Family Chapel Pastor Joshua Lim

God has promised a future king to establish His Kingdom and secure salvation for His people. This promised King will be filled with the Holy Spirit and marked with righteousness. And this promised King will establish a kingdom that extends peace over all creation and restores His people from all nations. As such, we are to trust in the King, proclaim the King, and rejoice in the King.

Faced with geopolitical tensions that threaten the southern kingdom of Judah, King Ahaz is faced with a crucial decision: will he trust in God for salvation or will he trust in someone or something else? Through Ahaz's decision, we learn that false hopes placed in false saviors will result in our disappointment and devastation. But true hope for salvation is found in the God who is with us.

The prophet Isaiah receive a vision of God's glory. This prompts him to receive cleansing and to be commissioned to preach to hardened hearts. Even if the message is difficult and even if the message falls on deaf ears, God's servants are commissioned for the sake of his glory. We may not have a specific vision, but we have put our faith in the glory of the cross and the risen Christ. Thus, we have been cleansed and commissioned for the sake of God's glory.

Isaiah presents a beautiful picture of our future hope in God's Kingdom - people from all nations will gather together to worship God and live in perfect peace. But because human pride is the greatest obstacle to experiencing that future hope, we need to embrace a hopeful humility. This humility repents of prideful self-exaltation, removes idols that promise false hopes, and relies on God for true salvation. In the end, there is no belonging to God's Kingdom apart from humility because the King himself is a humble king.

This first chapter opens up like a courtroom scene with God as the plaintiff and Judah as the defendant. Even though God has been a loving Father, God's people have rebelled against Him with their impiety and injustice. At the heart of rebellion is not merely the breaking of God's Law, but moreso the breaking of God's heart. Nevertheless, God graciously extends the invitation to repentance in order for God's people to experience restoration.