The Hubris Of Horses

The Folly of Trusting in Egypt and Horses

Amen. Well, please turn to Isaiah 31. We'll be beginning Isaiah 31 today. And this still continues, this section of Isaiah, and it's about the folly of trusting in the nations, and particularly the people of Judah had trusted in Assyria.

Assyria's turned on them, and now they're considering trusting in Egypt. And that has been the pervasive theme throughout this section. However, it's only occasionally. It speaks of Egypt explicitly. And here is one of those times.

When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's word. Isaiah 31, beginning in verse 1. I'll read down to the end of 5. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong.

But do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or consult the Lord. And yet He is wise and brings disaster. He does not call back His words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

The Egyptians are man and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

For thus the Lord said to me, As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey, and when a band of shepherds is called out against him, he is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise. So the Lord of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill, like birds hovering.

So the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver it. He will spare and rescue it. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, as we open up Your Word once again, we ask that You would guide us by it.

That Your Spirit, who inspired these very words, would also work in our hearts that we may receive this truth, not just as mere propositions, but as something that transforms us and makes us more like Jesus.

Lord, I pray that we would see more clearly the folly of trusting in other powers, and that we would trust only in You in all things. In Jesus' name, Amen. So this is the nature of man, is to trust in the things that he can see, and to not trust the one he cannot see.

Even though the one he cannot see is far more powerful, far wiser, far mightier, far greater. Yet man routinely does what is foolish, and trusts instead what he can see, because it seems that such things are stronger.

So in the process, he compares God to other things, and because God is a holy God, and cannot tolerate such comparisons, he ensures that those things that man trusts in will fail, because he is the source of all their strength.

He is not merely strong and mighty, but he is the source of all strength and all mightiness. And so as it is the nature of man to trust in such things that he can see, it's the nature of God to reduce such trust.

And so it is the nature of such trust to ultimately fail. We begin here in this first verse. He says, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses. This is something that Isaiah has already said previously, at the beginning of the previous chapter.

He said, Ah, stubborn children. And in verse 2, Who set out to go down to Egypt without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.

The people have gone down to Egypt. Rather than seeking the help of the Lord, the one who instructed them not to make alliances, they rather would choose to make alliances because it seems that that would give them some kind of strength, some kind of power.

And this is ultimately, this is ultimately a rejection of God, a rejection of what he has told them. In Deuteronomy 17, 16, we read, and I've mentioned this verse before, but it speaks of the king of Israel and it says, Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses.

Since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. God has very explicitly told the people not to acquire many horses. He's even more specified that they should not go back to Egypt to gather many horses.

And yet this is precisely what the people do. Why? Because the horses seem like they are very strong and Egypt seems like it is very strong. But ultimately, none of these things, none of these things are ultimately strong.

God is the one who is ultimately strong. There are all kinds of ways that people distrust the Lord. There are those implicit things. You know, God had given Israel a very specific command here. Don't go down to Egypt.

Don't acquire many horses. And this is precisely what they're doing. But even before those motions, there are the motions of the heart where one begins to distrust the Lord. And if you consider what that looks like in the life of someone who is distrusting the Lord, you know, first they engage in sins of the mind where they engage in lust or covetousness or all these actions in the heart, which, yes, God has forbidden.

But as they do not come out externally, it's often hard to identify them. It often is easy to give them a free pass. And indeed, while they are great sins, they are lesser sins than the sin that more explicitly, more high handedly goes against what the Lord has said.

And so these sins manifest in various ways. Lust becomes adultery. Anger becomes murder. Covetousness becomes theft as we act out those desires of the heart. So you should pay attention to what the Word has said because these things are deceptive.

It is very easy to justify such actions or to fail to ignore them. But God has given us very explicit instruction that we might be able to identify our sin. No doubt, the people of Israel at this time were justifying their sin in many ways, maybe not even mentioning the passage that is there in Deuteronomy telling them not to do this, or maybe even mentioning it and explaining why it would be okay in this particular circumstance.

But someone who is really a student of God's Word, who's really treasured it up in his heart, would find it hard to make such excuses. And this is what you will find in your own life, that the more you treasure up God's Word in your heart, the harder it will be for you to make such excuses.

And this is a good thing. It is a good thing to have God's Word treasured up in your heart this way because it leaves you less prone to self-deception. You won't be deceived when others speak this way, and you won't be deceived when your own heart speaks this way.

But you will know what the Lord has said. He continues on here, and he talks about relying on horses and trusting in chariots, particularly because they are many, and horsemen because they are very strong.

But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord. This is what the people should do. They look to the horses because they appear many. They look to the chariots because they appear strong.

God is above all these things. He has a host of angels far more numerous than any amount of horses could be. People look to these things rather than looking to the Holy One of Israel. And once again, this is something that Isaiah has mentioned before in a passage that most believe speaks of the particular sins of Hezekiah in looking to his own strength and trying to build up the kingdom, Hezekiah being one of the kings of Judah.

It says in Isaiah 22, 11,. And as I understand it, this tunnel that Hezekiah made is actually something that you can go see to this day. And it is a part of the strength of Jerusalem to have the infrastructure to be able to withstand attacks.

But the criticism here is not in using means that God has made available. The criticism is in not looking to the One who already accomplished such things, not looking to the One who is the source of these strengths.

We must look to the Holy One of Israel. And so, as one looks to these other sins, every time you sin, you are essentially being tempted to say that strength lies elsewhere. I will be better off if I choose this thing.

I'm going to make some excuse in my heart for why I should not trust the Lord on this matter, but rather trust myself or someone else or something around me. Some act that I think will lead me to more happiness.

Rather than all that, we should look to the Lord. And what does it look like to look to the Lord? Well, it's simply the opposite. It is to trust His Word. In addition to trusting His Word, it is going to Him in prayer.

It is to consult with Him. This is the quintessential way that one trusts in the Lord, is by going to Him in prayer. And so, you should ask yourself about your pattern with the Word of God. You should ask yourself about your pattern with prayer.

You know, is your life one that is prayerful? Is your life one that is trusting in chariots or trusting in the Lord? You know, there's not really a third option here. You're either trusting in the Lord or you're trusting in something else.

The one who trusts in the Lord goes to the Lord regularly in prayer. The one who does not trust in the Lord does not go to the Lord regularly in prayer and trusts other things. And it's a sobering thought because one's own private prayer life, because it is private, it is very easy to neglect.

You know, other things that are more public, it's harder to neglect. You know, people notice when you don't show up for the assembly. People notice when you engage in certain sins and neglect other good works.

But when it comes to something like your own private prayer life, no one is watching but the Lord. So it's very easy to neglect such things, to neglect that prayer closet. But the one who is trusting in the Lord, he is going to the Lord regularly.

Now, the one who does such things, the one who trusts in horses, trusts in chariots, and does not trust in the Lord, what he is doing, in essence, is comparing the Lord to other things. All right, this is what I said a moment ago.

The one who trusts in something else, who would trust in Egypt, who would fall into temptation trusting in something else, what they're doing is comparing the Lord. They're comparing His strength and saying that, I think this other thing will be stronger.

They're comparing His wisdom and they're saying, I think this other thing will be wiser. People usually don't think of it that way, as comparing God, but they are comparing Him. And as Isaiah speaks of Him as the Holy One of Israel, it points out why that is so problematic.

And that's the whole theme of the book of Isaiah, is that God is the Holy One. It's about the holiness of God. If God is holy, then He is separate. That's what holy means, it means to be separate. If He is separate, if He is distinct from His creation, and different to His creation, how could you compare Him to anything?

It's like comparing apples and oranges, to talk about God's strength versus something else's strength. Yes, there is a sense in which we can speak of God's strength and we can speak of the strength of horses, but to think that God's strength is some multiple of the strength of horses, is to misunderstand the nature of God, because He is holy.

He is not comparable to other things, not even in a way that is simply greater. He transcends other things. You know, if I ask you what is more beautiful, or what is more aesthetic, a painting of a beautiful sunset, or the beautiful sunset itself, obviously it's the sunset itself, because it is the source, even, of the beauty of the painting.

If I ask you who is wealthier, a child who has $100, or his father, well, a child, all their possessions are ultimately their father's, even if they have some kind of delegated possession of something.

The father is the source of the wealth of the child. He owns all that the child has. He is all strength. He is all, excuse me, all wealth. And so God, if we compare Him in strength, we don't understand the nature of His strength, we don't understand the nature of any of His attributes, if we would compare Him in such a way to others, as though He's some multiple above.

His kind of strength, His kind of wisdom, His kind of beauty does not compare in this way. It is not some multiple of earthly beauties and earthly strengths. It rather transcends and is greater than all these things.

And because God is holy, because He is holy, not only are such comparisons forbidden, but they must be exposed. God has made it His agenda to expose such things. If He is holy and others lower Him to some level and compare Him, then He becomes no longer holy, if those such things are allowed to stand.

And so because He is holy, He will not be mocked. Whatever one sows, that will he also reap. It says here, and yet He is wise and brings disaster. It's interesting how this is translated here. Several translations translate it differently.

I think one of the ways I appreciate more, it says, and He is also wise. It doesn't quite make sense at first until you realize the sarcasm that's going on here. You know, Isaiah has spoken of the wisdom of the wise and how that will perish, because those rulers in Jerusalem have decided that going with this alliance with Egypt is wise.

And so what Isaiah is doing here is not merely saying that God is wise, but he is joining with them in a sarcastic comparison of God to others. And God, He is also wise. Do you see what's going on here?

They are engaged in the sin of comparing God, saying that His wisdom isn't good enough, our wisdom is better. And Isaiah engages in this intentional understatement, making a similar comparison. He is also wise.

Not only is He wise, He is far wiser than all creatures. And once again, it is not even a real comparison to say that He is merely wiser. His wisdom transcends man's wisdom. He is the source of all truth.

He is truth itself. And because this is true, because God is holy, He will not let such things stand. He is also wise, and therefore He brings disaster. He shows the foolishness of man. Now if you are challenged on something, and it would be right for you to show that the challenger is false, now sometimes that would be arrogant, and you let it slide.

But if it is right to show that the challenger is false, what do you do? You best him in what he is claiming he is better at. Now if you are in sports, and another team thinks they are better, you demonstrate that they are not by beating them in that sports match.

Well God, it is right for Him to demonstrate that He is wiser. And when others claim that they are wise, He demonstrates that His wisdom is greater by causing the wisdom of others to fail. And this is something, once again, Isaiah has said before, but he says here too.

God is also wise, and He brings disaster. He causes these things to cease. This alliance, will it produce anything? No, it will not. And the same goes for every single alliance someone makes with sin.

So often I hear people say something along the lines of, I know this isn't right, but I think it is necessary in this particular circumstance. You know, you have got this necessary evil that you have got to go to.

Because the situation is just too complicated. It is just too messy a situation to do it right. So we need to compromise here. That is never the case. It is always the case that God's wisdom will rise above man's wisdom no matter how difficult it is to discern God's wisdom.

His wisdom is still wiser than man's. He does not call back His words. So not only is this something He does, it is something He must do, it is something that He will not change His mind on. He will not decide, okay, usually I show that my wisdom is greater, but this time I won't.

No, He always shows that His wisdom is greater. He does not change His mind. He is not a man that He should repent. He does not call back His words. You know, God is impassable. He is what is known as impassable.

So to be passable is to be passively acted upon. But nothing can affect God. He is the first cause of all things. He is the one who created time. He created space. He does not live in some dimension that can be changed.

He does not live in this world where things are malleable. He does not live on a timeline so that you could change Him so that He would be different from one moment to the next. He does not change. And the words that He has spoken, the words that He has given us stand forever because they come from a God who is Himself eternal, outside of time.

And so He doesn't change His mind about any of these things. He always shows others that His wisdom is wiser. And this is the case with everyone who makes such comparisons. Job, in the book of Job, he starts off very well, but the Lord must teach him because what he does, essentially, is questions God's wisdom.

He acts as though if he were to have an argument with God that perhaps he could show God that he's missed out on something. And eventually, God reveals Himself to Job and speaks to Job and tells him that he does not know, that he does not understand.

And Job acknowledges that he spoke out of turn, that he should not have compared God in this way as though His wisdom were merely somewhat greater or comparable in any way. His wisdom transcends. Here's the case with every person who denies God and speaks in such a way to say, if God existed, He would do this.

If God really were true, He would do that. What are they doing? They are comparing God to man as though He's a man. They are suggesting that if God existed, He would be like man. Not only does God exist, He is not like man.

And to suppose He would be is utter foolishness. And God will make good on every last one of those and reveal the foolishness of man's wisdom. And He does this in the following way. But He will arise against the house of the evil doers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

He rises against all. Against all who make such comparisons. You know, a lot of people think that by their machinations, by their contrivances, they will somehow make a better situation for themselves.

But the only thing that can be brought about by that is increasing the wrath of God against them. There's no way to run from this God. You can only run to Him. There's no way to hide yourself from Him.

You can only seek Him for mercy. And He is incredibly merciful to those who come to Him. He has provided a Savior for them. Even Jesus Christ. You know, these helpers and those who work iniquity. So, the house of evil doers, this is most likely, speaking of those rulers in Jerusalem who are making this false alliance, and then on top of that, the helpers, these would be the allies.

This would be Egypt. You know, both those who are identified among the people of God seeking help, and those who would help. In both circumstances, God will show Himself to be wiser. He will destroy both.

Many people imagine that because they're in one situation or the other, they will get an easier judgment. You know, because I am out, because I'm outside of the people of God, I won't be held to the same standards.

You know, there are some senses in which that is true, but it still is the case that God will reveal the wisdom of man to be foolishness. And some people think that, well, because they're identified among God's people, you know, in some external way, that this will give them some special standing with God.

But God looks at the heart and once again, their wisdom will be shown to be foolishness. Every single one of these. Doesn't matter if you're on one side or the other. Doesn't matter if you look like you're one of God's people or you don't.

Any who make such comparisons to God, anyone who does not treat God as holy by comparing Him to other things, falling into temptation, trusting in something else, every last one of them will be shown to be foolish.

So He really ends this thought here with this half verse. The Egyptians are man and not God, and their horses are flesh and not spirit. The Egyptians, they are not God. Once again, an intentional understatement.

Of course they are not God. They are far, far less than God. And their horses are flesh and not spirit. You know, there are several passages that talk about this. Talk about the folly of trusting in such things.

Psalms 20, 6 through 7, says that some will trust in horses, some in chariots. They will trust in the Lord. You do not want to be trusting in something else other than the Lord. Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God.

Jeremiah, Jeremiah 17, 5, says that the one who trusts in the arm of flesh is cursed. Cursed is the one who trusts in the arm of flesh. Such things are limited in power. This world that you can see, as opposed to the God you cannot see, the God you cannot see is so much more powerful.

Now, it is interesting here because there are many who have, you know, more often in ancient times than in recent times, but still today, there are people who think that what is spiritual is better, right, than what is physical.

That's not the case. We have an existence awaiting for us with a physical resurrection. What is physical is good. However, when this speaks here as though the spiritual is more powerful, that's because it is.

You know, the spiritual controls that which is physical. That does not make it of a more important quality or anything like that or to be better and, you know, what is physical bad. But what it does mean is that the God who commands legions of angels is far more powerful than the one who has horses.

Even if he had twice as many horses, which he doesn't, he would not be as powerful. So you have this comparison made again, or you have a denial of this comparison. Egyptians are man and not God. Their horses are flesh and not spirit.

There is a spiritual battle raging. And if you think that you can fight it by going to earthly means, you will be greatly mistaken. You will be ashamed. Because only what is spiritual can fight in that battle.

And God is the one who is spiritual and commands his angels. You know, there's a have you ever seen an example of someone putting on a VR headset for the first time in a day. Maybe they go on a roller coaster simulation or something like that.

And they're flailing around, you know, and end up falling over. Maybe they end up running into a wall because they're scared of something. I don't know if you've ever seen that. But this is what it looks like to trust the things that you see that are right in front of your eyes and denying the reality that is evident through God's word and scripture.

Right? If you trust those things in your eyes, just like the person with the VR headset on, you know, he runs right smack into a wall or he falls over because he thinks he's on a roller coaster. But what makes that so foolish is that person knows he's not on a roller coaster.

He knows he's not in an open field. But because the senses of his eyes are so strong, he allows himself to get carried away by it and make and put these two on the same plane, this virtual reality and this actual reality.

The one who does this with the Lord is a fool because he should know better. Because he does know better. Because what is apparent before us is not the true estimation of strength. It doesn't matter how powerful a horse looks.

It doesn't matter how much money wealth looks like. God is greater than all. He is the source of all strength, all majesty, all beauty. He is everything. And so if we are not to compare him but rather to trust in him, we should trust what he has given us, which he has given us his son.

He has given us his son, whom he has said is wisdom. Jesus Christ is wisdom. If you want to trust the wisdom of God and not your own wisdom, not the wisdom of man, you must run to Jesus Christ. As I said before, you cannot run away from God.

You can only run to him for mercy. And so the way you run to him for mercy is you trust in Jesus Christ. This is what it looks like to trust in the Lord. Not only to believe what he has said about himself in general, but specifically to believe what he has said about his son.

That his son came, he died on a cross. To provide forgiveness for our sins. If we trust in him we can have eternal life. Eternal life forever and ever. This is a wonderful, glorious truth. The one who makes these comparisons will find himself ashamed.

You know, it's the nature of man to trust such things. It's the nature of God to show such comparisons to be false and therefore it's the nature of those things to be false and to fail. You do not want to be trusting in something that succeeds.

And indeed Jesus Christ has already succeeded. He has already won the victory over sin and death and the devil. And so we should be trusting in him alone and nothing else. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for your kindness to us and to sending us Jesus Christ. We acknowledge our own weakness. Our tendency to look to what is visible and to trust our eyes because our eyes are our strongest sense.

But Lord, I pray that you would give us spiritual sensibilities that we might recognize what is true and fully embrace it and so find rest and hope in your Son. In Jesus' name. Amen.