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Isaiah 28:14-18 precious cornerstone
This document discusses a passage from Isaiah about God establishing a cornerstone in Zion as a sure foundation for those who have faith in it. It describes how the people of Israel had made agreements with death and falsehood instead of relying on God. God promises that those who reject His grace offered through the cornerstone will be judged, with their refuge and hiding place swept away by hail and floodwaters when the scourge comes.
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Isaiah 28:14-18 precious cornerstone
- 1. The precious Cornerstone TheBook of Isaiah 28:14-18 www.neuesleben.ch
- 2. Hermeneutics 2 «Context isKing» Read: 3 perspectives History Revelation of God Ethical teachings Historical context Northern Kingdom 10 tribes, Israel, Ephraim Southern Kingdom 2 tribes, Judah Rising Assyrian Empire
- 3. Structure of theText 3 1) 14: Call to hear 2) 15: Charge: faithless acting 3) 16-17a: God remains faithful offering grace 4) 17b-18: Rejected grace judgment
- 4. Charge: Faithless acting 4 15 You boast, «We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead (Sheol) we have made an agreement.
- 5. Pronounced cult ofthe dead 5 West Declining sun Tombs: Pyramids East Rising sun Cities for living Osiris Lord over the judgment of the dead Fanciful imagination over the life after death Mummification
- 6. Charge: Faithless acting 6 15 You boast, «We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead (Sheol) 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.»
- 7. God shows mercy 7 16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD (Elohim - Adonai) says: “See, I lay a stone (for a foundation) in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
- 8. Stone-Metaphor: Cornerstone 8 Jesusis the cornerstone Acts 4:11 1. The first stone Jesus, the firstborn Col. 1:15 2. Bases for the fundament Fundament Eph. 2:19-22 3. Aligning of the whole building The supreme example 1st Thess. 1:6-7
- 9. God shows mercy 9 16 So this is what the Sovereign LORD (Elohim - Adonai) says: “See, I lay a stone (for a foundation) in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on (has faith in) it will never be stricken with panic. 17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line;
- 10. Unbelief will bejudged 10 17b 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.
Editor's Notes
- #2 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.
- #3 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: 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 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 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
- #4 Let us read the text and observe the structure 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.
- #5 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
- #6 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
- #7 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. 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?
- #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
- #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.
- #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.
- #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.