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down upon Zion and defend Jerusalem from all attacks of the Assyrian. But the people had their eyes upon the huge army of the Egyptians. The Egyptians were seen; the Lord was- unseen. The Lord is wait ing for His people to walk by faith and not by sight; and when they thus follow Him, they find Him ever ready and wholly able to deliver from all enemies. II. T h e I nvitation from th e L ord (6 -9 ). The prophet invited Judah to turn back again to the Lord from whom they had departed (vs. 6, 7). They had made them selves idols of silver and gold and were trusting these images to help them in their hour of need. The prophet pleaded with them to turn from these things and to trust only in the Lord their God. But to do this, they would have to cast away their idols and cease their revolt against their God. They were promised that when they should return to the Lord, He would re turn to them to deliver them and to cause the Assyrian to fall by the sword (vs. 8, 9). It would be a defeat o f the Assyri ans, not by human means, but by spiritual methods. Terror would come upon the enemies of Judah, and they would flee out o f the land. The Lord would fight for Judah, and Judah would be delivered. Thus Isaiah exhorted his generation to cease to put their trust in the arm of flesh, and to trust only in the arm of the mighty God. But in spite of all the examples of the sufficiency o f the Lord, the people were slow to obey His word, even though they had no other hope. III. T he I ntervention from th e L ord (37:36, 37). Isaiah’s message had been considered, and finally it was decided that the Lord would be Judah’s trust. Fortunate it was for Judah that the good king Hezekiah was upon the throne. He was a king whose heart was toward the Lord. When Sennacherib’s emissary sent the letter full of insults to both God and Judah, Hezekiah took it in before the Lord and appealed to Him for help. Hezekiah’s action was an acceptance of the invitation that Isaiah had brought, and when it was so accepted, then the Lord at once began to fulfill His p r om i s e by giving help to Judah. Isaiah was told to inform Heze kiah that his prayer was heard and that he need no longer be troubled concerning the Assyrian and his great host gathered against Jerusalem. The Lord would de liver from the hands o f the enemy (cf. chapter 37). That night “the angel o f the Lord went forth” and slew o f the Assyrians “a hun dred and fourscore and five thousand” (185,000). The Lord was fulfilling His promise to do away with the enemy by spiritual means rather than by fleshly power. The angel simply “smote” those soldiers o f Sennacherib, and in the morn ing they were “all dead corpses.” After such a visitation, the king o f As syria lost no time in departing from that scene o f carnage (v. 37). The Lord knew what He would do; He had already told Isaiah of the outcome of the threatened Assyrian attack, and Isaiah had told Heze kiah. Yet the result was surprising to Hezekiah and his people. It is strange that when the Lord keeps His promises we should be at all •surprised. W e have His word; He has the power to fulfill it; He waits only for us to fulfill conditions, and then He works. The conditions for Judah were that they should thoroughly put away their idols of silver and gold. The same message might
No matter how beautiful the picture made on its surface, ever up out of the heart of the paper would come the ooze of decay. Likewise with human life, the heart’s being wrong spoils all.— J. R. M il l e r , in One Thousand Evangelistic Illustrations, by Webb. Telling God We Are Sorry I s a ia h 1:10-20 Memory Verse: “ I will.be sorry for my sin” (Psa. 38:18). Approach: There was another prophet in Jerusalem at the time of the good king Hezekiah. His name was Isaiah, ,and he,
Object Lesson R ags , B ottles , S acks
Objects: Red and white rags, and a tum bler covered with red cellophane paper. (I f the red cellophane paper is not available, the tumbler may be eliminated, and a red glass, such as is used in the tail light of an automobile, may be substituted.) Lesson: “ Rags, bottles, sacks. Rags, bottles, sacks.” Have you ever heard these words sung by junk gatherers as they go through the streets? They gather rags of all colors, but the two colors about which I want to talk to you are red and white. The Lord, speaking through Isaiah, said: “ Come now, and let us reason together, . . . though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” To make a piece o f cloth crimson or pur ple, it must be left in the dye for a much longer time than is required to make the cloth red. Crimson represents the soul deeply steeped in sin. Ordinarily, black is the color used to represent sin, but this time God uses red. God says He is able to make red as white as snow, and crimson as wool. Let us notice how He does it. A Sunday-school teacher once asked a little girl if there was anything which God could not dp. She replied, “Yes, God can not see my sins through the blood of Christ.” What she said is true. When we have by faith placed our sins under the blood of Christ, God cannot see them. I will place this red rag and the white one in this red glass which represents the blood o f Christ. The red and white look the same color. The sin is all gone when we trust the blood of Christ to cleanse. “ The blood of Jesus Christ his Son clean- seth us from all sin.” seen, rather than in that which is of God and is unseen. After all, the Egyptians were but men, and their horses were but flesh (v. 3). The Lord’s people should turn from the arm of flesh and put their trust in God instead o f in men. I f Judah would turn from trusting in Egypt and trust only in the Lord, she would find the Lord to be like a lion stand ing over its prey, unafraid o f the cries of the shepherds, and undismayed at their presence (v. 4, S). The Lord would come BLACKBOARD LESSON
too, tried to turn the people away from their sins. Lesson Story: He talked to them about the sin of coming into God’s house to worship if their lives were sinful. He said that God does not delight in sacrifices made by sinful hands, that
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God says: “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from y ou ; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear.” The people had committed sins for which they1were not sorry. Isaiah then told the people what to do. He said: “Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well.” He said also to help the oppressed —that is, those who were being treated cruelly, to help those who had no fathers to take care o f them, and to be kind to the widows. Then God made His people a promise. He said: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” And a wonderful part is that God makes this promise to us today. He will do the same thing for us if we repent. And to repent means that we must do two things. First, we must be sorry for the sin that we have done; and second, we must turn away from it and truly want to do right. The Lord Jesus died that we might be forgiven for the wrong things we do. Lesson Text: Isa. 31:1-9; 37:36, 37. Golden Text: “ Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isa. 26:3). Outline and Exposition I. T h e I nstruction from th e L ord (31 :l-5 ). S e n n a c h e r ib , king of Assyria, was threatening Judah, and Juda,h was being tempted to turn to Egypt for aid. But the prophet warned against such a move, in spite o f the outward appearance o f the strength o f Egypt (v. 1). Just be cause there were many men and horses and chariots there, it did not follow that these could deliver from the Assyrian. Instead of looking to Egypt, the path o f wisdom would have been to look only to the Lord (vs. 1, 2). The folly of Judah was in looking only upon the outward ap pearance, without taking into considera tion the inward character o f the desired ally. The temptation o f God’s people has ever been to put their trust in what can be
SEPTEMBER 23, 1934 ISA IAH COUNSELS RULERS I s a ia h , C hapters 7, 31, 36 and 37
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