WWUTT 1984 Wake Up from Your Drunken Stupor (Isaiah 28:1-29)

Before God brought judgment upon Israel, a prophet warned them that judgment was coming. But like drunken men, they mocked the prophets, not understanding God's word or following it. When we understand the text.

Program Introduction and Study Format

This is When We Understand the Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Isaiah, we're up to chapter 28 this week. We have read in the last several lessons how God will empty the earth. God will swallow up death. He will deliver Israel and establish peace.

But here we come into chapter 28, where we read once again of judgment, this time upon Ephraim, the northern kingdom, Ephraim being a name that is synonymous with Israel, though it is the name of one particular tribe.

It's also used for Israel or the northern kingdom. So we're going to read here this judgment that is coming against Ephraim and the way that Ephraim will respond. I'm going to read the first 13 verses of this chapter out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is set at the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine.

Behold, the Lord has a strong and courageous agent. As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, he has set it down to the earth with his hand. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden underfoot and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first ripe fig prior to summer, which one sees, and as soon as it is in his hand, he swallows it.

In that day, Yahweh of Hosts will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of his people, a spirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment, a might to those who turn back the onslaught at the gate.

And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger from strong drink. They reel while having visions.

They totter when rendering a verdict. For all the tables are full of filthy vomit without a single clean place. Whom would he instruct in knowledge? And whom would he provide understanding about the report?

Those just weaned from milk, those just taken from the breast? For he says, Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there. Indeed, he will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue.

He who said to them, Here is rest, give rest to the weary, and here is repose. But they would not listen. So the word of Yahweh to them will be, Order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there.

That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive. Now, we don't pick this up in English so much, but in Hebrew, there's a lot of sing-song enos going on here in Chapter 28.

Surely, you heard the repetition, especially with the order on order, line on line, lines. But there is a language use that's going on here that is reflective of the drunken man. It's actually painting a picture of the drunken man, or it sounds like the way that a drunken man would speak.

That comes about in around verses 7 and 8. I'll get to that here in just a moment. Let's start at the very beginning, because notice the theme here is drunkenness. And even when we get to verse 11, through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, God will speak to this people.

They stumble backward. That's the last line in verse 13, to be broken, snared, and taken captive. You have stumbling. You have drunkenness. You have slurred speech that's talked about here in Chapter 28.

So in verse 1, woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine. Now, although there's some poeticness to this, talking about the judgment of the Ephraimites, how they're unable to have sound judgment because they're like drunken men, at the same time, I think there's something literal being spoken with regards to this as well.

Ephraim is just filled up with wine. The northern kingdom, they drink themselves silly. They're full of all kinds of debauchery. So we go on to read in verse 2, behold, the Lord has a strong and courageous agent as a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction.

This is describing the Assyrians, which the Lord is using to bring judgment on the northern kingdom. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden underfoot. So we start with woe to the proud crown, and then this reference in verse 3, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden underfoot.

They have a crown because God has made them a great people, but they have disregarded the Lord God, and now they have become like the pagans in the land. The fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is at the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first ripe fig prior to summer, which one sees, and as soon as it is in his hand, he swallows it.

So they are going to be swallowed up. They are going to be destroyed. If there's any beauty that can be said of them, they will be taken out by the Assyrians. In that day, Yahweh of Hosts will become a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to the remnant of his people.

So those who are faithful, who still love the Lord, who desire to walk in his ways, have not been led astray by the pagan practices that are going on around them, they will see Yahweh as a glorious crown.

Ephraim's crown is a proud crown, and it's going to come to destruction, but Yahweh will still be glorious in the eyes of those who fear him. They look at him as being king, who reigns over all. They will not dread the enemy that comes into the land, but continue to trust in Christ, in Yahweh, a spirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment, a might to those who turn back the onslaught at the gate.

And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, and they are swallowed up by wine. They stagger from strong drink. This is where you get the like the sing song, and it's kind of back and forth.

It's like a person is swaying back and forth from his drunkenness. They reel while having visions. They totter when rendering a verdict, for all the tables are full of filthy vomit without a single clean place.

You sit down at the table with these guys. They have consumed so much alcohol that it's just vomit all over the table. I know that's a disgusting picture, but this is how God is disgusted with Ephraim.

They are a disgusting people in the way that they have disregarded God and gone after idols. Verse nine, whom would he instructed knowledge and whom would he provide understanding about the report? Because they're so drunk, they can't even understand what a prophet would come to them saying.

Would God instruct those just weaned from milk, those just taken from the breast? Babies have a better chance of understanding what God has to say than these drunk fools. For he says, order on order, order on order, line on line, line on line, a little here, a little there.

Now, the way that that's spelled out there in verse 10, what that probably is indicating is how the drunkards are mocking the prophets. God's speaking, but he speaks through a prophet. So they're mocking that the prophets are always order on order, line on line.

Everything has to be precise and exact, and we have to follow everything exactly the way that it's being said to us. So they're mocking that. They're mocking that God would speak through a prophet and they speak sense.

They speak directly with directness, but the drunkards can't receive it. They're so drunk. They're so out of their minds. They can't submit to it. Verse 11, indeed, he will speak to this people. So the infants can't understand it.

The drunkards can't understand it, but God will speak and he'll speak through stammering lips and a foreign tongue. He who said to them, here is rest, give rest to the weary and here is repose, but they would not listen.

So the word of Yahweh to them will be order on order, line on line, a little here, a little there that they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive. So this reference in verse 11, that he will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue that is in reference to the Assyrians.

This army is going to come against you from, and they're going to wipe them out. They're going to wipe out the Northern kingdom, which is indeed what happened with the Assyrians came against Israel. This is all prophetically being said before that happens.

And this is a people who speak a foreign language. So do the Israelites. They have heard from God through this army that is bringing judgment against them. And when they speak, they can't even understand what's being said.

So they're being conquered by an army whose language they don't know. And that's the judgment that God is bringing upon these drunkards because they were so drunk that they couldn't understand the word of the Lord.

So the judgment that comes against them will be in a tongue that they won't be able to understand anyway. That's what's being said in that particular prophecy. So then God talks about establishing a cornerstone in Zion, and this is the remainder of chapter 28.

The Cornerstone in Zion and the Rejected Covenant with Death

So let me begin here in verse 14, therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, because you have said, we have cut a covenant with death and with Sheol, we have made a pact.

The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by, for we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying. Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed. Now, this is a very common prophecy that comes up in the New Testament. We see it in the Gospels. Peter mentions it in first Peter chapter two, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

So those who do not worship God, those who do not listen to the prophets, when this cornerstone is laid, they will stumble over it. They will even be crushed by it. But those who love God, the remnant that fear him, this cornerstone is a glorious foundation.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed. The last line there of verse 16. Now, keep in mind, a cornerstone is a stone that sets the direction for the rest of the building. Wherever you set the cornerstone, the rest of the building is going to be constructed according to that stone.

If you have a portion of the stone facing exactly east and the other, you know, this side of the stone facing exactly north, then that's the north facing side of the building. This is the east facing side of the building, all of it following according to the cornerstone.

If the cornerstone is off, the whole building will be off. So God is talking about setting a cornerstone and we know prophetically, as this is spoken about in the New Testament, this is a prophecy concerning Christ.

God is going to lay a cornerstone. And as this is talked about in 1 Peter 2, Jesus is the cornerstone, the apostles and prophets are the rest of the foundation stones, and then we are being built on top of that as a sanctuary unto the Lord, the way that Peter talks about it in 1 Peter 2.

So this all begins with Christ, the cornerstone, the fulfillment of this particular prophecy. Verse 17, I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Talk about the tools and the way that the stones are going to be set.

Then hail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be canceled and your pact with Sheol will not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will become its trampling place.

As often as it passes through, it will take you. For morning after morning, it will pass through any time during the day or night and it will be sheer terror to understand the report. So previously God said, whom will I instruct in knowledge and whom will I provide understanding about the report?

But the drunk men of Ephraim can't understand it. And so when the message of the cornerstone comes, it will be sheer terror to those who understand it. Verse 20, the bed is too short on which to stretch out and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perizim. He will be stirred up as in the Valley of Gibeon to work his work, his unusual work, and to labor his labor, his exceptional labor. So now do not carry on as scoffers, lest your fetters be made stronger.

For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts of complete destruction, one that is decreed on all the earth. You can understand plainly what's being said here. God is going to come in judgment. He will sweep the land.

And so a warning is being given by this prophet. Do not think that you'll escape the judgment. While the time is right, repent, sober yourself, and turn to the Lord. Verse 23, give ear and hear my voice, pay attention and hear my words.

Those who have sobered up will be able to understand them. Those who are drunkards will not hear, but will be overcome by the Assyrians when they come into the land. Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?

Does he continually turn and harrow his ground? Does he not level its surface, and sow dill and scatter cumin, and plant wheat and rose, barley in its place, and rye within its area? For his God disciplines and teaches with proper judgment.

For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is the wheel of a cart driven over to cumin, but dill is beaten out with a staff and cumin with a rod. Grain for bread is crushed, but he does not continue to thresh it forever, because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually disturb it.

He does not crush it longer. Verse 29, last verse of the chapter, this also comes from Yahweh of hosts, who has made his counsel wonderful and his wisdom great. So what's with all of this, the agrarian references here to growing dill and cumin and wheat and rose and so on and so forth?

Well, this comes back to the thing that the drunkards mocked earlier, line on line, a little here, a little there, order on order. In some translations, you have precept on precept. So the drunkards were mocking the fact that when the prophets come speaking the word of the Lord, everything is precise.

Everything is exact. We have to do exactly what it is that they say. And so they're mocking the way that the Lord speaks and the message that the prophets come and deliver. But here, this is being said, God has instructed you in all of these things.

And you can see the preciseness of the instructions is important because look at the way that a farmer has to grow his crops. He handles one crop this way. He handles another crop like this. He can't handle all the crops exactly the same.

For each crop to yield and to glean from the crop what you're trying to get out of it, you have to treat the crops a different way. You plant it a different way. You care for it a different way. You harvest it a different way and then prepare that harvest a different way.

So it is with the word of God when it is delivered. It's line on line and precept on precept because God speaks clearly and he tells you exactly what it is that you need to do. If it's wisdom, if it's a wisdom passage, then you have wisdom like Proverbs.

If it is a direct imperative, then you have exact instructions. If it's law, then God gives law. So there are different kinds of things that God has to say, different ways in which he speaks, but all of it is incredibly important and it takes the wise man to know how it applies.

Verse 29, once again, this comes from Yahweh of Hosts who has made his counsel wonderful and his wisdom great. We don't read all of the Bible exactly the same. What we're reading here in Isaiah being prophetic literature, we're reading this a certain way and when we were reading previously in the wisdom books and Song of Songs and in Ecclesiastes and so on, we were reading them another way.

This word comes from God and the ability to apply it and handle it in a right way comes from the Lord also. Consider what is said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God for they are foolish to him and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually examined.

But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he will direct him, but we have the mind of Christ and with the mind of Christ, we can hear the word of God spoken to us and we know how to understand it and even how to apply it because of the Spirit that he has given to us.

To us, God revealed them through the Spirit for the Spirit searches all things, even the depth of God. That's 1 Corinthians 2 .10. For who among men knows the depths of a man except the Spirit of the man that is in him?

Even so, the depths of God, no one knows except the Spirit of God. So, the word of God has been given to us by his Spirit that dwells within us, we're able to understand the word and rightly apply it.

We must not be like those who go about in drunkenness, not being able to understand what God has said. If we have understood it, we must live according to it. Consider what Paul says in Romans chapter 13, beginning in verse 11, do this knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep.

For now, salvation is nearer to us than when we believed and talking about that final deliverance of God into his heavenly kingdom. The night is almost gone, the day is at hand, therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Let us walk properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts.

Prayer for Sobriety, Understanding, and Righteous Living

Do you understand? Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read here in the prophet Isaiah and I pray that we would be able to understand it. We would not fall into our destruction like Ephraim, like the northern kingdom that went about in drunkenness and the sign of God did indeed come upon them through this army that would enter into northern Israel and destroy them.

May we wake up from our drunken stupor, put away all sin and those things that easily entangle as said in Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 and run with endurance the race that is set before us. We put on the armor of light, we think with soberness and right judgment for the Holy Spirit of God has been poured into us that we may understand your word and do according to what it says.

Lead us in paths of righteousness for your namesake. It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.