Wednesday, March 26, 2025 PM

The Covenant Judgment in Isaiah 5

Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for gathering us together. I thank you for the feast that you have provided and those who prepared it. We thank you for the change in the weather and for your unchanging faithfulness towards us in Christ.

We thank you for the gift of your spirit by whom we commune with you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, we're gonna begin reading in Isaiah chapter five, and we're gonna begin in verse 24.

We'll read to the end of the chapter. Isaiah five, beginning in verse 24. Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness and their bosom will ascend like dust because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore, the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people. He has stretched out his hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar and will whistle to them from the end of the earth. Surely they will come with speed, swiftly.

No one will be weary or stumble among them. No one will slumber or sleep, nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken. Whose arrows are sharp and all their bows bent, their horses' hooves will seem like flint and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Their roaring will be like a lion. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey. They will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver. In that day, they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea.

And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened by the clouds.". So we are here at the end of Isaiah chapter five, the very first portion, the first seven verses deal with the image of the vineyard being Judah, bringing forth sour grapes, bad grapes.

And God then chastises Judah with all of these different woes, seven woes of how they have broken covenant with him. And having enumerated all of those transgressions, God now begins to describe the wrath that they face because of their covenant transgressions.

And that's what we're looking at in verses 24 through 30. And we're on verse 25, where the sentence is being applied. And again, that verse says, "'Therefore,' notice they've rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, despise the word of the Holy one of Israel.'.

That's the second part of verse 24. That means that they have rejected God's covenant. To reject his law is to reject his covenant. In fact, the 10 commandments that are the essential, though not exhaustive, law of God are also the old covenant in a nutshell.

And that's the way that Exodus and Deuteronomy read. They call the 10 commandments, the covenant, the testimony. They've rejected that. "'Therefore, the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people.

He has stretched out his hand against them and stricken them.'. God strikes his people in anger. If that is discomforting, it's supposed to be. "'And the hills trembled, their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.'".

Sounds like a pretty thoroughgoing judgment. But then we read some very bad news. "'Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.'". So this is a rather disturbing verse, especially as something that Isaiah the prophet is declaring to the people of Judah.

Anthropomorphism, the Incarnation, and God's Nearness

Now for our meditation on this verse, I think we need to focus on three actions of the Lord that seem to be emphasized. And first of all, there is this anger. The anger of the Lord is aroused. But this word anger in the Hebrew is the act of blowing hard or snorting out of the nostrils that is translated as anger.

If you try to text someone and you wanna find just the right emoji and you start searching emojis with anger, you will find the yellow face with two steam blowing out the nostril, all right? As biblical, it's one of the most biblical emojis I've ever seen.

That is the Hebrew word for anger, is snorting out the nostrils, okay? And we remember that Saul of Tarsus was breathing out threats against the followers of the way. He was so mad at them, he wanted to murder them.

He was breathing, he was angry, so he was breathing out through his, he was snorting through his nose. And so here the Lord is snorting in anger against Judah. The second action is that God is stretching out his hand.

So he's blowing through his nose in anger, he's stretching out his hand, and then we read that he strikes his people. That's a term that envisions anything from a slap to a closed fist, perhaps using a weapon like a club or a sword.

Now, each one of those, each one of those three terms is, I'm gonna go a little sprawl on you tonight, so I'm gonna walk over here and write something on the board, okay? So each one of those terms is an anthropomorphism.

So this part of the word means man, anthropos, morphism, shape. These are man-shaped words. They're man-shaped words to talk to us about who God is. And I think it's a good opportunity to talk about that, because we find it a lot in the Bible, and this verse is no exception, but it's certainly important for us to understand.

God as a spirit does not have a body like man. God has no nostrils, right? He doesn't have rising blood pressure that causes him to snort when he's angry. God does not have a five-fingered hand that he must stretch out to reach something that's just a bit too far away from his throne, where he's sitting.

God does not grab a silly, sinful man by the shirt collar with one hand and slap him about with the other, okay? Now, the terms in the Hebrew envision all of that, but we know that God is spirit. It's the folly of idolaters to make gods in their own image, gods of wood, gods of stone, gods with heads and feet and eyes and hands.

It's the folly of Judah in Isaiah. It's the folly of Judah to think that God was just like them. He thought their way, lived their way. In Psalm 50, verse 21, the rebuke of Asaph in the voice of the Lord is this.

The Lord says to his people, "'These things you have done, and I kept silent. "'You thought I was altogether like you, "'but I will rebuke you and set them in order "'before your eyes.'". It's very foolish for us to think that God was just like us.

The Israelites took the gracious revelation of the glory of God in his words, and they twisted it to make him more manageable, making God a more manageable size, to think that God is just like us. But where pride obscures, humility enjoys light.

And that's really how anthropomorphisms in the Bible should work. They should humble us. These are expressions inspired by God to relate his truth to us in ways that we can understand. We don't have a man-shaped God.

We have a God who makes man in his shape, in his image. And he relates to us, and he condescends, he gets down on one knee on our level to reveal himself to us in a way that we can understand. Now, having explained all that, I think that probably we have a few questions about Jesus Christ incarnate, don't we?

We just went through this whole thing saying that God doesn't have nostrils, God doesn't have a hand, God doesn't have blood pressure and all of that. And someone is saying, well, I thought Jesus Christ was God.

And I thought he's fully God and fully a man. And isn't he at the right hand of the Father? And well, doesn't he have a nose? Doesn't he have blood pressure? Doesn't he have the scars on his hands that testify to his crucifixion?

Now, we certainly read that that is the state of Christ in his resurrection, John 20. He raises from the dead and he has a physical body. His post-ascension appearance to John shows that in Revelation chapter one in his glorified state.

And he mediates for us still in the flesh. Pleading the merits of his blood. The dust of earth is enthroned at the right hand in heaven. Hebrews two verses five through 18 makes much of this. Hebrews nine and 10 tell us that without his continued incarnation, we have no continued savior.

The way into the right hand, the way into God is the veil of Christ's flesh. We come in through him or we don't come in at all. So regarding God and physical properties, it is not biblical, not biblical to assert that God himself has a physical nature because God is spirit.

John 4 .24, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And yet the second person of the Godhead, God the Son, he is the one person of two natures in the incarnation.

He is fully God from all of eternity and fully man from the miraculous virgin conception. Galatians 4 .4, in due time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. And so personal and so coherent is this incarnation that the Bible can even speak of God shedding his own blood for the church.

Acts 20 verse 28. I'm mentioning this because it's gonna come up on Sunday. Okay, so you have a leg up on everybody else. Now these anthropomorphisms that we find in the Bible, they remind us first of all that we're made in God's image and so he can relate to us, he relates to us and in Christ, in Christ, we have the perfect mediator.

So the anthropomorphism says at first, God is relating to those he's made in his own image. But also secondly, they remind us that in Christ, we have the perfect mediator, the one mediator between God and man.

Jesus brings us to God and God to us in the glorious work of salvation, the work of recreation. So you're gonna read all throughout the Bible about God sitting, making noise with vocal cords, surfing on clouds, that happens from time to time as he surfs on clouds and melts mountains.

You're gonna read about that kind of stuff. But when you do, we should be humbled to realize how far God is condescending, how far he's getting down on one knee to communicate with us. And then be grateful that he has done so and done so perfectly in Christ by his spirit, even so far as to let us call him Abba Father.

What a precious thing for the creator of the universe to bring us to himself in that way. So language in this, this is kind of lowly language that God would have a hand, that God would have eyes, that God would snort when he gets angry.

That might seem a little derisive to use that kind of man-shaped language about God, but it's not derisive. It's not actually minimizing God and making him small. It's actually a grace of God to us that we can know him and commune with him and worship him.

So in Isaiah 5 .25, when God, through his prophet Isaiah, what is he emphasizing through these anthropomorphisms? That he's snorting mad, he's reaching out, and he's striking. He's emphasizing just how close and involved he is in their lives.

This is the problem, they've forgotten about him. They've forgotten that he is close. They've forgotten that he is involved. In fact, they choose to ignore him. But they need to know how close and involved God really is.

He's not far away, he's not distant, he's right there, he's heavily involved. They are pinned down by the judgment of God and they're about to fail their last stand. So, the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people.

He has stretched out his hand against them and stricken them, the hills trembled, their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Now, they could have probably thought that after the hills trembled and the bodies are aligned, the streets are lined with bodies, that that should be good enough. And yet, the judgment is stretched out still.

So, this is to get their attention. The judgment that they've already endured is a harbinger of more to come. The judgment they've already endured is a model, an example of what they have to look forward to in their continued rebellion against God.

Let's talk about the anger. The anger of the Lord is aroused against his people. And at the end of the verse, it says, for all this, his anger is not turned away. Now, my wife can always tell when I'm angry because I changed my breathing, right?

That's pretty common for most of us. Children will suddenly come to a halt in their play and everything gets quiet when they recognize the angry breathing of one of their siblings who've had enough of getting picked on.

Like, uh-oh, here comes the angry pattern of breathing. We've gone too far. Now, the Lord acts in righteous anger and he brings proper punishment upon his covenant-breaking people. And yet he is not satisfied.

Chaos outside the city walls, dead lining the streets. A man of Judah should say to himself, this is bad enough. Surely there's nothing worse to endure. Hasn't God had enough of it? In fact, no, he hasn't.

Because God is not like man. His anger and his justice do not have the same fickle expressions and finite limits that ours do. When we think we've had enough, when we think it's good enough, God says, no, it's not good enough, it's not enough.

And so his anger is described in a manner we can understand. His angry breathing is not gone away, it's still there. We're hearing something that we can understand and yet at the same time, it's not something we can comprehend.

I can't comprehend that God continuing on in the judgment. Surely this was enough. I can't comprehend that. I can understand the anger based on how it is described for me in the scriptures, but I can't comprehend it because it's beyond me.

This is the anger of God that is righteous and perfect and goes far beyond anything that I can fathom. And he stretches out his hand against them, we read. And when the first judgment completes, his hand is stretched out still, we read.

So this expression of God stretching out his hand is very, very common throughout the Old Testament and it can as often mean something positive as it does something negative. It is always something good and righteous that God is doing when he stretches out his hand, but sometimes it is for deliverance and salvation and blessing and grace upon his people.

And then sometimes it's for judgment and chastisement and destruction. So just the stretching out of the hand doesn't tell you exactly what's going to happen. You have to look at it in the context. And so in this context, it is judgment.

His hand is against Judah, against the people and the prophets and the princes of the land. And when the dust settles from the initial judgment, when all the terror begins to fade away, there's a pause in the storm, there's still yet a horrible sight meeting the gaze of everyone.

The hand is still pointing straight at them. It's still there. More is yet to come. And there's nothing they can do to stop him. Isaiah 14 verses 26 through 27 speaks about judgment that's broader than just the judgment upon Judah and Israel.

But listen to the way in which the hand of the Lord is described. Chapter 14 verses 26 and 27. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth. And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

For the Lord of hosts has purposed and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out and who will turn it back?

See?

So to say that the Lord's hand is stretched out is something where, well, he's the almighty, he's the all powerful one. There's no one who can successfully stop that and turn it around. There's no manipulating of God.

So he's angry, he is snorting through his nostrils, he's so angry, he stretches out his hand and he strikes them. We read that he has stricken them. And then the description of the strike is this way.

The hills trembled, the carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. God strikes his people in anger. That's an uncomfortable thing to think about. And yet God is righteous in all of it. He doesn't slip up at all.

We so often slip up and sin in anger. Anger makes all of our actions unsteady, all of our affections irrational. When we're angry, it's easy to sin, very easy to sin when we're angry. But with God, his anger is always pure, it's always right, it's always holy.

And when he strikes in anger, we read that the hills trembled. And this doesn't sound too bad. I mean, especially living in Oklahoma, we don't have to worry about hills or mountains or anything high. Earthquakes in the hills somewhere, it doesn't sound bad, maybe cause some rock slides or some cave-ins, but nothing to write home about.

But the idea of hills, and of course, this is also translated mountains, hararim in the Hebrew is hills and mountains. This hearkens all the way back to Sinai, hearkens all the way back to the mountain where God made covenant with Israel.

And you remember that the mountain Sinai was trembling and shaking and billowing with the dark smoke of God, it was so frightening, that the Israelites said to Moses, we're not gonna stick anywhere close to this, we're gonna get away from this mountain and you go up and you talk to him.

They recognized that they need a mediator, but they had no notion of being drawn near. They were just, they wanted a mediator that would keep the distance. And this Moses is far less of a mediator than Christ is.

But Moses did mediate and he did go up the mountain. But when God gave his covenant at Sinai, that terror, the smoking, billowing, trembling mountain was a signal of the holy wrath of God and what Israel would face if they broke covenant.

Well, now the offended holiness of Sinai is showing up on all the mountains and hills of Judah. It's on them now. Even, and it's good to remember that Jerusalem sits upon hills and mountains. So now the offended holiness of Sinai has descended upon Jerusalem itself and all the surrounding territory.

This is a way of reminding them, you have broken covenant, so all the terror of Sinai is now coming on you. And that is a good way of understanding hills trembling in light of God's judgment. Well, what's the result of this, the on the ground result of this?

It is death. It's death. The bodies are lining the streets. Death is the outcome of sin. Carcasses of many mighty Jewish soldiers and leaders and merchants and nobles lie dead in the streets. Their bodies are all lined up for the grim work of disposal.

Who knows how many trips they had to take out through the dung gate, getting the dead out of the city over and over and over again. And yet we read God's justice, his anger, his holiness, his wrath was still not satiated, was not satisfied.

More was yet to come. Now God told them that in Leviticus 26. He said, you know, I'm gonna bring all these curses upon you and you don't repent, more will come. And if you don't turn away from your rebellion, more will come.

And he told them that's the way that the covenant was going to work. And here he is keeping his word. He's being faithful to his promises. They may have forgotten about his word, but he didn't forget about his word.

These people had forgotten about their God, but this God had not forgotten about his people. He had made this covenant with them and he was following through even though they were not. Now, what is God up to in that?

God, by his covenant with Israel, he's amplifying his name. He is magnifying his glory. And either by blessing or by cursing, Israel serves his purpose in both, in both. They are a message to the nations.

When they are faithful to the Lord and full of blessing and bounty, they say something about God to the nations. When they break covenant with him and transgress and are judged in especially harsh ways, in surprising ways, that's also a message to the nations.

Either way, they cut it. If they choose blessing or if they choose cursing, if they choose life or they choose death, Israel was a message to the nations and God was getting his message across either by blessing or by cursing.

And the message is really this, that death remains the wages of sin. Death remains the wages of sin. Adam needs a savior. All men made in God's image need a savior. Adam needs a mediator. All the nations did.

And God was making that clear by the way he was dealing with Israel. Sometimes we're asked in the scriptures concerning the day of the Lord, the day of his judgment, when he brings judgment, whichever day that is, the day of the Lord against Eden, the day of the Lord against Babylon, the day of the Lord against Judah, whatever day of the Lord it is, even to that great day, the last day of the Lord.

Question comes, well, who can stand, right? Who can stand in that day of the Lord? How can the wrath of God eternal and almighty be satisfied? We know that the answer is in Christ. We know that he's the one who stands in our place and for our sake, that Adam does have a mediator, the second Adam, Israel does have an answer.

And ultimately, Israel's message to the nations was in shadow, but how much more brilliant in Christ? Curses upon Israel and blessings upon Israel, an effective message for the nations, but pales in comparison to Christ as God's word to all mankind.

Behold his curses satisfied there. Behold his blessings mediated here. Christ is the message to the nations. And so we're not like Israel worried about Mount Sinai and we don't have to reduce God and limit his anger to a manageable size.

The good news is he has condescended to meet us. And you'll notice that when God shows up to meet people, it's kind of a two-pronged thing. God shows up to meet Jacob and he wrestles him and then he blesses him.

God shows up and confronts Moses, is gonna kill him until Moses circumcises his boys and makes it right. And then he's like, okay, now you're good to go. And I'll make sure that you will succeed in Egypt.

God meets Saul of Tarsus, strikes him down, blinds him and humbles him and then says, now you are a chosen instrument of my grace. And it's interesting to see how God meets us. He meets us with the fullness.

In Christ, we have every reason to have confidence in the blessings of God. All right, well, let's turn our attention now to prayer requests. We don't have to pray for anthropomorphisms.