Of Prey and Spoil

Amen. Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 33. We'll be finishing up this chapter of Isaiah today. Isaiah 33, I'll begin reading in verse 20. Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts.

Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent whose stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the Lord and majesty will be for us, a place of broad rivers and streams where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass.

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King. He will save us. Your cords hang loose. They cannot hold the mass firm in its place or keep the sails spread out. Then prey and spoil and abundance will be divided.

Even the lame will take the prey, and no inhabitant will say, I am sick. The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word.

We thank you for this wonderful promise. We who are people apart from Jesus Christ who are lame and sick, this is wonderful good news, and we ask that you would help us to enjoy this good news and embrace it all the more.

In Jesus' name, amen. Excuse me. While this passage says no inhabitant will say I'm sick, I'm a bit under today. Well, let us talk about this passage. Let us talk about the nature of suffering and the Christian life and how we are to respond to it.

It may seem that evil's overwhelming, that they have no purpose, but as the Bible says, they all are purposeful. God has purpose in everything that He has done, everything that He has ordained. And what this passage says is not only does He guarantee that His people will be able to work through such things, but that such things are indeed for good.

In fact, He turns suffering into prosperity. He turns sorrow into joy. He turns weakness into strength. And what I'm not saying here is He takes one away and He supplies the other. He takes our weakness away and He supplies us with strength.

No, He turns our weakness into strength because it is when we are weak that we have His strength instead. And it is when it is through persecution in this life that we are most richly blessed at the next.

And I'm hoping that as we go through this passage, it will become more evident. Looking through it with a New Testament lens, we'll see how all this is true. It says here, then prey and spoil and abundance will be divided.

Now, this comes after this passage where the enemies, specifically Assyria, had been pictured as a ship. While the cords of Jerusalem are like a tent that are held firmly in place, the cords of the ship of Assyria are cut and flounder about.

They cannot stay firm. So God has assured His people that they will take the spoil from Assyria. That rather than Assyria taking spoil from them, they will take a spoil from Assyria. Now, what is spoil?

Spoil is the, if you've ever heard the phrase, spoils of war. I always thought that was odd when I was a kid because who wants spoils? Something that's spoiled is no good, right? No, spoils are the results of war that you are able to take.

It's all the treasures that the enemy had that you get to take for yourself. And so this is turned the opposite the way they thought. Assyria thinks in this passage that metaphorically describes them as a ship, as a warship coming to the shores of Jerusalem and trying to take things.

And then the ship collapsing, capsizing, and all the treasures instead being taken by the people. This is a fulfillment of prophecy on two counts. Number one, in Genesis 49, this is one of the prophecies that Jacob gives to his sons.

You know that the various sons of Jacob are all given various blessings and they speak to God's kindness to his people. The blessing given to Benjamin is this, Benjamin is a ravenous wolf in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.

This notion of God's people receiving the prey, receiving the spoil, something that's fulfilled here. When you see that passage in Genesis 49, you're not supposed to ask, well, which am I? Am I Benjamin?

Am I Joseph? It's not one blessing for each person. You don't just fall under one tribe. If you look throughout the Bible, the way that the tribes are named and identified changes, not even just between the Old and New Testaments, but even within the Old Testament self, even within the New Testament, such that the identity of the tribes is not what you're supposed to take away so that you can identify which tribe you're a part of or really try to understand the divide between each of the tribes.

Rather, this is a 12-fold description of God's people that He's giving here in Genesis 49, 12-fold description of the blessing, and one of those blessings is this picture of receiving the prey and receiving the spoil.

Now, secondly, it's a fulfillment of prophecy or rather a reversal of prophecy from earlier in Isaiah. If you've been following along with Isaiah for a very long time, you will remember that this was actually one of the pivotal prophecies that was given in the context of Assyria.

But there, the prey and the spoil were the people of Israel. It was saying that they would be the prey and the spoil. At least that was the threat. But then the Lord told them that He would turn it around so that the prey and the spoil would be the nation of Assyria and Syria.

Isaiah chapter 8. It may help if you turn there. We'll read several verses here. Isaiah 8. Then the Lord said to me, take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, belonging to Meher Shalal Hashbaz, and I will get a reliable witness, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jebarekiah, to attest for me.

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said to me, call his name Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Now Meher Shalal Hashbaz means swift as the prey, speedy as the spoil. For before the boy knows how to cry, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.

So all of them will be, speaks of the destruction of Samaria and all this being carried away before the king of Assyria. So Isaiah has been commanded to name his own son, to name his own son Meher Shalal Hashbaz.

And this by the way is the original context of the Emmanuel prophecy when he said a son will be born. And then he speaks of that son. In the near context of Isaiah, it ends up being Meher Shalal Hashbaz who is assigned for the nations.

Now the New Testament interprets that there's an additional Emmanuel that is born for the people, one who truly is in a greater sense God with us, Jesus Christ. But here in the context of Isaiah, Meher Shalal Hashbaz, Isaiah's son, is a sign that in very short order these nations will be destroyed.

And God has reversed the curse on his people here in Isaiah 33, saying that the prey and the spoil of Assyria rather will be divided. Rather than things being divided up before Assyria, rather Assyria will be divided up before the people.

And how is this accomplished? It is accomplished through the hand of God. God is the one who has destroyed all of his enemies. It is not through the strength of the people that these things are accomplished.

Rather, it is through the strength of God. It is that way in the New Testament as well. In fact, the New Testament uses this very same image to describe our salvation. In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 8, it says the following.

Ephesians 4, 8 it says,. Therefore it says, When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men. So in quoting the Psalms, it talks about Jesus Christ having ascended on high, leading a host of captives, giving gifts to men.

This is in the context of battle. He leads away the captives, he gives gifts to them. He shares and divides the spoils among them. Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy. He has received all the spoils and shared with us those spoils that we might enjoy them.

Now, what are these spoils? Well, having conquered death, we may enjoy eternal life with Jesus Christ. And we do enjoy that eternal life even now. Even now you can know that you have eternal life. Now, it's also interesting here in this passage that it speaks, in your ESV it says, then pray and spoil.

There's actually no and here. It just says pray, spoil, which in Hebrew you typically interpret as being some kind of genitive like of, right? So, then the prey of the spoil in abundance will be divided.

Now, this is an odd thing to think about because if the prey are the people, then you would think of the spoil of the prey being divided, but rather it's the people themselves that are being described as being divided here.

Isaiah 42, 22 says, but this is a people plundered and looted. They are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons. They have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say restore.

It's describing the people themselves as being the spoil. People themselves are the prey and the people themselves are the spoil as well. Now, what this means, if the people themselves are the spoil, if the enemies of God are the spoil, if God has destroyed enemies and brought in plunder for the people, then is it better for there to be less enemies or is it better for there to be more enemies?

Do you want a bigger ship bringing treasure to you or a smaller ship bringing treasure to you? It's given that the Lord has turned this around, turned the suffering into prosperity, you want the greater ship.

And indeed, once again, from a New Testament perspective, considering what God says about suffering, we can take comfort in the fact that as we experience greater suffering, as we experience greater attacks from the enemy, it is not a greater sorrow to bear, although it is in one temporal sense, but there is reason to have much confidence that it is a greater sign of God's goodness to his people, knowing that he will turn such things around.

We know that not only from the passage that many people have memorized, Romans 8 .28, all things work together for good, but repeatedly the Bible says that the work of the wicked is the store up for the righteous.

Ecclesiastes 2 .26 says, for to the one who pleases him, God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to the one who pleases him.

This also is vanity and a striving after wind. Proverbs 13 .22 says, a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous. Now, what exactly does that mean?

Do I believe that the actual monetary wealth of each person who is not in Christ will go to those who are in Christ? No, I don't believe it's primarily talking about that. However, I do believe that every last instance that we see of the wicked increasing, of the wicked being wealthy, of the wicked prospering and oppressing God's people, is something that will be turned around completely, so that whatever has happened through that, God will use that so much more for the glory of his Son and in his Son for the goodness of his people, since it is in Christ that we get to experience and enjoy God's blessings, that we can be assured whenever we see the wicked increase that God will use that for good.

You know, this is something that the Psalmists wrestled with often, is the wicked increase. How do we deal with this? What do we respond to in this situation? And the answer that we should see here, as the ship comes and it comes as a threat, but then leaves the people with mountains of spoil, the answer is we should rejoice when we experience suffering for the sake of Christ.

We should rejoice because that means all the more good that will be done. It will be all the more glory brought to Christ. It will be all the more that we will be able to enjoy. Matthew 5 11 says, blessed are you when others revile you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Acts 6 7 says, or excuse me, Acts 5 41 says, then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

And every day in the temple from house to house they did not cease teaching and preaching that Christ is Jesus. See, the disciples were able to rejoice that they suffered dishonor. This was not rejoicing despite suffering.

This is rejoicing because of the suffering. Their sorrow is being turned into joy, not replaced with joy, but being turned into joy. God uses all such persecutions, all sufferings in the Christian life for the good of the Christian, for the good of the Christian Jesus Christ.

God has designed everything to bring him glory, to bring him glory through his son. And if you are found in his son, then it's all the better for you. It continues on here and it says, even the lame will take the prey.

Even the lame. Now, in a typical situation where there is a battle going on and you've defeated the enemy and there's treasures in their city, what are you going to do? You're going to go around, you're going to take as much as you can, you're going to try to do it faster than everybody else so you can get as much as possible and bring home to your family.

Now, the lame are not going to get very much. In fact, they're probably going to get nothing at all. But what this is describing here is that in the kingdom of God, even the lowliest is so high that he receives the spoils as well.

This is what was said in the New Testament also, that even the least in the kingdom of heaven will be great. And this is a key truth to having a real strength, is being able to recognize your weaknesses.

When you recognize your weakness, not just in your head, but even confessing it to the Lord, making it clear in your prayers, your need for him, that you are able to appreciate his strength more fully.

You're able to appreciate his goodness more fully. There's one interpretation of this, that it's not merely just talking about the lame as a subcategory of the people in Jerusalem, in this metaphorical picture.

But rather, it's speaking of them as being the lame themselves. So the Lord has gained this victory, and even the lame, that is even the people of Jerusalem, get to enjoy it. And that is the case for all of us.

We are all the lame. There's not some of us who are lame and others who are not. We are all the lame. And Christ has restored all of us so we might receive the good things of his kingdom. And no inhabitant will say, I am sick.

Now, why does it speak of sickness? Once again, very similar to being lame, it describes the weakness of the people. But there's something else to be considered here, which is the relationship that the Bible makes between sickness and sin.

Oftentimes, sin is illustrated by sickness. Oftentimes, sickness is actually caused by sin. Psalm 38 3 says, there is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation. There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

We are people who, apart from Jesus Christ, are sick with sin. We are sick, and we have no hope in us. We have no soundness in our bones, no soundness in our flesh. And we need to be restored. We are lame, and we are weak.

But in the acknowledgement of that, so many people go around not realizing that they are sick, not acknowledging that they're sick, not acknowledging that they're lame. But in acknowledging it and acknowledging that Christ is the only one who has any kind of answer for this, we receive all of his strength.

He is our power that we might accomplish anything that he has given us a task for. It was either last week or the week before where Brian had preached on the fact that God often calls us to things that we are unable to do, in fact, all the time, so that he can accomplish those things for us, through us.

And this is what we see here. God restores those who are lame. He restores those who are sick. They are truly sick. They are truly lame. But in him, they have great strength. And he has provided a perfect healing in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 22, 2 speaks of the heavenly kingdom. It speaks of the kingdom of glory. It talks about the tree of life growing. It's so large, it's on either side of the stream. And its fruit is for the healing of the nations.

The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. And this is why. This is why the people will no longer be sick. It is because they will be forgiven. This is why they will no longer be lame.

It is because they will be forgiven. Matthew 8, 17 says that Jesus did his various healing miracles to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah, that he took our sickness. But it is true even more than just for physical healings.

This is necessary in order for our sins to be taken away, for our for our sin sickness to be taken away, that Christ forgive us. And this is the promise of the new covenant. Hebrews 8 says that in this new covenant made by the blood of Christ, our sins will be remembered no more.

And the way that we are able to enjoy God and not just some of his goodness, but even including his mercy, knowing that having experienced it, having experienced in a way that the rest of creation has not.

You know, I preached a while ago on the how the angels do not know experientially the mercy of God because they have not been saved the way that we have been saved. There is a joy that we get to experience, not in replacement of our sorrow, but because of the sorrow.

Right? That the sorrow itself is turned into joy. The weakness itself is turned into strength. The suffering itself is turned into prosperity. And this is the beautiful gospel that God has given us. Not that despite things going very bad, he has a plan B that is going to fix it right up.

No, he has sovereignly ordained everything so that even the evil things in our world, even the bad things in our world, turn about for our good. And what that can do is give you the great confidence to be able to endure whatever trial, to resist whatever temptation, knowing that it is all for your good.

Rather than seeing these things as heaping burdens that are getting larger and larger, and they just feel so unfair. Why me, God? Rather, you can take that, and if you have the eyes of faith that see as the disciples saw in Acts, you can rejoice that you have been found worthy of such suffering.

Because what it represents, even if you don't see it now, is something far more glorious for you in the end. When you see that ship headed toward you, full of guns and whatever cannons the ship has, and you think, oh no, you can know this is the Lord bringing you the spoils.

You do not have to fear if the Lord is on your side. If he has given us his Son, how much more will he graciously give us all things? And so, as we read this passage, we should be encouraged that if we are on the side of the Lord, if we have the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, if we are found in him, we can be assured that any evil thing that comes against us is not something we need to fear, not something we need to succumb to.

There's no reason to give into temptation. There's no reason to despair. Rather, there is every reason to endure and rejoice all the more, knowing that these are signs of greater blessings that God is bringing.

Because they are, even though we cannot see them now, the blessings themselves to be turned from curses into blessings. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your wonderful wisdom that goes far beyond ours.

The way that you have orchestrated things, the way that you have sovereignly ordained your universe is not how we would have done it by our wisdom, but you are a great and mighty God who is wiser than all, and you have ordained things this way for your glory.

We thank you for that, and we ask that you would give us eyes of faith that we would understand and be able to endure. We ask that you would give us a great confidence in this hope, in this hope of your rich blessings and mercy, and that you would supply everything as we come to you, acknowledging our weakness, acknowledging our need for you, acknowledging our need for a Savior and for his Spirit.

In Jesus's name, amen.