdom 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel sided with Jeroboam and formed the Northern Kingdom And 2 tribes Judah and Benjamin sided with Rehoboam The Northern Kingdom then became known as Israel And the Southern Kingdom became known as Judah. Page 1 of 13
And it s to this Southern Kingdom of Judah that the prophet Isaiah is 2 prophesying to in his book. And according to Isaiah chapter 1 verse 1 Isaiah prophesies to 4 kings of Judah [Powerpoint 2 - kings] Those kings were Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah and Isaiah prophesied from 739-686BC about 54 years. So that s our focus for Isaiah he s talking to the Southern Kingdom of Judah during the reign of 4 kings And before we look at Isaiah the prophet and what he has to say We d better define what a prophet is: The Hebrew word for prophet is naviy [Powerpoint 3 definition] And it means: A person influenced by divine inspiration or divine Spirit to rebuke the conduct of kings and nations, or predict future events; with the idea that the prophet did not speak their own words, but those of God. And that he was the messenger of God, and declaring God s will. Over the years there have been some whacky predictions like In 1939 The New York Times said the problem of TV was that people had to glue their eyes to a screen, and that the average American wouldn't have time for it. Page 2 of 13
OR 3 The builders of the Titanic that said the ship was unsinkable OR An English astronomy professor said in the early 19th century that air travel at high speed would be impossible because passengers would suffocate. And there are people today like clairvoyants, astrologers, card readers etc who make predictions some may even come true. But do they fall into the definition of a prophet as we just defined it? Are they divinely inspired? are they messengers of God? are they using God s words and declaring God s will? or are they using their own words and declaring what they think? Are they certain or is it just guesswork or theories? (pause) God s prophecies and predictions are not like that. They re not guesswork or theories they are words from the Almighty Allpowerful Living God of the universe and what He says is consistent, real and true and what He says comes to pass with no mistakes Why Prophecy? But why does God use prophets to give prophecies in the Bible? [Powerpoint 4 heading] Well I reckon there s many reasons and this morning I m going to give you 10 reasons it s not a definitive list but certainly enough good and valid reasons to encourage us all here this morning Page 3 of 13
1. Prophecy shows God is a living God who is involved in His creation. 4 [Powerpoint 4a living God] God created us in His image (Gen 1:27) as relational human beings. He wants us to have a relationship with Him and with each other. Throughout the OT God is involved with His people. Time and time again as he leads his people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land he reminds them I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery in Egypt (Ex 13:9; 16:6, 32l 20:2; Lev 19:36; 22:3; 25:38; 26:13, Num 15:41; Deut 4:37; Deut 5:6; 6:12; 8:14; 13:5, 10; 16:1) notice he says your God it s a personal ongoing relationship. He s not a creator God who just created the Heavens and the Earth and then butted out of people s lives. No he wants to be continually involved. He refers to His people as a royal priesthood, a holy nation and His special possession (Ex 19:5; 1 Peter 2:9) and he says he doesn t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9) 2. Prophecy shows the omniscience of God in other words He knows everything [Powerpoint 4b omniscience of God] We come across people all the time who are know-it-alls don t we? but God really does know it all! In Genesis 1 and 2 we read of a God who created the Heavens and Earth just by speaking. We read in Psalm 139 that God knows all about us, when we are sleeping, resting and working and he even knows our thoughts and he knows Page 4 of 13
5 what s going to happen today, tomorrow and in the near future and distant future right into eternity. He even knows the number of hairs on our head (Matt 10:30) Isaiah tell us in Isaiah 55:8-9 that his ways and thoughts and not like our ways/thoughts. God gave his prophets the words to say, he told them what would happen to Israel and it happened and He said he would send a Saviour His son and that happened too 3. Prophecy shows the need to repent. [Powerpoint 4c repentance] That is do a u-turn in their lives and turn away from sin and towards God. If we look at the prophets who spoke to Israel in the OT. Their message is quite simple God is holy humans are not holy - but sinful As sinners we need to turn to God and repent As sinners we will be judged for our sin But God will send a saviour a redeemer who will pay the price for human s sin so you d better turn back to God now! That s the basic message of all the prophets. As we see what happened to Israel and Judah in the OT when they turned away from God they were exiled kicked out of their own country and sent to Assyria and Babylon seeing what happened to them should cause people to repent and obey God and his commandments Page 5 of 13
4. Prophecy promises Salvation. Being saved from our sins. 6 [Powerpoint 4d salvation] Even as far back as Abraham in Gen 12:3 - God promises that those who bless Abraham and his descendants will be blessed and those that don t will be cursed and God also promises that ALL peoples of the earth will be blessed through Abraham and his descendants. Not only that - God promised Abraham that these promises would be established forever through one of his descendants, and this finds its fulfillment in Jesus as a saviour (Gen 13, 15, 17 and Galatians 3) Through the prophet Isaiah, God promised - that there would be a suffering servant who would save his people from their sin. That suffering servant came 2000 years ago Jesus the Son of God so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16) and it s only by His name and no other name we can be saved (Acts 4:12) and whom the apostle Paul tells us that if we declare with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart God raised him from the dead, we will be saved (Rom 10:9). What all the prophets are saying is Salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8; Rev 7:10; 12:10; 19:1) 5. Prophecy and those prophecies fulfilled so far show that the Bible is authentic. [Powerpoint 5 heading/a Bible is authentic It s not a bunch of disjointed stories or fairy-tales the whole Bible is true and inter-connected. Nobody on Earth past, present or future - is smart enough to have made it all up! Peter puts it this way - Above all, you must understand that Page 6 of 13
no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet s own interpretation of things. (2 Peter 1:20) The prophet s job was to tell people what God s words were and to tell people what God said would happen. His job was not to interpret what God meant. Sometimes prophecy might seem obscure until after the event has happened and upon reflection people can see what was meant. For example when Jesus predicted his resurrection in Matt 12:40 he said as Jonah was 3 days and nights in the belly of the fish so the son of man will be 3 days and nights in the heart of the earth. That might not have been so clear to the people hearing it we have the benefit of being around 2000 years later and can see clearly what means. Similarly in John 2 verse 19 Jesus says Destroy this temple, and in 3 days I will raise it up to the listeners that would have been obscure But in v21 John explains the temple Jesus had spoken of was his body! All the prophecies that have been fulfilled give us confidence that the Bible is authentic and reliable. 6. Prophecy points us to Jesus [Powerpoint 5b points to Jesus] And I want to share 2 major passages that prove this. The first is in Luke 4:14-20: 16 He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: Page 7 of 13 7
18 The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord s favor. 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. So Jesus reads from the Book of Isaiah chapter 61 that God will anoint 8 someone to proclaim good news to the poor, proclaim freedom and set the oppressed free and then Jesus remarkably says that Isaiah s prophecy finds its fulfillment in him! The second major passage that shows that prophecy point us to Jesus is from Luke 24 after Jesus has risen from the dead he meets 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus These 2 disciples don t recognize Jesus at first and they tell him that their teacher has died and that after 3 days it seems their teacher has risen from the dead and is alive. And Jesus says this to them: 25 How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. So what Jesus is saying is that all the Scriptures are about him. It s like a signpost to Jesus the OT is saying Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming. Page 8 of 13
And the NT is saying Jesus is here Jesus died Jesus rose and ascended to 9 Heaven and Jesus is coming back again. It s all about Jesus! 7. Prophecy produces faith [Powerpoint 5c produces faith] When we see how all the prophecy in the Bible fits together it gives us faith It means we can believe in God s Word and His Son Jesus and all that was said about him has come true - Whether it s the promise from Genesis 3:15 that the woman s seed would bruise Satan s heal. Or the promise to Moses that there would be a prophet like him in the future (Deut 18). Or the prophecy of Isaiah that Judah would be exiled to Babylon (Isa 39:3-8) and Jeremiah s prophecy that they would return in 70 years from exile (Jer 25:11-12). Whether it s the prediction of Jesus birth place (Micah 5:2) and the virgin birth (Isa 7:11) and of his many miracles (Isa 35), and his rejection (Isa 8:14; 28:16, 49:6; 50:6; 60:3; Ps 22:7-8) and his suffering (Isa 53). All this can only produce faith that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Saviour sent by the Father - to deal with the twin problems of sin and death that were introduced by the first sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden 8. Prophecy assists us in spreading the Gospel. [Powerpoint 5d assists in spreading the Gospel] Page 9 of 13
The book of Acts has 2 examples of using prophecy to spread the Gospel 10 spreading the Good News of Jesus Firstly in Acts 2 at the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit is poured out on the Apostles Peter says what happened on that day of Pentecost in Acts 2 - fulfills the prophecy from Joel the prophet chapter 2 verse 28 I will pour out my Spirit on all people The result of that outpouring of the Holy Spirit - was that 3000 people believed (Acts 2:40) The second use of prophecy to spread the Gospel is in Acts 8, one of the apostles helpers, Philip came across an Ethiopian reading Isaiah chapter 53 but the Ethiopian was not understanding it. Philip explained that the chapter was talking about Jesus and shared the Gospel with him. And friends, we can use this same technique in our conversations with family, friends and strangers to spread the Good News about Jesus 9. Prophecy encourages Holy Living [Powerpoint 5e encourages Holy Living] As we read through the Bible, we can see a pattern - God encourages his people to be holy and obey him. Like Leviticus 11:44 be holy because I am holy. And Deut 18 which promises blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. And Isa 51:1-3 that promises comfort for those who seek the Lord and pursue righteousness. And Isa 55 that promises mercy and pardon for those who return to the Lord. And Romans 12 which tells us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, Page 10 of 13
11 holy and acceptable to God; to humbly serve God and each other with the gifts we have been given; and put love into action. Why should we do this holy living? Well because by God s grace and mercy and love he allowed His son to die for us that s why? Holy living is the least we can do out of gratitude and thanksgiving for God s grace. 10. Prophecy tells us that Jesus is coming back [Powerpoint 5f Jesus coming back] The OT in several places says that Jesus kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom where Jesus sits on the throne of David to establish judgment and justice (2 Sam 7 and Isa 9:6-7). Jesus kingdom has been established and we wait now for the final judgment to come when Jesus returns Jesus told his disciples not to be troubled and that he had gone to prepare a place for them and would return for them (John 14). The Bible is clear that Jesus is coming back (1 Peter 1:13-15, 1 Thes 4:15-5:4; 5:19-22; Heb 9:28; 10:25, 37; James 5:7-9; 2 Peter 3:8-10). We don t know when that is Jesus said about that day that no one knows the day or hour (Matt 24:36) and he also told us you must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect (Luke 12:40) like a thief in the night (1 Thes 5:2) Conclusion Friends there we have it 10 reasons why prophecy in the Bible is important. Yet many people today will not accept the brief evidence we ve heard today. Page 11 of 13
12 As the apostle Paul says the message of the cross of Jesus is foolish to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor 1:18) If you are someone here today not accepting the brief evidence presented I urge you to talk to me or one of the elders after the service. We d love to explain this further to you. If you are here today and do belief Jesus died for our sin and rose from the dead so we can have forgiveness and life with God forever. Then please use the words God has spoken through prophets like Isaiah to Firstly strengthen your faith in Jesus and live a holy life. Secondly to share the truth of the Bible, the promise of Salvation, and the hope you have of Jesus return with others. A practical way to do this is to join our Evangelism team on Tuesday and Thursday we can even start another day that suits you just let me know there s plenty of spots the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Matt 9:37; Luke 10:2) Let s pray. Page 12 of 13
Page 13 of 13 13