The Immanent Name of the Lord

Amen. Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 30. We'll be looking at verses 27 and 28 today in Isaiah 30. This passage we've been looking at has been making promises to the people of God that the Lord would deliver them from their oppressors.

Judgment on the Enemies of God

And so it's been very, I guess in today's parlance, positive messages. It is interrupted here with a statement about the enemies of the people of God. Something that feels very negative. But if understood rightly, it is part of the Gospel.

As I was explaining this morning, that judgment upon the enemies of God is part of the good news to God's people. Because if you are not part of those enemies, then that is your deliverance. And so God has pronounced judgment upon His enemies.

And this passage speaks of judgment upon the enemies. When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word. Isaiah 30, verse 27. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you would give us great confidence in your Word.

A great encouragement from this passage that speaks of your deliverance through the destruction of enemies. And God, I pray that we would eagerly await the day when your Son returns to finalize all these truths.

In Jesus' name, Amen. So I've already explained the context of this passage that comes in the midst of promises for God's people of their deliverance. And so this is speaking particularly about the enemies of the people of God.

And it is good news for the people of God, but it is bad news for those who are the enemies of God. Now part of the problem that has been repeated here in Isaiah about the enemies, the people of God, is they do not understand the reality of God.

They do not understand that He is near and His judgment is imminent. And that is the case for many people. Many people feel that God is far away. They feel that they're away from His sight. That He's not going to act.

He does not see them. But none of this is the case. And so this passage addresses that situation as many passages in Isaiah have. It speaks of the name of the Lord coming from afar. It speaks of His name.

It speaks of His tongue. It speaks of His lips, His breath. And it describes how all these things, which seem powerless. What power does a name have? What power does a tongue have or breath? These are all things that feel very weak and feel very distant when we speak of God.

And yet they are powerful, they are mighty, and they will certainly destroy all of His enemies. And with that destruction leads the people astray, away from salvation, into destruction. Beginning here with this first part of verse 27.

The Name of the Lord, His Presence, and His Holiness

Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar. What is the name of the Lord? The name of the Lord does not particularly refer to His name Yahweh. Although one might say that that is His name. But it speaks of God being known by His reputation.

And Exodus 3 .15 said that His name is Yahweh and that He should be known by this name. That is how the people should remember Him. And so, He is not remembered as the other gods are remembered. The other gods are remembered by their images.

By this thing that you see that feels near to you, that does not feel distant. God, on the other hand, is remembered by His name. Those who remember Him, know that He is near. Even though they do not see Him with their physical eyes.

Even though they can only see Him by spiritual eyes that trust His word. That trust what He says is true. They remember Him by His name. And so this people who say, make the name of the Lord cease. Do you remember that?

The people that were speaking before in previous chapters. Saying that they wish for the name of the Lord to cease. Well the name of the Lord, though it seems distant to them, it will come. It comes from afar.

Now this is ironic, the way that He is saying this. Because God is not actually far off. God is very near. And the scripture says that multiple times that God is not far off. That He is near. The people treat Him as though He is far off.

God is omnipresent. That is one of His attributes. And actually it's not a, maybe some of you have heard me say this before. But that is not one of the more technical ways of speaking of God actually.

Because He is not merely omnipresent in the sense of being in every place. He transcends space itself. So that anything that exists in any space is not separated by God. As though God is next to that thing.

Rather God transcending space itself is even closer than some other object could be to anything in this world. See God in transcending space itself is even more near than other things in time and space can be.

And so God, though He feels far off to those who do not trust His word. To those who look around and don't think they see Him acting. God is very near. And He comes very swiftly. And so that is why Isaiah describes Him as coming swiftly.

Not because He is far off but because as the people imagine Him far off and suddenly He will be present in judgment. It is as though He was far away and then suddenly appeared. But God, God is near. And so we should contemplate His nearness.

We should contemplate His presence and His watchfulness over us. All things are before His eyes. Now this is very important. If you are to be someone who truly obeys the Lord, it is necessary that you recognize how near He is.

How present He is at all times. This is something that's also important to teach children. And children who are listening in right now, kids I'd like you to know that God is near. Okay, He is watching at every point in time.

And it's very easy to feel like and I remember this when I was a kid. It's very easy to feel like, well when my parents aren't watching, well then I can do whatever I want. But God is always watching.

And parents, if you want to instruct your children, if you want to instruct your children to continue on the right path, teaching them to fear you is not enough. They have to learn to fear the Lord. They have to learn that the Lord is always watching.

And He is. The world might think He is far off but He is near. It says He is burning with His anger in a thick rising smoke. It speaks of His great zeal against all evil that exists in this world. He's burning with anger in a thick rising smoke.

We've seen that picture of rising smoke earlier in the commissioning chapter of Isaiah. That most important first chapter where Isaiah is given his commission, chapter 6. And you have this rising smoke in the throne room of God that's later seen in other passages.

It's that same smoke that you see rise from the mountain at Sinai. The same smoke that comes up in Revelation 4. That God, in His holiness, in the presence of evil, in the presence of other things that are less holy, as Isaiah stands in His presence, as He comes down among the people, giving His law, as He is in the presence of John in Revelation 4.

Coming into the presence of creation, we see this thick smoke rise, revealing God's anger and hostility towards all that is immoral. And He's full of this anger and fury against such things. People speak of God as being loving, and indeed He is loving.

The Bible says that God is love. The Bible also says that God is a consuming fire. Both of these things are true. God is perfectly loving. He does not just love more than any other thing. He is love itself.

But that love comes with a goodness and truth that demands a disposition toward evil. And that disposition is one of hostility toward evil. Now, as I said, it's important that people fear the Lord. Just fearing man is not enough.

You must fear the Lord. It used to be the case that when there were acts of God, people would fear them as acts of God. Now that's just a phrase people use when they speak of lightning or earthquakes, etc.

Now, perhaps people can be too superstitious in the way they consider such things. But we really should recognize the power of God is evident in these large acts that He allows to take place on this earth.

And that we should see there His power, and that we should fear Him. We should be God-fearing men and women, not people who fear man, but people who fear God. It says His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a devouring fire.

His lips and His tongue, these are that from where His word comes forward. His lips and His tongue. And as He speaks, destruction happens. Destruction of His enemies. Just like a fire consumes the enemies.

His lips full of fury. James chapter 3 speaks of the tongue as being like something that sets a forest ablaze. A little flame that sets things ablaze. And there, in context, it's speaking of men cursing other men.

Now here, when it speaks of the tongue of God being like a devouring fire, what is it speaking of? Likewise, it is speaking of His curse. He is full of curses upon those who do evil. Now, generally, you might not fear a curse.

You know, if some crazy person came up to you in the street and said a bunch of words cursing you, maybe you would think, well, that has no power. But let me tell you that God's word has great power. His curses do take effect.

They do devour like a great fire. And it says His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck. His breath like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck. What is God's breath?

His spirit is His breath. This is the power by which He governs the world, His power by which He enacts His judgment. And it says that the spirit is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck.

You know, quite a few times we have floods as pictures of judgment. There's the great flood that happened in Genesis. And then repeatedly the Bible speaks of flooding as a picture of God's judgment. It says in Nahum 1 .8, but with an overflowing flood, He will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue His enemies into darkness.

God's breath, His spirit floods the enemies until they can no longer exist. Maybe some of you have contemplated what the worst ways to die might be. Maybe you've contemplated the things described here, burning in a fire, drowning.

Both of these are horrific ways to die. If you've ever tried to see how long you can hold your breath, you know the pain that suffocation can give you as you're starved of oxygen. If you've ever been burned by something, you know just how painful that can be.

When I was a child, we had a glass-topped stove, and I thought the oven was on and wanted to feel how much heat came up through the glass-topped stove from the oven. I did not realize that the stove itself was on.

I placed my hand directly on there, and I had this massive, massive blister for a month. And that was just a small thing, but the pain was intense. I can't imagine how much worse pain of third-degree burns, etc., would be.

But this is the end that is described for the wicked, and indeed there is a hell, a great hell, an eternal conscious torment that exists for all those who would be the enemies of God, who would say that he is a far-off, that he is not near, that he's not coming in judgment, not fear him.

But he will arise, and he will destroy. It says to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. To sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. So as a sieve separates what is good from what is bad, what is large and what is small granularly, so God will sieve with destruction.

He will spare his people, and he will destroy his enemies. It is as the parable that Jesus gave about the wheat and the tares. The wheat and the tares grow up together, but in the end, they make themselves known, and they are separated.

And so right now, sure, they grow together, but that does not mean that God is not acting. It is simply that he is acting in his time. At that harvest time, he will separate the wheat from the tares. He will destroy, he will enact his sieve of destruction, separating these things out.

He will do this by the power of his word, by the power of his tongue and his lips and his breath. You know, James 3 says that man's tongue cannot be tamed. If man's tongue cannot be tamed, how much more can God's tongue not be tamed?

You know, man's tongue cannot be tamed because man resists domestication and his evil. God's tongue cannot be tamed because his goodness is uncontrollable. No one is in charge of him. And so by his tongue, that sieve will sift the wheat from the tares.

And so you ought to consider that word of his that has such power from his lips and from his tongue. You know, do you respect the word of God? Do you consider the word of God to have power? Do you think that as you hear it preached to you?

Do you think that as you read it? Do you think that with your Bible reading schedule even? Does it reflect someone who really believes the power of the word? Same thing with memorizing scripture. Have you treasured it up in your heart as someone who recognizes that it's powerful?

And when you speak to others, do you recognize that it's powerful? You know, it can be very tempting in conversation either with Christian or a non-Christian just to speak your own words that sort of match the Bible's wisdom but then not actually appeal to the word of God.

Now, I don't believe the word has power in the sense of, you know, if you memorize it exactly from a particular version, that that has power and if you paraphrase it, it doesn't have power. But appealing to the authority of God, having cherished up his word, and offering that to another as something that comes from the authority of God, not just your own wisdom and just your own authority, that has so much more power than saying similar things, offering similar wisdom, just as though it's coming from you.

Okay, you need to believe that the word of God has power and has power as it's coming from his lips. You need to offer it to other people that way. You know, that has power. Entrust it to have power. Don't think that this person needs to be persuaded by my words and my persuasion.

I don't think Scripture would be that useful here. No, appeal to Scripture. Scripture has great, great power as it is the word of God. It comes from his lips. It comes from his tongue. It was inspired by his own breath.

And he says here at the end,. And to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray. Place on the jaws of the people a bridle that leads astray. God leads the peoples, those are the nations, the enemy nations.

He leads them astray. Proverbs 21 .1 says, You know, it doesn't matter how powerful a king might be. His heart lives in the hand of the Lord and the Lord turns him where he will. Nebuchadnezzar was a great king.

He was a proud king. He was above all the earth. But his hand was still, his heart was still in God's hand. And God turned him toward insanity. Making him eat the grass of the field and only later restoring his sanity to him.

It's that case with all the leaders in our world. It's that case with anyone who is an enemy of God. If you think that you have your wits about you. And that you can resist the Lord by your cleverness.

Know that that cleverness is only being held up by the hand of God. And all he has to do is let his hand go or turn it slightly. And these things that he has gifted to you that are not yours of your own.

Taken away swiftly. And so he leads people astray. Not in the sense of forcing anyone to do anything wrong. But rather handing them over to their own natural inclinations. Which tend toward judgment. That's what you see earlier in Isaiah 6.

That Isaiah is to preach so that the heart of the people is hardened. And so that their eyes are blinded. Not as though they have sight and God takes it away. But rather that he has given them sight that is not theirs to have.

And he allows them to drift into the blindness that they would naturally. Apart from his hand. Now once again there's an interesting connection to James 3. And what James 3 says about the tongue. James 3 says of the tongue.

If we put bits into the mouth of horses so that they obey us. We guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ship also. Though they are so large and they are driven by strong winds. They are guided by a very small rudder.

Wherever the will of the pilot directs. So the tongue is like a bit in the mouth that directs at places. People imagine that by the power of their own tongue. They will direct their own lives. You know some people go as far as to say that.

Even by the power of their own positive speaking. They will manifest their reality. Now some people have really stepped into the position of God. But even apart from that. They have stepped into the position of God.

Thinking that by their own power. By their own tongue. They will direct themselves. But look at what's going on here. The Lord's tongue. The Lord's tongue is placing in the jaws of the people. A bridle that leads astray.

His tongue is the bit that turns them. They imagine that their own tongue is the bit that will lead them to the right place. But it is the Lord ultimately that leads them where they will go. And so anyone.

Anyone who thinks that they can preserve their own life. That they can manage it. And manage their own destiny. Has not contemplated the fact that God is indeed very near. That he is near. That he is not far away.

That he is powerful. That though things like lips and tongue and breath might seem powerless. They are powerful. These are the same things by which God has created the world. And they are the same things by which he can destroy.

And so in considering this passage. As we consider every passage in Isaiah. We must understand not only what it says of the people at that time. Who know that this is speaking particularly of that enemy of Assyria.

That has come to assault the people that God will lead astray. But what it says of the greater enemies. All the nations that continue to be hostile to the Lord. As well as the power of Satan himself. These are things that are destroyed by the word of the Lord.

Destroyed by the tongue and the lips. And God's own breath. Now consider these things. Behold the name of the Lord comes from afar. Who has according to the New Testament the name above all names? It is Jesus Christ who has the name above all names.

Burning with his anger in thick rising smoke. Who is described that way in Revelation? Is it not Jesus Christ? His lips are full of fury. And his tongue is like a devouring fire. Now who is described in the New Testament as the word of the Lord?

It is Jesus Christ once again. His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck. To sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. To place on the jaws of the people a bridle that leads astray.

All of these ultimately point to Jesus Christ. And there's a connection here. That I'm hoping some people have noticed. But earlier in Isaiah. One of the important foundational chapters. It speaks very similarly.

Of the Lord sending a flood that reaches up to the neck. In Isaiah 8. It's said in verse 7. Excuse me. Let me start in verse 6. Because the people has refused the water of Shiloh. And that flowed gently.

And rejoice over Rezin the son of Ramaliah. In other words because the people have trusted enemy nations. And now at this time that we're looking at in Isaiah. People are trusting new enemy nations. Therefore behold the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the river.

That's the Euphrates. Mighty and many. The king of Assyria and all his glory. So it's imagining the king of Assyria who lives beyond the Euphrates. As being the Euphrates itself. Rushing over and flooding the people.

And it will rise over all its channels. And go over all its banks. And it will sweep into Judah. And it will overflow and pass on. Reaching even to the neck. And its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land O Emmanuel.

You see. God is with the people. In chapter 8. In judgment. Emmanuel has been given as a sign. That God is with the people. So that he will judge the people for their sin. Yet what do you see here in Isaiah 30?

It's turned around. Now it is not Assyria that is the flood reaching up to the necks of the people of Israel. But rather it's the breath of the Lord reaching up to the neck of the people of Assyria. God has turned judgment around on the people.

This was spoken originally to Emmanuel. And is it not the presence of the Lord that has done this? The Lord they think of as far away. Yet God is with us. He is with us through Emmanuel. Jesus Christ.

It is in Jesus Christ that he has borne that judgment that was due to the people. And turned it around so that it only affects the enemies of God. He has borne it himself. He has suffered the wrath of God that is due to us.

And he has sifted out the peoples. Just as Simeon said. That this son was appointed for the rising and falling of many in Israel. Many of Israel rose through the ministry of Jesus Christ being granted forgiveness.

Many were led straight into destruction. Their sins becoming obvious through their interactions with Jesus. And that is the same as this kingdom spreads across the world. That people are sieved out. So that they either rise or they fall.

And how they approach Jesus Christ. And whether they recognize him as Emmanuel. God with us who spares us from the storm. Or if they see him as rather one who is not God with us. As God just being far away.

If you have not trusted in Jesus Christ. Then this fate that is described here is for you. But if you turn and you trust Jesus Christ. Then he turns that flood around and against the enemies of God's people.

And this does not have to be bad news for you. But it can be as it is designed. As an interruption in this passage of good news for the people. Good news. That it is not the people of God to whom that flood is coming.

But rather it is the enemies of God. And the people of God have forgiveness in Jesus Christ. That they might be spared that flood that reaches even to the neck. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father. We thank you for this great promise of Jesus Christ.

We thank you that he has turned the floods of judgment. So that they are away from us. And he has borne them himself. And he destroys all the enemies of your people. We thank you for this great truth.

And we ask that it would give us great confidence. And that we would be those who fear you. That we would be God fearing men and women. That we would not fear man. But we would know that you are present and watching.

In Jesus name. Amen.