All Glory to God our Father
Let us turn to Isaiah 50
1 “Where is the certificate of divorce
By which I have sent your mother away?
To the Jews in Babylon, who were suffering under his hand, and who might be apt to complain that God had dealt with them with as much caprice and cruelty as a man did with his wife, when he gave her a writing of divorce, and put her away without any just cause.
Let us now go to Deuteronomy 24 and look into the Law concerning divorce.
Deuteronomy 24: 1-5
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house,
2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife,
3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife,
4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
5 “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall give happiness to his wife whom he has taken.
This custom of divorce Moses found was probably in existence among the Jews, and also in surrounding nations, and as it was difficult if not impossible at once to remove it, he permitted it on account of the hardness of the hearts of the Jews.
Now let’s go to Matthew 19 and see what Jesus tells us about the subject.
Matthew 19:3-9
3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
7 They *said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.
So why is God is talking about divorce? The Jews were in a sense the woman or bride that God had wedded to.
Revelation 21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
They were his people and he was their God. But once the Jews moved into the Promised Land, they began to play the harlot. We find that the people who had been living in the Promised Land, before the Jews got there, were living in sin. God had told Joshua to remove or kill these people. This makes many believers and unbelievers uncomfortable. And I have to wonder, have they really read the Bible?
It brings to mind 2 other Isaiah passages,
Isaiah 29:16 You have everything backward! Should the potter be thought of as clay? Should what is made say of its maker, “He didn’t make me”? Should what is shaped say of the one who shaped it, “He doesn’t understand”?
Isaiah 64:8 But now, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter. All of us are the work of your hand.
People who think that God was wrong to kill these poor Canaanites are ignorant clay talking back to the Potter.
In Joshua 11:14 All the spoil of these cities and the cattle, the sons of Israel took as their plunder; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them. They left no one who breathed.
There are at least two reasons why God did this. The first is evidenced in what came to pass when Israel did not obey God in this command. God wanted the land cleared of all temptations to His people to turn from Him, His worship and His law. The Canaanites were a threat to the purity of God’s people. He had set them apart, consecrated them, adopted them. In giving this order, He was protecting them.
Joshua 11:20 For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, that they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
If you are still troubled by this, I recommend you go and read the book of Joshua. The Canaanites knew of God, but rejected Him. Rahab the prostitute confirmed this. The wages of sin is death and we are very good at forgetting this.
Joshua, for all his faithfulness, left the job unfinished. Once Israel had taken the land, once they began to feel safe, they started to think it might be helpful to leave some of the Canaanites around, to fetch their water and chop their wood. The book of Judges reveals the results. Those few who were spared became a snare, just as God predicted they would. Soon, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
God had not formally thrown out the wife (Judah) whom he had chosen as he had done her sister Israel.
Jeremiah 3:8 “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.
Israel was given up to her iniquities. I think here in American, we are inches away from that very thing we are talking about with Israel.
If you are keeping track, we are not even through with verse one yet. When I first looked at Isaiah 50, I thought, hmm, short lesson. We might have to all go out and shoot some hoops in the gym to fill in the rest of the time. To those reading this online, our room is connected to the gym. This building used to be the Grove City School back in the day.
Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
Among the Hebrews, a father had the right, by the law of Moses, if he was oppressed with debt, to sell his children. In like manner, if a man had stolen anything, and had nothing to make restitution, he might be sold for the theft. God is being quite clear here. Ye have sold yourselves; You have gone into captivity only on account of your sins. It has been your own act, and you have thus become bondmen to a foreign power only by your own choice.
2 “Why was there no man when I came?
When I called, why was there none to answer?
God was calling them to repentance, but no man of the nation yielded to obedience. He sent them prophets, but they did not listen. Isaiah was told this, from the lips of our Lord.
Isaiah 6:9 He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.
Isaiah 6:11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,
“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
Houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
They had not been punished without warning. But no one was listening. Are we listening now? We have the whole story. We cannot say we have not been warned, yet we will. Do not sit passively in your church pew. It’s an amazing attribute of ourselves. We get comfortable, we start taking things for granted. And the older we get, the more lethargic we become. Willing to let things be, even if we aren’t really happy with what’s going on. With the pressure of the world, demanding that Christianity change to meet the social whims of our society, you do know that your church can change from something that it once was to something that it now is not. All the while you’re sitting there in your pew. So you have to wonder, how much satan is too much satan in your life? It’s between you and Jesus.
Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom?
Or have I no power to deliver?
God is asking, what is the reason of this contempt and rebellion? Is it because you expect no good from me, but think I am either unwilling or unable to save you? God never deprived any of their advantages, except for their sins. The Jews were sent into Babylon for their idolatry, a sin which broke the covenant; and they were at last rejected for crucifying the Lord of glory. God called on them to leave their sins, and prevent their own ruin. Last of all, the Son came to his own, but his own received him not. When God calls men to happiness, and they will not answer, they are justly left to be miserable. Are you now in this position? Are you unhappy with your life and circumstances? This is not the fault of God. He has his hand out, still. Why is it you don’t take hold of it?
Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink for lack of water
And die of thirst.
It is tragically ironic that we have a large number of people today that are claiming God does not exist. Some by exclaiming it and some by apathy. Yahweh, our Creator, could at a breath, dissolve this universe and start over if that be his will. But, in spite of our sinful ways, He does love us and expects us to love Him back. We go back to the clay yelling at the Potter.
Jeremiah 18:1-8 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying,
2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” 3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel.
4 But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
5 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,
6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
7 At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;
8 if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.
God in his Mercy and Grace will relent from punishment if you repent. That has always been the lesson. If the Canaanites had repented, they would have been forgiven and allowed to live. Nineveh did. Much to Jonah’s disgust. And as a people, if we got our sackcloth and ashes on and repented, the Lord would turn from punishing us for our many iniquities. If we would only act like we are children of God, with an inheritance of Heaven.
3 “I clothe the heavens with blackness
And make sackcloth their covering.”
This next part, to my mind, is Jesus speaking.
4 The Lord God has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
5 The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.
Mark 14:32-42 32 They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”
33 And He *took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.
34 And He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”
35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by.
36 And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
37 And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
38 Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
41 And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; the hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”
6 I gave My back to those who strike Me,
And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;
I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting.
This would be at this time in Mark 14:65 Some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in the face.
Our Lord and Savior, our Messiah, was degraded and put up with persecution and savagery from the people he came to save.
And yet…
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.
7 For the Lord God helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have set My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
Luke 23:9 And he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing.
Since Jesus did speak before the High Priest and before Pilate, His not speaking before Herod is the means by which Isaiah 53:7 was fulfilled.
Each of the trials was before a different authority:
Religious authority – the High Priest and Sanhedrin
Political/legal authority – Pilate on behalf of the Roman Empire
King of over Galilee and Peraea – Herod the tetrarch (Antipas)
Herod was “king” over a limited territory of Israel and over a limited number of Jewish people. Jesus was ultimately executed for this reason:
Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. (John 19:19 NKJV)
This declaration by Pilate recognized Jesus as King of the Jews, a legal title which would include those Jewish people scattered throughout the Roman Empire. This contrasts with Herod whose kingship was over a limited part of Israel (Galilee and Paraea). So as a sheep is silent before its shearers, Jesus was silent before Herod who “shearing” Him of a limited kingdom (Herod’s). But Jesus is not silent before the High Priest who cannot take away His position as the True and Great High Priest and He is not silent before Pilate who will recognize Him as King of all Jewish people.
8 He who vindicates Me is near;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand up to each other;
Who has a case against Me?
Let him draw near to Me.
The words are the strongest assertion of His absolute freedom from anything that an adversary could lay hold of on which to found a charge, and not merely so, but they also dare to assert that the unerring and all-penetrating eye of the Judge of all will look into His heart, and find nothing there but the mirrored image of His own perfection.
9 Behold, the Lord God helps Me;
Who is he who condemns Me?
Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;
The moth will eat them.
Not exactly following the line of this story, but instructive all the same,
Acts 12: 18-23 “At break of day, there was consternation among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
19 Herod made a search for him, but didn’t find him, so then he examined the guards, and commanded that they be executed. Herod then went down from Judea to Caesarea, and spent time there.”
“20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Their country depended on the king’s country for food, so they came to him with a united front to make peace —they’d been able to win over Blastus, the king’s personal aide.
21 On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and made a speech to them.
22 The people shouted, ‘The voice of God, and not of a man!’
23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. He was eaten by worms and died.”
You go against God and moths will eat you, worms will eat you, sometimes dogs will eat you. That was a reference to Jezebel in 2 Kings 9:10.
10 Who is among you that fears the Lord,
That obeys the voice of His servant,
That walks in darkness and has no light?
Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
God is light. John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with firebrands,
Walk in the light of your fire
And among the brands you have set ablaze.
This you will have from My hand:
You will lie down in torment.
God is light, yet we try to make our own light. Go forth, realizing that we are children of God, and act as such. And by your fruits, they will know you. Matthew 7:16