The Betrayer Betrayed

Isaiah’s Opening Woe Against the Destroyer

Amen. Please turn in your scripture to Isaiah 33. When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word. We begin Isaiah 33 today, which speaks of the judgment of the Lord. Please stand. Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed.

You traitor, whom none has betrayed. When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word.

We thank you for the great promises that we have, the end of enemies, an assured victory in Jesus Christ. We pray that you would open our eyes to see this promise more clearly, that we might be able to live in hope and joy, in Jesus' name, amen.

God's Justice Is Timely, Certain, and Measured

A lot of people become very discouraged when they see the state of the world. There's a lack of justice. Many crimes go without being punished. Many things happen without there being a very clear answer to how they will be dealt with.

The Lord is good. The Lord is just. All these things will be taken care of on that last day. And this passage gives us an assurance of God's justice, and there's three simple things I'd like us to take away from this for you to dwell on and contemplate, as you might be vexed by seeing injustices in the world, seeing evils that do not get an immediate answer.

Now, I want you to see that God's justice, it is timely, it is certain, and it is measured. And by measured, I don't mean limited. I mean in the appropriate quantity. It is timely, it is certain, and it is measured.

I want you to begin by considering who it is that is spoken of here. It says, "'Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed.'". In the context of Isaiah 33, Assyria has repeatedly come against the nation of Judah.

Now Judah had, in times past, during Ahaz's reign, made an alliance with Assyria. Assyria has treated them poorly. Hezekiah had turned from Assyria, invoking Assyria's wrath, and so Assyria has repeatedly come against Jerusalem and attacked them.

And this is who is spoken of here, this King Sennacherib, you destroyer, you, who yourself have not been destroyed. This is the one who has betrayed Judah. This is the one who destroys. But yet, it speaks of a greater destruction.

As we look through Isaiah, and especially the passages that we have seen before in Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 14, etc., where it talks about these human kings, the king of Babylon, the king of Assyria, etc., it is using them as prototypes to talk of something much greater, of an evil that is far greater than even these.

Speaks of the evil one, Satan himself. He is a destroyer who had, at this time in Isaiah, not yet been destroyed. He is a betrayer who had not yet been betrayed. Now through the New Testament, we know the great truth that He has been destroyed.

And yet, as He continues to have activities in this earth, that destruction has yet to become more fully manifest. The victory of Christ has yet to become more fully manifest. And so we are in need to contemplate these truths and think of the promises of God so that we might be encouraged to continue through whatever trial we may encounter in this world.

We should not be naive to fail to recognize that there is a great spiritual battle that is raging on. There is a great enemy. There is Satan. There are his demons. They are at work. There is much evil in the world, and much of it is motivated by spiritual forces.

These things are very real, and perhaps you have grown up in the faith. Perhaps you do not think that you are ignorant of such things. But consider how easy it is in our materialist world to attribute all sorts of things to material causes.

When people see what is labeled mental illness, now sometimes that is often a result of something physical, something material that is going on. But many times there is involved something very real and very spiritual that because we live in a materialist world that is not eager to see such things, we are unwilling to attribute these to the work of spiritual forces.

It is the case often with mental illness that there are spiritual forces at work, and we should be willing and ready to acknowledge this truth. Now we do not want to be those who whenever there is any kind of problem we point to the devil, but we want to be ones who are not ignorant of his devices.

And consider what it says in 2 Corinthians 2 where it speaks of that, that we should not be ignorant of his devices. It says, anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.

We should not be ignorant of his designs. We should be aware that he exists, aware that he operates, not him being omnipresent everywhere, but through those spiritual forces that follow after him. And consider how this addresses it, anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive.

Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ so that we would not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs. What are his designs?

His designs are to turn brother against brother, sister against sister, brother against sister, sister against brother. This is the design of Satan. And to be ignorant of that would be to continue on without forgiveness, not recognizing that is a foothold for Satan to accomplish his work, and to think that such things can be tolerated and entertained as though they are not footholds for Satan, as though there is not one whom you cannot physically see, but you should be seeing with eyes of faith at work and remove all opportunity for him.

We've opened up the moat to the gate of the castle and leave it open, not being aware that there is an invisible enemy walking right in. We should not be ignorant of his designs. But as we consider this one, this one who assails God's people and all the evil that exists in the world that comes against God's people, let us be encouraged by these truths about God's justice that is timely, that is certain, and is measured.

Divine Forbearance in Romans 3 and Romans 9

It is timely. It says, you who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor whom none has betrayed, when you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed, and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

God's judgment comes at the appropriate time. When this one has ceased to destroy, he will be destroyed. When he has finished betraying, they will betray you. His judgment comes precisely when God desires.

This was true with Sennacherib. You can read, and later on in Isaiah, we will see that on the night that Sennacherib had camped outside of Jerusalem, 185 ,000 of his troops were destroyed in that night.

God's judgment comes exactly when he sees fit. He is, the Bible speaks of his patience. You know, he is patient. Now that is not simply a well-meant patient towards his own people so that when they sin, he is willing to bear with it for a season.

But it is also well-meant towards his people, towards the sins of the enemy, towards the sins of evil ones, for the good of his people. Okay, so God's patience is not just towards, it is only good towards his people, but he bears with much sin with both the righteous and the wicked for the sake of his people.

Consider these two verses in Romans 3, or excuse me, Romans. The first one is in Romans 3, 25. It says that God has put Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So it speaks of his divine forbearance, right? His divine patience. Now, this divine patience is unlike our patience.

It's not limited in capacity, it is not unwise, rather he is perfectly wise. He knows exactly what to do. He knows exactly how he should bear with things, to use an anthropomorphic description of what God endures when he tolerates sin for a season before judging it.

He is, he has divine forbearance. He is patient with those things in order that he might accomplish his purposes. What are his purposes here in this passage in Romans 3? It's to show God's righteousness that he passed over former sins, his righteousness at the present time so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Now, if he had immediately destroyed the saints of old before there had been any sacrifice made for them, you know, the blood of bulls and goats, it didn't do anything to take away their sins in any kind of eternal sense.

Not even temporarily did it do such things that make them right with God, it only covered them in the context of that old covenant that they might dwell long in the land. So they did not have a sacrifice for their sins in that, for that great courtroom of God and yet he was patient with them and why was he patient with them?

So that he may be both just and the justifier. If he had just destroyed them, he would be just but he would not be the justifier. If he had, he would not be the one who saves, the one who makes right with himself.

That is what the justifier means. Now let's say he had just forgiven them but without, without that future sacrifice that was coming, that sacrifice of Christ. If he had, if he had disclosed to them a full, a full sense of rightness with him, not that the, I want to be clear, the saints in the Old Testament were able to be right with God through this coming sacrifice of Christ but God limited what he revealed about the nature of that sacrifice so that it would not appear that everything was accomplished apart from said sacrifice.

Let's say he had disclosed himself in that way to them. Well then he would not be the just but he would be the justifier because he would be the one who makes right but he would not be just because there would not have been payment made for their sins.

So God being both just and justifier in his divine forbearance passed over the sins previously committed so that people would be saved in Christ. He would be both justifier and the just. Now later on in Romans 9 it talks about his divine forbearance once again, not against the righteous but against the wicked.

It says in Romans 9 verse 21, has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, okay so God desires to show his wrath, he desires to destroy his enemies.

What if he has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory? So he is enduring not just the sins of the righteous but also the sins of the wicked for the sake of his people.

He is enduring both for our sake. So his justice, it is timely, it is exactly in the right time. If we do not understand the timing of God, this is not reason for us to doubt whether or not he is wise in his timing.

We must understand that he has all the context, he has decreed all things, he knows exactly what is good for us. And so we should trust his timing on these matters. You know, the way this applies to us, if you are one who is not right with God, do not think that his bearing with you through thus far in your life indicates that he will continue to forever.

There will be literally hell to pay, there will literally be hell to pay for this. You, if you are not made right with God, you will stand before him in judgment and you will not have an answer to give him.

His patience with you for thus long does not continue to indicate patience in the future. People think about this very empirically as though, you know, you have the scientific method and you are sitting there doing an experiment and saying, okay, well, I got away with this, so that shows that God will keep bearing with it.

I got away with this, that shows that God will keep bearing with it. And you keep going and you keep going and you develop a lot of confidence that your hypothesis is so tested and secure. That is not how this works.

There is death coming. It is plain and clear that though he has bared for long, he will not bear forever. I recently saw a video of several girls and, you know, young women in an overcast desert and they were all laughing and giggling because their hair was standing on end.

Now who knows what this means? If they have got that kind of static electricity going on in the middle of an overcast desert, it means they are about to get struck by lightning. They have no idea what is going on, are going about ignorantly, you know, taking videos of themselves and laughing about this.

They have no idea what is coming. This is like many in our world. They have no idea what is coming. They are laughing about the situation, but the lightning will strike. But it also means that if you are one of God's children and you see evil being done, evil being done even against you and you do not see it being righted, you can know that God will certainly take care of it, that his justice will come at the appropriate time.

The Sixth Woe Turns Against God’s Enemy

His justice is certain. It says, you who yourself, who have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed. When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

This is a certain matter. And it begins here by saying, ah, you destroyer. Now one of the translation decisions that I don't quite like in the ESV is that a lot of these ahs, if you look at almost any other translation, they are woes.

This really is a statement of woe from Isaiah. This section that we are in between Isaiah 28 to 35 speaks of the folly of trusting in the nations. He has repeatedly offered woes, and this is the sixth and final woe of this whole section.

It's one of the things that kind of marks off this section. You know, there is nothing given to us in Scripture that marks off these sections, but as people study it, it's very clear that they come in chunks that have certain themes, and one of these themes throughout this is these woes that are pronounced repeatedly.

Now I want to walk through these with you, and I want you to think about who these woes are pronounced to. So in Isaiah 28, one, it says, ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, and I'm going to just go ahead and read this as woe, even though it says ah in the ESV.

Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim. If you don't know who Ephraim is, that refers to the northern tribes of the kingdom of Israel. Then in 29, one, it says, woe, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped, Ariel there is a name for the, is a nickname for the city of Jerusalem.

And then it says later in Isaiah 29, five, woe to you who hide deep from the Lord, your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who says, who sees us? Who knows us? Now if you remember when we went through there, that's talking about the counselors and leaders in the city of Jerusalem.

And then it continues on in Isaiah 30, verse 1, woe, stubborn children, declares the Lord, who carry out a plan, but not mine, who make an alliance, but not for my spirit, who are the stubborn children, the children of God, is speaking once again of the people of Judah.

And then Isaiah 31, one, woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses. Who's going down to Egypt for help and relying on horses? Once again, this is speaking of Judah. And then we reach here with this final woe, the sixth woe in this section.

It says, woe, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed. Who is this talking about? This is surprising given the trajectory so far, is it not? Repeatedly, five times, God has pronounced woe upon His people, woe upon the northern kingdoms, woe upon the southern kingdom, woe upon the leaders of Jerusalem.

And so, the people may fear, how will this section end? Will it end with a woe towards us? Will the final woe be against God's people? And the final woe is turned against God's enemy. God has determined a certain destruction against His enemy.

He has turned His judgment away from His people. You know, if you are a person, if you are anyone, you have sinned against the Lord. You have broken the holy law of God and you have a woe that has been pronounced to you.

And yet, God in His infinite mercy has sent Jesus Christ so that if you trust in Him, that woe may be taken away from you and turned upon the enemies of God instead. And this is so certain. Once again, you know, this is the same God who has determined all things.

This is similar to the illustration I just gave a moment ago with the static electricity. You know, this will be made good. The balance will be restored. This is one of the reasons why it is so foolish that some people reject limited atonement.

If you aren't familiar with what the doctrine of limited atonement teaches or particular redemption, it teaches that God has not sent Christ to pay the penalty for absolutely everyone's sins when He died on the cross, but rather He pays particularly for His elect.

Now, it says that in John 17, it says that He is the high priest when He prays His high priestly prayer, that He is not praying for the world. He is particularly praying for His disciples. But now, what's the problem with saying, well, He's died for everyone, but it only applies for some?

What they're saying there is, okay, the payment has been made, but it won't get applied? How about if we did that with other things? What if we said that, well, people could sin, but maybe God wouldn't apply the punishment, right?

If there is a payment for sin, then that must be made good on. You know, there is a sure and guarantee that every single person that Christ has died for will be saved because Christ has paid the penalty for their sins.

The folly for one is the same folly for another. Now, I think few Christians who read Scripture would say that, oh, yes, you can sin and there could never be any payment for that, and God could just decide never to, you know, make good on that account that has been built up against you.

No one would say that, or very few Christians who read Scripture and understand it, well, none who understand it would say that. But so many, so many who read Scripture do not see that the same applies to the sacrifice that Christ made.

If He has made that payment, God will make good on that payment. That balance will be settled. So take that as an encouragement that, you know, this doctrine of particular redemption is or limited atonement is accurate, that Christ's payment is secure, it is certain.

Vengeance Belongs to the Lord

Now, in addition to all this, God's judgment, His justice being timely, being certain, it is also measured in the appropriate quantity. What happens to this, to this destroyer? He is destroyed. What happens to this betrayer?

He is betrayed. It is a reversal of exactly what He has done. It comes upon Himself. It is exactly this perfect poetic justice that we have seen repeatedly throughout Isaiah. Consider what Scripture says about this matter.

It says, do not be deceived. Whatever someone sows, that will they also reap. If someone sows good, they receive good. If they sow evil, they will receive evil. You know that, consider also Romans, Romans 12, in Romans 12, it says, it says, Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

You know, some people see that God is not taking vengeance immediately and they think that vengeance will not be taken. Vengeance will be taken. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. God will right every wrong, and that leaves us in a position where we are free to not pursue that vengeance, where we are free to not, to not try to balance out that ledger.

Let me read this whole, this whole paragraph because it's all, it all reinforces this point. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for by so doing, you will keep burning coals on his head. Do not overcome by, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If we are assured that God's justice is full, that it is certain, that it is in the measure that is perfectly appropriate, we will not feel the need to take it into our hands, this matter, so that we will exact revenge on others.

There are all kinds of times that you have been wronged by people. Someone has taken something from you that is yours. Someone has hurt you in a way that they have no right to do, and will be very eager to want to take that opportunity, as soon as you have it, to stab them right back.

You do not need to. You have been freed from that, knowing that Christ has accomplished a victory that assures that vengeance will come in its appropriate measure. Proverbs 16 .4 continues with this theme.

Proverbs 16 .4 says that God has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil. God has set things up so that the wicked will certainly be destroyed in the exact measure that He sees fit.

And consider also why He delayed us so long. Sometimes it is so that we can see the balance of that judgment to that sin. Genesis 15 .16, God says to Abraham, but they will come back here, and the fourth generation for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

He's telling Abraham his people will go off into the land of Egypt, they will be there for 400 years, and then they will come out. And why will it take so long? Why does His justice take so long to happen?

He gives the answer. It is because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. He wants the Amorites to build up a ledger against themselves in the land of Canaan, so when His people come out of Egypt and He sends them in to destroy, it will be evident to all, His glory will be evident to all as justice is done in the exact appropriate measure that it should be.

And that is what happens here, is in the exact appropriate measure. The destroyer is destroyed, the betrayer is betrayed. Satan has lured all kinds of people to sin, promising them all sorts of things and betraying them, and he has allied himself, he has allied himself with death.

Now, he will be betrayed because he will experience that eternal torment that he has lured others into. That one that he has allied himself with, that one will turn against him through the work of Jesus Christ.

This God that we serve, He is the same God that has arranged all of physics to, yeah, a lot of these themes have been in the same category here, but for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.

You know, Newtonian physics, if you've ever studied it, everything is guaranteed, it happens immediately. Now, for some reason, we can very easily trust this world around us where we constantly see that equal and opposite reaction all the time, yet when we see God delay in His measured justice or that He doesn't deal it all out at once, we doubt whether or not He is good, we doubt whether or not He will do these things.

He is the same God who created Newtonian physics, He is the same God who has determined everything to be perfectly as it should be, and so we should be able to trust Him to do the same when it comes to His court of law that every evil will be punished in the exact appropriate measure.

And many people have asked themselves, why is it the measure that we see? Now, we've been talking about why He delays, and hopefully you see that even though He delays, it comes at the appropriate time, but many look at the eternality of hell, that it goes on and on forever and ever, and they say, how is that just?

People have not committed, they've only sinned for a limited period of time. How does it go on forever and ever? Well, there are two simple answers to that. One is, they don't stop sinning, they continue sinning even into the next life as they have their wicked thoughts against their Maker.

The second answer is that if you have sinned against an infinitely holy God, then your sin is an infinite sin and it deserves an infinite payment. It is something that must go on for eternity. And so it is perfectly right even if many have difficulty acknowledging it.

And so consider how Jesus answers all these things. He is, well, first of all for ourselves, while this is speaking of this enemy of God's people, remember that you were once an enemy of God. If you do not know Christ, you are still an enemy of God.

If you do know Christ, you were once an enemy of God. And all these things said here are true of us at that time. As we destroy, as we betray, we deserve destruction, we deserve betrayal. As we have sinned, we deserve the wrath of God, and how does Christ deal with this?

He was destroyed. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. He has borne those things that we who deserve these things might be counted as part of His people, and that curse applied to another. As we find ourselves trusting in Him, all these things that are due to us are now reversed and turned against the enemy.

Jesus Christ was destroyed in order that He might destroy death. He was betrayed in order that He might betray. The one who thinks that He can rely on God's creation to accomplish His purposes, but Satan, who thinks that He can rely on death and whatever else, other aspect of God's creation, all of that will turn against Him, because Christ has accomplished victory through the cross.

So I want you to know that you can trust these things to be true, and this is something that has already been accomplished, and it says that when you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed. This is not something that we await.

Satan has been destroyed. He has been defeated. He is bound, and though that victory has yet to be fully manifest so that Satan no more has any activity on the earth, I want you to know that this has already been accomplished, that you might be able to hope in it today, and you can still have the hope of an even greater future where it is fully manifest through the power of Christ.

So remember these things as you think about God's justice so that you do not become, that you do not despair at the things that you see in the world. Remember that God's justice is timely, it is certain, and it is measured, and as you think on these things, you'll be free to endure and bear with anything that comes your way, any trial, knowing that it will be made right in the end, trusting God to make even the ledger, not relying on yourself but on Him who holds all things in His hand.

Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, who has saved us from the destruction that is owed to us and who has ensured destruction on your enemy. We pray that you would reassure us of these things, that we might be free to serve you and would not feel bound to seek vengeance, but that we would be free to love our brother and sister and to even our enemies, knowing what you have accomplished in Him, in Jesus' name, amen.