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Sunnyside Baptist Church Michael Dirrim, Pastor
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Well, let's open our Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 8. We'll be reading verses 1 through 10 this evening. Isaiah chapter 8, verses 1 through 10. And let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for this day.
We thank you for your word. We thank you that it is true, trustworthy, everlasting, full of what you want to say to us, what we need to hear. We pray that you would make it very effective as we read it and consider it, that it would warm our hearts to who you are, that we would rejoice in your truth and be changed by it.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Isaiah chapter 8, beginning in verse 1. The Lord also spoke to me again, saying, He will go up over all his channels and go up over all his banks. He will pass through Judah.
He will overflow in Passover. He will reach up to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Emmanuel. Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces. Give ear, O you from far countries, gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak the word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Now, as we were thinking about these last two verses of chapter 8, verses 9 and 10, we're thinking of them along the lines of this heading, the Word of God Unstoppable.
The Word of God Unstoppable. This is how chapter 8 has begun, by showing the power of God's word. God gives the word to the prophet, the prophet declares it to the people, and then everybody is to be absolutely assured that this is what is going to come to pass, because the Lord.
Has said it.
And even though there are many political intrigues going on, in fact, King A has hired Tiglath Pilesar II, the king of Assyria, as a mercenary to attack his enemies. He has spent the silver and the gold of the temple to do so.
He has unleashed a flood, a flood that will not only overwhelm his enemies, but also flood over the entire land of Judah, even up to the neck, we read. And so it is that even though there are many political intrigues and many powerful men trying to pull this lever or push that button, it's in fact God who is in charge of the entire arrangement and saying exactly what is going to happen before it ever does.
And this is a good reminder for the people of Judah who have forgotten God, who think they can go their own way and chart their own course, and they forget that God as their maker, that He is the king.
And at the final assessment, it is not what they say they want to happen, not what they predict will come to pass, but what God has said. And God keeps reminding them that no matter how far they try to run, He's right there.
He keeps on using that phrase, Emmanuel, or translated, God with us. You can't outrun God. Of course, Jonah figured that out, didn't he? Judah needs to figure that out. You can't outrun God. We come to verses 9 and 10, and we are reminded of the failed resistance of men when they attempt to plot against God.
That's why they plot a vain thing. When they try to compel and manipulate God to do what they want, He doesn't comply. And so what we have here is an assessment, an oracle of judgment, in which the prophet says, Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces.
Another translation says, Be broken, you peoples, and be dismayed. Give ear, all you from far countries, gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. You hear the rhythm and the cadence of the prophet.
I think Isaiah composed more than one piece of music. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak the word, but it will not stand.
Why?
Here's the final word on the matter, for God is with us. It's remarkable that the prophecy already given by Isaiah so specifically outlines the coming invasion of Tiglath-Pileser II, the Assyrian army, and just exactly what it's going to do.
Ahaz was afraid of the Assyrian and Ephraimite conspiracy, but they are going to be undone. Their own nations will be undone within the following couple of years. The Assyrian invasion will take care of them, as well as flooding throughout Judah.
Which means, in the attempt of Ahaz to try to maintain and establish his rule, he himself is going to be greatly affected. The political plans of Ahaz will come to nothing. The invasion will overwhelm the nation, but will fail to do them in.
It will come up to the neck, but it won't drown them. There will be an invasion that will drown them, that will take them out completely. That will be the Babylonian invasion, where they were taken away exile.
For now, it's just trying to cover the majority of the land, and they were going to barely survive. The best laid plans of Ahaz, and Pecha, and Rezan, and all the kings involved, they all fail and only God's word remains spotless and undefeated.
Even the word of Tiglath-Pileser II, who said he would do this and that, and even go as far as taking Jerusalem, even his word didn't count. Only that which God had ordained came to pass. We are reminded that there's an international conspiracy.
You thought that was a recent thing. Here in verses 9 and 10, we are reminded that there's an international conspiracy. All the peoples, all the nations are addressed here.
Because they all had plans, they had expectations, there were intrigues afoot, there were alliances that had been made. They knew how to do politics. They knew how to run the world. Notice who's addressed.
O you peoples, all you from far countries. These are the very people that occupy the mind and heart of the king of Judah. He is obsessed with the peoples and far countries, and just how his nation stacks up with the other nations, and how his country is situated in the world.
And does he not desire to raise his own nation's position in the world, to make his nation ascendant among the other countries? He wants more power, more protection, more prosperity for his nation. He is making plans to bring that about.
Even now, he tries to make an alliance with Assyria. So he should pay attention too. Everybody should pay attention. God says, gird yourselves. The prophet points at all the people and he says, gird yourselves.
This is the language of someone taking up the instruments particular to their profession. The diplomat takes up his words. The builder takes up his tools. The soldiers take up their gear. Everyone is depicted as gearing up, getting ready.
The conspiracy has been forged. Now all the pieces are put onto the board. They're activated. They're ready to be moved and expended. The word of men has arranged the resources of man, and now man sets forth to accomplish his grand conspiracy.
And the prophet mockingly says, take counsel together. Let's see what happens. He says, speak the word.
Go ahead.
See what happens. The leaders have gotten together. They have scripted how the next few years and decades will be. They are depicted as those who are in charge. Here's a pantheon of cut and thrust politics where the future has been hammered out.
They know what tomorrow will be like. The great men have gathered. They have decided. They have spoken. The world will be divided into portions like this and that. Winners and losers have been chosen already.
This is the way of men. Men are arrogant in their pride and in their pride they keep writing histories that make it look like men are the ones in charge. And having so well learned these inaccurate histories, they are doomed to repeat them.
They continue to pretend like they're in charge, that they can carve up the world and chart the future and execute their plans. But notice that this international conspiracy is laid alongside an incomprehensible catastrophe.
Yes, there are the peoples. Yes, there are the countries. Yes, they gird themselves. Yes, they take counsel together. Yes, they speak the word. But notice in the cadence of Isaiah's writing how it all falls apart.
How none of it actually works. It is said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. But when man makes himself an enemy of God, the plan is laughable even in its development. Everything falls apart and it is most common for sinful, arrogant men to begin to diagnose these failures as if he is capable of such comprehension.
He thinks he knows exactly what went wrong and where and how it was somebody else's fault. And I find this extremely amazing. Having so depicted a complex plan for world domination of whatever kind and rebellion against God that as soon as it goes wrong, rather than humbling himself and saying, I think we were too big for our britches, they say, I'm still completely in charge and can fully comprehend exactly everything that went wrong.
Really?
Quoth the fool.
No, we're not that smart. We're not that capable. So it says, be shattered and be broken in pieces. Be broken in pieces. Be broken in pieces. Have you noticed how many times it says be broken in pieces?
You get the idea that they're going to be broken in pieces. One gets the idea that using the Babel approach, everybody gathering in the plains of Shinar to make for themselves a name, that this is a bad idea.
That God will not allow this. That God continually frustrates the conspiracies of man to continue without God, to replace God. If there's one thing we can tell from this verse is that those who conspire together in prideful rebellion before the face of God, they will be broken in pieces.
The word envisions a clay pot being blown apart into fragments and dust, perhaps by a rod of iron. Metaphorically, it describes the dismay of the heart. The dismay of the heart. When someone's world falls apart and their heart is broken and shattered.
You may have seen in recent political cycles the reactions of those who thought a particular election would most certainly have a particular result. And when it went quite the opposite way, they fall apart.
They are not simply slightly miffed. They are dismayed. They howl and they screech and then they shave their dyed hair. Notice the plans that they make. It will come to nothing. Notice the word that they say.
It will not stand. The plans of men against God are hollow seeds which never sprout. The words of men against God are chaff on the wind. They are never still, never grounded, ever changing, never real.
Such are the plans and words of men who craft a world in their own imagination, in their own image. They are quite content to compute the significance of the world and its trajectory without any reference or dependence upon God.
They make many complex, compelling models that attract many. And these things last for a time, but every false religion fails to deliver what it promises and it always comes to not.
Here's the final word. God is with us. That's why. God is with us. And this was true in the case of the Assyrian invasion of Judah. So also it is the case in world history. The reason why none of Ahaz, now he's the king of Judah, but the reason why none of his plans were going to work is that he was in opposition to his covenant lord.
Ahaz had set himself against the God of the covenant by rebelling against the word of that covenant, which was the law. Ahaz's planning was in contradiction to God's law. But Ahaz's failure to keep covenant does not mean God's failure to keep covenant.
God never fails to keep his word. His word would prevail. Judah may abandon God, but God does not abandon Judah. Emmanuel stays close to home and accomplishes his word. His word will be felt in full measure.
And that is the significance of this invasion by the Assyrians. Because God is keeping his promise to bring the covenant woes, the covenant curses, he will not fail to be faithful to his word. The reason why none of sinful mankind's plans are going to work is that sinful man is in opposition to his creator, Lord.
You see, the covenant teaches us about creation, doesn't it? Man has set himself against the God of creation by rebelling against God's word in every sense. God has given his word both generally throughout creation but also specifically in the scriptures.
Most especially, he has given his word, the word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who is the ruler of the kings of the earth, whose name is Emmanuel. Why is it that the plans of sinful men will not prevail in this world?
Because God is with us because of Emmanuel. That's why. Jesus is the one who reigns in the right hand of the Father. He reigns there until all of his enemies are placed afoot still for his feet, and then the end comes.
So Jesus wins and sinful man does not. Rebellious wicked men cannot prevail against the word of God, and the word of God is enthroned at the right hand. Now, the significance of these two verses hinges upon an understanding of how dependent men are upon an authoritative word.
We are made in God's image. We are made for God's word. We are designed to live depending on some authoritative word from beyond us telling us what's what and how's how. And so men are told today, here's how the world works.
This is what to expect. Here's the weather forecast. Here's the financial outlook. Here's the political projection. Here's the business model. Here's three rules for success and five keys of flourishing, and off you go.
Armed with such knowledge, men can march confidently into the future like a problem they've already solved. Men arrive at some kind of consensus, and then they equip themselves with all kinds of tools and weapons.
They make a plan. They announce the plan. And then having failed to consider God, forgetting that they are mortal creatures, mere vapors in the wind, they carefully build this word world, and it all falls apart.
Their expectations are shattered and their hearts are dismayed. Such are the cycles of history. But we see in this passage, though the peoples gird themselves, though the peoples gird themselves all over again, though they take counsel together, though they speak the word and they want to say things in their way and they've equipped themselves to do things their way, it all fails to come to pass.
The word of God in Christ shows us what the Lord desires, his will. All the plotting of the nations will come to nothing because they cannot succeed against God and against his Christ as he has given his word.
As we think about the language of being broken in pieces that is repeated for us several times, it is good to remember what the Lord has said about the Messiah, both in Psalm 118 and in 1 Peter 2. In Psalm 118, verses 22 through 24, we read this, The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord's doing. It was marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And 1 Peter 2 verses 4 through 10 affirms the same, that Christ is the cornerstone and that men will either be crushed under him or be broken upon him.
In some sense, Christ is the conqueror of all men and those who are the happiest are those who bow the knee and do homage to the Son. It is not our word that stands. It is not our affirmations. It is not our manifestations, our words of faith, or any other superstition that profanes the authority of God's word.
Doesn't James warn us against the sins of the tongue? Do we remember this from James chapter 4? In James chapter 4 verses 13 through 16, we are reminded of this type of pride. James chapter 4 verse 13, Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit.
Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.
But now you boast in your arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. If the Lord wills. Now be careful, Jesus warned us against using throwaway religious language or vain and meaningless words. Let's really mean it when we say, If the Lord wills.
We should really mean that. Because he is the sovereign king and he gets to decide. He gets to say yes or no. He gets to say whether or not something happens. 100 he does. And we need to humble ourselves and recognize that.
Notice how James says it. Boasting in our arrogance, all such boasting is evil. It is evil. Speaking truly is speaking in the fear of the Lord. That is what we need. Speaking in the fear of the Lord with a contrite heart, a bowed knee, a humble tongue, eager to serve the king while always ready for his redirection.
Now when we think about what goes on here in Isaiah chapter 8, the peoples, the nations, they have made their plans, but it will come to nothing. They speak the word, here's what we're going to do, but it will not stand.
They have failed to take into account what the Lord wills, what the Lord desires. It is important for us to recognize that we are not immune to living in a world filled with fear, that very often we are anxious about the future.
God knows our frame, that we are but dust and none are a good shepherd. Teach us how to handle these things in Matthew chapter 6. It is common for us to be anxious about tomorrow, to be concerned about what is yet to come, what lies just over the horizon for ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, the nation, and so forth.
And very often the saints will look away from a humble hope to something else, to look for some works-based formula to redress our fears. If we could just do something with all this anxious energy, and maybe do our part to fix it, we'll have a better tomorrow.
We're making plans, we're girding ourselves, we're going to fix tomorrow, it'll be better if we just do X, Y, or Z. Some Christians advocate in fearing the future and what disasters may fall upon the nation.
Some Christians advocate for families to keep the Mosaic Law, variously modified, and insist that unless a majority of folks live according to the Mosaic Law, God's covenant curses will rain down on America.
The way to fix it is keep the law, and then we'll go from curses to blessings, and forgetting these things are fulfilled in Christ, and we are not Israel, the United States is not Israel. Good to remember that.
Others insist that that's not the cure, but funding and arming and praising the political state of Israel, that's the way unto security, prosperity, and blessing, and TBN is full of that. The way to be blessed and prosperous and make sure our military never fails is just always adore Israel and bow down and worship her.
No.
Still others fear that the reason why a great disaster is upon us is because of all the sins of our past. We ought to do penance and afflict ourselves in sackcloth and ashes and make reparations because we're so white.
Now I've just quickly named the three major camps of North America evangelicalism, and generally folks fall into one of these three camps. Everybody has the same common concern. What about tomorrow? Oh, there's doom and gloom on the horizon.
It's the same way in the 80s and in the 40s and in the 20s. There's doom and gloom on the horizon, and what is the cure? Let's find, with all of our anxious energy, something to do, and if we can do this and push this button or pull this lever, then we can rest easy at night and not be so anxious and afraid about tomorrow because we have the secret sauce for a prosperous, protected tomorrow.
But none of those solutions that I mentioned consider the preeminence of Christ. Here's the comfort. Christ will have his way.
He's king.
His is the iron scepter. The nations have been given to him as an inheritance, and they are all clay pots. The king will reign from God's right hand until his enemies are a footstool for his feet. So what is tomorrow to you?
Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Isn't that what Jesus said? Planning is well approved of in biblical wisdom, but planning in the fear of the Lord takes into account what is pleasing to the Lord, not what we might contrive so as to manipulate God into preserving what we consider to be the favorable status quo.
God is not a vending machine that we can manipulate, that if we just do X, Y, and Z, then he'll look upon us with favor and say, okay, fine, you get three more quarters of economic stimulus, or okay, fine, your military will remain strong and violent.
We are not here to manipulate God. We are here to serve him and to praise him and to worship him and to follow him. That's the broad application. I think we could rest easier by laying down burdens we were never meant to carry.
Did you know that Jesus never intended you to carry around the burden of tomorrow? It's not yours to carry.
That's his.
He owns the horizon, and he tells you to follow him and to trust him. Contentment, dearly beloved, cannot be found apart from confession. The Ahaz was not content. The people of Judah were not content.
They were not content to trust in the Lord. They did not like what they saw on the political horizon. They didn't like Assyria, didn't like Syria, didn't like Ephraim. They didn't like how diminished they had become.
They were discontent. So they did not turn to the Lord and rest in him and call upon him for help, but they went about doing many other things. Contentment cannot be found apart from confession. Confession is agreement with God.
Agreement with God. To say the same word as God. Hamalegeo in the Greek. Confession, same word. We are to get ourselves to agree with God, not get God to agree with ourselves. There's contentment if we can agree with God.
When it comes to various relationships, responsibilities, and resources, we may resent the situation we find ourselves in. We're like, I don't like these relationships. I don't like these responsibilities.
I don't like this set of resources. I don't like my stewardship. But your king gave it to you. Why did he give it to you?
What's his goal?
Think on your king. Think what he's done for you. Think on your king. How he was born for you. How he lived for you. How he loves you. How he died for you. How he was raised to reign over you. Think on your king and love him.
Think on your king and take up your stewardship. Praise him. He always keeps his promises. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is Immanuel. He is God with us. He is God with us. Let's close by singing the doxology.
