Behold The King

Amen. Please turn in your Bible to Isaiah 33. Isaiah 33, we'll be looking at verses 17 through 19 here. Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word. For context, I'll begin reading in verse 10.

"'Now I will arise,' says the Lord. "'Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You conceive chaff, you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you, and the peoples will be burned as if to lime, like thorns cut down that are burned in the fire.

Here you who are far off, what I have done, and you who are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless. Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?

Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of floodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, he will dwell on the heights.

His place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks. His bread will be given him. His water will be sure. Your eyes will behold the king and his beauty. They will see a land that stretches afar. Your heart will muse on the terror.

Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers? You will see no more the insolent people, the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend. You may be seated.

Excuse me, I forgot half a verse. Stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. And stop there. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would open our eyes to understand it fully, that you would make your message for us very clear, and I pray that our hearts would be transformed by your spirit as he works together with his word.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, this morning, Pastor Brian preached about courage and about sharing the gospel. Today, we'll be looking at the other side of that, which is the foolishness of fear. This morning was about the need for courage.

The virtue of courage. Today, this afternoon, is about the foolishness of fear. See, in the previous passage, it spoke of the godless being fearful. Who among us can dwell with consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?

But this passage speaks of those who are godly having no need to fear. There's no reason to fear because eventually, the king takes all trials away so that everyone would say, what was that? I don't even remember there being such a trial.

It was so far away. Consider here in verse 19. It says, you will see no more the insolent people. The insolent people. Insolent people speak the enemies of God. It speaks of these exactors in the previous verse who count the towers, who weigh the tribute.

Now, what's happening in the history of Israel at this point, which I think I mentioned last time I spoke here, but Hezekiah has rebelled against Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, for 14 years. His father had made an alliance with the king of Syria.

Sennacherib has rebelled. But now, Sennacherib is insisting that he pay tribute, that he pay him taxes to establish the dominance of Assyria and to show that God's people are subservient to this other people.

And Hezekiah has finally caved. He's finally caved and he has even stripped the gold off the temple in order to pay Sennacherib. But now, he's considering, once again, returning to his rebellion, which is the right thing to do.

It is right to rebel against these enemies of God. So it speaks of those who counted, those who weigh the tribute. These are ones who would count and weigh out taxes, the one who would visit the people of God, visit Judah, and take this money from them.

It says those who count the towers. This would be the one who would count how much these people have, either in way of defenses so they would know how to make sure that they're able to oppress the people correctly, or to count the towers in order to know how much wealth to take from the people.

And so, this notion of taxation, this notion of tribute is a sign of oppression. Now, maybe you've heard the saying that taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society. And in a sense, that's true, that God has ordained taxes.

But when those taxes are coming from another people, when they're not actually for the benefit of the people, it is a sign of oppression. If you think back to the American Revolution, this is what led the founding fathers of this particular country to rebel against the nation of England.

It's because they felt that the taxes they were receiving were an oppression from a distant people. And so here, in this passage where it talks about it, that's what's going on between Judah and Assyria.

The Assyrians are oppressing the people of God. And it says, and it continues on and speaks of them as being a people of an obscure speech. But here they are an insolent people. That is an arrogant people, people who do not heed God, a people who are rough and difficult to deal with.

And the people have, because they have not trusted in the Lord, they have stripped the gold from the doors of the temple, they have paid the people of Assyria. And it's worth considering how frequently we, in our own lives, as we face trials, as we face enemies, do much of the same.

This passage is given to us in poetic language. It speaks not merely of the nations of Judah and Assyria, but it speaks of us and ourselves as we ally with God and as we face enemies. And how often is it that people, because of the oppression of sin, because of the temptations of Satan, so often pay that tribute.

They strip what belongs to God from God, and they give it to something else, to something else that they think they might have to trust instead of God. Consider that in your own life. You know, how frequently is it that people serve their own pleasures in a way that strips themselves of that which is truly valuable, and they take away that which they have and give to another just to serve their own pleasures.

How many relationships are sacrificed because people want to, because people feel the need to pursue sinful routes rather than trusting in the Lord, and what he has said belongs to relationships. Just consider how much money and how much time is spent because of temptation, because of sin, the various things that draw us away from that which we are to focus on, the things that draw us away from God.

And think most importantly, how many eternal, heavenly treasures are sacrificed in the process as we are taken away from that which should have our focus, and instead trust in another, and instead trust in ourselves, trust in the world, and we give our time and attention to the things of the world rather than to the things of God.

Foreign Tongues, Spiritual Wisdom, and the Fear of the World

And speaking of this, people of an obscure speech, you cannot comprehend, stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand. This is a concept that has come up before in Isaiah, and it's a concept that has come up before in the Bible as a whole.

Deuteronomy describes this as one of the curses that God will bring on his people when they fail to obey him. Deuteronomy 28, 49 says, the Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.

Deuteronomy speaks of one of these curses as being afflicted by nations whose language you do not understand being oppressed by foreigners. And this is something that Isaiah has spoken of. Isaiah had said in 28, 11, for by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue, the Lord will speak to his people, to whom he has said, this is rest, to give rest to the weary.

And this is repose, yet they would not hear. And so, because the people have trusted in something else, God has sent oppressors, foreign oppressors. Now, the New Testament has several things to say about this passage as well.

The New Testament in 1 Corinthians 14 picks up on this. It says, but in the law it is written by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people. And even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.

Thus tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers. While prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers. So you're probably familiar that in the early days of the church, God had gifted the people with the ability to speak in foreign languages that they had not learned.

And what Paul is doing when he's citing this Old Testament passage is demonstrating that that gift of tongues was primarily a sign for the people of Israel, for the Jews, that they had abandoned God. And because of that, God was abandoning them and handing them over to enemies.

And interestingly enough, those speaking in foreign tongues here are the true people of God in 1 Corinthians. It's very fascinating how that works out. But regardless, looking at ourselves in our own times, it's still the case that we can think of our enemy as speaking in a foreign tongue, not necessarily a different human language, a different earthly language, but the language of the world is very different from the language of believers.

1 Corinthians 2 .12 says, "'Now we have received not the spirit of the world, "'but the Spirit who is from God, "'that we might understand the things "'freely given us by God. "'And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, "'but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths "'to those who are spiritual.'".

And this whole passage, this whole section in Corinthians is talking about the difference between the way the world speaks and the way Christians speak. The world speaks according to their own wisdom, but Christians speak according to the wisdom of God, the one who has sent that which seems most foolish to the world, sent a Savior who dies on a cross to save people.

Now, who can understand why God would do such a thing? Only those who have been given the mind of the Spirit can understand these things. And so, when you are surrounded by enemies speaking in another language than you, hearing strange things that you haven't heard before, it's very easy to become fearful and to despair.

It is very easy when we're surrounded by a world that speaks a different language than we speak, that drowns out the voice of our speech with our own, to become very fearful and to despair, to want to give in, to feel that it's not worth trusting in the Lord, but rather we should trust in another.

That is the effect of the stammering tongue that you cannot understand. That is the effect of foreigners, of the enemies of God, speaking foreign language around the people of God. But we have every reason to trust in the Lord and not to despair and not to be fearful.

Beholding the King in His Beauty

And why is that? It tells us here. Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty. They will see a land that stretches afar. Now, this passage here is an answer to what has come before. The question before was, who can dwell with consuming fire?

In other words, why should we not be fearful? If God is almighty, if he is a great and holy fire that consumes all that is unholy, how can we dwell in his presence? The answer is, the king, your eyes will behold the king in his beauty.

The one who is capable of doing all these things, the one who is capable of shaking his hand lest they hold a bribe, stopping his ears from the hearing of bloodshed, shutting his eyes from looking on evil, the one who is capable of dwelling with God is the son of God, it is Jesus Christ.

It is this king that we will behold in his beauty. And so because of that, because of this king, there is no reason for those who are godly to be fearful because those who are godly, those who have trusted in Jesus Christ are found in him so that they don't need to fear, so that they can go into the world boldly, not worrying about the foreign language that they hear, but know that all that one day will be taken away.

It speaks of the king in his beauty. Isaiah later in chapter 53 verse two says he grew up before, he grew up before you like a young root, like a tender plant out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.

Jesus Christ does not appear especially beautiful to the world, he does not appear beautiful even physically before us, but by faith, we can see that beauty, we can know how good he is, know how good the salvation is.

And one day we will visibly see just how beautiful he is in a way that even those who dwelt on this earth with him before were not able to see. And it speaks also of the land, it says they will see a land that stretches afar.

The land speaks of the dominion of the king, the dominion of the king does not stretch afar when it is tightly bound by enemies on every border. But when the enemies are taken away, those borders don't exist anymore and the land stretches as far as it desires to stretch.

The land stretches without boundary, without border. And this is the kingdom that Christ brings. It is a kingdom that stretches across all the borders of the earth. The kingdom of heaven that the Bible describes is not one that is boundaried geographically, it is only boundaried by human hearts.

And day by day, Christ advances and he conquers more and more hearts that are brought into his kingdom more and more, so the land expands and expands and stretches beyond the small little place where the gospel first came and is stretching across the whole world.

And this is the reason to not be fearful, is because we have a king who is capable of dwelling in the presence of God. We have a king who is capable of withstanding the holiness of God because he himself is holy.

If the king were not holy, then the enemies would come, the enemies would destroy him along with the people. But a righteous king, no one can withstand him because God is on his side. And we have that king today, we have Jesus Christ.

And the assurance that this is giving us is not simply that we will have this king, although that is primarily what it's talking about here. It's telling, it's prophesying of this coming Messiah that we have already, who has already come.

But it also speaks of a time when we will see him physically. And on that day, everything else will be wiped away. And when you think about how fearful you are now, whether it be something like we were talking about this morning, sharing the gospel with a coworker or a friend, or if it be some other circumstance where you don't know if serving the Lord will pay off the way you think it will and you're tempted to instead go about things your own way, to treat relationships the way that you think is most wise rather than the way that God thinks is most wise, to allow things to fester rather than confronting issues the way God has called you to confront.

All of those, one day you will look back and you will say, why was I so fearful? Where is the one who counted the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers? None of that's here anymore. Why was I afraid of any of it?

It will all just evaporate like that. Your heart will muse on the terror. It will muse, it will just wonder. This is very similar to what Isaiah had said before in chapter 29. In chapter 29, verse 28, he has said that it will be like a dream.

You know how a dream is? A dream, you can remember it. It's not as though you have totally forgotten, but it just feels like an entirely different reality, like something that was, it was something that barely has any substance to it.

It was that unreal. And this is how it will feel one day when we see that king, when we see him face-to-face, when we have that, what's known as beatific vision, that blessed vision of God dwelling with Christ, we will wonder, why were we so afraid?

It is generally understood that Paul alludes to this passage in 1 Corinthians. Paul in 1 Corinthians 1 .20 says, where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

I wanna make sure you see that connection here. This is what the person musing says. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed tribute? Where is he who counted the towers? All right, and that's what Paul's picking up on here.

He's alluding to Isaiah when he says, where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? God has made all these things foolish. It is already the case that these things have been made foolish, because though the power of God has not yet been fully manifested as it will when Christ returns for a second time, it has already been made manifest in the hearts and lives of everyone who has been saved by the gospel.

And if you are among those who has been saved by the gospel, you know the power of God. You know the power of God already. It is already the case that these things have been made foolish, because it is already the case that we have seen with the eyes of faith the king in his beauty.

The king, not merely as one humbled and on a cross, but a king who has risen and ascended and sits at the right hand of God the Father and has restored the glorious throne of David, the glorious throne of Solomon, who has had wealth beyond anything else ever seen on this earth.

That king that we have, who we embrace by faith, he is the one who, if we are trusting in him, if we know that in him we can dwell with fire, we can dwell with God himself, what reason is there to be afraid of the enemy who comes against us?

The enemy is merely the rod or the staff in God's hand. That's how it refers to Assyria. It's the rod in God's hand, it's his staff. It's not this other power divorced from the power of God. Rather, the enemy's power is the power of God.

It is that fire that people are so afraid of. God uses all things for his glory. And that is even the case with his enemies. And if you know that that enemy is a tool in the hands of God, is that fire, and you already know that you can dwell with fire, you can endure fire because God himself is the fire and God himself has sent Jesus Christ to be our king so that we in him might be fully protected from him having the holiness of Jesus Christ.

There is no reason to be afraid. There is no reason to fear the one who imposes tribute, who says, come serve me in this way, rather than the Lord, because I will give you what you need. You know, every time you're tempted, every time you're tempted to neglect that thing that you are to do, it doesn't matter if it's simple things such as you know that you should be spending time in worship, spending time in prayer, reading the Bible, and something else tells you, no, what you really need is to do these things instead.

You really need to do these chores. You really need to go work on this thing. You really need to go enjoy yourself a little with these pleasures. It doesn't matter if it's a relationship where you know the right thing to do is to deal with the relationship, but you rather let it fester.

Doesn't matter what the situation is. In any of these situations, it will be the case that one day, if not already now as you behold the king, you'll say, where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute?

Where is the debater? Where is the scribe? Where is the wise man of the age? And you can have that assurance, not just then, but you can have that now as you look and you behold the son, as you see him presented in scripture as one who is glorious, one whom you in faith can grasp fully and have as your own possession, him being your inheritance.

And you can have what it describes in Psalm 48. It's interesting, in Psalm 48, it speaks of counting towers. It says, walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God, forever and ever.

He will guide us forever. Rather than worrying about the one who's counting towers, worrying about the one who is that enemy who's prowling around like a roaring lion, sizing you up, and you feel that you must give into temptation instead, you can count the towers yourself.

You can see what God has done. And you can, rather than being fearful of being a target, rather, you can be fully confident knowing that God has provided everything that is needed in Jesus Christ. And you can have that great assurance being ones who have been told the future.

You know, Isaiah's a prophet, speaking to the people of what is to come, speaking to them both of the first coming of Christ and of the second coming of Christ. And here we are after the first coming, awaiting his second coming.

And you can know what is going to happen next. You can know that one day, the fearfulness that you experience here will be exposed as entirely folly. And you can know that on that day, when you stand before him in judgment, the fear that you experience whenever God calls you to serve him, whether it be in evangelism or something else, it will just seem like nothing.

Why was I fearful? Why did I worry about that thing? You know, I think of this very similar to how I think about fashion. I feel like, you know, if you look at some of the weirder fashion trends that have come around, you know, I feel like, I didn't live back then, but I feel like if I were in the 70s and I saw, you know, bell-bottoms and massive sideburns and stuff like that, I think I would be aware, this isn't always going to be in style.

And people will look back and see some of these things as kind of weird. We've been told that, you know, prophetically here. All these things, it will no longer seem reasonable. All these things that we consider reasonable now, all the fearfulness we consider reasonable now, we are guaranteed it will no longer seem reasonable on that day.

And so let us go ahead, look to the Son, recognize that these fears are not reasonable, recognize that as we behold him in his beauty, that we can go boldly forward doing whatever God has called us to do.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today being a people who are fearful, but a people who have Jesus Christ. And so we thank you for him, and we thank you for the courage that we can have through him, and we pray that you would give us ever more courage.

In Jesus' name, amen.