Isaiah [Part 1] - God's View on Worship

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Joseph Shulam.

Shalom. The last recording was a general introduction to the Prophet Isaiah. This Book is actually the biggest book of prophecy in the Bible, with 66 chapters. It’s more than Ezekiel, it’s more than Jeremiah, and definitely more than the 12 Minor Prophets that we did earlier.It starts with the word "vision" like several of the prophets, and it gives us the names of the kings that Isaiah prophesied during their lifetime or their time on the throne. That in itself is interesting because we are talking about a long period of time, from the8th Century BC to the 7th Century BC. So, it's a long time that Isaiah prophesied during the period of these kings. Some of these kings were righteous, some of these kings were not so righteous. But Isaiah is addressing several of the main topics that troubled, caused sin in Israel. Essentially, that's the job of the classical prophets—they didn't say what the people wanted to hear, and that's why they wrote their prophecies so that they would be there for posterity and for us in the 21st century to learn from them.

I also said in the introduction, in the first recording, that Isaiah is the most Messianic prophet. It has more Messianic prophecy than any other prophet in the Bible. After the first verse, Isaiah gives us his name: Isaiah, the son of Amoz, who saw visions in Judah and in Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judea. This means that he prophesied for the southern Kingdom and not for the northern kingdom, like some of the other prophets, like Amos and others. He starts his prophecies with these words:

That in itself is a very, very strong indictment right in the second verse of Isaiah: "I have raised children, and they've hurt me; they have done criminal acts against me." That's the literal translation of verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 1.The third verse is also a very interesting verse. It says:

That is another very serious and strong indictment right off the bat, right from the beginning of Isaiah, which gives us the tone of much of the rest of Isaiah's writing. This verse 3 is very interesting. Why is it interesting? Because when you look at the nativity scenes in the Christian world, you have baby Jesus in the cradle, Mary is there, Joseph is there, sometimes the Magi are there, and there is always a bull and a donkey. It's based on this text. It's based on Isaiah chapter 1 verse 3: "The bull knows who owns him, and the donkey knows who feeds him and who its master is. Israel doesn't know; my people don't even look for me." It's a very strong indictment.Of course, we all know that Isaiah, like the other prophets, were sent by God not to do an emotional massage on the citizens and the rulers and the dignitaries of Israel but to hit them on the head with a two by four and tell them: "Folks, get back on the road. Get back to God. Repent. Change.” Otherwise, you don't need the classical prophets. The popular prophets—that was their job. People came to them, asked: "Where is my donkey?" like Saul before he became king. "What should I do with my neighbor?" But the classical prophets came here to speak the word of God, words that the people didn't like. That's why they were all persecuted, beaten, thrown in a well, thrown into jail, ostracized, like Isaiah and his family.Verse 4 continues in the same tone:

- not forward.Yes, Isaiah is both a prophet of doom and a prophet of hope, and most of the classical prophets are both. They sandwiched their doom between two pieces of grace, of hope, of encouragement. That's why Isaiah has so many Messianic prophecies, so many Messianic promises.Verse 5: We're not going to go through Isaiah verse by verse because we'd never finish in five years, but the first chapter is kind of a programmatic chapter that I think is very important for all of us to get the tone, to get the gist, the juice that Isaiah wants to set to the people as he writes his prophecies. Israel is stricken in his days. There are enemies from within, from without. The northern ten tribes of Israel made a pact together with Assyria, and they want to take over Judah. So, Isaiah says:

Literally, that's what it says in the Hebrew: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your land in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by strangers. So, the daughter of Zion is left as a booth, (in a sukkah/ tabernacle) in a vineyard, a hut in the garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city."Now verse 9:

They were totally destroyed, wiped out. But it is God's grace. With all the anger of God, with all the accusation of God, it is God's grace that is keeping you alive, keeping your remnant still here. Wow. And he addresses the rulers:

Ah, now he's addressing one of the most important religious texts in the whole prophetic literature, and it's more important today for the evangelical churches, for the evangelical world, for the Protestant, than it is for anybody else. Why? Because what is the main paradigm of the evangelical church today? Worship. Worship—going to church, singing songs, giving money, taking communion, the bread and the wine, listening to a sermon by the preacher, by the pastor, then going home or going to the cafeteria to eat lunch. That's the main function of evangelical believers for the whole week: Sunday service. If you go to Sunday service, you dress nice, you see your friends, your relatives, your fellow brothers in the faith, you listen to the sermon, you sing a few songs, it takes 15 minutes for taking the collection, the money, and then you go to the cafeteria. So, Isaiah now is addressing the relationship between worship—of course, he's talking about worship in the temple in Jerusalem, offering sacrifices. There are Levites, and there are kohanim, priests, and he's addressing this very strongly, I would say roughly. That's why only chapter one is going to have the privilege of me talking to it verse by verse, because it is so important.Verse 11 of chapter one:

Wow. If you know the Torah, if you know the book of Leviticus, Numbers, Exodus, Deuteronomy, there are 13 chapters in the book of Leviticus that deal with sacrifices and the different kinds of sacrifices and all the ceremonies that the Levites have to do to bring the sacrifices, to offer them, to cut them to pieces, to prepare them for the sacrifice. We have the story in the book of Leviticus of the two sons of Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, who were burned because they brought strange fire on the altar. When you read the Torah, you think sacrifice is the most important thing. But God says to the people of Israel in Jerusalem in the days of these kings, for a long time, more than 50 years, "What do you guys think? That I need or have to have your burnt offerings, a little bit of steak on the grill, your bulls and your goats and your lamb? That I am a bloodthirsty God that needs to see the blood spilled on the altar in order to be pleased? It's not the main thing."Verse 12:

Still, it's not talking to the priests and to the Levites—that was their job. He's talking to the people of Israel: "Who asked you to come and worship me? Who asked you to come and bring sacrifices? Who asked you to spill blood of animals for me?" Verse 13:

You know, you are mixing your iniquity now in the holy meetings, thinking that that is going to buy my favor, that it is going to cause me to ignore your sins, that it is going to cause me to ignore how you treat one another, how you take care of the poor and the widows and the orphans. You think that coming to my house and burning meat is going to do that? No, sir. Don't come.

This is Isaiah speaking the words of God that he saw in a vision. That's how Isaiah chapter one starts. This is much more serious than you can imagine, than I can imagine. “Your holidays, your new moon, your feast, my soul (God's soul) hates them. They are a trouble to me. I am tired and weary of having to suffer your worship.”Folks, this is serious. I don't know many preachers who preach these things when they preach to their church. I don't know any, and I have been a believer for more than 60 years. I've gone to services more than once a week for most of those 60 years and I have never heard the pastor of a church, whether it is church of christ, baptist, pentecostal, methodist or prebyterian or catholic. I have spoken and taught not only in these, but in many more denominations. And there were never any pastors teaching these things. But they are crucial, because Isaiah is not the only one who has that attitude: Jeremiah has that attitude too in chapter 7 of Jeremiah. Ezekiel has that attitude. Amos has that attitude.

Yes, these are revelations of God's attitude toward worship that is not sincere, toward worship that is not pure. Don't worship that is not focused on the right things. You see, God's looking at our hearts and what we do with our hands and with our pocketbooks and with our rear ends sitting on the pews in the church doesn't interest him. He looks at the purity of our hearts when we come before him and the intentions that we have for going to church, for going to worship, for worshiping, for giving. For all the intentions of our heart are much more important to God, and all the ceremonies: He says, "I'm tired of them. I don't want to hear them. I don't want to see them. They're empty because your hearts are not there. Your hands are not clean.” First, verse 16:

That's the same thing Yeshua taught folks, that in the Judgment scene when people said, "We cast demons in your name, we did that in your name," he said, "As much as you didn't do it to one of the least of these, you didn't feed me, you didn't clothe me, and you didn't take care of me because you didn't take care of the poor, the fatherless, the widows, the oppressed, the suffering.”

Verse 18 - Now the tone changes.

Ah, do you know how many songs, Christian songs in the hymnals, you have with these words? I'm sorry that I don't know how to sing. I would have sung it for you. And this is taken from Isaiah.

Then it turns about Jerusalem and calls Jerusalem the center of worship of Israel, that the Temple of the Lord built by Solomon,

Wow! This, I mean, just now, I mean, just now in Israel, these words are so powerful, so relevant, because we have politicians of the highest rank that are in court accused of taking bribes. Yep. So yes, this is like reading the Israeli newspaper these days. And yes, I urge you to read and pray. Just read chapter one of Isaiah and pray because it's such a strong chapter that if I summarize it as this: God says, "You know what? I don't need your worship." Paul said the same thing in Acts chapter 17 in Athens. It's not an Old Testament paradigm, it's a Biblical paradigm. "I don't need your worship if it's not coming from the heart and sincerely and motivate you to do right, to do good, to do righteousness and seek justice. I don't need it. What I want you to do is come and sit down." That's the rest of chapter one. "Come sit. Let's sit down and talk about it. Let's have a discussion. Let's have a relationship. Let's be friends. Let's open each other's heart and concentrate on doing together what is right and good and holy and just because Zion will be redeemed by judgment. It will be saved by giving, by doing good deeds for one another."

Yep, that's the essence of the prophetic message of all of Isaiah and it's here, right here in chapter one, a summary of the whole. The gist of not only Isaiah but of all the classic prophet's paradigm. God bless you all. We'll continue Isaiah in the next session.