Wednesday, April 2, 2025 PM

Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for gathering us together. Thank you for the feast. Thank you for the fellowship. And now we pray that you would guide us through your word so we think about what you had to say through Isaiah to your people.

And what that means to us as we read it in the light of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray for these graces. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. All right, Isaiah 5, beginning in verse 26. 26, he will lift up a banner to the nations from afar and will whistle to them from the end of the earth.

Surely they shall 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 and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they will roar and they hold the prey.

They will carry 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.

The Final Woes and Judgment in Isaiah 5

So here at the end of Isaiah chapter five, we're hearing the conclusion of all of the woes God has declared against his people. A carefully tended vineyard that God did everything for and yet all they brought forth was bad grapes, sour grapes, wild grapes.

He explains how they have broken covenant with him by a sevenfold woe, detailing all of their transgressions. And then in verses 25 through, truly verses 24 through 30, we get the description of final judgment.

But it's in stages as we saw from verse 25 that although the anger of the Lord had been aroused against the people and he had stretched out his hand against them, and that the dead lined the streets, we read for all this, his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still.

And from a man's point of view, surely God had had enough. Surely this would be enough, this level of judgment. And yet his hand was stretched out still. God's standards of holiness and righteousness and judgment are not our standards.

Well, it seems unreasonable to us. Well, God has a different way of thinking. So because the judgment they had already experienced was not enough, the prophet Isaiah now says what they have to look forward to.

And you'll notice this punishment will be accomplished. And let's make six observations here of this sovereign work of God. First of all, the signal that he raises in verse 26, he will lift up a banner to the nations from afar and will whistle to them from the end of the earth.

So God raises a signal. This banner is also translated as an ensign or standard. Armies in the ancient Near East did not use flags. They used tall poles with symbols on them around which the soldiers could rally.

And by use of the poles, they were able to direct troops on a large scale battlefield. And so this ensign or standard is raised up and God is commanding the armies of the nations. He whistles for their attention and he whistles for them to come.

It's interesting the same word of whistle is used both before and after the destruction. The whistle calls them to the task of destroying his people. And then we read that when the nations go by Jerusalem after all the destruction has been done, they wag their heads and hiss, which in the Hebrew is the same word for whistle.

But God whistled first. Now his hand is stretched out still. He satisfies his wrath against these covenant breaking members of Judah. And he does that by marshalling Gentile armies from afar off and directing them to attack Judah.

The very same expression is used in chapter seven of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter seven in verse 18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

And why does he do that? Well, God has been talking to Ahaz, king of Judah. And Ahaz is very, very worried. He is worried about Rezin, the king Rezin of Syria, the son of Amalia. He is worried about the king of Assyria Israel named Pekah.

He's worried about the kings of Israel and Syria in a united front coming down to destroy Judah. Ahaz is very concerned about this. This is the primary threat as far as he's concerned. So God talks to Ahaz and says, ask for a sign.

You need some assurance. You need some confidence. Ask for a sign, be it small or great. And Ahaz being rebellious says, I'm not gonna ask you for a sign. God says, I'll give you one anyway. And what does he say?

Here in our old house of David, this is verse 13. Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

Curds and honey he shall eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, for the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.

The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house, days that have not come since the days that Ephraim departed from Judah. Meaning that the king of Judah thought he knew where the threats were, but he didn't.

And God said, the virgin will be with child. An interesting play on the word. For there is an immediate fulfillment of a young woman who has a child, the second born of Isaiah, may her shallel hashbaz, what a name.

And before that youngster was old enough to know whether the food was worth eating or not, before he knew right from wrong, Assyria had wiped out Syria and Israel and was coming down hard on Judah. Of course, the ultimate fulfillment of that passage we know and talk about at Christmas time.

So the signal from the Lord is one in which he, in control of all things, just whistles, lifts up a standard and controls all the nations that he desires. These Jews thought they knew where their real dangers lie.

They think that they perhaps have managed them well. They think they know the close threats and if they're far off, you'll see it in time enough to respond. However, this is pride because these threats come in speed.

It's helpful for us to remember that fearing man and fearing death is foolish. If we should fear God instead, we should think of God first and think of God most. Stop thinking of men first and men most.

Stop thinking of death first and death most. Fear of death is slavery and fear of man is a snare, but the fear of the Lord is life and life to our bones and it's understanding the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.

These enemies come at speed. Verse 26 says, surely they come with speed swiftly. So the signal is given and they come very quickly.

Though they come from a far off,.

The distance is no barrier to effectiveness. God is able to bring these nations quickly and make Jerusalem ground zero of covenant judgment. We saw from last time that Judah had interpreted God's long suffering as slowness in general.

You thought I was altogether like you, Psalm 50 verse 21, but now they're in for a rude awakening. God moves in his own timing at the right time and quickly. And there's not gonna be any time for these folks in Jerusalem to mitigate against the disaster.

They'll only have time to see it coming. And the normal difficulties of launching a military campaign from so far away will not matter this time. Verse 27, look at the strength supplied them. No one will be weary or stumble among them.

No one will slumber or sleep. So all those human limitations that usually restrict the effectiveness of a long range military action are now strangely absent. Their strength will not fail. These armies of foreign nations will have divine aid.

God is going to give them special favor, a kind that Israel expected for themselves. And they would have received this divine favor had they kept covenant with God. Notice how well God supplies these foreign nationals.

Verse 27 continues, nor will the belt on their loins be loose nor the strap of their sandals be broken. So God has got to sustain these foreign soldiers and their military endeavors, just like he did the children of Israel in the wilderness.

Remember their garments didn't wear out and their sandals were preserved and God took care of everything that they needed throughout the wilderness. Well, now he's doing that for their enemies. Quite the reverse.

When you go back and you read the curses and blessings in Deuteronomy 28 and 29, Leviticus 26, and you read about the blessings for Israel if they keep covenant, and then the curses if they break covenant, as we think about what's happening here in Isaiah, suddenly their enemies are the ones being blessed in the way that they used to be blessed and because they're under the curse of God because they have broken covenant with him.

There's a very sharp reversal in this passage. It's very severe. These enemies come with severity. Verse 28 says, their arrows are sharp, all their bows are bent, their horses hooves will seem like flint.

That's kind of scary. A horse with a flint hooves is riding along, setting everything on fire. That's pretty scary. Their wheels like a whirlwind, their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions.

Now this is an expression of severity and strength. You know, you used to hear this about King David and this idea of the lion, who's gonna mess with a lion. Well, who was it that no one should be messing with?

Who was it who used to be the one that no one would mess with? Well, wasn't it Judah? Judah, the very people to whom Isaiah is preaching. What was Judah's nickname anyway?

You remember?

Lion.

What did Jacob say in his prophecy over his son Judah, his fourth son Judah? Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you.

Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey of my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion and as a lion, who shall rouse him? All right, that was Judah's reputation. And now, and now it's their enemies.

Another reversal, several reversals so far. And look at their success, the success of these enemies. They will roar and lay hold of the prey. They will carry it away safely and no one will deliver. You've seen this on the National Geographic specials.

So often the lion may be denied here and there. The hyenas come in, the wild dogs come in. There's just too many. The lion has to give up the kill. But when the pride of lions get the kill and they bring it into their midst, nobody's taking that kill away from them.

Verse 30, in that day, they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks at the land, behold darkness and sorrow and the light is darkened by the clouds. So these nations, these foreign armies, these Gentiles are likened as unto the sea, the roaring of the sea.

And they're likened to a beast, a beast that rises out of the sea to devour covenant breakers, which is something that John wrote about in Revelation 13 and 17. A sea beast devouring covenant breakers.

We got the idea from Isaiah. The darkness you see here prevailing unnaturally over the land is a common metaphor for judgment. When everything goes dark, when the stars fail, the moon fails, the sun fails, power outage.

When the power is switched off and there's a regime change. A good example of that is in Isaiah 13. In Isaiah 13, verses nine through 10, we have some what's called decreation language. And when you read in Genesis one and there's the progression of order and things are being put together and you go from canvas to beauty, here, everything's being undone.

So Isaiah 13, verse nine, behold, the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy his sinners from it. So the day of the Lord is the day in which God executes his judgment against sinners.

There have been many such days, a day of the Lord here, a day of the Lord there. And of course we have that great day of the Lord still yet to come. But notice the language in verse 10. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light.

The sun will be darkened and it's going forth and the moon will not cause its light to shine. Power outage. So the sun fails and the moon fails and the stars fail.

Darkness.

Darkness goes well as a metaphor of judgment. And say, well, when did this, when will this happen? What already happened? This happened when Babylon was destroyed. We'll notice that there's no Babylonians running around.

They were taken care of pretty effectively by the Medes and Persians. So when you look at chapter 13, verse one, you find that this description of judgment is the burden against Babylon, which Isaiah, the son of Amoz saw.

Okay.

So the stars and sun and moon failed power outage when God took down Babylon. Same thing happened with Edom. Same thing happened with Egypt. Same thing happened with Israel and Judah. Whenever there's a massive judgment and the end of an era, stars, moon, and sun just tend to fail.

And then God comes down in clouds and melts mountains. These are expressions of things being undone. All the landmarks are different. All the power systems are different. And this is happening here in Isaiah chapter five.

The darkness has come upon them. No matter where they look, it's over. Now, why did all this come about? Well, as you read through the passage, you'll notice some expressions that are repeated. He will, they will, and no one will.

He will do this and he will do that. They will do this and they will do that. And no one will be able to do that. And no one will be able to do this. And that floods the entire passage. It makes sense in this way.

God is the one who says, I'm gonna do this. And because he is determined to do this, that's why they, the foreign nationals, are able to do what they do. And because God has so willed it, that's why no one will be able to fail or frustrate concerning the plan of God.

Another passage in Isaiah that helps us here is Isaiah 46, verses eight through 11. And this entails many similar themes that we've just seen in chapter five. Isaiah 46, verses eight through 11. Remember this and show yourselves men, meaning man up.

Recall to mind, oh, you transgressors, right? This is who Isaiah is addressing in chapter five, the transgressors of the covenant. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.

I am God and there is none like me. They need to be reminded of this since we've seen in chapters one and two and five that they've completely forgot about God. Now, what kind of God is he? Verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

Remember Psalm 115, why should the nation say, where now is your God? Well, our God is in the heavens and he does what he pleases.

Praise God.

Now, notice what he does in his pleasure. Verse 11, calling a bird of prey from the east. Yeah, he whistles them up. The man who executes my counsel from a far country. Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.

I have purposed it. I will also do it. And that's the kind of God we meet in the Bible. That's the kind of God who speaks through his prophet to these people and reminds them who they have trespassed against, who they have broken covenant with.

He will remain faithful. He will do all that he has promised. Even in judgment, he will do all that he's promised. The rebellious I will of Adam and Eve against God, you'll notice in the garden that it wrecked them.

It didn't wreck him. It didn't throw him off guard. It destroyed them. As creator, he is Yahweh Sabaoth. He is a Lord of hosts, which means he owns and controls everything for his own glory. Owns everything and controls everything for his own glory.

So if you're against God as one made in God's image, that's why we have these expressions of everything is falling apart and then everything is coming together. We have these ways of expressing blessing and cursing.

When it comes to who Christ is, the way that he reigns and the way that he saves and the hope that he has given to us, everything's coming together. All things are reconciled together in Christ. When it comes to Jesus Christ, everything's coming together just the way he would have it.

He's the good shepherd. But when it comes, not to the last Adam, but to the first Adam, when it comes to sinners, when it comes to those who would oppose God, everything's falling apart, right? There's no way for it to succeed or continue.

We are reminded of this when we read about these reversals in the Bible. We don't have time to read it tonight, but I recommend Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2, verses one through 10, where she goes through and glorifies God for all of the reversals.

He just keeps switching it up. He keeps on inverting the whole order.

And why?

Because he owns everything and controls everything. And then she concludes by giving praise to the Lord who gives strength to his Messiah, to his anointed, to his King. Woman of faith. When seeing the reversals, when seeing the great upheavals in the world, and in noting how everything can turn on a dime, it's not time to worry.

It's not time to fear. It's time to praise God that he's so masterfully in charge and how it all is going to exalt his Messiah, exalt his Christ. There's a great deal of focus in this passage about how God treats the nations as he had once treated Israel, and how he's now treating Israel as he had once treated the nations like Egypt and Canaan when he sent his people against them.

It's interesting to think as well that the language of calling all these nations in, we find later in Isaiah chapter 11, the calling in of nations, but they're coming now, and they're coming from afar off, and they're coming with haste, but they're coming into Zion, they're coming to the Messiah, they're coming in for salvation.

First, we see them coming from great lengths to come judge Israel, the unfaithful servant, but then we see them coming from great lengths to come in to join in peace in the true servant. We have Israel being judged for the sake of God being glorified and bringing forth salvation, salvation in the true Israel.

How do we know this is the main message? Well, we have, of course, we have Isaiah chapter 8 and 9 and 11 that tells us this, but also just think about the language of calling who is the lion. When we go back to Genesis 49, the lion of Judah is being rebuked here in Isaiah 5, saying, you're no lion, the lion is coming after you, and God has called a lion when he judges in Isaiah 31, 4, but in Isaiah 49, when Jacob talks about Judah, after he talks about him being a lion, he goes on in verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes, the man of peace, and to him shall be the obedience of the people.

Binding his donkey to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth whiter than milk.

In other words, when Shiloh comes, he brings a mountain of blessing and bounty that no one even under the old covenant even saw. When Balaam goes forth and prophesies and he has to say exactly what God tells him to say, or else he gets struck down by the angel, he is forced to come out and say, I behold a lion, the lion of Judah, and no one's gonna mess with him, and he's the rising star.

And it gets focused in from the tribe of Judah to the man of Judah, to the king, to the one, and this is where the focus in Isaiah is going to go. From the unfaithful servant who can't keep covenant, and no matter what God does, they're just a bunch of sour grapes.

And through the course of Isaiah, focus becomes more and more centered on the one who comes and eventually says, not that he has a bunch of grapes, but that he is the true vine. He is the true vine, and will you abide in me?

Judgment, Reversal, and the Sovereign Rule of God

So I think as we think about the whole scope of Isaiah chapter five, especially in this last passage, we should wonder about our concern, what has our focus? What has our constant anxious seeking for solutions?

You know, where is our attention? The attention of Israel, they thought they knew where to look, but they weren't looking to God. They thought they knew where their threats were coming from, but they had no idea.

This reminds us something about our cognition. We live in an age of information, but we do not live in an age of understanding. Just because we have access to a whole bunch of information, we don't actually, we can't actually take in all that information, number one.

Number two, we don't, in our own ability, we're not able to ask the right questions about that information, or even seek the right answers. I know it's hard to believe, but we don't know what's going on.

And that's really important. It's really important for our peace and comfort in the Lord to just confess, I don't know what's going on. To say, there's a lot of information out there, but I am not well informed, right?

There's a whole lot of things being said, but I don't know what that means. It's okay to say that. It's okay to say that. We don't have full understanding. And we see it time and time again in the scriptures where pride is involved.

They thought they knew exactly what the lay of the land was, exactly where the threats were, and they were wrong, wrong, wrong. We have not gotten past that. So where's our confidence? Our confidence is not in our abilities.

It's not in what we think our trajectories are. Our confidence is in the promises of God. He will do what he says he will do. There's a lot of confidence that we're to be having there. All right, well, that's all we have for tonight.

And Lord willing, Sunday evening, I'll pick it up in Isaiah chapter six. And Lord willing, a week from tonight, Chris will begin teaching his passage in Titus. So we're going to switch it around just a little bit.

Hopefully no one will notice.