The Cost of Faithlessness

The Oracle on the Beasts of the Negev

Amen. Well, please turn to Isaiah 30, and we'll continue here in Isaiah 30 in a passage that is an enigmatic oracle that summarizes what just came before. So the verses we looked at last week, this will be essentially summarizing the messages of that verse into its own distinct oracle.

Please stand when you have Isaiah 30 for the reading of God's Word. I'll begin in verse 1. An oracle on the beasts of the Negev. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent?

They carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels. To a people that cannot profit them, Egypt's help is worthless and empty. Therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still.

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word. We ask that you would open our eyes to understand the message that you have for us, the message that you have for us here in the book of Isaiah.

We ask that it would be a word of peace and joy to us, that we would understand how these statements of judgment should point us to our Savior, and that seeing Him we would find rest for our souls. In Jesus' name, amen.

Why People Sin by Trusting Easier Alternatives

So why do people sin? That's my question for you today, is why do people sin? People sin because they think it's going to be easier than the alternative. They think it's going to pay out better than the alternative, but this is never the case.

It's never the case that sin pays out. In fact, it's almost always the case that it is even immediately more difficult. Now sometimes it's the case that immediately it's easier, but often it is the case that even at the beginning it's harder, as is the case here in Isaiah, where you have a people who do not trust the Lord and His provision, instead feel that they need to trust in Egypt, and so go through great lengths and great pains in order to sin against their holy God, because they think that this will pay out better in the end.

But of course it does not. It leads to more pain, it leads to great poverty, and it is futile. And so looking at this, I'd like to hammer in three points about sin in general, about failing to trust the Lord, trusting in other things, trusting in other powers, that always results in pain, results in poverty, and is pointless.

It's futile. So just looking at this first inscription here, an oracle on the beasts of the Negev. So the first thing I'd have you note is the word Negev refers to the southern region, south of Palestine, this desert area down there below Canaan.

So this is a desert. So this is speaking of the beasts of the desert. The next thing is that in speaking of an oracle, the word for oracle is in many translations translated burden, because that's literally what it means.

It speaks of something heavy, a weight. And so some translations even translate this the beasts of burden of the Negev, because they think that this burden is speaking of what the beasts themselves bear as opposed to speaking of an oracle.

Now there have been many oracles throughout this book that have had that exact same title, an oracle of, etc. And so it is right to translate this in the same way that it was before. But note that there is a double meaning here.

There's a double meaning that speaks both of an oracle, the burden on the prophet, and also the burden on the beasts that are going down to Egypt, carrying treasures down this hard road, trying to trust in another other than the Lord, trying to find some way out of their problems, but not looking to the Lord and the rest that he provides.

And there has been in these sets of oracles in Isaiah one oracle that was very similar to this oracle, another oracle that spoke of the Negev, and that is the oracle of the wilderness of the sea. So in Isaiah 21, it begins speaking of the oracle of the wilderness of the sea.

And it's interesting there because it does not speak of judgment coming upon the land as all the other oracles in that section spoke of, but spoke of judgment coming from this deserted region. In other words, this region that's full of chaos and the desert is in the Bible, the desert and the sea are often pictures of the abyss, pictures of the chaos of hell, judgment coming from this region.

But now in this oracle, this oracle of the beasts of the Negev, you don't have judgment coming from the desert, but rather the people going into their own judgment in the desert by their own volition.

Scripture's Difficulty and the Need to Read the Whole Bible

So before we go into the meat of this, I would just have you consider the nature of Scripture that many times is very difficult to understand, many times is enigmatic as this passage is. A lot of people have the idea that God's Word should always be very easy to understand.

A lot of people who don't believe the Bible, who don't believe in God, think that if a real God existed, then He would make Himself very plain to understand and see, that He would explain Himself in such a way so that there would never be any room for misunderstanding.

Now, God's Word is clear. We are obligated to fully understand it. However, His objective is not to make Himself known to absolutely everyone. In fact, as we've seen in Isaiah, Isaiah's own commission is to preach to the people so that their eyes will be blinded and their hearts hardened.

Jesus spoke in parables to fulfill the same commission of Isaiah so that not everyone would see, not everyone would understand. So, Scripture does not yield its treasures to the lazy. Often we have to spend much time with Scripture in order to understand it, and understanding passages like this involve not just studying the single passage itself, but really reading Scripture over and over so that you develop an understanding for the patterns and the language of Scripture.

If you were to speak to someone else in a foreign language that they hadn't learned, and you spoke to them, they would have no idea what you mean. And if someone else said, well, they mean this thing, that unless they really trusted you, they would say, well, what's your proof?

What's your proof that they mean that? How can I understand that? And it's not something that you can really explain without that person having learned the language, having immersed themselves in that language so that they begin to hear the patterns of how things are spoken and start to pick up what they are supposed to understand.

And so, this passage, as we look at it and consider it and try to figure out the primary thing that God is communicating to us, that is something that is really only found in understanding Scripture as a whole.

So, I would encourage you, if you consider yourself a student of Scripture, but, for example, have not read the Bible fully, do read the entire Word of God. And if you find yourself not being able to get much deeper in the Word, I would suggest that you try something other than just reading straight through and only going for breadth and never for depth.

Try mastering a single book of the Bible. That's something that's really helped me, is there are several books that I've really studied deeply. I've read a few commentaries on those books, and I feel like I understand those books very well.

If you asked me what a particular chapter was about, I'd be able to tell you what that particular chapter is about. Now, that's only a few books of the Bible, but I have found that immensely helpful in understanding the whole thing, because if you understand a few things well, this gives you the pegs on which you can hang all the other loose information that you collect and gather as you're reading Scripture.

So, just one suggestion for how you might approach your reading of Scripture. In this first section, we look at the pain of trusting in another. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent?

And so, a picture here is given of the Negev, of that desert region to the south. It is a land of trouble and of anguish. It's a desert. It's a place that is difficult to go through, and as the people turn away from their God, they are turning instead to pain and suffering.

It says, where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent? Obviously, a lion would be a great peril for anyone, especially someone coming with donkeys and camels. These are not animals that can defend themselves very well.

So, you go into the desert with these animals, and you have a large number of animals bringing treasures. A lion could come by and see that, hey, there's a feast that's been prepared for us. Lion would find this very attractive.

And then, on top of that, it speaks of flying fiery serpents. Now, we've seen this before in Isaiah. It was in Isaiah 14, and I'll just remind you of what I said then. When it speaks of a flying serpent, it's not talking about a dragon with wings.

What it's talking about is the fact that snakes often jump at people. And powerful snakes that jump very far hide behind the rocks, and when they come by and they're afraid of you, they will jump at you, and you can't evade if it's able to jump far enough.

And they are fiery in that they have venom in that their bite is not just the bite of teeth, but it's a bite that inflicts you with venom so that you become inflamed. So, that's what it's talking about when it speaks of flying fiery serpents.

And this is very ironic that the people are going here. There's a lot of allusions being made. Just as I said, you know, Scripture is best understood when you're reading it in the context of the whole, when you've developed the pattern and you understand, you understand the various patterns that are there.

God had told the people, God had instructed the people to go a particular way out of Egypt, and it was to avoid this very area because he thought it would be too hard, and if they went through this difficult area, then they would come back, and they would come back to Egypt.

It says in Exodus 13, 17, when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.

So, God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt, equipped for battle. And so, why is it that the people ended up all the way on the other side of the Jordan, and though they started off on the, though they start off on the west side, they end up entering the land through the east, through the east side?

Why is that? Because God knew it would be too difficult if they went directly, and here, as they are going directly, you see that they are going into difficulty, and so there, God had an easy plan for the people.

He had an easy road for the people, and here, the people, as they turn from what God has given them, are going the hard road. Now, this is the case with all false objects of trust. Think of any false religion.

What does it require, man? It requires all sorts of difficult things, all sorts of things that do not profit, all sorts of things that do not pay out. Often, religions require very, all kinds of asceticism, you know, all kinds of inflicting the body that have the appearance of serious religion, but are of no value to the soul.

And this is the case as well for those who don't have a religion in the sense of a particular form of worship, but serve their very selves, right? Those who choose to walk such a life and serve themselves, they end up having such a focus on themselves that it is not, in the end, easier, but it's something that's hard.

It takes a lot of work to serve the self. You might end up devoting yourself to your work in order to build up your empire that you are trying to build, and then you end up lonely and alone. So nothing, no alternatives to what God has offered are easier.

Ultimately, Christ's burden is easy, and his yoke is light. You know, that's really the case. I'm not saying that the Christian life is easy, but Christ has made it so that as we trust in him and he provides everything, we never have any reason for anxiety because we know that he provides.

Yet if we go any of these other routes, it is guaranteed to end in pain. So it continues on, speaking of the donkeys and the camels. They carry their riches on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels.

So these various beasts could be easily attacked by the lions. They are the beasts of burden that the double entendre in the title speaks of. And the people carry their riches away. They carry their riches out of the land.

So they are intentionally spending their wealth because they think it will save them. They are losing that which they have. And this is what people often do. They often take the good gifts that God has given them, and because they are looking for some kind of security, end up spending those good gifts on something other than God.

You know, who you give tribute to. The kings demand tribute because they demand you to demonstrate that you are in allegiance to them, that you are submissive to them. And when people give what God has given them, that should be reserved for his uses, and they give that to something else, they are showing who they are submissive to.

They are showing who they trust in. And this is the case, once again, with many people, whether they invest in their work life, whether they think that they can store up for themselves by refusing the plan that God has, in normal conditions, given for families to have children.

They avoid having children so that they can build up wealth for themselves, but then they end up lonely. And it's often the case with relationships, where people think that this treasure that God has given them of their own sexuality, that they can just hand away their body to others to find some kind of security, and where do they end?

They end up insecure and alone. The treasures that God has given man and determined how man ought to give those back to him in tribute, when they give those things in tribute to another, they end up impoverished.

There is no ROI on that investment. It says, to a people that cannot profit them. Egypt's help is worthless. Therefore, I have called her Rahab, who sits still. You know, if you're a trader and you're going through a land, you're going to calculate whether or not this investment into this trip is going to return a reward.

How many things are you carrying? How hard is it going to be to carry them? What is the payoff eventually going to be? Judah has calculated unwisely. They have calculated foolishly, because Egypt's help is worthless.

What can Egypt provide? Egypt can do nothing. Egypt is just Rahab, who sits still. Now, if you're wondering what this means, Rahab, who sits still, this is not talking about the lady from the book of Joshua, who was in Jericho.

This is another name for a sea monster. You can do a quick search in a Bible app, and you can look for everything on Rahab, and you can see that often Rahab is referring to the sea monster, and occasionally it's referring to Egypt in particular, because Egypt has good access to the sea, and it has the Nile.

And so, just like eagles represent the U .S., or a bear might represent Russia, it is the case that in the Bible, often Rahab, the sea monster, represents Egypt. And so, Egypt seems like a powerful nation.

It seems like it's going to be able to defeat all the enemies, but it is just Rahab, who sits still. It is not able to do anything. And indeed, though the people trust in Egypt, Egypt ends up failing them, and it is not able to defend from Assyria.

The Futility of Trusting in Egypt

Now, as we consider this passage all together, and all these different aspects of it, the pain, the poverty, and the pointlessness, the futility of trusting in another, what is the answer to all these things?

Is the answer that we just avoid sinning, and then we won't suffer these things? Certainly, we should turn from sin. Certainly, we should repent. However, the fact of the matter is that we have all sinned before a great and holy God, and so we have all incurred such penalties.

The wages of sin, as the Bible says, is death. There is no way around that except for the way that God has provided in Jesus Christ. And there are several things in this passage that let us know that we should be, especially as New Testament Christians who have the whole of Scripture, not merely this book or this book and the books that come before, but lets us know that we should be looking to Jesus Christ as the answer to this passage, the answer to the problem of having trusted in other hopes and having gone into a wilderness that we cannot survive.

And so, the first thing I'll point out is something that we have already seen in Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 11, verses 7 through 8, having spoken of the shoot that will come from the stump of Jesse, Jesse being the father of David, David ultimately being the father of Jesus Christ, the great-great, etc., grandfather of Jesus Christ.

It speaks of how he will deal with the problems of the lions and the problems of the adders. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, the nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.

And so, how does this come about? How is the lion dealt with? How is the serpent dealt with? It is dealt with through Jesus Christ, who comes from the root of Jesse. Now, think about those images, too.

What do they represent? Satan is often represented as a serpent. He prowls around like a lion. These are images that Scripture often uses to speak of that great enemy, Satan. And who has defeated this great enemy?

Well, according to Isaiah, it's the one who comes from the root of Jesse. Jesus Christ has defeated Satan on the cross. He has defeated him so that he no longer has that power of accusation. He no longer has the ability to hold guilt over people's heads, because in Jesus Christ, there's forgiveness from our sins, and he has granted eternal life to all who trust in them.

So even though we have betrayed the God who has created us, Jesus Christ has provided the way of forgiveness for all those who trust in him, that we can have eternal life. Now, that's not the only thing I think we should be picking up here.

Additionally, speaking of people thinking about going back to Egypt, people who are suffering these animals in the wilderness, particularly serpents, there's another instance that this alludes to. If you please turn to Numbers 21, this is a longer passage, so go ahead and turn there, and we'll see how the people were thinking about going back to Egypt.

They were complaining to the Lord and what the Lord decided to do. In Numbers 21, beginning in verse 4, from Mount Hor, they set out by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, and the people became impatient on the way, and the people spoke against God and against Moses.

Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? But there's no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food. All right, so the people are saying, why have you taken us out of Egypt?

We want to go back to Egypt. We want to trust in one other than the Lord. And what is his answer? Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

And the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. So Moses prayed for the people. So here we have the people having wanted to go back to Egypt, the Lord sends fiery serpents against them for failing to trust in him.

This is precisely what we see in Isaiah 30, is it not? The people going back to Egypt, God speaks in this enigmatic oracle about them suffering fiery serpents. And so the people realize that they have done wrong and they want to turn back to the Lord.

So it says in verse 8, and the Lord said to Moses, make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

So God provides a way of escape, that if they just look at the bronze serpent, they will live. And some of you know where this goes in the Gospels. Jesus speaks of this fiery serpent in John 3, verse 14, when he says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

So you see, there are several hints in this passage where if you, if you have in mind the patterns of Scripture and know what Scripture says, you realize that this is pointing us to our Savior. The answer to the lion, the answer to the serpent, is found in Jesus Christ.

It is not found in giving your treasures to another. It is found in bringing your whole self to him and finding rest and trust in him. And the reward he has for his people is so much better than a lost treasure.

Rather, he has earned great treasures and shares those with his people. You see, rather than a poverty of trusting in another, he gives us great riches. There is a wonderful, not only forgiveness, but a wonderful glorification that he has provided for us in the resurrection, in this inheritance that we will share with him forever.

And so do not, do not be tempted to trust in another. Do not be tempted to trust in your own way, thinking that that will be easier, thinking that that will pay out better, thinking that that will leave you more full and with greater riches, because it is never the case.

It is always the case that following God leads to greater things because God has provided for us Jesus Christ, in whom there is great forgiveness. Turn from your sins and find rest in him. It is not through ourselves that we will be saved.

Rather, it is through Jesus Christ. It is not through our own work and our own effort. It's not through some other trust, some other foundation of hope. It is only in Jesus Christ that we can be saved.

And it's only in him that great riches and wealth can be had. It's only in him that we can find great security from the lion and from the adder and from the wilderness, the chaos of the great abyss that awaits those who have trusted another, who have sinned without a mediator to forgive them.

Prayer and Closing Exhortation

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this passage, that though it speaks of danger and of judgment, that you have given scripture in such a way that we can tell the oughts who point us to our Savior, who has defeated the lion, who prowls around, who has defeated the serpent.

God, I pray that as we look to Jesus Christ, that we would find great rest and peace in him. In Jesus' name, amen.