The Reach of Judgment

Please go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word

on that day.

This is verse 21.

Isaiah 24 21 on that day The Lord will punish the host of heaven

in heaven and the kings of the earth on the earth.

They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit.

They will be shut up in a prison and after many days they will be punished.

Then the moon will be confounded and the Sun ashamed.

For the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and his glory will be

before his elders.

You may be seated.

Dear Heavenly Father.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for these statements regarding your judgment and What a comfort they are for those

who are found in Jesus Christ.

I Pray that you would help us to Contemplate this passage to understand it and I pray

that you would Use your words to reach our hearts and transform them in

Jesus name.

Amen.

So looking at this passage this judgment and how far it reaches We should

see Comfort for those who find themselves hidden in Christ.

And we should see a great warning for those who would trust in themselves and find self -sufficiency.

So they do not think that they need anything or anyone.

They will be judged on that great day.

So this begins by talking about on that day.

So simply answering the question what is on that day?

Think about some of the things we've seen before a lot of these passages sound like they're talking about the

very final end.

For example terror and the pit and the snare upon you.

Oh habitants of the earth.

But as we saw last week Jeremiah applied these things to things that were happening in his own time and

as these passages Summarize all those oracles that came before they speak of things that were Contemporary

with the prophets things that would happen at Jesus's first coming things that would happen at his at his

last at his second coming and So there's a mix of several things going on here.

But one question we could ask is well What does he mean specifically by on that day.

Because there does seem to be particular time in mind well, this is the first time we've encountered

it in this section of Isaiah and chapters 24 through 27 form a whole section by

themselves and that phrase on that day or in that day is used several times throughout and

We could look at each one each one is a little cryptic in its own regard.

But I think the final one might be the most valuable to look at.

So if you look at the very end of chapter 27 Isaiah says and in that day

a great trumpet will be blown and those who are lost in the land of Assyria and those who Are driven

out of the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Talking of a of a gathering of God's people so that they come and they worship together at Jerusalem

and it uses much of the same imagery that we've seen before in Isaiah those of

Assyria and Egypt being gathered together now you heard a lot of this

actually referenced in the earlier sermon the idea of people being Gathered together

from all over the earth into Zion and we even saw Isaiah 2.

Isaiah 2 where it talks about people gathering to come and worship the Lord at Zion.

And this is not referring to Some distant future that hasn't yet happened.

This is referring to what has been already accomplished in the gospel of Jesus Christ as It says in

Hebrews 12 that we have come to Mount Zion those who gather together to the worship the Lord.

The Lord has already provided unity.

He has already brought a people together now that might not be fully manifest until

the final day until Jesus Christ returns, but it is already been accomplished now.

And so I would put forward to you when he says on that day He's talking about what was accomplished at

Christ's first coming, but then is more fully made manifest at a second coming.

So I do believe he has both in mind when he says on that day.

But primarily it is something accomplished at Christ's first coming.

So a lot of people read Isaiah.

I read a lot of books of the Bible as talking about something far off that hasn't happened yet and has

limited applicability to themselves.

This passage applies to you.

It's speaking of something that you live in its wake and you are headed to what it is talking about.

This passage applies to you.

Says on that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven in heaven.

Now what are the host of heaven?

Some have supposed because later on it speaks of the moon being confounded and the Sun is shamed.

That the host of heaven here are talking about the planets and the stars.

But why would the Lord?

Judge them in the same way that he would judge the Kings when it speaks of the kings of the earth on the earth.

It's not speaking metaphorically.

So when it speaks of the host of heaven, it seems to be speaking of angelic powers.

This is talking about the Lord judging angelic powers in heaven now the word

host Literally means army.

It's talking about the army the the vast quantity of spirits that exist

in the heavens.

Now in the Bible Bible calls God the Lord of hosts often because

he Commands an army of angels and if you've ever read a mighty fortress and if you wonder what Lord

Shabbat means that is referring to God being the Lord of hosts.

That's the Hebrew word there for hosts.

It's the word used here God is the Lord of hosts.

Now.

This is not talking about his holy angels rather.

It's talking about those fallen powers those evil and wicked beings

demons.

So God will judge them and then it says and the kings of the earth on the earth

He will judge the high powers as well.

Doesn't matter whether they are spirits or whether they are men.

Having said that this judgment is universal Isaiah now Focuses in

particularly on those who seem the most high the most untouchable and he affirms that yes.

Even those even the Kings even the spirits that seem so untouchable even

they will be touched by the judgment of the Lord and so if you have

found yourself to be Perplexed and confounded by all that the powers

of this world seem to get away with all the different things that Rulers

all the evil things that they do then rest assured Judgment is coming.

This is not something that they will be able to get away with forever.

The same is true even for spirits now, maybe because spirits are not visible.

You don't think that often of them you don't have any sort of indignation towards spirits, but if you imagine that

They were visible and you would watch the news and the news would report not just on what different rulers are doing

that you find Distasteful or unjust but it was reporting on what different spirits were doing and

all the evil they were creating in the world maybe Your conscience would

be more Pricked about how evil they are about how much

damage they are doing in the world.

Maybe you would have a great indignation not only towards rulers, but also towards

Demons who are unjust who are evil who are spreading wickedness in the world that God

created.

You can rest assured the judgment will come now.

Speaking of powers.

It's very tempting to think that if you have relatively little power.

If you have relatively little power you are in the clear.

But as this passage has said this judgment is universal.

And so Isaiah is just focusing on those who are the most untouchable as you see what Jesus

says and in the Gospels, especially Matthew 5 when he's Giving the

Beatitudes and he says blessed are the poor in spirit.

You know, what are these different accolades referring to?

There is no amount of physical poverty that will save a person there is no

Simply lack of power that will save a person rather it is a person acknowledging that they have nothing

before the Lord.

It is a person acknowledging that they have no power before the Lord.

No standing apart from His grace apart from something that he might give to them.

So this is not something that You know, it's very tempting many Christians go to the Bible

and use various proof texts to make Claims that everyone who has power is

evil because the Bible Has this loose association between those who are in power and those who are evil,

right?

And everyone who is poor and lacks power.

They are all good.

Don't buy that lie.

It is rather the one who sees himself as being self -sufficient.

That God is an enemy of and it is the one who sees himself as having nothing who comes to

God.

Recognizing that he has nothing though He might be relatively wealthy though He might be relatively powerful in the world.

The one who recognizes that in God's eyes He has nothing and comes to him with empty hands.

That is the one who is truly poor who is truly weak that God will welcome into his kingdom.

That is the one who will be spared on the day of judgment.

Because as he comes with empty hands that person appeals to Christ.

To Jesus Christ who is the righteousness of all who come to God and trust in him.

Now it continues on.

And it says what will be accomplished on that day.

They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit and they will be shut up

in prison now, this is.

You know, Isaiah is full of cryptic passages, but this is certainly one of the more cryptic ones.

However, we have enough passages in the Bible that talk about this that I think that if

we look through a few of them It might become clear what the Bible is talking about so let me just

I might be going through verses too fast to For you to be able to flip through but if you just listen to some

of these.

Consider what Jesus said when the gospel first began being proclaimed by his disciples in

Luke 10 17.

It says the 72 returned with joy saying Lord.

Even the demons are subject to us in your name and he said to them.

I Saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

So through the proclamation of the gospel Jesus Christ saw Satan fall from heaven like

lightning and we see in Revelation 20 that

this is spoken of in Revelation.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven.

Holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit in a great chain and he sees the dragon that ancient

serpent who is the devil and Satan and Bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit

and shut it and sealed it over him.

So that he might not deceive the nations any longer and a thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be released for a little while.

Here you have a picture of Satan being thrown into a pit and He is he

is being cast out of heaven.

It's the same scene that's described here.

And it's the same scene that we had seen earlier in Isaiah 14 if you remember earlier in Isaiah 14.

The Bible speaking of the king of Babylon.

Speaking of the kings of the earth being thrown into the pit but alluding also to the to the high

demonic powers of the heavens.

Being thrown into the pit and what was he called?

What was the king called?

Do you remember?

It's called Lucifer.

Anybody remember what what Lucifer means?

I'm really curious if anyone remembers.

Yeah, right, right.

It's speaking speaking particularly of Venus.

So as you look at this passage in Isaiah.

That's talking about These hosts of heaven these demonic powers and then

making a relationship to them.

Speaking of the the Sun in this in the the Sun and the moon being ashamed.

There is this.

There's this analogy that's going on here.

That's confirming it.

These are talking about the same thing.

These are talking about that.

Locking up of Satan and taking away his power so that he may not deceive the nations and his demons along with him.

Now if we continue looking through some of these passages.

There's also Jude 1 6.

Jude 1 6 says.

And the angels who did not stay with.

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling.

He has kept an eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day.

Speaking of angels and chains in gloomy darkness until that day

in 1st Peter 19 you have in which he went and Proclaimed to excuse me.

Let me back up to 18 for Christ also suffered once for sins the righteous for the unrighteous.

That he might bring us to God put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit speaking of his

resurrection I believe especially if you look at 1st Corinthians 15 and what it talks about the the spiritual body,

you know being glorified in the resurrection in which he went and Proclaimed to the spirits in

prison because they formally did not obey when God's patience waited in the days of Noah.

You see you have in all these different passages statements about.

You have on all these different passages statements about the demonic forces being

Imprisoned being chained so that they do not have the same power that they once had prior to the proclamation of

the gospel.

This is.

This is a great assurance for believers as they come and they and they Wonder you

know.

These trials that I go under the persecutions that the church faces.

Will the enemy win.

Will the enemy win.

The enemy will not win.

The enemy is chained the enemy only has Limited capacity, you know, if you've ever seen a dog

on a leash.

You know the dog can do a lot he can sound ferocious.

But there's a limit to what he can do while he's on that leash if you've ever tried, you know.

Playing game with your hands tied or something like that.

You'll know that you can get some things done.

But if someone else who's controlling the game, you know pushes you over or anything like that.

You really can't accomplish a whole lot.

Satan has been chained the nation's.

He does not have the power to deceive the nation's any longer.

There is a great Comfort in knowing that God will accomplish

this judgment because he has already chained the enemy.

And there's also One more passage I would have you consider and you can actually turn to this one second

Peter 2 and second Peter 2.

It's it not only speaks of angels being imprisoned these Demonic spirits being

imprisoned, but it explains what the application is for us what the application is

for the believer.

First Peter 2 for.

Or excuse me second Peter 2 for.

For if God did not spare angels when they send but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy

darkness To be kept until the judgment.

If he did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah a herald of righteousness with seven others when he

brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly if By turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes

he condemned them to extinction.

Making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly if he rescued righteous

lot Greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked for as that righteous man lived among

them day after day He was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds and saw

that he saw and heard.

Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under

punishment until the day of judgment and Especially those who indulge in the lust of

defiling passion and despise authority.

We live in a world that's full of unrighteousness, it's full of unrighteous powers.

It's full of those who have persecute Christians who go after the lust of the flesh and

and mock God's Church, and it's easy to be discouraged by these things.

It's easy to wilt Under pressure and to

Even be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ when you have all these

Presences all around whether they be high people low people or even demonic forces

at work but we can be assured as it says in 2nd Peter that if God has put them in

chains and we can be assured that on The final day that he will keep them in those chains

Until that judgment on the final day and so it says they will be shut up in a prison and after many

days They will be punished on that final day.

They will be punished you know as we as we proclaim the gospel as a church

as we Share God's Word with the world as we fight temptation all these different things

that require some measure of Assurance that there will be success in this battle

some measure of assurance that that Christ will see us through one of the things that God has given us is

Insight into the spiritual realm and what is going on in the heavenly places.

That God has cast demonic forces into a pit.

And he has chained them so that their forces are limited and we can take that and we can hold on

to that promise.

Knowing that this ensures That the mission that God has given the church that the church will be

successful in it and this is something that we can hang on to especially in the hardest trials when it feels like

The enemy has all the power when it feels like the enemy is unchained when we hear that dog growling.

We can know that that dog is indeed chained his power is limited and God has all the power

He has given all power over to Christ and Christ is ruling.

Says that the moon will be confounded and the Sun ashamed.

Literally the way this is said in Hebrew is The white one will be a

confounded and the hot one ashamed, you know describing these heavenly bodies as By their

qualities, you know the whiteness of the moon Will be made so that it's not white

because will seem like nothing in the glory of the Lord.

The same thing with With the Sun the heat of the Sun the brightness of the Sun will seem

like nothing in the glory of the Lord.

We see that Use several times throughout scripture.

I think the one most of us will be familiar with is at the very end of Revelation where it says There's no Sun or moon

because because the lamb is its lamp There is a brightness to the glory of God

that will make even the the Sun ashamed and the moon ashamed.

So, why should we be ashamed?

Why should we be ashamed if we have the glory of the Lord on our side?

And this is not something that Yes, it will become more fully manifest it

will become fully manifest on that last day.

But this is not something that is not true already now.

It is true already now.

It is something that has been accomplished by what Jesus Christ has done.

It is already the case that he is made himself glorious to the world and making himself ever glorious to the world.

Through his people he is bringing glory to himself through the church.

You know one of the things As we've been going through Ephesians I've been trying to study ahead a little

and one of the things that struck me is a passage in Ephesians 3 where it's talking about

the implications of a lot of the.

Of a lot of the stuff you've heard preached this morning and last week about Unity between Jews and Gentiles and what God is accomplishing

through that.

And you know Many of you may be familiar with the passage later on in Ephesians 6 12 where it talks about

Wrestling not with flesh and blood but with the rulers and authorities and it talks about the spiritual battle that's going on well

something that it says in the middle in Ephesians 3 10.

Let me let me go ahead and start at verse 8 to me though.

I am the very least of all the saints.

This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for

everyone.

What is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the

church?

The manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Who are the rulers and authorities?

They include at least those rulers and authorities of chapter 6 include at least the

demonic forces That have now been in chained.

That gospel the unity of the church the building up of the church is something that

is proclaiming God's wisdom.

Not just to the world.

It's not just that the world sees what's going on and Sees this wisdom of God, but even

The powers of the air.

Even the powers of the air are seeing the glory of God and what is being accomplished in the church.

And God has accomplished much he has provided a wonderful salvation he is united a people for

himself of people that are redeemed people who have no hope outside of him and though they

be Diverse and otherwise there would be nothing to unify him then he has unified

them in himself.

And this is the assurance that we have that the church will prevail is that God intends to glorify himself

through the church and This is the assurance that you can have as an individual too because God intends to glorify him

by himself even through the individual follower of Christ.

That the world the demonic forces will all see God's glory shining

hot through us.

So do not despair.

Let's pray dear heavenly father.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you for this assurance that you have given us insight into what is occurring in the heavenly realms.

God.

I pray that As you give us eyes of faith to to see these things and recognize these

truths that you've given us that we would have assurance that we would understand the limitations of Evil spirits

that we would understand the limitations of kings and powers.

That as Christ reigns They have been limited and that as the church

Goes about its mission that it is guaranteed success and Lord I pray that you would fill us with a

great confidence and a zeal that would That would enable us to

endure every trial that you have laid out for us in Jesus name.

Amen.