The Oracle of Dumah: The Weight of Revelation

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Please go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 21. We'll be continuing there in Isaiah 21 today with another oracle about another nation.

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We've been going through all these oracles to the nations from Isaiah 13 all the way to Isaiah 23.

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Some of them have been fairly difficult and enigmatic, and this is probably the most, maybe not difficult, but the most mysterious of them all, the most enigmatic.

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As I read different people on this portion, there was one Puritan who started off with the

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Latin phrase that I couldn't memorize for you, but basically it meant the shorter the thing is, the more the darker it is, or the more obscure it is.

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And that's what we have here. We have two verses that are very enigmatic, but I hope that I will be able to explain them today to you in a way that's meaningful and helps you understand what the

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Lord has for you here. Let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word in Isaiah 21, beginning in verse 11.

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

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You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, your

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Word is good. Some of it is very difficult. We ask that by your

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Spirit you would lead us into all truth. I pray that you would open up your Word to us today so we might understand it.

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In Jesus' name, amen. So here we are in this very enigmatic oracle, and it's an oracle of silence.

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Very little is said, and even the word duma means silence. And I believe this is primarily an oracle about how some people approach the

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Word of God. They approach it going for what they want. They want answers to their problems, but they do not necessarily want to know the

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Lord. They just want to know when their trial will be over. And so you have someone from outside of Israel asking when this trial will be over, and the answer given is essentially, well, it will be over soon enough, but there is a greater judgment coming.

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There is a greater judgment. So I'd like us to look at it and consider that weight of revelation.

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The Bible is not something just to be gone to to get quick fixes to our problems, but something much greater.

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And we must not just inquire for what can solve what we want to solve, we must inquire in a way where we would see what

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God truly has for us, and that as we come and come again to it, as we inquire, that we find more and more and not just the same thing.

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Beginning just by considering who these characters are, first you have the watchmen.

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Now, I do not believe that the positioning of these oracles is without cause.

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You know, who knows who put the oracles together after Isaiah wrote these things? It may not have even been him that compiled these different pieces of his writings together into one.

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But this oracle and the one preceding it seem to have some shared ideas.

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You have the notion of twilight, you have the notion of a watchman, and you have in verse 6 of this chapter, for thus the

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Lord said to me, go set a watchman. Let him announce what he sees. When he sees riders, horsemen, and pears, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.

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And I'll continue reading there. Then he who saw cried out, upon a watchtower I stand,

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O Lord, continually day by day, excuse me, continually by day, and at my post

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I am stationed whole nights. And behold, here come riders, horsemen, and pears. And he answered, fallen, fallen is

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Babylon, and all the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.

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So what is the goal of the watchman in this chapter? The goal of the watchman is simply to look for God's work, to announce to the people what

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God is doing, that judgment is coming and that judgment has come. And as we looked last week into Revelation that cites that very passage, fallen, fallen is

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Babylon, ultimately it refers to the final judgment when Jesus Christ will come and destroy all the powers of this world and save his people.

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And so as we consider in this context, this is what the watchman's job is. The watchman is to announce to the people what

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God is doing, to announce his judgment. And so in this context,

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Isaiah refers to himself as the watchman. He says, one is calling to me from Seir, watchman.

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So Isaiah is the watchman. He is God's prophet who is supposed to announce what the coming judgment is, when it will come, what it will be like.

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And yet there is, of course, much more to this. The watchman we have today are pastors.

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Pastors declare God's judgment. They declare his salvation to those who are his people and judgment on those who are not his people.

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And salvation for his people comes through judgment on those who are not his people. This world is marred by sin, and one day

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Jesus Christ will end all of that and save his people. One takeaway as you consider what should you take away from this very short oracle is just the purpose of a watchman and how you ought to heed pastors.

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Now a lot of people misunderstand what the Bible says when it says obey your pastors. It doesn't mean that you have to do absolutely everything your pastor says.

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Your pastor could be wrong at times. That word there in Greek just means to be persuaded by them, that you should especially heed them.

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And this isn't just something where you listen on the radio to a preacher and you hear what he says and you heed him, although that's certainly part of it.

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But it's something more personal as well. You know, there are a lot of churches that people go to, and perhaps they like it this way, that they don't actually personally know their pastor.

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He's never actually personally addressing them in their particular situation. If you have friends that are at a church like that, you know, a church that's, for example, satellite churches where, you know, the person who's preaching isn't even there present with you, it's a good thing to point out to them the importance the

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Bible places on receiving actual pastoral care.

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You know, a shepherd does more than just tell you God's word. He applies that word directly to you, his sheep, as he is an under -shepherd of Christ.

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Now, there are other watchmen in the world. In fact, every believer is a watchman for God.

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We have all called to be watchmen, to declare God's judgment, to declare God's salvation to the world.

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You might be familiar with the New Testament idea of the priesthood of all believers. The Bible speaks of us as a royal priesthood.

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You know what that implies? That not only is there a priesthood of all believers, but there is a kingship of all believers if we are a royal priesthood.

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And along with the three offices of Christ, that he is prophet, priest, and king, I believe we have every reason to say that there's also a prophethood of all believers, that we function as God's prophets, not declaring things by inspiration, but in recounting what the

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Bible has said, telling people of God's salvation and his judgment. So if you've not considered your own personal office functioning in a prophetic way to the world, consider it now.

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Consider that you ought to be ready to give an account for the hope that is within you, as Peter says.

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And consider that when you interact with those in the world, should use those opportunities to speak to them about God, especially if they come to you with problems, right?

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If they come to you saying, watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night? You know, if someone comes to you with some kind of trial, that is an opportunity to point them to Christ.

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And it may be very tempting to give them just very mundane advice that doesn't include the real answer to the problems, which is

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Jesus Christ. But if you're a doctor, would you really prescribe placebos to a patient who has real needs?

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You have to give them real answers to real problems. So watchman,

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Isaiah's a watchman, but you yourself are a watchman in a way. Do not neglect that calling.

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Now you also have the one calling to the watchman. One is calling to me from Seir. Seir is the mountain in Edom, right?

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Edom is another name for Esau, right? You had Jacob in Esau, right?

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They all formed their different nations. They formed Israel in Edom. So if you're wondering, where is

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Duma? Well, it would be in Edom. Now, it's not certain if Duma is the name of a particular place within Edom.

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In fact, there are all kinds of theories about which city in particular this would refer to. Another idea that seems fairly reasonable is this is a slight alteration of the name

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Edom into the word Duma, which like I said, means silence. So God is speaking through his watchman, but what is being spoken is very little, and what is being received is very little.

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Just silence. So a response is given here.

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Excuse me. And so he asks the question, watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?

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First, I'd point out the repetition. What does the repetition mean? Some have taken this to mean mockery, that one is coming from Edom to mock the prophet.

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I don't think that's the case, because he says later, if you will inquire, inquire, come back again.

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There's an invitation for him to return and hear the same message. So I think we should understand this not as mockery, but as anxiety.

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This person is repeating this question because they're anxious over their situation.

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Watchman, what time of the night? Now, in the previous oracle, when it spoke of twilight, twilight represented judgment.

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So the question here is, is this judgment over yet? Is this trial over yet?

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During a night watch, you know, during the day you have shadows to tell you what time it is.

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During the night you don't have that, and so the watchman is the one who is, you know, knows what watch of the night it is.

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He is able to tell you, you go to the watchman for this information. But of course, here, relating to judgment, the question is, when will this trial be over?

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When will my trial be over? And notice how much is not asked. It's not, who has sent this trial?

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What does he require of me? There's not a lot that is asked here, and so there is not a lot that is given, and there's a lot that is missing.

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That's given not just by the, by what's missing and what's commanded to come back again.

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You know, there's more you still need, but it's also here just by the brevity of the oracle.

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Very little is given because very little is asked for. There are all kinds of people who come to the

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Word of God just looking for what they want. They just want self -help. They come and they want to know, when is this over?

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You know, I think this is why a lot of people get really excited about doomsday cults, right? Cults that tell them when

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Jesus is going to return exactly. They want to know what time of the night, and if someone can tell them an exact answer, oh, that's a good answer.

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We don't have that answer to give. Well, the answer we have to get is morning comes and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire.

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Come back again. A lot of people want very specific revelation for their life, who they should marry, what kind of job they should have, and God has not specified those things with detail.

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He has left us to be guided by the Holy Spirit and by the counsel of other brothers. People often want more than that.

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Another thing that I consider here as I see this passage is the notion of a foul -weather

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Christian. Have you ever heard of a fair -weather Christian? A fair -weather Christian would be someone who, you know, they're like the… when

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Jesus told the parable of the soils, the seed that was sown on rocky ground and they sprung up, but the root didn't… but the faith didn't take root, and so they're washed away as soon as the trial comes.

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There's another kind of Christian, which would be a foul -weather Christian, and they're only interested in the Lord when they've got problems.

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Right? They come to him wanting their problems fixed, wanting their problems solved. They pray to him night and day to get an answer.

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Once they have an answer, they're on their merry way. And how many of us relate to that? I know

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I relate to that. When are the times that I pray most? Well, it is when I most feel that need.

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It is when I have great trials where I need Jesus and I go to him for help.

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And then he answers my prayer and things are good. And do I remember him with commensurate thankfulness?

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No, I usually don't. Maybe I'll thank him, but is it commensurate? Does it meet the same kind of calling out to him that I'd given before?

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Usually not. And so this is a mark of maturity. Not only praying to God in good times as well as hard times, but a mark of maturity is to recognize your weakness even apart from trial.

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To be able to recognize your weakness apart from trial. Few people do this.

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When there's no trial, they feel strong. They feel that they have everything they need. They do not feel weak. But God is preparing us.

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He's preparing us to be able to rightly enjoy a great eternity without trial.

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A great eternity without trial. And if we do not recognize our need for him and our weakness at that point, how will we ever be able to appreciate it?

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So one of the things he is doing and growing us in holiness is preparing us for heaven where we will have an eternity without trial, but one where we must still recognize our need for him.

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All these reminders of our need for him here, where we go through difficult times, where we have all kinds of hardships and death and sickness and whatever social situation that causes you trouble, we won't have any of those reminders in heaven.

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We will simply have the holiness that God has granted us, in part the holiness that he has grown us in in this life.

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And so the watchman responds. The watchman says, morning comes and also the night.

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If you will inquire, inquire, come back again. So a few things about this.

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Morning, representing an end to the trial. Night, representing another trial.

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So what is the answer? Your trial will soon be over, but there is another trial coming. And I would add to that a greater trial, because we know what the ultimate trial is.

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The ultimate trial, the twilight for which Isaiah longed in the previous oracle, that twilight for which he longed has turned into me for a trembling in verse four.

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And that is the final judgment that he's talking about. Yes, this current trial will end, but there is a greater judgment that will be coming.

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He says, if you will inquire, inquire, come back again. So the one who comes gets a very simple answer.

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They won't get all the specifics they want. They will be told, yes, this current trial you're in is temporary, but there is a greater one coming.

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There is a great judgment on the whole world right now because of sin.

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Everyone is involved in experiencing pain, experiencing suffering in this world, and that will end, but there is a greater judgment that is coming.

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If you will inquire, inquire, come back again. It is not the call of preachers to those who come to hear the word of God, to have their problems solved, and don't really get the full answer, because they don't understand, because their hearts aren't open to what

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God is speaking. Right? Their hearts are only open to what they want to hear, that their problems will end.

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And so, as with many of the other oracles that hold out some kind of hope for the Gentiles, here you have a hope held out as well.

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If you will inquire, inquire, come back again. You know, for you who already believe, it's the same thing.

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If you will inquire, inquire, come back again, because we are never done receiving the word of God, and we can always be more open to it and what

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God has for us, not just the short -term answer to our problems, but the greater picture, what he is doing, his glory to point us to.

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And for those who don't know Jesus Christ, how much more is this true? If they will inquire, inquire, come back again.

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If you will inquire, inquire, come back again. Because this statement, morning comes and also the night, that's no final answer.

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That's no final answer for those who do not have Jesus Christ. If they get through this and get to the morning and then go to the night again, they will not just have the trials they have now, but they will have a much, much worse trial.

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And they need something much greater. They need Jesus Christ. So as you consider this, as you consider this very short oracle, consider what it speaks of the word of God and how it is to be received and how its message is very simple, but because people's hardness of heart, like Isaiah says in chapter six, you know, they don't receive it even though it's spoken.

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Jesus spoke in parables because people wouldn't understand, so that people wouldn't understand.

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Here you have something like that once again, calling people to come.

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Do not be done digging into what God has for you. Keep coming until you have finally found it, until your hearts are open and you hear what the

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Lord has for you. Because without it, you'll be closer and closer, not just to morning, not just to the end of your current trial, but closer and closer to night, the final judgment.

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Now for every person who is outside of Christ, they are coming closer and closer to this great doom.

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And they don't think of that. They think of themselves as going closer and closer to morning, going closer and closer to something better that's on the horizon.

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People typically imagine something better on the horizon. And while there may be that horizon, there's something much, much worse that comes after that.

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But for those who are in Christ, not only will your present trials end, but the great twilight that is coming is a twilight you can long for, as Isaiah spoke of in the previous chapter, because the great judgment that is coming is salvation for his own people.

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Morning comes and also the night. If you won't inquire, inquire. Come back again. Let's pray.

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Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. I pray that you would open our ears to hear it, that we would be people who keep coming back, coming back to your word, that we would not be people who go there just for our own selfish desires, but would truly have our eyes open to see what you have for us.

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And I pray that we would fully know the weight of revelation, that we would not understand it as a light thing, a quick fix, but something that answers every problem, that answers every need deep within our soul, and makes us complete and whole.