Tuesday - Isaiah 8 - A Stone of Stumbling

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N 1^st Peter 2:4-8 we have a repetition of some of the words of Isaiah.  These words are about Jesus Christ.  And, Christ said of Himself, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Luke 20:18).  If you don't know it already, allow me to say that to be broken in this context is intensely positive, but to be ground to powder is as negative as can be.  However, whether one voluntarily falls on the mercy of the Messiah or whether the Messiah descends in wrath upon an individual, one thing is for certain, everyone must meet their Maker one way or another.  The encounter is inevitable.

Now, Isaiah and his prophetess wife had a son together.  God chose a name for the boy: Mahershalalhashbaz (meaning swift to the prey).  The name represented the coming invasion into the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians.  It is clear that God (and therefore Isaiah) demanded of the people of Judah and Jerusalem that they learn lessons from the failures of their northern brothers.  Ahaz could have and should have looked to the Lord for help in his times of trouble.  But, he was turned off by the "waters of Shiloah that went softly" (Isaiah 8:6, Genesis 49:10 & Joshua 18:1).  He ignored the presence of God in his own land (Isaiah 8:8 & 10).  He chose rather to look for aid from the evil Assyrians (2^nd Kings 16:7).  As such, the presence of God (which was supposed to be a sanctuary and a blessing) was to become a destructive force.  It's something like a stepping stone.  If you don't see the stone, you are likely to trip over it rather than to benefit from it (Isaiah 8:14).