Joel Radford – Will Christ save you or break you? – Isaiah 8:1-15

Drummoyne Baptist Church

Joel Radford – Will Christ save you or break you? – Isaiah 8:1-15

8 The Lord said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.”^{[a] 2} So I called in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me. ³ Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. ⁴ For before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

⁵ The Lord spoke to me again:

⁶ “Because this people has rejected
the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoices over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,
⁷ therefore the Lord is about to bring against them
the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—
the king of Assyria with all his pomp.
It will overflow all its channels,
run over all its banks
⁸ and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,
passing through it and reaching up to the neck.
Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,
Immanuel^[b]!”

⁹ Raise the war cry,^[c] you nations, and be shattered!
Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
¹⁰ Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
propose your plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.^[d]

¹¹ This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:

¹² “Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
¹³ The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread.
¹⁴ He will be a holy place;
for both Israel and Judah he will be
a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.
And for the people of Jerusalem he will be
a trap and a snare.
¹⁵ Many of them will stumble;
they will fall and be broken,
they will be snared and captured.”