Isaiah Lesson 37

Christ the Cornerstone in Isaiah 28

So much that we would have the privilege to sit down and open your word. Lord, we confess that we are not worthy to come before you, but we do recognize our righteousness, Jehovah Sid Canu, Christ our righteousness.

We look to his righteousness, not our own, as the merit by which we come to you. And so Lord, we pray now that you would welcome us into your presence where two or three gathered, you promised that you are there.

And we ask now God that you would just speak to us through your word in Jesus name. Amen. So a number of years ago, 2018, we decided to change the name of the church because there were some who thought that Mount Laurel evangelical free church meant that we were free of evangelicals.

So they came looking for a church that didn't have those annoying evangelicals. And there were, I thought you didn't pass the plate. That's what I thought was the other misconception was that it was free.

You know, there's no passing the plate. So in any case, we decided to change the name and we asked everybody to submit ideas for the name of the church. And once we compiled all of those and put them in a list, we then sent it out and asked people to vote on the top ones.

And the far and away winner was cornerstone church. Now, why would that be? What does the image of cornerstone have to do with the church?

What's that? Foundation. The idea of a foundation. Right. Back to Ephesians two, the end of two, Jesus, the cornerstone and the apostles are the foundation. Right. Ephesians.

220. Yeah. That's imagery from the new Testament. Where else would you go?

But I've heard that cornerstone is the one that sets the angles for all other. Yes. The.

Cornerstone is the straight plumb start and you set all your measurements off of that cornerstone.

That's the imagery. Any other new Testament passages speak to the cornerstone? Matthew.

That's Matthew chapter seven speaks of the rock. He is the rock. And we're to build our house upon the rock, which is the same similar imagery there. He's the Petrarch. Ah, yes. Peter. Yep. And the confession is the rock upon which we built in Matthew 16.

First Peter two, Acts chapter four. We're going to get into some of that. Well, today in Isaiah 28, we see the reference point for this new Testament imagery. So let's, first of all, we don't have John with us today, so I'll need somebody else to be the primary reader.

And Ralph, you're here closest to me. Oh, you've got NIV. We'll forgive you. That's okay. We'll be able to follow. So today we're looking at Christ as the cornerstone prophesied by Isaiah in the 28th chapter.

Before we read it though, do you recall what last week was about? Someone said we're sitting like this around the tables cause there's going to be a quiz today. So let's do that. Last week we learned about people who speak in tongues.

In the context of Isaiah 28, what was that about? It was a woe to Ephraim. Yeah. And then Jerusalem. Why is it a woe? It's God's judgment. Who is speaking in tongues in the 28th chapter of Isaiah? Assyrians.

They're speaking a foreign language and it sounds like Babel to the Israelite. They're being judged by God. Why? Why would God judge them in that way? Well, in your notes from.

Last week it says, and it can't be wrong, for her lack of discernment. Lack of discernment. They.

Were unwilling to listen to God's Word and build discernment from a biblical worldview. So they refused to hear precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little. They didn't want to hear God speaking through His Word and so He will send them a foreign oppressor who they can't understand.

He spoke so clearly, but they were bored with it. Interestingly, I didn't mention this last week, but when Rapshachah came taunting the Israelites from beneath the wall and the Jewish people were atop the wall, what did they say in response to him?

Rapshachah was the Assyrian leading the army, the general. He was taunting them to say that they're going to crush Jerusalem and what did the people answer from the wall? Don't speak to us in Hebrew. Speak to us in your native tongue.

They themselves, without knowing it, were calling out for the fulfillment of Isaiah, but he said, let the people hear what I have to say. You're going to be crushed. Well, Hezekiah then turns and calls upon the Lord and God brings a deliverance to Jerusalem, but not before Ephraim, the northern tribes, had been wiped out by the babble-speaking Assyrians.

So it's an interesting connection. All right, so, Ralph, let's move on to verses 14 and 15 where we left off last week.

Therefore, hear the word of the Lord of Scotlands, who ruled this people in Jerusalem. You boast, we have entered into a covenant with death. With grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge, and falsehood.

Our hiding place. Okay, this is what the scoffer says in Jerusalem. What is he essentially saying? We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement. I don't think so. When the overwhelming whip passes through, it will not come upon us.

Okay, what's happening here in almost sarcastic terms, God is making clear and stark the reasoning of the way we're Jew. This Jewish person is reasoning. Their way of thinking is probably much more murky than this, but God is making plain the way they think.

Very often, sinners, all of us, will rationalize the things that we do, and we may not present our thoughts in so stark and clear terms as this, but there's some lie that we're believing, some way of thinking which doesn't comport with the Word of God, and in this case, these are really people who are breaking the covenant with God, and they think God will not punish them.

Not me. God won't punish me. I won't die. I mean, God says if I break the commandments, then I'll die, but not me, and the reasoning here is we have a covenant with death. I've made an agreement with death that death can't touch me.

The whip, if God brings punishment, it won't touch me, and the lies that I tell are a refuge that keep me safe. Now, do you think that the Jewish person who's thinking.

This way is admitting so much to themselves? I'm just wondering how aware they were of how far gone they were. If they really had awareness, or they were just like so many people today, they have a false concept of what being saved is, and what being religious is, and so maybe they had, you know, they obviously sent prophets to them, and they destroyed them, and they just didn't want to listen, but I think they had an idea that what they were doing was right, even though they had strayed so far.

So, do you think that they were knowledgeable? They had to have been, right? Because God sent prophets and other people to them to explain to them what the truth was. It sounds like they rationalized all their doubts away, and it was fine.

Yeah, there is, I think, a rationalizing of the consequences. So, the man who begins to have an affair with someone next door is blaming his wife because of how terrible she is to him, and because of how she treats me, I'm going to do this, and God understands.

This idea that, look, I've made a covenant with death. You know, the Proverbs chapter 8 young man who falls into temptation, death won't touch me until he's pierced by an arrow like a bird in a cage. You know, the idea of, I'm invincible.

It's not, the judgment never comes. I always get away with things, and I know I'll get away with this too. It's taking refuge in lies. The lie will be my shelter. I will convince myself that God will not judge me.

I'm okay. It's not running to Christ for refuge, who is a true shelter to run into. It is believing a lie that everything is well. It's really an antinomianism, where there is no law to me. You know, I can do what I want to do, and it's really going to be fine.

But they don't think this way in stark terms. It's a muddled kind of justification that just is in the back of someone's mind, and God makes it plain. This is how you think.

I was just going to comment. Don't we see that today? Don't we rationalize and see people twisting scripture to conform to their belief system?

Someone justifies drug use. You know, I can shoot up, and it's not going to kill me. I know it's killed all my friends, but it won't kill me.

When I handled liability claims as an insurance adjuster, what we had to do to determine the liability of a certain party was, did they know, or should they have known? Foreseeability. Should they have foreseen?

And all the information from that standpoint that Israel was given, Deuteronomy 28, you would receive judgment. They should have known. If they didn't know, they should have known.

Okay, Bob, would you read verse 16, then, in contrast to that? Very good. So, there's a difference between the tenses and verbs in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other Masoretic text. So, the NIV has a future tense there.

Read that again. Okay. So, the tense there is, I lay, or it could be that he's doing it presently, or in the Dead Sea it is, I am laying, so it's happening. The ESV translates this, I am the one who has laid as a foundation.

Either way you look at this, Christ has been the foundation from before the world. God has given his one and only son in time, but even before Christ came into the world to be the foundation of the church, he was that cornerstone.

And it's God who sends forth his son. So, here we have a picture of Christ, one of the great prophecies of the book of Isaiah. How many of y 'all are looking forward to Isaiah chapter 53? We can't wait to get to that, because that's a famous one.

But notice, these prophecies of Christ are sprinkled all throughout the book of Isaiah. Okay. So, let's read, well, we could go to Acts chapter 4, Mark 12, 10, Ephesians 2, 20, as Rich mentioned, but let's read the 1 Peter 2 passage.

I've printed this in the ESV version. So, Jean, would you want to read that for us? Do you like reading out loud?

I'll give you the big one.

Like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

So the builders rejected has become cornerstone, and a stone has come in, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the world, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Okay, so we have here the contrast between those who build upon the cornerstone, and they are like living stones that are chosen to be a part of the church. Of course, in this passage, who is the cornerstone?

Christ, Jesus. And what passage is quoted in verse 6 here, 1 Peter 2? Isaiah 28. Now, what's the other verse that's quoted? Verse 8. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is Psalm 118, verse 22.

And the idea here is that even though it's God who laid this foundation stone for the church to be built upon, there are many who will reject that, and it becomes to them a stumbling stone. And especially the house of Israel, and part of the southern tribe, too.

Except for the remnant, people will trip over the very stone that God laid for them. So he's a stumbling stone to some. To others, he's the very foundation of our lives. And that's true of the world today, isn't it?

There are those who build their life upon the rock, and there are those who build their life upon sand. And the rock, to them, is nothing but a tripping stone. And that is the condition of the world in which we live.

So the cornerstone that God has laid is the only sure foundation. Remind us again of Matthew 7. What did Jesus say about the rock and the sand? That's right. So we're to build our house on the rock. And we do that through the word, also.

It says in 1 Peter 2, in verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word. And earlier in verse 2, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.

So the context here is we should be growing and building on Christ, and we receive God's word in order to do that. So the building of the church, the building up of Christians, is by the word. Can you just quickly comment on, as they were destined to do, in verse 8?

We've been reading that in these accounts, how the Assyrians, the Babylonians, still held accountable, even though God was wielding them and using them. I forgot what the term was.

Does anybody remember?

Compatibilism?

Compatibilism! And how does R .C. Sproul describe this? Oh yeah. There's no such thing, I think, as even one solitary maverick molecule. No maverick molecule in all the universe. There's not one rogue molecule.

So some people say, well, God can't stop things from happening. Some things are out of His control. He's constrained because of man's free will. Now, that's how they describe the reason for all the suffering in the world.

Of course, if you stop and think for a moment, very much of the suffering of this world is not even caused by humans, right? It's just because of a virus that causes a child, or a cancer that grows in the brain of a child.

It is an earthquake or a hurricane, what are called acts of God. But even the things that happen from the hand of man, God is not constrained to stop them. If God wanted to stop a murderer before he commits a murder, that man could drop of a heart attack.

Now, if a person says, well, I'm trying to protect God. This is the question of theodicy. How can you justify God in the face of evil in the world? Some people will say, well, it's because He can't stop it.

It's free will. But all a person does when they go down that road is they take away God's purpose in it. The reality of the event is still there, John, right? The suffering child who's dying of cancer is still dying of cancer.

You haven't justified God with your free will solution. All you've done is removed God's purpose from it. But if you believe that God has destined even the wicked things, Acts 4, 27, 28, even the crucifixion of Christ, then we can look for what is His purpose in it.

Not that the thing itself is good, but that He is using even the evil things of this world for good, for those who are called according to His purpose and for His own glory. Ultimately, yes. So there is a purpose in those things when we believe all that the Scripture teaches.

So where did you see that, John? They stumble because they disobey the Word as they were destined to do.

Well, I'm sorry. I'm wrestling with this in my own mind and heart. I think if I say to my child, if you continue in this activity, you're going to end up here. And that doesn't mean that that's what God destined them to do, but that's the destiny of the course that they've taken.

I guess when I see this, the people of Israel rebelled against God, and God's going to bring His judgment against them, and God warns them. You keep acting like this, judgment's going to come upon you.

And I know that He's behind all that stuff, but it's not that He has intentionally caused them to go left when He told them to go right. It's that He told them to go right, and they went left anyway, and the consequences of going left is this.

So, I guess I just wrestle with that in my own heart, because it almost sounds to me like God has destined me, John, or your daughter, or my son, or whoever you want to call on, if they keep going down the path that they're going on, it's because God put them on that path.

And I guess my heart tells me that if you keep going down that path, it's because it's contrary to what God has laid out for you to do, and there's consequences for that action.

You're on to it. Here's, I think, what would be helpful. Understand the decree of God, His sovereign decree over everything that happens, as His absolute, soft determinism. So what this means is, Ephesians 111, God has ordained everything according to the counsel of His will.

Now, what you need to understand about compatibilism is that what is ultimately a secondary cause in the universe is real, and that's what you're hitting on right here, human responsibility. So, the person who sins is responsible for his own sin, and his choices are real choices that lead down the path toward destruction.

And so, within the realm of human responsibility, you have people making real choices that result in human suffering and evil. So where does God place the responsibility for sin?

On the sinner.

The free agent, yeah. And in the Garden of Eden, the person is truly free, right? Because he doesn't have a sinful nature. Now, in Adam, everyone is fallen, and the intentions of a person's heart are evil from his youth, says in Genesis 9.

Just like before the destruction of the world in Genesis 6, their thoughts and intentions were evil all the time, human beings are bent on evil. And the natural course, because of the sin nature, being enslaved to sin, is that people will go to destruction.

So what accounts then for anyone turning away from sin? It's not some goodness that was latent inside of them. It's the interposition of grace, that God would come and rescue a sinner and give them the regeneration of heart that would result in being safe and then doing good works that come from salvation.

Nobody, like Jesus said, nobody can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. And the word draws in Greek is helka,.

Which means dragged, basically. Yeah, that's John 6 .44. Okay, so trying to put this kind of together with this verse from 1 Peter 2 .8, what does it mean that they were destined to do these things?

If they didn't follow the path that was the right way to go, pretty much your destiny is going to be, well...

It's hard to explain.

It is hard to explain. You're going down the wrong road and the destiny for that wrong turn is what you're going to have.

That's your destiny. I would say that's absolutely right. And this is compatibilism, right? So the person who is making those choices, those creaturely choices that they're making, the result will be the destiny that follows that path.

Now, does that touch the sovereignty of God? Or are those two things compatible? Now, the context in 1 Peter 2 is that God has chosen a people in the chosen one. Remember, this stone here, Christ, is chosen.

And the people who are going to be a royal priesthood for him.

Are chosen.

And that there will be people who reject and completely resist God in every way and oppose the people of God is no threat to his sovereign plan.

God's Sovereign Decree and Human Responsibility

Okay.

In the book of 1 Peter... All right, we're going to get real deep here. In the book of 1 Peter, the word philemo is used four times. It means will, with reference to the will of God. Let's go back to 1 Peter for a minute.

I want you to see that the context of 1 Peter is that there will be those who oppose... There will be those who oppose God. They will malign you and slander you and say all kinds of evil, even killing some.

That's 1 Peter 4 .6. But even though they're judged according to the flesh, they die, they're alive in the spirit. 1 Peter 4 .6. Now, look with me at 1 Peter 4 .2. I'm going to give you an example of philemo.

1 Peter... Remember, the context here of 1 Peter is suffering. Righteous suffering for Christ. That's kind of the big theme of the book. 1 Peter 4 .2. How are we to live? For the will of God. This is a revealed will.

God's will is revealed to us and we're to pursue his will, to do as he commanded us to do. Now look down a little lower at 4 .19. So while you trust God's plan, you're doing good. You're living by the will of God.

You're doing what he's commanded you to do. You are to entrust yourself to God's will. And it even says, you suffer according to God's will. This is the big teaching of 1 Peter. God has a chosen people and God's will, his sovereignty, is over even our suffering.

When the wicked person sins, God is not taken by surprise. They were destined to do that to you. You were to suffer at their hand. They will malign you. They will oppose you and resist you. Look at 1 Peter 4 .4.

With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you. You see, the context of 1 Peter here is the righteous suffering of the saints. We are chosen, we are precious.

And even the wickedness of the evil people around us, as they malign us, that is part of God's philemon. Our suffering is under his will. They're not doing anything that surprises him. It's part of the decree of God.

He had a purpose in this. All of this was destined,.

In the language of Peter,.

They were destined to do what they did to you. And you were destined to be right where you are. When they're killing you, you can still rejoice. So when we talk about this word predestination, it's used, and we can do a word study of it, it's used four or five times in the New Testament.

And it always refers to just what it sounds like it refers to. That God has destined ahead of time the things that come to pass. You know, the golden chain of redemption, those who he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified.

He is the one who's doing this, and we're secure in that, in the destiny of God, in all of these things. So, that's the teaching there, with regard to the cornerstone, as well, from 1 Peter 2. Let's go back to chapter 28, of Isaiah, from which that quote was taken.

That is a beautiful question, because, yes, it doesn't excuse them, but when a person takes on a Calvinistic attitude, no matter what happens to you, you look at God. God, why did you allow this? I might never know until I get to heaven, but I'm looking to him because he has a purpose.

He's chastening me, perhaps. Maybe I'm being disciplined. Maybe I'm suffering like Job, and he's receiving glory through my suffering, as he's displaying his greatness over against Satan. I don't know if there's a spiritual warfare.

Whatever the case is, God has a purpose in him. And so, we don't get stuck looking at the other person, and try to fight on a human level, and there is interactions that are governed by the Bible, the revealed will of God, how I'm to respond to that person who attacks me.

I'm to love the one who is an enemy to me. Yeah, we try to do good. We naturally look at suffering as a bad thing, and we shouldn't. Yeah, that's exactly right.

Every time.

We suffer, as chosen living stones, God has a reason for it. It was part of his plan before we were born. He knows everything. And think about this. If it really wasn't under his control, this world would be out of control.

The free will decisions of men would be determined if I get murdered on the way home today, or whether he'll restrain the wickedness of man, right? God is the one who we look at, and that's the kind of worldview.

It's a God-centered worldview rather than a man-centered.

We're called to become a diamond and have to be subject to being broken.

Yeah, and God knows just how much we can take, and how he'll give that to us through the course of our life, and he can be trusted. He's achieving good things through the sufferings of his children.

This is a Carol's issue. I've got a verse from Isaiah, right from Isaiah 26.

A few.

Chapters back, verse 3. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you.

Good word. Alright, Barb, would you mind reading for us verses 17 to 19? We're in Isaiah 28.

I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. Hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled.

Your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. And then 19 as well. As often as it comes, it will carry you away. Morning after morning, by day and by night, it will be sweetened through you.

So they're putting their hope in these lies that they tell themselves.

And.

Will that shelter work when the Assyrian comes?

No.

God will sweep them away. That shelter will be worthless to them. This deal that they made with death, death won't touch me. I've got a deal with death. It won't touch me. That won't stand.

The.

Analogy here is when a husband would annul a vow hastily made by his wife. In Israelite culture, the husband could annul a promise or a covenant that was made. He could come in, rather than ratifying it, he could annul it.

And God is saying, you make this covenant, I annul it. You don't have the right to claim that death can't touch you. You don't have a right. And God says, when I send judgment, you're not safe the way you think you are.

So this torrent, it's like the.

House built on the sand.

You'll be swept away. That's a great analogy. The more the culture yells their lies, and they get louder.

And louder, it doesn't make that the.

Truth. It's just what they shelter in. And it doesn't, it will never be a shelter to them, and it doesn't annul what God says, but he annuls what they say. Here's another analogy that I find particularly fun, that.

I love. Let's look at it,.

20 -22, because I'm a tall guy, so I can really sympathize with this.

Carol, would you read 20 -22?

"...as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perism, and against the Amorites at Gibeon. He will come to do a strange, unusual thing. He will destroy his own people. So scoff no more, or your punishment will be even greater.

For the Lord, the Lord Almighty has plainly told me that he is determined to crush you.".

Yeah. So,.

Here, who is God judging? His own people, Jerusalem, or the nations?

Well, my, the last verse that you just read in my book,.

Says,.

"...destruction is determined to come upon the whole earth.".

Yeah, the whole land is how the ESV has it. It could, and I heard Joe Foch teach on this just this week. He's looking at that as a picture of the upcoming tribulation. This could be the future judgment.

I think because it's referred to as strange and alien in verse 21, it's talking specifically about the Jewish people, his own people. Because he starts this passage in verse 14 with Jerusalem. I think it's talking about the Assyrian assault, that they're hoping in just their own ability to plug their ears and close their eyes and bury their head in the sand, and that's going to be good enough.

And he's saying, no, I will judge my own people. That's what's so strange and alien about it, is that this is his chosen people, and they're going to fall under his judgment. So, the likeness here is to a man who's laying on a bed, but it's not long enough, with a little tiny blanket, unable to get warm underneath it.

Did you ever have that problem?

Boy, let me tell you, all the time. My feet are always on the baseboard, just like, it's annoying when the bed is too short. Well, that's how it is with the placing of your trust in Egypt or any other hope.

Hezekiah is going to make a deal with Egypt, and Egypt will come rescue us. No, they won't. The bed is too short. You lean on that rod, and your hand will be pierced. The hopes of this earth,.

Don't place, don't put your.

Hope in these things. It's, the bed is too short. It's not going to work. And then another analogy, in 23 to 26,.

Yeah, real quick. You're saying that at the end time, this is related to the tribulation?

It could be. It could also be pointing to that. These past prophecies.

Are typologies.

Of future prophecies. Yes, that's very much the case. And we saw that earlier in, was it Isaiah 25, about the tribulation? He moves beyond just the, or 24, the localized judgments to the whole earth, 24 verse 1, and we were seeing that as a future judgment.

And I would agree with Joe Foch that this probably does point to future judgment as well. The principle is there. It's, you don't trust in princes, you trust in the Lord.

Trust in the Lord.

Yep.

Alright, Karen, would you want to read 23 to 26? Okay.

Sit and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say. When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? When he has leveled the surface, does he not so care away and scatter common?

Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.

Very good. So a farmer, here's the next analogy. First you got this big tall guy who can't fit on the bed. He's got, he's putting his trust in too short of a bed. Now you have this idea, well, the farmer isn't really going to see this.

I see this threat coming, but it's not going to be to completion. God won't actually go through.

With it. Well, think about a farmer.

Does he till the soil to just stop? No, he.

Tills the soil. You don't see a guy.

Out there for days and weeks.

Digging these little trenches.

And then once he's done,.

He just goes home and that's it. What has he accomplished? Nothing.

But you dig the trenches, you turn the soil, you get it ready so it's ready to receive the seed. The farmer is going to see it through. He's got a job to do. He's got a reason for what he's doing, a purpose in it.

And in 23 to 26, that's how it is with God. He tells him in verse 23, give ear, hear my voice, give attention, hear my speech. Essentially, like a farmer who sees this thing through, God will do what he said he was going to do.

Now, there's a note of hope at the end, as there often is. Have you noticed that in Isaiah? After these harsh judgment passages, you see this gospel glimmer emerge at the end. Neba, would you read that, 27 to 29?

For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is the cartwheel driven over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a rod, and cumin with a club. Grain for bread is crushed. Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever, because the wheel of his cart, his horses eventually damage it.