Isaiah 12
Sunday Morning Bible Study
April 4, 1999
Introduction
Isaiah 12 is a song of praise that follows the events of chapters 10 & 11. In those chapters we saw a kind of dual prophecy that applied both to the near term invasion of Judah by the nation of Assyria, as well as a future invasion of Israel by the Antichrist. The prophecies talked about the destruction of the enemy and God’s deliverance for His people. Chapter 11 ended by drawing a parallel of this deliverance to that of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt:
(Isa 11:16 KJV) And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
There would be a highway from Assyria to Israel, created by the parting of the river Euphrates. This would be similar to what happened when God parted the Red Sea and brought his people out of Egypt. After the people came through the Red Sea, Moses led the people in a song:
(Exo 15:1-2 KJV) Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. {2} The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God …
The song we’re going to look at this morning is what Israel will sing when Jesus comes again and rescues them from the fury of the Antichrist.
:1 though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
This is talking about salvation. But it’s not just salvation from the threat of the enemy armies advancing on Jerusalem. It’s salvation from the very wrath of God.
The ones who are singing this will be the faithful Jews who have come to trust in Jesus as their Messiah during the time of the Great Tribulation. They are the ones He will come back to rescue.
It’s appropriate for God to be angry with us.
Don’t get the crazy idea that God is some kind of cosmic paranoid freak who is out to destroy us for no reason just because He woke up with a headache. God’s wrath is very appropriate.
Think of what we are hearing about in Kosovo. If these news reports are true, doesn’t it make you angry to think of these Serbian military groups going through the villages, pulling out the young men and killing them, raping the women, and torching entire villages? Is it wrong that you would get angry at something like that? No, it’s very proper. It is proper to get angry at injustice.
Our sins are no different in God’s sight. Our sins provoke a proper kind of wrath, a wrath that must demand justice and payment for sins committed.
Lesson
What turns away God’s anger?
Something called "propitiation". It’s the payment of the price of justice.
Rom 3:20-26
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.You can’t be made right before God by just trying to obey the laws. All the laws do is show us just how sinful we are, just how far short we fall of God’s standards.
{21} But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; {22} Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Being right with God comes in a way that’s separate from the Law. It comes when we learn to trust in Jesus. We’ll see this again in Isaiah 12:2 that salvation comes from trust.
{23} For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We all fall short. We all sin. We all deserve God’s anger.
{24} Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: {25} Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; {26} To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
We go from being sinners to being declared right before God because of the price (redemption) that Jesus paid for us. God made Jesus to be the one who paid the price for our sins, the one who "appeased" His righteous anger for our sins. This happened when Jesus died on the cross, taking the punishment that we deserved, paying the price with His own blood. Because the debt has been completely paid, God can still be declared a just God because there is no longer any debt.
But this can only happen when we have placed our faith in the blood of Jesus. God can only forgive us when we have come to the point where we have chosen to allow Jesus to pay for our sins. It’s when we’ve come to the point where we are no longer going to try and please God by our own actions, but have realized that the only way to please God is by accepting His solution to my sins.
It’s as if I have this huge credit card debt and no way to pay for it. Then one day I read in the newspaper that a generous millionaire is willing to pay for anyone’s credit card debts, as long as they let him know they’re interested. Until I apply for the help, my debts are not paid. Until I ask God for help and trust Him to pay for me, my debts are not paid.
Rom 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:When we’ve trusted Jesus to pay our debts, then we are no longer at war with God. We now have peace with Him.
Lesson
God isn’t angry any more.
This is what happens when we get saved. We are saved from the consequences of our sins because the price has been paid. When Jesus died for our sins, He died once, once for all. He paid for all my sins with His death on the cross. God is no longer angry with us.
To us who have been saved, we now know God as the "God of all comfort":
2 Cor 1:3-5
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; {4} Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. {5} For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.Quote
:"You don't have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it's all been made possible by your Savior. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow."
-- from Joni Eareckson Tada (Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 2.), a gal who is paralyzed from the neck down. These words aren’t insincere, trite things coming from a person who doesn’t know hardship. She knows. She’s lived it.
:2 Behold, God is my salvation;
The Hebrew here is very close to the name of Isaiah himself which means, "Yahweh has saved".
:2 I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
LORD JEHOVAH – the Hebrew here is "Yah Yahweh". The repetition of the name denotes emphasis, and the unchangeableness of God's character. (JFB)
Lesson
Salvation comes by trusting.
As we’ve seen, it’s when we put our trust in the Lord that we find true salvation.
Lesson
Don’t be afraid, trust.
Illustration
The great tightrope walker has stretched a cable across Niagara Falls. As the crowd begins to gather, he carefully makes his way from one side to the next. The crowd is asked if they think he can ride a bicycle across. They shout "Yes!" as he rides back across the falls. Next they are asked if they think he can push a wheelbarrow across. They all shout "Yes!". A man is singled out. "Will you get in the wheelbarrow?"
When you think about it, getting into a wheelbarrow and being pushed across Niagara Falls doesn’t exactly make me think about losing my fears. It only makes them worse. So I stay on the sidelines. And be afraid.
Growing in life is all about learning to get across the falls. And you know that you can’t walk that tightrope by yourself. It’s best to just get into the wheelbarrow.
Keep in mind, you’re not getting into the wheelbarrow of an inexperienced, reckless, angry person. He’s the best tightrope walker there ever was. He’s never lost a person getting across yet.
:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
When you lived in a city like Jerusalem where there was not a lot of water, you would basically have two different sources of water.
One way to get water was to cut large cisterns into the rock. Then when it rained, the water was channeled into these large cisterns and stored there for later use. The water would be drinkable, but you can imagine what it must have tasted like after sitting there for a couple of months.
The second source of water was to find a spring like the Gihon spring. The water would come bubbling up out of the earth, all clean and fresh. Cool fresh mountain spring water. The word Isaiah uses here for "wells" (ma`yan) means "spring" or "fountain". He’s talking about this kind of water. It’s what’s called "living water".
Lesson
Make sure you’re trusting in the right thing.
It was possible to have spent months chiseling into the rock, digging out a cistern, only to find that it didn’t hold water. Jeremiah alludes to this:
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
What are you looking to for joy in your life?
If you are looking anywhere else other than the Lord, you’re going to find that it just won’t hold water. There is only one place where you will find the cool clean water of life. That’s in Jesus.
Lesson
There is joy in the Lord.
I’m afraid that some of us Christians have given the world the wrong idea. Some people somehow get this idea that if you become a Christian, then suddenly you have to look like you just ate a basket of lemons. You can’t have any fun. If life isn’t a total drag, then you’re not being spiritual enough.
God wants to give us joy for today.
Think of the lame man that was healed when Peter and John spoke to him (Acts 3). After he was healed,
(Acts 3:8 KJV) And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
I think we need a little more walking, leaping, and praising God.
Illustration
Joyce Wright, writing about her husband, Norm Wright (in Marriage Partnership, Vol. 7, no. 3.) says,
"Sometimes Norm can be so positive and enthusiastic about whatever's he's doing that it's disconcerting to me. I wonder if he's walking in the same world I am. Once we were fishing in a mountain lake. We hadn't caught a thing. Norm had rowed the boat to five or six different spots, looking for the fish to bite. Finally, after about three hours, he got this big grin on his face and said, "Now we can really start fishing. We know where the fish aren't!" He has a wonderful enthusiasm for life that permeates everything he does."
God wants to give us joy for the future.
Part of the joy we share comes from the Resurrection. Because we know that there is life after death, because we know that we will be in heaven, we can have joy even when things around us don’t make sense.
Illustration
Charles Spurgeon writes, "My horse invariably comes home in less time than he makes on the journey away. He pulls the carriage with a hearty good will when his face is toward home. Should not I also both suffer and labor the more joyously because my way lies toward heaven, and I am on pilgrimage to my Father's house, my soul's dear home and resting place?"
We’re heading home. Perhaps the thought of that might help us pick up our pace a little.
Lesson
Joy comes from the Holy Spirit.
To the Jews, this verse had great significance in one of their annual feasts. Each fall, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the people would gather in Jerusalem to remember what life was like for their ancestors who came out of Egypt and lived for forty years in the wilderness. Part of the annual rituals involved a daily procession of priests to the pool of Siloam where they would fill a golden pitcher with water and take it back to the temple grounds.
And don’t think that this was some somber occasion. It was a time of great joy, music and dancing by even the most solemn people. It was said that "he that never saw the rejoicing of the place of drawing of water, never saw any rejoicing in his life." (John Gill)
As the priests made their way back to the temple, they would sing from Isaiah 12:3, "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Salvation". The water would be poured out on the pavement, partly as an act of repentance (JFB), partly as a kind of plea to God for rain (Gill), and also because the Jews believed this had something to do with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit (Gill).
The feast would last eight days, with the same ritual taking place each day. It’s on the last day of the feast in AD 32 that something significant happened:
(John 7:37-39 KJV) In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. {38} He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. {39} (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Do you want to drink with joy from the wells of salvation? Then you’re going to have to come to Jesus. And you’ll find that He will pour out His Holy Spirit upon you and give you joy.
:4 declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.
make mention – zakar – to remember, recall, call to mind
These words aren’t anything new. In fact, they too are from an old song. They were first sung when David had just finished bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem for the first time. The people had a great time of joy and feasting as the symbol of God’s presence was brought into David’s capital:
(1 Chr 16:7-8 KJV) Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. {8} Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.
Though the King James is a little different, the Hebrew words are the same as Isaiah 12:4.
Lesson
Tell people about your God.
Even since the time of David, God has been hoping that we would let people in on just who He is. Tell them what God has done in your life. Don’t forget His name. It’s Jesus.
:6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD thy God in the midst of thee [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
(1 John 4:4 KJV) Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Lesson
God, in you, is mighty
This is what King Hezekiah discovered when the huge, awesome Assyrian army was camped on his doorstep. And in one night, a single angel from God wiped out 185,000 Assyrians.
On this morning when we remember the incredible, powerful resurrection of Jesus from the dead, don’t forget that God offers us that same resurrection power through the Holy Spirit.
(Rom 8:11 NASB) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
This is what you will find when you get into the wheelbarrow. And sometimes getting into the wheelbarrow can just make you SHOUT!