Wednesday, March 12, 2025 PM

Isaiah 5:24-30 and the Covenant Woe Against Judah

Turn to Isaiah chapter 5. Isaiah chapter 5 we'll be reading verses 24 through 30. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father I thank you for the day. I thank you for our time together already and feasting and fellowshipping together.

We thank you for your word, for its truth, for our hope that we have in Christ that you so clearly offer us here. Lord I pray that you would help us to rejoice in your truth tonight and be changed by it and that we would be led by you to bear one another's burdens and love one another as we pray and recede for each other.

We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Isaiah chapter 5 beginning in verse 24. Therefore as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff so their root will be as rottenness and their blossom will ascend like dust because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people. He has stretched out his hand against them and stricken them and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out. Still he will lift up a banner to the nations from afar and will whistle to them from the end of the earth. Surely they will 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 will seem like flint and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion. It will roar like young lions. Yes they will roar and lay hold of the prey. They will carry to carry it 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. Now we've come to the end of chapter 5 which of course began with the parable of the vineyard and the rotten grapes from the bad vine.

That vine being the tribe of Judah planted there in the land of Judah Jerusalem with its walls can be envisioned as a vineyard as the as the representative of the entire nation and it's just full of rotten fruit.

Having declared this we then have a sevenfold woe given to Judah wherein these covenant members are particularly charged with covenant transgressions and God declares woe upon them in a sevenfold manner meaning that they have fully completely broken the covenant and therefore this judgment this full judgment is deserved here in verses 24 through 30.

This passage has relevance to us who are not members of the old covenant who are not obligated in the same way as Israel because the peril of mankind the peril of all men in Adam is expressed here in covenantal woe.

The same three factors that apply to those made in the image of God are here in the covenant we have the Creator and the creature in the creation. How we love God how we love each other how we steward the creation.

These are always the concerns not only of those made in God's image but those with whom God makes a covenant. So the peril of man is clear when we read about God in this passage we find that God is unwaveringly holy that he is righteous and that he is good.

We can tell from just these verses that God is all-powerful that he knows all things and that he owns everything. And yet man is like a wilted plant producing rotten grapes. We see that from the context and we have the organic farming language here in verse 24 that echoes back to what we read in verses 1 and 2 we find that man is feckless and reckless insolent towards this all-powerful all-good all-knowing God who hates sin and who judges sinners.

So what we find here as God talks to Israel is that it matters to us in this way that the covenant with Israel amplifies the peril of Adam. It amplifies other things too but it certainly amplifies the peril of Adam.

When the anger of the Lord is aroused against his people he brings all the curses of the covenant upon them. And that kind of wrath is what reminds us of the curse in exile. It followed Adam's rebellion in the Garden of Eden.

So that's what we're looking at when we see God's dealing with Israel we're seeing something about God's dealing with all mankind. Now when we look at verse 24 we have the verdict the verdict given against Israel.

But we also have in verse 25 the sentence accomplished. Not only is the verdict announced in verse 24 but the sentence is accomplished in verse 25 and the punishment is applied in verses 26 through 30.

Let's look at verse 24 for a moment. Therefore as the fire devours the stubble and the flame consumes the chaff so we have an image of fire in the first two lines of one line we have we have a two two stanzas or two two thoughts about fire.

And then we have two thoughts about rotten grapes and then two thoughts about why the judgment is coming. So first we see the fire. You have the idea of fire like a carpet of fire racing along the chopped stalks of a of a harvested field only black left behind in its wake.

And then as the fire races along that low carpet it hits a pile of chaff and then just whoosh there's the roar of the flame. So also in the same fashion we have a description about the rot on the root of the plant that spreads over the plant and then spreading over the vine comes up all the way to the blossoms and it's complete death.

The blossom the bud the branch all dry as dust withered cut and gathered simply to feed the fire. Now Isaiah does not leave the people wondering how all of this has happened. Why did this disaster come to them.

He states the problem clearly and logically even poetically. He says. Here's why this has happened. Because notice because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

So we have the law and the word. This law and word belong to God. He is described as the Lord of hosts and the Holy One of Israel. And what have they done with this. They have. They have rejected it. They have despised it.

This is why they are a rotten plant. Back in the first few verses we discover that Judah is a vine that God did everything right in planting but they only brought forth rotten fruit. Why are they so rotten.

Here we're told why. Because they have rejected the Word of God. They have rejected the law of God. They have cast aside. They have derided the instruction the law the Torah of the Lord of hosts. They have cast aside and derided the Torah of Yahweh Sabaoth.

They have derisively left behind. We don't need that anymore. They have left behind the word of the Holy One of Israel. They have left behind the Imrah of the Kedosh Yisrael. Six stanzas and three lines announced the verdict of death.

That's what the fire is about. It's about death. That's what the rottenness in the planet is. It's about death. And that's what the separation from the Word of God is. It's death. This is why the sevenfold woe makes sense.

The sevenfold woe that comes after this rotten vineyard parable. All of this is provided all the necessary theological and covenantal ballast it needs from this one verse. Because of the importance of God's Word to his people.

I think it's important to remember the relationship of God's law and his word to the people of Israel. To put it plainly God's law which is often used as a summary of his ten commandments. His word which is all the scriptures he gave through the prophets and so on.

This is essentially when speaking of his law and his word is pointing to God's covenant with Israel. To reject the law or to despise the Word of God is the same exact thing as to reject and despise the covenant altogether.

What made Israel special in the first place. I mean God told him. It wasn't because you were more in number. It wasn't because you were strong. It wasn't because you were really impressive. I loved you because I loved you.

He says in Deuteronomy chapter 7 I made promises to your forefathers. And I loved you because I loved you. That's why. And I'm the one who who rescued you and redeemed you and made you special. So this is their whole identity.

Is this covenant that God made with them. And to reject his law reject his word is to reject the covenant altogether. In Exodus 34 and verse 28 we read that Moses of course was with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights.

And he ate. No he neither ate bread nor drank water. Remember this is a this is paralleled in the life of Christ in Matthew chapter 4. Now we read in verse 28 that God wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant the Ten Commandments.

So the Ten Commandments are equated with are the exact same thing as the Old Covenant. Right. The covenant that God made with Israel. And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai he didn't know that his face was shining and glowing.

And everyone's like oh man put a veil over that we can't stand that it's like the glory of Sinai was confronting them and they had already run away once. And they didn't want it on the face of Moses confronting them.

So they couldn't handle it. In Exodus 40 verse 20 it says that that Moses took the testimony and put it into the ark. What is the testimony. It was the Ten Commandments. And we have verse 21 the Ark of the Covenant is there called the Ark of the Testimony.

So when you read through Exodus and Deuteronomy and so on you're gonna read about the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony. Oh well what's going on there. It's just a different way of talking about the Ten Commandments which was called the covenant which was called the testimony.

So the Ark is a box that carries things. And what did it carry. It carried the covenant. It carried the testimony. That's why it's the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of the Covenant. Because that was what was put inside the Ten Commandments.

So in other words to reject God's law is to reject the covenant. To reject God's Word is to reject the covenant. You see this might become very very important when Jesus Christ himself is identified as the Word.

What happens if you reject God's Word. You're rejecting the covenant. So it's difficult to really overstate this critical connection. Remember that God set before Israel blessing and cursing life and death.

And what was that. It was either abide by my word or reject my word. So he would say to Israel choose life choose life. Which would mean receiving and rejoicing in his spirit breathed word. His word would be their life.

It would be more vital than their necessary food we discover. And that their adherence to his word and their children's adherence to their word. And they're specifically instructed to properly bring up their children to also abide by the covenant.

Because if they didn't do that that would be the end of their life in the land. They would be cut off from the covenant because they were cut off from his word. And so they had to have their children and their children's children and so forth steeped in the covenant is if they weren't they would break the covenant.

And then they would be cast out of the land and they would lose that life that blessed life of the covenant. Now this why why this pattern. Why why this arrangement where God in this covenant with Israel said.

You know everything's about my words. Everything's about my words. It wasn't really about the practices. Yes obey obey and do the feasts and do the sacrifices and so on. But everything was about whether they followed his word and kept his commandments and kept covenant with him which meant his words.

Why that arrangement with Israel. Because long before God spoke ten words and created his covenant with Israel at Sinai he spoke ten words and created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1. And he said and he said and he said and he said and he said ten times.

Okay. So before he created the covenant with Israel at Sinai with ten words he had created the heavens on the earth with ten words. And the whole order of creation therefore is shaped according to the wisdom and the wit of God expressed in his word.

And when we noticed that when God made man he made him of the dust of the earth it was only when God breathed the breath of life into man that man became a living being. And what did he do. Immediately he gave Adam his word.

He didn't. He didn't give Adam a drop of water. He didn't give him a crust of bread. He gave him his word. All right. You're alive. Here's my instructions. Here's my word. Here's who you are. Here's who I am.

It's so vital and essential. Genesis chapter 2 verses 7 8. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And the man came a living being. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.

And there he put the man whom he had formed. Well so he puts him there. So verse 15 picks up the narrative. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.

But at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Right. So he says I Adam I made you. I'm putting you here. And here's my words.

Follow them. It's life or death if you if you follow my words. So later on when God speaks to Israel it's life or death. What they do with God's Word it's life and death. Life originates in the Word of God.

He spoke it all into existence. And he said. And he said. And he said life continues in the Word of God. Abide by my word and you will live. If you abandon my word you will die. Said that the Adam says it to Israel.

To reject and despise the Word of God is to choose death. That's what this verse in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 24 says. Why are they. Why are they consumed by fire. Why are they consumed by rottenness. Because they reject the Word of God.

They reject the law of God. That's why they chose death. Remember the temptation by which Satan murdered Adam and Eve. What was it. He's a murderer from the beginning. How did he kill them. How did he bring death to them.

By questioning God's Word has God indeed said. And as soon as the devil successfully separates Adam and Eve from the Word of God he kills him. Right. So this is this is deeply writ into who we are made in God's image that we need God's Word.

The law that God gave to Israel. The law that they are breaking here in Isaiah chapter 5 that we see that it's brought so much death to them. This law in and of itself does not bring life. God is the one who brings life.

But what God did in giving them his word and setting before them death and life was a very important pattern. So Galatians chapter 3 verses 21 and 22 says. Is the law then against the promises of God.

Certainly not. For if there had been a law which given which could have given life truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin. But the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

So in other words this Old Testament scripture where the law was given was to confine everybody under sin. It's to make it clear that we were cut off from God because we were breaking his word. The law the official Old Covenant expressed in the Word of God did not give life.

It did do some things some very good things. This scripture amplified and clarified Adam's crisis by a shadow covenant. The Old Covenant rehabbed. Adam highlighted all of his brokenness but it never healed Adam the Old Covenant put the dry bones back together and put flesh on the bodies.

But without the spirit they did not have the breath of life. Right. So there was a needful breath of life the Holy Spirit the the new birth of the new covenant coming in where all members of the new covenant are born again and alive.

It was only the breath of life in the Word of Life that was known by a remnant in the Old Testament by a covenant they had the Word of Life in the breath of life and they were truly spiritually alive.

But not all of them. It was very easy to be a member of the Old Covenant as long as you were a Jew you were born into it circumcised if you were a male and then you were there and you didn't have to be born again to be part of the Old Covenant completely different in the New Covenant.

It's why Jesus said to Nicodemus unless you're born again you cannot even see the kingdom of God. So in the Old Covenant we have a vine that is rotten that is getting burnt up. And why. Because they have rejected the Word of God.

In the New Covenant Jesus Christ says I am the true vine I am the true vine and he is the Word of God. When you read Roman when you're John chapter 1 verses 1 through 18 it starts off by telling us about the word who was with God and who was God.

And we discovered that this word is Jesus Christ himself. If you read all all 18 verses at that first part of chapter 1 you will move from creation to new creation and that Jesus Christ is the word at the beginning by which God made everything and that he is the word by which God makes all things new.

And so the centerpiece is still the Word of God. And the image of God is the Word of God is necessary for the image of God. So when we think about the way in which the New Testament presents Christ he comes as the Covenant in and of himself he presents his the bread and the wine of the Last Supper and says you know this is the New Covenant this is my blood of the New Covenant which is shed for many for the remission of their sins.

He comes as the Word made flesh he brings life to the image of God. Colossians 3 says that we are renewed into the image of Christ who is the image of the invisible God. Do you remember what happened when Jesus had some hard sayings about to eat his flesh and drink his blood.

In John chapter 6 you remember what happened. And John 6 66 the people said they turned away that this is too hard of a saying they all turned away. And then Jesus looked at his disciples and said are you gonna go away too.

And Peter says well who else to almost we're gonna go. You have the words of eternal life right. So life came to the first Adam by spirit and word. Word and spirit for the last Adam is what brings life again.

So moving from moving from the old creation as it's amplified in the Old Covenant we see the necessity of the Word of God which of course is a person and he is revealed in the scriptures which is the Word of God given to us.

What is the what is the application. Then when you read in Isaiah chapter 5 that all of this disaster all of this destruction and death comes upon the people of Israel because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

That should lead us to realize that anything that leads us to despise anything that would lead us to reject God's Word either thinking of the word incarnate who is Christ or the word in in the scripture which is the Holy Scripture.

Anything that leads us to despise or reject God's Word is death. How careful are we to avoid death all. Right. How aware are we. And thoughtful about our own children's. Like no stay away from. That's dangerous.

Don't do that. When we begin to train youth to drive vehicles and you know be responsible for all these things. Like you know you'd be really thoughtful about what you're doing here we're so careful to avoid death.

The scriptures tell us in a new numerous ways that to despise reject God's Word is to embrace death. And of course the opposite is true as Jesus would say that if we want life we abide in him. If if we abide in him and his words abide in us that's how we experience this new life together in him.

The Fire, the Rotten Vine, and Rejection of God's Word

Okay we'll leave it there next time we're going to study Isaiah we will look further in verses 26 and following tonight.