Isaiah Lesson 30

Father, God, we come to you with hearts anticipating, drawing closer to you.

Your messages throughout this book of oracles and of warnings comes from a reality that you are a sovereign

God, that you have a people who you have chosen to be a priest to the nations, to be a light to the nations.

So this morning, Lord, as we read and open this book of Isaiah, pray, Father, that speaking through Pastor Jeff, that you would draw us into a deeper understanding of just the depth and just the awesomeness of your sovereignty.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So every

Wednesday before this meeting, John and I have our pastoral prayer time where we pray for the congregation and the needs of the people and also talk about ministry.

And we also begin that time with a short devotional. So John, would you mind reading for us the verse that you brought to us?

I'll give it to you here, that you brought to us this morning, because the very word that John brought is the opening word that I intended to share with you.

So Psalm 67, verse four, would be a great place to start. So the verse four has got three sections.

I highlighted one of them, but I'll read the whole verse. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.

The psalm comes after a series of psalms in the early, the late 50 -ish of the psalms into the 60s, where David is, he's on the lam, and he's being chased, and he's in danger.

And so his prayers express to the Lord his concerns. There's never a complaint, there's just turning to the

Lord. But they always end up with praise. And as we get now into the mid -60s, late 60s, it starts out just with a heart and exuberance.

May God be gracious to us and bless us, is how 67 starts. And then it goes into verse four, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

Wonderful, thank you. So the reason I wanted to open with that is because, well, really the second part of the verse is probably less famous than the first.

Let the nations be glad, that's a missions verse. John Piper wrote a book called

Let the Nations Be Glad, off of this verse right here. The idea of the nations coming to joy is only possible in Christ, and we know that from the

New Covenant, that Christ is the one who makes a person saved and therefore glad. But look at the second part of the verse, for you judge the peoples with equity.

I intended to open this teaching with the word equity, so I thought it was of course providence that God would have us in Psalm 67 verse four as well.

What does the word equity mean? Well, in our culture, there is a new definition that's quite different than what we see in Psalm 67.

God deals always justly with his people. Equity, in a biblical definition, is for God to give as he sees graciously fit to do.

That's equity. For God graciously to give as he sees fit to do. In other words, the sinner does not have a right that he can demand from God.

We, made in the image of God, have fallen into sin, and if God equitably judged all people fairly, we all go to hell.

This is the biblical definition. And yet, when we see this word equity, it is in the context of grace.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.

Now, does that mean that every person will have equal access to the gospel? No, that's clearly not the case.

Does it mean that every person will come to saving faith? We also know from the scriptures that that's not the case.

But any extension of grace from God is within his equity.

If he gave us nothing of grace, we are still being treated equitably.

That's a biblical understanding. God giving a sinner what he deserves is hell.

God extending the gospel and saving anybody is grace.

And all of it is within the realm of equity. Now, the anti -gospel, which has taken over our country, is what they call diversity, inclusion, equity,

D -I -E. And the values of diversity, inclusion, equity are not the same as biblical justice.

Diversity is a value to some extent. But to define diversity in narrow terms is foolishness.

We know that come Revelation chapter 7, chapter 9, we will see people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language gather around the throne.

And that diversity will be not just skin tone, but all kinds of cultural and individual differences.

As we sit in this room today, we are an incredibly diverse group.

Some of you are extremely different from me in a thousand different ways. And I from you.

We are diverse. And that's a beautiful thing when God brings different people, the two genders, all together in one church, one

Lord, one faith, one baptism, one father who is over all and in all. This is a beautiful thing.

So diversity is a tapestry that God paints to display his glory as he brings diverse people together.

That's a good thing. Inclusion. Inclusion is a value when the thing being included is valuable.

Meaning the inclusion of sin is a disgrace. But the inclusion of virtuous things is to be commended, right?

Inclusion is not in and of itself a value. It depends on the object being included.

So sinful things are to be excluded. Godly things are to be included. The value is not in the principle of inclusion, but in the thing that's the reference for it.

Now, finally, equity. What is equity according to the DIE experts in our culture?

How are they defining equity? All the results have to be the same, and that's often in terms of economics, or how much money or resources people have access to.

Yes, homogenized, everything flattened out. Yes, and so equality or equity is defined in terms of everybody having equal opportunity and equal outcome.

Now, we often fight against that teaching because we recognize that equal outcomes is not a biblical model.

We know that different people will take what they're given and make different amounts of it, right? But what about opportunity?

Does God, in his view of equity, as we see in Psalm 67, 4, does he give equal opportunity?

You think so? Yeah, when Jesus came, they all had equal outcomes, and he gave them.

So he gave them equal opportunity. What about creation?

Creation is all throughout the world, and creation is what you've done. Okay, so you would say general revelation in some way is there's an equitable distribution?

Okay, a conscience. All people have a conscience?

Yes, and creation. Okay. Yeah, various kinds.

Right, we'll get there, yes.

All right, so we're talking about the parable of talents, Matthew 25, I believe it is, where different people are given either one, five, or ten talents.

So did God give equal opportunity? Well, they have equal opportunity to do with what they were given.

Yeah, okay, yeah.

And clearly, he didn't make the most of the opportunity that he was given with the one talent, he buried it, buried the treasure.

All right, let's circle back around to general revelation, Romans 1, 20, that all people are able to see

God's eternal power in his divine nature. And from that, it's clearly seen that there's a

God in heaven. He has absolute, and nobody has an excuse. Is general revelation enough to save, or only enough to condemn?

Correct, it's only enough to condemn. The context of Romans 1, 1 through 3, 20 is the universal fallenness of man in sin.

General revelation is a blessing, and it is an evidence of his grace. It's part of God so loved the world. His loving disposition toward the earth is that he reveals that he is

God, and he has an eternal power and a divine nature. But it is not a saving revelation.

Yes, very good. He can use that general revelation to prepare a heart for the gospel, right.

But Romans 10, as you continue in this train of teaching, how then shall they believe unless they hear?

And how can they hear unless there's a preacher? And how can they preach unless they're sent? How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.

The necessity of special revelation. It's God's grace.

It's the gracious sending of the gospel that allows a person to hear the gospel in the first place, yeah.

Yes, yes, all people know

God. And this is the universal guilt and the great exchange of Romans 1. What's the exchange?

They exchange the truth of God for a lie. Worshipping and serving created things rather than the creator.

Now, who is guilty of that? Romans 2 .1, not just the Gentiles who have fallen into all of this, but who are you also?

For that at the very point that you judge them, you yourself are guilty. And he goes on for all of Romans 1 .1

through 3 .20 to expose the universal guiltiness of man under sin.

So is there any righteous, Steve? No, not one.

That's the conclusion of the matter. And then you go into the gospel, the but God of Romans 3 .21. Now the propitiation is made through Christ that those who would believe in him would be justified.

All this to say, God's equity is very different than man's social justice, diversity, inclusion, inclusion equality view of equity.

Very different, yes. Yeah, so there is a preparation for Cornelius to hear the gospel as prior to.

This is an interesting point. So in Acts 10, he is not Jewish, but he's come to shelter under Yahweh as one who would be kind of like a

God fearer in the book of Acts. And under that dispensation, that was justifying until the place of the cross.

But in the New Testament, it's not enough to have faith generally in the

God of Israel. Someone has to come to saving knowledge of the Son of God. And he who has the

Son has the Father also. In other words, before the cross and before this new covenant dispensation, there were people scattered through the nations who were looking to the

God of Israel. Was it, who was baptized three times? Nadab?

Naaman. Naaman was baptized in the Jordan and went back and was,

I think, still justified by faith in the God of Israel, even though he hadn't come and become a

Jew. I think there's people that are saved through faith, according to that amount of revelation. But Cornelius was not saved until he was born again.

This is after the cross. So the idea that he was righteous and God -fearing speaks to him as a

God -fearer, in the sense of sheltering under the God of Israel. They would give money to the

Jewish synagogue, often more than the Jews did at that time. But he still had to come to that saving knowledge through the gospel.

Yeah. Right, yeah. There was a continent called

America. Without the gospel for hundreds of years. Now, Mormonism arose as an answer to that problem, saying that, well,

God must have sent Jesus to visit the Americas. And therefore, they had their equal and just and equitable opportunity.

But the history of the world is not so. God particularly reveals as he wills.

And any revelation of the gospel to a fallen sinner, Romans 1 .1 to 3 .20, is grace.

It's not owed me. This is such an important gospel point. God owes us nothing.

Equity is to go to hell. And when he sends the gospel, which he graciously does to all the earth, he keeps sending missionaries, we have two with us right now, to all the earth to preach the gospel.

That is his grace going forth. And no one can make a demand on God. No one has a right to demand things of God.

And the entire movement that you see in our country is explicitly anti -gospel because it's demanding not just rights, but uber rights.

It's demanding that you agree with somebody and give them things that haven't been earned. Redistribution of wealth.

Equity. But we see a very different definition. Here we go. So, Isaiah 21, verses 11 and 12, is where we begin.

We're looking at the judgment on the nations. Isaiah 21, verse 11.

John, would you read 11 and 12? The oracle concerning Duma, one who is calling to me from Seir.

Watchman, what time of night? Watchman, what time of night?

The watchman says morning comes and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire, come back again.

Okay, so this is the shortest of the oracles against the nations. We know from the context of the entire judgment oracles that this is speaking to judgment.

As the Assyrian army has moved from their location, Tigris, Euphrates River, moving west, conquering all the lands, first of all

Babylon, south of them, and then coming in upon Israel, conquering everybody.

God is judging and using Assyria like a rod of his anger. And so Duma will be next.

Who is Duma? Anybody know? If you look at the notes, if you grab the notes on the way.

If not, you can grab it from the back. You got it? Yes, this is, he's listed in Genesis 25, 13, as one of the descendants of Ishmael.

Now, the context here is one of judgment. Why do you need a watchman? What is a watchman doing?

For what? The army's to come. Yeah, the enemy is coming.

I just finished reading a biography of John Bunyan and he talks about when he was holed up with the people on the side of Oliver Cromwell, Ironsides.

And they were watching over the gate of Lycaster as the King Charles army came rolling in.

And just the fear of seeing over the wall, here they come and they just moved by the thousands and the horsemen and just the terror that overcame him.

That would be scary to be a watchman on the wall when you see the advancing army. Well, that's what's happening here.

There's a watchman because the Assyrian army is advancing. Now, is there any hint of mercy here?

There is. Watchman, what time of night? What is he asking? When are they coming? What's happening? The watchman says, morning comes and also the night.

If you will inquire, inquire. He is inviting this kind of question. Come back again.

So there is some sign of mercy that, yeah, you're doing well to look for the coming judgment.

You're doing well to look. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again. He's not rebuffed. He's told that's good that you're inquiring.

It's good to seek. Seek and you will find. And we know from Isaiah, from Psalm 67, 4, that God does have a heart for the nations.

As you see in the book of Jonah, the missionary Jonah going forth to Assyria itself.

There is a hint here, but it's just a short little oracle. We move on to 13 to 17.

The oracle concerning Arabia. John, if you would read this. The oracle concerning Arabia.

In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge. O caravans of the Dedenites, to the thirsty bring water.

Meet the fugitive with bread. O inhabitants of the land of Tema, for they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.

For thus the Lord said to me, within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.

And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few.

For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken. Okay, he's speaking to the

Arabians. Many of you will know this. Who are the Arabs descended from?

Ishmael. Ishmael, very good. In the thickets of Arabia you will lodge. O caravan of Dedenites.

Who was Dedan or Dedan? A son of Keturah. Keturah was

Abraham's second wife. Did you guys know that Abraham was a polygamist? He was.

And for some reason, God overlooked it for a time. We know from Matthew chapter 19, it was not

God's original design, but it would be one man and one woman. But for a period of time, he never condemned

Abraham for it. He never condemned David for it. In fact, he said to David, you would have had more wives. So it's different.

In the New Covenant, though, we understand Titus 1 .9, one of the qualifications, Titus and not 1 .9,

but one of the qualifications for elder is that he be the husband of but one wife. So there is, in the

Old Covenant, somehow an allowance of this, a looking over. Keturah is the wife of Abraham.

And she has children. So here she has, yeah, a bunch of boys.

How does God treat these descendants of Abraham?

Does he make distinction between the sons of Abraham?

Does he make distinction between Isaac and Ishmael? Would a

DIE officer working at your local library be pleased with the distinctions he makes?

OK, let's turn to the politically incorrect chapter of Genesis chapter 25.

Here's what I want to uphold, the freedom of God. God is free.

And mankind hates the idea that God can sovereignly give an apportion as he pleases.

Is God not free to make a man prosper? Is he not free to make a man live in poverty, to give and take away?

Job experienced both in different seasons of his life. God is free.

And who are you, oh man, to judge God? But the spirit of the age will not grant

God the sovereignty to do as he sees fit. So let's look at it.

Genesis 25, 1 to 6. Abraham took another wife whose name was

Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Midan, Midian, the

Midianites, Ishbak and Shuah, Jokshan fathered Sheba, and Dedan.

OK, I'll call it Dedan. I was saying Dedan. I'm not quite sure how to pronounce it. The sons of Dedan were

Ashurim, Letushim, and Leumim. The sons of Midian were

Ephah, Epher, Hanak, Abida, and Eldah. All these were the children of Keturah.

OK, so far so good. I don't know that.

Ashurim could be related to the Assyrians. I don't know that. Let me know if you do. Verses 5 and 6.

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.

All? John, how do you feel about that?

Does that rub you the wrong way? Well, what if he strikes you with blindness?

Is he still a God of equity? What if you come down with cancer?

Blessed be the name of the Lord. What if your child dies? Could you still praise him?

Amen, brother. You will see him. Verse 6. But to the sons of his concubines,

Abraham gave gifts. This is common grace. Every breath of air that an undeserving sinner takes is a gift of grace.

He did give gifts. And while he was still living, he sent them away from his son Isaac. Whoa, wait.

You can't just send them away to the east. He did that with Ishmael as well. Eastward to the east country.

And so back to Isaiah, we see again the fate of the Dedenites. We hadn't seen them for many, many books of the

Bible. So Abraham's around 2000, and this is about 701.

So 1 ,300 years later, what has come of the Dedenites? To the thirsty bring water, meet the fugitive with bread.

Oh, inhabitants of the land of Timah, for they have fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the press of battle.

For thus the Lord said to me, within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Keter will come to an end.

God judges, and he's free to judge. The remainder of the archers of the mighty men and of the sons of Keter will be few, for the

Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

God. Here, he's judging. Now, how does he judge? He judges righteously, but what is he using as the rod of his judgment?

Assyria, a wicked nation. He's wielding them. This is Isaiah chapter 10, that language.

They do not so intend in their heart. They just want to conquer and destroy. But God has ordained to use them as an instrument of judgment.

Okay, well, we've been through many nations. Now, we're neck deep up to the city of Jerusalem.

Here we go, verses one through seven. What's different about this now, we're not talking about a pagan people worshiping false gods.

Now, the judgment of Assyria is gonna close in around the neck of Jerusalem. It will be called the

Valley of Vision. Okay, John, would you read one through seven? The oracle concerning the

Valley of Vision. What do you mean that you have gone up, all of you, to the housetops?

You who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town. You are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.

All your leaders have fled together. Without the bow, they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.

Therefore, I said, look away from me. Let me weep bitter tears. Do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.

For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the

Valley of Vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.

And Elam bore the quiver with chariots and horsemen and Kerr uncovered the shield.

Your choice's valleys were full of chariots and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.

Okay, how do I know that what is being called here the Valley of Vision is in fact the

Jerusalem Valley? And I'll say probably the Kidron Valley that runs across the east and then the Hinnom Valley. There are valleys that surround the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus would have to cross to go to the Mount of Olives down in the valley. There's the area of Jerusalem is raised.

There's the Temple Mount, but there's also valleys. And in all, it is in a valley around great mountains.

So why is it the Valley of Vision? Well, first of all, how do we know that this is

Jerusalem? One clue is verse four, the daughter of my people. If we still doubt,

Judah is in verse eight and then verse nine, the city of David. So clear enough, yeah.

Isaiah 1 .1, Isaiah 1 .1

says the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah.

Yeah, and he's certain. Oh yeah, yeah, very good. But this now is particularly spoken about Jerusalem.

So we've been going through a table of nations where he speaks about Babylon or Ammon or different people groups.

But now we know that he's speaking about the city of David itself, the Valley of Vision. How does

Isaiah react when he hears this? Yeah, this is the picture of a man broken, brokenness.

He's weeping, look away from me. He doesn't even want them to see him. He is completely undone.

Let me weep bitter tears. Do not labor to comfort me. Isaiah himself, is he righteous or unrighteous?

Righteous. Remember, this is post the vision where he's, the coal has touched his unclean lips.

And now, so this is after him being redeemed, that picture of his new birth. Now he's a prophet to the nations.

He is a righteous man of God. Isaiah, I mean, Hebrews 11 will celebrate him as a man of genuine faith.

He's probably the one that was sawn in two. So Isaiah is a righteous man.

And yet God ordained circumstances in his life that reduced him to bitter weeping.

Does Isaiah turn against God? He calls out to his

God. And he calls out and ministers despite his pain. The Lord has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion.

This is the coming of the Assyrians. They're crushing every Judea in town and they will come right up to the neck of Jerusalem.

We know from later in Isaiah that Hezekiah will turn his face to the wall and pray and God will send out an angel to wipe out 185 ,000

Assyrians before the night is over. But at this point, they're moving in, okay?

This is a picture of God in his sovereignty bringing distress on his own people.

Some righteous, some not. There is within Israel at this time believing Israel, which is the remnant, but by and large, it is an apostate people, faithless.

They're ethnic Israel, but they're not born again genuine, true Israel. Why, what is it, yeah?

Verse three's got kind of an interesting emphasis. All your leaders have fled.

Without the bow, they were captured. The strong indictment against those who should have been standing up in a godly leadership.

And I think these are often Judean leaders who have just left their hometowns and they've fled into the safety of Jerusalem, left their people to be overrun because you're gonna see the same thing in just a minute.

So let's read eight through 11. So we're gonna get two reasons for God reproving his people.

One of the reasons God brings discipline, one of the reasons God brings suffering into our lives is to discipline us.

In Hebrews 12, he's a loving father that allows sufferings in order that we would be chastened by them and corrected.

And so he's gonna correct his people. He's allowing this suffering for a good purpose. That's not the only reason he allows suffering.

For Job, was it for chastening? No, it was a spiritual warfare to demonstrate his value over against what

Satan had said, that if you strike him, he'll curse you. And Job, of course, is picturing

Christ and his sufferings in a way, too. Okay, so eight through 11, John. He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day, you looked to the weapons of the house of the forest, and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many.

You collected the waters of the lower pool, and you counted the houses of Jerusalem. You broke down the houses to fortify the wall.

You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to him who did it or see him who planned it long ago.

Okay, the first reproof is that they're not looking to God for their preservation. What have they done as Assyria approached?

They tore down houses. They reinforced walls. They built the tunnel. Some people think this is either the beginning or the actual

Hezekiah's tunnel, which has been excavated to this day. A waterway, there's a well that springs up from under Jerusalem, and Hezekiah's tunnel was an access point that they dug.

So Hezekiah had a part in the construction in that, and it was not wrong to do that, but the problem is they're putting their hope in defending themselves.

They're not looking to God. It's all man -made effort to resist.

They should be tearing their clothes like Isaiah. They should be calling out to God and repenting for their sin, that God is allowing this to come on them in judgment.

Instead, they are counting the houses, breaking down to fortify the wall, making reservoirs of...

Is it wrong to do that, to make a water supply if you see an advancing army come? No, it's wise, right?

It's not the thing itself. It's that they're not trusting in God. Yep. You look to the weapons of the house.

They're looking there. So remember, what's the title of this chapter? The Valley of Vision. Where is their vision?

Horizontal. In what they can do, in what they have, and they're trying to do this. Now, there's a second rebuke,

John, 12 to 14. In that day, the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing of sackcloth.

And behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine.

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears.

Surely, this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die, says the

Lord God of hosts. What is so offensive about the people of Jerusalem? They're not repenting.

Do you see the stark contrast in 12 to 14 from Isaiah in verse 4? Look at Isaiah.

He's weeping bitter tears. Don't even look at me. He takes life seriously. They see this advancing army, and they're pretty much sure they're done.

So what do they do? Forget it. Let's just eat and drink and get drunk.

And I picture them just drunk as a skunk, running around the city, laughing. We're going to die.

Who cares? You know, like, it's over. We're done. Look at this. Joy and gladness, verse 13.

I think they're almost suicidal in that sense. They're like, you know what? This world is so terrible anyway.

Killing oxen, slaughtering sheep in order to feast, not to offer sacrifice.

They're eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.

It's this nihilistic kind of giving up. And so they're just going to try to have fun and revel.

They're not turning to the Lord, and they're not trusting. This was a time for them to be humbled.

They should be broken by this. Look what God is allowing to come on Jerusalem, his holy city, the city of David.

Instead, they're just throwing up their hands. Starts with the leadership, and here's the big problem character, verses 15 through 19, please.

Thus says the Lord God of hosts, come, go to this steward, Tishebna, who is over the household, and say to him,

What have you to do here? And whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself?

You who cut out a tomb on the height and have carved a dwelling for yourself in the rock.

Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you and will whirl you around and around and throw you like a ball into a wide land.

There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house.

I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. This is fascinating.

To me, this picture is like the incredible Hulk grabbing hold of one of his enemies, balling him up, grabbing hold of his arm as the other guys ball, and swinging him like this and just, boom, throwing him out of the city.

He says, I'll ball you up and throw you like a ball into a wide land.

Who is this guy? Shibna. He's the manager. He's the manager of the city or the treasury.

So he's the kind of the prime minister who's in charge. Under Hezekiah, to be sure, but certainly probably the most powerful manager in the land who's mismanaging funds.

What have you to do here? What has he done in verse 16? For himself.

And not only is that ironic that he's worried about death and he's just trying to make provisions for something that he has no provision for, but it shows his wealth.

He's taking funds from the city to carve into rock. Now, that takes, that's kind of the whole point of Joseph of Arimathea, right?

And the borrowed tomb, buried in a rich man's tomb, Isaiah 53. He's got the wealth to take care of every last detail of his life.

Down to a rich and lavish burial. It's even at the height to typify his exaltation that he's a significantly important person.

Yep. Yes, I think that would be a sign of his status. And oh, here's Shibna's tomb and everybody sees it being made and everything.

This is what he's taking care of. And God is disgusted. And he says,

I'm going to throw you out. So the imagery there, I'm going to ball you up and hurl you into a wide place. So he's done.

He's going to be thrust from his office. But God, in all of this tumult coming on the city, this wicked people, actually has good purposes.

We're going to close in just a minute with this concept. The valley of vision. Sometimes you go through the valley.

You keep your eyes on God. It's leading to something better. He's working good purposes. Ultimately, the highest place we see this is in the cross.

The suffering of Christ for the salvation of sinners. The beautiful tapestry that God includes suffering in his plan for the good of his people.

So he does have somebody to replace Shibna. His name is Eliakim. So let's finish with that. 20 to 24.

In that day, I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. And I will clothe him with your robe.

And will bind your sash on him. And will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulders the key of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut.

And he shall shut and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place.

And he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house.

The offspring and issue every small vessel from the cups of all the flagons. Okay. The flagon is like a big pouring vessel.

So it'd be more than just the small vessel. This is the big like, you know, this is a party keg kind of thing.

It's not just a small vessel. The idea here is that God is going to remove the bad and replace with the good.

He's gonna set like a peg this man named Eliakim. Very often, churches or different Christian institutions are failing.

Because even in the leadership, there is compromise. There are pastors who are secretly having an affair.

There is misuse of funds. Prosperity theology.

Just buying 70 million dollar jets and you could fly commercial. Things of this nature. Hyper grace teachers.

Any number of reasons. And when a church or a ministry falls apart, it might be

God's grace. Getting rid of the person. Rooting out that weed in the church.

And there are many weeds in the church. Therefore, you'll see much suffering in the church. The discipline of God is good.

In this case, he's going to remove Shebna and put in Eliakim. A righteous leader.

Someone who's like a peg. Like a nail that's solid and trustworthy. You can not only hang a coat on it, you can hang a structure on it.

This is somebody that is reliable. And this is what we need in the church. Men who are like fastened secure pegs.

Secure places. We need to pray that we become those people. Now, finally, will he be the final answer to Jerusalem's suffering?

Look at verse 25. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way.

And it will be cut down and fall. And the load that was on it will be cut off for the Lord has spoken.

I think this speaks to the fall of Jerusalem. Because even though, for a time, God's going to use this suffering from Assyria, a little over 100 years later, in 586,

Jerusalem will fall to the Babylonians. So Eliakim will be a respite for them. But then other leaders will come.

And the good leadership will decay and rot and be removed. And Jerusalem will be overthrown.

So the big idea today is the valley of vision. So what is the valley of vision? It is a paradox.

First of all, it's Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the valley of vision. They have seen vision from the

Lord. They have the prophets. They hear from God. They see God. They know God. And yet the valley pictures suffering.

When you're in the valley, you can't see. You go to the mountaintop to see.

You're a watchtower to see, right? You go up on the watchtower. In the valley, it's hard to see.

And the temptation is to get your eyes on the suffering that's happening in your life. Keep your eyes vertical in the midst of suffering.

The valley of the shadow of death would be another example. Arthur Bennett compiled a book called

The Valley of Vision. He took from Charles Spurgeon. And Charles Spurgeon was probably the last of the

Puritans and all the Puritans that went before. And took many of their prayers and made it into a book.

The first one is called The Valley of Vision. I want to close with this because this is the big idea.

Suffering, keeping your eye on God. The paradox of this life that in the suffering,

God is often accomplishing his greatest purposes. Let me just read it to you. It's in your notes if you want to follow along.

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths, but see thee in the heights.

Hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold thy glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up.

That to be low is to be high. That the broken heart is the healed heart.

That the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit. That the repenting soul is the victorious soul.

That to have nothing is to possess all. That to bear the cross is to wear the crown.

That to give is to receive. That the valley is the place of vision. Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from the deepest wells.

And the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine. Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley.

It's a beautiful poem. It reminds us to keep looking at God in the midst of suffering. I would quibble with one line, or even a little bit of the ethos of it.

It says, to bear the cross is to wear the crown. In a sense that's true, but I think it's clearer if you look at it from the

Hebrews 12, 1 kind of sense. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame.

I like the words of a song that says, bear your cross as you wait for your crown.

Tell the world of the joy that you found. Think about that. And the theology of that particular group is not always great, but that line is actually better than Bennett, I think.

Because the suffering itself is not what we embrace.

We embrace it because we know God is working it together for good. There is a future crown of glory, 2

Corinthians 4, 17, and we know that in our light, momentary sufferings, afflictions, he is achieving for us an eternal weight of glory that far surpasses it all.

The reason we can endure the suffering is we know God is working it for a good purpose. The thing itself we don't delight in, it's

Romans 8, 28. Yeah, and that's what's happening in our sufferings. We endure knowing that God is there with us, we keep our eyes on him, and we know he is working and achieving something good of this.

And we'll see it in time. Hopefully in short time in this life, but definitely in the eternal life to come.

Amen? That's the valley of vision. Let's pray. John, would you close us? Lord God, we read these words, we see your sovereignty, your holiness, and yet your mercy and your grace, the indictments on the nation upon Jerusalem need to be taken carefully that we don't become complacent or that we don't become into self -denial.

Lord, that we stand firm, we see, Father, that you will punish those who are against you and that,

Lord, you even set up those whose peg is set secure. We pray,

Father, that that be us here at Cornerstone. But yet, Lord, our hope is not here.

Our hope is on the future King of Kings and Lord of Lords who sits in glory and in that day we will have the peg that is never going to lose its place.