Bible Study of Isaiah 28:14-18

1. My goal is:
• To bring near part of the OT
• To encourage for the Bible study
• To introduce into the art of understanding the word of God
According to 2 Tim. 3:14‐16
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know
those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God‐breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The book of Isaiah is the Gospel of the OT
The dead sea scroll of Isaiah is from about 200 before Christ
It was original written about 700 before Christ
Proof of 1 Peter 1:23‐25:
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and
enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
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Isaiah 28:14‐18

2. Then Philip ran up to the chariot (of the Ethiopian eunuch) and heard the man reading Isaiah the
prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. (Acts 8:30)
Hermeneutics is the art to understand, explain, interpret an old texts, whose authors aren’t here
Texts which were written in another time and culture
There is a saying: Context is King
Or another saying: a text out of context is a pretext
Or in another words: You can construe anything out of context – see for example the somehow strange
teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
If you read OT‐texts you can see 3 different perspectives:
1) History, facts, help from archeology and history of antiquity, every story is true, but the style is not
historical narrative, it is salvation history, history of God with men and women
2) Revelation of God:
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and
divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that
people are without excuse.
John 1:17‐18 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No
one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship
with the Father, has made him known.
We can learn about the love, compassion, loving‐kindness etc. of God and the prophecies about
the Messiah, Jesus Christ and his plans with mankind
3) Ethical, moral teachings through direct commands as well as good and bad examples
The historical context:
Isaiah 7:1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and
Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not
overpower it.
The northern reign made a pact together with Aram against Judah.
Judah in turn asked the Assyrians for help, but they finally turned against all!
The moral situation was in decay as Isaiah himself and the contemporary prophets were vividly
accusing: Hosea, Amos and Micah
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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3. Let us read the text and observe the structure
1) Verse 14: Call to hear
14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
2) Verse 15: God makes a charge: their faithless acting is provoking the anger of God
15 You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”
3) But God remains faithful, He is patient, long‐suffering and offers again and again grace:
16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
will never be stricken with panic.
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
4) But if the offered grace is rejected, then only judgment remains:
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.
18 Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.
Then, first of all, we need to be attentive to the word of God.
I observe that people have normally problems in hearing and putting attention (see in the school!)
If the sovereign omnipotent Lord is speaking, would we be careful in hearing.
Sometimes we have to reduce our activities to get time of silence.
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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4. How do you show your faith?
How can someone see your faith?
Through your words and your deeds!
What if words and deeds contradict?
James expresses very clearly:
2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless.
Then he takes the examples of our father of faith: Abraham
Faith is primarily an inwardly reality of our attitude and thoughts then it goes on with our speech and
our deeds.
Jesus speaks of fruits in the life of a believer: “By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matt. 7.16a)
Reading and observing the text.
Most of Isaiah is poetry.
The speaking of God is according to his character: elevated, beautiful, lovely
The psalmist says in Psalms 119:18 Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
Hebraic poetry is different to English or German one.
One important poetic stylistic device in Hebrew is the parallelism.
I have colored the parallel words:
‐ Covenant – agreement
‐ Death – Sheol (Hebr.): the realm of the dead – in the NT: Hades (Gr.)
God accused the Jewish leaders of having made a covenant with a political force which is characterized
by death.
But with whom they have made a pact?  next slide
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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5. After failing the covenant with Assyria, they searched an alliance with Egypt.
They have not learned from history.
Formerly Egypt enslaved them.
Isaiah and ultimately God uses irony in the text:
‐ A covenant with the dead
‐ An agreement with Sheol
Remembering some points of the pronounced cult of the dead of Egypt:
‐ Geographically location:
‐ In the East, the rising sun: symbol of life, the cities for living
the word Eastern (remembering the resurrection day of our Lord) comes from this
background
‐ In the West, the declining sun: symbol of death, all the tombs, the pyramids; wonderful
buildings which even entered in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
‐ All the fanciful imagination over the life after death
Osiris was the Lord over the judgment of the dead
a scale: on one side the heart on the other side a feather  see the irony in hardening the heart of
the Pharaoh like a stone!
‐ The Egypt's were experts in mummification of the dead
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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6. Another important stylistic literary device is the usage of metaphors:
sweeps by  water which sweeps everything away
Speaking of the rising empire of the Assyrians
They thought, it cannot touch us. With the Egypt's we will resists to the Assyrians
Another parallelism:
‐ Lie – falsehood
‐ Refuge – hiding place
The Jewish leaders thought of having used good diplomacy, skillful tactics through deceit, ruse or
cunning
But what is eventually the clear answer of God: Isaiah 30:1‐3
1 “Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the LORD,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
What is the meaning for us today?
Egypt is often an image of the worldly system.
A world which is acting without God.
They want peace without God, at their own common strength.
God warns us not to make any alliance with the world:
John admonishes us in his 1st Letter:
2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not
in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—
comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever
does the will of God lives forever.
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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7. Paul gives also the following warning to the Corinthians in his 2nd epistle:
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness
have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is
there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an
unbeliever?
I’m not giving you a list of do’s and don’ts
We are not under law, we have freedom in Christ
But we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit and asking always:
Is this for the glory of our Lord?
Is it out of the Love for God and my neighbor?
In any case, be careful with whom you spend your spare time. Is the result honor or
dishonor of our Lord?
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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8. In his Word, God gives us a mirror  recognition of our sinful nature and the resulting sins
This is always the starting point:
Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other
apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent
God speaks again:
Elohim – the creator and sustainer of heaven and earth
Adonai – the Lord, the Pantocrator over everybody
Yahweh – the covenant God, which seeks personal relationship
God shows mercy in one unique man.
Isaiah uses poetry and a wonderful metaphor an puts it into a wonderful parallelism:
‐ Stone for a foundation ‐ precious cornerstone
‐ A tested, sure, immobile stone – sure foundation
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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9. The NT gives the explanation of whom Isaiah is speaking.
8 times the NT writers identify Jesus with the metaphor of the cornerstone:
Acts 4: 11 Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.
In Antiquity the cornerstone was the most important and also the greatest stone to be used in every
important building.
I take 3 characteristics of such a cornerstone and apply it to Jesus:
1) It as the first and most important stone, which was laid down:
Col. 1: 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Firstborn means here the first in importance and also the firstborn risen from the dead
2) The cornerstone was giving the bases for the fundament. It has to be well fixed and secure,
immobile giving the most important part of the fundament:
Paul says in Ephesians 2:
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and
also members of his household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Today we have a spiritual building, a holy temple, the church: the cornerstone, the foundation of this
building is Jesus Christ as Paul stated in 1 Cor. 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the
one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
3) The whole building was aligned according to the cornerstone. This stone was giving the direction in
all 3 dimensions:
1st Tess. 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of
severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
Jesus is our supreme example. We have to follow Him.
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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10. Your response, my response to the grace of God: genuine faith
Who relies on Jesus Christ will not be ashamed.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God’s wrath remains on them.
He brings justice and righteousness in our heart, in our family and in future, when he comes again in
the whole universe.
Peter gives a good summary in his 1st letter chap. 2:
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
8 and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message (they don’t believe!) —which is also what they were
destined for.
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may
declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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11. Isaiah shows back to verse 15 and demonstrates how God will take away every apparent, supposed
security:
‐ Sweep away – will overflow
‐ Supposed refuge and hiding place
‐ The covenant with death and Sheol (with Egypt, figuratively with the worldly, antichristian system)
will be annulled, cannot stand
The serious question is now for us, for me and you:
Spiritually speaking, where I am?
On whom or what I am ultimately relying: my strength, wisdom, money, profession and job, family,
pension, …
All can be taken away
Rely on the only cornerstone, on Jesus Christ!
If will finish with Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an
undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
Isaiah 28:14‐18
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