John N. Oswalt MINE April 16-18, 2018 Gems From Isaiah John N. Oswalt MINE April 16-18, 2018

ISAIAH – THE DIAMOND MINE Often called the Prince of the Prophets What is that Theology? Yahweh Humanity Salvation What are the historic settings? The Assyrian crisis The Babylonian crisis The Persian crisis What are the key themes Hope through Judgment Servanthood Trust God or humanity Exaltation through humility Realized righteousness

ISAIAH – BOOK STRUCTURE Servanthood – Problem & Solution 1-6 The Basis of Servanthood – Trust 7-39 No trust 7-12 Lessons in Trust 13-35 Judgment on the nations 13-23 Yahweh – Sovereign of the nations 24-27 Woe to those who will not wait 38-33 Desert or Garden? 34-35 Trust, but – 36-39

STRUCTURE - CONTINUED 3. Grace: Motive and Means of Servanthood 40-55 Introduction 40 Chosen Servants – Motive 41-48 The Lord’s Servant – Means 49-55 4. Righteousness: the Character of Servanthood 56-66 Righteous foreigners 56:1-8; 66:18-24 Unrighteous Israel 56:9-59:15a; 63:7 – 66:17 Divine Warrior 59:15b-21; 63:1-6 The Light Dawns 60:1-31; 61:4 – 62:12 The Messiah’s Word 61:1-3

Servanthood – Problem and Solution 1-6 Lofty calling – Holy and pure servants through whom God is revealed to all the nations 2:1-5; 4:2-6 Shocking condition – Rebellion, hypocritical religion, in love with image, affluence, comfort and power 1:2-4, 10- 15; 2:6b-8; 3:8-9; 5:24-30 Thorough cleansing – saw human inability 6:1; saw God 6:1-4; saw self 6:5; received God’s provision 6:6-7 ; heard God’s heart 6:8; received God’s commission 6:9-13

TRUST – BASIS OF SERVANTHOOD 7-12 Introduction – throughout Bible the problem is lack of trust; Adam and Eve on; God can, or won’t do what we want; so he must show himself trustworthy; so the approach to Abram Historic setting and review of content Four great truths Whatever you trust in place of God will destroy you 7 God is with us – like it or not 8 God’s strength is in his humility 9 God’s intended last word is not judgment 10-12

LESSONS IN TRUST – 13-37 Review previous: Trust Assyria? Assyria will come to destroy! But when you are destroyed, God will send the true son of David. Since they had not learned, back to the textbook. Don’t trust the nations of humanity (13-23): the glory of Babylon (13-14); the political scheming of neighbors (14-18); the wisdom of Egypt (19-20); the wealth of Arabia (21); the religion of Judah (!) (22) the commerce of Tyre (23) Do trust Yahweh: he is the Lord of History (24-27); either the city of chaos (24) or the city of God (26); either death or resurrection (24, 25); trust – a mind fixed on him Woe to those Who will not wait 28-35; idolatry of human leaders; folly of trusting Egypt; the king is here! Wait: his timing; his strength, his righteousness; his plan; the nations? a desert (34); Yahweh, a garden (35) The power of trust 36-37; lesson learned; the issues bluntly put; Hezekiah’s response: his pattern: God’s way 37:1; God’s man 37:2; God’s house 37:14; God’s word 37:22; his prayer: God’s uniqueness; his reality; deliverance that the world may know.

SERVANTS: TRAGEDY OR TRIUMPH 37-55 Note that “trust” ends on a dismal note: why? Hezekiah is not the Promised One: both mortal and fallible; trust is not a one-time thing; what can motivate a life- style of trust, but deeper than that, how can broken sinful humans become servants of the holy God? Looks down across centuries for the answer. Their lack of trust and their sin-exile 40 Introductory Summary; does he want to deliver us 1-11; can he deliver us 12- 24; will he deliver us 25-31 41-48 Grace – motive for servanthood; recurring court-case between Yahweh and the gods; Israel is God’s chosen witness to give the evidence: he had foretold all this; something the gods could never do; he named the coming deliverer in advance. So believe (listen) 48 49-55 Grace – means of servanthood; the Servant makes it possible; first introduced in chap 42 (prep.), then in 49, 50 and climactically in 53; 49:1-52:12, growing anticipation that God will find a way to restore them to himself, his “arm”; 54-55 glowing invitation to accept the restoration; what changes from anticipation to invitation: the Servant! The Servant will be for Israel and us what they and we could never be in ourselves

RIGHTEOUSNESS: CHARACTER OF SERVANTHOOD 56-66 Why doesn’t the book end with 55? The nations! The mission! Begins and ends with the mission 56:1-8; 66:18-24. Our relationship with God is not for us But the mission is jeopardized by unrighteous living. 56:9-59:15; 63:7- 65:17. Enjoy our chosenness and cultivate our personal piety? Self-serving leaders; religious behavior that is really idolatry; people who are proud of their religious achievements, who blame God for their failures What is God to do? The Divine Warrior comes to defeat sin by himself 59:15-21; 63:1-6 Result is: the Light comes on: nations see the glory of God in the righteous lives of his servants 60:1-22; 61:4 – 62:12 Who is the Warrior? The Spirit-anointed Servant 63:1-3 Have you allowed the Warrior to defeat sin in your life for the sake of the World? Contrition, surrender of own efforts, faith in his promises.