Isaiah Overview: The Servant
About This Episode
One of Isaiah's most famous prophecies talks about a "suffering servant." But that idea is found all the way back in the book of Genesis. Seth and David trace the theme of servants throughout the Bible and talk about servants in the book of Isaiah.
The Biblical Concept of Servanthood: From Adam to Isaiah
Show Notes
Understanding Biblical Servanthood
David and Seth explore the biblical concept of servanthood, tracing it back to its origins in Genesis. They explain that the first mention of service in the Bible refers to Adam, who was placed in the Garden of Eden "to serve it and protect it" (Genesis 2:15). This introduces a crucial biblical concept: ruling and serving are connected ideas in God's Kingdom.
Adam's role wasn't merely subjugation but rather a princely position under God the King, where Adam was called to extend the boundaries of Eden and bring paradise to the world. David and Seth point out that this understanding of servanthood differs from our modern conception. Rather than being merely under someone's heel, the biblical servant is more like a prince who serves those under his care by extending God's Kingdom.
Adam was given dominion but was to exercise it through service—serving future generations by obeying God's commands and extending his dominion throughout the world. This outward focus of service, as David and Seth emphasize, is directed both toward God and for the benefit of the world.
The Development of Servanthood Through Scripture
David and Seth trace how the concept of servanthood develops through Scripture, beginning with Abraham. In Genesis 12, God extends the Adamic command to Abraham, promising to make him a great nation and bless all families of the earth through him. Though not immediately called a servant, Abraham is later referred to as God's servant in Genesis 26:24 when God speaks to Isaac. Moses later calls Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all God's servants in Exodus 32:13.
The concept evolves from individuals to the nation of Israel itself being identified as God's servant. Joseph stands as a living picture of this servanthood at the end of Genesis—a prince who, through wise rule, blessed the whole world during a time of drought.
Moses is then introduced as the next significant servant figure, who receives God's laws that would bring order to chaos. Through Moses, Israel as a nation is called to be God's servant, a light to the world demonstrating justice and equity. David and Seth highlight how Deuteronomy 28 provides a picture of what God's servant nation is supposed to do—keeping God's commandments so that all people of the earth would see they are called by God's name, resulting in prosperity and fruitfulness.
Isaiah's Vision of Israel as God's Servant
Moving to the book of Isaiah, David and Seth present Israel's intended role as God's servant. In Isaiah 2:2-4, Jerusalem is described as a place where all nations would flow to learn God's ways, resulting in worldwide peace. However, Isaiah chapter 1 reveals how far Israel has fallen from this ideal. Israel has forgotten who their master is, compared unfavorably to oxen who at least know their owners.
David and Seth discuss how Israel's failure as God's servant is manifested in their inability to practice even basic justice within their own borders. Isaiah 1:21 laments how the once faithful city full of justice has become a place of murderers. This failure is fundamentally tied to idolatry—Israel has forgotten the God who made them and therefore forgotten their calling as his servants.
As David and Seth explain, this is why the servant songs in Isaiah 40 and beyond are surrounded by warnings against idolatry. Isaiah's solution to Israel's failure is purification. There exists a tension in Isaiah between removing the wicked from Israel and transforming sinful people through cleansing. Isaiah 1:18 offers hope that though Israel's sins are like scarlet, they can become white as snow, while other passages suggest that only a remnant will survive God's purification process.
Isaiah's Call and Commission as a Servant
David and Seth show how in Isaiah 6, the prophet himself becomes a model of what Israel should be. Unlike other prophetic books where the prophet's call appears at the beginning, Isaiah's call is delayed until chapter 6 to establish the theme of servanthood first. When Isaiah sees God's glory in the temple, his immediate response is to recognize his own uncleanness: "Woe is me! I am lost; I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips" (Isaiah 6:5).
Isaiah's confession models what Israel should do—acknowledge their failure and uncleanness before God. In response, a seraphim touches Isaiah's lips with a burning coal from the altar, declaring his guilt taken away and his sin atoned for. This cleansing prepares Isaiah to respond to God's call for a messenger with "Here I am, send me."
David and Seth point out that Isaiah recognizes his role as the human ("Adam") in God's heavenly court, understanding that it's his job as the servant to go to Israel. However, Isaiah's commission is heartbreaking—he is told to preach in a way that will harden hearts rather than heal them. This paradoxical mission, as David and Seth explain, serves to identify those who are against God's law and order.
Like a sower spreading seed, Isaiah's preaching will reveal where the hard hearts are while also identifying the good soil—the remnant that will survive God's purification process. Though most of Israel will be destroyed, a "holy seed" will remain in the stump, a small band of faithful servants who will eventually fulfill Israel's calling.
Jesus as the Ultimate Servant
David and Seth connect Isaiah's ministry to Jesus by highlighting how John's Gospel directly quotes Isaiah's commission when explaining why many people rejected Jesus despite his miracles. John 12:41 even states that Isaiah "saw his glory and spoke of him," suggesting that Isaiah's temple vision was actually a vision of Jesus's glory.
Jesus adopts this seemingly counterintuitive approach of speaking in ways that reveal hardness of heart because the message of servanthood is inherently difficult—it calls people to humility, suffering, and death to self. David and Seth observe that like Isaiah, Jesus wasn't trying to make this message easier with miracles but was calling people to genuine servanthood that requires more than mental assent.
This approach is ultimately good news because of what's at stake: if God doesn't establish a true servant people, the world will continue to suffer under chaos and injustice. David and Seth emphasize that the cleansing of God's people is necessary so they can fulfill their calling as lights in the darkness.
Even more fundamentally, what's at stake is communion with God himself. Just as Isaiah couldn't stand in God's presence without being cleansed, humanity needs cleansing to dwell with God. David and Seth conclude that God's desire to cleanse the earth so he can dwell there requires either our repentance or our removal—a theme they'll continue exploring in future episodes about the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah.
Seth: Presumably, God is talking to all the people and spiritual beings arrayed in his cosmic temple. He's like, okay, who's going to go to Israel for us? Ah, who's going to talk to Israel on our behalf and bring about the justice and the. Serve the servant heartedness.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That we want for our people. And Isaiah is looking around among the flying beings and he says, I'll go.
David: Right.
Seth: I'll go. I'll be the servant.
Intro: Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible is about him. In each episode, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in.
David: Welcome everybody, to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. We are continuing our look at the book of Isaiah and we are going to start walking through the book tracing this main theme that we talked about last time about the servant who will suffer to save Israel. Is that right, Seth?
Seth: Yes.
David: Okay.
Seth: We're on the right track.
David: Good.
Seth: But before we could even do it in Isaiah, we. We need to do it in the book of Genesis.
David: Okay, well, you took us back to Deuteronomy in the last episode. Yeah.
Seth: So we're just gonna keep going backwards.
David: We're gonna end up in eternity past. If I ask one more question.
Seth: I got on a deep dive recently about like the pre Adamite theory. Do you know about this? That there's like a civilization before Adam that got lost under the chaos waters?
David: I do know this.
Seth: Okay.
David: I didn't know. That's what I mean.
Seth: That's like a cool sci fi idea.
David: That would be an awesome sci fi novel. Let's write it.
Seth: Let's write it.
David: If you want Seth and I to write a pre Adamite sci fi novel sp the comments and we might just do it.
Seth: Yeah, we'll be really good at it.
David: It would be fun. Be a fun passion project.
Seth: I have ideas in my goo Apple notes for this idea.
David: We have to do it now, so.
Seth: And that's our podcast.
David: It is not. Keep listening. So, yes, we have to go back to Genesis in order to understand the theme of the servant.
Seth: Yes. And so I think when we think of the word servant, we just need to populate our mind with what the Bible means by servanthood.
David: Yes.
Seth: Because I think servant is like, I think like, you know, British period dramas. That's what I think of when I Think of servants. Right.
David: Your tea is ready, my Lord. Sorry. To all my British friends.
Seth: So the first time the idea of service comes into the Bible is in the book of Genesis. And it's Adam. Okay. Adam is told to rule the world and to. He is responsible, along with Eve, for extending the boundaries of God's kingdom and bringing paradise to the world.
David: Yes.
Seth: Right. That's his job. And through him and through multiplying with his wife, he will fill the earth with God's paradise and his goodness and his justice and his laws throughout the whole land.
David: Yes.
Seth: And when Adam is given this Commission, in Genesis 2, verse 15, he says this. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to serve it and protect it. It's the first use of the word serve in the Bible. And that's the verb form of the word servant that will come along. That's what I want us to see. At the very beginning of the Bible, God has the idea of ruling his world and serving the land or serving the people or serving the garden as connected ideas.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Like we're supposed to serve. What are you thinking? As we just talk at this very basic level about what it means to.
David: Serve, the word serve is still hitting maybe the wrong nerve or maybe it's the right nerve. I just need to know. So I gotta process that. So it sounds like God created this.
Seth: World.
David: Like a Lord would create a house and then said, now serve me within it.
Seth: Okay.
David: And there's like the creation or the home kind of stands above the man, the servant and the Lord stands above that man.
Seth: Yes.
David: And they are responsible for it.
Seth: Yes.
David: But they don't have any kind of agency in it.
Seth: Yes.
David: Does that make sense?
Seth: Yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah, that's a good thing.
David: He also. Because Adam also had dominion.
Seth: That's right. I think what I'm trying to say here is that when the Bible talks about that. That power to rule or that. That. That. That. That dominion.
David: Yes.
Seth: It talks about it in terms of service.
David: Yeah, There you go.
Seth: I think that's the way it's like you are serving the world.
David: Yeah.
Seth: By extending the borders of Eden, because remember, the world is a barren wasteland.
David: Right.
Seth: And Adam is called to extend the paradise of God further and further out. So I think the idea here is not you're serving the barren wasteland, you're serving future generations. You're serving the world by obeying God's commands and extending his dominion throughout the world. Does that make more sense? Like there's this outward focus, the service is not so much. It is towards God. Yes. But it is also for the benefit of the world.
David: How helpful is it, as we go back to Adam here, to either double down on or purge ourselves of the. The subjectiveness like that a. That a servant is a subject.
Seth: A subject, yes.
David: And. And. And that it's this humble task.
Seth: I think you are supposed. I think that is still part of it. Like the word service does imply. I mean, it's often translated slave.
David: Yeah.
Seth: In the Old Testament as well. Or servant, like in a traditional sense of like you serve a master. Like, it's not devoid of any of those connotations. It is. Adam is not the ultimate ruler of the world. He's a sub ruler, a vice, a viceroy. He's a prince to God, the king, and he serves the world.
David: That's helpful. Thinking about him as a prince who serves the world.
Seth: Yes.
David: Gives me that duality of dominion, power, authority, along with obedience, being a subject and helping those around you, because there is that double sense, at least for Adam. I don't know how far. How far that thread continues, especially as we get to Isaiah's servant. I don't know yet, but I'm just trying to make sure I have my category straight. That.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Because I think when you said, like, we need to populate our imagination with what is a servant from a biblical worldview, at least from this thread we're pulling.
Seth: Right.
David: It's like, I still have that, like. No, that's under the heel kind of feel with the word servant.
Seth: Yeah. I think king and prince. King and prince is the better, like, metaphor here. So you have God the king, who has given the prince a region of the world to occupy and to steward. And he is called to serve those under his care and those yet under his care.
David: Yes.
Seth: By extending the boundaries of God's kingdom.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Into the chaos of the world.
David: Yep.
Seth: Yep.
David: That makes sense.
Seth: That is what the role of the servant is.
David: Okay.
Seth: Okay.
David: That makes sense. Yep. One more question.
Seth: Yes.
David: How important? We keep coming back to it, but I'm like, how important are these themes of serving those inside and outside? Okay. And then chaos and Eden.
Seth: Yes. They're important as well. When Isaiah picks it up, it'll look a little bit differently because in the Garden of Eden, we're talking on like, fundamental levels, chaos versus order. But when we get to Israel as a nation. Right. Order in a nation is called justice.
David: Yes.
Seth: And so Isaiah will talk about the servant of Israel doing justice in the world and bringing peace to the world.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So, like, the vocabulary changes. But the ideas are, are the same.
David: Okay, that makes sense. So where do we go with this word serve? Servant from Adam. How does it develop?
Seth: So the next person it develops with is Abraham. Okay, so if you jump to Genesis chapter 12.
David: Yep.
Seth: This is God's interaction with Abraham and extending the Adamic command to rule the world to Abraham. And he says this, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. So we have this idea of ruling again. We have, like, now it's a nation you're ruling, not just a garden or a land, but a nation itself. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. And then he says this in verse 3, I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So in Abraham we have this continuation of the idea that through God's chosen prince, his servant prince who extends the boundaries of his nation, the world will be blessed.
David: Yes. Right. And here Abraham's not vocabulary wise, called a servant.
Seth: Not yet. No.
David: Okay, not yet. But the all the same duties and responsibilities and authority that's in relationship are given to him that was given to Adam.
Seth: That's right.
David: And so he is the servant.
Seth: Yes. And so in Genesis 26:24, God calls Abraham his servant when speaking to Abraham's son. Okay, Abraham's son, Isaac. He says. He says, I am the God of Abraham, your father. Fear not, I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.
David: Ah, it is interesting. He gives him the same Adam command.
Seth: That's right.
David: Uses all that same language, multiply. And then it's like, well, why am I in this lineage? Like, what does it mean to receive this blessing? And that's when he decides to pull out the Adam title of servant.
Seth: Isn't that interesting?
David: Because he's like, because now you're the new Adam.
Seth: That's right, you're the new Adam. And then a little bit later, Moses will call Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the multiplying family of Abraham, all God's servants. And Exodus 32, verse 13, it says this. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by your own self. And then he goes on, I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven. And, and all this land that I have promised, I will give to your offspring, so they will inherit it forever. Okay, so you see, like God's like that. That Adamic command of increasing the kingdom of God through his servants multiplying throughout the world forever is the promise given to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And interestingly, to the vocabulary, is Israel here.
David: Yes.
Seth: Not just these individuals, but these. The nation itself begins to be identified as God's servant.
David: Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And each time it's tied to this multiplication and this external blessing.
Seth: That's right.
David: And so again, it always goes back to the original Edenic purpose.
Seth: That's right.
David: That what God was doing in the garden with his prince and servant Adam would spread out as a blessing of paradise to the whole world.
Seth: That's right.
David: So from a singular servant, there would be a blessing to the whole world through a multiplication of servants.
Seth: That's right. That's exactly right. And at the very end of Genesis, you have a living picture of this in the character of Joseph. Right. Oh, Joseph is one of Jacob's sons.
David: Yep.
Seth: And he rises to power to be the prince of Egypt.
David: Yes.
Seth: Great movie.
David: Prince of Egypt.
Seth: It is like an underrated movie.
David: It's so great.
Seth: So good.
David: So the music, though.
Seth: Music's great.
David: So good.
Seth: Great movie. Not. Not about Joseph. But anyway, he becomes the prince of Egypt, and he, through his rule and his wise rule, ends up blessing the whole world.
David: And he was a servant.
Seth: And he was a servant to the king of Egypt, but also to God himself.
David: Yep.
Seth: So at the very end of Genesis, you have this picture of Adam ruling a nation, blessing the world through his rule and dominion.
David: Because all the nations were experiencing, like, a drought.
Seth: That's right. That's right. That's right. Yes.
David: And they came to him who had wisely stewarded the garden of harvest that was in Pharaoh's land.
Seth: Yes.
David: And was able to feed and bless the nations by his wise servanthood. He multiplied the grain, in a sense, you know, in order to provide for the nations. That's super cool. Where else do we see servant before we get to Isaiah? How else has the theme developed?
Seth: Yeah, the next person to be called a servant is Moses. And in Moses, we kind of have like a. Like a concretizing of some of the themes that have just kind of been in the background. So we keep talking about, like, God's rule and dominion going out throughout the world. Well, in Moses, that rule and dominion gets a set of laws.
David: Oh, sure.
Seth: The kingdom gets a set of laws.
David: And you talked about, like, chaos being overcome by justice.
Seth: That's right.
David: And these laws come to kind of calm down the chaos.
Seth: They Call that calm down the chaos of Israel. That's exactly right. So Moses comes, he rests, rescues Israel out of Egypt by God's power. He inherits a set of laws from God, communicates it to God's people on their behalf, and justice begins to reign in the camp of Israel. And they are called to go out into the world and spread that justice. So much so that in the book of Leviticus, chapter 25, Israel itself begins to be called God's servant. And so less individuals now, but Israel as a nation is called to be this light to the world. When people come and see it, they'll see a standard of justice and equity and good, the goodness of God that attracts them. And people are drawn into the ever expanding kingdom of God. Yes, as their servant.
David: Okay, that makes a ton of sense.
Seth: Yes.
David: Any other developments of servant we want to talk about before we get to Isaiah?
Seth: Yeah, I think the only other thing I would say is maybe In Deuteronomy chapter 28, we get a picture of what God's servant is supposed to do in the world. So Israel, before they go into the promised land, God kind of gives him a little mini picture of what it will be like when they become the servants to the world they're meant to be. Here's what God says in Deuteronomy 28. The Lord will establish you as a people, holy to himself, as he has sworn to you. And if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways, all the people of the earth shall see that you're called by the name of the Lord. And they shall fear you or respect you, or come to you. And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity and the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. So he's just saying, as Israel embodies this role of servant as it serves the world by being this beacon of justice, by obeying the law, the ordered laws of God, the nations will fear it, but flow to it in hopes of justice. And then Eden will spread out like wombs will be fruitful, livestock will be fruitful, crops will be fruitful.
David: That's right.
Seth: Eden will come through the servant Israel.
David: Yes, yes, that makes a ton of sense.
Seth: Yes. Okay, so that is the background to what Isaiah is talking about when it begins to talk about the servant, this prince who will rule God's people, injustice and bring blessing to the world. And in Isaiah chapter two, we get.
David: This beautiful description of It And I can imagine that Israel really needed a message like this. Thinking about bringing back in the historical context that we talked about that they're surrounded by chaos. The nations that are around them like Assyria are not fearing them at all. Instead Israel and Judah are afraid of these other nations.
Seth: Yeah.
David: How on earth do they have any kind of dominion by which to serve and be a blessing to these other nations around them when they are just trying to figure out how to survive around them? It's like how God, can we fulfill any kind of Edenic, Adamic commandment or servanthood when you're under a nation's boot?
Seth: Yeah. I am curious to the level of self awareness Israel had.
David: Yeah.
Seth: To their servant role. Because I think what some of what Isaiah is doing is he's calling them to remember this.
David: You've forgotten who you're supposed to be to the nations.
Seth: Yes.
David: You're trying to make alliances or you're trying to fight back, or you're afraid.
Seth: That's right.
David: But you know who you are. You're the servant to the nations.
Seth: So let me just read you how Isaiah talks about Israel as a servant. So this is Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 2. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord. It's another way to refer to like the temple or Jerusalem shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above all the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. And many people shall come and say, let's go to the mountain of the Lord, the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law. The Hebrew word is Torah, Torah. The Torah and the word of the Lord from the Jerusalem. And what will happen there? God shall judge between the nations. He'll decide disputes for the people. And they'll beat their swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. And nation won't lift up sword against nation anymore. Neither shall they learn war anymore.
David: So one of my all time favorite passages in the whole Bible.
Seth: Isn't it amazing? So the vision of Israel being God's servant is that they are this city on a hill, this light in the darkness of the world that the nations stream to and find justice and learn how to learn peace. That's the vision of what Israel's supposed to be.
David: Right.
Seth: But, but Isaiah chapter one tells us Israel's not fat. Isaiah chapter one describes just how far Israel has fallen from the ideal of who they're meant to be.
David: Yeah, yeah.
Seth: Let me read chapter one, verse three. The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib. But Israel does not know. My people do not understand. They don't understand who their master is. They don't understand who they're meant to serve. Verse 4. O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They have forsaken the Lord their king. They have despised the Holy One of Israel, another kingly title. They are utterly estranged. Like Isaiah opened up. Here's who you're meant to be. The servant through whom all people stream to for justice. But you've totally abandoned your king and your master.
David: How can you be a servant if you don't know whom you serve?
Seth: That's right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And chapter one just goes on to describe the sins of Israel in pretty sad detail.
David: Yeah, I was just, like, glancing. It's like, oh, yeah, they're like, messing with orphans and not defending the cause of the most poor and vulnerable in their society.
Seth: That's right.
David: It's like they can't even do the simplest forms of justice in their own borders. How could they possibly bring Torah to the nations surrounding them?
Seth: Verse 21 says this. How the faithful city has become a whore. She who was full of justice, righteousness used to lodge in her, but now they are murderers.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That's like you've fallen from who you're meant to be in the world.
David: Right. So they've forgotten who their master is. They're like, okay, so a dumb animal knows its master. Like the ox knows its master, but Israel's forgotten its king. What does it mean to forget who they serve? Like, does that mean that. Is that an idolatry thing? That they're starting to serve other gods? Is it that they're not listening to the prophets? Is it that they're just living in rampant sin? What is he talking about there?
Seth: I think it's a little bit like all of the above. It's all of the above, but I think most fundamentally, it's probably an idolatrous thing. It's like they've forgotten the God that has made them.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And they've forgotten what that means to be, have been made by God.
David: Because if they're made by God, then they're His Adam, his servant.
Seth: That's right.
David: And they're losing that calling.
Seth: Yeah. And interestingly enough. And we'll get here eventually. But when we get into those servant songs in Isaiah 40 and onwards, all the servant songs are surrounded by warnings against idolatry. And Isaiah, like, even deconstructs the weirdness and the idiocy of idolatry. So you're telling me a man, like, is going to go out to his lumber yard, he's going to take a piece of wood, he's going to shave off some, make a whistle, he's going to shave off a little bit more, and he's going to make a little bit of fire for himself, and then he is going to shave off some more and then bow to that other.
David: Pile of shavings that he made.
Seth: That he made. Is. Doesn't that strike you as odd, Israel, that the maker is bowing to the thing that he's made? And it's in the context of this of, like, type of idolatry, this forgetting of who their true master is, that Isaiah introduces us to this servant will come and save God's people.
David: So, so there's a, there's a big development here that I'm seeing because right now we've set up this. The servant is the one who will be fruitful and multiply and bring Eden creation to the chaos within the nations. And that was Adam, it was Abraham, and then it was Israel and Moses. And like, there's a whole nation of Israel supposed to be a blessing to the nations. They've lost that calling because they are not doing justice. They're not bringing order into chaos. And that's because. And this is like what seems to be like the very Isaiah development is because they have forgotten who they serve and they're starting to serve idols instead of God.
Seth: Yes.
David: They're not listening to God's voice. They're not following his law. They don't know who they are in relationship to Yahweh, because in order to be a servant, you have to have a master.
Seth: Yes.
David: And so they've forgotten that they have a master or they replace that master.
Seth: Yes.
David: And so that's just like. That's an interesting idea there.
Seth: Yes.
David: I'm even thinking like, for myself, I'm like, how often do I think, am I thinking about myself as a servant to a master?
Seth: Yeah.
David: And when I stop thinking about that, do I stop doing his work here in the world?
Seth: Yeah.
David: Thinking about all these things.
Seth: The other thing that Isaiah will throw in here is there is still a minority of people who have not forgotten the remnant. There's a remnant. There are a group of survivors whom have remain faithful to God, but they're surrounded by wickedness. And so what Isaiah will say is the God's plan for his people to restore their servanthood is to remove all those who are disobedient and disloyal to their master. So Isaiah's vision for the redemption of Israel and the restoration of Israel to their servant calling to bless the entire world is one of removal of the evil ones.
David: Okay, what is. Tie that into servant Master for me.
Seth: If you have a bad servant, you fire them.
David: Sure. Yep.
Seth: Like when they're not performing their job, when they're not recognizing the authority of the master, when they're being insubordinate and introducing into your home a whole bunch of things that you don't want in.
David: Your home, you would get rid of them because they would not be propagating your home in the way that you want it to be.
Seth: You would leave only those who are serving you. Truly.
David: I get that. So in order for the house to do its job in the neighborhood.
Seth: Yes.
David: Got to have the right kind of people working in the house.
Seth: Yes. So Isaiah's vision for the way that Israel will be restored is through purification.
David: Okay.
Seth: God's going to come and purify his people by removing those who have refused to serve God and bring his paradise to the world.
David: So is. Is that what this new servant does that we're hoping for or that gets introduced?
Seth: We'll get there.
David: Okay.
Seth: We'll get there.
David: Trying to tie it together.
Seth: Oh, man, it's so exciting.
David: Okay, so let me. If I can hit the reset button here. So we've traced the theme of servant. We've gotten to Israel. She's supposed to be this city on a hill to whom all nations stream, Listen to God's justice and voice, and then bring Shalom out into the chaos. That's what they're supposed to do.
Seth: Yes.
David: Instead, they can't even accomplish the most minute forms of justice inside their own borders. They've forgotten their God, forgotten their Master, and have ceased to be the servant they're supposed to be.
Seth: That's right.
David: So what does Isaiah say next?
Seth: Isaiah says the solution to that is being cleansed.
David: Okay. So we got to get the bad servants out.
Seth: Yes.
David: And get all the good servants in.
Seth: Yeah. And you can see this in chapter one, verse 18. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. He's saying, israel, this does not have to be your end. Disobedience, sinfulness, disobedience. Chaos does not have to be who you are. I am committing to purifying and cleansing you as a people.
David: But that doesn't, that doesn't sound like that is. God's going to get rid of all the bad people and keep all the good people. It sounds like he's going to like, forgive them and wash them clean. Change who they are, not change who's inside of it.
Seth: This is a tension that runs throughout the book. I mean, if you go just up a couple verses to verse nine, it says if the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. It seems like God was purifying Israel to such a degree that only survivors were left. So the evil was projected. Chapter 3, verse 10 and 11. Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. But woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. So like, there is this, like, sense, like, well, didn't God say that he would cleanse his. Like that washing like scarlet things like, since he's transforming people.
David: Right.
Seth: In the sense he is on a corporate scale, how do you. If you have 100 people and 67 of them are. Are bad. Yeah, but it's still one people.
David: Right.
Seth: You just get rid of the 67. And you would leave the math.
David: The math that's left. The 33.
Seth: The 33 to be. To constitute new, humble servant people of God.
David: Okay, so I get that tension. Yes. So in order for Israel to be the servant she was meant to be and bless the world.
Seth: Yes.
David: As she was meant to, Israel needs to be cleansed of the bad servants, or at least cleansed of the sin that's causing the badness, whatever that tension is.
Seth: Yes.
David: And be a good servant as a whole once again.
Seth: That's right.
David: But how do we get that.
Seth: And this is where we're introduced to Isaiah.
David: Oh, okay.
Seth: So nor. This is really fascinating. So when we have read Jeremiah, Ezekiel.
David: You'Re introduced to the prophet right at the front.
Seth: The very first thing.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And we're told that they see a vision of God and God commissions them. Isaiah's buried six chapters into his book.
David: Of Prophecies in order that a servant could pop up in the like.
Seth: Yes, that's exactly right. So that we would see in Isaiah what Israel needs, what Israel is to do.
David: I see.
Seth: That's right. And so Isaiah in chapter six sees this vision of God.
David: Super famous vision.
Seth: Super famous vision. He sees a vision of the temple. God is sitting in power his, the, his robe fills the temple, there's smoke everywhere. He sees flying seraphim that are on fire. And a seraphim is like, we won't go into that. We won't go into the seraphim. Spiritual being, an amazing spiritual being. And they're all singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
David: Yeah, but okay, so you, there's this picture of Isaiah in some kind of glory filled perfection temple garden thing.
Seth: Yes.
David: Okay.
Seth: And then Isaiah's response to seeing the Holy One of Israel, the God of order and goodness and paradise, is to say this in verse 5, I said, Woe is me. I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the middle of a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah's response to this vision of the good master is to say, I am not a good servant. He's recognizing the uncleanliness and disobedience that not only he has personally, but that he dwells in the midst of. Like he's identifying himself right in context with his nation.
David: He pronounces the same curse upon himself as he pronounced on the nation of Israel's bad actors.
Seth: That's right.
David: In chapter three that we just read.
Seth: That's right.
David: Woe to those, those who don't do good.
Seth: That's right.
David: And he's like, actually, now that I've seen the Lord, woe to me because I'm unclean and I live with unclean people.
Seth: That's exactly right.
David: Okay, so he's confessing.
Seth: He's confessing as Israel should.
David: As Israel should. Israel needs to come to terms with the fact that they have forgotten their role and their like, the righteousness they're supposed to have.
Seth: That's right.
David: And they need to confess to God that they are this way.
Seth: That's right. And then what happens next? Then verse 6, one of the seraphim flew to me and had burning coal in his hands that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, behold, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for. It's that cleansing. He's been washed white as snow. He's being washed as Israel is to be washed. And what is Israel meant to be? A servant of God. And so what do we see next is Isaiah commissioned to be one of God's servants. God starts speaking, whom shall I send and who will go for us? So presumably God is talking to all the people and spiritual beings arrayed in his cosmic temple. He's like, okay, who's going to go to Israel for us? Who's going to talk to Israel on our behalf and bring about the justice and the serve. The servant heartedness.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That we want for our people. And Isaiah is looking around among the flying beings and he says, I'll go.
David: Right.
Seth: I'll go. I'll be the servant.
David: Right. And it's so fascinating to hear it in this context because I feel like I always just hear, hear this. And not that this is bad, but that this commissioning of Isaiah and his willingness to say, here I am, send me, is his. His obedience, his bravery, you know, his willingness.
Seth: Yep.
David: His availability. You know, I've heard. I've heard. I've been at youth conferences where it's like, give God your. Here I am, send me, you know? Yes. But sure, yeah. Nothing wrong with that, really. But also what's happening here is he's identifying. He knows who he is.
Seth: He does.
David: He's like, oh, you're looking for the servant. You're looking for the. The Adam, like person. And so he's looking around and all. All that he sees are spiritual beings and things like that.
Seth: I hadn't thought about that.
David: They're not. They're not Adam. They're not man, which is what Adam means.
Seth: Yes.
David: They're not the servant. They're not the incarnated ones who are meant to live in the world and bring God's justice to it. That's not their job. So he looks around, he's the only Adam in the court of heaven.
Seth: Fascinating.
David: And he's like, well, I guess that's my job.
Seth: I guess that's why.
David: Because I'm the human, I'm the Adam, and I am meant to go and do this servant thing. Yeah. He, like, understands who he is in that moment.
Seth: That's fascinating.
David: Pretty cool.
Seth: That is really cool. And so God says, great, let's send you on your mission. And here's what's kind of heartbreaking. I think a lot of people understand what's heartbreaking about this. But what God says to Isaiah is that his mission will not be one of restoration. It'll be one of, like, essentially damnation.
David: Right.
Seth: And he says this, Go and say to this people, meaning Israel, keep on hearing, but don't understand. Keep on seeing, but don't perceive. Isaiah, make the heart of this people dull, make their ears heavy, blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with the ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. God say, I don't want Israel healed in this moment in Isaiah, I want you to make sure it doesn't happen.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Want you to prevent the healing of God's people. And Isaiah has a very natural response. Well, how long am I going to have to do this before. But let's talk about that idea. That idea like God saying, your job is to make it impossible for my people to be healed.
David: Yeah.
Seth: This goes back to this idea of cleansing. How are God's people as a, as a nation going to be cleansed?
David: I mean if I'm following Isaiah's pattern, it's through confession.
Seth: It's through confession. That's right. And actually being atoned.
David: Actually being atoned. So I need to own that it's my sin, come to God, say woe is me, I'm unclean. And then he has to atone me.
Seth: It has to be burned out.
David: Yeah. That's what I need to happen.
Seth: That's right. And so what I think is happening here is God is saying we need to burn out the evil actors in Israel. And so your job, Isaiah is to identify them. Like your job is to preach in such a way that it is made clear.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Who are those that are against my law, against my order, against my peace and against my paradise in the world? Your job is to identify them and preach in such a way is that their crimes are obvious.
David: Yeah.
Seth: That's his job.
David: Right. And it's. And he does that what through? Because I immediately jump to when Jesus quotes this and makes the same point. So I'm using kind of that actually to interpret this. But let me take a stab at it. So it's like he's preaching, you know, what God wants them to do. Hey Ahaz, don't trust Assyria, don't make an alliance with them. Right. But Ahaz does. Thus proving that he's the one who needs to get burned out.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And he's a get away in order for Israel to be the servant that they need to be. And so as he preaches just simply what God wants them to do, he reveals the hard hearted. Because the hard hearted don't. Don't obey.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And they, they kind of self select that they're the ones who don't want to do.
Seth: That's right.
David: Like what God says.
Seth: That's right.
David: And like Jesus does the same thing with parables. He does, he speaks in parables so that those who have hard hearts won't believe.
Seth: Yeah.
David: But those who do are like, well, what does it mean? I want to learn, I want to follow this Rabbi, I want to change. Woe is me. Help me out, Jesus.
Seth: That's right.
David: And he uses that parable of the sower to make his point. He's like, there's. I tell parables, like a sower who throws seed all around. So, Isaiah, you're going to throw the seed of your prophecy all around, and it's going to fall on rocky soil, and the soil by the path, it's going to get choked out by weeds, but there is still that remnant of good soil.
Seth: That's right.
David: That your word's going to fall on. And those are going to be the servants. Yes, my little servant patch.
Seth: Funnily enough, that's exactly what he says here in the next verse. Okay, so Isaiah's response is, how long do I have to preach like this? Like, how long do I have to confirm people in their. In their evil?
David: Yeah.
Seth: And he says, well, until Israel is ruined, essentially. But he says this in verse 13. And though a tenth will remain in Israel, at the end of all this judgment, you will see, I'm going to burn it one more time. I'm going to burn it again like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains. So the idea is you're going to preach until all the cities lay ruined and there's only a tenth of Israel left. And then I'm going to burn the stump. I'm going to burn the stump, but when it is felled, the holy seed will be in the stump. So have you ever seen, like, a. Like a forest fire burn? Like, there's always these little, like, shoots that grow up from the roots.
David: Yeah, I was actually. I just was driving through the mountains of Colorado, and you saw this where they had that huge fire.
Seth: Oh, yeah, yeah.
David: And we were driving through, and, yeah, it was crazy. Just thousands of trees burned. But, yeah, you could start to see new growth coming out of it was kind of eerily beautiful.
Seth: And so that's what God is prophesying. Here's how long you're supposed to prophesy this type of judgment.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Until the shoot comes from the burn stump of Israel. Until that remnant, that small band of faithful servants, rises.
David: Yep.
Seth: That's what you're supposed to do is.
David: Yeah. So Jesus even pulling on seed language.
Seth: Yes, that's exactly right. That's exactly right.
David: That's crazy.
Seth: And what's really funny, the only time this phrase holy seed is used is in the Book of Ezra when Israel returns from exile. These are the faithful people who rebuild God's temple. They're the holy seed they're the holy seed. So, like, it's fulfilled in, like, eventually in Isaiah's time or a little after 150 years later.
David: Just. Just a little after.
Seth: Just a little after.
David: Crazy. Okay, so you've got this kind of paradigmatic servant in Isaiah who shows Israel embodies what Israel's supposed to do, repent of their sin, be atoned for. And then now he. Now that he has, he's like this word bringer with atoned lips.
Seth: Yes.
David: Who's coming to God's people to speak God's word to them, to try to bring Eden into the chaos within Israel's borders. But his commission is kind of an ironic one or like a. I don't know, like a sad one.
Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David: Because he's going to preach, but people are going to identify that they are the ones who are going to be judged because they're not going to listen to him.
Seth: Yes.
David: But there will be the small remnant.
Seth: That's right.
David: Who do listen. And though they have to kind of go along with Israel for the burning section, they're going to be part of the new growth. And there will be this new crop of true servants.
Seth: That's right.
David: That will hopefully grow into this new garden.
Seth: Isaiah 2. The nations come into them. Justice and peace.
David: Exactly. They'll become that.
Seth: That's right. Okay, so that's the introduction to the book of Isaiah.
David: All right. Yeah, I get that. Yeah.
Seth: Yeah. Cool.
David: Okay. Yeah. So I think we have this picture, and we have so much, I think, ammunition right now.
Seth: Yeah.
David: We've got the call of Adam and the need for a servant who brings a blessing to all nations. This is supposed to be the nation of Israel. They fail at that. So God shows us this need for repentance, cleansing, so that we become, even through death, we become this shoot that pops up as a new crop that does actually grow into a kingdom that blesses all nations.
Seth: Yes. And Isaiah is this, like, living picture of who Israel's meant to be. He is, like, laid flat under the glory of God. But God raises him up, cleanses him to be his servant, right to his people.
David: And so Jesus obviously sees himself as kind of a new Isaiah.
Seth: Yes.
David: Going around like a sower, spreading seed and identifying where all the hard hearts are, but also identifying where the good soil is. And he says that just like Isaiah promised, there will be this small crop of good soil, and it's going to grow some 30 fold, some 60 fold, some hundredfold, and it's going to have this miraculous growth that comes out of it. So that it can become this place. So how should we see Jesus in light of these first six chapters of Isaiah?
Seth: Yeah, so John actually quotes this passage directly. So right after Mary anoints Jesus with like, anoints his feet with oil, preparing him for burial, in John's account, he goes up into the temple, he is rejected by the Jerusalem establishment. And then people start believing him. Some Greeks see him, they start believing him. Jesus prophesies the Son of man must die and be lifted up. And then we get this. When Jesus had said these things, he departed from his disciples and hid himself. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him. By disciples, I don't mean his 12.
David: Because the larger crowds, people following him.
Seth: So that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord revealed? This is actually a prophecy from a little bit later. Therefore they could not believe. For again, Isaiah said, he has blinded their eyes and has hardened their hearts lest they see with their eyes and understand with their hearts in turn. And I would heal them. So John does exactly what you're saying. Like Jesus sees himself as having the same ministry as Isaiah. He has to hide himself so as to confirm people in their disbelief in order to purify them. And then verse 41, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
David: Isaiah saw Jesus's glory and spoke of Jesus?
Seth: Yes.
David: Okay, so that, so like, like what he saw in this temple vision?
Seth: Yeah, that's what he's saying, Isaiah. John says that when Isaiah has this vision, he's actually seeing the glory of Jesus. And so his mission to Israel is to harden their hearts against the message of Jesus until the right time that the shoots can come up.
David: What do I do with that? What does that mean?
Seth: It means that Jesus is the hope of the book of Isaiah.
David: Okay.
Seth: The servant calling of bringing peace and prosperity and blessing to the world is fulfilled in Jesus's ministry and what he does for his people. Like Isaiah was calling Israel to return to that servant calling, to be faithful to God's laws in such a way that the whole world would be blessed and would stream to it and learn God's laws and have like peace throughout the world. And Isaiah says that that won't be fulfilled. Or in conversation with John, at least, that begins to be fulfilled as Jesus comes and purifies his people through his acts of death eventually. Which, you know, Isaiah will talk about as well.
David: Okay, I think I'M just like, I'm struggling as I think probably a lot of people listening would be with. And I. With this strange effect that Jesus's ministry was having with. Like, you would think that Jesus would come and he would speak with such persuasive words or use crazy God powers.
Seth: Yeah.
David: To. When he talked to people, change their hearts and, like, till, make them good soil and make them hear the kingdom or. I don't know yet what I'm saying. I'm trying to say, like, it's just weird that Jesus and Isaiah were commissioned to preach and teach the word of God in such a way that it revealed the hardness of heart.
Seth: Mm.
David: Because what you're saying is that hardness needs to be revealed for one of two things to happen.
Seth: Yeah.
David: When the hardness of heart is revealed, either they're shown to be the ones who need to be cleansed.
Seth: Yeah.
David: So that they can be taken away. And so that the kingdom.
Seth: That again, with the humble servants.
David: That's right.
Seth: Yeah.
David: So that's. It identifies those who need to be cleaned up, or it shows them who they are and they act like Isaiah and they repent.
Seth: That's right.
David: I think it's the same tension I ran into earlier when you read though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That when I think about cleansing and atonement, I think about it in terms of taking a bad person and cleaning them up. So they're a good person.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Instead of identifying a bad person. So they might go away to make a corporately good nation.
Seth: Yes.
David: And I think I'm running up against my Western individualism, maybe.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Or something there.
Seth: Yeah. Well, it's interesting because there is a very real sense that as, like, the story of what God does with his people moves throughout history, there is a sense that in Jesus, like, the decision to become cleansed becomes an individual one more than a corporate one. Like that. That is a real thing that happens. As God deals with Israel, he's dealing with a corporate body.
David: Right.
Seth: And when he deals with us now, he deals with his church. And, like, frequently we have in our church people that aren't. Aren't actually believers leading them. And God cleanses them by getting evil pastors out of, like, you know, like, that happens today.
David: Yeah.
Seth: And so we could. We could talk about, like, the way that God cleanses the church. I guess. I'm. But it all funnels through also an individual choice to confess and to accept the cleansing of God.
David: Yeah.
Seth: So I get that. Yeah.
David: I think the other question maybe a Better question to ask is, why is Jesus repeating this specific ministry of Isaiah? Like, so maybe we could compare those two things. So Isaiah is commissioned to preach in such a way that he reveals that Israel has forgotten their master and has ceased to be a servant. And we're saying he's doing that to prepare the remnant. Yeah. To, like, get rid of the like. So that the 90%, you know, will be, you know, burned down or whatever. And that's 10th left over would be this remnant. Like, we haven't quite landed that plane yet with Isaiah, So maybe that's why I'm having trouble applying it to Jesus.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Anything else that would help me round out, like that, that specific ministry and commissioning of Isaiah that would help me understand why Jesus is picking up on it?
Seth: I think what feels weird about reading this, it feels like Isaiah has given a specific mission to make it harder. Right, Right.
David: Yeah.
Seth: I actually don't know if that's maybe the best way to say it.
David: Right.
Seth: Because if you have a mission and your mission is to encourage a proud people to adopt the role of a servant, that's not going to be widely received.
David: No. People are just going to be like, I'm not going to do that. It's just revealing what's already there.
Seth: It's revealing what's already there. There's a way to preach that makes that more obvious.
David: Yes.
Seth: Right. And it's like, I don't want to lessen the severity of God's word, like God's commissioning to Isaiah, but I do think there's something about just the nature of what is what God is calling Israel to be. And Jesus is calling us to be, to adopt this role of the servant that automatically is going to cut people off. And I don't think. I think the implication is like, well, if Jesus would have done more miracles, sure. You know, some more folks might have got in.
David: He could have changed some minds.
Seth: He could have changed some minds, but would it. Would it have changed the hearts?
David: Right.
Seth: It's like, I think, like, there's probably just something a little more basic happening here where it's like, the message of being a servant is a hard one. And Jesus isn't going to sugarcoat that with a whole bunch of miracles. It's like, hey, the call here is to come and die.
David: Yeah.
Seth: The call here is to humble yourself. The call is to take on the laws of God and extend them throughout the world. Later, Jesus say, it's to pick up your cross and to follow me. It's like the miracles that I'm going to do aren't going to make it easier to suffer later because whatever miracle I do now might be undone by the suffering you experience later. Right, right.
David: He's teaching in a hard way because he's calling people to a hard thing.
Seth: Right.
David: And because being his servant, it actually means something. It doesn't mean just a mental assent to something. And well, let me just convince you that I am God on earth by doing crazy miracles in front of you. And you're like, oh, he must be. But you're actually not. You're actually just gonna end up doing what Israel's done all along.
Seth: Yes.
David: And believing in God, but actually not serving him as master and not bringing the peace I want to bring into the world. So I'm going to make you like the. The rich young ruler, come to terms with who you actually are.
Seth: That's right.
David: And you are greedy and you will not follow me. So just realize that and walk away.
Seth: Yes.
David: Because you're not actually going to serve me.
Seth: Yes.
David: And so. And I think that is more helpful way to put it.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And the other thing I was thinking about as you were talking was all of this is good news because of what's on the line. And there's two things I can think about that are just on the line. There's like, why would we go to such extremes to get this 10%, this 10th, this remnant, this remnant. Why go to such extremes to get this good servant nation fixed on Earth? Like why? Who cares? It's because if we don't, then the whole world will continually be ruled by chaos, injustice, like the destruction of orphans, the mistreatment of the most vulnerable, the pillaging of land, like pollution, corruption, like all these things, the whole world is going to continue to suffer under uncreation if we don't get the new Adams right here and doing their job, like that's on the line. So it's an important work.
Seth: Right. And I think that makes sense as an. When you're talking about nation, like if your nation's just shot through with corrupt.
David: Leaders, you kind of need to go away.
Seth: They need to go away. And the same thing would be true of any individual church. If you have a church that's trying to do what true religion says is to reach out to orphans and widows and to protect the vulnerable and to preach the gospel. But it shot through with people working to get a paycheck and get rich. You're going to hamstring what God wants to do through his people on earth.
David: Yep.
Seth: And so the good news Is getting rid of that so that God's people can be who they're meant to be on the world.
David: Yes.
Seth: Cities on a hill.
David: Yes.
Seth: Like lights in the darkness.
David: Yeah.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And then the other thing that's on the line is the presence of God is like Isaiah. It's important. Where he was when all of this happened.
Seth: Yeah.
David: He was in the throne room with Jesus and he saw all this glory. And like, that's what we're supposed to dwell with. That's why the command for the servant goes all the way back to the garden. Because it was in a place where man dwelt with God.
Seth: Yes.
David: And they were meant to serve in that garden. Temple. In fact, like that word servant.
Seth: Yes.
David: To serve and care for are the verbs used of priests.
Seth: That's right.
David: Who work in the temple.
Seth: That's right.
David: And so it's like we need to serve and care for this place where we can dwell with God. And so.
Seth: And Isaiah, too. It's the mountain of the house of the Lord.
David: It's a place where we live with God.
Seth: Yeah.
David: That's what's on the line. What's on the line is communion with God. And Isaiah comes into the throne room of God and he can't be there. And he knows he can't be there because he's unclean. And that's why he says, woe to me. I'm going to be wiped out.
Seth: Yeah.
David: Because this is a perfect place and I'm definitely not supposed to be here. I would mess it up. So get rid of me. So this thing. Because this thing is so good. It needs to continue. So just go ahead and get rid of me because I'd rather discontinue and me be gone. Yeah. Than me make this stop.
Seth: Yes.
David: So get rid of me. And God's like, no, no, no. I'm going to cleanse you and actually let you be part of this thing. And that's what's on the line is like unclean, broken people being cleansed and being brought into a place with God.
Seth: Yeah.
David: And so we want to clean up the earth so that God comes back. Like God wants to clean up the earth so he can come if we.
Seth: Really love the idea or if we really want for the world. God's presence.
David: Yes. Over the world.
Seth: It comes with the acknowledgment that no evil can be there.
David: That's right.
Seth: For a whole bunch of reasons. You cannot coexist with God. Evil is bad for others.
David: Yeah.
Seth: But it's like evil cannot be where God is.
David: Yep. So he has to cleanse it.
Seth: So he has to cleanse. And we should want that.
David: Yes.
Seth: And we should want that for the world.
David: And it can come through one of two ways.
Seth: Yes.
David: Repentance or woe to me.
Seth: Or woe to me. That's right.
David: Yeah. So I get that. Okay. Oh, all right. Next time we get to talk about the Christmas prophecy.
Seth: We finally got to talk about the Christmas prophecies. And as we've said, Isaiah is this living microcosm of who Israel's supposed to be. They're supposed to see who God is, repent, be cleansed, and serve God truly. So we have a. What comes next is a test. Will Israel's king follow the pattern of the prophet?
David: I see.
Seth: Will they follow God as the prophet has told them to do?
David: Okay. And we're going to talk about the virgin birth.
Seth: We'll talk about the virgin birth.
David: Okay. And Emmanuel.
Seth: And Emmanuel.
David: Okay.
Seth: And unto us a child is born.
David: Oh, man. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas. Well, thank you guys for joining us through our journey through the book of Isaiah. We're really excited to continue following this theme of the sermon Servant through Isaiah. We hope you join us next time.
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