ISAIAH 1:1-20

Isaiah 1:1-20
Good morning. If we haven’t had the opportunity to meet, my name is Michael Talley. Pastor Scott has is on a well-deserved 3-month sabbatical, so he will be out of the pulpit for a few months. He will be studying early church history & reformation theology. Does that surprise anyone? It just hit me that Scott is going to spend a good portion of his summer in Wittenberg & Geneva, and then return to the pulpit a few weeks before Reformation Day. Buckle up!
All that to say, we’ll be taking a break from the book of Luke. You can groan if you want to. I’m as sad as you are. This has been a powerful series for our church. For the past year, I’m not sure I have made it through a Mon./Tue. without hearing someone talk about the impact that the sermon had made in their life. It has been so good to study the life of Christ. 
As Scott mentioned last week, we’re going to spend the next 12 weeks in the book of Isaiah. I can’t really express how excited I am about studying this book with you. My fascination with Isaiah began about 3 years ago. In 2021, Laura & I spent about 3 months doing a deep dive in this book, & it blew me away. I eventually turned that energy into a Wednesday night course. But since I taught that course a few years ago, the book never left me. This is a bit strange, because typically I get fascinated by a topic, explore it like crazy, & then move on to the next thing. But Isaiah didn’t let me out of his grip. Over the past few years, I have been reading & listening to Isaiah on repeat.
I am convinced that if you can get into the mind of Isaiah, you will come away with a greater vision of God. And that is what we need more than anything. You need an accurate vision of God so you can worship him correctly & live correctly. I have heard it said that Isaiah gives us the most comprehensive picture of God in a single book of the Bible, & I agree. Isaiah will show you a God who is holy & transcendent, naming the stars each night, tearing down kingdoms with a word. But also, a God who is near to the brokenhearted & the humble. You will see a God who is filled with wrath & vengeance. His clothes are stained red with the blood of his enemies. But you will also see a God who is tender & compassionate, bouncing us upon his knee like a playful mother.
Isaiah is also tuned into God’s plan of salvation, what Paul called the mystery of the gospel. Isaiah saw it with remarkable clarity. Isaiah was written 750 years before Jesus was born, but I am convinced that he knew Jesus better than the disciples! I’m not kidding. There’s a reason that the church father Jerome called Isaiah the 5th gospel. Isaiah prepared us for a divine savior who would be born of a virgin, live a spirit-filled life, give sight to the blind, die a humiliating death – but who would ultimately triumph through that death – & come back one day as a conquering warrior. That’s all in Isaiah.
If you haven’t turned there yet, make your way to Isa. ch1. We’re going to study vs2-20, which is the first sermon in the book. Now, this probably isn’t the first sermon that Isaiah preached. Isaiah’s ministry probably did not begin until ch6, when he was commissioned by God in his famous throne room vision. We’ll study that in 2 weeks. Most scholars believe that the first 5 chapters are a theological introduction, a summary of his entire message that he put together later in his ministry. This makes a lot of sense because the sermons in this section are very general. There aren’t many names or historical markers. But there are a lot of powerful truths about God. It is a very important section.
So, let’s look at this first sermon. It is a literary & theological masterpiece. I believe this first sermon is designed to grab the nation’s attention. It’s like an alarm clock to wake them out of their rebellion. Isaiah will give us 3 unexpected messages about God. This will serve as our outline.
The core problem in the book of Isaiah is the rebellion of God’s people. It is not Assyria; it is not Babylon. God will use those nations like an axe & toss them away when he’s done with them. The core problem in Isaiah is the hard & rebellious hearts of God’s children. Isaiah will tell us 2 things about rebellion.
And that’s the point. Rebellion never makes sense. It never adds up. (Gen3?) But every one of us in this room is guilty. How many times have you seen this story play out in your own life or in the life of someone you love? You give up your family, your career, your health, for a bite of an apple. It makes no sense to rebel against God, yet we do it anyway.
Rebellion takes you on an unending path of destruction. Listen: not all suffering gets better. Some people think that if you keep on persevering, things will change. The suffering that comes from rebellion will not get better. My daughter saw a bumper sticker recently that says: Apparently, rock bottom has a basement. Apart from God, that is your story.
The people had rebelled against God, & they were suffering the consequences. But they were doing their best to appease him. And so, the temple was a very active place in Isaiah’s day. This is especially true after Hezekiah’s reforms. In fact, at the peak of his reforms, there was a 2-wk celebration where countless animals were sacrificed. Some people think Isaiah is referring to that specific event (What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?). There was a lot of activity in the temple, but not a lot of activity in the heart. I imagine Isaiah walking past the temple, looking at the priests who were stained with blood. Yet, nothing changed. The temple was full of noise, but don’t call it a revival. Idols were still worshipped. The poor were still neglected. The leaders were still corrupt. Their hands were ironically covered with the blood of injustice. Their rebellion hadn’t been dealt with.
God has never wanted a religious nation. God has always wanted a righteous nation. But as Isaiah walked the streets of Jerusalem, he saw a rebellious nation. And here we come to one of the main themes in the book. How will this rebellious nation become that righteous nation that God desires? This is the puzzle that Isaiah will try to work out.
After all this rebellion & mockery, God invites them back. This is the most surprising message of all. It’s the most surprising message in your entire Bible. If you dig into commentaries, you will find a debate on what this verse means. Some of the modern commentaries suggest that God is continuing a mocking tone. Though your sins are like scarlet, do you really think they will become white? But the problem with this reading is that it makes God just like us. If you rebel against him, it’s game over. There’s no pathway back. This isn’t surprising; this is very normal.
But the whole message of Isaiah is that God is entirely different than us. In chapter 52, when God reveals his plan of salvation – his righteous arm – the kings of the earth will be so astonished that they will shut their mouths. Our God is different. He offers a way back. Let these beautiful words wash over you. To the one who has rebelled against him, God says come. To the one who has wearied him with vain offerings, he says come. To the one whose hands are stained with blood, God says come. It’s an irresistible invitation.
God promises to wash away their sins. This is the biggest problem in the book of Isaiah, and it is the biggest problem for everyone in this room. We are polluted with sin. Our hearts are rebellious. We have destroyed our lives. It is why we are sick, and it is why our lives are destroyed. And yet, God is inviting us back into his presence so he can heal us. He is willing and able. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow. He waits to forgive you.
Isaiah does not yet reveal what this will cost God. That lurks in the background & will come to the forefront in chapter 53. God will send his Son to bear our sickness & carry our sorrow. He will be crushed by the Lord in our place. And it is through his wounds that our wounds are healed. We are washed clean by the blood of Jesus. God’s grace is even greater than we can possibly imagine. But we don’t have the full picture yet in chapter 1. We are simply introduced to a God who is willing & able to forgive rebellious sinners.