The Certainty of Judgment

Isaiah’s Apocalypse and the Certainty of Judgment

Well, today we'll be continuing Isaiah 24. So if you want to go ahead and turn to Isaiah 24, we're going to be reading verses 17 through 20. When you have that, please go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word and I'll go ahead and remind you Meanwhile that this chapter is summarizing in this whole section 24 through 27 is summarizing All the oracles against the nations that had come before so it's summarizing God's work of both judgment and salvation.

Please stand when you have Isaiah 24 beginning in verse 17. Terror in the pit and the snare are upon you. Oh inhabitant of the earth he who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit and He who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.

For the windows of heaven are opened and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken the earth is split apart the earth is violently shaken. The earth Staggers like a drunken man.

It sways like a hut its Transgressions lie heavy upon it and it falls and it will not rise again. You may be seated dear Heavenly Father in this Continuing this passage of judgment. I pray that we would understand your judgment.

We would appreciate it. We would consider it solemnly and gravely, but Lord that we would see the great beauty of your salvation In the presence of that judgment that you save through judgment Lord I pray that today we would fix our eyes on Jesus Christ who saves from sin who saves from death and damnation and that we would Find in him Everything and that we would find great joy and life in him in Jesus name.

Amen. So as we've been talking about God's judgment looking at the various aspects of his judgment how total it is. How how broad and how great it is? Today we'll be looking at how certain it is how certain God's judgment is.

God's judgment is a certain judgment. It is coming for Every man if you give me just a second here God's judgment is coming for the whole earth. And so We must ask ourselves. How do we escape? Inescapable judgment.

How do we how do we get out of a certain judgment? That's what I'd like us to think about in this passage. This passage on its own does not have the answer but it does have the statement. The judgment is certain as we look to what the New Testament says about the things said here in this passage.

We'll see that Jesus Christ is the only way to escape and inescapable. Just judgment. It's the only way he is the only means by which we can avoid. What is certainly going to befall the earth here in the first verse begins Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you Oh inhabitant of the earth.

Terror and the pit and the snare now you have a footnote here, which I find very interesting because These sorts of things will happen more often. They actually bother footnoting. So I find it interesting when they actually do choose to footnote it.

But you'll see there that the Hebrew words for terror pit and snare sound alike they sound alike so one commentator has Translated thusly panic and pit and pitfall are upon you Oh inhabitant of the earth.

That's how you might imagine this being rendered if we were trying to focus on the alliteration rather than getting the exact meaning of each. Of the words panic and pit and pitfall are upon you Oh inhabitant of the earth.

So, what is this? Panic and pit and pitfall. What is this terror and pit and snare? It is the judgment of the Lord. It is his Justice that comes upon all who have gone against God's law. Now we might ask in addition to what is this thing?

When is this now it'd be very tempting as you read through this and you see a lot of these passages. Seem to speak of that final day of the Lord to think that this passage only applies to the final day of the Lord to that day of judgment when Jesus returns and Judges his enemies saves his people.

If you look through this passage and see that You would not be wrong in that this passage does speak to those things however, it speaks of something much broader as this Section in Isaiah is summarizing all the oracles that go before remember those oracles that won't before we're talking about talking about things that what God would do throughout the course of history not just what he would finally do in the end and In order to demonstrate this a little for you today. I'd like us to go ahead and Look at Jeremiah.

Judgment in Jeremiah and Romans

Jeremiah 48 verses 42 through 44. Jeremiah comes a little after Isaiah and He uses the same Imagery to describe the judgment that's coming upon the nation of Moab in his own time. So even Jeremiah understood this as something that was applying even in his own time.

Not just on the final day. Verse 42 and Jeremiah 48 says Moab shall be destroyed and be no longer a people. Because he magnified himself against the Lord terror and pit and snare up before you. Oh inhabitant of Moab declares the Lord.

He who flees from the terror shall fall into the pit and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. So you see very directly have the same words here in Jeremiah. Jeremiah Understanding this prophecy in Isaiah to be referring not simply to the final day of the Lord, but to refer referring to his own time.

And it is rightly understood as referring to all times God's justice is poured out on the earth. His wrath is revealed against the nation's. It's what Romans 1 18 says. This is not something that is Consolidated to that final day, but as something is being revealed from day to day as calamities befall the earth his judgment, it's a very serious thing to.

To contend with his judgment is something that is that is upon us and it is upon us. Constantly reminding us that it's coming an even greater measure in the future. Now who is this coming upon. Talked about what this judgment is and when this judgment is what about who?

This is upon the inhabitant of the earth. This is coming upon all who inhabit the earth. Uh, if you are one who inhabits the earth this applies to you, uh, you should be considering this there is no it doesn't matter.

Um, you know if elon musk makes a trek to mars and you get on that spaceship. You will not escape this because it's not just about this ground earth, but it's about all of fallen creation. Judgment is coming to a fallen creation.

Now why why is this happening? Well, we saw the reason back in verse 5 the earth lies defiled under its inhabitants for they have transgressed the laws. God's law has been broken. His wrath is being revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness in men.

Is because men have sinned against him that not only Mankind itself but all that is underneath mankind as mankind has had dominion over the earth all of earth Falls with man and as we see in this passage the whole earth the creation itself Has a destruction coming to it his judgment coming to it.

And we see that this judgment is certain he who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit. He who climbs out of the pit Shall be caught in the snare. The idiom that you might be familiar with is out of the frying pan and into the Fryer, I found it.

How does that go? I don't even know how that goes fire. There we go into the fire. Uh, you cannot escape god's judgment uh. The person who leaves the panic will go into the pit and the person leaves the pit goes into the pitfall.

You can see kind of isaiah's purpose in using these Words that sound similar to each other. It's because you leave one and you run right into the same thing. In the book of job Zophar speaks of the wicked and their portion being to escape.

Uh the sword of iron and to be hit with an arrow of bronze. Uh, this is this is what is coming to those who have broken god's laws. Those who have broken god's laws have a certain judgment. They might escape one day, but they will not escape the next.

Now I imagine many of you have some kind of story in your life where you are close to death. I think a lot of us when we think back we realize there are multiple times when we have been very close to death uh I think for myself I can at least think of two times, you know one time when I was rock climbing, you know, just casually with no gear I was up higher than I should have been on something more precarious than I should have been and I was not certain Whether or not I was going to make it.

And uh, there was another time some of you know that I was a student at virginia tech when the shooting happened there. That was uh, the 15th anniversary of that happened only just a few days ago. Uh last saturday.

And if my classes had been on tuesdays and thursdays instead of or sorry they had been on uh, Mondays and wednesdays instead of tuesdays and thursdays I would have been sleeping in the hallway that the man chained up on either side and then went and uh murdered all the people in between we have.

We are always precariously near death and Those people who imagine that they can escape it on one occasion the idea that you could just keep escaping it forever. That's just nonsense. It is a point for man wants to die.

Death is coming for every person. Let us not ignore this. Let us not ignore The future of death, you know as you get older and as you start contemplating these things more seriously planning for how to take care of Your children if you have children after you.

You know. Then you'll start thinking about this more seriously. You'll start wondering What lies ahead. Don't wait until that moment? Think about this matter now think about it frequently. Those thoughts should point you to the only one who can save they should point you to jesus christ.

Now i'm describing how inescapable this judgment how certain this judgment is. He says for the windows of heaven are opened and the foundations of the earth tremble. The windows of heaven are opened. Now if you uh have ever gone about a bible reading plan and if you know, maybe you've tried to go the whole year, but you Uh peter out in january.

You will have run across this phrase. Even if you don't get very far in the bible, you'll see this phrase the heavens are opened. Where is that genesis 6 and 7? Now this is the phrase that's used To describe god's judgment on the whole earth when the flood came.

It's the heavens open and god's judgment poured down in the form of rain now He has promised with the sign of the rainbow that he will not judge the whole world by water once again, but he will Judge the whole earth by fire.

And it will have that same quality of coming down from the heaven the heavens being open. How would you escape if the heavens were opened and judgment rained down? Well, you might hide under something.

But what does it say here? The foundations of the earth tremble so from up above judgment and from down below no firm foundation. The earth will split. The foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken.

The earth is split apart. The earth is violently shaken. You know these phrases once again, there's a A literary technique that's being used here to emphasize these things. Um you see, uh. The english translators have used different phrases to make it more extreme, right?

It's not just broken. It's utterly broken. It's not just split. It's split apart. It's not just shaken. It's violently shaken. What's going on here in hebrew is repetition? So it'd be something like broken broken is the earth split split is the earth shaken.

Shaken is the earth. And it goes on the earth staggers like a drunken man. It sways like a hut. Its transgression lies heavy upon it and it falls and it will not rise again. Now there's much the bible says About these about these sorts of things we see in amos 5 2.

That this judgment falls upon israel fallen no more to rise. Is the virgin israel forsaken on her land with none to raise her up. The bible says much about earthquakes demonstrating the judgment of god.

Psalm 18 7 says the earth Reeled and rocked the foundation also of the mountains trembled and quaked because he was angry. Why why do earthquakes happen on this earth? Because god is angry because we are a sinful people.

Uh. If adam had never sinned if mankind had ever sinned there would be no earthquakes on this earth. The reason that earthquakes exist Is because they represent the anger of god his judgment upon creation.

And the earthquakes that we experience in the world even the big ones, you know even if california gets hit with a a massive one, you know that people have been Anticipating for some time that will only be a small taste of the judgment that is in store for the earth.

We see also in a Passage that is probably my favorite passage. It's the end of hebrews 12. Speaks of the uh. How the earth shook at sinai and what did that represent? For they could not endure the order that was given.

If even a beast touches the mountain. It shall be stoned indeed. So terrifying was the sight that moses said I tremble with fear. But you have come to mount zion and to the city of the living god to the heavenly jerusalem.

So The mountain shook at sinai and later on when it says uh in verse Uh, excuse me later on. In verse, uh 27 this phrase yet once more indicates the removal of the things that are shaking. Yes, that is things as they have been made.

In order that things that cannot be shaken may remain. See Sinai shook. Demonstrating god's anger against those who would break his law because what was given at sinai his law was given. And so the mountain shook demonstrating his anger at those who would break his law.

Bible says that it will shake once more. Yes. It's shaking all in between but there is a great day when it will shake once and for all. Split open and all those who are against god will be destroyed. So looking at this at this certain judgment, how may it be escaped how may we escape?

That certain judgment the answer is only found in jesus christ. He has died for the sin of sinners whose trust in him. It is only through him that man can be saved. Consider. Consider several things that the bible says about the images we see here.

Consider simply the earthquake. In matthew 27 what happened when jesus died? There was an earthquake. It says in verse, uh in matthew 27 54. The centurion and those who are with him keeping watch over jesus saw the earthquake and what took place.

And they were filled with all and said truly this was the son of god. Now, why did why did an earthquake happen? I would say is representing god's judgment. What is jesus bearing? He is bearing judgment.

For all those who trust in him so that they don't have to experience that same judgment. That earthquake is showing that we have a substitute who can bear the penalty that's due to us. And then three days later.

Now after the sabbath toward the dawn of the first day of the week Mary magdalene and the other mary went to see the tomb and behold. There was a great earthquake for an angel of the lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

Death itself was judged that day. You see there is no security For the inhabitants of the earth for those who have come to mount sinai and be judged on the basis of his law because we have. We have stood against his law.

However, as it says in hebrews 12. But you have come to mount zion and to the city of the living god the heavenly jerusalem and to innumerable angels and festal gathering. The one who comes to mount zion the one who comes to the heavenly jerusalem.

Though they may Walk on this earth. They have a status that transcends the category Of simply being an inhabitant of the earth. You see this judgment is coming to all the inhabitants of the earth. But if we have come to mount zion, we have come to a place that cannot be shaken.

Zion is the city where god's temple it is a place where he dwells. And as jesus explained in in the gospels in john 4 that god dwells With his people that god dwells. He is he is not to be contained in a single place.

And so there's coming a time jesus said where we would not worship on this mountain or on that mountain. So where is zion? Where is this place where god dwells? The new testament explains that christ Is the express image of god.

He dwells in us by means of his holy spirit. If we have trusted in him if we have believed he dwells with us, so we have come to that heavenly zion we have been removed from simply inhabitants of the earth if we trust in jesus christ and consider the passages that have been preached in Previous weeks from ephesians.

Ephesians 120 ephesians 2 6. That talk about us being seated with jesus christ in the heavenly places. How does one escape the certain judgment that is coming to all the inhabitants of the earth? The answer Is to be a citizen of heaven is to be Seated in the heavenly places with jesus christ.

And it is in him Trusting in him that we can have that status to be where he is seated in those heavenly places. Now we still dwell on this earth we still experience calamities but we can have a certain end.

We can have a certain covenantal and a certain Contractual agreement in jesus christ where we are counted as being in the heavenly places as being seated there Rather than being mere inhabitants of this earth.

We can have a certain salvation. We can escape the inescapable judgment. We can avoid that which is certain. Because we have access to heaven through jesus christ. Through his blood through his death burial and resurrection.

Do not do not ignore the judgment that is coming because it is certain instead Looking to what scripture says looking to what god has done in jesus christ. Let us look to jesus christ and trust in him for a great salvation to escape what is otherwise inescapable.

Call to Faith and Prayer for Salvation

Let's go to lord in prayer. Dear holy father We thank you For providing jesus christ one who without which We'd be hopeless. We'd be utterly hopeless doomed destined to destruction only palligating Our concerns with distractions.

Willfully ignorant lord. I pray that we would not be willfully ignorant today. I pray that there's anyone here who's not Not taken seriously this judgment not turn to jesus christ for salvation. I pray that they would They would see that their only hope is in him.

And lord, I pray that as we carry this message forward to the neighborhood and to the world It would be received it would be received as good news because That judgment that people ignore yes, it is bad news, but God, I pray that they would They would recognize the goodness and having a a great savior to save from that justice.

And I pray that on that last day When we stand before him That we will be able to do so with great joy and god in the meanwhile. Pray that we would have our eyes fixed to jesus praying and looking forward to that day in jesus name.

Amen. You.