The Oracle Concerning Tyre
Isaiah 23:1-18
September 3, 2023
This morning we come to the final oracle on Isaiah’s list.
• It is the 10th oracle of the group.
• They have been about Israel’s neighbors.
• But they were for the benefit of Judah.
Assyria is the bully of the land and they are terrorizing everyone.
• They are God’s rod of judgment on sinful nations.
• These oracles all deal with that reality.
The first 6 oracles taught us not to trust in any other savior other than God. (Philistia, Moab, Syria, Egypt, Cush, Babylon)
• Those nations can’t even save themselves from this judgment, let alone you.
• You must run to God and trust Him.
Oracle 7 (Edom) taught us that when we run to God we must inquire correctly. We must run to Him in repentance.
Oracle 8 (Arabia) taught us the danger of not repenting. Neither Arabia’s splendor nor might could save them.
• Man doesn’t have enough glory to elude God’s judgment.
• Man doesn’t have enough strength to escape God’s judgment.
• Only Christ has that much glory and strength, you must repent and run to Him.
And then last week we saw the 9th oracle, and it is clearly the main one.
It was the oracle concerning Jerusalem.
They were called “the valley of vision” but it was a sarcastic name
For a people who didn’t see or hear or comprehend anything.
That oracle announced that
• Even though Jerusalem would rejoice at the retreat of Assyria,
• There would be a new bully coming and that one would enter the city, break down the walls and burn the temple.
• You might have survived Assyria, but you won’t survive Babylon.
And the reason?
Isaiah 22:12-14 “Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”
The failure to repent and trust in God was a costly mistake.
That was the chief of all the oracles.
That was the main one.
And something in our mind says then that it should be the last one.
If that was the climax, then stop there.
But, as you will see, Isaiah has one more oracle for us.
He concludes with “the oracle concerning Tyre”
In many ways it is like a postscript.
And it comes to us last and after the Jerusalem oracle for a few reasons.
1) This oracle introduces us to the next bully; the next nation God will use to judge. This oracle introduces us to Babylon.
You see it down in verse 13, “Behold, the land of the Chaldeans…they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.”
• Isaiah had told Jerusalem that another threat was coming, in this final oracle he identifies who that will be.
Incidentally this judgment is spoken of more thoroughly in Ezekiel 26-28, where Tyre’s destroyer is also mentioned.
Ezekiel 26:3-4 “therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. ‘They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her debris from her and make her a bare rock.”
And then we see who will do it.
Ezekiel 26:7-8 “For thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses, chariots, cavalry and a great army. “He will slay your daughters on the mainland with the sword; and he will make siege walls against you, cast up a ramp against you and raise up a large shield against you.”
It is Babylon who will destroy Tyre.
One of the reasons Isaiah gives this oracle
After the oracle concerning Jerusalem
Is to reveal who the coming conqueror will be.
2) This oracle also introduces us to a 70 year period of captivity.
(15) “Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:”
Clearly that is not speaking about Israel’s captivity,
That is speaking about Tyre’s period of abandonment.
And yet, I have a difficult time finding the timing of this announcement
As nothing more than mere coincidence.
Isaiah just announced slavery for Judah and in the very next chapter he introduces a 70 year judgment for Tyre.
Jeremiah will reveal that this is the period that Judah will languish in Babylon as well.
Perhaps we can see it as point made by Isaiah
That sinful nations require a 70 year reset by God.
3) This oracle also reminds of the purpose of God’s judgment and leaves it fresh on the mind of the reader.
Why is God judging Tyre? (or any other nation)
(9) “The LORD of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty, To despise all the honored of the earth.”
God has commissioned Assyria against sinful nations.
God will soon commission Babylon against them too.
Why is God judging the nations? PRIDE
This final oracle makes a great postscript to close out the section.
With that being said, let’s take a look at this “oracle concerning Tyre”
JUST SOME INFORMATION:
• Tyre is a city along the Mediterranean sea.
• It is THE chief port city of the world.
• They were basically the Amazon of the ancient east.
• If you read Ezekiel 27 you’ll see a long list of the products they imported and exported.
Ezekiel 27:9b “…All the ships of the sea and their sailors were with you in order to deal in your merchandise.”
TYRE IS THE HUB.
• Think of it as FedEx or UPS or all the trucking lines.
• Think of it as the global market where you get stuff.
• If you are a person that loves the world’s stuff then Tyre is absolutely essential to your happiness.
Everything comes through Tyre.
Though in Isaiah the only commodity specifically mentioned is “grain” (3)
So Isaiah may have in mind famine more than any other thing.
Tyre is commerce.
Tyre is goods.
Tyre is the economy.
The importance of this city
To a thriving world market or economy cannot be overstated.
And so as God speaks of her fall the response is expected.
• 3 times we see the call to “wail”
• We see words like “be silent” or “be ashamed” or “anguish”
It just further emphasizes to us the total dismay and grief
The world will feel when God brings about an economic judgment.
We’ve read it several times recently in Revelation 18 when we see the fall of the economic world system called Babylon.
Revelation 18:9-11 “And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ “And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more”
Revelation 18:15-19 “The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!’ And every shipmaster and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What city is like the great city?’ “And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’”
That is the dismay when God crushes the economic system of the world
And it is the exact same response you see here when God crushes Tyre.
• This is a massive economic fallout.
• This is the crash of the stock market.
• This is the great depression.
• This is the collapse of the trade market.
Let’s listen as Isaiah lays it out for us.
3 points
#1 TYRE’S DREADFUL FALL
Isaiah 23:1-7
As you walk down through those 7 verses
What you consistently see are nations and peoples
In total dismay over the fall of Tyre.
(1) “Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.”
Your familiar with “Tarshish”,
• It is where Jonah tried to flee to when God told him to go to Nineveh.
• “Tarshish” is about 2500 miles west of Israel.
• It is close to modern day Lisbon, Spain. (the far west end of the Mediterranean)
• These ships have set sail from Spain,
• They sailed to “Cyprus” which is an island just off the coast of Israel
• When they get there, “it is reported to them” that “Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor.”
Have you ever driven to Lubbock in search of something only to get there and find the store is closed or perhaps even no longer in business?
Imagine the voyage to sail from Tarshish all the way across the sea.
• Ready to unload your cargo and get paid for it.
• Ready to purchase new cargo to take back home.
• And when you get almost there you find out it has been destroyed.
That is what you call ECONOMIC RUIN.
Only it’s not just Tarshish,
(who by the way, would represent the far ends of the earth to Isaiah.)
(2-3) “Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland, You merchants of Sidon; Your messengers crossed the sea And were on many waters. The grain of the Nile, the harvest of the River was her revenue; And she was the market of nations.”
There Isaiah addresses the “merchants of Sidon”,
• Siden was a city just north of Tyre.
• You often hear them spoken of together.
And here the “merchants of Sidon” are told to “be silent”
Sort of in shock and dismay.
The “merchants”
• Apparently “crossed the sea”
• And they did so to secure a shipment of grain from Egypt.
But Tyre is the port and if that port is destroyed
All that grain you ordered and paid for isn’t coming.
Ever order something online, pay for it, and then not get it?
Well imagine being commissioned to order enough grain
To feed your entire city only to find out it’s not coming.
That is harsh news.
These merchants have NO WORDS,
They’ve got NO ANSWER to a city who is getting hungry.
(4) “Be ashamed, O Sidon; For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have neither travailed nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men nor reared virgins.”
There the city of “Sidon” is told to “be ashamed”
Why?
Because “the stronghold of the sea” (a nickname for Tyre) has fallen.
And the message is that there is nothing left behind.
• Tyre has not “given birth”
• Tyre has not “brought up young men nor reared virgins.”
It is simply poetic language to say, there’s nothing left.
The merchants break the news that their grain isn’t coming
Someone in Sidon wonders if there is already grain on hand in Tyre
That can be purchased.
And the sea brings a message which say, there’s nothing left.
And Sidon is to “be ashamed”
Namely that she put all her trust in the city of Tyre.
And it’s not just them either.
(5) “When the report reaches Egypt, They will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.”
Why would Egypt be in anguish?
Ask a cotton farmer when the cotton market drops and they’ve got no place to sell their crop.
Egypt is the breadbasket of the world but it does them no good
If they can’t get their merchandise to the buyer.
The fall of Tyre is economic collapse for their world.
And Isaiah then comes back full circle to Tarshish.
(6) “Pass over to Tarshish; Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.”
Everyone is wailing and in anguish and grieved and shamed.
THIS IS BAD NEWS.
And in the midst of this bad news steps the prophet.
Only he has NO COMPASSION.
He only has a MOCKING REPROACH for the world.
(7) “Is this your jubilant city, whose origin is form antiquity, whose feet used to carry her to colonize distant places?”
As if to say, “What happened?”
• “I thought this was supposed to be some great city?”
• “I thought she’d been around forever?”
• “I thought she was secure?”
And boy does Isaiah hit the nail on the head
Regarding how men think about earthly wealth.
They SEEK it, they HOARD it, they TRUST in it, they COUNT ON it…
And when it’s gone they lament and grieve.
And yet over and over the Bible warns us
NOT to put our hope in the certainty of worldly wealth.
Psalms 49:11-12 “Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.
Luke 12:17-21 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
Man loves to rest in the security of his riches
As though money makes him secure.
But the Bible tells us that it isn’t.
Luke 16:9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
Did you hear what Jesus says about worldly wealth?
• “when it fails” (not if)
It was Jesus who told us not to store it. Why?
IT’S NOT CERTAIN!
Matthew 6:19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
Paul told Timothy to instruct the church the same way.
1 Timothy 6:17 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”
• Paul called it “the uncertainty of riches”
• It is foolish to set your hope in it.
Riches aren’t certain, they will let you down.
BUT LISTEN.
The biggest problem with riches IS NOT that they might fail you in this life
• There are plenty of people who seek money their whole life and die extremely wealthy.
The threat is that you get rich in this life and not for eternity
Because riches do not help on the day of death.
Earthly riches will fail you the second you die.
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Matthew 19:21-24 “Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. “Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Luke 16:24-25 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”
And thus you understand why the world is in agony
At the news of the fall of Tyre.
RICHES DON’T HELP IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
He is a poor man indeed who only has money.
• How terrible it will be on the day when it all comes crashing down to learn that all you had was money?
No amount of money can redeem your soul.
Psalms 49:5-9 “Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him— For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay.”
Proverbs 11:4 “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.”
And so Isaiah is calling for the world to “wail”
Have you read the warnings of James?
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”
Indeed the fall of Tyre is a dreadful fall.
And here we see Tyre’s Dreadful Fall
#2 TYRE’S DETERMINED END
Isaiah 23:8-14
In verse 8 Isaiah asked a question about this city
That wasn’t supposed to be able to be destroyed.
(8) “Who has planned this against Tyre..?”
Notice as he speaks of the SEEMINGLY INVINCIBLE POWER Tyre had.
He says Tyre was:
“the bestower of crowns” – they actually had the worldly influence to determine who became king in other nations. (similar to wealth today)
“whose merchants were princes” – that is to say that people who work in Tyre become highly wealthy and important people.
“whose traders were the honored of the earth” – they are very rich, very powerful, very influential.
People like that put off an heir of invincibility.
Even in our day we know that it is extremely difficult to bring down
One who has enormous wealth.
But someone brought Tyre down and Isaiah asks “WHO?”
(9) “The LORD of hosts planned it…”
There again, don’t be confused.
• It isn’t Babylon who destroyed Tyre, it is God who did it.
• Don’t overlook His providential hand.
God did it…WHY?
“to defile the pride of all beauty, to despise all the honored of the earth.”
WOW!
God brought this city down to show what He thinks
Of all the junk the world takes pride in an honors.
The Bible has warned us.
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”
• Do we really think that God delights in our worldly excess?
• Do we really think that hoards of wealth are a sign of God’s blessing?
There are things the world takes pride in.
There are things that are honored in the world.
And here God is destroying both of them.
Psalms 73:18-20 “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”
That was Asaph talking about the wicked wealthy of the world
And Asaph says God despises their very form.
Psalms 52:5-7 “But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire.”
God is opposed to the proud
Throughout Scripture the rich are continually reproved.
God is coming after the greedy and carnal world system.
Verses 10-12 lay out what God does to it.
Look at the key words in each verse.
• (10) “no restraint”
• (11) “tremble”
• (12) “exult no more”
• (12) “no rest”
In verse 10 you have a picture of judgment overflowing the land like when the Nile breaks out of its banks.
• “Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, There is no
more restraint.”
God has been exercising restraint in not judging the wicked,
But here the restraint is removed and that is a terrifying thought.
In verse 11 it is seen as a judgment on the sea and this judgment causes kingdoms to tremble, it wrecks everything.
• “He has stretched His hand out over the sea, He has made the kingdoms
tremble; The LORD has given a command concerning Canaan to
demolish its strongholds.”
In verse 12 rejoicing is gone and no matter where you go there is no relief, there is no rest.
• “He has said, “You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of
Sidon. Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”
And the MAIN POINT is that God is the One behind all of it.
• “He has stretched out His hand…”
• “He has made…”
• “The LORD has given a command…”
• “He has said…”
You just see God crushing the world there.
He is bringing it all down.
And then God reveals the agent by which He is doing it…BABYLON
(13) “Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; Assyria appointed it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.”
In Isaiah’s day Babylon was nothing.
• We even studied back in chapter 21 how Assyria would crush them.
• We know how Assyria defeated Merodach Baladan and it was announced that
“Babylon has fallen!”
But nevertheless it is Babylon
Whom God will resurrect and use to destroy Tyre.
“they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.”
God is judging the economic world system.
And again comes the admonition.
(14) “Wail, O ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.”
Are you getting the point?
When you find out that God is pouring His unrestrained wrath
Upon your sin, there is nothing to do but to wail.
• God is opposed to the proud.
• God is opposed to the lust of the flesh.
• God is opposed to the lust of the eyes.
• God is opposed to the boastful pride of life.
And He will crush it.
Tyre’s dreadful Fall, Tyre’s Determined End
#3 TYRE’S DESIGNATED PURPOSE
Isaiah 23:15-18
Here is where the story gets interesting.
We find that her fall to Babylon is temporary.
It will only last for 70 years.
(15a) “Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king.”
As I said, it feels far more than coincidental to hear that
Tyre would suffer the same length judgment as Israel.
I think there is a message from Isaiah to Judah in that.
But beyond that we see that after 70 years Tyre gets to come back.
Now, they are NOT redeemed.
They are just as carnal as ever.
In fact when she returns she returns to being
The same old prostitute she always was.
(15b-17) “At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: Take your harp, walk about the city, O forgotten harlot; Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs, That you may be remembered. It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.”
• She’s going to rebound.
• She’s going to rebuild.
• She’s going to go right back to the same old sinful lifestyle she had before.
And it begs the question from many.
• Why would God allow that?
• Why would God allow this world to express such wicked and carnal desires?
• Why would God allow this world to obtain such immoral wealth?
Well Isaiah answers that.
(18) “Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.”
Isaiah says that God will allow here to once again prosper
In order to provide for His people.
Specifically it will be for the priests of Israel.
“her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.”
So God’s going to allow this world system to reacquire wealth
In order to fund the ministry of the priesthood.
That is interesting.
Ezra 1:2-4 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. ‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”
Then you know how
• They went to Jerusalem and started to rebuild and got stopped by the inhabitants of the land.
• It was a process, but eventually reaching out to Darius for permission, and he granted it.
But notice what Darius did.
Ezra 6:3-4 “In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt and let its foundations be retained, its height being 60 cubits and its width 60 cubits; with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.”
And again:
Ezra 6:7-9 “Leave this work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. “Moreover, I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of this house of God: the full cost is to be paid to these people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the River, and that without delay. “Whatever is needed, both young bulls, rams, and lambs for a burnt offering to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem request, it is to be given to them daily without fail,”
I realize it’s not specifically Tyre who pays to rebuild that temple,
BUT make no mistake where supplies and such come from.
You may remember when Solomon built the first temple
That the timbers used in the construction came from the King of Tyre.
And here we find that God allows for the wealth of the world
In order that He might fund the ministries of His kingdom.
Proverbs 13:22 “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.”
Proverbs 28:8 “He who increases his wealth by interest and usury Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor.”
Job 27:13-17 “This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty. “Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread. “His survivors will be buried because of the plague, And their widows will not be able to weep. “Though he piles up silver like dust And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay, He may prepare it, but the just will wear it And the innocent will divide the silver.”
Ecclesiastes 2:26 “For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight. This too is vanity and striving after wind.”
THE WORLD doesn’t even understand that
They are nothing more than a pawn in the game.
God allows them to succeed,
Not because He delights in their pride or carnal lusts
But because He will use their wealth for the good of His people.
And this is the oracle that Isaiah uses to close out the oracles.
What a reminder to Israel who was just as materialistic
And stuck on worldly wealth as every other nation.
The wealth which God allows is not a sign of some sort of favor.
Our world constantly thinks that if you’re rich then God must be blessing you.
God allows wealth for the purposes of His kingdom.
And Scripture routinely would have us EVALUATE it.
I’ve given you the questions before, but they are worth repeating.
If I have money then I should ask myself these questions.
#1 HOW DID I GET IT?
That was what James asked.
• Did you get it by withholding the pay of your laborers?
• Did you get it by taking a bribe against the innocent?
• How did you get your wealth? Immorally?
This is why Zaccheus was prompted to return what he had cheated men out of.
#2 WHY DO I STILL HAVE IT?
• Are you hoarding it?
• Are you storing it?
• Is it some sort of security for you?
#3 WHAT DO I PLAN TO DO WITH IT?
I’ll read it again.
Luke 16:9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.”
It is intended to be used for eternal purposes.
Isaiah is reminding Judah of their coming judgment.
And their sin was a love of the world.
Even when faced with judgment their decision was to
Throw one more party and gorge themselves one last time before death.
Such mindsets are evil to God and that will one day be judged.
• We must make sure that we see God alone as our salvation.
• We must seek Him rightly with repentance.
• We must not trust in our glory or strength.
• We must turn from the sin which has offended Him and in this case it is nothing less than greed, worldliness, and materialism.
God intends money for the purpose of His kingdom,
Not to enjoy the kingdom of Satan.
The oracle concerning Tyre is a good reminder to us all.
