Isaiah   

I.  Salvation is of the Lord

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

II.  Sending forth by the Lord.  Isaiah 6

  A.  The Sorrow   Isaiah 6:1 “In the year that King Uzziah died…”

  B.  The Solution 

Isaiah 6:1  “…I saw the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple…”

  C.  The Serving

Isaiah 6:8-9  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

  D.  The Success

Isaiah 6:11-13  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

The success is in being faithful to the command of God, for when all we see is disappointment, discouragement, and failure, He sees the substance of life according to His promises –

III.  Security promised by the Lord.

Although Israel is carried away by Assyria and Judah is taken out of the land by the Babylonians, God is still in control and His people will still be in existence to welcome their promised Messiah and King.

Isaiah 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

God is still in control and His plan will be carried out according to His will.

IV.  Safety in life through the Lord.  Isaiah 36

  A.  Destruction was at the gate

They were faced with the demand of full and unconditional surrender.  The lies were cast at them – they were not in the will of God. They were not going to be protected by God.  If God were really with them, they would be greater, larger, and more powerful.  The enemy mocks and declares that we are ignorant and insignificant, and who do we think we are and who is our God that will “…deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?”

The unbelievers will discover the truth that –

  B.  Deliverance was of the Lord!

The response – “vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay”

Isaiah 36:22  Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37:35-36  For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

God has presented through His revelation to Isaiah His plan for His people that we might not let circumstances rule our lives, but live according to His will through His Word. 

V. Saviour Presented.    Isaiah 49:1-65:19

1.  Saviour revealed.

Isaiah 49:5-7  And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.

  B.  Saviour Rejected.   God did not reject them, they rejected Him!

Isaiah 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

  C.  Saviour’s Reaction – Isaiah 50:4-9

He loved them, even though they despised Him –

Isaiah 50:4-6  The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

He determined to finish the work –

Isaiah 50:7  For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

The Lord declared to Malachi the eternal truth –

Malachi 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

 And that through that same truth, He declared to Isaiah the –

  D.  Saviour’s Righteousness 

Isaiah 51:7-8  Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

  E.  Saviour’s Rebuke

Isaiah 51:17-20  Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

Every believer in this age of grace that has read the book of Matthew will recognize the cry of Jesus over the city – how He longed to have comforted her –

Matthew 23:37-39  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

  F.  Saviour’s Report

Isaiah 53:1-6  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Have you believed the report and trusted in God through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you have not believed Him, you should because God’s plan did not end in the sacrifice on the cross.  The cross was followed by the burial and the resurrection and we are told of the –

  G.  Saviour’s Rejoicing.

Isaiah 54:1,2  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.  Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Isaiah 65:16-19  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes. For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

Revelation 21:3-4  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

God’s plan leads to the –

  H.  Saviour’s Reign 

Revelation 21:6-7  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

We have seen His plan revealed through Isaiah.

How long, Isaiah asked.

How long, the disciples asked –

And the response from the Lord is the same to the disciples as it was to Isaiah –

Acts 1:6-8  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Be faithful and go, the results belong to God!

Which brings us back to the question –

Isaiah 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Will you go?