Colin Badger - Thematic Study of Isaiah - Class 4 - The Faithful Remnant and the Redeemed

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1. 0:00

   This is day four of the 1988 Idlewild Bible School. Our speaker for Class 3 is Brother Colin Badger, and his subject is The Thematic Study of Isaiah and his subtitle for today is The Faithful Remnant and the Redeemed.

2. 0:22

   Good morning, brothers and sisters. I’d like to recap some of our observations from the last class yesterday by approaching some of those issues we considered at the end of our class yesterday from a slightly different perspective and use it as an introduction for our theme this morning, Second Kings Chapter 18. Could we turn there together, please?

3. 0:51

   There are a few details presented a little more obviously in the King’s record concerning the Assyrian crisis and Hezekiah’s relation to it. It has an important bearing in our appreciation of the events of those days and what obviously forms a very important section or backdrop to the prophecy of Isaiah. In verse two of Second Kings 18.

4. 1:17

   We get one very important fact from that verse and that is that Hezekiah reigned 29 years, verse 2 of Second Kings 18. We also know in the same chapter, if we come down to verse 13, that the Assyrian crisis was in the 14th year of Hezekiah’s reign. Second Kings 18, verse 13. We also know that Hezekiah had it added to his years, 15 additional years of grace. Now you see how the computation works. He reigned 29 years.

5. 2:02

   Fifteen of those years, the last 15, were added to his life from the time of his sickness. That means then that he had been sick in his 14th year and had it added on to that fifteen additional years of grace, making total 29. But you see what that therefore shows us, brothers and sisters, that the Assyrian invasion occurred in the same year as Hezekiah’s sickness. He was sick in the 14th year.

6. 2:41

   The invasion occurred in the 14th year. He recovered in the same year, and 15 additional years were added on total 29 years. Now just consider if we go back to Isaiah, how this helps us to capture the tensions that must have been going through his court and certainly must have been internalized in poor King Hezekiah, Isaiah 38.

7. 3:11

   Here in verse one, Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet comes to Hezekiah and bears bad tidings, as if he didn’t have enough already on his shoulders. For in verse one we read notice the wording, careful to time it with the invasion of the Assyrians. In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.

8. 3:53

   Brothers and sisters, let’s put the facts then together. In that year of crisis, look what this man was shouldering. The Assyrian was on his doorstep already. He had moved down the coast. Invasion of Jerusalem was certain #1 Secondly, Isaiah has come to Hezekiah and told him, Thou shalt die, and a man is sick unto death.

9. 4:27

   What’s to be done here in the middle of the Assyrian crisis? The monarch, the only possible hope for the nation, is not only sick, but the prophet of God has come to him and said, thou shalt die. Right in the middle of the crisis. There was another source of tension besides that, for if you put the facts together in Kings and Chronicles, it’s obvious that Hezekiah is still childless. Childless, no seed to look upon as the one who would carry on his name and his throne.

10. 5:11

    As yet, Judah has no hope beyond Hezekiah. Now we know that, brothers and sisters, because Kings and Chronicles tells us that Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, only 12 when he began to reign. So we go back. Hezekiah reign 29 years. Subtract those 12 years, and Manasseh was born in the third year of the additional 15 tacked on to the end of Hezekiah’s life. That shows us that it wasn’t until then, after the Assyrian crisis, that Manasseh was born in the third year of the extra 15.

11. 5:57

    And then 12 years later, Hezekiah has died. Manasseh is 12, and he begins to reign. Now, when you see that picture, more tension is added to the picture. Here’s the Assyrian at the doorstep. Hezekiah has been wrestling with some terrible sickness. Isaiah comes in and says you won’t recover, you will die. And the man in addition to that is childless as yet. Consider the tensions that he had to face. Indeed, by his repentance and God’s merciful response, the king recovered from his illness.

12. 6:38

    It’s before us, isn’t it? Here in Isaiah chapter 38? But Hezekiah wasn’t to know that. What was going on in the court of Hezekiah when they saw that this man was sick nigh unto death, and when court rumor must have had it that Isaiah had visited that day and told Hezekiah, no recovery, you’re a dead man.

13. 7:01

    Consider the people in the court as they must have murmured and pondered. Panic must have swept through the court. What are we going to do here? Are the Assyrians at our doorstep? It’s the hour of crisis, and our king has not only been sick, but now he’s going to die. And his child?

14. 7:19

    No heir to the throne. It tacked the face of Hezekiah to its limit. And how it must have tried the heart within those walls. You see, brothers and sisters, it helps us to put our trials and our crises in perspective, doesn’t it? We think at times that it’s unfair that we should be tested at certain moments.

15. 7:43

    Common question. We all ask why me? We often ask why now? Why now when I’ve got umpteen different problems when the children are in this kind of a condition, or we haven’t paid off the mortgage or we’ve just had to buy a new car, why now? It wouldn’t be a crisis and it wouldn’t be a test of our faith unless it was in those circumstances. Why not then?

16. 8:09

    And why not you or why not me? That’s the real question. It helps us to have a little more understanding for the way God works in the lives of disciples, to remember that faithful men like Hezekiah, whom God loved and cared for, went through severe testing and not just one problem to straddle a multitude of problems. Every one of them looked like a blank wall. And so we read in chapter 38, verse 2 that Hezekiah turned his faith towards the wall and prayed unto the Lord. Why didn’t he did that?

17. 8:49

    Prayed towards the wall? He must have stared at the wall near his bed chamber, and it was like a barrier, no doubt figuratively speaking. It was like the condition he was in facing, we often say a brick wall, a barrier to his success, a barrier to the helping of this small remnant that had gathered around him in Jerusalem. But we know that in response to the prayers, the fervent prayers of a righteous man, as James says, God responded and in his mercy saved Hezekiah, gave him an additional 15 years and finally destroyed the Assyrians.

18. 9:30

    And moreover, within the third year of those 15, Manasseh was born, a child, a son to Hezekiah to carry on his name and more importantly, carry on the lane of the line of David within the walls of Jerusalem. Then, brothers and sisters, you’ll have all the principles within an ecclesia, high points and low points, tension, a crisis.

19. 9:57

    Men who sometimes are being leaned on by others, but who in the hour of crisis sometimes themselves show themselves to have feet of clay. Every one of them was forced to ultimately trust upon God, not simply Isaiah, not just their faithful king. They were all faith to forced to look to heaven for an answer. Now it’s interesting when you consider this little group, as it were, in the walls of Jerusalem in this hour of crisis, with all these cross currents of tensions and difficulties.

20. 10:33

    Trying the hearts of all that remnant within the walls to look at some of the Psalms that throw some light on the beautiful figure that was nevertheless being shown by those who were in fellowship together during this crisis. Let’s just go to Psalm 122, one of the songs of degrees. We’ve mentioned earlier that there’s good indication that these songs were collected and some of them written by Hezekiah. That is from Psalm 1:20 to 1:34.

21. 11:06

    But we’re going to look at Psalm 122. It’s a Psalm of David, but no doubt collected by Hezekiah as part of this group, as one of the songs of degrees, with a possible echo there of the degrees of the dial that went back during Hezekiah’s years of experience. No doubt there was an appropriateness to the Assyrian crisis from this song of David. Now consider that crisis with these words in mind, verse 1, Psalm 122.

22. 11:42

    I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the House of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gate, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together. Now that word compact has the idea of fellowship behind it. The Septuagint Greek renders verse 3 as follows. Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete. Jerusalem is built as a city whose fellowship is complete. What fellowship there was within those walls in the various hours of crisis in Israel’s history.

23. 12:26

    Now, though, David is obviously thinking of certain circumstances in his own life. How appropriate these sympathies are at the time of Hezekiah. A city with the faithful remnant within the walls, a fellowship in the hour of crisis. Whither, says the psalmist, the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. Verse 6.

24. 12:53

    How appropriate this was as a song that would have been sung in Hezekiah’s day. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Now we pray for that in our hymns, and no doubt in our prayers. But how relevant that would be to those within those pressured walls. Like a Crucible He did from without, and the faithful within, testing and trying their faith.

25. 13:18

    Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, how Hezekiah prayed, and how the people must have prayed for peace. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companion’s sake, I will now say, peace be within thee. Look over at Psalm 124, another song of degrees, another of David, no doubt collected for this occasion as well. It was appropriate to the circumstances we’ve been describing.

26. 13:49

    Psalm 124, verse one. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they had swallowed us up quick, and their rock was kindled against us. Now the language typical in Isaiah of the waters of invasion.

27. 14:17

    Then the waters had overwhelmed us like Isaiah ate. The waters had overwhelmed us. The dream had gone over our soul. Now think of Rabchaka, who’s described as proud in the Kings and Chronicles account, verse 5. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. But what had, as I ate promised, the waters would come, they would overflow, they would cover thy land, O Emmanuel, and they will go up to the neck. And the psalmist is saying the waters have come, but they didn’t swallow us up.

28. 14:56

    The waters would have overwhelmed us, would have gone over our soul. The proud waters would have gone totally over us if it wasn’t for God. Verse 6 Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Look at how the enemies describe as a vicious monster. Our soul is escaped as a bird.

29. 15:23

    Now on the Taylor prism that we showed you the other evening, the translation in English shows that on one side the nacre of describes on the Taylor prism the fact that he had besieged Jerusalem in the crisis. And he says, and we quote from Sennacherib’s own pen as it were, he says, I caged up Hezekiah the Jew as a bird. That’s the language right on the Taylor prism. I caged him up as a bird, and thus those in this crisis with David and likewise it’s application to the days of Hezekiah.

30. 16:05

    So very appropriate. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. You see how you can read these songs of degrees from 1:20 to 1:34, and they will enrich our appreciation of the sympathy of the events as well as the sentiments that must have been flowing amongst those individuals within the walls in that hour of crisis.

31. 16:38

    And we can take these psalms, brothers and sisters, to ourselves and all the circumstances that we’ve considered this past week. All of us have crises at times, events that test us and try our hearts on a smaller scale, no doubt. But when you’re tempted to say why me and why now think of Hezekiah, think of all that was on his shoulders, all the sources of frustration and potential despair, and think that the answer was prayer and trust. It’s like the experience of the apostle Paul who said in Corinthians, Speaking of all the difficulties that were upon his shoulders, all the care of the ecclesias. He said, didn’t he, that there were fears from within and fighting without?

32. 17:30

    How appropriate, as it captures circumstances that have repeated themselves in ecclesial life and the life of individuals down through the years. It’s not foreign to the experience of faithful disciples.

33. 17:46

    Micah chapter 2. We’ve said time and again that Micah’s prophecy throws light on the prophecy of Isaiah and especially on the years of the Assyrian crisis. There is a lovely section here describing this faithful little remnant within the walls of Jerusalem in this hour of crisis. May I suggest the King James doesn’t do complete justice to the sentiments?

34. 18:16

    The NIV and other modern translations are helpful here. So I’m going to read Micah chapter 2 verses 12 to the end from the NIVI Think it captures the scene a little more clearly. Micah 2 verse 12. Now remember Micah is prophesying at this time. Verse 12 says, God, I will surely gather all of you. Oh, Jacob, I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen. Now that’s the key phrase in the modern translations that comes out just a little more crisp.

35. 19:03

    I will bring them together like sheep in a pen. What’s the picture? It’s Jerusalem whose walls are compact together, like the walls in the bonds of fellowship between brethren. Here’s the picture. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture. The place will throng with people. That’s the sense of the original. The place will throng with people. One who breaks open the way.

36. 19:35

    This is the Angel of God. One who breaks open the way will go up before them. That’s the sheep. They will breakthrough the gate and go out their king. Who’s that? Their king will pass through before them, the Lord at their hand. What a picture of the Assyrian crisis in the encirclement around the walls of Jerusalem and there within.

37. 20:05

    Those walls, those people who were standing in relationship to Zion, of whom the psalmist, as we read yesterday, said Psalm 87 sluts. And such a man or woman was born there. All my springs are found in thee, said Psalm 87. And our attachment and their attachment to Zion, the symbol of God’s covenant with David and with Abraham, the promises of true hope, the true answers of prayer, all our solemnities are in thee.

38. 20:40

    Scripture says elsewhere there, situated within those walls in the right place, attached to the promises of truth, was a faithful remnant. And they were viewed by God as sheep in a pen. And the one who would break open the way, the Angel of God, who would destroy the enemies before them, break open the gate and allow the king, the righteous king, to pass out, and God being at their head.

39. 21:11

    Now, with those kind of images in mind, it’s helpful to read Isaiah carefully from beginning to end, especially the second part, looking always brothers and sisters, for the allusions to the contemporary events and then seeing their messianic importance. We gave attention yesterday to the title Emmanuel, and we tried to show that there were circumstances in Hezekiah’s day which clearly demonstrated the reality of Emmanuel then and there, God with us.

40. 21:47

    We suggest, brothers and sisters, that there was some Old Testament background in the law, in fact, that prepared for an understanding of this Emmanuel concept, and that as we work it through, we see that in Hezekiah himself, in a shadowy way, there was one who was Emmanuel in the days of Isaiah. In the righteous King Hezekiah, we see so much of what he did, the kind of leadership he provided, the stresses and trials that were placed upon his shoulders for him to bear, and his own personal righteous example.

41. 22:27

    The fact that he was childless like Isaiah 53, who shall declare his generation, for He had none. In the crisis, it looked as though his house would be barren, but in the end, he saw his seed. Did Hezekiah as Messiah would in a greater sense and significantly, Isaiah 53 said that God would prolong his days.

42. 22:53

    Messiah, whose days were prolonged in the days of Isaiah the prophet, none other than Hezekiah, some extra 15 years added to his life as a kind of second life, as it were. Now, Deuteronomy 31, the word Emmanuel is made-up of one very significant section in the word E man U, which means with us.

43. 23:22

    Now that’s a trigger phrase found elsewhere in Scripture, but I think one of the most telling sections before we come to Hezekiah is in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 31 in Man U with us in relationship to God’s promised help is found quite tellingly in this context of Deuteronomy 31 verse 3. The Lord thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them. And Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.

44. 24:11

    We certainly have a keener appreciation of what that meant as we listen to our brother this morning dealing with Joshua. Now verse 6, Be strong and of good courage, Fear not, nor be afraid of them, the enemy, the Canaanites, for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee, M man U.

45. 24:37

    There it is in verse 6. In the original it’s there with thee, M man U. It occurs again in verse 8. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee. He will be with thee in man U, He will be with thee. Now we haven’t time to explore the full context of Deuteronomy 31, but this much is clear, bearing in mind what we’ve been considering in Joshua. Before they went into the land under Joshua, the people were told one fundamental lesson with a very important trigger phrase. You will go into the land and I promise Emmanuel, I promise to be with thee.

46. 25:28

    Thus when we come to the promise of Emmanuel as a title and Isaiah 7 in the Emmanuel prophecies, there was a former Old Testament foundation for that revelation. Emmanuel was promised in the days of Joshua before they confronted the enemy. So when they confront the enemy in the days of Hezekiah and they’re told by promise that God will be Emmanuel, they knew what it meant.

47. 26:01

    Those who were discerning and knew their Old Testaments. God had said, I will be with you before the Canaanites, and no doubt then He will be with Hezekiah and the people. Now Deuteronomy, excuse me. From there we go to Chronicles back to the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah for the name, or not the name, but the part of the word is employed very significantly in Second Chronicles chapter 32. And it’s here that we come closer and closer to the hints provided by these texts that Emmanuel was being worked out in a temporary way, in a limited way, through the person of Hezekiah.

48. 26:48

    Deuteronomy chapter 32. Here are the words of the faithful king, the righteous king to the faithful remnants within the walls. Verse 7, Second Chronicles 32. Listen to his exhortation, brothers and sisters. He exhorts them in verse 7, chapter 32. Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with Him, for there be more with us than with Him.

49. 27:26

    With him is an arm of flesh, but Emmanuel is Yahweh. There it is in the original. With us is Emmanuel. If you have the Hebrew text in front of you, you can see it for yourselves. With Him is an arm of flesh. But said Hezekiah in menu is Yahweh, our God, to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested, look at the margin, leaned themselves upon the word of Hezekiah, king of Judah. Now if there aren’t some messianic overtones in that context, I don’t know what you could ever expect to find. As a better example, here is a righteous king whose name meant Yah is strength.

50. 28:18

    He exhorts his people. He speaks to them comfortably by weight of by word of exhortation. He says to them, Emmanue, God is with us, He will fight our battles. And the people listening to Hezekiah’s words lean themselves upon the words that come out of the mouth of this king, This righteous, faithful king, overtones, no doubt, of the Emmanuel prophecies.

51. 28:50

    No wonder it said in chapter 8 that when the Assyrian came down like a flood and overspread the wings and flooded the land, it said, Thy land, O Emmanuel, one through whom God would show himself, nay, prove himself to be with his people. But there’s more to it than that. This little context for Hezekiah has a play upon his own name, verse 7, Be strong. It’s a word play, no doubt upon his own name. For the word strong in verse 7 is the word Hizaku, 3/4 of Hezekiah’s name.

52. 29:35

    His name meant, remember, strength of Yahweh or Yahweh is strength. Either way is fine. So he says to them, here’s the coup, be strong and courageous. Then in verse 8 he reminds them of the Emanu principle, God with us. How powerful that exhortation was and how much it shows, brothers and sisters, that in a contemporary application, there was a sense in which Hezekiah demonstrated the promise, the reality of the Emmanuel promise.

53. 30:12

    God will be with us. So he was. Let’s go back to Psalms. It’s a little Psalm that’s worth looking at in this context, Psalm 46.

54. 30:27

    Some Jewish traditions attribute Psalm 46 to Hezekiah. It can’t be proven, but there’s no doubt as you look at Psalm 46, that there are some very important parallels to the experience of the Assyrian crisis, the promise of Emmanuel, and the way it worked through the example and faithfulness of Hezekiah. Now yesterday we mentioned the rivers, the great rivers of Euphrates, which were to portray the overflowing streams of the Assyrian invasion.

55. 31:06

    And yesterday, in contrast, we noticed that God working through his promises, the Davidic line ever so silently and quietly, and God’s offer of salvation ultimately coming through Jesus Christ, out of whose belly would flow waters that were living, The waters of Shiloh that came out from underneath that temple ever so mysteriously but ever so surely were parabolic of the waters spiritual. And we explored that briefly yesterday. Now notice in Psalm 46 how the language of flowing living waters are intertwined with the thought of Emmanuel verse one, and the context, as you can see here is the threat of an enemy without first one.

56. 32:01

    God is our refuge, just as He would have been needed to have been in the crisis and strength. Part of Hezekiah’s name is here, his Aku, once again a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea?

57. 32:23

    Now the imagery of waters in two senses. Verse three. Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shaped with the swelling thereof. The Assyrian crisis in mind. Verse 4. Despite those waters, the psalmist says, there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Now there once again you have these two types of waters, the great, mighty, troubled waters that are a threat. But for the man of God, the faithful brother and sister, knows and trusts that nevertheless, no matter how much the waves of adversity and the waves of the world threaten and beat against our walls, there is a river, the streams whereof will make glad the city of God.

58. 33:26

    What’s the city of God? Zion, Jerusalem. Based on real experience are these words. For from the city of God came streams and waters mysteriously from under the mount. Verse 5. Think again of Hezekiah’s experience. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God’s promise through Isaiah when he responded to Hezekiah’s request. God shall help her and that right early Now watch this margin here if you have one that right early doesn’t seem to be as forceful as the original God is in the midst of her. It should read she shall not be moved now your margin. God shall help her when the morning appeareth and the kings and chronicles records tell us that in the morning they looked out and the Assyrian were dead men in the morning. Verse 6 past tense.

59. 34:34

    Now looking back the heathen rage. The kingdoms were moved so they were all around Judah. He uttered his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is Emmanuel. There it is again, verse 7. The Lord of hosts is Emmanuel with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the Lord as they did that day, as they went out that morning and looked beyond the gates or over the walls.

60. 35:06

    Behold the works of the Lord. What are they? What desolations He hath made in the earth he maketh wars to cease, and so he did on to the end of the earth. He breaketh the bowl. Remember Micah 2. The breaker, right God was the breaker through his Angel, but he broke the bows of the one who thought he was the breaker.

61. 35:30

    He breaketh the bowl and cut it the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, says the word of God, and know that I am God. Be still. That’s exactly what Hezekiah told them. The King’s account tells us that it was upon the command of King Hezekiah that they say not a word. And be silent before the railing words of Rabshaka. Be silent, said the king.

62. 36:02

    Say not a word. And so be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. So it was, brothers and sisters, by way of Messianic portent for kings. And Chronicles shows us that once the Assyrian had been destroyed, as Chronicles shows, other nations sent presents and tokens of tribute to Hezekiah as a result of the destruction of the enemy. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.

63. 36:36

    The Lord of hosts is once again Emanu. Go back to Chronicles now, if you will look at how these messianic applications all circle around this experience with Hezekiah. Detail after detail mounts up to show that the Messianic prophecies of Messiah were partially realized by the people who needed them right then and there, not just two or three thousand years in advance, or two or three hundred years in advance.

64. 37:14

    Second Chronicles 32 following these events. Just notice what’s said here. Second Chronicles 32 and verse 22. Here in Second Chronicles 32 and verse 22 it’s a follow up comment from the destruction of the Assyrians. But think of that Psalm as we read these words. Verse 22. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants, and the inhabitants of Judah, the land, the country, no, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Those who were in Jerusalem were saved from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all the other, and guided them on every side. Now the word guide in the Hebrew means to lead. He led them on every side.

65. 38:26

    What did that Psalm? Excuse me, What did that passage in Micah two say? Micah Two said that they were in a pen like sheep. So now Micah 2 throws light on the force of verse 22. He led them on every side. Why use that kind of language about the remnant within the walls of Jerusalem? Because as Micah 2 has shown us, they were like sheep in a pen, and God was their shepherd working through Hezekiah. But look at verse 23.

66. 39:01

    The psalmist says that we just read in Psalm 46 that many nations would praise God for the greatness of this victory. And so, as will happen in a greater scale in the future, to the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Zion when He sets up His temple and His throne. Verse 23 And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presence to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. Doesn’t that provide brothers and sisters a master key to an understanding of those well known Christadelphian passages in Isaiah?

67. 39:47

    Where in Isaiah chapter 2 the word of the Lord goes forth from Jerusalem, all nations flowing onto Zion? Isaiah Chapter 11. All those passages in Isaiah that describe the nation’s coming and giving tribute to Messiah all had a partial temporary application right here in the experience of Hezekiah and the faithful remnant. What a powerful background to consider, and how much more those words of Isaiah have meaning, tangible meaning, to the people of his own day. We’ve always got to ask ourselves, as Tekka said this and I heard Maurice say it as well during this week, what did this mean to the contemporaries?

68. 40:36

    And perhaps the words of those messianic passages we’re so familiar with, like Isaiah 2 and Isaiah 11, are so grand and magnificent in their scale that we think there’s no possibility that they could have had any meaning to Isaiah and his contemporaries. Perhaps now we know better. For as people stood back and watched after the Assyrian crisis, nations all around sending gifts, presents, tribute to Jerusalem to magnify Hezekiah, king of Judah.

69. 41:12

    There was being worked out in those days, but a microcosm of something much greater. When Jesus Christ will come to Jerusalem, where he will place his throne in the midst of all nations, and as a result of having shown his strength, all nations will bring tribute to him.

70. 41:33

    Now, brothers and sisters, back to Isaiah, keeping in mind that beautiful background in the events of those days, how do you think Hezekiah and his little flock of sheep within that pen in the walls of Jerusalem? How do you think they would have understood these words from Isaiah? And there are many others typical in the prophecy, but think of them in contemporary events first.

71. 42:05

    Isaiah 55. How do you think they would have understood this when Isaiah uttered these words in the ears of his listeners in the years of Hezekiah, king of Judah? Verse one, hear Isaiah speaking to the midst of Israel in Jerusalem. Ho spoke the prophet. Ho everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat.

72. 42:39

    Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Verse 3. Incline your ear, and come unto me hear, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. So what was the water that was offered? Verse one, What was it? Well, verse 3 tells us the waters that are offered. The spiritual drink is in verse 3 expressed as I will make an everlasting covenant with you.

73. 43:20

    Even the sure mercies of David. There it is. The sure mercies of David are the waters offered by Messiah. But in the days of Hezekiah, no doubt, the springs of Gahon, the waters that kept percolating underneath that Temple Mount, the waters that sustained the throngs of people within that sheepin while they were besieged, the waters that gave them drink all during the time of the siege, Surely, as God had said to Isaiah, I am the maker thereof.

74. 43:56

    They would thank God for those waters, real waters, which had given really life to them during the crisis, and how when Isaiah spoke those words in verse 1 and beyond, they would see that as having very real meaning to themselves. But of course, verse 3 speaks of an everlasting covenant. These are eternal promises. No doubt by considering the prophet’s words, they would realize that this was nevertheless Speaking of something much grander.

75. 44:29

    For verse four I have given for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the people. A leader and a commander to the people. You see how the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured for us, brothers and sisters. He, like Hezekiah, is a leader, a commander. Now what’s interesting here is that word leader in Isaiah 55 and verse 4 is applied to Hezekiah, where Second Kings 20 back we go again Second Kings 20. It gives additional meaning, helps us to understand in our mind’s eye how Jesus will be a leader. Think of Hezekiah, Scripture is telling us same word. In Second Kings chapter 20,

76. 45:33

    Hezekiah has been told that he is sick and nigh unto death. In verse one of Second Kings 20, he’s told to set his house in order. Verse two he prays to the Lord as we read also in Isaiah verse three, he beseeches God, and he weeps sore, as we have done often in our own pricing.

77. 45:54

    And it came to pass afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying to Isaiah, Turn again and tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people. And the word captain, there is the same Hebrew word as leader in Isaiah 55 and verse 4. Tell Hezekiah, the captain of my people. Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father. I have seen, I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears.

78. 46:35

    Behold, I will now watch this language. Think of what it means. I will heal thee, and on the third day, the third day thou shalt go up into the House of the Lord. You see the point, don’t you? As we’ve already seen in this man Hezekiah, we see messianic realizations not completely fulfilled by any means next to Messiah. But here is one who was sick, who he says in Isaiah was nigh unto death, who looked at the wall and saw no hope. And brothers and sisters, in his prayer, because he was a righteous man, God heard and he healed Hezekiah, the captain of his people.

79. 47:40

    And on the third day he was whole and he went up to the House of the Lord. Every word in Scripture is important. Isn’t it incredible to see in this experience of Hezekiah, an experience that foreshadows that of the Lord Jesus Christ? A more righteous king for sure, but one who, like Isaiah 53 shows, would be pictured as though he was sick. As a burden bearer who took upon him the griefs and the sorrows of a sick nation.

80. 48:20

    Of a sick people, who, like Hezekiah, would go, as it were, to the gates of hell and to the grave, but who nevertheless, on the third day would go up unto the House of the Lord, for he would be healed. In this small remnant, Brothers and sisters, within the walls of Jerusalem, we tread in the eye of faith, and within those walls come packed together in fellowship. In the midst of the crisis of the day, the storms and the waves beating against the walls of the ecclesia, hearts were tried and made more perfect.

81. 49:05

    Faith was tested and brought to greater perfection. Let us never ask why now and why me? It is God’s blessing that our hearts are tried, and when they are brothers and sisters, we walk with that small remnant of old within the sheep pen, and we have nevertheless for US1 Who is with us to save and to lead us out.