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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim, Pastor
All right, let's open our Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 1, verses 21 through 26. Begin with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for the day, we thank you for your word, we thank you for your love for us.
We pray that you would help us to rejoice in your truth as we find it here, as we find it clearly illumined to us by your spirit concerning your son Jesus Christ. It's in his name that we pray, amen. Okay, Isaiah chapter 1, beginning in verse 21, writing of Jerusalem.
How the faithful city has become a harlot. It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross. Your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Therefore, the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, I will rid myself of my adversaries and take vengeance on my enemies.
I will turn my hand against you and thoroughly purge away your dross and take away all your alloy. I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
We're continuing our look at this early section of Isaiah, chapters 1 through 5, and the question, what hope is there for rebellious children? Israel themselves being described as the children of God and yet being utterly rebellious.
And these chapters are in the first section of Isaiah, chapters 1 through 35, which are sermons for a difficult present. And these sermons focus on the nature and the actions of two estranged covenant members, the Lord and Israel.
The Lord did not move. The Lord did not move away. It was Israel who left in rebellion. And the Lord's faithfulness has only intensified Israel's disasters as God implements covenant curses throughout their land.
They are thoroughly corrupt and God confronts them in this stripping them of excuses and pride. Now in verses 21 through 23, we have the city's ruination proclaimed. And this ruination is running in parallel with verses 24 through 26, where we find their promised restoration.
So one-to-one, as each element of ruination is described and laid out, an element of restoration is then answered in the following three verses. Now God thoroughly assesses this city and their sinful ruin, and He is going to address, first of all, in verse 21, He begins not by talking directly to the city, but it appears He's talking about them to others.
So you notice this in verse 21, how the faithful city has become a harlot. You can imagine the idea of He's lamenting, He's speaking about this. The prophet is declaring the word of the Lord, saying how the faithful city has become a harlot.
It was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. It's as if the prophet points over and directs attention to the city. He's not talking to them, but He's pointing them out. And then in verses 22 and 23, the attention goes directly to those in the city, saying your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water, your princes are rebellious.
So you see the face turns for a direct rebuke, whereas verse 21 is a lament. Well, who is the Lord by His prophet lamenting to? I think the candidate is the witnesses He invoked in verse 2 to hear His lengthy reproach, His lengthy explanation for why He's bringing charges against these covenant breakers.
So, in verse 2 of Isaiah 1, hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. He calls the witnesses of the covenant that was established at Sinai, which was heaven and earth, and we studied that, He calls these witnesses to pay attention, for the Lord has spoken, and He begins to talk about His rebellious children.
Well, He's still talking about them, and neither the Lord nor the prophet have forgotten who is being addressed here. Heaven and earth have been addressed to come and bear witness to the covenant breaking of Israel.
Now, I think that these complaints are important to be seen in their context of the following promise restorations. It's important that we don't have these on their own, and that's all we're looking at, because we see the grace of rebuke when we remember the antipode, the opposite side of each one.
In verse 21, the faithful city has become a harlot. It was, past tense, full of justice. Righteousness lodged in it, but now a murderer. You hear the lament of the situation of the city, but in the opposite of it, the opposite of this verse is verse 26, where God says, Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
So, by that, and it happens again and again throughout this passage, by that we are reminded of the grace of rebuke. The whole idea of the rebuke is that it would lead to confession and repentance and restoration.
Remember when God said, come now, let us reason together. The term reason is the word in Hebrew for rebuke, but invites the rebuked to join in with God, to rebuke themselves, which is confession. The idea is unto cleansing and forgiveness.
Now, consider, is this not who Christ is as the Word made flesh? Not all who He is, but still so who He is. When the eternal Word becomes flesh, as the light of the world who confronts darkness and brings light upon all men, revealing God, and we find that those who are of the darkness want to flee, what do we see?
We see Jesus as the Word, He is the last Adam, but He comes as a rebuke to all the sons of Adam, and simultaneously as the Word of their salvation. And that He comes not only with the confrontation, but also with the promise of salvation.
Now, for this, the pattern of rebuke throughout the scriptures, where the Word of God comes and says, this is who you are, confronting light, confronting darkness. Also with it brings word of salvation and restoration, how there might be hope.
So, think about this from John chapter 1, and notice the pattern. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Some translations, did not overcome it. Now, when we see that the Word of God in Him is life, and that life is the light of men, we are reminded of John's epistle, where he introduces the idea that life is found in the fellowship with God.
When we walk in the light, we have the life of God. Opposite of light is darkness, darkness is deceit, light is the truth. Verse 6, there was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all through him might believe.
He was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light, that was the true light, notice, which gives light to every man coming into the world. The only way that there is any clarity about who anybody is in this world, is the light of the Word of God, the light of the Word of God become flesh.
The incarnation, the light of the incarnation is by which we see everything clearly. He is the truth of God. Now, he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.
He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When we think about who Jesus Christ is, he is the Word become flesh, he confronts those whom he has made, who are in the flesh, made in the image of God.
The image of the invisible God confronts us in our station, in our sin, in our falling short of the glory of God. And now we know who we are. We know who we are in the light of who Jesus Christ is, as the one who reveals God to us.
But not only do we have rebuke by the authority of Jesus Christ, but we also have promise of redemption and forgiveness and salvation. Also, at the same time, the Word of God comes to the people of Israel in the book of Isaiah, and he says, this is what you are.
But he also says, this is how I'm going to save. And that's not unique to Isaiah. That happens again, and again, and again, throughout the Old Testament. It's one of the most repeated things in all of the Bible.
But when we come to the New Testament, and Jesus Christ is described in this way, what happens when he comes? He exposes the darkness. He dispels the darkness with his light. And, you know, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved.
This is the condemnation, that men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. So when the light is shining, then those in darkness try to run away and keep their deeds hidden, and so forth, and they run and keep themselves in condemnation.
So, the pattern that we see in Isaiah, chapter 1, here, with all of these rebukes is attached then all of the promises of restoration. That's a pattern that ultimately is revealed in Christ, the grace of rebuke unto redemption.
Verse 21, in particular, we see the lament how it begins with the word, how. It expresses pain. It's the look upon the rubble and at the same time remembering what once was. If you were to go look at a pile of rubble and you didn't know what was there before, it wouldn't move you at all.
But if it was something that was precious to you and you knew what everything looked like before, but then you come back and it's all a rubble and all destroyed, then comes this type of expression, this lament, this sorrow.
And the lament is expressed in parallel. The first line and the last line go together, and the two middle lines. How the faithful city that's the lament introduction, how the faithful city now, notice the next line has become a harlot.
This is in parallel with the last line, but now murderers. Harlotry and murder. A corresponding to A and the two middle lines it was full of justice righteousness lodged in it. So those two thoughts go together thinking of the past and thinking of the good quality of the city in the past those parallel each other but on the outside of those two lines of remembrance about how things were is how things are now.
And it's not good when you describe a city as a city of harlots and murderers. Harlotry and murder are now Jerusalem's main attractions. It's what draws the crowds. She was once known as the faithful city.
She was once the reliable mother of justice who nursed and nurtured righteousness. Jerusalem was the city of Solomon's temple and David's triumphs and Melchizedek's throne. It was the city that stood for a nation.
What happened in Jerusalem impacted the entire nation. It was the place where God promised to set His name in that temple so that people would turn to Him and pray to Him. She was once full of the ripe figs of Mishpat or justice or just ordinances right decisions.
Righteousness was once at home there. Righteousness once felt very at home in Jerusalem the streets and walls were filled with the steady sounds and murmurs of justice and propriety. No longer. But all those memories, you see, the memories supply the poignancy of the lament.
Now, now she has become a harlot. Now she is full of murderers. So these two expressions are especially harsh. Of course we remember the use of the metaphor of a harlot in Old Testament prophecies speaking about how Israel was to be faithful to her husband to her lord to her master, Yahweh and when she would stray and then go off to other nations and compel and implore them to share in their idolatrous ways with her and to rely on them through treaty or try to hire them as mercenaries for her aid and so on, she would get accused of being a harlot by the prophets because she was not being faithful to her husband who said, I will be all that you need, just rely upon me I will prove my glory in your midst if you will just trust me.
But also we have this theme of murder and of course there was great injustice and iniquity in the city and there was much murder. Isaiah lived into the early days of King Manasseh who was renowned for filling Jerusalem from one end to the other with innocent blood.
But why is murder highlighted here? It's a really effective way of describing just how deeply they have broken covenant with God. So when God wanted to talk about the covenant that he made with Israel a very quick summary of that would be the Ten Words or the Ten Commandments.
You'll see on your handout if you have it, the chiasm of the Ten Commandments that we worked through some time ago and at the heart of the covenant that God made with Israel that is essentially though not exhaustively expressed by the Ten Commandments the middle note is that of murder.
The first commandment and the second commandment are two sides of the same coin but are genuinely separate commandments, commandment one and commandment two. The last commandment about coveting it is stated twice thou shalt not covet stated twice but it's essentially the same commandment just elaborated.
The point of that is when you have eleven thou shalt nots in Ten Commandments you might get a little hang on a second, I counted eleven thou shalt nots but it's supposed to be Ten Commandments. In fact it says it's the Ten Commandments in the text.
Which one is not the eleventh commandment? But it's the last one that doubles up but is essentially the same nature. At the heart, the very middle of the Ten Commandments is this issue of murder, the sanctity of human life.
You see the parallels working through. The first two are about worship concerning who you worship, who you set your affections on, parts one and two. The last two are desire inordinate desire don't put your desire where it shouldn't be, part one and two.
The third commandment is don't lie about God. The ninth commandment is don't lie about neighbor. The fourth commandment encourages trust in God's provision so also you shall not steal, trusting in God's provision.
And then the fifth and the seventh commandments are about family. Honor your father and mother, don't commit adultery. So parents and spouse. So you work your way all the way in and at the very, very heart of the matter, at the center point where Hebrew minds put their main point in the middle of their chiasms is this, sanctity of human life.
And this takes us back to the whole reason why God's making covenants with these people anyway. Back to God's promise to Abraham, barren Abraham, that he's going to have to see that there's life after all, all the way back to Noah, talking to him about how they're going to handle those who murder.
Why is he making covenants in this way? Because it brings us all the way back to the garden because those made in the image of God disobeyed him, decided they're going to decide right and wrong for themselves, good and evil for themselves and die because they are separated from God and the very first thing that happens is Cain murders Abel.
So when God forms this covenant that is in reflection of the image of God, these ten commandments that encourage to love God supremely, love others rightly and steward creation in righteousness, at the very, very heart of it, the bull's eye of it is what?
Sanctity of human life. But you have to pass in to all these sins through the two swinging doors of of what? We have the passing through the two hinged doors, there's false worship and sinful desire. You're going to enter in through this way or through this way.
How do you ever get to be murdering someone? Because you don't worship God right and your desires are disordered. You pass through these doors way before you ever got to the bull's eye. You don't start off by murdering people.
That's not like the first thing you do. What you do is you start off by failing to worship God and being an idolater. You start by having inordinate desires, desiring things that don't belong to you. Those are the entries and then everything else just starts collapsing inward.
So if you're at murder, then you're just thoroughly a covenant breaker. That's God's point when he's underlining this. They are unfaithful to him. They're unfaithful covenant members. It's harlotry because they're full of murderers.
Before righteousness and faithfulness was at home there. Now murderers are at home there. When Jesus lamented over Jerusalem which was in a similar state in his day. When Jesus lamented over Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Remember that? He lamented over Jerusalem just like the prophet is doing here. Oh how the faithful city. Isaiah is lamenting here. Jesus laments in Matthew 23. When he laments there in Matthew 23, 37 it is preceded that lament is preceded by Jesus' woes against the covenant stewards for their false worship, their injustice and their murder of so many people.
It's very like Isaiah in the same situation. What a contrast. What a contrast is the new Jerusalem that Christ builds. You see how this old covenant Jerusalem is described. Harlot, full of murderers. Verse 23 is especially troubling to read.
When you read the descriptions of the heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem in Galatians 4, Hebrews 12, Revelation 21, and so on, the description of who we are as the city, there is a far different description.
Isn't there? Because the new Jerusalem that Christ builds is righteous. Full of righteousness. It is full of everything that is in accordance with the image of God or godliness. If it's in agreement with the image of God, that's what we call godliness.
It's according to the glory of God. I'll leave that for you to research on your own. I think it's important to see that it is not proper for us to compartmentalize sins and isolate them as if one did not have anything to do with the other.
We so often in the scriptures, Old and New Testaments, find lists of sins. These are not meant to communicate to us that one may stand on its own and you're just going through and checking all that apply and hopefully there's just one or two somewhere, but that they are all somehow connected and intertwined in the laments that the prophets give of the nature of the city, in the warnings that the Apostle Paul gives about the deeds of the flesh and so on.
He's not mentioning things that are disconnected, but are very much intertwined and connected. And they're all connected in the sense that they're in opposition to God and are part of a sinful fleshly nature in which everything has been reoriented in the wrong direction.
As soon as Adam and Eve move from God determining that objective knowledge of what good and evil is to now I will determine good and evil for myself, everything else falls from that. Everything else comes from that.
In the moment where we eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was a real tree and there was real fruit and Adam and Eve ate from it. But that's what sin is when we engage in sin. It is us determining good and evil for ourselves.
At the very same time, we are not worshipping God and desiring God appropriately, seeing Him as less than what He is. We're not worshipping God appropriately and our desires have become inordinate, desiring the things that really do not belong to us and now we are going to determine good and evil for ourselves.
We're going to be like God. And then all the rest of the mess flows from that. And of course it's a lie. It's a deception. That's how Satan tempted Eve with deception and it's a lie even down to this day.
Enthroned in the heart of every sinner is a lie. And that's where it comes back to. That's why when Jesus comes, He's the way, the truth and the life. He is the light of the world and this is why the grace of the word of God is so essential to be preached and for us to be rebuked and to be delivered from those lies so that we can humbly repent and confess the truth of God and thus be delivered.
We'll leave it there for now and let's close by singing the doxology together.