Isaiah 9:8-10:4 - His Anger Does Not Turn Back

The Christian life is a strange combination of sorrow and joy. We feel sorrow over our sin, but we rejoice constantly in God’s faithfulness to forgive, sanctify, and preserve us (2 Cor 7:10; Jude 24). We feel sorrow at Satan’s power over our world, but we anticipate Christ’s future kingdom with joy (Rev 11:15, 12:9).

Isaiah experienced similar ups and downs. His words help us process our joy and sadness in a godly way.

In Isaiah 8:9-22, Isaiah exposed the dark culture of sin surrounding him. But in 9:1-7, he rejoiced that one day God would send His Child into the world to be the everlasting King of Israel. Today’s passage, 9:8-10:4, goes back to the mournful situation of Isaiah’s day. It is a four-part lament for the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, which was nearly finished as a nation. Each of the four sections ends with the same refrain: “In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back, and His hand is still stretched out” (9:12, 17, 21, and 10:4).

I encourage you to have your Bible open to this passage as we study it.

The first stanza is 9:8-12. Isaiah isn’t merely prophesying future judgment on Israel. Judgment has already begun: Assyrian invaders have conquered many cities. Yet they cling to a foolish hope in themselves, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stones; the sycamores have been cut in pieces but we will replace them with cedars” (9:10). Isaiah warns them more attacks are coming from Syria and Philistia (9:11-12). Yet Israel simply won’t respond to God with repentance.

The second stanza, 9:13-17, goes inside the Northern Kingdom to reveal what the people are like. Even as His judgment rains down on them, they don’t turn back from sin or seek Yahweh (13). Both the highly respected and false prophets are leading the people into deeper spiritual confusion (14-16). Even Israel’s lower classes, orphans and widows (groups often exempt from prophetic condemnation), are rebuked for sinful speech and behavior (17). So God will cut them off from the land in order to cleanse it (14, 17).

The third stanza, 9:18-21, compares the fury of sin with the fury of God’s judgment. Just as sin burns within hearts to consume the nation, God’s punishment burns up the land of Israel (18-19). As God brings this judgment against their sin, their true wickedness is exposed as various tribes begin attacking each other (20-21).

The fourth and final stanza, 10:1-4, rebukes the nation’s leaders for writing wicked laws rather than practicing God’s perfect law (1). These new laws take advantage of the widow and orphan, people explicitly protected in God’s law (2). God warns these wicked leaders that they will find no refuge from His devastation (3). They will either be killed or taken into captivity with the rest of the nation.

These four sections point Israel beyond their own leaders to God Himself. They also bring clear lessons for Christians today: (1) We can’t depend on ourselves to turn away God’s judgment. We must seek His mercy. (2) All people are alike under sin. We must call every person to repent, without favoritism. (3) If sin goes unchecked in our life, homes, churches, or nation, it will bring destruction. (4) God’s word isn’t optional or incomplete. We shouldn’t alter it for our own interests. But the greatest lesson is that we should hope in the Prince of Peace. He will establish justice and righteousness on earth forevermore (9:1-7). He is the answer to our sorrow and the source of our greatest joy.

Pastor David

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