Sermon Tone Analysis

FILLED – YET EMPTY!

Yeshayahu/Isaiah 2

Shabbat Shalom family, blessed be the Name of יהוה!

How many of you have had a week where it seemed like there were just not enough hours to get everything done?

You have possibly been running from one thing to the next and have not had a moment for yourself?

How many of you had a ‘full’ week so to speak?

As you ponder on what has consumed your week, think just for a moment what fills your life – in other words what are the things that are consuming your time, energy and resources, while at the end of it you feel totally drained, beat and empty!

In a message tonight called, “Filled – Yet Empty!”

I would like us to consider just the very essence of just that reality check of being filled yet empty.

Why is it that often your life may seem to be so filled all the time yet you end up feeling so empty as the very things that are filling you are at the same time draining you without you even realising it?

Is it perhaps because you are filled with the wrong stuff?

Well, let us take a look at Scripture and allow the very mirror of the Word to reveal to us whether our lives are truly being filled with what matters.

Please turn with me to Yeshayahu/Isaiah 2 (read).

Yeshayahu is such a powerful book that is so relevant to us all today – It clearly pictures for us the need to embrace the Saving Favour of יהוה, and his name defines this for us – Yeshayahu יְשַׁעְיָהוּ – which means ‘salvation of Yah/ Yahweh saves’.

We will do well to heed the prophetic words of Yeshayahu/Isaiah, as the call to live set-apart lives and walk in the light of יהושע is being proclaimed louder and louder – the question remains – who will hear and who is dull of hearing?

Chapter 1 speaks of the urgency and need to hear the Word of יהוה, and walk in the Torah (His instructions for righteous living).

When understanding the concept of being filled, satisfied and nourished through the Word, Chapter 1:19 -20 makes it very clear – “eat or be eaten”:

“If you submit and obey, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of יהוה has spoken.”

The Hebrew word used for ‘eat’ and ‘devoured’ is the same word - אָכַל aḵal – H398 and means ‘eat, consume, devour or be devoured’.

So in essence what is being declared here is simply this: if you submit and obey you will eat and enjoy the good of the land – if you rebel and refuse to submit and obey you will be eaten by the sword – that is His Word that will consume you up and devour you in judgement according to His righteous right ruling!

We have a choice – eat His Word and walk in Him and be satisfied or eat all the junk that is on offer and neglect His Word and be eaten by the very Word that is rejected.

It is not a difficult concept to grasp – the question remains – how is your diet, and more importantly – what is filling you?

Eat right and live or live wrong and be eaten:

Ḥazon/Revelation 19:15 “And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations.

And He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron.

And He treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Ěl Shaddai.”

Ḥazon/Revelation 19:21 “And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

As we look at chapter 2 we see that it begins with Yeshayahu being shown what is still to come – he was shown the latter days and the coming reign of יהושע – where The reign of Elohim will be firmly established and He Himself will teach us His ways and there will be a reign of peace.

Here Yeshayahu is shown in essence the Millennial Reign of Messiah.

What is very interesting to note is that the very same words in verses 2-4 are found in Miḵah/Micah 4:1-3 and reflects the dual witness of what is to come with the heart of calling people to repentance and back to יהוה.

Verse 5 is a key verse for us as it speaks to us today as much as it did to the house of Ya’aqoḇ back then.

When Yeshayahu was describing the coming reign of our King, he urged all to be urgent in their walking in the Truth and Light of the Torah of יהוה.

The urgency of this command is clear in saying ‘come and let us walk’ we see the repetition of the root word to walk in the intensive form literally commanding, ‘walk, let us walk!’

There is no time to be sitting still and waiting for The Day to come – we are to be about walking in Him right now!

This urgency to command an active walk was due to the current circumstances that had plagued Yehuḏah.

Yehuḏah had grown comfortable in their circumstances and as a result were being filled with all the wrong stuff!

Yeshayahu was calling the people to walk in the light and as he looked around he saw what could be described as ‘dark living’ by a people who claimed to follow יהוה!

The call to ‘walk in the light’ often reveals the true reality of just how ‘full’ people’s lives are with what could only be described as ‘stuff’ and ‘stuff’ that is simply just taking up space that may just end up killing them!

As he looked around – he gave a call to get rid of the stuff and empty oneself of the junk that is filling their lives now if they want to be a part of the joy of walking in the light and ultimately living in the fullness of the reign of Elohim that is to come and be established forever!

In verses 6-8 Yeshayahu reveals the very things that were preventing Yehuḏah from walking fully in the light, as false worship had filled their lives!

Let us look at the things that Yehuḏah were ‘filled’ with and see how relevant the message is still to us today:

1 – Filled from the East and practised magic

In Hebrew, as discussed previously during our Shabbat Torah portion on Aḇraham leaving the land of the ‘east’, we know that the term ‘east’ also gives reference to ancient or past and so what Yehuḏah had been doing here is they were observing worship practices of ancient pagan ways.

They were going back to old ways of idolatry and witchcraft that they were clearly instructed not to do.

They still went to the temple and observed the Feasts of יהוה, yet they were blending their worship with false ways of the east or the past and were practicing divination and magic, thereby syncretising the false with the truth – which is not worship unto יהוה!

The word for ‘practicing magic’ in the Hebrew is עָנַן anan – H6049 meaning ‘fortune telling, soothsaying, practising witchcraft’ as well as ‘to make something appear or to cloud over and act covertly and observe times of witchcraft’

They were filled with this kind of false worship, leaving no room for pure unadulterated worship and righteous living was compromised!

The same kind of falsified ‘filling’ is still happening today as many will syncretise many forms or means of false worship with the truth in order to suite their own selfish needs, and so cover up the reality of the Truth through rebellious living, which is witchcraft, and they are filled with that which the word prohibits, following the ancient ways of sun-worship in its varying forms, observing times of witchcraft by keeping pagan rooted dates and trying to use it as a means to worship יהוה, which He will not tolerate!

We cannot worship the Creator and Saviour through the filling of our lives in conforming to pagan traditions.

It is very interesting to see just how much the ‘kundalini’ spirit is becoming more and more popular, together with all forms of eastern mysticism and yoga practices that are filling so many with the perceived notion that it is harmless, while it is leading them to death!

Another major problem that tends to fill many lives is the seeming need to ‘look back’ to the past ways of rebellious living – let us not do that – look what happened to Lot’s wife when she looked back to Seḏom and Amorah!!!

2 – Filled with silver and gold

This was a very prosperous time in the history of Yehuḏah and in the process of living prosperously they had quickly lost their focus and began to put their trust in their riches and wealth for security.

They had forgotten the One who had given them the ability to amass all of their wealth and began to worship their material possessions, and all this was quite subtle.

Little by little riches and wealth have a way of consuming your life and demanding your full attention.

So many are doing the same today as they ‘slave away’ at doing their utmost to secure that next best deal that will ‘set them up for life’ so that they can retire and live comfortably – or so they think.

Being filled with silver and gold has a tendency to make one think this way.

May I remind you that ‘retirement’ is not a Scriptural concept or teaching!!!

One must never forget, as Yehuḏah did, the One who gives you the ability to make wealth.

The sad reality for them back then as well as so many today is that the quest to accumulate more and more consumed them to the point where יהוה became an afterthought and was greatly neglected.

Today it is no different – how many find themselves being so filled or consumed with finances or their jobs or careers that the time to pray, read and study Scripture, fellowship and even the ability to witness to others and give testimony takes a back seat and is often even eventually chucked out of the car altogether so to speak!

Mattithyahu/Matthew 6:24 “No one is able to serve two masters, for either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cleave to the one and despise the other.

You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.”

3 – Filled with horses and chariots and idols

The people had become obsessed with the false mighty-ones of their own making.

They still worshipped Elohim, but sometimes it was just more convenient to substitute some hand-carved image rather than go all the way to the Temple or to make proper preparations for the feasts.

So many today too are filled with worshipping the work of their hands and make idols out of that which is brought forth from their own doing!

Yehuḏah was obsessed with the work of their own hands.

The emphasis being made here isn’t the images or the statues themselves.

It is the idea of bowing down to the works of our own hands.

It is taking יהוה and moulding Him into the kind of Elohim we want Him to be rather than the Elohim who has revealed Himself to us through His Word.

It is deciding that we know better than יהוה what is good and proper for our lives.

It is anything that we do to try to be the potter rather than the clay.

It is anything we do to make a mighty-one of self rather than worshipping יהוה as He really is according to the way He has instructed us to.

Being filled with all these is nothing more than rebellion – rebellion in essence by saying that you reserve the right to make the final decision – do not rebel and be eaten by His Sword!!!

What Yeshayahu saw is still happening today, and yes it is still happening in the lives of those who claim to follow יהושע.

From verse 9 he gives us a clear message of how all this corruption and rebellion will be dealt with and the verse from 9-21 typically describe The Day of יהוה.

In essence, in that Day, man will be humbled and יהוה alone will be exalted!

There are two Hebrew words used in this section that gives the meaning to be humbled or made or brought low and both are similar in their root meaning and collectively they are used 7 times in this section in describing how יהוה will deal with man and his stubborn pride!!! & giving significance to completion shows us that pride of man will be completely dealt with!

By the time this Day comes it will be very clear that יהוה has given sufficient time for repentance and those who are stubborn and rebellious will be dealt with and be humbled before Him!

Every source of pride will be destroyed – fortresses of man’s attempts at establishing security, idolatry, false worship, the work of the hands of men, commerce and trade, false mighty-ones of diversity and materialism.

For many this will not be a pleasant day and many will try to hide themselves as their hearts are continually hardened by deceit and riches and refuse to repent!

Why?

Because they did not receive a love for the Truth!

The imagery here is the same as spoken of in Ḥazon/Revelation:

Ḥazon/Revelation 6: 15-17 “And the sovereigns of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich ones, and the commanders, and the mighty, and every slave and every free one, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him sitting on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

This was after the opening of the 6th seal

Ḥazon/Revelation 9:20-21 “And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship the demons, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood, which are neither able to see, nor to hear, nor to walk.

21 And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their drug sorceries, nor of their whoring, nor of their thefts.”

This was after the ‘sounding’ of the 6th messenger!

In that Day יהוה will completely destroy all idols:

Zeḵaryah/Zechariah 13:2 “And it shall be in that day,” declares יהוה of hosts, “that I cut off the names of the idols from the earth, and they shall be remembered no more, and I shall also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the earth.”

For their will come a Day when He will arise to shake the earth mightily and the call from Yeshayahu to hear and walk the walk is of utmost importance for us right here and right now, being filled with His Word:

Iḇ’rim/Hebrews 12:26 “Take heed not to refuse the One speaking.

For if those did not escape who refused the warning on earth, much less we who turn away from Him from heaven, 26 whose voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”

In that day man shall throw away his idols that he made to worship to the moles and bats – the moles are blind and underground animals and speak of darkness and bats are unclean birds and so this shows that the idols will be discarded for what they are – darkness and unclean – unfit for human consumption!!!

They will throw these away as they try to hide and all their darkness and uncleanness will be exposed from which they cannot hide.

This chapter ends with a serious admonition in verse 22, and that is simply this:

STOP REGARDING MAN! What do I mean?

Well, this was at the heart of the problem of Yehuḏah as well as for so many today – they had become more concerned about other men that they neglected יהוה.