Bryan

Judah was celebrating their preparation for seige thinking they had outsmarted the enemy and were prepared to resist. However, their celebration was based on their efforts and not dependence on God to deliver. Sheba seems to have excelled in advancing his own wealth and good will by abusing the authority as a steward of Judah.

The command to walk naked was a demonstration of the futility to trust in Egypt and Cush to protect from the Assyrian army. It was a constant reminder that the nation's only confidence should be in dependence on God. Israel chose to ignore God's word as demonstrated by Isaiah. This would have been a tough and humbling act to follow.

The attitude was one of pride and self-promotion. The same attitude is expressed of 'man of lawlessness' in II Thes 2. In the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, the ultimate motive of Satan was revealed in the promise of all the kingdoms of the world, IF Christ would 'fall down and worship', the ultimate demonstration of pride. Anyone who has not exalted their opinion over God's will is either a liar or demented. It is our root sin issue which moves us and reflects the attitude of Satan. Humility is the process whereby we see ourselves through God's eyes, valued but broken and in need of a Saviour.

The Messiah will appear and establish His kingdom which will be recognized by all peoples. While the passage specifies the surrounding nations of Israel, it also includes from 'the four corners of the earth' an all encompassing kingdom. The New Testament refers to the return of Christ whose time is unknown but impending.

Universal peace among all created things where there is no competition or conflict. The knowledge of the Lord is the recognition and submission to God as Creator, Savior, and Lord of all but all creation.

Jesse was David's father and from David comes the lineage of the Messiah. the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The Messiah will not judge by what He hears and sees but with justice and equity. The wicked will be destroyed and the oppressed will be judged with justice. As a side note, while reading this particular passage regarding the destroying of the wicked, I was reminded of Psalms 51 with the prayer that wickedness be destroyed in me... blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, blot out all my iniquities.

It seems that we pass the laws in order to protect ourselves in a self-serving manner. For example, we look at laws of immigration to protect from certain individuals who come to intentionally harm us. Just like Ahaz, there is a lack of dependence on God for our situation and we need to do something, to take action which often leads to oppression. As a believer, we need to be aware of individuals God brings into our life's path to show compassion and not respond in fear.

For me, the eternal perspective given in the passage indicates that this is an enduring solution to our world/individual problems, i.e. the Messiah. "Everlasting Father...Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end....from this time forth and forevermore." Wonderful Counselor - looking to Him and His word for truth about our world. NOT 'that may be true for you but not for me' that is overwhelming our culture today. Mighty God - He can do it. Everlasting Father - Father's heart that will never leave or stop having compassion Prince of Peace - source of all answers and hope In our current cultural upheaval especially among believers, I need the Wonderful Counselor for wisdom on knowing the truth and applying it to our world.

Pride vs humility. Responding to Jesus requires us to acknowledge our failure and inadequacy. We confuse our value with our ability to perform. God does not. He knows our inabilities and provides a solution while affirming our value. That is hard for our pride to accept and for those who can not submit, Jesus becomes a stumbling block. We can't get around it, over it, or ignore it. That which can save us becomes that which condemns us, only because we can't accept it.

The gist of the messages was basically to take no action but stand firm in faith - vs 9 "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." When a problem presents itself, our pride (sin nature) thinks our only option is to 'fix it', that we can control the outcome. Waiting and depending on God in these circumstances demands that we acknowledge our inability and inadequacy and trust God. Ahaz chose to not wait on God for deliverance but conspired and aligned the nation with Assyria. The consequence was he invited the fox into the hen house. By following his own counsel and disregarding God's message from Isaiah, he brought disaster from the source that was supposed to save him. Pride and unbelief are the source of our failures to trust God. We want to control, think we can manage or mitigate circumstances and have our eyes fixed on our surroundings instead of on God.

In the face of God's holiness, Isaiah is confronted by every sin, heart issue, and failure of his own. He is helplessly sin-sick. Cleansed by God's mercy, he volunteers to be the one sent

I believe that God revealed himself to Isaiah in this way, so that in the future, when coming kingdoms would be seeking to destroy Israel, he could compare the relative majesty of God to the insignificance of the world leaders. Just as a single picture cannot truly capture the significance of a mountain range, the words of Isaiah cannot capture the majesticness of God. We catch a glimpse of God but cannot help but wonder at what we can't see.

The garden provided for the very best garden possible. Hechose the best soil, built a protective hedge around it, and look forward to abundant crops. But all that garden produced was bitter fruit so he was going to remove all protection from the area.

Jews and Gentiles will be united under one God. Hunger for truth will drive them to the true God. Peach will be reflected worldwide.

Israel are children who have rejected their father. Even animals recognize who provides for them. Because of their actions their relationship is broken and they are estranged from their loving father who cannot tolerate their actions. In today's world without God, we have lost our identity as children of God. Without God as our father and creator, our only reference point to truth is ourselves. II Corinthians 10 states that 'when they are measuring themselves by themselves they are without understanding...' Godm accuses them of evil deeds, injustice, oppression, and hands full of blood.