Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Episode 645: In this episode, we delve into Isaiah 8, where God instructs the prophet Isaiah to create a large signboard with the name "Maher Shalal Hashbaz." We discuss the significance of this name, which serves as a prophetic warning about the impending judgment on Judah and Israel. The name itself, with its 18 letters, becomes a focal point for our conversation, illustrating the weight of the message God is conveying through Isaiah.
Whether you’ve been following Jesus for years or you’re just starting to ask questions, there’s a seat for you here.
Join Jeff and Chris for honest conversations about Scripture, faith, and the everyday stuff we all navigate. With humor, personal stories, and plenty of back-and-forth, The Bible Guys explore what the Bible says and how it connects to your life.
Subscribe, bring your questions, and get to know the Bible one conversation at a time. Head over to TheBibleGuys.com for more information!
You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome, Welcome, Welcome. It is Friday, Friday Friday. It's so good to be here because it's. So good and it's good here to be here with you. Oh thanks, Jess. Yeah, so today we have one of our new favorite episodes. You mean segments, segments, Yeah, what I say, episodes. Yes, yeah, it's gonna be one of our new favorite episodes too. I have a lot of a lot of big time Yeah, but this, uh. Normally on Fridays we do what made Chris mad this week, which is Everybody's well dearly Loved Second or third Friday. I think it's Everybody's Dearly Beloved segment. I'm not sure, but a new segment that people are just raving about. This is not true. Raving about it. Is certain anything one buzz is Insane has. Even written in that's not true. We've had a bunch of We've had a bunch of people write in about how much they love when you sing new theme songs for our show. Because we don't have a theme song. None of this is true. It is true. It is true. So I'll read them to you. So well you want me to do it, I'll do it right now. No, I can't do it. I can look it up if you want me to. But here's what I thought. Since we don't have a really good theme song yet, sure, I thought we would ask chat GPT to write us a theme song. Okay, And so I said, write us a theme song. Help me write a theme song for a podcast called The Bible Guys where a couple of friends talk about the Bible and fun of practical ways and set the song to the tune of Friends, Friends. And here's what it gave us. It gave me these lyrics to the tune of friends. And so we thought, since you're the big singer on our on our team, that you could sing this theme song from the Friends, the show Friends. Yes, uh yeah, yeah, there you go. Okay, ready, all right, ready, no one told you, No one told you Bible study could be this fun, bring the Word of life and break it down for everyone. There you go, the. Stories, laughs in truth to life, the way you're growing your faith, and maybe even smile to day yus. Where the Bible Guys. It would help you understand Bible guys bringing truth that's never played. Where the Bible guys sharing hope of God's command. It is. The crowds are just going wild today, Chris. Hey, you know what if the ministry thing doesn't work out for you, maybe you have a future career as a jingle singer. I realize now I should have lowered the key like three keys. No, that was great. That's why I get done. I started off off key, but I found my way. That was awesome. Dude, thank you you you are by far our favorite jingle singer. Hey, out of all the jingles, all of my favorite jingle singers, you are now number one. Wow. Yeah, thank you, Jeff. And the funny thing is you can sing. You can sing. You are a worship leader way longer than I was. Well, it doesn't improve sing in my church. In my church, I was the worship leader for three years on stage and you were the worship leader for how long? Fifteen years? Uh huh? Yeah, But you're the good singer. No, that's trust me. You are you are you are the good singer. Well what does that say about your career in fifteen years? Yeah? I had just had dumb bosses dumosses. No, let's keep paying that guy. Keep paying that guy. Know that nobody likes them. So those bosses are listening, big going, I guess. So that's funny, that's funny. Actually, my wife was a great piano player. That's why I kept my job. Is that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Hey. By the way, speaking of singing, you know who's not singing a happy tune is not singing happy not whistling. This guy is not singing happy to He's wake it up every day saying good morning because the gauntlet has been thrown down for him. Yes, he is counting. Down for a three year window. This is rough, yes, okay, So we're going to be reading from Isaiah chapter eight, which I gave a hint yesterday that God told Isaiah to get a sandwich board, yes, and write a name on it. But then I did not tell you the name. Oh yeah, right, And. So we're going to go back to Isaiah chapter eight today for all of you guys that were sitting on the edge of your seat trying to find out what's going to happen next. It says this in Isaiah chapter eight. Then the Lord said to me make a large signboard and clearly write this. Oh my gosh, write this name on it. Mahurst shalal hash Baz. Is that it? Do you think this? Maharst shalal Hashbaz. I was looking forward to that the entire time. I never even looked at the name. Yeah, as you know, as you were reading it, you got to see this thing written out in print. It's one, two, three, four or five, bass eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen eighteen letters. Oh, it's crazy. Eighteen letters. We've only got what twenty six letters in the whole alphabet, right right, so he's got eighteen letters in his name. Mahersh shalal hash Bags. That's what she got to write on the sign So you know it's a large signboard. That's why I bought this. Get a large signboard and clearly write this name on it. Mahirs shalal hash Bas. I asked you Rayah the priest and Zachary's son of Jebber Rikaiah, both known as honest men, to witness me doing this. Then I slept with my wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and the Lord said call him mahershalal Hashbaz, For before this child is old enough to say Papa or Mama, the King of Assyria will carry away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria. So this is the window. This is well, this is the verses the actual child. Yeah, Okay. Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, my care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of Shilloah. But they have rejected it. They're rejoicing over what will happen to King Resident and King Pica. Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River, the King of Assyria and all into all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into Judah until it's chin deep. It'll spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other. Oh Emmanuel, huddle together, you nations and be terrified. Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed. Yes, prepare for battle, but you will be crushed. Call your counsels of war, but they will be worthless. Develop your strategies, but they will not succeed, for God is with us. The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, don't call everything a conspiracy like they do. Don't live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He's the one who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah, he will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem, he will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again, and they will be snared and captured. Preserve the teaching of God and trust his instructions to those who follow me. I will wait for the Lord who has turned away from the descendants of Jacob, and I will put my hope in him. I and the children of the Lord. I and the children the Lord has given me serves signs and warnings to Israel from the Lord of Heaven's Armies, who dwells in his temple on Mount Zion. Someone may say to you, let's ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead with their whisperings and mutterings. They will tell us what to do. But shouldn't people ask God for guidance? Shouldn't the living seek guidance from the dead. Should the living seek guidance from the dead. Look to God's instructions and teachings. People who contradict his word are completely in the dark. They will go from one place to another, weary and hungry. And because they are hungry, they will rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to heaven and down to earth. But wherever they look there will be trouble and anguish and dark despair, and they will be thrown out into the darkness. Wow. So yeah, yesterday we read about how God said a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and a big part of his name as God. Is with us, reminding him the gods with us. Yes, And then that's a three year window of time before it has is going to be wiped out, and. A virgin eventually get pregnant, that's right, and had a son. So apparently this wife was a virgin. But we know Isaiah already had a son because he went out to meet a has with a son. So apparently. Then that would mean that his first wife was dead, this was a second wife. Yeah, most likely. Most likely that'd be the only way, because she already had a son. Otherwise, unless he adopted a. Son or something, or unless he had multiple wives. Yeah. I don't know. Are there prophets that have more than one? I don't think there are. I don't remember any. I don't remember any either. Yeah, so most likely she's passed. Yeah, most likely. So then this this is they have a son named Maher shalal Hashbaz. I just can't stop saying it now. Oh, it's it's so funny the way it reads. It's so intimidating. And when you came across it and you go, oh no, he said, oh no, so good. So anyways, this is the beginning, and he says, before this child is old enough to say, Mama or Papa, the king of a Siria, care away both the abundance of Damascus and the riches of Samaria. Yeah right, yeah, and so and so base Basically, God used the sign that Isaiah told him to ask for uh, and he used it and within his own family, right right right, So it's so the one who gave the message is the one who I guess God used to carry out the sign. That's pretty wild. Yeah, So then God says, God describes his love and his care for the people of Judah's like a gently flowing waters of Shiloah. But they've rejected it. And they're happy about the fact that Resident and Pika both got you know, defeated. But the Lord said, but I'm going to overwhelm them with a mighty flood now from the Euphrates River. Obviously he's not, actually he was not a gentle flowing brook for Judah. And he's not saying he's sending a flood all the way into Israel from the Euphrates River. He's saying, I'm going to send the King of Assyria in all his glory, and that's the flood he's going to overwhelm them. I tried to care for you as a gentle caring and you rejected me. So now you're going. To be flooded by this wicked leader, the King of Israel or Assyria. He's going to overflow you and sweep into Judah until he's chin deep. Just you're barely going to be able to survive, is what he's saying. This onslaught. It's going to spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, Oh, Emmanuel. And then he gives us a little phrase, and he says, huddle together your nations and be terrified. Listen all your destined lands. Prepare for battle. But you'll be crushed. Call your counsel's word. But you develop your strategies, they will not succeed because God is with us. Now that's a Syrian song. That's crazy. God's on our side now, right, right, not. Because they're good, but because God's using them as a tool, right, a weapon. Yeah, which is yeah, crazy to even think about that that, you know, think about your father's legacy and your grandfather's legacy. Right, And then all of a sudden, now you have Isaiah saying that that God is on the opposite side. Yeah, God's with them. That's horrible, right, that's really really terrible. Well, it's because God's decided to use them as a tool. Yeah, right, every every empire, every king, every leader, Bible says they exist because God permits it, and he uses good kings and bad kings for his purposes. And in the situation, he's using them. So then he says the Isaiah goes on in verse eleven, he says, the Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. So now this next piece is to Isaiah, right, don't think like they think, don't act like they act, don't be like them. And he says, don't call everything conspiracy like they do. Don't live And. Hey, by the way, all you all you dooms, all you doom scrollers out there, right, this might be for you today, the one that you're just constantly You ever notice how your your your your your feed is always conspiracy theories. It's because you read becauseira theories. Right. The algorithm knows that that's what you're paying attention to all the time. You're a little bit of conspiracy theorist, aren't you? A little bit? A little bit? You like them, don't you? I believe some of them. Yeah, yeah, we never made it. The moon. Yeah, well I'm not saying that, but things are weird about it. Bigfoots when I want Yeah, yeah, I've told you before. I think Bigfoot is uh just is blurry. That's why all the photos are blurry. He's blurry. He is a blurry Yeah, he's a blurry person. He stays in a constant state of blurriness. Yeah. Anyways, by the way, I was going to say, one of the footnotes in the Life of Grease and Study Bible does a translation and it says to be crushed means to lose courage by the pressure of sudden fear. So in verse number nine when it says, huddle together your nations and be terrified, listen to all your distant lands. Prepare for battle, but you will be crushed. Yes, prepare for battle, You'll be crushed. I think that's really interesting. It doesn't necessarily mean the defeat of actual war. It means you're going to lose courage by the pressure of sudden fear, to be crushed in your spirit, overwhelmed by fear, overwhelmed by fear, to be paralyzed. I think that that's really interesting. Isn't that. Yeah, So then He's going to keep you safe, is what God is saying to Isaiah. Right, So don't get sucked into all these other conspiracies. Don't live in dread of what's going to happen to them. Instead, make the Lord of Heaven's armies holy in your life. The word holy means set apart right, right, elevated and set apart. And he's the one who should make you tremble. He's the one who's making fear. He'll keep you safe. And so it's interesting if you're not doing what everybody else is doing, if you're not thinking like everybody else thinks, if you're not going down the same path, then that judgment is not coming for you. That's what he's saying to Isaiah. Hey, you should fear God. Don't fear what's going to happen to them. And if you put me in the right place in your life, then you don't have to worry what's going to happen to Israel. You don't have to worry what's going to happen to Judah. As I'm the one that's going to make you safe even while I'm making them fall. Right, And so as as people look sometimes you ever you ever talk about doom scrolling, as it made that joke of me into conspiracy theorists. There are some people get really obsessed with prophecy. Yeah right, yeah, AI is the end of the world, the mark of the beast, right, I remember when credit cards, you know, and that that was the mark of the beast or whatever there, all these things, everything's bad. The Devil's coming for you, all this stuff, the world's going to be horrible. Three and a half years is going to be terrible. All this stuff, right, and they just doom. They talk about doom all the time. And I think the message to those that are followers of Christ today looking at prophetic things is the same as what his message to Isaiah was. Listen, don't get caught up into their conspiracies. Don't get caught up into all the fear of what's happening to them. If you put me in my right place, I don't tell you these things to scare you. Right, I'm going to protect you. I'm gonna take care of you. I'm telling you these things so that you know what's going to happen to those who rejected me. So don't think like they think, don't act like they think, don't be like them. Instead, put me in my right place. Fear God, and then I'll be the one who protects you. And it's the same, right, So when you read any prophetic things, it's not about fear. God doesn't tell you these things to scare you. God tells you these things so that you can remember God's in control, right. The only ones who have to fear these things are the ones who are rejecting, actively rejecting God. They're the ones Aas was actively rejecting God. He had an opportunity, Hey, prove me. Just just ask me anything, and I'll prove to you that I'm real. He goes, Nope, don't even want to deal with you God. God goes, Okay, here it comes. I'll prove to you I'm real. Right. But to Isaiah, these are really scary things that are being told to Isaiah. And Isaiah and God says he'll be afraid Isaiah, that's not for you. You have the right perspective of me. I'm going to protect you. And I think it's the same when you hear bad news, when you see things going on in the world, when you see us heading towards the end. God only lets us know about those things, not to scare us if you're a fall of Christ, but just to let you know he's in control. A man is good to be on the side of the God who's in control. Yeah, right, yeah, there's no doubt about that. And you know, I think that in general, we can use that mentality across any anything that God asks us to do, you can attach it to any single thing, because sometimes God asks us to obey and they're just general life commands. But then sometimes God asks us to do things that are very specific, and he says, hey, go out in this venture, or give this amount of money, or trust in this or invest in this, or you know, go to this missions field or whatever it is. And God sometimes asks us to do something. And I think that it's sort of the same way, isn't it, Where it's like, hey, if I'm in the work of God, and I think that you've even said that before, Like you've been out in the bush and you're like and you're like, hey, God's going to take care of us. Sure, Yeah, we've been a dangerous situations and you just know we're doing what God told us to do. And so until he's finished with us, we're invincible, right right. Yeah, yeah, or you're going to be a martyr, yeah and use it. Well, then he's finished with us on earth, that's right. Yeah, And either way that's. Okay, right, Yeah, that's really great. So he tells Isaiah a few things because the second half of this, the first chapter half of the chapter is it's going to be bad news for you. A has. The second half of the chapter is to Isaiah, and he says, don't think like they think. Instead, he says, the second thing he tells him is make the Lord of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. Set God apart in your life, make God who God is, and remind yourself over and over and over again who God is, right the Lord of Heaven's armies. And then he says, preserve the teaching of God in verse sixteen, and and trust his instructions to those who follow me. Those are two different things. Then he says, wait for the Lord and put your hope in him. Right, he gives him six instructions, So a lot of the herds that we will have is from the teaching of God's words. God always keeps his word, he always keeps his promises. So when he tells Isaiah, listen, don't think like they think. Put me where I should be in your life, and I'm going to protect you. And then he says, preserve God's teachings, teach others God's teachings, and wait for God. Put your hope in him. And this God is reminding Isaiah how to have peace in his life even while the rest of the world is going to be burning around him. Right, that's what he's doing. That's great, and that's how you get it. Spend time in God's word, Spend time with others who are spending time in God's word. Wait for him, and put your hope in him. That's great, well too, is That's a great way to summarize it. I think we should probably end on that note. It's a good one. It's a short one today. Yeah, that's okay, just a good one, just by a few minutes. But okay. So hopefully we will see you Monday and we'll pick up then on the Bible. Gush