Weighing the OptionsIsaiah 5: 1-25

(p. 634 ff )

Weighing the Options ...Weighing the Options ...a Life is full of options and choices:

g What to eat; what to buy; where to invest; who to see; where (how) to live ...???

b When must / should we involve and consider the LORD in our decisions?

a Isaiah: Always involve and consider the Lord in everything

b “Come now, let us reason together” says the LORD [YaHWeH]. (1:18)g If you are willing and obedient you will eat from the best of the land (1:19)

g BUT if you resist and rebel you will be devoured by the sword” (1:20)

b “Let us walk in the light of the Lord” (2:5)

b “Tell the righteous it will be well with them” (3:10)

1. Isaiah: Hope for the Faithful1. Isaiah: Hope for the Faithfula Isaiah prophesies in the period from 750 – 700 BC.

b Still speaks to us today:g The way we live has changed, but the issues of life remain the same.

g Isaiah is the greatest prophet of the OT, and most alluded to in the NT.

a Assyria was resurgent after a long period of decline g Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC) Re-established Assyrian power.

b During the decline, Judah under King Uzziah, became strong & wealthy (2 Chr 26)

b PRIDE and PLEASURE had caused them to drift far from the LORD

b Poverty, injustice and licentiousness were common.

2. God Cared faithfully for His People 2. God Cared faithfully for His People (5:1-7)(5:1-7)

a Isaiah’s “Song of his Beloved’s Vineyard”

b He dug it up and cleared the stones

b Planted the best vines

b Built a watchtower (to protect it)

b Built a winepress (prepared for the harvest)

b But it yielded only BAD FRUIT!

a Therefore:

b He will take away his care and let it become desolate, a “wasteland” (v 5-6)

3. His People responded with 3. His People responded with UnUnfaithfulness faithfulness (5:8-25)(5:8-25)

a Woe !

b To those who have become wealthy without regard for the poor (v 8-10)

b To those who drink and party without regard for the LORD (v 11-17)

b To those who seek after sin and scoff at the LORD (v 18-19)

b To those who invert God’s values and affirm wrong as right (v 20)

b To those who think they can put their own wisdom above God’s (v 21)

b To those who pervert justice by ignoring God’s Law (v 22-24)

a Therefore the LORD’s anger burns against his people (v 25)

Hope for the FaithfulHope for the Faithfula Isaiah presents us with a clear picture of what faithfulness looks like

b We cannot buy God off with rituals, observances, acts of piety, etc when we live our lives for ourselves. (1:10-17)

b Faith is all-day, every-day recognition of God as he is, and our place under himg True faith always leads us to servanthood (epitomised in Isaiah 53)

a Isaiah encourages God’s people to “walk in the light of the Lord” (2:5)

b Regular assurances of Hope for the faithful E.g. 1:18-19; 2:1-5; 4:2-6

b Isaiah gives us a picture not only of ourselves and up to Christ, ... ... but to the heavenly Kingdom of eternity