Hiding from the Fury

Isaiah 26–27 as a Call to Flee from God’s Wrath

Amen. Well, please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 26. We'll be looking at the very end of Isaiah 26, moving into Isaiah 27, 1. Sorry. Sorry about that. There we go. Microphone. So we are in Isaiah 24 through 26, which is essentially a summary of all the oracles that had gone in before to the nations.

And now a summary of all that, those judgment oracles is being given here in these sets of chapters. So it will finish in this upcoming chapter, but right here, it speaks in a very climatic way about God's wrath on the nations.

It encourages God's people to hide away from that wrath. Please stand, if you will, for the reading of God's word. Isaiah 27, beginning in verse 20. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the sure promises of the victory that you have provided in Christ and the sure promises of the safety that you have provided in Christ.

Pray that we would flee to him for mercy, that we would rest upon that rock. In Jesus' name, amen. It's generally said that when you are in some stressful situation, people have a fight or flight mechanic.

Say, in the Christian life, there are probably two different responses, that being fleeing or fainting. You can either flee to Christ for mercy, or you can faint, you can despair. The Christian life, in some senses, it's a very easy one because God has provided everything we need in Jesus Christ.

But in other ways, it's very difficult. It's very difficult because we are prone to temptation. We are prone to despair. We are prone to look at our circumstances and see the threats, and to not see what God has given, to see those threats and despair.

But God has called us to flee, to flee away from the powers of the enemy, from the world, and from his own wrath. There's a great wrath that is upon the world. God is angry with the wicked every day. And there's an even greater wrath that's coming when he judges the whole world in perfect judgment.

Because God has a perfect law. People have disobeyed that perfect law. Mankind, being guilty, deserves death. And God will come, and he will judge justly. And so he calls us to flee. He calls us to flee to Christ for mercy, to come, as it says in this passage, to shut the doors behind you, to flee away from his wrath.

So I'd like to spend some time talking about what it means to flee. What it means to flee from the wrath of God, to flee away from, from his wrath, from shame, and from the enemy. So let's begin here, looking at this first verse.

Entering the Chambers and Shutting the Doors

Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut the doors behind you. Now, this is a very interesting way of ending this chapter. Because if you remember, the beginning of this chapter said something that sounds quite different, something that's pretty starkly contrary to that.

It says in verse 2, Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Open the gates. It's talking about open gates. People being welcomed with open arms and a perfect freedom to go from one place to another.

A revelation describes the city of God as having gates that are always open. God has won a wonderful victory. Those gates that are open for the, for the victor to march in, they have been open. And yet, at the same time, because we see a world where Christ already is victor, and yet he is, at the same time, every last enemy is being put under his feet, and that victory is becoming manifest.

At the same time that the gates are open, they must be closed. The same time the gates are open, we must flee. Both these truths remain true until that last day when that fury has finally completely passed.

And so we must flee to Christ for mercy. Mercy is found in him because he has shed his blood on the cross, because he has bought us forgiveness. We must hide away in him. So what does it look like? What does it look like to flee?

What does it look like to hide away and to enter your chambers, to shut the door behind you? Well, first of all, this is not a hiding away from the world entirely. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 that when he says not to associate with wicked people, he's not saying that we should go out from the world entirely.

That's impossible to do. We are in this world, and that's our place as sojourners for a season. But it is to disassociate with the world, to disassociate with the cares of the world, with the anxieties of the world, with the priorities of the world.

It's to hide away from all those things, hide away from all those things that would bring the wrath of God, and therefore to hide away from the wrath of God itself. We are in a in a great abyss. You know, the world around us is a is a dark and terrifying place, a place that will receive the wrath of God.

But God has provided us a refuge. We are in a submarine in this great abyss, and who would open the door of the submarine while it is still in flight, while it is still in transit? It would be very foolish.

We must hide away, hide away from the great abyss we are in. He says here in verse 20, come, my people, into your chambers and shut the doors behind you. You know, this is a very personal appeal. I've found it interesting as I have studied the different prophets, the way the different prophets speak.

Isaiah speaks usually the way I'm very used to, where he is saying things that are true that he's received from the Lord. Some of the other prophets speak differently. For example, when you read Ezekiel, he speaks the Lord's words as the Lord's words, right?

He says, and the Lord said, and then you can imagine much of the book of Ezekiel being in just massive quotation marks on either end of the book, right? And then he's just frequently quoting the Lord.

And Isaiah here speaks what the Lord says, a lot of third person. And yet here, Isaiah does something that he doesn't often do, which is switch to second person and speak to his people. He switches to second person, speaks to his people.

He says, come, my people, into your chambers. He makes a very personal plea. And so I make a personal plea to you. Flee, hide away, enter your chambers. Flee away from the cares of this world. You know, whatever concerns the world have, do not make those your concerns.

This is a place where you are merely a sojourner. You will not be here forever to spend your time and your thought and your energy worrying about the things of this world, even if they are relatively good things or noble things.

Ultimately, those things will pass away. To waste your care and your anxiety on these things is to miss the wonderful treasure that Christ would have our eyes to set up, be set upon himself, dwelling with him forever.

This kingdom that he has prepared for us. These are the things that we should have our eyes set on. These are the things that we should be focused on, not the cares of this world. And we should flee away from the sinful things of this world.

Most naturally, these should not be the preoccupations of a Christian. Rather, we should run from those things. We should hide away from anything that would draw the wrath of God. But rather, we should find security, security where he has placed us.

And where has he placed us? Where does one flee to? Where does one hide away in? Where are our chambers? Well, it is in the perfectly safe arms of Christ. But he has placed us also in particular societies.

He's placed us in church where we can find, find refuge away from the world. You know, this is a, this is a place of great comfort. Week by week, you should be encouraged. You should be reminded of what the main priorities in life should be, of what truth really is while you live among lies every day.

This is a place where you should find refuge in truth. Now, consider who, who your main associations are, your main friendships are. You know, are they in the world or in the church? There's a way of structuring your life, of structuring your friendships, so that you can be encouraged, so that you can truly hide away from the world.

Paul says bad company corrupts good morals. You know, we should, we should structure our lives around good company, around the company that God has given us. And maybe, maybe you ask that question, you know, what, who are my close friends?

And think, well, it's not the world, but it's not the church either. Maybe I don't have many close friends. Make friends here. Make that a project of your life, to develop deeper and closer relationships here with people that will encourage you, people that will build you up.

Now, I'd like to call your attention to the picture that is being painted here of doors being shut behind. You know, the first thing, the first picture that this should bring of us, if we're students of the Old Testament, if you've, if you've read the Old Testament prior to Isaiah, and you know the kinds of things that he might be alluding to, the first one is Passover.

In Passover, the Lord's wrath is coming on the nation of Egypt, and he's bringing death and destruction. He's going to walk through the camp and destroy the firstborn of every household that doesn't have the blood of the Lamb.

And Isaiah knows these stories. Isaiah knows these stories. His audience knows these, these, this history of Israel. And so when he speaks this way and talks about closing the doors behind them, he knows what he's talking about.

They know what he's talking about. They know they need the mercy of God as he is coming in judgment. They know they need the blood of the Lamb. We should be hiding away in the blood of Christ. You know, when these, when we are tempted, when we are struck by the cares of the world, where should we turn?

We should turn to the mercy of Christ. We should not turn to ourselves. You might think that you can save yourself by hiding away in whatever shelter you can find, but Jesus is the only rock that you can hide in.

He's the only one that can provide a real safety away from the judgment that is coming. It is only by his blood over the doors of your house that you can be safe. And so do not, do not look to yourself for salvation.

Do not look to your own works or anything that you've managed to accomplish. Rather, come to him with the empty hands of faith, recognizing that he is the only one that can hide you away, that can provide you with safety.

And that is indeed what happens here. You know, this, this phrase talks about you shutting the doors behind you. But the way the Bible occasionally pictures this, when it pictures God's people hiding behind doors, is not always the people shutting their own doors, but often God shutting the doors behind them.

If you think about Genesis, what happened with the ark? The Lord closed the doors behind Noah. What happened in Genesis 19 when, when Lot was being attacked in his home? Lord shut the doors behind, behind Lot.

The Lord is doing everything here. You know, even, even the shutting of the doors, we are to, we are to shut the doors behind us. But even then, we are to look to the Lord and thank him for his protection.

Because ultimately, where is it by which we would have the, the wherewithal to shut the doors behind us? Where is it that we would have the wherewithal to hide away in the mercy of Christ? It's God who gives us a sensible heart.

It's God who, by his Spirit, changes our heart, that we might even recognize the need for such a salvation. So ultimately, all credit goes to him. He is the one that we are hiding in. He is ultimately the one who is shutting the doors, changing our hearts, that we would recognize we need shut doors behind us.

It goes on and he says, Hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. The fury has passed by. You know, this is, this is the wrath of God against sin. We've heard of the sin of the nations in the previous oracles that we've read in Isaiah.

And God's wrath is coming upon every one of those nations. God's wrath is coming upon all wickedness. And the only mercy that can be found is in Jesus Christ. However, this is, this is different than the indignation that was spoken of earlier in Isaiah.

In Isaiah 1025, it spoke about God's indignation against his people, how he was sending an enemy against them. And yet, it also let us know that this was, this was discipline. This was for correction, that he had done this.

And now he speaks of fury, something, something greater. He speaks of a punishment. We see even in the next verse, the word punish used. There's a distinction that we've seen many times here in Isaiah.

That's the distinction between God's hand of discipline and his hand of punishment. The one who runs to Christ for mercy does not find perfect comfort the way that they might want perfect comfort. They do find a perfect comfort in Jesus Christ.

But that perfect comfort comes with God's fatherly hand of discipline. And there's a difference between these two things. You know, we spoke, we spoke last time in verse 16 about when your discipline was upon them, it came to God for mercy.

It talks about the resurrection that he will provide, bodies rising from the dead. This is different than that. You know, the, I'll make a point that I made last week, which is, as you experience trials in this world, you are to discern, you discern them as discipline or as, as wrath, as punishment, right?

And how do you know what the difference is between the two? Well, if you have come to God for mercy, if you have come to God for mercy, the answer is naturally that they are disciplined because they have produced a corrective result in you.

This is how you can know the difference. You don't have to wonder whether God's hand is a, is against you or whether God's hand in your trials is for you. You can simply come to him for mercy and know that by you coming to him for mercy, they are indeed for your good because he is good to everyone who comes to him for mercy.

Additionally, you see here that it speaks of, it speaks of something temporary. It speaks of something that happens for a little while. You know, we only need to, to hide for a little while. A lot of times people feel just drawn out in this world, exhausted, like it's just taking too long.

You know, Christ, when are you returning? And it's very natural to feel that way, but often that produces despair. And the reason that produces despair is typically because people think that time is longer than it is.

They're thinking myopically. They're thinking oftentimes like children. You know, children, you tell them if they've got a time out for five minutes and that just seems like an eternity. I remember when I was a kid, it's just short periods of time.

It seemed like forever. We're waiting for Christmas or something like that. Wow, man, it's a week away. It just feels like forever. But in the scheme of eternity, it is nothing. You know, learn to number your days.

And I mean that very seriously. You know, think about your life. Think about how old you are. Think about how many years at max God has given you, how many years at min he's given you. And think about how short a time that is in light of eternity.

We only need to hide away for a little while. This is not, this is not something large that he's asking of us. We only have to run to Christ for mercy, hide there for a little while, and the fury will pass.

That great day of judgment will pass. The end of your life will pass where you'll be freed from the burdens of this world and be taken together with the saints awaiting Christ's judgment on all the nations.

It is only a short while. You know, just like with a submarine, you know, you don't want to open that door before it's made its transit. There's a, you know, the cartoon Bambi. I watched that as a kid.

One of the scenes that really stuck with me was that scene with the quail. I don't know if you know what I'm talking about. But, you know, the hunters coming is really, it's a really intense movie for a kid.

You know, the hunters coming and, you know, animals dying in that movie. And the quail are hiding in the bush, but they're getting more and more scared. And they're, one ends up flying away, right? And then they all end up flying away.

And, of course, the hunter gets them. But if they had just hidden away, the hunter would have never known they were there. You know, it's just a little while. It's just a little while. In verse 21. For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

The Lord Coming Out to Punish the Earth

So we've already talked about that distinction between discipline and punishment. Now, think about the Lord coming from his place. You know, one sense that has an obvious impression, at least, on you.

But on the other hand, think about it. God is not, he's not a physical person. You know, he's not a physical being that lives in a physical place. So when it talks about his presence in heaven or his presence on earth, it's always talking about, you know, God's particular favor or some other aspect of his activity.

And here, when it speaks of him coming out from his place, why would Isaiah speak in these terms? You think, if you think of God's place as being somewhere where he is comfortable, where he lives in glory.

And for him to come away from that, for him to leave that, shows the degree of the anger that he must have to leave that. You know, if a father tells his kids, don't make me stop this car and come back there, you know, that's because he's really angry.

He's at his limit. The patience has been spent. He's coming from his place. And moreover, how long, how long does it take God to come from heaven down to earth? There's another thing that's being emphasized here.

If he is in transit, if he is in transit from heaven to earth, not that he will come eventually, but he is coming out of his place, shows the great speed with which he's coming, the soonness with which he's coming, the urgency of staying hidden away and persevering, looking to Christ, trusting in him, waiting on his return, not despairing, not feeling like this is too long, not feeling that his yoke is heavy and his burden is unbearable.

Rather, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And the earth will disclose the blood shed on it and will no more cover its slain. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it. You know, we had just looked at in Isaiah in these previous verses, it talks about the bloodshed on the earth, all the bodies that have been slain on the earth.

And all that bloodshed cries out for vengeance. You know, Hebrews 11 and 12 talks about the blood of Abel crying out for vengeance, Abel still speaking. You know, there is a, there is great bloodshed, and there is an increasing bloodshed, an increasing bloodshed that is calling for vengeance, that is calling God to descend and to destroy.

Now, in one sense, I think it's right for us to look at this passage, to identify with those who have been the subject of bloodshed, to those who have been the victims in this scheme. However, a lot of times I think that people read the Bible and they identify with the wrong aspect of the narrative.

For example, how often do you read the story of David and Goliath and you identify as David, you know, the hero that God holds up to defeat the enemy? Well, you know, I think there's a sense in which, that as Christ has been victorious over sin, that we are victorious in him.

But how much more should you be identifying with the scared Israelites all around while David is, David is defeating his enemy? Similarly, with the 11th hour worker, how many people identify as one of the first workers, you know, that's doing more?

Really, you should probably be identifying with the 11th hour worker, the one who is, who is doing less, the one who Christ has been incredibly merciful to. The same thing is the case here. He is calling us to hide away from his fury.

Those who do not hide away, those who are subject to his fury, are subject to his fury because they have been guilty of the bloodshed. We are not of our own, apart from Christ, the ones who are victims.

Rather, we are the ones whose own hands have shed blood and who will be caught in the fury of God if we stay away from this hiding place that he has provided in Jesus Christ. It is only that we are found in him and as we suffer for his namesake that we are identified among the victims and guaranteed some sort of vindication for these things.

So there's not, there's no, no bystander option. You are either the oppressor or you're the victim, right? If you identify with the world, you are part of Satan's schemes. You have your master. He is your father.

But if you flee for Christ, you are rather one of the persecuted, one of the ones who will be ultimately vindicated. There's no, there's no third option. There's no bystander option. You are either with Christ or you are against him.

And he has guaranteed a perfect vindication for all those who are with him. A perfect vindication is something even our catechism talks about. One of the rewards that we receive is being vindicated on the day of judgment.

I don't know how many times you've been mocked for your beliefs or for following Jesus or for serving him in any way, but it is guaranteed that there will be vindication for that. Guaranteed. You don't have to, you don't have to worry.

You don't have to pursue vindication in this life and make sure that you grasp a hold of that. And if you can't have it, there's no point because it has been guaranteed that you will have it on that final day.

You know, this is why the Bible tells us vengeance is the Lord's. At a certain point, we cannot pursue vengeance. Even in, it doesn't matter if it's an issue with a friend where they've misunderstood us or wronged us.

It doesn't matter if it's an issue with an enemy. It doesn't matter if it's an oppressive government above us that's, that's treating us wrongly. You can have peace and you can have a guarantee in all these things that God's people will be vindicated on the last day.

That vengeance is the Lord's and thus everything will be made right. Everything will be made just. That can give a real excellent peace. You know, just for myself and thinking through some of the tumultuous things of the past couple of years, for example, and wanting justice to be done in cases where I feel like it's far from done and just maybe unattainable, just absolutely unattainable.

I can rest assured that there will be one perfect justice in the end and two particularly vindication for God's people on the last day. This last verse in 27, and most people are, you know, most commentators are generally of the opinion that this verse belongs with the previous chapter rather than the song that continues.

It's kind of a transitional verse to the song that follows. In that day, the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan, the fleeing serpent. Leviathan, the twisting serpent. And he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

This is a description of the fury that's coming. The fury against God's enemies is also a fury against that great enemy, Satan. What is Leviathan? Leviathan is a sea monster that appears several times throughout the Bible.

It's not just once. A lot of people are familiar with the appearance in Job, but the name Leviathan is used several times. Sometimes it is a description of Pharaoh, given that you have the Nile River.

A lot of times he's depicted as a sea monster in the Nile River. But here, thinking of the serpent and the dragon of revelation, it is describing Satan as this great sea monster, this twisting serpent, this fleeing serpent.

And yet, what does that compare with? That compares with the description of God's sword. It is hard and great and strong. He might be twisting. He might be fleeing. But God's sword is hard and great and strong.

So you imagine a wriggling serpent that's everything opposite of what this sword is. And this sword is going to come and destroy him. The Bible says that the sword of God is his word. Speaks of Jesus Christ as being that word and speaking that word.

And so, how will this enemy defeated be defeated? Excuse me, be defeated by the word of Christ, by Christ himself, who will destroy this enemy? And what's more is he has already defeated this enemy. He has already defeated this enemy on the cross.

His power has been gotten rid of. He is permitted to roam around for a little while, but his power has been taken away. So he's been cast down into the pit. And it is guaranteed to us that he will ultimately, he will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire forever.

This is what God has accomplished in Jesus Christ over the Leviathan. And yet, if we are, if we don't run to Christ to hide away, to close those doors, we are subject to the enemy. He's roaming around like a roaring lion.

He will devour whoever he can. The world is full of all kinds of temptations. We must hide away in Christ from the enemy, from God's wrath, from the shame that comes from being shown to be the evil people that we are, apart from the salvation of Christ, and finally also from the enemy.

But God is coming and he will destroy that enemy. And if we are found out apart from God's people as part of the world, we will be destroyed alongside the enemy. Now I'd like to, the last thing I want to do, I'd like you to turn to Job 41.

We can look at a description of Leviathan and Job. Please turn to Job 41, beginning in verse 1. Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you with soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever or play with him as with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him. Remember the battle. You will not do it again.

Behold, the hope of man is false. He is laid low even at the sight of him. No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who has first given to me that I should repay him?

Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. If we are found out in the world, if we face Leviathan on our own, we will be destroyed. We cannot put a leash on him. We cannot play with him as with a bird.

We will be destroyed. But all of creation is the Lord's. All of creation. That includes Satan. Satan is part of God's creation. He's not some other uncreated being equal with God. World often depicts God and Satan as being these, you know, symmetric equal forces on either side.

Not the case. God is high, high, high above Satan. But because he is over the whole world, over all his creation, over even Satan, he will certainly defeat Satan. His strong and great and mighty sword will defeat that one.

And if we have fled to Christ for mercy, then we have that sword at our side. But if we have not, we will be destroyed forever. Friends, hide away just for a little while. Just for a little while. Hide away in the mercy of Christ with his blood on your door.

Prayer for Mercy, Protection, and Vindication

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this wonderful promise of Jesus Christ, of the mercy that he's provided, the salvation that he's provided, of the victory that he has provided over the great accuser.

We thank you for the forgiveness of sins that that accuser might not accuse us. And God, we ask that you would direct our prayers this afternoon, that we would come to you for mercy, that we would be willing to flee away only for a short while, that we would not look to the world for comfort, for comforts, but we would only look to you.

In Jesus' name, amen.