Isaiah 8 to 12
The people to whom Isaiah spoke knew from the psalms and other scriptures, that a mighty king was to come to conquer all enemies and rule in peace. In the visions, Isaiah saw that Holy One as first a child:
“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder: His name shall be. called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isa, 9:6.
All those names taught how great that One would be. Isaiah was also shown of that One as king, called, the Rod, which means to correct and rule; He would have all wisdom, and then even the wild animals would be gentle; “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them ... the sucking child shall play on the hole of asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den.” Isa. 11:1-91And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:1‑9).
Such a happy time has not yet come; no one could trust a lamb or a child with a wolf or a lion, not leave a little child beside the hole of poisonous serpents. Yet there will surely be a time when those words will come true.
The people then who believed God’s words must have thought much of that One to come. But many did not want to hear of a holy King, because they were doing such wrong things, and worshiping idols. Because of that, God told Isaiah to take a great roll and write of trouble to come to all Israel; men of the temple were to sign this record, so it would be known to be true. The long hard name of this record meant “sold for spoil”; what is taken by the victors in war is called “spoil”; God said that the people should be sold for spoil; it was their sins which would “sell” them; the heathen kings they had made their friends, would turn against them to get their riches and make them their servants.
The words “sold for spoil”, came true some years later: a king of Assyria (a country east of Palestine) took the people of Damascus and the people of Israel in Samaria, and made them his servants, (Isa, 8:4; 2 Kings 16:99And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. (2 Kings 16:9), and 17:6); a later king came frorn Babylon against Judah and Jerusalem, “as a river overflows its banks” and took their wealth and carried many of the people away captives (Isa, 8:7, 8; 2 Chiron, 36:15-20).
Yet God promised a few, “a remnant”, should return to Judah, and again in the tline of the Holy King there should be a remnant come from all lands (Isa.11:11, also Isa, 10:21, 22; Rom. 9:2727Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: (Romans 9:27)).
When Jesus was born in the same land where Isaiah had lived, the angel told of Him, as of the promised holy child:
“Unto you is born this day ... a Saviour (One who saves), which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:8-148And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8‑14) (Read also Matt. 4:13-1613And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. (Matthew 4:13‑16)).
But this holy One was refused as king, and people still wait the time of peace (Read Isa. 12).
ML 11/09/1941