The Judge Of All The Earth

Isaiah’s Courtroom Scene and the Coastlands Summoned for Judgment

Please go ahead and turn in your Bible and stay standing for Isaiah 41, turn there in Isaiah 41 we will read this passage. Isaiah 41 which can be found on page 601 of your pew Bible, Isaiah 41 verses 1 through 5.

Listen to me in silence O coastlands, let the peoples renew their strength, let them approach then let them speak, let us draw together, let us together draw near for judgment. Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step?

He gives up nations before him so that he tramples kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow. He pursues them and passes on safely by paths his feet have not trod.

Who has performed and done this calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord the first and with the last I am he. The coastlands have seen and are afraid, the ends of the earth tremble, they have drawn near and come.

Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, we ask that we would that we would rejoice at the promises and we would tremble at the threatenings. Lord in this passage it speaks of your judgment on all the earth which is a great mercy to your people but a great wrath upon your enemy.

Pray that we would do exactly that, that we would rejoice at your promises that you have given to your people and we would tremble at the threatenings. In Jesus' name, amen. Lord Jesus Christ is king over all the earth and therefore he is judge over all the earth.

In our own system of government these things are separated, the notion of an executive and the notion of a judge are separated, but in times past those have been one in the same. That is why you see in Scripture Solomon sits in the gate, judges, you see the people sitting in the gates judging, kings doing this, the notions of judges and princes and kings all being somewhat interchangeable, judges and princes being lesser kings.

In fact in older literature if you look at what it says of things like mayors of governors that are underneath the king they're often called lesser judges, the idea being that the king is the high judge because Jesus Christ is king of all the earth, he is a judge of all the earth.

The Nations Must Stand Before the Lord in Judgment

And this passage speaks of how everyone will stand before him in judgment. It says in verse 1, listen to me in silence O coastlands, let the people renew their strength, let them approach and let them speak, let us together draw near for judgment.

This is describing a courtroom scene where all of the earth gathers before the Lord in judgment. He tells them to listen to him in silence and renew their strength. The idea is rather than expending their energy now because they will stand before him in court they should essentially take a recess, they should gather their resources, figure out what the best arguments they can make are, gather their strength together to stand before him in judgment as though they possibly could.

It says let them approach then let them speak, let us together draw near for judgment. So they will come, they will stand before him and they will speak. Of course their defenses will not stand before him.

Speaks to the coastlands in particular. So you read through Isaiah and other prophets and scripture begin to realize that the coastlands or the islands depending on which translation you're reading refer to the edges of the earth.

So the idea is not just those people who are nearby but those all the way to the edges of the earth. Everyone is to come near. So when you see the coastlands mentioned that's supposed to speak of, that's supposed to be a way of speaking of the whole earth because it's the utter reaches of the earth.

The utter reaches are all to stand before him in judgment. Speaks of stirring up one from the east to produce this victory. Skipping over that just for a moment down to verse 4. Says who has performed and done this calling the generations from the beginning?

I the Lord the first and with the last I am he. This is God. It is God who produces this judgment. He is above all the earth. He has performed and done this. He has planned this all the way from the beginning and to illustrate that he is the beginning he calls himself the first and with the last.

Now you're probably used to hearing of God as the first and the last which later in Isaiah he will be called twice the first and the last. Here he speaks of himself as the first and with the last. If you think about what that means from a human perspective, Jesus God himself is the first.

There's nothing that predated him as he created. He created other things before he created man. He was there at the beginning and yet all of mankind will continue to eternity and so there is a sense in which he is with the last but not with them at the beginning because he is alone at the beginning when he is creating.

And so this is a way of describing him as being eternal having been there from the end. He will be there all the way to the end and if he is that way and he has planned this from the start, then this will surely come to pass.

Those who think they might be able to avoid it are missing the fact that he has planned this from the very beginning. He is the first and he is with the last. Speaks of the coastlands having seen and being afraid.

The ends of the earth tremble. Now you see ends of the earth being spoken of in parallel with the coastlands. They all tremble. They have drawn near and come. So this passage begins, it ends the way it begins speaking of the coastlands coming near together for judgment.

The ESV chooses to make the paragraph breaks in different places but given the patterns in Old Testament scripture where you have these inclusios that begin with an idea and then end with an idea, I think it's right to think of this as a single block.

He calls them together for judgment and then it ends with the thought that now they are at judgment. In verse 2, it says, who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets every step. Speaks of an agent of judgment coming from the east against the nations.

Now later on it's going to specifically talk about Cyrus, the one who comes from the east, the Persian king, and it's one of those exceptional prophecies in scripture that speak by name of what is going to happen.

A lot of time prophecies in scripture are somewhat vague, not to do what fortune tellers of our day do, is speak so vaguely that they can't be verified after the fact. They are not so vague that they can't be verified after the fact, but they are vague enough that man must trust God to do what he has said without so many specific details and then you can verify them after the fact that this is, yes, this is what he intended.

Now this prophecy that we will receive later on in Isaiah about Cyrus the Persian, it's one of those rare exceptional prophecies that speaks even by name of someone. So Cyrus, many years later, will come and set the people free from Babylon who has not yet even come and taken the people away.

So there are several generations left to take place before this will ultimately come to pass. Now this idea that this speaks of Cyrus is the majority view in our time. It has not been the majority view throughout history.

Many people have understood this to refer to Abraham. Abraham, when it describes his passage around, describes him coming over and then from the east. And then additionally it talks about him advancing in righteousness in Genesis 15, which is a pretty important passage about Abraham.

And here in the ESV where it says, whom victory meets at every step, you'll see a footnote there that this could also be translated righteousness. This is the same word for about righteousness, him being called in righteousness.

That sounds like Abraham. Later on in verse 8 you see, but you Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend. See if it's talking about Abraham, it seems to be making a call back there.

So many people in the past have thought of this as speaking particularly of Abraham. That would include Calvin, that would even include the Targum. The Targum being an ancient Jewish commentary or paraphrase on Scripture.

Now I find some of those arguments compelling, however the thing that would make me hold back from taking that position is the fact that this is something that would be initially fearful for people of Israel.

When he calls them the friend of Abraham or the offspring of Abraham my friend, he eventually tells them not to be afraid. It seems it would be obvious that they should not be afraid if this is talking about Abraham coming in judgment, the people of Israel themselves being in judgment.

If they are the agent of judgment, being children of Abraham, why should they be afraid? Why would he even posit their fear? The fact that it later posits their fear and tells them not to be afraid seems to indicate that it is a different agent of judgment.

So I think one way of viewing this that might resolve both those is to say that this is speaking of Cyrus, but with language that alludes to Abraham from Genesis 15 having been called in righteousness.

So that is one option there, but I do believe this is speaking of Cyrus the Persian who will come and destroy the other nations, but then ultimately speaks of Jesus Christ, the one who will destroy the nations.

It says he gives up nations before him, speaking of the Father, speaking of God. He gives up nations before him, this agent of judgment, so that he tramples kings underfoot. He makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.

So you imagine the sword cutting things down until they are just just just stubble that that blows away. We've seen the image of stubble in the previous chapter too. It says in verse 24 of the previous chapter, scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth when he blows on them and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

So he's talked about the kings of the earth being blown away by stubble and now he specifies that there is an agent who will come, an agent of judgment, who will come from the east and accomplish this with his sword, cut them down into dust and drive them away like stubble, like just little bits of little bits of grain and husk that just get blown away with his sword and with his bow.

It says he pursues them and passes on safely. By paths his feet have not trod. So it imagines him going forward as though there is no resistance, no ability to stop him. And even on paths his feet has not trod.

So uncut paths, if you ever go through the woods, if you have a trail it's very easy to go down the trail because other feet have trod there. If you go through the woods and there's not a trail it can be very difficult.

But this is described him going easily even though the path has not been trod. In other words, these are signs that he is divinely aided in his advance against the nations. And this also alludes to previous language that we had seen about Assyria.

Assyria, the nation that had almost taken out Judah and then Babylon will later come and take them away and then Persia will come and save them, destroying Babylon. It says in Isaiah 37 verses 26 through 27,.

Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I plan from days of old what I now bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins. So there you see the link talking about days of old, planning everything beforehand.

Determined it long ago. Verse 27, While their inhabitants shorn of strength are dismayed and confounded and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown.

So there in that passage it talked about Assyria having been divinely strengthened and all their enemies having been divinely weakened so that they could advance on in judgment. Now he's talking about that power being given to another who will advance again.

And so this is the picture that Judah is getting. Judah has already been almost destroyed by Assyria and now they're told one is going to come from the east with the exact same power. And so it is a question for them.

Will they stand in the judgment? Should they fear? And the answer is given in the following passage. They should not. They are friends of Abraham. So this judgment will come for all. It ends up coming for the people of God.

They will have to stand before him. It comes for the nations. It comes for the coastlands. All space. There is not a single person who will not stand before him. Everywhere. Doesn't matter if they're in a distant island.

Doesn't matter if they're here in a populous area. They will stand before him. All people in all times. There's not some time where you could go look and say all this people because they did not know about God they will not have to stand before him.

No, they will all have to stand before him. Many people are confused about this. They think there is a free pass for those who live in different times. Maybe in their own time because it is a time that has not heard much about God.

Maybe in the place that they live they have not heard much about God. And this is an unfortunate thing. You see this even from pretty renowned Christian thinkers. Let me read you a famous quote from C .S. Lewis.

He says, We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ. We do not know that only those who know him can be saved through him. Isn't that wild? C .S. Lewis trying to figure out what about those people who don't know about Jesus?

Can they be saved through him? Maybe. Maybe we don't know that. You know the mind wants to wants to elevate man to a level of innocence such that he would not be judged if if he did not have a way of salvation.

No, he is saved already not having known Christ. It is by his sins he is condemned not by his not by his failure to trust in Christ. He's already unsaved. He is already headed for condemnation apart from any knowledge of Christ.

And so there is no one who will avoid this judgment. There's no one not even your you know the little old lady who is kind to others does not know God. Everyone will stand before him in judgment. And so if everyone will stand before him in judgment this means that no excuse will stand before him in judgment.

There's not a single excuse. There are all kinds of excuses that people give for their sins, right? They say, oh you don't understand how difficult it is for me and so it's okay for me to live my life this way.

There's all kinds of excuses that people give. All kinds of excuses people give for rejecting God. Well he hasn't he hasn't shown himself clearly enough to me. If he really wanted me to be saved he would reveal himself more to me.

Well I've been hurt too much by Christians in the past and so therefore I'm not going to trust in him. All kinds of excuses that sound very good to some but ultimately on that day when you stand before him will they seem remotely reasonable?

They will not. They might sound reasonable in your ears right now but when you stand before him and the weight of judgment is upon you will they stand sound reasonable? Not at all. He is the judge and he is the prosecutor.

Can you imagine how difficult that would be to stand there in court where the judge and the prosecutor are the same party? Now if you have a prosecutor who is not the same as the judge you can hope that you can sway the judge not to believe the prosecutor.

Maybe I can get the judge to realize that the prosecutor is all wrong. The judge and the prosecutor here are the same party. You are not going to convince the judge that the prosecutor is wrong. He is the prosecutor.

Have you ever seen one of those situations where a terrorist is captured from some foreign land and he's taken here to the United States for trial and he goes and he stands before judgment? I've always been kind of surprised by those scenes.

You know it strikes my mind that oh yeah they have to do that don't they but it is you realize there's there's a bit of I don't want to use this word wrongly but there's a bit of theater to it you know not that it is merely for show it is important for justice to be done orderly but you already know the conclusion that is going to come.

It is certain and those parties that are trying him you know it's the United States prosecutor it's United States judge who is going to prosecute this terrorist there is no chance that he is going to survive this prosecution there's no chance that he is going to stand in judgment and so it is on that last day there is no way that you can imagine that maybe I will sway the judge there is no way that you will do so not without the means he has given and he is strong enough to accomplish this.

The Strength of God’s Judgment and the Limits of Human Excuses

See the picture of his strength here that he has strengthened this agent of judgment. We have that in the picture of Cyrus who comes from the east and destroys and he takes over a larger Empire he creates a larger Empire than any of the empires that had come before him even larger than the larger than the Babylonian Empire larger than the Assyrian Empire and the Persian Empire is an even greater Empire.

And so if that is an illustration of God's strength God's strength is greater than anything you can imagine he is far greater. And he is not just physically strong if we can attribute physical strength to one who is not physical but who has power over all physical things he is also emotionally strong.

A lot of people imagine that that God is one who could be manipulated. Right. He's one who you could tell him your sob story and this would sway him because he could be emotionally manipulated. You know he's one who when he thinks of difficult things you know he caves in as many people do ever see the people who are new med students and they you know see blood for the first time and they realize who.

Maybe I'm not cut out for this. They pass out. Right. Because they can't handle the sight of blood. God is not one who cannot handle the sight of blood. He is not one who cannot stand judgment. Every last thing that has come to pass every gory situation that could not be recounted here because it is so disturbing is something that he ordained and planned himself.

Okay. These are not things that will deter him. He will complete his judgment as horrifying as it may be. And Jesus Christ. He has Jesus Christ as his agent of judgment. Cyrus is ultimately a picture of Jesus Christ coming to destroy the nations and to rescue people of God.

Might be surprising to have a picture of a pagan king who foreshadows Jesus Christ. But God uses all different kinds of pictures of people even sinful people to allude to Jesus Christ in very ironic ways.

Perhaps you see the the baker and the cupbearer. Right. The cupbearer saved with the baker has his head lifted up off of him. Right. On the third day. On the third day he is hung on the tree while the cupbearer goes free.

Right. These are like foreshadowings of Jesus Christ that are with ironic people who were who are wrong who are simple. You have Absalom who hangs on the tree and has three spears stuck in his side. Right.

This is he is an evil man who is dying for his sins. Rightly. But it is in a way foreshadowing Jesus Christ who is the Absalom being a son of David. Jesus being the true son of David. Right. There are a lot of these pictures.

So you have this pagan King Cyrus who is foreshadowing Jesus Christ in this way as the agent of judgment. And so Jesus is the agent. Jesus is the judge. He will accomplish all these things. You see the pictures and the Bible of in Revelation 19 and other passages of Jesus accomplishing this the sword coming from his mouth he will accomplish all this judgment just like the hymn that we sang a moment ago.

Who is this who comes from Edom. That passage speaking of one coming from Eden his garments drenched in blood because of the victory that he has accomplished. This is speaking of Jesus Christ. He is the one who who comes from Edom but he is also the Savior see here.

It speaks of him as being the first and with the last Revelation. Of course picking up on this theme multiple times but just to read one of these passages to you in Revelation 1 17 through 18 it says.

When I saw him I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me saying fear not I am the first and the last and the living one. I died and behold I'm alive forevermore and have the keys of death and Hades.

So he is the first and the last and he is the living one. So on one hand him being the first and the last shows his power over all life to kill it to destroy it that that judgment will be accomplished.

But it also demonstrates according to Revelation 1 his power over all life to save it and to restore it. He is the living one who died and is now alive so that all may be saved. I died and behold I'm alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and Hades.

He has the keys of death and Hades. He is conquered death itself. Not only will he judge all the nations but he will save his people because he does not just have power over life to kill it but power over life to restore it.

And this is what he has accomplished on the cross. He has accomplished salvation for us. He has defeated death. He has defeated the enemy. He's defeated every last nation that will become manifest on that last day as every enemy is placed under his feet by the Father.

But it has already been accomplished by him. And it is up to you to trust in him that this is accomplished. You ought not be self-deceived. You ought not deceive yourself about yourself and your own sins that they are not so bad.

He is a great and mighty judge your justifications about your sin being too small to be worthy to be accounted your sins being justifiable for various reasons. None of those will stand. Do not deceive yourself.

Do not deceive yourself about the sins of your brothers and sisters. This is a harder one to do because you want to make charitable judgments about others when they give justification for their sin but rescue your brothers and sisters.

Do not be deceived by their justifications for their sin. Call them to repentance. Do not be deceived about the world's justifications for its sin. Do not think that it's that any of those things are reasonable.

None of the no justification for sin will stand on the day of judgment. Call them to repentance and call them to repentance without apology. There's no need to apologize for the difficulty of the message they may experience for the for the felt harshness of the message if it is actually delivered with true loving care.

Because they will one day face a God who is who is ready for a harsh judgment. And they must be ready to face that the only way that they will be ready to face that is to run to mercy to Jesus Christ.

So this requires us to speak the truth. Speak the truth in love but to speak it without apology and speak it clearly. So speak it clearly and run to Christ for mercy because it is only in him that you will find mercy.

It is only in the having the judge and the prosecutor on your side that you will have a real defense. Amen. Dear only father we thank you for your word. We thank you for this promise of judgment. Because we know that even though it is a terrible thing for the world it is a great mercy to your elect.

Because it is on that day that we will be saved and rescued from from this state of wandering that we are in. We thank you that you are watching over us in the wilderness and that you are caring for us at this time.

We pray that you would grant us clear eyes that we would not deceive ourselves that we would not be deceived by brothers even by the world. And that we would speak clearly and truthfully calling men to repentance in Jesus name.

Amen.