And he will be for a sanctuary; and for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
One Person stands at the centre of this verse, and He has two opposite effects: shelter for some, ruin for others. The difference does not lie in Him but in the people who meet Him — in whether they treat Him as holy or trip over Him.
The verse begins with "and" because it answers the command just before it. Judah wanted alliances. The godly were called instead to treat God Himself as holy, and He would be their shelter.
Those who feared Jehovah did not need a confederacy. They did not need to be alarmed at those who trusted in one. What they needed was to sanctify Jehovah, and make Him their sanctuary. In truth, to be in weakness you feel and admit, and so to be cast on "Jehovah of hosts Himself," is to be master of the situation — whatever it looks like to the eyes and reasoning of men. Yet He would be a stone of stumbling, even to both the houses of Israel — yes, a trap and a snare to Jerusalem itself.
The One who is a sanctuary here is the same One who is the stone. One writer names Him as Christ, and points out what this verse is not about.
The Lord of hosts was to be in the sanctuary. Where is He found? Here is where Christ comes in. He separates the remnant, being a stone of stumbling to the nation itself: for He is the Lord of hosts. He is a sanctuary for those who look to Him as such; for there is no question of atonement here. However much it is needed, it is not the subject. The Person of Christ is before us.
The verse uses two pictures: a stone in the path, and a trap.
In Isaiah 8:14 the word for stumbling is negeph, 'the act of stumbling'. When the Lord was on earth He became this stone of stumbling to the Jews. He remains the same to them and to the house of Israel, where He is still rejected through disobedient unbelief. Romans 9:32-33; 1 Peter 2:8. … the word skandalon is used: this is literally 'the catch of a trap,' which ensnares when touched.
The quotes here follow an older translation. Where the ESV has "a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling," it reads "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence."
Nothing in Him causes the fall. He is the sanctuary of His people, and He becomes a stone of stumbling only where people refuse Him.
Immanuel is truly the sanctuary of His people. But He would become "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence" by the fact of His rejection. This is made quite plain in 1 Peter 2:8. This He is to "both the houses of Israel," though it was mainly the house of Judah that rejected Him.
This verse splits one nation in two. A small circle welcomed Him at His first coming, and the mass of the nation did not.
This is like our Lord's first coming. There were those who sanctified Jehovah, and to whom He became a sanctuary: Simeon, Anna, Mary, Zacharias, and Elizabeth. To the unbelieving mass of the nation He was "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" (1 Peter 2:8). For the time, the testimony was to be bound up and sealed among His disciples.
Peter picks up this verse and says those who stumble "were appointed" to it. One writer is careful about what that does and does not mean.
It does not say that they were appointed to sin, or to condemnation. These unbelieving and disobedient sinners were the Jewish race, long rebellious, and always exalting themselves against God. They were destined to find a rock of offence in the Lord of grace Himself, and to stumble and fall over what faith saw as the precious stone of salvation.
One writer connects the command behind this verse to the fears we meet today.
This is taken from Isaiah 8:13, when there was a confederacy, and a real danger that a crowd of enemies would frighten the heart. In this situation the way out of the difficulty was to keep the eyes firmly fixed upon God. I venture to say the position is the same today. The difficulties around us melt away and disappear when we have before our souls, not a small Christ, but a great One.
- One Person. The sanctuary and the stumbling stone are not two objects but one — the Lord of hosts Himself, met in Christ.
- One condition. Sanctify Him, and He is your shelter; refuse Him, and the same One is a stone in your path.
- One cause. He becomes a stumbling block through rejection, not by design. Unbelief sets the foot in the trap, not some arbitrary choice of God.
- One split. Simeon and Anna found the sanctuary while the nation stumbled. The verse split Israel at His first coming, and it still splits people now.
- One cure for fear. Others cry "confederacy." Faith keeps its eye on a great Christ, and the difficulties melt.
And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
Isaiah has just set the Lord before the nation as both shelter and obstacle. Verse 15 spells out what happens to those who trip over Him: five steps down, from stumbling to being taken. Why is the same Person safety to some and a trap to others?
The verse describes a split inside one nation. One writer sees the same split when Christ first came.
This is like our Lord's first coming. There were people such as Simeon, Anna, Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth, who honoured Jehovah as holy, and to them He became a sanctuary. But to the unbelieving mass of the nation He was "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence" (1 Peter 2:8). And for that time the testimony was to be bound up and sealed among His disciples.
The stumbling of verse 15 has a stated cause, and it is not something in the Stone. It is what men did with Him.
Immanuel really is the sanctuary of His people. Yet He would become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence because men rejected Him. Peter makes this quite plain in 1 Peter 2:8. This He is to "both the houses of Israel," though He was rejected mainly at the hands of the house of Judah.
Scripture says such people were "appointed" to stumble. One writer is careful to say what that word does not mean.
It does not say that they were appointed to sin, or to condemnation. These unbelieving and disobedient sinners, the Jewish people, had long been rebellious and kept exalting themselves against God. They were destined to find a rock of offence in the Lord of grace Himself, and to stumble and fall on what was, to faith, the precious stone of salvation.
Two words lie behind this picture, one Hebrew and one Greek. A Bible dictionary explains each.
In Isaiah 8:14 the word is negeph, 'the act of stumbling.'... The word skandalon is used of the same thing: it means 'the catch of a trap,' which ensnares when it is touched.
Being broken is severe, but it is not the last word. One writer marks the difference between falling on the stone and the stone falling on you.
Then, in verse 44, the Lord marks the difference between the effect of the judgment that was to come on them and what would happen in the last days. They would fall on the stone of stumbling and be broken. But the stone would fall on others in judgment, and they would be crushed and ground to powder... This is a solemn testimony from the Lord's own mouth. It shows the crisis the human race was passing through then — and the crisis the soul still passes through when Jesus is announced.
The same blow that scatters the nation gathers a small company. As the mass goes down, a few stand out as the Lord's own.
Through all this, in the middle you can see a feeble few clinging to His testimony, and He owns them as His disciples, while Jehovah hid His face from the people as a whole. They become a separate remnant, when the mass stumble, fall, and are broken, snared and taken. So, in Hebrews 2:12-13, the Holy Spirit freely quotes verse 18 of this chapter with other Scriptures (Psalm 16; Psalm 22), to prove that the sanctified and the Sanctifier are "all of one."
One writer traces this prophecy into the Gospels. He finds it at work in Nazareth, and he looks on to a day when the obstacle goes.
It had come on the people of Nazareth already, as it was soon coming on both the houses of Israel, for the national stumbling had been foretold... The Stone of Israel was in lowly form then, and the proud Pharisees stumbled at Him and His sayings (Matt. 15:12), but He was soon to be exalted and to become the cornerstone (Ps. 118:22). In the day of His glory Messiah will be "marvellous" in the eyes of His people, though in His humiliation they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. They will be a humble people then, and the stumbling block will be removed.
- Stone — the same Lord is a sanctuary to those who honour Him as holy, and a stone of stumbling to those who do not. One Person, two opposite outcomes.
- Stumble — He became an obstacle because men rejected Him. The word behind it means "the act of stumbling."
- Snare — to be "appointed" to stumble is not to be appointed to sin. Disobedient hearts were destined to trip over the very stone that faith calls salvation.
- Severity — falling on the stone breaks; the stone falling in the last days grinds to powder. Verse 15 is the lesser blow, not the final one.
- Separation — the fall of the many marks out the few, disciples joined to the Sanctifier as "all of one." Then comes the day when the stumbling block goes and the Stone is marvellous in their eyes.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
Isaiah has just warned that the Lord Himself would become a stone that Israel trips over. At that very point God does not take His word off the earth — He ties it up and seals it inside a small circle called "my disciples."
The command to bind and seal follows the stumbling described just before. Older translations read "law" where the ESV has "teaching."
The remnant is separated, the testimony bound up and sealed (v. 16). The Eternal came Himself in the person of Jesus. He is the confidence, the sanctuary of those who believe; He is a rock that the unbelieving trip over. So a closer relationship follows: "Seal the law among my disciples."
The words are personal. Someone claims this small company as His own. Commentators read the speaker as Immanuel Himself.
Immanuel came. He is the sanctuary of those who had waited for Him. He is the true centre, and His people gather around Him. Here, for the first time, He Himself speaks, and calls them "my disciples." He names them so in connection with "the testimony." He states that the truth of that day — the law as well as the testimony — is handed to the remnant, now His disciples, and kept there. It was so also in the day of David's rejection. In the cave of Adullam everyone in distress, everyone in debt and everyone discontented gathered to him, and he became their captain. The prophet Gad was there too, and soon after Abiathar the priest was driven to the same company. That company now had every form of God's testimony in it: the king, the prophet, and the priest.
For a Jewish hearer the title itself was startling. Belonging had always run through family descent from Abraham. Now it runs through the word.
Isaiah 8 gives us part of the trial of Israel; and there we read of the word being sealed up among His (Immanuel's) disciples. The term "disciples" is a new name, and it marks a relationship new to the Jewish mind as a line of blessing. The old line of blessing for them was family descent from Abraham. The new one was, "You have His word."
In the Gospels this took visible shape. The Lord turned from the nation to the group around Him.
All who were separated in heart from the widespread hypocrisy and wickedness of the times, and who longed for Jehovah to keep His promises, were in spirit the remnant of that day… The Saviour in His grace identified Himself with them. The unbelief of the nation forced Him to disown all His natural ties to them. He then stretched out His hands towards His disciples and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Matt. 12:49-50.) Right after that, He fulfils to His disciples a quotation from Isaiah 8:16-17.
The New Testament ties Christ and this remnant together using the next verse of this passage.
A feeble few cling to His testimony, and He owns them as His disciples, while Jehovah hid His face from the people as a whole. They become a separate remnant when the mass stumble, fall, and are broken, snared and taken. So in Heb. 2:12-13 the Holy Spirit does not hesitate to cite v. 18 with other scriptures (Ps. 16; Ps. 22), to prove the sanctified and the Sanctifier "all of one." For indeed He is not ashamed to call them brothers.
Sealing keeps something safe. God left His word in the hands of the few who valued it.
God's testimony is what sets out His mind and will for His people, what the saints of God can turn to at all times for light and guidance for their path. There was a remnant of Israel who valued God's word when the mass turned away from Jehovah into idolatry and rebellion, and among them the testimony of God was bound up, and kept for His pleasure.
Sealed does not mean shelved. God keeps His word safe through the day of refusal, and opens it again in a day of mercy.
How can anyone miss so plain a key? The light of God is with Christ's disciples, while the Jews have stumbled at the stumbling-stone and Jehovah hides His face from the house of Jacob. Yet the Jews will still understand these signs and wonders when they bow their stiff neck to their rejected Messiah.
- Stumbling — The nation rejects the Lord. He becomes a sanctuary to some and a stone the rest trip over, and God binds the testimony up in the small company that clings to Him.
- Naming — Here Immanuel first calls a people "my disciples." The truth of that day is handed to them and kept there, as king, prophet and priest once gathered to rejected David at Adullam.
- New line — Belonging no longer runs through descent from Abraham. It runs through holding His word.
- Keeping — A sealed testimony is a guarded one. The few who valued God's mind and will kept it safe while the mass turned away.
- Opening — Christ owns these disciples as one with Himself, the sanctified with the Sanctifier. Israel will yet understand the sealed word when they bow to their rejected Messiah.
And I will wait for Jehovah, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob; and I will look for him.
Isaiah speaks these words while the nation is stumbling over the very One who should have been its refuge. Two questions decide the meaning here: who is speaking, and how long does the hiding last?
The "I" who waits is not only the prophet. Commentators say Christ Himself is the speaker.
The verses that follow unfold the state of things at the time Isaiah speaks. Remember again that Christ Himself is the speaker. The Letter to the Hebrews quotes parts of these two verses to show the Lord's complete identification as Man with His people, with the true remnant gathered out of the Jewish nation (Hebrews 2:13). Here is the wonderful fact. The One who was in perfect dependence as Man toward God, and so waiting on the LORD, and despised and rejected by men, was at the same time no less a person than the Immanuel of Isaiah's prophecy. And in this path of rejection He was experiencing some of the sufferings that must come before His glories.
The hiding answers what came just before. The same LORD had become a stone His own people tripped over.
"Many would stumble and fall and be broken." The builders would reject that chief corner stone, but "whoever believes in him will not be put to shame"... And the Lord would hide His face from the house of Jacob. "Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples"; they would learn to wait for Him while He hid His face, and to look for Him. He really has hidden His face from that once-loved house, the house of Jacob — still loved for their fathers' sakes, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
In the old Greek translation of the Old Testament, the phrase comes out as trust.
In Isaiah 8:17, the Greek version (the Septuagint) reads, "I will put My trust in Him." Taking His place as Man, the Lord identified Himself with His own in the only proper life for a man to live — the life of dependence on God.
The prophet here is a picture of Christ, and he speaks in no calm setting. An invading army is flooding the land.
In the eighth chapter of Isaiah the prophet is a picture of Christ, standing in the middle of ruin... The land of Israel had turned away from God, and the enemy was about to sweep over the whole of Immanuel's land like a flood. Faith can look the ruin calmly in the face. As the enemy comes in like an "overwhelming flood," faith says, "I will trust in the Lord," and expects the Spirit of the Lord to raise a banner against him. So with our Lord Jesus, who was always the perfect Man of faith on earth.
The waiting One is not alone. A small group of disciples shares His place.
Meanwhile only a remnant of them is in relationship with Him, and they are more favoured than ever in spiritual things. The testimony is bound up and the law, or teaching, sealed among His disciples, to whom He is a sanctuary, while He hides His face from the house of Jacob in general... Meanwhile this is exactly the place of the One who became man: to trust in the LORD. It is also the place of those the LORD gave Him from among the Jews — and in principle the same is true of all Christians. He was as truly man as He was the LORD. The dependent Man was the LORD God of Israel, the sanctuary of the remnant when the nation stumbled at the Stumbling-stone.
Waiting is not idle. Dennett draws out what such a company is for.
It must always be so. Those who keep separate from evil, and who share God's mind about His Christ and about the state of things around them, will be the keepers of the testimony for the times they live in. The reason is that Christ Himself is with them.
The hidden face marks a stage, not a final verdict. It has a place in God's larger plan.
Then it is said, "For to us a child is born," and He sits on the throne of David to give peace on the earth. All this comes after the time He had been waiting. His waiting was a result of His rejection, while God was hiding His face from the house of Jacob, as He is doing now. But that is not for ever. I point to it so that our souls may grasp the ways of God — the framework of His plan: Christ comes, is rejected, and is caught up to God... Meanwhile the times of the Gentiles are running on.
- Cause. God hides His face because the nation stumbled over the stone the builders rejected.
- Voice. The One who waits is Christ Himself, the dependent Man, quoted in Hebrews 2:13.
- Manner. Faith looks the ruin calmly in the face and says "I will trust in the Lord" while the flood is still rising.
- Company. The waiting Christ gathers a remnant, and they keep the sealed testimony for their day.
- End. The hiding is real and long, but not final — after the waiting comes the child born and the throne of David.
Behold, I and the children that Jehovah hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from Jehovah of hosts, who dwelleth in mount Zion.
Isaiah stands in a doomed nation holding two sons by the hand, and says that he and they are a walking message from God. Hebrews later puts the same sentence on the lips of Christ. That raises the question the verse turns on: who is the "I," and who are the children?
The children are signs because their names are signs. Each boy's name carried a headline about Israel's future:
Isaiah ("the salvation of the Lord") is in the Sanctuary mount with his children, Shear-jashub ("the remnant shall return") and Maher-shalal-hash-baz ("swift for spoil, hasty for prey"). It is as if he stands before God, holding each boy by the hand, and speaks words of deep meaning: "Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me!" Now notice what he says next about himself and his children—they are for "signs and wonders!"
One name promised return, the other promised plunder. The family itself was the sermon.
The verse reaches beyond Isaiah's own household. Christ takes the same place, among the same small group who still trusted God:
The Saviour identifies Himself with the remnant in this strange state of things. He trusts Jehovah perfectly, even when He seems forsaken, and He enters fully into the sorrowful position where the true remnant are found. This creates confidence in their hearts, and produces a seed of trusting ones — "the children whom the Lord has given Me" — who are a sign from Jehovah that Israel will be blessed in the end.
The wording is careful, and it stops short of the words we might expect:
The next citations (from Isaiah 8:17-18) connect the godly in Israel with Christ, the great prophet, as He walks His path of reliance on God, away from all the unbelieving alliances of men. They are not called His brethren, because they were not yet marked out that way. They are not called His children exactly either, but the children whom God gave Him. This is the righteous remnant joined to the Messiah and set apart in heart from the mass of the people.
This little group forms while the nation as a whole stumbles:
And in the middle of it all you see a feeble few holding fast to His testimony, owned as His disciples, while Jehovah hid His face from the people as a whole. They become a separate remnant, when the mass stumble, fall, and are broken, snared and taken. So, in Heb. 2:12-13, the Holy Spirit does not hesitate to quote verse 18 along with other Scriptures (Ps. 16; Ps. 22), to prove that the sanctified and the Sanctifier are "all of one."
Being a sign is not a comfortable position. But the weakness of this small group is not a defeat:
There is always a remnant that believes, and from this they gather present cheer in the middle of sorrow. In truth, to feel and confess your weakness, and so to be thrown on "Jehovah of hosts Himself," is to be master of the situation — whatever it looks like to the eyes and reasoning of men.
One question remains: how far does this reach?
Hebrews 2:13 applies Isaiah 8:18 to the saints God is calling now. They are the children God has given to Christ… The "we" in this letter is not in doubt. It does not mean Hebrews only. It means those who bore Christ's name, sanctified by His blood, and given free entry to the holiest place of all — the children given to Him. Does anyone imagine that this relationship belongs only to Christian Jews?… It is the shared but high privilege of every Christian.
Christ will say these words once more, and next time in open triumph:
Believers are children. They belong to Him, and they are signs and witnesses both to unbelieving Israel and to the world… And one day, the day of His glory, He will declare in triumph: "Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me." Then He will be glorified and admired in all who believed (2 Thess. 1:10), and the redeemed will be signs and wonders in an even more blessed way.
- Signs — Isaiah's two sons bore names that spelled out Israel's future: "the remnant shall return" and "swift for spoil, hasty for prey."
- Speaker — Hebrews quotes verse 18 as Christ's own words, to prove that the Sanctifier and the sanctified are "all of one."
- Given — they are not called His brethren yet, nor exactly His children. They are the children God gave Him, set apart from the mass of the people.
- Strength — the group looks helpless. To feel your weakness and lean on the LORD of hosts Himself is to be master of the situation.
- Glory — this privilege belongs to every Christian now, and Christ will say the sentence again in triumph on the day of His glory.