The Reign of Wicked King Ahaz

Transcript

GRS 2-111
5/18/2008
The Reign of Wicked King Ahaz
2 Kings 16
Gil Rugh

We are in Second Kings Chapter 16 in your Bibles. Second Kings Chapter 16; we are moving towards the end of the northern kingdom. Chapter 17, will mark they are carrying away by Assyria in to captivity. The 16th Chapter of the Second Kings is given over entirely to the reign of the king in the southern kingdom, Judah king Ahaz. This also is recorded in Second Chronicles Chapter 28 and we will be looking into that parallel Chapter as well. Ahaz is one of those men in the Bible giving you unique opportunities and privileges by God. One of those privileges was both his father and grandfather who were kings before him are noted as being good kings.

Second Kings Chapter 15 verse 3, his grandfather Uzziah or as he is called Azariah here, he did right in the sight of the Lord. His father verse 34 chapter 15 he did right in the sight of the Lord as his father Uzziah had done. So he had this kind of godly heritage preceding him. A second privilege given to Ahaz is one of the greatest of the Old Testament prophets Isaiah ministered to Ahaz and we’ll be looking into the prophesies of Isaiah. So he not only has a father and a grandfather who ruled before him who would have had influence on him but he had the prophet Isaiah and yet Ahaz is one of the most ungodly kings to reign in Judah. A godless man who rejects the truth of God and the grace of God has offered to him.

Godly heritage doesn’t guarantee that the child would be godly exposure to the word of the God even through a great prophet like Isaiah doesn’t assure that they will be a responsive faith to the word that’s given. So each person is accountable before God and makes their response to God. Ahaz comes in at this time and an extensive portion given to him because the events of his reign intersect in important ways with his time period in the northern kingdom and as Assyria comes into the picture, Ahaz plays an important role, and his kingdom will be impacted in a significant way as well by the Assyrians.

Let’s look at the chapter as it opens up, then we’ll be looking at some other parallel portions. In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham King of Judah became king. Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God as his father David had done. Remember the standard is David, so repeatedly as we have seen in these southern kings these goes back to David did he do as David had done. He did right as his father David had done. He did not do right as his father David had done.

He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. If you have your list of the kings in under Judas kings number twelve is Ahaz. You’ll note he really reigned 20 years but it says it reigned 16 years. But four of those years he was the co-regent with his father and so the sixteen years are the years he reigned as the sole king accounting the years that he was viewed as co-regent with his father he had a total reign of 20 years.

Verse 3 he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Now remember Ahab is king over the southern kingdom Judah, that he walked in the way of the northern kings and none of them were godly. He even made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations which the Lord had driven out from before the sons of Israel. This shows something of the decadent deprived character of Ahaz and the fact that the northern kingdom is bottoming out if I can speak that way spiritually it’s come to the point where judgment is a necessity. Remember the Book of Second Kings would have been written during the time of the Babylonian captivity after the southern kingdom also was carried into captivity and it is reminding the Jews as they have been carried away to foreign lands why this judgment of God was necessary. Ahaz has even caused his son to pass through the fire.

Turn back to Leviticus Chapter 18. Leviticus 18 verse21 we’re in the mosaic law, the law that God has given it to Moses, it’s a preparation for when Israel will go into the land and their accountability to God in verse 21 'You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. That offering to Molech, would be a sacrifice where you burned your son as a sacrifice to the God Molech. God primarily associated with the Ammonites.

Over in the Leviticus chapter 20 beginning the chapter. The Lord spoke to Moses saying 'You shall say to the sons of Israel any man from the sons of Israel or from the alien soldier in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set my face against that man. Will cut him off from amongst his people because he has given some of his offspring to Molech so as to defy my sanctuary, to profane my holy name' goes on and the judgment that he warns them off.

Turn over to Jeremiah Chapter 19. Isaiah, Jeremiah Chapter 19. Now Jeremiah is writing a later period giving his prophesies, a later period during the time of the Babylonian captivity which occurred in 586 B.C. and in Jeremiah Chapter 19 we’ll pick up with verse 4. "Because they have forsaken me and have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods, that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, have built a high places of Baal they burnt their sons in the fire as an offering to Baal.

The thing which I never commanded to spoke of nor did it ever enter my mind, totally removed from anyway that I could be acceptably worshiped that you would burn your children and stand in the metal statue of Molech." Part of the practice was, they heated that statue then they would slay their son and then place it in the arms of that red hot statue and allow it to be consumed in that way. Just a terrible religion, terrible worship, and here you have the king of Judah following this practice and offering his son as a sacrifice to the God Molech.

Come back to Second Kings verse 4 of Chapter 16. He sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places, on the hills, under every green tree. Even the godly kings had done away with these places of worships scattered throughout the kingdom even though God had said that he can’t be worshiped in those places. Even the best of the kings Ahaz’s father and grandfather marked as good kings tolerated the worship going on in the high places. He gets involved in that.

The point is he is totally pagan. He is worshiping the God Molech even to the point of willing to burn one of his sons as a sacrifice to Molech he’s involved in all the sacrifices going on wherever they’re scattered around. Verse 5 verses 5-9 talk about the war that Ahaz king of the southern kingdom has with two kings the king of Israel in the north and the king of Aram Syria, Rezin, and Pekah verse 5. Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram include the Judeans out of Elath entirely; and the Arameans came to Elath and have lived there to this day. Modern day we call it Elat down toward the red sea it’s a vacation spot today. So they have come down the eastern side of Israel all the way down to the Red Sea and conquered that city. They’ve made war with Jerusalem. This is being going on since the days of Ahaz’s father Jotham. These kings Rezin and Pekah have been successful in inflicting serious losses on Judah but they’re unable to conquer Jerusalem.

Now leave a marker in Kings and come over to Second Chronicles 28 and we will be going back and forth so you may want to leave a marker or bulletin or piece of paper. In Second Chronicles 28 when we leave here again. In Second Chronicles Chapter 28 the chapter opens up the first four verses repeating what we’ve just read about Ahaz and him sacrificing burned his sons in the fire verse 3 and then sacrificing on all the places of worship throughout the land verse 5 Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the King of Aram, remember Aram is Syria. They defeated him and carried away from him a great number of captives brought them to Damascus. He was also delivered into the hands of the king of Israel inflicted him with heavy casualties. For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.

You see it’s the hand of the Lord is delivered Judah over into the hands of his enemies now. Hundred and twenty thousand soldiers lost in one day. So they are taking tremendous losses. The king’s son was killed in verse 7 the ruler of the royal household was killed the one second in command of the king was killed verse 8. The sons of Israel carried away captives of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters. They took a great deal of spoil from them brought the spoil to Samaria the capital of the northern kingdom. So you can imagine with a hundred twenty thousand valiant soldiers slain, who used to defend the women children. Great numbers carried away two hundred thousand captives and all the spoils and booty that would go. But the Lord intervenes on behalf of Judah; again the grace of God is there.

Now remember you’ve gone as a member of the southern kingdom into the Babylonian captivity when you‘re reading this. You can appreciate the way God’s grace was manifested but it wasn’t enough to turn even the southern kingdom away from their evil ways, but a prophet of the Lord was there whose name was Oded. He went out to meet the army which came to Samaria and said to them. "Behold because the Lord the God of your father’s was angry with Judah he has delivered them into your hand and you have slain them in a rage which has reached heaven. Now you are proposing to subjugate for yourself the people of Judah and Jerusalem for male and female slaves. Surely, do you not have any transgressions of your own against the Lord your God," warning here.

You’ve been used of the Lord to punish Judah for their sins but don’t go beyond what the Lord intends for you as his instrument. One thing for you to defeat them in battle now the thing you are going to enslave your brethren is your fellow Jews by cutting away these two hundred thousand to Samaria and you will enslave them you better stop and think, don’t you have any transgressions of your own. You go beyond with the Lord in tents his wrath is going to poured out in greater ways on you.

Now therefore listen to me return the captives whom you’ve captured from your brothers for the burning anger of the Lord is against you. So some of the heads of the northern kingdom step forward and say enough and they won’t allow the captives to be brought and maintained. So verse 13 they stepped forward and say "You shall not bring the captives in here" you’re proposing to bring upon us guilt against the Lord adding to our sins and our guilt for guilt is great so that his anger is burning against Israel.

So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the officers and all the assembly and so what they do then, they come in because what they’ve done they have stripped this people naked, total humiliation and marched them as slaves if you will to the northern kingdom. But now they take, they give them clothes, they feed them give them thing to drink. Those who were weakened too weak to walk they put on animals, donkeys they bring them down to Jericho and released them and they return to Samaria.

So an interesting response from the northern kingdom of all places and it sounds that you wonder what in the world happens here but in the grace of the Lord this northern kingdom responds to the message of the prophet Oded and returns the captives. Even this is a reminder to those sitting in the Babylonian captivity because we’re going to go on to see when the prophet Isaiah spoke to Judah and the King Ahaz, Judah didn’t listen. So those at the southern kingdom they might sit there and think that northern kingdom deserve their captivity we didn’t, but you understand even in times the northern kingdom listen to the prophets of the Lord and the southern kingdom didn’t. So don’t think you’re any better any less deserving of judgment.

Now even though the captives been returned, Rezin and Pekah are not done with Jerusalem. They returned to attack Jerusalem this time the Edomites have been brought into the alliance they’re trying to strengthen themselves so they can overthrow Ahaz and replace him with a man that will be aligned with them. Down in verses 16 and 17, at that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help for again the Edomites had come and attacked Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines are attacking and you have Rezin and Pekah attacking. Now we have to turn over to the Book of Isaiah. So now you have a marker in Second Kings 16 a marker in Second Chronicles 28 and you will soon have a marker in Isaiah 7.

Why you, when you go to Isaiah 7 hold your finger there and back up the Isaiah 1. I just want to you to know the context of Isaiah’s prophecy, the vision of Isaiah the son of Amos concerning Judah and Jerusalem. So Isaiah is a prophet to the southern kingdom which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. So you have your list of Judah’s kings you can see number 10 is Uzziah and Hezekiah is number 13 so Isaiah’s ministry is carried on during the time of those kings as Isaiah 1 makes clear. You see a great ministry going on during that time.

When you come to Isaiah Chapter 7 you begin a series of Chapters that deal with the reign of Ahaz where we are in Second Kings 16. You know how it starts chapter 7 of Isaiah verse 1. Now it came about in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah. That Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it but could not conquer it. So that’s our context.

You come down to verse 5 because Aram with Ephraim the son of Remaliah has planned evil against you saying let us go up against Judah and terrorize it and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it. So you see what the intention of Pekah and Rezin is. They want to replace Ahaz. The problem is Ahaz won’t join them in their rebellion and resistance to Assyria. They want to replace him with the king that will be supportive of them in their activities.

So that’s the context of Isaiah coming and addressing Ahaz verse 3 of Chapter 7. Then the Lord said to Isaiah "Go out to meet Ahaz you and your son Shear-jashub at the end of the conduit" and so on. Say to him "Take care and be calm have no fear do not be faint hearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands on the account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah" and this is their plan to overthrow Ahaz but the Lord says in verse 7 "It shall not stand or come to pass."

Now you enter into that section so familiar to us where God gives a great promise to Ahaz. You come down to verse 10 thus the Lord spoke again to Ahaz saying "Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God make it as deep a Sheol or as high as heaven but Ahaz said "I will not ask nor will I test the Lord. He is not saying you know I wouldn’t put the Lord to the test why asking for a sign. He’s just unwilling not open to the ministry of Isaiah not interested in the intervention of the Lord. You know where Ahaz is going, he’s not going to the Lord he’s going to Assyria.

He said this time rather than accepting the gracious invitation of the Lord to intervene on his behalf Ahaz sends to Assyria and asks them to come to his aid and rescue him from Pekah and Remaliah Rezin son of Remaliah. It almost dumbfound you and again put yourself as a Jew sitting in the Babylonian captivity and see the grace of the Lord rejected again even on the very edge of the destruction of the northern kingdom, the king of the south, the kind of the southern kingdom is no better.

The mighty prophet Isaiah comes and says thus says Lord ask me, Ahaz says no I won’t do it and he’s sending messengers off to Assyria come help me in other words I don’t want the help of Lord I’ll take Assyrian and you have that great prophecy. Isaiah said in verse 13 "Listen now O house of David is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?" "Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign behold a virgin will be with the child and bear a son and she will call his name Immanuel". "He will eat curds and honey at the time he knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken." In Chapter 7 to 12 of Isaiah deal with this period of time Ahaz rule as King.

Leave a marker in Isaiah 7 and come back to Second King 16 and we’ll pick up what happens. Verse 7, so Ahaz send messengers to Tiglath-pileser King of Assyria saying "I am your servant and your son, come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel who are rising up against me." Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent a present to the King of Assyria, so the King of Assyria listen to him and the King of Assyria went up against Damascus and captured it carried the people of it away into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death. Tiglath-pileser III. It sound like Ahaz’s plan works. Tiglath-pileser comes up the Syrians can’t stand against the Assyrians, don’t confuse them the Syrians and the Assyrians. The Syrians have their capital at Damascus, the Assyrians have the capital over on the Tigress with Nineveh in times at Babylon which they used also.

Rezin is killed. Now you have Pekah and he is killed in a coup that puts the pro-Assyrian Hoshea on the throne of the northern kingdom. You see what’s happening here the Assyrians come marching in, the ally of the northern kingdom Syria falls the kings put to death you know what has to happen we have to get rid of the anti-Assyrian king in the north and replace him. And so this was recorded back in Chapter 15 in First Kings as we move those history little ahead then we backup.

But look in Second Kings Chapter 15 verse 29. In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them away captive to Assyria. So you see Assyria is coming down through Syria and now you’re into the Galilee, the region of Galilee northern part of Israel. Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, struck him and put him to death and became king in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah.

So this is all the intrigue going on. Hoshea now has replaced Pekah as king of the northern kingdom. Pekah being anti-Assyria, Hoshea being pro-Assyria the delaying tactic, if you will. Not necessary for the Assyrians to conquer the northern kingdom at this time because now they have an ally who supports Assyria. Ahaz got his way both comes are gone. I didn’t need the Lord I worked it out I used the Syria both those kings were after me have now been removed. So seems like things may have worked out.

But Ahaz will suffer for his disobedience and Judah is going to suffer at the hands of the Assyrians. Did you leave a marker in Isaiah 7, flip back to Isaiah 7 verse 17, "The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, he will bring on you the king of Assyria." "In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt, for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. They will come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places." The ledge is like whistling for the fly, the bee they come and land everywhere in other word they’re just going to swarm in."

"In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; he will remove the beard." You know what Ahaz, you’ve hired king of Assyria you know what, I’ve sent for him, the result of his coming, you are going to be subjugated. He ends up being a poor ally. Come back to Second Chronicle Chapter 28, Second Chronicle Chapter 28. The context here verse 19. For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had about lack of restrain and Judah was very unfaithful to the Lord.

So Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. I hired to help me but got a problem you invited the fox into the hen so to speak. Assyria has marched its armies over here, already got the wealth from Judah. Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria afflicted him instead of strengthening him. Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the king and of the princes and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him.

You put these passages from Kings and Chronicles and Isaiah together and you see something of the setting in the picture. And Ahaz’s stubborn refusal to respond even to the gracious word of God through Isaiah the prophet. In fact we’re told in the time of his distress this same king Ahaz became more unfaithful to the Lord. So it indeed is a tragic time in Israel.

Come back to Second King 16. We pick up the account here when Tiglath-pileser arrives in Damascus with his armies. Ahaz goes to meet him thinking I have a close ally here so verse 10. Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and while there he saw the altar which was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the pattern of the altar and its model according to all its workmanship. Ahaz, his servants who were with him in Damascus when he goes to meet Tiglath-pileser get an accurate rendition of the altar at Damascus and has the plans taken back to Urijah the priest in Jerusalem. So Urijah the priest build an alter according to all the king Ahaz has sent from Damascus thus Urijah the priest made it before the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus. So it would be ready when king Ahaz got back from his meeting with Tiglath-pileser in Damascus.

When the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar; the king approached the altar and went up to it, he burned his burnt offering, his meal offering, poured his drink offering, sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. One person wrote this, Ahaz was the consummate syncretist. He tried anything from anybodies religion that might give him any kind of advantage. He had no concept of who’s the God of Israel. Here he brings this altar from Damascus sets it up at the temple of Jerusalem.

He has no concept that the God of Israel is the only true God. Oh here’s an altar, worship with goods at the altar at Damascus. He’s going there to meet Tiglath-pileser you know. The God of Damascus didn’t preserve them, but sin makes no sense, so Ahaz has his set up and now he mixes. He’s going to do his burned offerings. In verse 12 and 13 these offerings, he burned his burnt offering verse 13 his meal offering, his drink offerings, his peace offerings, these are sweet saver offerings. They were to represent Israel’s fellowship with God. He hasn’t totally abandoned the worship system of Israel; he’s withered it to the paganism of Damascus the Syrian worship, the worship of the Syrians. In doing that he is totally rejected the God of Israel but, he just didn’t come down and sweep it clean at this point. He brings it and sets it up in the temple. And he still offering the sacrifices required by the law but he’s offering them on a pagan altar at the temple. You see really he’s playing God here and set up his own worship system.

He makes the new altar verse 14 the focus of the worship so the bronze altar, which was before the Lord, he brought from the front of the house, puts in on the north side of his altar. Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, "Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening meal." The meal offering, the burnt offering and all these, but the bronze offering will be for me to inquire by. So we got a new focus of worship that will be my private place, the former bronze altar that we have moved out of the way.

The sad thing is Urijah the priest along with all this. You see the corruption of Israel, the Jews sitting in the Babylon captivity as they are reading this history wondering why we are in captivity, how are they better than the northern kingdoms that God had to judge. Ahaz will continue to dismantle the furniture of the temple until he finally shuts down the temple, and you want to turn over to Second Chronicle 28 verse 24. Moreover when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces, he close the doors of the house of the Lord, made altars for himself and in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods and provoked the Lord, the God of his fathers to anger. So you see before he’s done he just shuts the temple down completely.

So you see that drift of that compromise that mixing, that wedding of paganism in the worship of true God and pretty soon we don’t need the temple at all. He just spreads the pagan worship throughout Jerusalem. While you are in Second Chronicles 28, sometimes pressure, trials, difficulties are graciously used to drive people to the Lord that didn’t happen with Ahaz, it had the opposite effect. We already read verse 22 of Chapter 28.

Now in the time of his distress this same king Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord and that precedes what we just read about him shutting down the temple. Now it’s in the midst of this kind of paganism that Isaiah the prophets carrying on his ministry, that my Micah the prophet wrote book we have as the prophesy of Micah was carrying on his ministry. Come over to Isaiah again Chapter 1 if you would. You see the situation in Israel, Isaiah Chapter 1. We’ve verse 1, the context and here we are during these kings what has Isaiah have to say? "Listen O heavens." Verse 2 of Isaiah 1 "Hear, O earth for the Lord speaks Sons I have reared and brought up but they have revolted against me. An ox knows its owner, a donkey its master's manger, but Israel does not know my people do not understand."

Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity. Offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from him. Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick, the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it. This is the condition that God says is true of Judah.

Verse 7; your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your fields – strangers are devouring them in your presence, judgment comes, it’s only the grace of the Lord anybody survives verse 9. So verse 10, hear the word of the Lord, your rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God you people of Gomorrah. What a terrible denunciation, God addresses Judah and he calls him Sodom and Gomorrah, I mean cities that are the epitome of godless, depravity. And when he sends I say it to address Judah he says call them Sodom, call them Gomorrah that’s how I see them.

What are your multiplied sacrifices to me says the Lord "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams the fat of fed cattle; I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lamps and goats when you have come to appear before me who requires of you this trampling of my coats bring you worthless offerings no more and I can’t stand it. I hate your new moon festivals here." Any wonder with the mixture we’ve seen, the depravity going on and yet then the people sin all they do and then they come to church and they think everything is okay Israel. Now we’ll bring a sacrifice and of course we’re worshiping in all these other places and honoring these pagan gods as well and out of all this mix I am sure god is pleased and everything is good. I think we’re all bringing sacrifices aren’t we Lord out to be happy we even do that for him.

Is he to get that mindset we’re doing a Lord a favor, now this become an hour to one Sunday what else he want for me that I have to be good enough. No you read it when somebody else is doing it and you’ll say oh my goodness. And this is Judah, this is the best of the nation. They haven’t bottomed out yet the northern king will go to 722 to southern kingdom well up to 586 but you realize it’s only the grace of God and yet God is gracious what he saying in the midst of this Chapter 1 of Isaiah verse 18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord. "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; I want to bless you, I will clinch you I will make you clean if you will bow in obedience to me. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken." Now you say no choice I am on my knees before the Lord, not Judah the southern kingdom, this is Isaiah prophesying to the southern kingdom to his generation.

How the faithful city has become a harlot. She was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your drink diluted with water on it goes and yet in this context it leads in to verse 27 you will be redeemed with justice repentant ones with righteousness. Transgressors and sinners will be crushed together. Those who forsake the Lord will come to an end. But you come down in the verse 2 It will come about in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord would be establish the chief of the mountains. People will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord" the ultimate fulfillment of God’s grace will ultimately bring salvation to Israel.

You turn over to Chapter 5 and we’re done while you are in Isaiah. Again it set you the context of what the southern kingdom is like. We’ve had a stress on the northern kingdom remember through Second Kings. Now we are impressed with their depravity but you understand the southern kingdom is on the same slide just not as far as down the slide yet.

So Chapter 5 let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. "And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem, men of Judah judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?"

"Now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, t will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, briars and thorns will come up. I will charge the clouds not to rain on it." Judgment is coming on God’s vineyard and who is it the vineyard of the Lord of host is the house of Israel. The men of Judah his delightful plant. Thus he look for justice, behold bloodshed; for righteousness, behold, a cry of distress. Woe to those and on it goes.

Down to verse 13; therefore my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished; their multitude is parched with thirst. Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry the jubilant within her descend into it. The eyes of the proud also will be abased the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment. The holy God will show himself holy in righteousness. Down the end of verse 24 they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account the anger of the Lord has burned against His people. And He has stretched out his hand against them and struck them down.

The alternative is given come now and let us reason together, that’s gracious invitation rejected again and again and again and again till judgment comes and then there is no deliverance for them. So that’s the course of the southern kingdom is on. But first we’ll have to go back to the northern kingdom and they will come to an end in Chapter 17. The southern kingdom will continue to 586. The tragedy of rejecting the grace of God, the offer of his cleansing.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace. Grace manifested your people again, and again. You sent them your prophets; you gave them your word. You graciously invited them to your salvation. You desired to give them your blessings but they would have none of it. They turned to their own ways; they allowed themselves to be corrupted. They corrupted themselves, turned aside to other gods rejected you the God who so graciously blessed them and Lord they came to ruin. Lord what a lesson for us; we’re reminded of the wonder of your grace, your gracious invitation to salvation the cleansing.

The terrible thing it is to turn and reject the grace of the Living God and thus be subjected to his devastating judgment. Thank you for your love, thank you for your patience and thank you Lord that the last Chapter of Israel is the Chapter of glory of coming blessing of the victory of your grace; but the awful judgment that must be borne by the nation. The worst is yet to come before the best of your promises will be fulfilled. Thank you for your word in Christ’s name, amen.