Ministry Success (and Failure)

Isaiah 1:1,2 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

We are tempted to think of this first chapter as being one of Isaiah's first prophecies, but internal evidence would suggest otherwise. Remember, what we have with the book of Isaiah is a compilation. Isaiah's prophecies were written down on various scrolls, grouped together for various reasons, and then compiled likely at the end of his life. If we accept that he was probably the one who compiled these, and if we consider the similarity of this chapter with the last two (65-66), and if we combine that with the internal evidence contained in this chapter, there is a strong possibility that this was written at the end of his life (when the compilation was made) and serves as an introduction to the whole--in the same way that a modern author might write an Introduction after the completion of the rest of his manuscript. Remember also for how long Isaiah lived and ministered. We're talking a minimum of forty years or all the way up to perhaps seventy.

Now look at the content of this first chapter. Look over the list of sins and crimes and failures of which the people are guilty. As I read that list it occurs to me that in the eyes of the world Isaiah did not have much success. Is the spiritual condition of the people now any better than when he began? Where are the masses of converts? Where is the evidence of revival? Has society as a whole improved at all as a result of fifty, sixty, maybe seventy years of Spirit-imbued preaching?

The ministry of the prophet Isaiah meets none of the criteria for success espoused by many (most?) in modern evangelicalism. Perhaps I paint with too broad a brush. I certainly hope I do. But it seems to me that for the past one-hundred fifty years the Church has been far too results-oriented. How many did we have in Sunday School? How many for church? How many were saved? How many did you baptize? By any of those measures (or any other results you might be able to think of) Isaiah was a failure. For that matter, so were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or just about any other prophet you could name. So what should we think of Isaiah? Was he a failure? Where did he go wrong?

Of course, my last two questions are absurd. Isaiah was no failure. And that should tell us something about our own thinking. Ministry success or failure is not determined by outward visible results. Paul said something about this:

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

Paul and Apollos minister. The results are up to God.

But if that is true, then how do we measure success? Well, what has God commanded? Has he demanded results or has he given a message and then promised results? (If you opt for the former as opposed to the latter you might consider re-reading the New Testament.)

Again, if the results are the responsibility of God and he gives them as he sees fit and according to his plan then what is our responsibility? Our responsibility is simply obedience.

God has given us a ministry as a Church and each of us as individual members have a role. Are we faithful to our role? The ministry of the Church involves a message. Do we present it faithfully? Are we true to it? Or do we pare it down, try to cut off the rough edges? Are we tempted to only present part of it? to try to make it more palatable?

Isaiah was given a ministry to perform and a message to proclaim. He did so faithfully and in dependence upon God. That is all that is required of any of us. Isaiah's success, then, is measured by his faithfulness to the ministry and fidelity to the message--not by any outward, visible results.

By this measure Isaiah was very successful. Isaiah was very successful indeed.

(I just wonder if perhaps a modern Baptist mission board would have considered dropping his support since he obviously wasn't "getting anything done.")

Isaiah 1:2 - Are We All God's Children?

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

Are we all the children of God? Well, yes, in a sense, but actually no. Let me explain.

When Paul spoke before the philosophers of Athens at the Areopagus he used this language . . .

Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;

as even some of your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think . . . 

So there is a case to be made that in a certain sense we are all God's children. But this is true only in the sense that he is the Creator and Sustainer of all things (and people) and we come from him. We are the offspring of his thought.

But there is another sense in which the Scripture is clear that we are not all the children of God, that is in the covenantal (there's that word again) sense of the phrase. The people of Israel were God's children by covenant adoption.

Exodus 4:22-23 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”

Israel were God's children in a special way that strangers and foreigners to Israel were not. Witness:

Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.

Paul acknowledges this also in Romans.

Romans 9:4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

So while everyone is the offspring of God, only those in covenant relationship with God are truly his children.

John 1:10-13 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

It is clear then from Scripture that while God is the God of all people, not all people are his unique people. Some have a special relationship with him and can be called uniquely the children of God. What has this to do with Isaiah 1:2? We will cover that in the next post. But for now we need to look inward and ask ourselves whether or not we can legitimately say we are uniquely the children of God. Can we? Can you?

Isaiah 1:2 - The Witnesses Are Called

It has been pointed out by many that the opening lines of Isaiah's prophecy are an allusion to the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 which begins thus:

“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

We will find as we go along that Isaiah spends a lot of time reminding the people of their covenant with God and thus he uses a lot of the language of Moses--especially from Deuteronomy--in his prophecy.

It is good to keep in mind that as a nation Israel and Judah were in a covenant relationship with God. This, I think, gets lost a bit on us--or at least its importance to the biblical narrative--because we are not used to looking at the Bible through this lens. The prevalent viewpoint in our day has been the dispensational viewpoint which tends to downplay the covenantal aspects of God's relationship with his people. But this covenantal aspect is paramount to our ability to understand the relationship between the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant).

The Old Covenant (as St. Paul called it) was a conditional covenant. It was based on conditional promises.  Basically, it was this:  Obey me (and my commands) and I will bless you. Disobey me and I will curse you. Obey me and live and prosper. Disobey me and be cursed and die. Paul covers this extensively in Galatians and it is a major theme in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Here is that covenant as it was given to God's people in Moses's own words:

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” (Deuteronomy 30:19,20)

In the ancient near east when men or nations made solemn agreements together, these covenants were sworn to by both parties in the presence of witnesses. Moses calls the heavens and the earth as a witness to the covenant which the people have just sworn to enter into with God. If they break the conditions of this covenant, then those witnesses can and will be called forward as a testimony against them and God will be found just in meting out judgment against them for their breaking of the covenant. In fact, Moses uses this same language more than once in warning them of what will happen to them after he dies.

Deuteronomy 4:25-27 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

And again:

Deuteronomy 31:28,29 "Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

It is for this reason that Isaiah begins his opening prophecy to God's people with this language--to remind them that they are in covenant with God, to point out that they have broken that covenant, and to warn them that the witnesses of this are being called forward and judgment will soon be pronounced against them. Following the calling forward of these witnesses, God will make his case:

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.

Although you and I are not under the Mosaic Law in the sense of being participants in the Old Covenant and its conditional promises, we still have a duty of love to live out the precepts of that law by faith and through the power of the Holy Spirit. As we delve into this case God is making against his people there are two things we should consider as we read. One is a look inward . . . How does my life measure up to God's perfect law? In what ways have I failed? Do I see myself or my inclinations mirrored in the failings of ancient Judah? The other is a look upward . . . How thankful we are as we see our own failings that One came who perfectly kept God's law and then passed the blessing and life he rightfully earned onto us, though we did nothing to deserve it.

Isaiah--About the Book

Think of the book of Isaiah as a compilation. It is likely that Isaiah was a court scribe under two or three different Judean kings. This would explain his easy access to the various kings under whose reigns he ministered. If it is true what Jewish tradition says of him, that he was the nephew of King Amaziah and thus first cousin to Uzziah then the idea of his being the royal scribe is even more likely. It is certain that his ministry spanned many years. At a minimum it began toward the end of Uzziah and lasted through most of Hezekiah. Witness:

Isaiah 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

If we give him ten years of Uzziah's reign (as is likely) all the way until the end of Hezekiah's reign, that would be seventy-one years. Jewish tradition says he was martyred by wicked King Manasseh who had the prophet sawn in half. If true, this would explain the reference in Hebrews 11:

"Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth."

But there is little to confirm this and we may note that Manasseh is not mentioned in 1:1 as one of the kings under whom Isaiah ministered, so there is some doubt.

Regardless, we are looking at a man who ministered a very long time under various spiritual, political, and economic circumstances. Much history took place during this time, especially much of import to the biblical narrative. It was during Hezekiah's reign that the northern kingdom of Israel fell to Assyria and its people were carried away to a foreign land never to return. While Uzziah and Jotham were "good" kings, Ahaz was wicked. Hezekiah came along and proved to be better than the first two, but then he turned the kingdom over to his son Manasseh who would turn out to be the worst Judean king of all.

So what exactly is the book of Isaiah? It is a compilation of the recorded prophecies of Isaiah. Whether Isaiah himself penned them or they were penned by one or more others it matters little. There is evidence that we have what may have been originally as many as three or four different collections combined into one scroll and chapter one may have been written at the time of that compilation--for chapter one probably serves as a good summary or introduction to the whole.

Let us divide the book up, shall we? Here's a good way to look at it:

Chapters 2 - 5 fit very well with prophecies probably delivered toward the end of the reign of Uzziah.

Chapter 6 is an important vision and re-commissioning at the end of Uzziah's reign.

Chapters 7 - 12 fit the reign of Ahaz.

Chapters 13 - 23 are a collection of oracles against the nations.

Chapters 24 - 33 probably fit the reign of Hezekiah and the buildup to the invasion of Sennacherib, King of Assyria.

Chapters 34 and 35 summarize the material given up until this time.

Chapters 36 - 39 are narrative writings giving us a glimpse inside the court of King Hezekiah in a time of national crisis.

Chapters 40 - 66 are so grand in theme and scope that we will save any discussion of them for a distant time.