Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Are we still in chapter one?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

I'm going to keep that simple for a little while. But we are still working through, believe it or not, introductory material as we're going through chapter one, so we are going to move faster. But going through chapter one is giving us time to set quite a few interpretive layers into what we're going to be seeing throughout the rest of Isaiah.

We have to make really huge interpretive decisions in Isaiah very early, as early as chapter.

Two.

So if we're going to get any groundwork done, we've got to start in chapter one. So before we get out of chapter one, hopefully, how should we put this? Let's hope that all of the bolts are properly tightened, and the doors are properly sealed, and the engines are properly maintained before we let this Boeing flight off the ground.

Daniel's not here tonight, so I can say that.

I thought I saw him earlier.

Oh, yeah.

Well, my sound might just go out right now, so. All right, so we're going to be in Isaiah chapter one, and we'll be reading verses 24 through 31. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the day, and we thank you for the opportunity to study.

Your word.

Pray that it will be a blessing as we consider its truth, and what it means for us as we follow Christ. Pray that you would help us in this, in Jesus' name, amen. Therefore, the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, ah, 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. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness.

The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the terebinth trees which you have desired, and you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens which you have chosen.

For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. The strong shall be as tinder, and the work of it as a spark. Both will burn together, and no one shall quench them.".

The Lord, the Lord of Hosts, and the Mighty One of Israel

So in verses 24 through 27, there is a restoration of the rebellious city that is promised after the promised destruction of the city. And so we see in verse 24 God's revenge as necessary, as an essential part of the city's restoration that God would take vengeance on his enemies.

This is not ultimately surprising as we find God's salvation coming through judgment to his glory time and again through the scriptures, that salvation and judgment are hitched together as God works his redemption in the world.

But we must remember the rebel's mindset from Psalm 50 verse 21 where God says to the idolater, you thought I was altogether like you. Meaning, God says to the wicked thinker, the fool, you think that I take the same lax view about sin that you do.

You think I'm okay with all manner of things because you're okay with all manner of things. You know, God made man in his image, and then man in his sin returned the favor and made God in his own image, being an idolater.

The rebel solidifies his wicked path with lies that affirm a God of his own preference. A God of his own preference. I like to think of God as. How many theologians start with that? I like to think of God as.

All of us are tempted to think of God in our own way. The rebel thinks that disaster does not lie in his future or in his past or on his future. He explains everything in terms of vindicating himself.

Yeah, all is not well, and God declares war on sin, and the rebel needs to be aware of that. And that's what we find here in chapter 1 of Isaiah. And in verse 24, we see the names and titles of God. The Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel.

It's important for the people to know who is talking to them, with whom they have to do. They have forgotten, after all, who God is and that he is father and that they are his children. They need to be reminded of this.

So, we have the combination of names. We have the Lord, the Lord of hosts. So, the Lord, Adon, and Lord, all caps, Yahweh, and of hosts, Sabaoth. Now, when we have this concentration of names and titles of God, it really contrasts with the others who think they're in charge in verse 23, the rotten princes of Jerusalem.

But, in fact, God's in charge. He's the Lord, the Lord of hosts. And this emphasizes God as the supreme administrator and judge in Israel. It emphasizes it not only in the covenantal context with Israel, but it's bigger than that.

It's even in the creational context, which the covenantal points to. Because God is the Lord of hosts, it means he's in charge of everything. The stars, he's in charge of the stars, he's in charge of the locusts, he's in charge of everything, he's in charge of the microbes, he's in charge of the foreign armies, he's Lord of hosts, he's creator, and he's Lord.

Now, we have this combination of God being described as Lord, the Lord, which is kind of interesting. He is in charge covenantally, he's in charge creationally. This combination of Lord and Lord together is used in seven of the places in scripture, and most of them are in Isaiah.

But it's interesting to note that the first two times we find God being addressed as Lord, the Lord, is in the instructions to Israel to appear before his face three times a year. So, in Exodus 23 -17 and Exodus 34 -23, where God says, all the men of Israel are supposed to gather up three times a year, and you're supposed to come to my courts and appear before my face, that's the very first time we ever have Lord, the Lord, that expression being used.

Here it's being used again. And not without significance. Because, in the same chapter, many months ago we saw verse 12, where God said in verse 12, when you come to appear before me, right, three times a year, who has required this from your hand to trample my courts?

So, they are coming to those special feast days, but they're coming to just get it over with and get on home. Just go through the motions. They're using religion as a covering to look good, not for communion to love God.

And he says, you are trampling my courts, and so God promises to trample them instead. They bore his name in vain, and so he is going to trample them. And God trampling the people is a theme in Isaiah.

Isaiah 28, verse 3. Chapter 41, verse 25. Chapter 63, verse 3. He talks about trampling them, trampling drunkards who fall down in the way. He talks about trampling them as a potter would trample and bust up broken pottery.

He talks about trampling them as one would tread around in a wine press and crush grapes until the juices flow out. And God promises to do that to rebellious, covenant-breaking Israel, particularly focusing on Jerusalem.

Now, he can do that because he's the Lord of hosts. He's in charge of everything. He owns everything. He has at his disposal all the hosts. That's what it means that he is Yahweh Sabaoth. He owns it all, he's in charge of it all, he can use it all, and it's all at his disposal.

When the Assyrians come marching across the northern kingdom and totally obliterate it, and they come through the rest of Judah and take away all of their armored cities and roll up the Shephelah all the way up to the very walls of Jerusalem, these hosts are of the Lord.

He sent them. They're his judgment. He said he'd do it, and he did it. So, the Assyrians can't be explained away by some sociocultural, historical explanation. Oh, well, see, there was a bad famine, and then there was some...

They had a good harvest up north, and they hired these mercenaries, and this was just part of their culture, and the Lord of hosts is at work. He's the one who brought them as a judgment against Israel.

So, we have this assemblage of names, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, and to this is added the mighty one of Israel, the mighty one of Israel. And that expression is used when Jacob is blessing his sons, and he speaks of Joseph, who once was...

And he uses the life story of Joseph, who he was basically assassinated by his brothers. He was cast down by his brothers, but then he ended up being victorious and being a ruler. And he speaks prophetically of the descendants of Joseph in the same way, Ephraim and Manasseh.

And then also the expression, the mighty one of Israel is used in Psalm 132 verse 2 to speak about David, David the shepherd. David, who also was cast down and persecuted, but then he was restored up into a position of authority.

So, this name, the mighty one of Israel, is used against the backdrop of severe affliction with confident hope of God's vindicating salvation through a favored son. How often do we find that story in the scriptures?

We find severe affliction, but confident hope, confident hope of God's vindicating salvation through a favored son. We find that story again and again and again in the Old Testament until finally the substance of that story, of all the foreshadowing, comes to pass in Jesus Christ.

So, this impressive gathering of exalted names here in verse 24, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, this assemblage of all these impressive names, has not in any way overemphasized God's divine power.

The Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel, what grand, sweeping, powerful, sovereign names. And this has not overemphasized the power and authority of God by any means. We need to keep that in mind.

It is accurate of who God is, but this is not exhaustive of who God is. He is even more powerful than what this one verse can describe for us. Now, when we meditate on the divine power of God, this is good because it humbles the sinner and it hinders the rebel.

Well, this is exactly what the folks in Jerusalem need. The arrogant sinners who just go on about their day doing whatever they want, they need to be humbled, and so these great names of God are declared to them that they would be humbled.

And the sinners who think they're not accountable to anybody and they can just do whatever they want, they need to recognize there's a judge with whom they have to deal and there should be a catch in their thinking and in their activity.

They should stop and say, wait, there's a judge, my creator. I should not go and just do whatever I want to do. And so this is exactly the right starting point to start talking about the restoration of Jerusalem and the needed repentance of Jerusalem is to begin with the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord that turns us away from evil. The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge and understanding. It brings life and health to the bones. Now, when God speaks, it says, therefore the Lord God says, this is a word that indicates that this is an oracle.

The term in the Hebrew has the idea of this is a big word that is coming from God's omnipotent will. This is something that has come from a long time ago and it's just now hitting. It comes with a lot of momentum and a lot of weight.

They need to pay attention to the weighty nature of what this almighty God has to say. Israel's most fundamental reality is God's word and will, not stimulus and response. And they're living by stimulus and response.

They say, well, we're having a little bit of trouble with our harvest this year. Let's offer more sacrifices to Chemosh. Let's try, oh, that didn't work, let's try Baal. Maybe if we have more terebinth trees in lush gardens in our city, we'll appease the Canaanite pantheon of gods and goddesses and they'll look up on our devotion and bless us as we live in their land.

Just stimulus and response. Just try this, try that, try everything you can, rather than living by, living according to the word of God. They're concerned about bread, but they're not concerned about living by the word of God.

All who are made in God's image have the same need. Our most fundamental reality is not stimulus response. Our most fundamental reality is the word of God. Those who are made in the image of God are made for the word of God.

The very first thing that God does when he makes Adam in his own image is speak to him. He talks to him. He says something to him and calls him to live according to his word. We also, considering God's message, it is a response.

It's therefore the Lord says. So he is responding to what the rebels are doing. He's not going to allow the wickedness and the evil to continue. And this message is also a divine sigh. You see, I have in my translation, ah, I will rid myself of my adversaries.

Do you have any other translations? How do they translate ah? I've got A-H. Alas, good old word. That doesn't mean a girl. That means. This is a sigh. This is a bit of a lament. This is reproach and threat.

But it's rushing out like a sigh. And he's planning to use this severity, this vengeance, this destruction. But it's a lament that he must do this. Isaiah will later on describe the holy vengeance of God in Isaiah 28 verse 21 as his strange work.

It is his strange work. This is not something. This is his righteous and glorious and godly response to the sin, to the wickedness. And yet it is his strange work. And we remember Jesus Christ after saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, upon the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes.

Then, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Alas, the sigh, the lament that Jerusalem would be destroyed in the righteous judgment of God. That's what the same kind of idea is here in this passage. So the nature of God's message being a response and an oracle and a lament.

But now what is the content? Well, he says he's going to relieve himself. Notice he says, I will rid myself of my adversaries and take vengeance on my enemies. So the Lord speaks through his prophet Isaiah in rhythm and rhyme at this point.

And we've already seen a little bit of that about the princes are rebellious. There's rhyme and rhythm into that phrase in the Hebrew. But here, when he says he's going to relieve himself of his adversaries and avenge himself of his enemies, in the Hebrew it sounds like, It's really catchy.

You walk around humming that to yourself. So Isaiah is essentially dropping bars and people's mouths are opening as they are both impressed and shocked at what Isaiah is saying. Because what he actually does is take language out of Deuteronomy 32 verses 41 through 43.

The most fundamental song in all of Israel, in the history of Israel, is the song of Moses. The song of Moses sung upon the delivery of the people of Israel across the Jordan River, across the Red Sea, mind you, when the Lord delivered them.

So in this song that is sung, we have Deuteronomy 32 verses 41 through 43. If I wet my glittering sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my enemies and repay those who hate me.

I will make my arrows drunk with blood and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives from the heads of the leaders of the enemy. Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants and render vengeance to his adversaries.

He will provide atonement for his land and his people. This is from the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. And this is Moses' song that he's singing. He's characterizing the entirety of what God has done for the second generation before they cross over the Jordan River to go into the promised land.

Well, the language in the text where it talks about vengeance to his enemies and repaying those who hate him, it's the same language coming out that Isaiah is using. So Isaiah takes exact language out of Moses' song and then drops it here, except back in Moses' song, it was about the wicked pagan nations and the Canaanites, but now the focus is on the citizens of Jerusalem itself.

So this is a very big attention grabber in the heart of what is a very carefully crafted poem from verses 21 through 26. So in a very short amount of time, Isaiah is saying, you're the enemies now to the residents of Jerusalem in Israel.

As in the days of Judges, so here they are so thoroughly canonized and paganized that they have become the enemy of God. And God says, he's going to, he says, rid myself of my enemies. He says, I'm going to, it means that he's going to take comfort.

It's going to be a relief to him is the meaning of the term. It'll be a relief to him to take revenge. That's what he's saying in verse 24. So this is really only true for God directly. It is a relief to the saints when God does take vengeance on our behalf and the wicked are destroyed and justice is done.

But it's not a relief for ourselves to take vengeance in our own hands. Leave room for wrath, vengeance is mine, I will repay, say it to the Lord. It's a relief to us when justice is done by God. But it's only true for God directly that he himself is relieved when he takes his own vengeance.

It's his right to do as God. And that's expressed in various parts in the scriptures, especially the first 50 Psalms. All through the first 50 Psalms, God is described as hating his enemies, hating sinners, and destroying the wicked, and doing the right thing in doing so.

But as we think about that, there's no salvation from sin. And verse 24 is about the turn. Something good is going to happen. The city is going to be restored and redeemed. But the salvation, the turn, has to happen through judgment on sin.

There's judgment upon sin and there's judgment for sinners. There's judgment on sinners if there's going to be salvation. Death is the just wages for sin, and the justice must be pressed. Our just death and our gracious life come through Jesus Christ.

Salvation comes through judgment to the glory of God. Our salvation only comes through the judgment of God. Judgment of God upon Christ in our place and for our sake. The just wages of sin are paid for in Christ that we may have the blessings of his righteousness.

Jesus is the one who proves the character of God. This is the point of Romans 3, verses 21 through 28. Jesus proves the character of God in satisfying the justice demanded. In every way, his death and resurrection mark the needful, comforting, and relieving wrath and vengeance satisfied to bring about redemption in all righteousness.

Remember the passage that Jesus read when he was invited to read at the synagogue? From Isaiah 61, verse 1. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God.

Those go together. To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. That they may be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.

So the salvation comes with the vengeance. Those things go together. They always go together in the scriptures. God is not like us. God is not like us. The rebel thinks that God is like us, but God is not.

By our union with Christ, however, by our union with Christ who is the last Adam. By our union with him and his death and resurrection, we will be like God. Godly. Not gods, but like God. To be like God is to be godly, and the only way to become godly is in Christ.

That is what godliness is all about. Godliness makes for a very good antonym for rebellion. A very good opposite of rebellion is godliness. Because godliness is in conformity to our creator, in conformity to our Lord.

Rather than in rebellion, which is the antithesis. Lord willing, next time we are going to look at verses 25 -27. Then keep our momentum and try to finish up the chapter after that. We will see how the Lord moves.

As we get to chapter 2, I think you will see why we are laying such a long, thick foundation. It has got to be able to bear the weight of the good news that starts coming in very strong in chapter 2. Let's turn our attention to prayer requests.