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Waiting On God
Isaiah 18
July 23, 2023

Psalms 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.”

Psalms 62:5 “My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.”

Psalms 130:5 “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope.”

And of course the famous one:
Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”

We read that word often in Scripture and it is easy to read.
“Wait” (sometimes it is translated “trust”)

And if you’ve ever waited on the LORD,
Then you know how much faith is involved in that decision.

IT IS HARD TO WAIT.

Perhaps you remember the story of the new young King Saul.
• Thirty years old
• New on the throne
• At war with the Philistines
• Waiting on Samuel to arrive and offer the sacrifice to seek the LORD.
• The people are scattering in fear.

1 Samuel 13:9-14 “So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

Saul found how difficult it is to wait on God, in the midst of peril,
When it didn’t appear God was doing anything.

Perhaps you remember the story of Elijah the prophet.
• He had the mighty showdown on Mt. Carmel
• He slew the 450 prophets of Baal
• He ran back to Jezreel expecting revival,
• All he got was a death threat
• Elijah couldn’t figure out what God was doing
• So he ran to Mt. Horeb to find God.

TURN TO: 1 KINGS 19:9-21

God was moving, but He was moving like a gentle breeze,
Barely detectable, barely noticeable, but effective none the less.

AND THEN WE COME TO OUR TEXT TODAY
And we see God’s intervention described in similar terms.

(4) “For thus the LORD has told me, “I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

The intervention of God here is described like “heat” or like “dew”.

• It is real, it is powerful, it accomplishes much,
• But it’s really hard to see.
• It’s really hard to recognize.

Today we use phrases like:
“Watching paint dry”

Which indicates something that is occurring,
But it is occurring so slowly you can’t really see it happening.

AND THIS IS OFTEN HOW GOD WORKS.
He is at work, but many times His work is difficult to discern for a while.

And the TEMPTATION that we face is to opt for QUICKER SOLUTIONS.

And that reality brings us to Isaiah 18.

ISAIAH 18 IS NOT AN ORACLE.
It is not a burden that God has laid upon a neighboring nation.

BUT IT ADDRESSES A SCENARIO
That has obviously arisen within the border of Judah.

As you know there is an enemy lurking in the world.
That enemy is Assyria.
• They are conquering at will
• Thus far no one has been able to stand up to them.

Isaiah has already told us why they are so successful.

Isaiah 10:6 “I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.”

Assyria is God’s rod.
• He is using Assyria to punish pagans and to purify His remnant.

Isaiah has even told us that God is going to deal with Assyria.
Isaiah 10:12 “So it will be that when the Lord has completed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his haughtiness.”

Isaiah 10:25 “For in a very little while My indignation against you will be spent and My anger will be directed to their destruction.”

So God’s plan & purposes have been clearly articulated by Isaiah,
But right now Judah is still waiting for that to come to fruition.

RIGHT NOW Assyria is a force.
RIGHT NOW Assyria seems unstoppable.

THE PLAN OF THE DAY for most nations around Judah is to find an ally.

We already saw how PHILISTIA reached out to Judah and invited them under their protection.
• Isaiah’s counsel was, “Don’t do it, just keep trusting in the One who founded
Israel, for He is the One who will sustain her.”

We saw last week how MOAB was in trouble and Isaiah’s counsel was that Moab should come and seek the protection of Judah, but Moab was too proud to seek such a thing.

And we know that ARAM and ISRAEL had already made an alliance in hopes of strengthening their chances of withstanding an Assyrian invasion,
• Isaiah said, “It won’t work”.

But THE PLAN OF THE DAY for most nations is clear.
Go get an ally; go find someone to stand with you against Assyria.

And even though God has told Judah not to fret Assyria,
That can be easier said than done.

Waiting on God can be a serious test of faith.

SO HERE it is apparent that an IDEA has arisen in Judah.

One can only imagine how many would-be counselors have been more than willing to offer their advice regarding what Judah should do to prepare for the Assyrians.

It would seem that one of the pieces of advice that was gaining traction
Was that Judah should reach out to Cush.

So just a quick clarification regarding who this is.
• The land of Cush actually included what is today the southern part of Egypt, all of Sudan and the northern part of modern-day Ethiopia.
• Many commentators simply refer to Cush as Ethiopia.

They showed up as enemies of Israel back in the days of Rehoboam.

2 Chronicles 12:2-3 “And it came about in King Rehoboam’s fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians.”

And again in:
2 Chronicles 14:9-13 “Now Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and he came to Mareshah. So Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up in battle formation in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” So the LORD routed the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and so many Ethiopians fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and before His army. And they carried away very much plunder.”

So you see there were times when the Cushites or the Ethiopians
Were formidable enemies against Israel.

Eventually Cush became so prominent and powerful that for a time
They even brought Egypt into subjection to them requiring tribute.

They were warriors.
They were mighty.
They were dangerous.

And it is apparent that someone in Judah had launched the idea
That we should reach out to the Ethiopians
To be our allies in this battle against the Assyrians.

Chapter 18 is Isaiah’s counsel to such an idea.

Let’s break this chapter down into 3 parts.
#1 AN INTRIGUING ALLY
Isaiah 18:1-2

There is much said here by way of description of this nation of Ethiopia.

They are called the “land of whirring wings”
• Some see that as a reference to the locust, as there were plenty in Ethiopia,
• Some see it as a reference to the tsetse fly, which is also prevalent there.
• Either one is fine with me.

“Which lies beyond the rivers of Cush”
It is the GEOGRAPHICAL explanation of where they are.
• You see more at the end of verse 2
• Where we learn, “whose land the rivers divide”
• Which would speak to the many tributaries of the Nile.

We find out of them also that they “send envoys by the sea, even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.”
• Most likely this refers to their travel up and down the Nile in papyrus boats.

And then we see that
• They are called “a nation tall and smoot”
• They are “a people feared far and wide”
• They are “a powerful and oppressive nation”

In short, this land of Cush has a reputation for being fierce warriors.
They are big and they are powerful.
And everyone knows how strong they are.
They are feared by others.

And, as we said, the question has been whether or not
To send messengers to Ethiopia and to ask for an alliance.

Incidentally this mindset is seen more clearly in chapter 20.
Isaiah 20:5 “Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.

So you can see how Judah was looking to Cush
As their hope against the Assyrians.

BUT BEAR IN MIND THAT
God has already announced through Isaiah
That He is going to deal with the Assyrians.
Judah merely needs to wait on Him.

IT’S JUST THAT WAITING IS SO HARD
Judah can reach out to Cush now.

Judah wants to send to Cush for help.

And in these first 2 verses Isaiah weighs in on that idea.
(but his answer might shock you)

He says in verse 2, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth…”

Isaiah’s answer is to by all means “Go!”
• Send the messengers
• Send the delegates

But as you might have expected, Isaiah’s message might be a little different than the one the nation of Judah had thought to send.

#2 AN INTERESTING ANNOUNCEMENT
Isaiah 18:3-6

Judah was kicking around the idea of sending messengers to Ethiopia to enlist their help.
• Isaiah says to by all means send them some messengers,
• BUT NOT to ask for help.

Isaiah has a different message in mind.

(3) “All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on earth, As soon as a standard is raised on the mountains, you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.”

Go tell them that something is about to happen that everyone will see.
• There is about to be a standard raised.
• There is about to be a trumpet blown.

You are familiar with the “standard” terminology.
Isaiah 5:26 “He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation, And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.”

It was terminology that God used to describe
When He calls an army for judgment.

So it will be here.
• God is going to once again lift a standard
• And blast a trumpet
• And call for destruction.

And when it happens, “you will see it” and “you will hear it”

And the INITIAL POINT to be made is that
Isaiah wants the messengers of Judah to go and tell Cush
That “God is at work and is about to move.”

(4) “For thus the LORD has told me, “I will look from My dwelling place quietly Like dazzling heat in the sunshine, Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

We saw this at the first of the sermon,
But what a great way to describe how God often works.
• He is like Elijah’s gentle blowing.

Here His work is described like “dazzling heat in the sunshine”
• It’s that sort of wavy appearance that you get when you look off into the distance during the summer heat.
• It doesn’t stand out, but you know it is working.
• It actually has a profound effect on everything, but it’s not dramatic, it’s steady.

The same can be said of the “cloud of dew”.
• You can’t really see it until it starts to show up on the ground,
• But it too can have a dramatic effect.

Remember Elijah wanted God to be like
That violent wind or like that violent fire.

Often times that’s how we want God to move.
• We want Him to be instant, bold, dramatic, even violent.
• We want to see things happen and happen fast.

I’M REMINDED OF when Naaman the leper came from Aram to visit Elisha so that he might be healed of his leprosy.
• Elisha told him to go dip in the Jordan 7 times.

Naaman said:
2 Kings 5:11-14 “But Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’ “Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. Then his servants came near and spoke to him and said, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.”

We understand Naaman.
We want God to move dramatically faster in our situations too.

But that’s NOT how God often works.
Sometimes He does that, but not always.

God works most through HIS DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
• He is steady, thorough, consistent, faithful, loyal, and patient.
• He accomplishes His purposes in gentle and to some even undetectable ways.

But He is always at work.
• Like heat in the summer
• Like dew in the morning
• Like a gentle blowing

And this is Isaiah’s message to the Ethiopians.
God is at work all around us,
And soon you will see what He has been doing.

(5-6) “For before the harvest, as soon as the bud blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, Then He will cut off the sprigs with pruning knives And remove and cut away the spreading branches. They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.”

Isaiah speaks of the COMING JUDGMENT of the Assyrians.

Again, it is compared to a harvest.

Right now Assyria’s fields look good.
• They are green, they are lush, they are thick and full.

Assyria is expecting a massive harvest.
• That is, they expect to soon rule the entire area.

But…
“as soon as the bud blossoms and the flower becomes a ripening grape, then He will cut off the springs with pruning knives and remove and cut away the spreading branches.”

Assyria is never going to enjoy the harvest they expect.
Just when it seems like everything is withing their grasp,
God will intervene and destroy His harvest.

And the effect it will have on the Assyrians will be devastating.

(6) “They will be left together for mountain birds of prey, And for the beasts of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.”

ASSYRIA WILL FALL.

And again, let me show you that in history just to again verify the absolute accuracy of Isaiah.

TURN TO: 2 KINGS 18

(READ 13-18
• So Assyria has invaded Judah, they have reached Jerusalem.
• The King of Assyria has stayed in Lachish but sent two of his men to deliver a message to Hezekiah in Judah.
• The message is found in verses 19-37 and it basically states that you need to surrender to us for no one, not even God, can save you from our hand.

Hezekiah will hear their taunt and go tell Isaiah, and Isaiah will answer.
(READ 19:6-7)

So again, God has promised to deal with the Assyrians.

SO WHAT HAPPENED?
(READ 19:8-13)
• So when the messengers returned to Lachish to the king
• They found that Cush had attacked and now Israel was fighting on two fronts.

So the king of Assyria would momentarily turn his attention to Cush and leave Judah alone,
• But he was quick to send a letter to Hezekiah telling him that he would be back
• And he should not see this as some sort of divine intervention.

(READ 19:14-19)

And again God answers Hezekiah with a promise of victory.
God promises that the Assyrians
Won’t so much as shoot an arrow into the city.

And then we see what God did.
(READ 19:35-37)

Just when it looked like Assyria had everything they wanted.
He was about to annihilate the Ethiopians and the nation of Judah,
BUT GOD INTERVENED.

JUST WHEN HIS HARVEST LOOKED RIPE,
• God intervened and “cut off the sprigs with pruning knives and…cut away the spreading branches”
• And left the Assyrian army “for mountain birds of prey, and for the beasts of the earth;”

Up until that point the working of God had appeared as nothing more
Than heat or dew, but on the day “you will see it”

AND THEY DID.

And the PROPHECY OF THIS EVENT is the one that Isaiah says
The messengers should go and tell the Ethiopians.

• I know it looks bad…
• I know it appears as though God is doing nothing…
• But just wait on the Lord, He will act swiftly and deal with this threat.

So instead of going and asking for their help,
You should go and tell them not to worry, God is at work.

AND AGAIN, THIS IS VERY ENCOURAGING TO US.
IF WE ARE HONEST, in this evil world in which we dwell,
IT FEELS LIKE NOTHING IS HAPPENING.

• We hear of political corruption…
• We hear of sex trafficking…
• We hear of racial tension…
• We see sin celebrated and paraded…

It feels like we’re living in Sodom and Gomorrah
And like Lot we feel our soul tormented as we dwell among evil men.

And if we’re honest, sometimes it feels like Jesus is sleeping in the boat.
We cry out with the Psalmist, “How long O Lord?”

And we are tempted to look for worldly allies
That might bring a change about faster.

But here we are reminded that God is always at work.
• He is at work today.
• He is at work right now.

• It is clearly not a title wave.
• It is clearly not a raging wind.

But I assure you He is at work.
Like heat, like dew, like a gentle blowing.

And we are promised that when He does come to the forefront
You will see it.

In fact, His word promises that EVERY EYE WILL SEE IT!

TURN TO: LUKE 17:22-37

I hope you see the similarities, they are obvious.
You see the similarities of:
• An evil world that would attack God’s people, even the Christ.
• The spread of that evil everywhere
• Constant false hopes of deliverance that aren’t real
• But a day is coming that everyone will see
• A day when God’s judgment falls

And I love how Luke ends the narrative.
(37) “And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

As Jesus spoke of this coming judgment the disciples wanted to know where it would take place.
• Where will You kill them?
• Where will the battle be?

But the answer Jesus gives is NOT GEOGRAPHICAL.
Jesus says, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

In other words Jesus doesn’t want you to focus on
The location of the battle or even the time,
But rather you should see the result of it.

And the result will be that wickedness will so thoroughly be destroyed that vultures from everywhere will gather to feast on the dead.

Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

What God did to the Assyrian army was just a sample of what God will one day do to all the wicked of the world.

All of the evil that we lament.
All of the evil that angers us.
All of the injustice, all of the corruption…
God is now working against it and one day He destroy it thoroughly.

“you will see it”

AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE
Isaiah wanted the messengers of Judah to take to Ethiopia.

THAT MEANS THAT: This is the message we take to the world.

When you’re at the coffee shop and a group of friends starts talking about how bad things are.
• Maybe they talk about inflation…
• Maybe they talk about politics…
• Maybe they watch the movie that came out about the sex trafficking problem in the world…
• And conversations start about despair and injustice and anger and grief.
(Such conversations are easy to have today)

And the universal question among the group is: WHAT DO WE DO?

Then take Isaiah’s message to them.
(even your lost friends who might agree with you politically)

You tell them God is at work.
He is moving at this very moment.

It is hard to see how. It is like heat, it is like dew, it is a gentle blowing,
But He is at work.

And tell them someday, you will see what He will do.
He will come with His holy ones and crush the wicked.

And that of course is also a warning to lost friends that even they will not survive apart from the salvation of Jesus.

Matthew 24:36-44 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

So while Isaiah is in agreement that a message should be sent to Cush,
It is not necessarily the message they had anticipated.

It reminds us as believers that
We can’t have the same message as the world.

We have to be those who are light in the darkness.
We have to be those who are salt to the tasteless.

We don’t fall into fear and despair like the rest of the world.
• We walk by faith.
• We walk in hope.
• We are those who wait on the Lord
• And we encourage the world to do the same.

So you see an Intriguing Ally, An Interesting Announcement
#3 AN IMMINENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Isaiah 18:7

So Isaiah now announces to Judah that they should go tell the Ethiopians
That God will deliver them both from the Assyrians.

And then Isaiah tells his people
That when God does this the Ethiopians will respond.

This “people tall and smooth”
This “people feared far and wide”
This “powerful and oppressive nation”

They will bring to your God “a gift of homage”

For all their power and all their might
Even they will realize that victory was not due to their own strength,
But due to the strength of Judah’s God.

And they will bring it to “Mount Zion”

Scripture does not record that this happened in the kings, but I have zero doubt that it did.
• We already read how God intervened and spared both Judah and Ethiopia,
• I have no trouble believing that the Ethiopians would send a tribute of worship to the God who delivered them.

And this rings a bell for us as well.
Philippians 2:9-11 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So there you have this incident regarding the Ethiopians.

• As I said, it is NOT a burden, God has laid no burden on their back.
• Rather, it IS a message of God’s deliverance.

And it is a reminder to Judah and to us
That we don’t need the deliverance of the world,
For our God is constantly at work for us.

One day He will come and do His work publicly and dramatically
And He will put an end to the spread of wickedness in our world.
AND WE WAIT ON HIM.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”

Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

2 Peter 3:8-9 “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

This morning pause and consider
The mighty providence and faithfulness of God.

Stop to see that
God is at work.

Stop to anticipate that
God will one day do His mighty work.

And like the saints of old, we exercise our faith when we wait on the Lord.
It is still going to happen.
We wait for Him.

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The Oracle Concerning Damascus
Isaiah 17
July 16, 2023

Tonight we continue on with our study of Isaiah’s oracles.

God is His people about faithfulness to Him as He reveals the destruction of the nations around them.

• We are learning not to trust in the world, it is a sinking ship.
• We are learning not to run to worldly allies for security, they can’t even save themselves.
• We are learning to humble ourselves and trust in Christ, and to pray for the lost around us.

Tonight we get another oracle and this one is concerning Damascus.
Damascus was the capitol city of Aram
Or perhaps you know them better as Syria.

Just as little reminder of Syria – Israel relations over the years.

• For a great part of their history Aram was an enemy of the nation of Israel.
• They dwelled to the north and as they descended the northern kingdom became their target.

1 Kings 20:1 “Now Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army, and there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria and fought against it.”

2 Kings 6:24-25 “Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver.”

So Aram was typically an enemy of Israel.

You also remember the story of Naaman the leper
• How he came to Israel and dipped in the Jordan and was cleansed of his leprosy.
• Naaman was from Aram.

Aram was greatly used of God to be a punishing force toward His people.
• Elisha actually anointed Hazael King over Aram
• And prophesied concerning him.

2 Kings 8:12-13 “Hazael said, “Why does my lord weep?” Then he answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword, and their little ones you will dash in pieces, and their women with child you will rip up.” Then Hazael said, “But what is your servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing?” And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

So Aram had often times proven to be a real persecutor
And afflicter of God’s people.

Of course by the time we come to the book of Isaiah
We remember that Aram and Israel had made an alliance.

• They, like many of the nations in the region, were looking for ways to garner strength to hold of Assyria.
• They formed an alliance and wanted Judah to join.
• Ahaz would not and so they planned to invade Judah and overthrow him.

We remember:
Isaiah 7:1-2 “Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it. When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”

So you are familiar with Aram
And their constant affliction towards the people of God.

Well, just A LITTLE HISTORY regarding them.

In the days of Ahaz
• You know that instead of joining them and instead of trusting God, Ahaz reached out to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria
• He came and defeated Syria and put Rezin to death.
• This occurred in 732 B.C.

That was the event we read about earlier in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 7:7-9 “thus says the Lord GOD: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. “For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”’”

Isaiah 7:14-16 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.”

Isaiah 8:5-7 “Again the LORD spoke to me further, saying, “Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah; “Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, Even the king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.”

Hopefully you remember all of that.
That was early in Ahaz’s reign.

But if you fast forward about 10 years you get to 721 B.C.
• The city of Damascus and the nation of Aram had regrouped
• And once again claimed independence.

And once again, they became a hope to the northern kingdom of Israel
That they might be safe from Assyria.

• Tiglath-pileser is no longer reigning on the throne,
• Now it is Shalmaneser and this is the king who would completely destroy Aram
• And carry the northern kingdom away into exile.
• And once again they are a threat to Judah.

So while the circumstances are VERY SIMILAR,
We are dealing with a DIFFERENT event than the one we already studied.

What you’ll find is that Israel learned nothing from that first event.

While this is described as “The oracle concerning Damascus”
It is also very much a message of judgment
On the northern kingdom of Israel as well.

And like all the oracles it is given to be an encouragement
To the nation of Judah where Isaiah is preaching.

So let’s examine now this 4th oracle of Isaiah.

3 points tonight
#1 ISRAEL’S PARTNER WILL FALL
Isaiah 17:1-3

Isaiah wastes no time with his announcement.

“Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city and will become a fallen ruin.”
• So much for their rebuilding and reasserted independence.
• God announces that they won’t last.
• Trusting in their help was a bad decision for the northern kingdom

(2) “The cities of Aroer are forsaken;”
• This was a southern most city of Aram.

“They will be for flocks to lie down in, And there will be none to frighten them.”
• It is that common expression of desolation.
• God bringing total annihilation to the cities and the region.

But we quickly find out that
This message is not just concerning the fate of Aram,
It is also REGARDING THE FATE OF ISRAEL an ally of Aram.

(3) “The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,” Declares the LORD of hosts.”

It’s not just Aram who is going to suffer and fall it is “Ephraim” too.
(Ephraim is another name for the northern kingdom of Israel)

That “remnant of Aram” – the ones left from Tiglath-pileser’s conquest –
They are all going to fall.

Them and Israel.
Both of them…alike will be removed.

God is bringing judgment on both of them.
And certainly that bears out to be true.
• The northern kingdom of Israel will be destroyed by Shalmaneser in 722 B.C.
• The nation of Aram will be destroyed by him in 720 B.C.

So yet again, God is using His “Assyrian Rod”
To bring judgment to the nations surrounding Judah.

And again, it must have been a matter of curiosity to Isaiah’s audience, but WHY is God handing over Israel with Aram?

And Isaiah reveals that as well.
#2 ISRAEL’S PUNISHMENT WILL COME
Isaiah 17:4-11

This segment divides into 3 distinct points.
Each one begins with the statement, “In that day…”

And in that day, we will see:
1) A REAPING JUDGMENT (4-6)

It is not uncommon for God to speak of judgment in harvest terminology.

• We are familiar with the parable of the wheat and the tares were the Lord gathers the wheat into His barn and burns up the tares.

• We remember John the Baptist’s preaching:
Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

• Certainly the book of the Revelation maintains this analogy.
Revelation 14:14-20 “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”

Here the harvest is some sort of depopulation effort.
Most likely a reference to the deportation
That will take place under Shalmaneser.

(4) “Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade, And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.”
• Israel is going to start looking like a P.O.W.
• Thin and gangly, ribs showing, belly pooched out.

That is the picture God uses to describe the depopulation efforts
That are about to occur in that nation.

(5) “It Will Even Be Like The Reaper Gathering The Standing Grain, As His Arm Harvests The Ears, Or It Will Be Like One Gleanin Gears Of Grain In The Valley Of Rephaim.”

Assyria is described there as a “Reaper”
• He’s just going to go through that nation and start harvesting the corn.
• He’s going to enter that field full of fruit and produce and by the time he’s done
it’s going to look well picked over.
• It is a reaping judgment.

Now, there is a SMALL RAY OF HOPE here for the northern kingdom.
• As we have learned, God always leaves a remnant of His people,
• And that is no different in the case of the northern kingdom.

(6) “Yet Gleanings Will Be Left In It Like The Shaking Of An Olive Tree, Two Or Three Olives On The Topmost Bough, Four Or Five On The Branches Of A Fruitful Tree, Declares The LORD, The God Of Israel.”

When you gathered olives you shook the tree,
• But Mosaic Law forbid you from shaking it a second time.
• You were required to leave the few attached pieces of fruit for the widow and the orphan and the alien in your land.

Well here Isaiah draws on that as a picture of God’s remnant.
Assyria will come through with the intent to totally strip the field,
But there will be a few (as there always is) who survive the harvest.

THEY ARE THE REMNANT.
And that is what Isaiah reveals next about this day.

A Reaping Judgment
2) A REDEEMING GOD (7-8)

As God is fond of doing, He will use the sweeping judgment of Assyria
To bring a purifying effect to His remnant.

And that is what we see here.

(7) “In that day man will have regard for his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.”

You can certainly hear the issue Paul will address in Romans 1
• That man, who is raised out of the dirt,
• Fails to recognize the God who made him.

Romans 1:18-20 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Man should recognize that they did not get here by accident,
Yet it is the folly of man to seek to strip God of His creating glory.

But when judgment comes men often times come to their senses.
AND THAT IS TRUE HERE.

This surviving remnant of the northern kingdom
Will now abandon their idols in favor of Isaiah’s “Holy One of Israel”.

(8) “He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made, even the Asherim and incense stands.”

What do
• Man-made idols…
• Harbor freight tools…
• And Lance’s 3-wood
All have in common?

None of them work.

And it’s all fun and games to pretend like they’re useful
Until push comes to shove and you really need them.

During the judgment you don’t need a fake god.
During the judgment you need a real God; a real Savior.

Having walked through a judgment the remnant now realizes
That they were foolish and returns to their God.

And we again marvel at God’s willingness to always save a remnant.

AND YET, JUDGMENT STILL COMES.
It is only the remnant that is saved.

What you read about in verses 7-8 is NOT A NATIONAL REVIVAL,
It is merely the saving of few.

The rest are being judged.
3) REALIZED FUTILITY (9-11)

Verse 9 again speaks of God’s promise to bring desolation to Damascus.

(9) “In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And the land will be a desolation.”

God is judging the ally in which Israel trusted.

And here comes the very important point.
WHY?

(10) “For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god.”

WHAT A SIN.
• The children of Israel had forgotten “the God of your salvation”
• They “have not remembered the rock of your refuge.”

And I want you to think on this reality just for a moment.

Let’s rewind about 700 years back to the days of Moses.
• The children of Israel had just finished their 40 year walk-a-bout in the wilderness.
• Now they were at the border of the promised land
• And Moses had one last sermon for them before he would die and they would enter.

That last sermon is called: Deuteronomy

I want you to listen to parts of this sermon.

Deuteronomy 5:15 “‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.”

That is salvation right?
• You were a slave and God redeemed you from your slavery into life with Him.
• And in memory of your salvation you were to observe the sabbath.

That’s not the only time Moses draws on that.
Deuteronomy 16:12 “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.”

There it is again.
• Your motive for obedience should be that you were once a slave, but God redeemed you.

Deuteronomy 24:18 “But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.”

You’re picking up on a theme aren’t you.
• Your motive for obedience is that God has freed you from your slavery.

Deuteronomy 24:22 “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.”

Over and over.
• You need to remember what you were.
• You need to remember where you were.
• And you need to remember that God saved you.

Now take that, and fast forward about 1500 years
See a group of Jews sitting around a table remembering their slavery
And celebrating how God delivered them from it…like Moses said.

And they get a new directive.
Luke 22:19-20 “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

Now the command is that when you eat that bread and drink from that cup You should no longer remember Egypt, you should remember Christ.

“do this”, but do it “in remembrance of Me”

But you are seeing the importance of remembering.
• Remember that you were a slave.
• Remember that you were destined for wrath and judgment.
• Remember that God redeemed you.

Very important.

But that wasn’t all Moses had to say in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 7:17-18 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:”

There you need to REMEMBER THE POWER
Of the One who is demanding your obedience.

• When God tells you to do something, remember who it is that is commanding you.
• He has the power to accomplish what He commands.
• Remember that.

Deuteronomy 8:2 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

• That would be God’s providence in your life.
• That would be God’s sanctification in your life.

Remember how God has guided you and walked with you
And pruned you and sanctified you and tested you in life.

He is ever present, always working in your life.
Remember that.

Deuteronomy 8:17-19 “Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ “But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. “It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.”

And that is to remember who it is who blesses you.
• It is to remember why you are successful in life.
• It is to remember not to give His glory to some other deity.

You were supposed to remember who saves you.
You were supposed to remember who provides for you.
You were supposed to remember who guides you.
You were supposed to remember who sanctifies you.

And you were supposed to give Him alone glory in your life.
Otherwise, Moses said that you would perish.

In fact, Moses actually wrote A SONG about this reality.
• At the conclusion of his sermon he actually told the children of Israel
• That he knew after his death that they would turn away from God.
• He gave them this prophetic song that spoke of their unfaithfulness as a
warning.

It is clear that Israel never learned that song.
The song is found in Deuteronomy 32.

Here is just a portion of that song:
Deuteronomy 32:15-18 “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— You are grown fat, thick, and sleek— Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation. “They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. “They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread. “You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.”

Moses preached an entire sermon on the importance of remembering God
And then gave them a song that warned of the dangers of forgetting.

And here we are now 700 years later
And Isaiah is watching the fall of the northern kingdom
And he explains why.

(10) “For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine slips of a strange god.”

You see the warning and you see the fulfillment of that warning.
• Israel forgot.
• Israel did not remember their Savior.

BUT LET’S GO ONE STEP FURTHER.

Isaiah also shows you WHAT FORGETTING LOOKS LIKE
When you forget the God who saves.

Isaiah speaks of them being busy growing crops.

“Therefore you plant delightful plants and set them with the vine slips of a strange god.”

• A vine slip is when like that chunk of a potato that with an eye on it that you put in water and it develops roots.

So the picture here is that of
Intermingling true plants with idolatrous ones.

We would call it being polytheistic.
We would call it pluralism.

It is an intermingling of false religions with true religion.

Israel did not rely solely on God, they also relied on false gods.
They also relied on pagan nations.
• They forgot how capable He was to save.
• They forgot how strong He was by Himself.
• They forgot that even their hardship had a purpose from Him.

THEIR PLURALISM WAS AKIN TO FORGETTING GOD.

YOU SEE IT TODAY WHEN
People intermingle mystical practices and psychology and new age philosophy and paganism all into some sort of “Christianese” language.

They call it Christian but it’s really more psychology or mysticism than orthodox Christianity.

• It is to forget who God is.
• It is to forget who Christ is.
• It is to forget who the Holy Spirit is.
• It is to forget what God’s word says.

And then invent some sort of hybrid fake Christianity.

The Corinthians were guilty of this:
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”

They had mixed Christianity with all the cults of their city
And ended up with a different Jesus and a different gospel.

We see this happen today everywhere.

THAT IS WHAT ISRAEL HAD DONE.

And then notice what they do.
(11) “In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.”

• They work really hard to try and make it successful.
• They plant it, they water it, they fence it, they take real good care of it.

But it doesn’t succeed.
“the harvest will be a heap in a day of sickliness and incurable pain.”

In short, despite all your work, it won’t work.
It ends in judgment.

So do you see the sin of Israel?
• They forgot who God was.
• They forgot what God did.
• They forgot God’s involvement in their lives.

1. This led them to start embracing other gods and distorting who God really was.

2. It led them into legalism and hard work as they tried desperately to produce their own fruit,

3. And it ended in judgment.

Do you see why Israel is being punished?
• They embraced a false gospel.
• They embraced an idolatrous view of God.
• They doubted God’s sufficiency to save.
• They forsook grace.

And just as Moses promised, here they are being judged.

Now, that alone could serve as a tremendous warning to Isaiah’s congregation.

If you’re in Judah and listening to Isaiah
It ought to make you take a long internal look to make sure that you haven’t done that.

If you’re in Spur and listening to Isaiah
It ought to make you take a long internal look to make sure that you haven’t done that.

• Make sure you haven’t forgotten that you were once in Egypt.
• Make sure you haven’t forgotten who it was that saved you and how He did it.
• Make sure you haven’t forgotten who He is and what He does in your life.
• Make sure you haven’t doubted His sufficiency as a Savior and sought to add
others to your life.
• Make sure you haven’t distorted His gospel of grace in preference of something
you can produce by your own hard work.

Because if you do, it is equivalent to forgetting God
And the result is judgment.

This is what Isaiah is preaching to Judah.
Aram will fall and Israel will fall.
• Aram will fall because they are pagan and because they were a false hope to Israel.
• And Israel will fall because they forgot God and trusted in other things for salvation.

But there’s still one more point to make here in this oracle.
#3 JUDAH’S PROBLEM WILL END
Isaiah 17:12-14

Now at this point, Isaiah zooms out.
He goes from talking about two nations to many nations.

(12-13a) “Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters…”

So what is he talking about?
• This oracle was about Aram and Israel.
• Together they had made an alliance to terrorize and plunder Judah.

ISAIAH JUST REVEALED THAT IT WON’T HAPPEN.
Aram and Israel are both going to fall
Before they ever get the chance to plunder Judah.

But here Isaiah takes that point further and says, “And this will be true of all the nations, regardless of who they are.”

I know you hear their taunts and their threats.
• I know this world is full of your enemies.
• I hear the uproar, I know about their roar,
• I hear their rumbling and they just rumble on and on and on and on.

• The ACLU telling you that there must be a separation of church and state.
• The BLM telling you that you are racist.
• The LGBTQ telling you that you don’t love like Jesus.
• Planned Parenthood telling you that you discriminate against women.
• Social Media telling you that you are too judgmental.

In reality it’s more than just Aram and Israel.
It’s the whole world that seeks to oppress and attack God’s people.

But just as Isaiah told Judah that God would protect them from Aram and Israel,
So will God protect them from all the other nations too.

(13b-14) “But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale. At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.”

• It’s not just Aram…
• It’s not just Israel…
• It’s not just Assyria…

God will deal with all of those who oppress and afflict His church.

I know at times their boasts and threats and roars are terrifying.
In fact, “At evening time, behold, there is terror!”

• It was terrifying to find out Aram and Israel aligned.
• It was terrifying when Sennacherib encircled Jerusalem.
• It is scary when we get attacked and maligned by what seems to be the whole world.

But, “Before morning they are no more.”

God will deal with them.
• He dealt with Aram.
• He dealt with Israel.
• He dealt with Assyria.

And He will deal with all of our enemies today as well.
AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE OF ISAIAH TO GOD’S PEOPLE.

1) There is a warning not to fall into the same sin their brothers to the north did.
2) There is a reminder that God takes care of His own and there is no need to fear.

And there is your message again tonight church.
There is the point to this oracle.
• In a hostile world of antagonists and boasters who want to plunder and pillage the church.
• In a hostile world where our gospel and our convictions are constantly under attack.
• In a hostile world where churches seem to be caving left and right to the pressures of society.

DON’T!
• You remember who it is who saved you.
• You remember how He saved you.
• You remember the power that He has.
• You remember what He’s called you to do.
• You remember His promises of the future.

And you stand your ground.
God will deal with those who seek to terrify you.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

And that includes even those fake brothers (like Israel)
• Who have claimed to be God’s people
• But have since aligned with the world and forgotten the God of their salvation.
• Even them, God will deal with.

Paul wrote of them.
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

People like that would be like that northern kingdom.
• People who claim to know God, but in all reality have rejected Him.
• They have chosen the world’s approval over God’s approval.
• They have chosen to love the world instead of God.

Paul says not to be like them, but to remember the God of your salvation.

We have a Savior on the way!
And He will subject all things to Himself!
• You stand firm.
• You trust God.
• You wait for His salvation.

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The Oracle Concerning Moab
Isaiah 15-16 (read 16:6-14 to start)
July 16, 2023

You are well-aware that we are now in
The difficult segment of Isaiah’s prophecy which are the oracles.

They are the burdens which God has laid on the nations of Isaiah’s day.

And while these oracles give sort of a commentary
On the judgments that are occurring on the neighbors of Judah
They are messages meant to encourage and instruct God’s people.

We spent several weeks on the first one regarding BABYLON,
Which was really about God’s coming judgment on the evil world system.
• We know how this all ends.
• We know the fate of the world.

And as Peter said:
2 Peter 3:11-12 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

If we had any doubts as to the importance
Of being clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we don’t now.

Christ’s righteousness will be the only thing that saves us from the coming wrath.

The oracle concerning Babylon was very important
In encouraging us to put away sin and live righteous
And it was very important in reminding us not to love this world.

It is a valuable message to God’s people.

Last Sunday night we saw the oracle concerning PHILISTIA.

The Philistines represented sort of a false hope for Judah.
History the Philistines had been nothing but enemies of Israel,
But in 715 B.C. they offered Judah protection from the Assyrian threat.

• The Philistines thought they had successfully thrown the Assyrian yoke off of their neck and were offering protection to Judah.
• What is more, they had sent a messenger to Judah and waited for Judah’s response.
• Isaiah revealed in the oracle concerning Philistia that their supposed security wasn’t as stable as they thought.
• Assyria would return and overrun the Philistines.

Based on this prophecy Isaiah revealed
How Judah should answer the Philistines.

Isaiah 14:32 “How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

In short, tell the Philistines that they are not responsible
For Israel’s existence as a nation or for Israel’s survival as a nation.

Tell them, “Thanks, but no thanks, we will take refuge in our God”

It was a great message of encouragement to THE CHURCH TODAY
As at times we are tempted to trust in men or agencies
That may at the moment seem like our allies.

But the reality is only Jesus Christ built the church
And only Jesus Christ has promised that
The gates of hell will not prevail against her.

Don’t put your hope in a political candidate or a court system or any other man-driven system, even if today they seem to share your values.

Put your trust in Christ alone for the preservation of His church.

You can see how these oracles are good encouragement to God’s people.

Well this morning we look to the 3rd of Isaiah’s oracles:
“The Oracle Concerning Moab”

And I think it is important for you to have a bit of an understanding of who this nation is, and how they affect Judah.

Geographically
• Moab was located east of the southern parts of Judah.
• Israel rests between the Mediterranean Sea on the west and on the east, at least in the southern parts of Israel they have the Dead Sea as their border.

• Moab is located on the other side of the Dead Sea from Israel.
• Edom is to the south of Moab and Ammon is to the north.
• Moab is a small nation that is about 30 miles square; smaller than the state of Rhode Island.

The Beginning of the nation of Moab is clearly documented in Scripture.
• You are familiar with how God rescued Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah…

Well, in Genesis the story continues:
Genesis 19:34-38 “On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.”

It was not a glorious beginning to say the least.

Moab also shows up many times in Scripture,
And never in a good way.

Perhaps you remember when the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness.
• You remember that Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel.
• Balak was the King of Moab. (Numbers 22:1-6)
• Balaam was not permitted by God to curse His people, but later Balaam hatched another plan which was intended to cause God to judge His people.
• He encouraged Balak to send out the Moabite women to seduce the men of Judah and invite them to their feasts and pagan religious rituals and the plan worked.

Numbers 25:1-5 “While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel. The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.”

We are told that “those who died by the plague were 24,000” (Num. 25:9)

During the time period of the Judges
The Moabites continued to be a threat to Israel.

Judges 3:12-14 “Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.”

• It would be the judge Ehud that God would eventually raise up to deliver Israel from Eglon’s hand.

When Saul became king in Israel:
1 Samuel 14:47 “Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, the sons of Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment.”

When David became king:
2 Samuel 8:2 “He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.”

But despite their military advantage over Moab,
Moab would inflict a major blow to the future stability of Israel.

1 Kings 11:7-8 “Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon. Thus also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.”

• Solomon would marry Moabite women and they would convince him to build a high place for their god.

These high places became the ultimate STUMBLING BLOCK for Israel
And were the direct reason listed by the author of kings
For their destruction by Babylon.

Really there is only ONE EXCEPTION to Moab’s negative influence
• That is that Ruth was a Moabitess whom God saved and she became the grandmother of David.

But you get the idea about Moab.
And the chief word I would give you about them is: PAGAN

They were never much of a military threat to Israel,
But they were a constant pagan threat.

Their pagan influence wrecked Israel more than once.
They worshiped the wrong god
And often times spread that idolatry to their neighbors.

They deserved the judgment of God.

Romans 1:18-25 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

If you fail to honor God as God or give thanks to Him
And instead give His glory to some pagan idol,
You are under wrath and you will receive the punishment of God.

And that is where we find Moab.
Their oracle covers 2 chapters and we’ll break it up into 5 points.

#1 THE ASSYRIAN INVASION
Isaiah 15:1

Here we simply see the fall of two major Moabite cities.
“Surely in a night Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Surely in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.”

As part of the Assyrian expansion,
They had now set their focus on the land of Moab
And in one night had apparently sacked two of their major cities.

To sort of put in context,
• It is the start of the war.
• It is like when Americans were told that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
• The war that was going on in other parts of the world had now reached their borders.

What is to be seen is how Moab would respond.

#2 THEIR FOOLISH INTENTION
Isaiah 15:2-9

The immediate response of the Moabites was to head north “up to the temple and to Dibon, even to the high places to weep.”

The temple referred to is the temple of their pagan god “Chemosh”.

The immediate response to the fall of two of their cities
Was to run to their pagan deity and find out what had gone wrong.

• Perhaps they had offended Chemosh.
• Perhaps they had wronged him.
• For whatever reason, he had failed to protect them from the Assyrian threat
• They were headed there to find out why.

Of course we know why Chemosh had failed to protect them.
IT’S BECAUSE HE IS NOT REAL,
But the Moabites don’t know that so they are on a journey.

When they get there, “Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone’s head is bald and every beard is cut off.”

“Nebo and Medeba” are more cities in Moab that are likely next in line to the Assyrian advance.

And so the people are embarking on customary symbols
Of mourning and repentance.
They shave their heads and their beards and begin to weep.

(3-4) “In their streets they have girded themselves with sackcloth; On their housetops and in their squares Everyone is wailing, dissolved in tears. Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.”

Incidentally all of the cities listed here
Would all be in the northern most regions of Moab.

“Nebo” is actually the mountain from which Moses was permitted to see the Promised Land.

The rest of the cities listed there are all in proximity to there
• And all the people are weeping and wearing sackcloth
• And wailing and crying out asking why Chemosh has not saved them.

A sense of the despair is seen in THE MILITARY RANKS where we learn that “the armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.”

The military men have no doubt assessed the threat
And they realize that to stand and fight the Assyrians
Is likely a suicide mission.

Remember these Assyrians are cruel.
• They don’t just defeat you in battle, they brutally torcher their victims.
• Skinning people alive, beheading and piling up the heads, etc.
• And even the soldiers of Moab are terrified.

They went to their god, but their god couldn’t help.

And so we see Moab enact A SECOND PLAN which is to flee,
And they take off running south.

It is NOT LOST ON US what Isaiah says in verse 5,
“My heart cries out for Moab;”
And indeed we’ll come back to that in a minute.

But you see the Moabite flight.
And all of these cities just represent a north to south journey.

(5-6) “For they go up the ascent of Luhith weeping; Surely on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress over their ruin. For the waters of Nimrim are desolate. Surely the grass is withered, the tender grass died out, There is no green thing.”

• They climb one hill and weep the whole time.
• The travel down a road and break into weeping again.
• They get to “Nimrim” but the water is dried up.
• There is no relief, even the land makes their journey more difficult.

This means that they cannot stay in Moab at all.
There is no water in Nimrim
So their flight must take them across a foreign border.

THEIR PLAN is to cross the Zered river, called “the brook of Arabim” and enter the land of the Edomites.

(7) “Therefore the abundance which they have acquired and stored up They carry off over the brook of Arabim.”

It is interesting however that as they flee,
They are seeking to take all their possessions with them.

Their lives are in danger, but they won’t let go of their stuff.

It reminds us of the Lord’s warning about the end.
Luke 17:26-33 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. “Remember Lot’s wife. “Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

What you see is just that same kind of pagan mentality.
• They have no eternal hope…
• This world is all there is for them…
• They won’t part with it…

So these people are trying to flee with all their stuff
And even pack it across the river down into Edom.

BUT YOU’LL NOTICE that this isn’t simply the judgment of Assyria…
THIS IS THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.

And they can flee from Assyria, but they can’t escape God.

(8-9) “For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wail goes as far as Eglaim and its wailing even to Beer-elim. For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; Surely I will bring added woes upon Dimon, A lion upon the fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”

Such a slaughter is now pictured
• In Dimon that the rivers are full of blood
• Even the people who survive the slaughter and flee south, “a lion upon the
fugitives of Moab and upon the remnant of the land.”

When you read the book of Jeremiah,
Jeremiah sees another judgment of Moab
Coming at the hand of the Babylonians
AND A SIMILAR PICTURE IS WITNESSED.

Jeremiah 48:43-44 “Terror, pit and snare are coming upon you, O inhabitant of Moab,” declares the LORD. “The one who flees from the terror Will fall into the pit, And the one who climbs up out of the pit Will be caught in the snare; For I shall bring upon her, even upon Moab, The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.”

And the simple point is that
Moab has run and repented before the wrong god.

• They are weeping to the wrong god…
• They are begging salvation from the wrong god…
• They are clinging to the wrong god…

God is judging them and they refuse to see it.
THEIR PLAN is to flee from God’s judgment
And even take their sin and their stuff with them.

Such a plan is foolish.

Isaiah asked at the end of the oracle concerning Babylon:
Isaiah 14:27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

Clearly Moab had not contemplated such a reality.

So you have The Assyrian Invasion
And then you have Their Foolish Intention.

Their intention is to escape God’s judgment
With the help of their pagan deity.
Not smart.

#3 THE PROPHETIC INSTRUCTION
Isaiah 16:1-5

These 5 verses get a little tricky to decipher at the first.

The question is,
• “Who is saying it?”
• “Who are they saying it to?”

At face value it sounds as though you have the Moabites reaching out to Israel to provide for them a place of sanctuary from the Assyrians.

But that is NOT what is happening.
In a moment you will see that the Moabites had no intention of reaching out to Israel.

What you actually have occurring here is
Isaiah giving a prophetic announcement
Of what the Moabites should do.

Remember these oracles were not given to the nations.
• These oracles are for the benefit of Judah
• They are the only ones who heard them.

It is best to picture this segment
• Like all the people of Judah watching a news cast about the war in Moab
• And watching video of all the Moabite refugees fleeing south to Edom.

And in the midst of them watching the report, Isaiah stands up with a message to the people of Judah regarding what the Moabites should do.

And bear in mind what we saw a moment ago, Isaiah saying:
(5) “My heart cries out for Moab;”

• Isaiah (who reveals God’s heart) is visibly distraught over the judgment of Moab.
• His heart is broken for them.

And Isaiah stands to tell the people of Judah
What the Moabites should do in order that they might be saved.

(1) “Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.”

Sela is an Edomite city about 50 miles south of Moab.
• And Isaiah is now telling this caravan that they should reach out to Judah by
way of tribute.

This “tribute lamb”
• Is a type of payment of surrender
• That Moab used to give to Israel after they had been conquered by Israel.

2 Samuel 8:2 “He defeated Moab, and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, bringing tribute.”

2 Kings 3:4-5 “Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and used to pay the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.”

SO THIS IS THE ADVICE.
Why don’t you come and re-submit yourselves to us and our God
And come under our protection.

(Incidentally, this is probably the exact same thing
That the Philistines had offered Israel in that last oracle)
And now Isaiah says this is what the Moabites should do.

(2) “Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.”

“the fords of the Arnon” is on the northern border of Moab.
• I thought they fled south and were now in Edom?
• What are these “fleeing birds or scattered nestlings”?

They are stragglers who got separated from the traveling caravan.
They had tried to flee south,
But they had gotten stopped by the geographical terrain.

If you google “the fords of the Arnon” that river is referred to as “The Grand Canyon of Jordan”

Visualizing Isaiah 15-16: the fords of the Arnon in Moab

When Moab fled, some of their people were stuck on the other side
They were in great danger of this northern invasion from Assyria.

Isaiah is revealing the only hope for the salvation of all of them.
There only hope is that Israel’s God intervenes.

And here is what Isaiah says
That the Moabites should say when they send that lamb.

(3-4a) “Give us advice, make a decision; Cast your shadow like night at high noon; Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive. “Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”

It’s simple advice.
• Take the lamb, we’ll be your servants.
• Let us stay with you.
• You protect us.
• Be a refuge and a hiding place for us.

This is Isaiah’s advice to Moab of what they should do and say.

WHY?
Because Isaiah knows that God has promised to save Judah.

(4b-5) “For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land. A throne will even be established in lovingkindness, And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David; Moreover, he will seek justice And be prompt in righteousness.”

In short: JUDAH HAS A SAVIOR!
• God has announced that Assyria will not threaten us.
• We have a Savior!

He is the King who sits on David’s throne!
“He will seek justice and be prompt in righteousness”

The GOSPEL message could not be clearer at this point.

It is Isaiah looking at the lost pagans of the world,
Suffering under the mighty hand of God’s judgment.

And Isaiah cries out to the lost, “If you would only submit yourself to our King and come running to Him for refuge, He would save you and deliver you and hide you from the coming judgment!”

That is a gospel message if I’ve ever heard one.
Jesus Christ will save sinners!

He will clothe them in His righteousness and they can take refuge in Him.

Here you have a burdened prophet lamenting before his people,
“If only they would submit themselves to our King, then they would be saved!”

That’s a true message!
It is Isaiah’s instruction.

But…
#4 THEIR NOTORIOUS INSOLENCE
Isaiah 16:6-7

Isaiah knows that Moab will not take his advice.
• He knows there will be no lamb…
• He knows there will be no submission…
• He knows there will be no request for salvation…

WHY?

“We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even his arrogance, pride, and fury; His idle boasts are false. Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-haraseth As those who are utterly forsaken.”

Moab is too proud to admit that her god is false
And that only Jesus Christ can save.

She would rather keep her sin and her stuff and her idols
Than submit to Israel’s king and because of this she will be judged.

What a running commentary on the foolishness of the unredeemed.

There is no one whom Jesus Christ will not save,
If they humble themselves and repent and cry out to Him for salvation.
• It doesn’t matter who you are…
• It doesn’t matter where you are from…
• It doesn’t matter what you have done…
• It doesn’t matter your history of rebellion and idolatry and influence…

He will save you and shelter you if you repent and submit to Him.

But it is the pride of man that causes them to continually reject this offer.
They want their sin, they want their stuff, and they refuse His salvation.

Like the RICH YOUNG RULER they go away sad not wanting to part with their riches.

And their only fate is judgment.

Hebrews 2:3 “How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

That is the question.
And the answer is: YOU WON’T

And that brings us to the final point.
#5 THEIR REGRETTABLE INJURY
Isaiah 16:8-14

Because Moab refused to cry out to the Savior
All that awaits them is judgment.

Isaiah laments the futility of their decision to stick with their false god.

(12) “So it will come about when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself upon his high place And comes to his sanctuary to pray, That he will not prevail.”

It is a picture of people standing in a pagan temple awaiting salvation
Only to receive slaughter.
THERE WILL BE NO SALVATION.

And Isaiah gives another prophecy.
(13-14) “This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. But now the LORD speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.”

And by the way, it happened.
• Moab never cried out to Israel
• Assyria nearly totally annihilated them in 715 B.C.
• Only a small remnant was left.
• In a few years Babylon will totally annihilate them.

Now, surely we see there the clear warning to the lost.

But as I said, this oracle never reached them.
THIS ORACLE WAS PREACHED TO GOD’S PEOPLE.

What do we do with it?

Well one point is blatantly obvious and that is that
There should be no rejoicing in the death of the wicked.

• While we certainly look for Christ to return and rid this world of its evil
• We do not take pleasure for the destruction of the wicked.

God doesn’t.
Ezekiel 33:10-11 “Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive?” ’ “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”

God will judge the wicked, but it is not His enjoyment to do so.
He prefers the repentance of the wicked unto salvation.

So does Isaiah.
We already saw 15:5 and how Isaiah’s heart cried out for them.

Look here:
(16:9-11) “Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away. Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I have made the shouting to cease. Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.”

Isaiah was talking no pleasure in the death of the Moabites
And God’s people should take no pleasure in their death either.

We are commanded to PRAY FOR THE LOST.
Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

We are commanded to WARN THE LOST.
Revelation 10:8-11 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard again speaking with me, and saying, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he said to me, “Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. And they said to me, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

We see examples of WEEPING FOR THE LOST.
Romans 9:1-3 “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”

There should be nothing in our heart that delights in sinners going to hell.

While we hate sin and we pray for God to stop the spread of sin,
Our prayer is that the means by which God does that is repentance.

And we have been left here on this earth
For the purpose of warning sinners of this coming fate.

WE ARE NOT HERE
To mold this world to a place of our liking, this world will be destroyed.
(We aren’t remodeling the Titanic, we are driving people to the life boats)

We are here to call sinners to abandon this world with us
And come take refuge in our King.

I think there is also another implied message.
• As Isaiah preaches to Judah
• And he laments those in Moab who refuse to trust their God
• But insist on worshiping their pagan deity,

• What sort of message does that present to those in Judah who also worship in the high places?

This oracle also reminds the church that
If you are trusting in the same faulty saviors
That the world is trusting in, STOP!

Those saviors cannot save.
Only Jesus Christ can save.

The call to forsake idols and trust in Christ is NOT JUST a message for the pagan, it is also a message for those who claim to be God’s people.

I think of Paul in Romans 1
• Talking about the coming judgment of the immoral pagan.
• He talks all about idolaters and homosexuals and those with a deprave mind
• And how they will inherit wrath from God.

And then in Romans 2 Paul turns to the religious crowd
Who had been gleefully “amening” everything Paul had said.

Romans 2:1-5 “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,”

And in like fashion I would simply remind you.
The issue is faith in Jesus Christ.

And that same faith is required
No matter if you are in the bar or in the pew.

God will not save sinners who refuse to trust in Christ
Regardless of where they spend their Sunday mornings.

The message that the lost should leave their idols and trust in Christ
Is a message for those in the pew as well.

EVERY MAN must leave his sin and his idols and throw his pride aside
And submit himself to Israel’s King.

You must repent and submit your life to Jesus Christ.

• He is the only one who can save Moabites.
• He is the only one who can save Israelites.
• He is the only one who can save Americans.
• He is the only one who can save Baptists.
• He is the only one who can save the people in this room.

This is the call.

Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

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The Oracle Concerning Philistia
Isaiah 14:28-32
July 9, 2023

Tonight we move on to a new oracle or burden of the LORD.
This oracle deals with a very real and present issue in Isaiah’s day.

And just to set the stage, the nation of Judah
Has been called upon to GIVE AN ANSWER.

Look down to verse 32,
“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?”

We know who “the nation” referred to here is.
• It is the nation of Philistia.
• We see that in verse 29, “Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you,”

So it is apparent to us that Philistia
Has sent a messenger to the nation of Judah
And the question from Isaiah is how they should answer.

We also see the TIMING of this messenger and the subsequent oracle.
(28) “In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:”

So there is a lot coming into focus now.
• The year is 715 B.C. (Ahaz died)
• The nation of the Philistines sent a messenger to Judah with some sort of proposition.
• This specific oracle is given to Judah that they might better understand how they should answer them.

SO WHAT DID THE MESSAGE SAY?

We aren’t specifically told here in the passage,
But we can recognize some of the reasons in Scripture
Why a nation would send a messenger to another nation.

FOR EXAMPLE:

To console after a fallen king
2 Samuel 10:1-3 “Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place. Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?”

Or even to spy out the land after a king has died,
As the Ammonites supposed there.

To demand surrender
Isaiah 37:8-11 “Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ‘Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared?”

Assyria sent a messenger to Judah to demand surrender.

To seek an economic agreement
1 Kings 5:1-6 “Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram had always been a friend of David. Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, “You know that David my father was unable to build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars which surrounded him, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet. “But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary nor misfortune. “Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for My name.’ “Now therefore, command that they cut for me cedars from Lebanon, and my servants will be with your servants; and I will give you wages for your servants according to all that you say, for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”

To seek an ally in war
2 Kings 3:7 “Then he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” And he said, “I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

Jehoram sent a messenger to Jehoshaphat seeking an ally in war.

Or perhaps even some other reason.

WHAT WE DO KNOW from reading this oracle is that
The messenger which came from Philistia
Must have come with a certain sense of ARROGANCE.

The very first words out of the prophets mouth to the Philistines are, “Do not rejoice, O Philistia”

We read it like, “Wipe that grin off your face”

WHY WERE THEY REJOICING?
“Because the rod that struck you is broken;”

So it would appear that the Philistines are now rejoicing
Because a threat they formerly faced has been stopped.

And the assumption is that Ahaz must have afflicted Philistia and they are now rejoicing that he has died.

Except, Ahaz did not afflict Philistia, it was the other way around.

2 Chronicles 28:16-18 “At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help. For again the Edomites had come and attacked Judah and carried away captives. The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the Negev of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, and Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled there.”

What is more, Isaiah has already shown us who “the rod” in his story is.

WHO IS GOD’S ROD IN THESE DAYS?
Assyria

Isaiah 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,”

Assyria is God’s “rod” and God is using them
Not just to afflict Israel and Judah, but God has been using them
To bring judgment on many nations in that part of the world.

The reference to “the year that King Ahaz died” IS NOT a reference that since Ahaz is dead the Philistines are free from the one who struck them.

No, this is just a date reference.
It’s how they remembered dates in that day.
Ahaz died in 715 B.C.

Here is what was occurring in history at that time.

You recognize the Philistines by 5 major cities that are listed often in Scripture. (Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron)

These cities had all, in one way or another,
Become subject to the kingdom of Assyira.

The city of Ashdod
• Had become a vassal kingdom to Assyria
• And had been forced to pay tribute to Sargon, king of Assyria.

• But one of Ashdod’s puppet kings (Azuri) had refused to pay tribute to Assyria
• Had conspired to form an alliance against Assyria with his neighbors
• So Sargon (King of Assyria) replaced Azuri with his more compliant brother Ahi-miti.

• But the people of Ashdod resented the outside interference
• They overthrew Ahi-Miti and replaced him with a king of their own choosing named Yamani
• Yamani had been a leader among the insurgents who sought to break free from Assyria.

• Yamani tried to form an anti-Assyrian coalition and reached out to Judah, Edom, and Moab to join him in resisting Assyria.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sargon/essentials/countries/philistines/

The broken rod that Isaiah refers to is Assyria.
The Philistine city of Ashdod was feeling confident that
They had thrown off the Assyrian yoke from their neck.

• They had removed the Assyrian ruler…
• They had replaced him with one of their own…
• They were gathering allies against Assyria…
• They were feeling really good about their new found independence.

And they had sent messengers to Judah to join them
And together they would be free from the Assyrian threat.

Let’s TAKE A LITTLE INVENTORY of exactly what we have going on here
So that we might better understand the offer, the temptation,
And even what we are going to learn from such an oracle.

If you are not familiar with the Philistines you should be.

No nation shows up more in Scripture
As the perpetual enemy of Israel like the Philistines do.

Many of the famous Bible stories you remember contain the Philistines as the threat or the enemy of the story.

• In the book of Judges it was the Philistines who oppressed Israel when Samson received strength from the LORD to defend the nation.

• Also in the book of Judges it was the Philistines who stole the Ark of the Covenant and killed Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas.

• When Israel finally got a king, it was the Philistines who opposed Saul sending out their champion Goliath to mock Saul’s army.

• When David became king, it was still the Philistines who were first to oppose David in battle.

They are sort of that ever-present bully to Israel.

Now, their affliction was by the sovereign hand of God.

Israel had been warned during the conquest.
Numbers 33:55 “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live.”

And yet Israel had disobeyed and allowed pagan nations to remain
That did very much become thorns in their sides.
(Gives clarity to Paul’s thorn in the flesh doesn’t it?)

And God was now using bullies like the Philistines
For a couple of purposes in Israel’s life.

One purpose was to test the faithfulness of Israel.
Judges 3:1-4 “Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly). These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.”

These nations remained to serve as tests for Israel,
To see if they would trust God or not in the times of their affliction.

Another purpose was to discipline Israel for her lack of faithfulness.
Judges 13:1 “Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.”

The Philistines had been a constant enemy, a constant thorn,
A constant prick in the eyes of Judah.

• In fact, Uzziah had fought them in his days.
• And most recently Ahaz had fought them and even lost to them, as we read earlier.

The Philistines were never great allies.
They were always the bad guy.

But now, here they are, assuming victory over Assyria
And calling upon Israel to join them in the ranks
And be a team to hold off any further Assyrian advance.

It doesn’t take a genius to sense a bad offer here.

BUT ASSYRIA IS A REAL THREAT.
• It was just 7 years ago that Assyria conquered the northern kingdom.
• We’re only about 10 years away from Assyria invading Judah.

Assyria is a real problem and in the Philistines you at least have
A viable offer for protection and deliverance from the threat.

And this is the decision that Judah must make.
THEY MUST GIVE THEIR ANSWER.

And to help them with this dilemma
God gives the nation of Judah a little insight as to what is coming for the Philistines.

• Again, the Philistines never heard this.
• This was given to Judah.
• It was given for their benefit.

Here it is given so that they will know how to answer this messenger
Who is offering protection to Judah from Assyria.

So let’s look now at this oracle concerning Philistia.

God has a 3 fold announcement for the Philistines.
#1 THE PHILISTINES HAVE A FIGHT TO FACE
Isaiah 14:28-29

So it is 715 B.C. (“the year that King Ahaz died”)

• Ashdod has just thrown off the Assyrian yoke by rebelling against Sargon.
• Their new rebel King Yamani is on the throne
• Everyone in Ashdod is feeling pretty good about their current state of affairs.

Isaiah is about to throw a wet blanket on their enthusiasm.

(29) “Do not rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a flying serpent.”

Perhaps it would be better understood if we read it:
“Do not rejoice…because [you think] the rod that struck you is broken”

And that is really Isaiah’s message.
Assyria is not a broken rod like you assume.

“For from the serpent’s root a viper will come out, And its fruit will be a flying serpent.”

I hope you are already picking up on the point we’ve been making
About who THE REAL POWER behind these nations actually is.

• Ashdod, you may have been victorious over some earthly king,
• But that only represents how little you understand who the real power behind that kingdom is.
• You aren’t fighting a man or even a rod.
• The real power behind them is: “the serpent”, also called “a viper” and “a flying serpent” or dragon.
• The real power behind them is Satan.

And please understand this again.
Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

You remember this right?
We talked about it last Sunday night.
• The real power behind Babylon is Satan.
• The real power behind Assyria is Satan.

This is why it’s so foolish to place so much stock
In things like human elections or human rulers.

So you vote a bad president or bad congressman out of office and you think you’ve won.
• You don’t think Satan has more people at his disposal?

There are people all over our country right now who think if we can just get Joe Biden out of office and re-elect Donald Trump that America will be saved.

• Even if Trump does good things, he’ll only last 4 years.
• You don’t think Satan has more waiting in the wings?

SUCH REJOICING IS SHORT-LIVED AND FOOLISH.

And that is the rejoicing of the Philistines here.
They think they’ve won.

Isaiah bursts the bubble by revealing that “from the serpent’s root a viper will come out, and its fruit will be a flying serpent.”

Look, I’m pretty scared of snakes.
• But if I ever run up against a snake that is flying toward me,
• It’s really gonna get bad.

In short, the fight isn’t over.
The victory and the freedom that the Philistines were enjoying
WAS FALSE SECURITY.

They’re about to face a new fight.
Assyria isn’t finished with them yet.

You have a fight to face
#2 THE PHILISTINES HAVE A FAMINE TO SUFFER
Isaiah 14:30

Famine was a really common way to conquer.
• Just surround a city
• Cut off their supply line
• And starve them out

And this is what is being pictured here.

In this verse you have a contrast.

You have
• The “most helpless” who “will eat”
• And “the needy” who “will lie down in security”

And they are contrasted with
• The Philistines who will die of famine.

So who are the “most helpless”; who are “the needy”?
It must be a reference to Judah.

In this scenario
• They are the needy ones who are vulnerable and helpless.
• They are the ones with no defense against an Assyrian invasion.

When the Philistines reached out to Judah
They did so with the understanding that “You need us.”
• You need our help.
• You need our protection.
• You need our supplies.
• You are poor and helpless without us.

We are offering you a real benefit here.
You just come join us and we’ll take care of you.

But Isaiah reveals that the 10-YEAR MODEL
That the Philistines were working off of HAD A FLAW in it.

While God is promising to feed Judah and to make Judah secure,
The Philistines will be destroyed with famine.

God says, “I will destroy your root with famine, And it will kill off your survivors.”

SO…
• The Philistines have knocked on the door and promised safety and provision
• But Isaiah reveals that their promise doesn’t carry as much weight as they might suggest.
• God announces that it is the Philistines who will soon starve to death, not Judah.

It is yet again a reminder of all that we learned in the first oracle.
THE WORLD WILL NOT LAST.

AND LISTEN,
That includes the world that temporarily seems to be on your side.

Just because they are at the present in agreement with you on a particular issue does not mean they are your salvation.

• Did you know there are going to be people who voted Republican in hell?
• Did you know there are going to be pro-life people in hell?
• Did you know there are going to be people who support the 2nd amendment and freedom of speech in hell?
• Did you know there are going to be patriotic people in hell?

There are people who may serve as allies with you in some issues
Who are still enemies of God because they have rejected Jesus Christ.

And while we can agree with their political stance
We in NO WAY LOOK TO THEM for our salvation.

Here recently our Supreme Court
Has made a couple of really good decisions that we agree with.

• They overturned Roe V. Wade – that is good.
• They ruled this past week to protect free speech by not forcing that website
designer to make a “gay marriage website” – that is good.
• They ruled that President Biden can’t forgive student debt – that is good.

We agree with their decisions on that

But does that mean that we now trust in the Supreme Court to save us?
Of course not!
• Is the Supreme Court going to be the protector of the church?
• Is the Supreme Court going to be the defender of the gospel?
• Is the Supreme Court going to keep our church from persecution?

Absolutely not and it would be foolish to trust in them.
The Supreme Court is a man-made and man operated entity.
They are just as fallen as the rest of us.

AND LISTEN.
The Supreme Court won’t last either.
• There is no mention of the Supreme Court in heaven.
• There is only one Lawgiver and Judge and that is Jesus Christ.
• Even the Supreme Court will one day be totally abolished when Christ comes
to destroy this world.

SO WHY WOULD YOU PLACE ALL YOUR HOPE THERE?

Well that is what ISAIAH is telling the nation of Judah.
• I realize that in this instance the Philistines and you are in agreement.
• And I realize that in this instance they are make you a nice offer.

But back up, wait a minute, and understand that
The Philistines are still part of this evil world system
And they won’t last either.

In fact in 711 B.C. (four years after this oracle).

One historian notes this:
“Sargon invaded Ashdod and ended its independence, turning it into an Assyrian province and the new southwestern boundary of the empire. Excavations in Ashdod, under Moshe Dothan, have brought to light evidence of these events: 3,000 skeletons, buried in a mass grave, are thought to be victims of the Assyrian conquests while three fragments of the basalt stele [a commemorative plague] which Sargon had erected at Ashdod in celebration of his victory were recovered in the acropolis of the city.”
(ibid)

The Philistines didn’t last 4 more years.
They were conquered and (my guess is) starved out in the invasion.

Isaiah said they wouldn’t last, and they didn’t.

They had a fight to face, a famine to suffer
#3 THE PHILISTINES HAVE A FIRE TO EXPERIENCE
Isaiah 14:31

Isaiah goes ONE STEP FURTHER
And shows Judah the coming Philistine response.

“Wail, O gate; cry, O city; melt away, O Philistia, all of you; For smoke comes from the north, And there is no straggler in his ranks.”

God announced that destruction is coming.
Philistia would burn.

Even though they shared a common enemy with the people of God,
This does not exempt them from God’s coming judgment.

They, like the rest of the world, will not survive the coming judgment.

Ezekiel 25:15-17 “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Because the Philistines have acted in revenge and have taken vengeance with scorn of soul to destroy with everlasting enmity,” therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, even cut off the Cherethites and destroy the remnant of the seacoast. “I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the LORD when I lay My vengeance on them.”’”

Amos 1:6-8 “Thus says the LORD, “For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they deported an entire population To deliver it up to Edom. “So I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza And it will consume her citadels. “I will also cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, And him who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon; I will even unleash My power upon Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” Says the Lord GOD.”

NOW LET ME ASK YOU.
Is that the sort of people you want to be allies with?
• Is the Philistine boat a boat you want to sail in?
• It is also a sinking ship.

So the scene has become pretty clear to us.

• Assyria is a common enemy in the region.
• They have already annihilated the northern kingdom.
• They are a real threat to the southern kingdom.
• But your historic enemies the Philistines are offering you protection from them.
• And God has told you they won’t last.

DO YOU TAKE THEM UP ON THE OFFER?

So let’s now get to THE APPLICATION section.
(32) “How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?”

• Now that you know that the Philistines are not going to survive…
• Now that you know that they are going to starve…
• Now that you know that they are going to be burned with fire…

Do you still want to join forces with them?
And if you believe Isaiah then your answer is: NO!!!

And that is the answer Isaiah tells them to give.

Isaiah says, you need to write back to the Philistine king and tell him:
“that the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

Tell the Philistines that
• They had no hand in our existence and they have no help in our survival.
• We’ll turn to the One who founded us and we will hide in the One who sustains
us.

SO THE MESSAGE OF THE PHILISTINE ORACLE IS CLEAR.

• Why would you trust in one who had no hand in establishing you?
• Why would you trust in one who has a record of persecuting you?
• Why would you trust in one who cannot protect you since they won’t even be able to protect themselves?
• Why would you trust in one whom God has promised to judge?

And any man with any sense would answer, “You wouldn’t”.

Well, church bring the application home.

• Do you suppose some political party will be your salvation?
• Do you suppose a Supreme Court will be your protection?
• Do you suppose some elected official will be the security of the church?

• Did Donald Trump found the church?
• Is the Supreme Court the protector of the church?
• Can the Supreme Court even protect itself from God’s coming judgment?

And the answer is – NO!!!

But who has founded the church?
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

• Christ is the builder of the church.
• And it is Christ who promised that Hell won’t overpower it.

You want someone to trust with the survival of the church,
Then trust Christ.

Don’t run to some political entity.
Don’t put your hope or trust in some political party.
Don’t put your hope in a candidate or a court.

They aren’t why the church exists nor are they why it continues to exist.

We DON’T EVEN trust in church leaders
As being the security of the church.

Listen to Paul:
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

• Did the church of Corinth exist because of Paul?
• Was Paul the one who secured their church?

No, God was doing that.
• Why would you trust in Paul or Apollos or Peter or any other man?
• God used those men, but it was God who built the church.

Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

God is the builder of the church.

And God is the protector of the church.
“the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

We don’t run to the courthouse for our protection,
We run to the builder of the church!

Jude 24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

God is the One we trust.
God is the One we look to.

I think of Abraham, fresh off of his victory over the Canaanite kings; having just rescued Lot and the others and having collected all the spoil.

He was approached by the king of Sodom (red flag!).

Genesis 14:21-24 “The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ “I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.”

Abram placed all his security in God.

And God greatly rewarded Abram for this decision.
Genesis 15:1 “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”

And by the way, verse 6 of that chapter is where God saved Abram.

I think of the apostles being threatened and warned about talking any more about Jesus, but they didn’t run to earthly powers for their deliverance.

They went to church, and corporately appealed to God.

Acts 4:23-31 “When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

They didn’t run to some political party for help, they ran to God!

And certainly we think of our Lord Jesus, standing before Pilate.
Pilate offering Him help if Jesus would just ask for it.

John 19:10-11 “So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

We read:
Psalms 118:8-9 “It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in princes.”

And TONIGHT we are finding HOW TRUE THAT IS.

If the world is a sinking ship, why would you trust the world for your deliverance?
• It may be a pretty ship…
• It may be an elaborate ship…
• It may be a powerful ship…

I know the Titanic says it is “unsinkable”
• But the Titanic is going down and it is a foolish thing to trust in it no matter what boasts or promises it makes.

Do not trust in the world, even if the world seems like it can help.
Place your trust in Christ and Christ alone.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 “Thus says the LORD, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the LORD. “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD And whose trust is the LORD. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”

That is God’s message here to Judah
In response to the Philistine offer of help.

“DON’T TAKE THEIR OFFER, THEY WON’T LAST.”
And they didn’t.

“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

download here

The Oracle Concerning Babylon – part 5
Isaiah 13:1-14:27 (14:22-27)
July 9, 2023

As you know we are now in this section we call “The Oracles”
• They are burdens that God is placing on the back of the world.
• They are message of judgment.

Starting tonight we will move to the second oracle which deals with Philistia
And you will see that these oracles deals with a specific nation in Isaiah’s world.

BUT THIS FIRST ORACLE IS DIFFERENT.
It references Babylon, but that is because in Scripture
Babylon is a nation that symbolizes the world.

False religion started in Babylon in Genesis 11
False religion is typified in the book of Revelation by Babylon.

And so this first oracle of Isaiah does not deal with a regional nation
This first oracle deals with THE WHOLE WORLD.

That is the evil, even Satanic, world system
That now governs the world of humanity.

And we have spent the last 2 weeks
Looking at the judgment that is coming on this place.

• We’ve seen the army,
• We’ve seen the terror,
• We’ve seen the vivid depictions of judgment,
• We’ve seen the desolation that comes with it.
• Last Sunday morning we looked at the redemption that will occur.
• Last Sunday night we saw the judgment of the god of this world.

That is Satan.
Depicted in Isaiah 14 as “the king of Babylon”, but make no mistake, it is Satan.

We saw his fate.
• He will spend eternity as the ultimate buffoon
• While Christ will be glorified for all eternity, Satan will be ridiculed.

They’ll mock his
• Fall from heaven
• His foolish boasts
• His failed mission
• His fleeting glory
• His fallen sons

He is ultimate failure and will be treated that way for all eternity.

So we’ve covered a significant amount of ground the last couple of weeks
Discussing the DAY OF THE LORD.

THIS MORNING we want to bring this first oracle to a CONCLUSION.

Having seen the first 6 points, this morning
We simply want to look at the 7th and final point of this first oracle.

#7 THE RECAP
Isaiah 14:22-27

I call these final 6 verses the recap because they highlight for us
What it is we should have learned from this first oracle.

And they ALSO take this judgment of the world
And bring it personal for the people of Isaiah’s day.

And let me show you that first.

You see in verse 22 that God is still promising
• To “cut off from Babylon name and survivors”
• He says in verse 23 that He will “sweep it with the broom of destruction”

But then we come to verse 25 and we see a peculiar substitution.

No longer is Isaiah talking about Babylon,
now God is promising “to break Assyria in My land”

And we would wonder, what just happened?

All along the judgment of Babylon
• Has been a symbol of God’s judgment of the world.
• It has been a symbol of God’s coming judgment on all the nations.
• And in verse 25 Isaiah takes that reality and makes it personal.

As if to say:
If God will one day judge the entire evil world system, don’t you think that will include Assyria?

And you see now how this first oracle gets personal even for us.

Are you frustrated by evil world rulers today?
• Does the corruption of the United States government frustrate you?
• Does the immorality of the United States culture sicken you?
• Are you bothered by corrupt leaders of foreign nations who commit crimes
against humanity?

WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT
God’s promise to one day judge the evil world’s system
Means that these evil world rulers won’t get away with it either?

THAT IS WHAT ISAIAH IS PROMISING.

If God will one day judge this world for it’s sin,
Rest assured that Assyria doesn’t have a chance.

Not only do Isaiah’s people have a future judgment to anticipate, They also have a message of hope for today.
Assyria is just part of that great worldly Babylon and it’s falling.

THAT IS A PROMISING REVELATION.

And THIS MORNING it comes to a close
With A RECAP of the things you should have learned.

I want us to start this morning by looking at the very end of our text.
Isaiah ends his first oracle with 2 questions.

(27) “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrated it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

This is the PARTING THOUGHT given as this first oracle comes to a close.

So let’s examine those questions for a moment.

1) WHAT IS THIS PLAN?

“For the LORD of hosts has planned…”

Well we read in verse 26, “This is the plan devised against the whole earth…”

So at the very least we understand that whatever this “plan” is,
It is not regional, it is GLOBAL.
(you were supposed to learn that)

Whatever God is planning to do, He is planning to do it everywhere.
• This is global
• This is universal

When Paul spoke in Athens, he preached with a global judgment in mind.
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

• Paul said that some day God will “judge the world”
• And because it is a global judgment, “all people everywhere should repent”

This plan of God will touch every corner of the globe.
• It will touch American soil.
• It will touch Texas.
• It will touch Dickens, County

It is comprehensive.

So what is this plan?

Well, now you can back up to verse 22
And we see several indications of what God is planning.
(These are things we should have learned)

God says:
• (22) “I will rise up…”
• (22) “[I] will cut off from Babylon name and survivors”
• (23) “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water”
• (23) “I will sweep it with the broom of destruction”
• (25) “I will trample [Assyria] on My mountains
• (25) “his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder”

THIS IS THE PLAN OF GOD.

HIS PLAN IS
• To rise up to meet the evil of this world system.
• To send a sweeping destruction to this world
• To cut off all the survivors.
• To make it a desolation.
• To deal swiftly with the current evil world power; Assyria,
• And to break His yoke from your neck.

In short, God’s plan is to arise and judge the wicked
And rescue His children.

It’s everything we’ve been talking about for the last 2 weeks.

Right now we live in what Paul called “the day of salvation”
Right now, as Peter mentioned, “the Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish”

BUT THIS DAY IS TEMPORARY.

One day, the door will close on the day of salvation,
And this world will experience the day of God’s judgment.

Enough will be enough.
He is coming and He is planning to destroy this world.

AND THE QUESTION that Isaiah presents to you and I is found in verse 27, “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”

There’s a question worth pondering.
God is planning to come and destroy this world.
• Can anyone stop Him?
• Can anyone outwit Him?
• Can anyone make a counter move that will prevent God from accomplishing His plan?

That is the question we are given.
Can anyone outsmart or thwart God’s plan?

Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

Psalms 33:6-11 “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”

David said God frustrates human plans, but it never works the other way around.

Isaiah 46:8-10 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;”

So God says that no one can thwart or reverse His plans.
IS THAT TRUE?

I mean, let’s think about it.

Hypothetically, let’s a take a man:
• Who has determined not to trust in Christ…
• Who has determined to enjoy the sinful pleasures of the world…
• Who has ignored God’s message of repentance…

God says that there is coming a day in which He will destroy that man.

So how is that man planning to frustrate God’s plan of destruction?

I mean, if you’re not going to repent
Then you had better figure out a way
To keep God from doing what He has planned to do.

What’s the plan?

How are you planning on concealing your sin from God so that He won’t know about it?
• Adam and Eve tried to hide from God, but that didn’t work.
• Men in the end ask the mountains to fall on them.
• How were you planning on keeping God from finding out about your sin?

How were you planning on escaping God’s coming judgment on this world?
• Are you going to build a tower to the heavens?
• Are you going to ride on fast horses to escape?

What is your counter move to keep God from destroying you on the day when He comes to destroy sinners?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.
“Who can frustrate God’s plan of global judgment?”
What are you going to do to out-smart God?

Well, might I remind you what you are up against:

Romans 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

With God we are dealing with One whose wisdom far exceeds ours in every possible way.
• We can’t even comprehend His ways.
• We can’t even understand why He does what He does.

Have you ever watched someone do CALCULUS on a chalk board?
• It’s pretty confusing.
• I don’t have a clue what they are doing.

But I promise you that we are all much closer to understanding calculus than we are fully comprehending the mind of God.

Or listen to this one:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

God thinks on a higher level than any of us.

My chickens don’t understand why I wear shoes.
My chickens don’t understand what I use arms for.
My chickens don’t understand why I don’t stand in my food or poop in my water.

My thoughts are higher than theirs.

And yet, I am closer to the mental capacity of a chicken
Than I am to the mental capacity of God.

WHAT IS MORE,
If it is my objective to frustrate His plans then I need to know He has quite A HEAD START.

For while I don’t comprehend anything that He is doing,
He already knows every ounce of my plans.

Psalms 139:1-4 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”

God is so far ahead of humanity in His wisdom and understanding,
And yet man thinks they might be able to out-smart God
And frustrate His plans?

GOOD LUCK.

How did that work out for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day?
What sort of success did they have seeking to outsmart Him?
• They questioned Him about paying taxes…
• They questioned Him about the greatest commandment…
• They questioned Him about the resurrection…

But soon they realized they were out of their league.
Matthew 22:46 “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.”

And even when they thought they had finally gotten the better of Him
They had Him condemned and CRUCIFIED;
Well, we find out that that was His plan all along.

Acts 2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

YOU GET THE POINT.

How were you planning on frustrating God’s plan?
“For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”

And of course you know that the answer is – NO ONE.

And certainly that is a warning to any unrepentant sinners not to expect to escape on the day of God’s judgment.

But that fact should greatly encourage you church as well.

• God has said that the shedding of innocent blood is an abomination.
• God has said that homosexuality is an abomination.
• God has said that adulterers does not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

And yet we live in a world that runs to all of that stuff.
We have a government that demands we embrace it,
Never speak evil of it, and learn to celebrate it.

• We have crooked politicians in places of power who get rich off of their
corruption.
• We have evil men who make evil laws and promote agendas that are contrary
to the word of God.

And sometimes we look at all that and we get really discouraged
As we ponder the direction of our world.

But do you suppose Joe Biden can frustrate the plan of God?
• Do you suppose Nancy Pelosi can frustrate the plan of God?
• Do you suppose Gavin Newsome or Justin Trudeau or George Soros can frustrate the plan of God?

AND THE ANSWER IS NO.

Church, we have every reason to be encouraged.
“For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it?”

GOD IS SMARTER THAN THEM ALL.

So one of the things we should have learned is that
God has a plan to destroy this evil world system
And no one is going to be able to frustrate that plan.

But Isaiah had another question.
(27b) “And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

2) WHAT IS THIS STRETCHED-OUT HAND?

Verse 26b says, “this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.”

And again we see the global reality.

God has a plan and now we begin to see the action.

SO WHAT IS THIS HAND?

Well, it is very important that you notice the pronouns used.
• (22) “I will…”
• (23) “I will…” & “I will”
• (24) “I have intended” & “I have planned”
• (25) “I will trample”

God says, “I” will do it.
This hand, is God’s hand.

• If God were merely the one doing the planning,
• And then farming out the execution of His orders to lesser beings
• Then it might be argued that while the plan is perfect,
• We can stop God’s plan at the execution phase.

The problem for the world is that it is not only God who does the planning, but it is also God who executes that plan.

It is His hand which is stretched out.

Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

When you read in Revelation 14
• About the treading of the great wine press
• And how the blood will flow up to the horses bridle for the distance of 100 miles.

THAT IS CHRIST DOING THAT.

“My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath uphold Me. I trod down the peoples…I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

Jude spoke of the day:
Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

“the Lord came…”

So what we begin to realize is that
When we are talking about this day of destruction that God has planned,
We also see that it will be executed by none other than God.

And so Isaiah’s 2nd question becomes very relevant here as well.
“And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

When God comes to enforce the plan He has made, can you stop Him?
• Do you know how to halt Christ’s advance?
• Do you know how to cause Him to retreat?

When the Moabites and Ammonites made an alliance to attack Judah, Jehoshaphat trusted in God’s invincibility.

2 Chronicles 20:5-6 “Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD before the new court, and he said, “O LORD, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You.”

He was counting on it.

IS THAT TRUE?

God Himself says:
Isaiah 43:13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

IS THAT TRUE?

Ask Nebuchadnezzar.
• He was told of God’s plan to humble him if he would not humble himself.
• Nebuchadnezzar thought little of the warning.
• I suppose he thought he could frustrate God’s plan or turn back His hand
when the time came.

Daniel 4:33-35 “Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws. “But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

Nebuchadnezzar learned that warding off God’s hand was impossible.
No one could stop Him.

OH, SATAN WILL CERTAINLY TRY.
• When Jesus splits the sky to come bring judgment to the world,
• There will be a mighty army which lines up for a great battle to thwart Him.

Do you want to see it?
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

It isn’t much of a battle is it?

Satan gets his puppet to gather all the wicked of the world
To come with an enormous army to stop Christ from judging them,
And it isn’t even a good fight.

AND AGAIN WE ASK THE QUESTION.
“And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

NO ONE.

And every person who has refused to trust in Christ or to obey Him should ponder this.

Isaiah 10:3-4 “Now what will you do in the day of punishment, And in the devastation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”

How are you planning to stop God’s execution of judgment?

Isaiah 28:15 “Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, And with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by, For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

There are people with a plan.
• They have made some sort of an alliance with death.
• They are trusting in Satan for their deliverance.
• They are trusting in some false idol to save them from God.

WILL IT WORK?

Isaiah 28:16-19 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place. “Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place. “As often as it passes through, it will seize you; For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night, And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

IT WON’T WORK.

You can’t frustrate God’s plan of judgment.
And you can’t turn back His hand of judgment.

God will come and do exactly what He says He will come and do.

(22-26) ““I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity,” declares the LORD. “I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts. The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them and his burden removed from their shoulder. “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations.”

AND NO ONE CAN STOP IT.

For those who have chosen to keep this world and their sin and have refused to reject Christ, WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?
• How were you planning on frustrating God’s plan of judgment?
• How were you planning on stopping His hand?

I REMIND YOU again that there is only one way of salvation
And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ.

His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension,
His intercession, His coming

That is also the plan of God.
That is God’s plan to save sinners and no one can stop that plan either.

Before God judges this world, He first offers it salvation
And if you will repent of your sin and submit your life to Jesus
Then you will be saved from the wrath to come.

1 Thessalonians 1:10b “[Believers] wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.”

Romans 5:9 “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

The only way to escape the coming wrath…
The only way to be saved from God’s plan of judgment…
Is to repent of your sin and to yield your life to Jesus Christ as Lord.

AND YOU WILL BE SAVED.

BUT AGAIN, this is not just a message of salvation to the lost, this is a message of HOPE TO THE REDEEMED.

A nation may go to war with another nation and deploy troops to go fight,
And all the citizens at home will hope
That their troops are able to accomplish the objective.

We hope that our soldiers press on to victory and are not turned back.
But it is NOT a sure thing.

But the fate of this world IS a sure thing.
The judgment of sinners IS a sure thing.

God has already planned to judge this world
And no one can frustrate Him or turn Him back.
He will come and He will win and we will reign with Him.

The yoke of the enemy will be removed from our neck
The burden of the enemy will be removed from our shoulder.
• We will be saved.
• We will be delivered.
• We will be set free from this corrupt world and it’s Satanic influence.

It will happen because no one can stop God,
When He has purposed to accomplish something.

Isaiah 43:10-13 “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God. “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

CHURCH TAKE HEART.
We will not always struggle under wicked men.

I want us to close this opening oracle with a very encouraging passage.

TURN TO: 2 PETER 2:4-10

(4) Spiritual Judgment
(5) Social Judgment
(6) Sexual Judgment

(7-8) Supernatural Protection

(9-10a) “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”

The LORD knows how.
He’s done it before…He’ll do it again.

2 Peter 3:9-13 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.”