The Oracle Against the Valley of Vision: The Spirit of Defeatism

Looking to the Lord Instead of Human Resources

Well, we're going to continue in Isaiah. Chapter 22, if you go ahead and turn there. If you remember, last week we talked about the importance of looking to the Lord. It said, you looked to the weapons of the house of the forest, you counted the houses of Jerusalem, etc., but you did not look to him who did it or see him who planned it long ago.

Instead of looking to God, they looked to themselves, tried to find the answers in themselves, and we'll see what kind of a folly that was. It leads to not victory, but defeat and a whole mindset of defeat.

Please stand when you have Isaiah 22 for the reading of God's word. I'll read the entire oracle. The oracle concerning the valley of vision. What do you mean that you have gone up all of you to the housetops?

You who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town. You're slain or not slain with a sword or dead in battle. All your leaders have fled together without the bow they were captured. All of you who are found were captured, though they had fled far away.

Therefore, I said, look away from me. Let me weep bitter tears. Do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people. For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.

And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kerr uncovered the shield. Your choices valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen took their stand at the gates. He has taken away the covering of Judah.

And that day you look to the weapons of the house of the forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

You made a reservoir between two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to him who did it or see him who planned it long ago. In that day, the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth, and behold joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine.

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears. Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for until you die, says the Lord God of hosts. Thus says the Lord God of hosts, come go to the steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him, what have you to do here, and whom have you here that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock?

Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, oh you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you, and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, your shame, you shame of your master's house.

I will thrust you from your office, and you'll be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah, and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David.

He shall open, and none shall shut. He shall shut, and none shall open, and I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house, and they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring in issue, every small vessel from the cups to all the flagons.

In that day declares the Lord God of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, as we meditate on this passage, especially verses 12 through 14, I ask that you would give us more of your Spirit, that we might have our eyes fixed on you, fixed on your Son, that we would not feel defeated or hopeless, but that we would have great hope in him, that we would find everything we need in him.

In Jesus's name, amen. So, have you ever felt very overwhelmed? Of course, everyone has. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your sin, overwhelmed by the consequences of sin, or maybe just overwhelmed by your circumstances in general?

You know, that attitude that there's just no hope, there's no point in trying to wrestle with this, is an attitude of defeat. It's an attitude of defeatism. But God is a good God, and he is a merciful God, and Christ has purchased victory.

He has already won the victory over death, over sin, and there is no reason to have this attitude of defeat as though we ought to just cast ourselves into our own desires. But he calls us to repentance by suffering.

He calls us to repentance. That's what we see here in Isaiah 22, is that God had called his people, Jerusalem, to repentance, but rather than repenting, rather than hearing that suffering as a call to surrender to the Lord, they heard it as a call to surrender to their own fleshly desires.

So, they did not surrender to the Lord, but they surrendered to self. So, I want to inform you of what the Bible says about suffering, so that you can rightly interpret suffering, and you can hear it as the call to further surrender to the Lord, to surrender to him, not a call to surrender to self, that you can see that victory is available, and Jesus Christ, the one who has already accomplished victory, beginning here in verse 12, consider once again that suffering is a call to repentance.

Suffering as a Call to Repentance

In that day, the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth. Weeping and mourning, right, acts of contrition, baldness and wearing sackcloth, something that someone would do if they were mourning over something.

They would put on sackcloth, and would shave their head to demonstrate their humility, to demonstrate their contrition. All suffering, all suffering is a result of the fall. All suffering is a result of sin, and as such, it is supposed to be a reminder of sin, a reminder of our need for the mercy of God.

Now, for the wicked, it is very directly a call to repentance. You know, most people think of suffering as something that is against them, and not for them, but think about how merciful God is to send suffering, even on the wicked, not just on the righteous, but even on the wicked.

God sends suffering, and it calls them to repentance. You know, one of the worst things that can happen to a person is they live through the whole life without any suffering, right, not a single call to repentance, but God sends suffering as a call to repentance.

You know, think about how gas smells, right, if you have gas in your home, and it smells kind of funny. The reason it smells funny, if I understand correctly, is because they add that smell to the gas so that you'll know something's wrong, right?

It would be a real—it smells bad, it doesn't smell good, but it'd be a real problem if it smelled good or didn't have any kind of problem, so that you just enjoyed it, and then your whole house fills up with gas, and then maybe it would explode, or you would be poisoned.

The fact that it smells bad is a good thing, right? The fact that suffering exists, given that sin exists, the fact that suffering exists prior to the final judgment, is a great mercy, a great call to repentance, and every single suffering that someone experiences in this life, if they reject the mercy of God, if they do not turn to Him in repentance, they will spend all eternity looking back to each one of those calls to repentance, and each one they will remember with great, great regret, wishing they had listened to those calls, wishing they had not ignored them.

Now, the same thing is true for the righteous. The righteous are also called to further surrender themselves to the Lord. Now, you might have a problem with saying that it's a call to repentance because bad things even happen to very righteous people, to people who have not done anything in particular wrong.

You think of people like Job, for example. You know, in fact, suffering came upon him because he was righteous, but was it not the case that by the end of Job's life, that suffering was a call to greater surrender to the Lord?

And is it not the case that in James, it explains very clearly that trials are a testing of our faith that we may endure? It says in James 1, Suffering is a call even for the righteous to further surrender to the Lord, is a call to repentance from their lack of trust in Him because none of us is perfectly sanctified, none of us is perfectly holy.

We must further trust in the Lord. You know, the word discipline is appropriate here. Once again, a lot of people don't like using the word discipline for someone hasn't committed some particular sin, but the Bible doesn't use the word discipline only in the context of someone who has done something, you know, particularly bad.

The Bible uses discipline in one context where it talks about a father raising his children. It also uses it in another context where it talks about a runner. The runner needs discipline just like the child needs discipline.

Now, you don't think of the runner, the greatest athletes, you don't think of them as having to train because they have great flaws. Rather, some of the hardest training ones are some of the most further along in their athletic ability, right?

It is the great athletes that need training. Once again, that discipline of God in every ounce of suffering is a great mercy from Him calling us to further surrender to Him, to repent of our lack of trust and consider what repentance is.

Repentance is what it looks like. It is a great mournfulness over our sin. It is a self-loathing, a self-loathing, recognizing that we are sinful. I'll give you two examples of what this doesn't look like.

Both are examples from the Bible. You have in the Bible Esau, who sold his birthright for a meal. The birthright was something that was a great blessing to him, and it was very wrong for him to have traded that, and he sold it and then was very regretful afterwards.

But you see, his regret over the situation was not a self-loathing, it was a self-love. He felt like he should have this and not his brother. Let me give you another example of what self-loathing doesn't look like.

Judas, after having betrayed Jesus, went and hanged himself. See, it is not just a mournfulness over our sin, but it is a mournfulness that finds its answer in Jesus Christ. It's not a turning, it's not just a turning from sin to another sin or from sin to self.

It is turning from sin to Jesus Christ to find Him. We must find forgiveness in Jesus Christ. We cannot look to ourselves. Once again, every suffering call to repentance, but yet people are inclined to interpret God incorrectly.

God causes many things to happen by His providence. People are inclined because of their sinfulness to misinterpret His providence. Consider examples of that. You know, people say, well, I was born with particular desires, therefore it's okay for me to pursue my homosexual desires.

It's okay for me to be homosexual. Now, that's taking God's providence and reading something that He has not said into it. Consider what other people do. They look at the orderliness of creation, right?

How wonderful it is and how it can be understood and studied. And rather than seeing all that as evidence of God, they see it as the exact opposite, right? They see this as proof that God doesn't exist, the fact that we can understand these things.

Isn't that perverse? Isn't that perverse how people misinterpret God's providence? That is precisely what the people here did. God had sent war against them, calling them to repentance, but calling them to surrender to Him, to throw their self at His mercy, at His feet.

But what do they hear? They hear a call to surrender to self, a call to surrender to my own fleshly desires. Well, let's make the most of this situation. Let's ignore what God is doing and instead see what we would have for our own selves.

Let's pursue what we want to pursue. This is most perverse. People take what God gives as a message from Him and they hear, because of their own sinfulness, things about self, things about self. Something that comes to mind for me is how a lot of people understand the Sabbath, right?

You see a lot of people, when they talk about the Sabbath, they see this as a time that they get to set aside for themselves, right? But what is the Sabbath? It's a time that God sets aside for Himself.

We must not misread the providence of God. I think I said this last week, that this is a manual for reading God's providence. It really is. Do not be deceived by your own sinful nature that would incline these things, to incline yourself to read these things the way that you want to read them.

Instead, read God's hand and the works of His hand as He would have you to read them. They say, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine.

These people are celebrating, right? They're doing the exact opposite that God has called them to. But He has called us, He has called us to repentance. The Lord of hosts has revealed Himself in my ears.

Surely, this iniquity will not be atoned for until you die, says the Lord of hosts. Excuse me for a minute. You see, the answer to this is in the resurrection, right? People, people misunderstand God's providence.

If you think about songs, right? Songs that have been sung about, about life. There are so many songs that are, that start off with the idea that we're only going to live one night. Let's pretend like, let's pretend like we only have one night to live.

And then they say, go, go pursue whatever you would pursue. And then what's really ironic about that is there are these other songs that say the exact opposite, right? That say, let's pretend like we're going to live forever and pursue exactly what we want to pursue.

That's, that's all backwards. But if you understand that there is more to this life, that there is an afterlife, there is something more, all this changes. Why would one seek God's mercy? Because He is merciful and there is another life.

There is an afterlife where we will forever be with Him if we throw himself or throw ourselves at His mercy. Why would we not want to avoid His mercy? Because there's a great judgment that will last forever, right?

And this is not just my thinking. This is also what it says in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 15, 31, it says, I protest, brothers, by my pride in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die every day.

What do I gain if humanly speaking I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Wake up from your drunken stupor as is right and do not go on sinning, for some have no knowledge of God.

I say this to your shame. The resurrection answers this problem. If Christ has already purchased victory on the cross, then we don't have to say, oh, well, there's no point. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

If Christ has already purchased victory, we can go to Him for mercy. When it says, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die, excuse me, when it says, surely this iniquity will not be atoned for until you die, says the Lord God of hosts.

Consider what that means. If this iniquity will not be atoned for, if it's saying that they will not be forgiven, how does that make sense with the rest of what the Bible says about the mercy of God? You know, it says anyone who comes to Him confessing their sin, repenting, turning to Him will be forgiven.

How can you say that this won't be atoned for, that there's no forgiveness for this? Well, it's not the case that God would not forgive someone who comes to Him. Instead, it is saying that that condition will never be met.

They will never come to Him. Because this sin is so great, because this iniquity, that they have not merely committed idolatry and therefore had these forces sent against them, but because they have not even heeded this call to repentance, the Lord pronounces a greater judgment on them that He will be hardening their hearts.

Hardening, Judgment, and the Need for Immediate Response

Now, this is exactly what Isaiah's mission was. He was supposed to speak to the people so that hearing they would not hear, keep on hearing but do not understand, keep on seeing but do not perceive, make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed.

He had sent Isaiah to pronounce this judgment of hardening these people as they did not heed God's call to repentance. They are further and further hardened. This is really important. When we hear God's calls to repentance, it's important to immediately go to Him for mercy.

If we do not, we risk God hardening our hearts. Even as Christians, two particular sins, right? Think about it. Someone or you in your own life probably have particular sins that you're more engaged in than others, and what happens over time is that you become harder and harder and duller and duller to your conscience to recognizing these things as sin.

So, it's important when God calls you to repentance, when there is suffering, that you turn to Him immediately. But God is merciful. He is most merciful. So, maybe you've asked yourself, well, have I gone too far?

Is there no repentance for me? Am I one of these who has gone so far that I will not be forgiven? Well, here's the thing. If you're asking yourself that question, then your conscience is not so wounded.

Your conscience is not so wounded that you are one of those people. In fact, that's a very clear sign that you still have a working conscience, that you haven't been given over to such a hopeless hardening.

And so, you can turn to the Lord. Jesus Christ, He has, on the cross, died. He has given us His Holy Spirit that we might continue on. So, if you ask, have I gone too far? The answer is no. Is God going to look at the sacrifice of His Son and say that this is not enough to account for your sins?

No. That sacrifice is enough. And moreover, is He going to not equip His people to endure the Christian life? No. He sent His Spirit. And if you ask yourself, is it worth it? The answer is absolutely.

Consider again the resurrection. Paul, citing this passage, if there is no resurrection, then let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. I know there is a great hope. There is a resurrection. So that it's not the case, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

Instead, let us turn to the Lord for mercy so that tomorrow we may live and live eternally. Let's go to Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mercies. We thank you for the calls to repentance that you've given.

And God, I pray that we would not harden our hearts, that we would respond immediately as you call us to repentance, and that we would find all the mercy we need at the feet of Jesus Christ. Amen.