Kingdom Divided Lesson 18 – Isaiah Part 1

 

Note:  For clarity the Kings of Israel are coded in Orange and Kings of Judah are coded in Blue.

God chose Isaiah to deliver a challenging message to the rebellious people of Judah.  Isaiah served as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.  Judah was going through times of revival and times of rebellion.  They were threatened with destruction by Assyria and Egypt, but were spared because of God’s mercy.  Isaiah brought a message of repentance and deliverance from God.  Chapters 1-39 tell of events during Isaiah’s lifetime.  Chapters 40-66 give prophecies of the future.  This book is filled with many prophecies of the Messiah that was to come.

The following verses point to major themes throughout Isaiah’s prophecy.

Isaiah 2-3 – God’s children have rebelled against Him.

Isaiah 1:16-18 – Isaiah tells the people to stop doing wrong.

Isaiah 9:19; 22:5 – God will bring judgment on the land and the people.

Isaiah 9:6; 11:1-3 – Jesus will save the people.

Isaiah 27:6; 32:1-2; 40:1-2; 43:1-2 – The people will be redeemed.

Isaiah 6 – Mission and Message

Isaiah had a vision from the Lord.  He saw the Lord sitting on a throne.  The train of His robe filled the temple.  The throne was surrounded by angels known as seraphim with six wings.  They cried out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” – Isaiah 6:3. 

Why did they say holy three times?  Perhaps it was because there are Three Person in the One God we call the Trinity or maybe it was to declare His holiness in the highest possible degree.  They cried out that the whole earth is full of His glory.  We are often blind to the obvious glory of God all around us. 

He saw the temple was filled with a cloud of smoke.  The cloud marks the presence of the Lord.  The smoke reminds us of the pillar of cloud that represented the presence of the Lord in Exodus 13:21-22; 19:18 and 1 Kings 8:10-12. 

Isaiah’s immediate response to seeing God in His glory was “Woe is me!” – Isaiah 6:5a.   He was overwhelmed with his unworthiness to be in such a place.  He was reminded of the kind of man he was.  He realized he was unlike the Lord God and unlike the angels.  He saw his sinfulness and as having unclean lips.  A seraphim flew to him and touched his lips with a hot coal which took away his sins.  Once he had met with the Lord, been convicted of his sin, cleansed from guilt and sin, and was humbled, then he was ready to serve God. 

Are your lips unclean?

Are you consumed with guilt?

How has God brought you to be aware of your sin?

What is keeping you from being humbled and ready to serve God? 

The first step in coming to Christ is to recognize your sin.  Sin is transgression of the law of God and rebellion against God.  You have to know your sin in order to fight it.  Knowing sin reveals your need for salvation.  You need to know just why Jesus died for you.  Then you rely on the Holy Spirit to overcome sin as you become a believer.

Then Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?  And who will go for us?” – Isaiah 6:8a.   Here we see another reference to the Trinity by the word ‘us’.  Isaiah answered God’s call without hesitation.  “Here am I!  Send me.” – Isaiah 6:8b.  Now that Isaiah was cleansed he is ready to fulfill God’s mission and speak for Him.

How do you respond when God calls you work for Him?

What keeps you from answering His call?

God then described Isaiah’s mission in verses 9-13, which can be a difficult passage to interpret.  God told him to go and preach to a people even though they won’t hear him or respond.  This would prove their guilt.  God was warning His people of what was to come if they didn’t listen and stop the foolishness.  Isaiah was to continue to preach until destruction comes.  He should preach in hope the remnant of Israel would be restored.

God promised that after everything is destroyed a ‘holy seed’ would remain.  This seed is referring to when the Messiah will come and bring salvation to the world (Isaiah 6:13).

Isaiah wasn’t given an easy job.  He was to warn of the coming judgment and would be in constant rejection by the people.  Isaiah’s message was for his day and it’s also for our day.  People are just like the people of Judah.  They reject God daily.  God had a heart for those who rebelled and rejected Him as He has a heart for those kind of people today.  He desires and seeks sinners to come to Him.  He continues to warn us, convict us, and continues to give us second chances.  He is not obligated to forgive, but we should rejoice in the fact that we serve a God of multiple chances.  We have all failed God in some way.  us.  Every moment of your life is a second chance so don’t waste it.

We should never give up being a witness for Jesus.  People may not listen.  They may insult and reject you, but you should never give up.  You are planting seeds and you may not see the results in your lifetime, but maybe one day they will surrender to Him.  When you see little visible fruit and get discouraged, go the His Word and go to Him in prayer.  He will give you strength, encouragement and hope to continue.

Principles: 

God continually seeks sinners to come to Him.

God is a God of multiple chances.

What is keeping you from fully surrendering to God?

Do you spend time in His Word to get to know Him better?

How are you resisting God?

Are you stubborn and reject God and His ways?

How has He given you a second chance?

This week’s attribute of God is He is Holy.  Isaiah saw God’s holiness and glory.  There is no one like God.  He is perfect in goodness and righteousness.  “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” – Isaiah 6:3

Next time we will continue our study of Kingdom Divided in Isaiah.  Hope to see you here. – I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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Kingdom Divided Lesson 17 – 2 Kings 21-25; 2 Chronicles 33-36

 

Note:  For clarity the Kings of Israel are coded in Orange and Kings of Judah are coded in Blue.

2 Kings 21; 2 Chronicles 33 – King Manasseh of Judah

When Hezekiah passed, his son Manasseh succeeded him as king of Judah when he was 12 years old and reigned for 55 years.  Like so many other kings, he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  He rebuilt the high places for idol worship that his father had destroyed.  He led the people into idolatry and sin.  He sacrificed his own son, practiced sorcery and divination and consulted mediums and spiritists.  He did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.  The people found themselves like the northern kingdom of Israel who rejected God.  Because of this, God was angered and brought the Assyria army against him and took him prisoner.

2 Chronicles 33 tell us that in Manasseh’s destress he sought the favor of the Lord and he humbled himself and turned to God.  God responded by listening to his pleas and brought him back to Jerusalem to rule his kingdom.  Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God.  He received God’s forgiveness and changed his life.  He destroyed the foreign gods and altars and restored the Lord’s altars.  He told the people to serve the Lord.  But the people still continued sacrifices at the high places, but only to the Lord.

Principle:  God forgives when we humbled ourselves and turn to Him.

After Manasseh’s death his son, Amon became king.  He refused to follow his father’s example of repentance and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  He worshipped idols and bowed before them.  His officials plotted against him and assassinated him.  Then the people killed all those who plotted against King Amon and made Josiah his son king.

2 Kings 22-23; 2 Chronicles 34-35 – King Josiah of Judah

Josiah’s heart for God brought reformation and restoration to Judah.  He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of David.  He purged Judah and Jerusalem of high places where idols were worshipped.  He restored the temple of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 34:1-8)

The book of the law of the Lord was recovered by Hilkiah the high priest.  When the book was read, they were aware that they had sinned against God.   When Josiah heard the words of the law, he was humbled because they had broken every commandment.

Josiah sent word to the prophetess, Huldah to inquire more of the Lord.  She described the unrepentant Judah and the disaster awaiting the nation.  Josiah destroyed anything and anyone who was against the Lord.  He destroyed images of other gods, places of worship, the sacrificial altar to Baal and Asherah.  He tore down buildings, temples, and anything that offended God.  He got rid of the mediums and spiritists.  After he had done all these things, He gave orders to celebrate the Passover.  The Passover hadn’t been observed since the days of the judges.

Principle:  God’s Word can convict our hearts.

The Lord was pleased with Josiah and all he had done, but not with the people of Judah.  There was judgment awaiting Judah because of all Manasseh had done.  He still decided to remove them from the land in the next few generations.

Josiah battled with the king Assyria and king of Egypt, Pharaoh Neco.  Josiah was defeated in battle and was killed by Neco.  Then Josiah’s son Jehoahaz was anointed king.  Josiah’s reforms didn’t last long.  Jehoahaz did evil in the sight of the Lord.  He reigned only three months. 

Neco dominated Judah.  He put Jehoahaz in chains and imposed a levy on Judah.  Neco made Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king and changed his name to Jehoiakim.  Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt and there he died.

2 Kings 24; 2 Chronicles 35:1-14 – King Jehoiakim of Judah

Jehoiakim taxed the land according to the command of Pharaoh Neco.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and didn’t follow the ways of Josiah.  Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land of Judah and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years.  Jehoiakim rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.  The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah. 

Then Jehoiakim’s son, Jehoiachin became king of Judah and reigned for three months.  He also did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  When Nebuchadnezzar laid siege on Jerusalem, Jehoiachin was taken prisoner along with his mother, wives, princes, servants, and other officials.  The temple treasures and all the gold articles were removed from the royal palace.  The prophecy against Jerusalem was taking form.

The Babylonian king appointed Mattaniah as king of Judah.  His name was changed to Zedekiah.  He was the uncle of Jehoiachin.  He ruled for eleven years before he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.   

Principle:  When God’s promises of salvation are ignored, His promises of judgment will be fulfilled.

2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36:15-23 – The Fall of Jerusalem

Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon.  Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem and encamped outside the city.  For two years there was no traffic going into and coming out of the city.  Because of this, famine became severe.  Finally, King Zedekiah of Judah was able to break through.  Zedekiah fled at night with his guards, but he was captured and put in prison.  The Babylonian army emptied and burned the city, destroying any major structures and buildings.  They burned the house of the Lord, Solomon’s great temple.

Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as governor of Judah.  Then a royal family member named Ishmael killed Gedaliah which made everyone flee to Egypt in fear of the Chaldeans response.  Chaldeans is another name for Babylonians.  Most of the people were killed, but a captured remnant was taken to Babylon to serve as slaves for 70 years.

Jehoiachin as set free by the new rule of Babylon, Evil-Merodach.   He was shown kindness by the new king and was provided for all his days.

Judah’s final four kings led the nation’s to its final fall.  Jehoahaz did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Jehoiakim did evil in the eyes of the Lord and taxed the people to pay Neco what he had demanded.  Jehoiachin did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Zedekiah did evil in the eyes of the Lord and didn’t humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah.  He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and wouldn’t turn to the Lord.  He as well as the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful.

The Lord tried to reach the people by sending messengers to warn them.  He brought consequences down on them for their sins.  Then He took their kings away in captivity and gradually He took them, too.  The people responded by mocking the messengers while they continued in sin and followed other gods. 

We have learned God’s righteous ways in Jerusalem’s fall.  He was patient and postponed judgment for hundreds of years giving them every chance to repent.  His righteousness always prevails.  He requires judgment of sin.  We should worship God in times of grief, uncertainty, change, instability, joy or celebration.  We have no hope without God.  He created you and he knows what’s best for you.  Only God is worthy of our worship.

Principle:  God’s righteousness always prevails.

What is keeping you from worshipping the one true God?

What in your life do you put in front of God?

Do you seek Him only in the bad times?

This week attribute of God is He is Righteous.  Everything He is and does is right.  He never lies.  He is fair, just and faithful in all He does.  He expects us to be righteous.  God’s righteousness requires judgment of sin.  We can’t be perfectly righteous, but He sees us as clothed with Christ’s righteousness.  “The Lord is righteous in all His ways” – Psalm 145:17a

Next time we will continue our study of Kingdom Divided with Isaiah.  Hope to see you here. – I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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